documenting

So January was kind of a bust, post-wise, and it looks like February won't be much better. In my defense, though, Januaries are hard: there's never quite enough time to recover from Christmas (especially since, being an introvert, I require time to recover from the vacation that I take at Christmas), then my birthday and, generally, the Chinese New Year come in rapid succession. Also, this year, I've been sick. And, to top it all off, it has been, as you may or may have not noticed, freaking cold outside.

(No, my house does not feel any warmer, and no, we have not turned the temperature up — but I do now have throws and blankets strategically placed in every lounging area of the house.)

Also, iPhoto has been eating my photos lately. I'm usually in a hurry when I upload them, and so do not necessarily check, and don't realise that the relevant photo has gone poof! in the meanwhile. It's very upsetting. Today, for instance, you are missing a sunrise that I jubilantly took last week — not because it was a particularly lovely sunrise, mind you, but because I could see it. It is no longer dark while I wait for the streetcar in the morning! I felt like the moment needed to be documented.

Other things that we felt should be documented:


There is a little bit of foreshortening there, but you get the idea. It has been roughly a year since we took possession of our house (we didn't move in until the end of the month, but we took possession at the beginning of February, 2010— which reminds me, I had vertigo from the flu then, too). This is about how much beer we have gone through since then. This is particularly impressive since I don't drink beer, so this was consumed by only 50% of the household (+friends). I can only assume that the +friends helped a great deal.

One thing I did help with?

This is all of the wine we went through this holiday season:


Lest I be accused of not pulling my own weight in alcohol (or something).

Meanwhile, the clock has turned over onto the Year of the Rabbit, which I'm fond of because 1) my mother is a bunny, and 2) bunnies are cute. (I did not say I had good reasons to like it, although honestly, doesn't everyone feel kind of sorry for people who have to say that they are rats? I mean, really. If you have to be something, it's good luck to be something that's cute and fluffy, not vicious and a rodent.) Normally I wouldn't even mention it, except that it leads us to the next photo:


We were eating in Chinatown on the weekend when a very small parade went through, with the dragons peering into the windows of each business/restaurant. It was fantastic. Technically speaking it was barely a proper parade — generally there should be at least a few people making up the body of the dragon, not just the dragon head, and there ought to be some very vigorious drumming and dancing and such — but it made me happy. When I was very little, and still in Hong Kong, our apartment looked down onto the street and we could see the big dragon demostration every year. I used to love it, and it's one of the few things I remember (and miss).

So. Year of the Bunny. Starting off pretty good, I think.