Year of the Goat I was wondering why there were pictures of sheep on the posters advertising the show, then I was reminded that the show fell on Chinese New Year day, and 2003 was the year of the goat.
Saturday February 1, 2003

So... the show was finally underway. I dragged my school friends Danielle, John, and Alison along to expose them to Asian culture and stuff. I also needed John to tape the show for me. We got there at 12:30 cause performers had to be there an hour early to warm up and stuff, and the show was supposed to start at 1:30. Good thing too... cause they got nice front row seats (good for unobstructed camera view) and the place filled up pretty quick, and by the time the show started, there was standing room only.

I was in the auditorium setting up the camera and just chillin' but then they told performers to stay back stage cause we had to act professional and all. After I realized that not much was going on in back, I kept sneaking out in front with street clothes over my uniform to go unnoticed.
I WASN'T going to miss a thing. I'm glad I didn't, because this was truly THE standard for future wushu demos... It was unbelievable.

My friends Danielle, John, and Alison.
John whips out his Booker T. impersonation at the weirdest moments. Can you dig it... SUCKA'?
Zhejiang athletes stretching backstage. Jackie Strong stare down with the camera.
She is such a ham :)
Chen Min looking pleasantly surprised.
Laurie... ...and her boyfriend "crazyhair" ian. Though it seemed in control that day.
Russ with his little palm pilot thing that even takes pictures... it's just not fair. Michelle copying my style and documenting backstage action.
It's 1:40...

And the show didn't even start yet... i was getting impatient... must have seemed like an even longer wait for people sitting outside.
Worst of all... they spent another 25 minutes presenting plaques, shaking hands, and reading official sounding proclamations. But i guess it's a pretty big deal when you bring professional athletes and a bunch of officials from China to Connecticut.
But then the curtains finally open... and the music begins... and Scott and Arthur show off some spear vs. pudao action.
"GO!" says jiayin. It's always a crowd pleaser... watching 3 kids try to kill each other with wooden sticks.
Golden Fist... there's me in back.
Bill almost looks like a real monk.
The painting in back is of West Lake... a famous attraction in Hangzhou, the capital of Zhejiang Province. That is usually people's favorite city when we go to China and it's where the Zhejiang Team trains. The painting was a nice backdrop... especially when backlit like in this picture... but i bet they paid too much for it.
Chen Min warming up oowwwwww...
This was hilarious, guys afraid of girls... but then again, these girls really can kick butt.
Xu Lei with some chopping action. This was cool... they went through a short segment of their weapons routines without their weapons... this was broadsword.
perfect timing... it's sick
Holy hell... look how high off the ground he is.
Chen min pulling off a perfect jumping slap kick. From here, Lu Yi-Xin falls straight onto his back... he should consider a career as a pro wrestler... even Jeff Hardy would be impressed by this craziness.
Haha... John kept saying, "the cute girl girl's keeps looking at your camera"... busted.
Some more cool silhouettes
Arthur showing excellent stances with southern broadsword
Scott catches some air before he slams his spear into the ground.
Zhang Chun-Yan makes spear play seem so easy... trust me, it's not.
The Zhejiang Team even made taiji look wicked awesome... they did a group taiji form, then they whipped out push hands, then they had Lu Yi-Xin kick everyone's butt using taiji as a self defense style.
All the Chinese athletes have their specialty, Chenmin's is the straightsword... but they can also do everything... it's just unfair.
Hehe... good thing we had the rehearsal the night before, cause he was able to gauge how high he could throw the 3-section staff. Cause it was hilarious the night before when he almost hit the light and was ducking for cover.
Zhang Chun-Yan doing Eagle form.
This was awesome... snake vs. eagle form. They did it to music from the Jay CD, Jay's a Chinese pop artist. It was funny cause John and Danielle were going "this sounds familiar" then i told them it was playing in my car when i had to drive them from school once... then they were like, "ohhhh". If you haven't already noticed... Chen Min, as well as all the rest of the team, make a ton of costume changes... this one's especially snazzy. Another interesting thing about this combat set is that the snake defeats the eagle, usually it's the other way around. I guess the general rule that the girl always beats the guy prevails.
Master Hu performs monkey staff, he hadn't done this form for a long time.
When you think about it... it would be so weird if people actually got into arrangements like this before fighting. Master Hu also performed Nanquan
Now that's what i call intensity.
Part of the finale was a slow motion fight
I'm glad we rehearsed receiving flowers the night before, otherwise i would have been so confused when those little kids ran out with those bouquets.
Later that night...

We had a banquet at Sichuan Garden in West Hartford to celebrate the performance, chinese new year, and simply because every wushu event involves food.
Chris acting silly.
The place was packed.. hard to find a place to sit... or park.
Odd asian family, no one's the same ethnicity... whoa, even rich has some chinese blood.
My table mates... great company. It was nice hanging out with alex who's been away for college.
Jiayin and Phil
What's karaoke without Scott singing. John tried two dishes that he never had before, duck and fish served whole. I really take for granted that i grew up eating food that might seem unusual or exotic to other people.
Macarena... what's a wushu party without the macarena.
I was slightly concerned that John wouldn't have good time, cause wushu parties usually get real silly and corny with the dancing and everything... but then i remembered... it's John, he fit right in. Hehe... the last song they played was the Titanic theme... which was way too corny, but then me, John, and Scott made a little dance out of it, acting out all the words of the song, it was so weird, but funny.