Happy New Year....Again!

Gung Hay Fat Choy!! That’s “Happy New Year” in Chinese -- Cantonese, to be exact. Isn’t that cool! I’m sure you all know that today is Chinese New Year. It is the Lunar New Year 4706, the year of the ox. The Chinese celebrate with good food, fortune cookies, games, dance, crafts, and parades. Personally, I found dressing up in a dragon costume and scaring the pants off of Orielle, Benny, and Aimee by chasing them around the house and roaring like Godzilla the most fun of all. RAHRRRR! Okay, fortune cookies are fun, too!!

It's a Secret!

Whew! I just got back from Washington. You may recall that I missed being elected President of the United States by only a few measly votes. But, just the other day, I was recruited by the government to be part of the Secret Service team during yesterday’s presidential inauguration. How awesome! I wonder if this had anything to do with me learning karate. I must admit, I did learn some really great moves from the movie, Kung Fu Panda. You may have seen me yesterday on TV. If not, you can always catch the reruns. I’m the one wearing the black tie and dark glasses.

Hi Ya!

Konnichiwa! That’s “hello” in Japanese! The New Year is starting off on the right track. I signed up for Beginners Karate and already have received my yellow belt. Things are going great! I love the part where we yell “Hi-Ya!” but mine comes out more like “Woo-Rah!” Running laps, practicing the death grip, and working on tumbling is just so awesome. The only problem I’m having is working those darn nunchuks. I keep hitting myself in the head. It must be that whole lack of thumbs issue working here again. My sensei says if I keep up the good work, I may have an opportunity to enter a karate tournament in a few months. Isn’t that swell? Sayounara! That’s “goodbye” in Japanese!

Party Animal

Happy New Year everyone! Well, I’m finally recovered from our New Year’s Eve bash. It was outrageously fun and as you can tell, maybe a little too much fun. Orielle took that picture of me in her attempt to get even for those “precious moments” I caught of her on camera. As you can tell from the crooked picture, she was having a little too much fun herself. Now, how that lamp shade got on my head I’ll never know. Everyone just giggles when I bring it up.

After a day of recovery, we all got together to tell each other our New Year’s resolutions. This year, I want to take up a few new hobbies. I’m thinking maybe dance lessons and advancing my photography skills, as well as possibly getting into movie making. And I definitely want to learn Japanese. Imagine watching Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla in its original language! How amazing is that!!! Oh yeah, I’m also going to take up karate.

Orielle said she wants to do more traveling, baking, and exercising. But her main resolution was to be more careful about getting caught in embarrassing moments by me and my camera (hee, hee, hee).

Benny also wants to keep fit and trim by exercising regularly. His main resolution is, of course, to perfect his magic skills -- but he’s also talking about going to clown school.

Aimee had no interest in resolutions whatsoever. We asked her if she wanted to try an exercise program like the rest of us. She said no. We asked if maybe she wanted to take up ballet to learn poise. She said no. We asked if she would like to try to curb her toilet paper fetish, but again, she said no. She finally explained, “I don’t like change. I just like everything the way it is.” Isn’t she cute?