Delivering Justice on Heaven's Behalf

the last update was actually my annual Spring Gala links, so here's my actual update (I guess I'm doing weekly ones now instead of daily, which... I guess I'm fine with. Maybe when I get less busy I can do daily ones?)

Anyway, it's been 10 days since my last update. Let's see what's happened...

- Mock Trial kids didn't make it to county finals, so that's mostly done. I should sit down with the other teacher some time and plan out some coaching timelines, etc, but other than that, the "season" is over

- Met with the learning specialist at school, and she says she's going to recommend Miss R for a neuropsych eval, and the school is going to help pay for it, which is pretty exciting. Still need to send a follow-up email to ask for specific deets, but at least ball is starting to roll???

- Last couple of days have been pretty busy -- we were originally planning to drive up to snow zone for Mon-Wed with a different family (her newfound bestie), and do Chinese New Year in the mountains, but then we find out on Saturday night that there's a big storm sweeping through, from Sunday night to Wed night, basically making it impossible for us to get up there. Unfortunately, this meant that we've had to cancel our reservations, which are non-refundable. :( And also I had to scramble to find something else to do. So Monday night we did New Year's at our place, and then yesterday and today we drove to a random weird treehouse that I found on AirBnB -- it's apparently built in 1925 by a smuggler. Pretty cool, very quaint/rustic, but surprising comfy, despite the sloped floors and odd layout. Got back around 5pm today, aiyah. Miss R still wants to do snow play, however, so tomorrow morning I'm driving her and her bestie to the snow line. It's gonna be a ~3 hr drive each way, so ... kinda rough, oy vey. I hope to queue up a bunch of music to listen to, I guess? Or maybe an audiobook? egh.

I've got a bunch of to-dos, but this February break has been more full of logistics management than I'd expected. I did manage to finally send last year's photos off to print, which was something I'd been planning to do since Thanksgiving.

Hopefully after the drive-a-thon tomorrow I'll have some time on Friday to work on comic???

Well, last night dumpling night, and we had some friends over and watched the Spring Gala. Happy Year of the Horse, y'alls!

Some Spring Gala links:

- the intro song that introduces the 4 locations of the year (Harbin, Hefei, Yiwu, Yibing): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHGXOL3lcPo&t=20s
- The thesis of the year, nominally a song celebrating tech advancements and smart devices, but featuring the words: "The future is already here, the product of hard work and intellect. Low-key yet clever. We are made in China" holy shit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHGXOL3lcPo&t=1734s
- kung fu robots: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHGXOL3lcPo&t=1425s (related: convenience store worker robot? https://youtu.be/AXf9vc_7Wgw?si=d-42NFLmpl7e4CO0&t=2781 snarky kid robot? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHGXOL3lcPo&t=691s )
- probably the most c-pop song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHGXOL3lcPo&t=2426s
- extremely hokey song about turning the Fu upside down: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpOF_7foKBQ&t=2029s (but also has the astronauts, and I always like the astronauts)
- Hmmm.... "Formosa Love Song", a segment about how Taiwan and Fujian are just separated by a small strait and are celebrating the spring together? Right a song honoring mothers? Featuring a bunch of Taiwan songs? Wonder what's going on here: https://youtu.be/MpOF_7foKBQ?si=Mh5W-ZaZXRPBOUZQ&t=3362
- cute "come to dinner" segment/ad 公益广告: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXf9vc_7Wgw&t=2299s
- a song celebrating labor and being creative: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXf9vc_7Wgw&t=1880s
- OMG the army one this year is quite ... intimidating: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5pzkcbSwcQ&t=567s
- here's the "we are all 1 china" one, with some great shots of infrastructure. Phases naturally into the new year countdown with shots of all the locations: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5pzkcbSwcQ&t=840s
- cute juggling one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5pzkcbSwcQ&t=335s
- utterly incomprehensible "horse dance": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5pzkcbSwcQ&t=2348s
- cute "sound of spring" orchestra/dance one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5pzkcbSwcQ&t=2608s
- what is masculinity, song one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXf9vc_7Wgw&t=983s , song 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5pzkcbSwcQ&t=1529s (featuring bad CG of Xubeihong horses :( ) Does the weird horse dance count as masculinity song 3?

The ethnic minorities are integrated in an interesting way this year. Like, actual dance troupes from the actual regions, but not like, not as obviously labeling them? (Well, except the Mongolian one lol)
- a Xinjiang dance celebrating the silk road: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHGXOL3lcPo&t=3797s
- it's a song featuring little kids dressed as various ethnic minorities: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHGXOL3lcPo&t=4067s And the kids themselves are from Guizhou, so... sorta win?
- a song of farmers celebrating the harvest, featuring actual farmers from Ningxia: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpOF_7foKBQ&t=80s
- Mongolian folk song, featuring DeDeMa and actual people from inner mongolia! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpOF_7foKBQ&t=1670s , and starts in Mongolian
- a stomping-based dance-off between Spanish, Hungarian, and some Chinese ethnic minority dancers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXf9vc_7Wgw&t=4563s

Locations:
- Harbing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXf9vc_7Wgw&t=511s there's penguins? and of course ice skating, and Russian architecture, and also a parody of the winter olympics. And a giant digital snowman??? and ballet?)
- Yibing 宜宾 (Sichuan): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHGXOL3lcPo&t=3328s (some drumming, some robots, some robot pandas, a riverboat, some drones)
- Yiwu (Zhejiang): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpOF_7foKBQ&t=1213s (robot monkey king, and then Jackie Chan and Lionel Richie singing "We are the world" for some reason???
- Hefei (Anhui): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXf9vc_7Wgw&t=3853s (overly digitized, but also chinese opera? but also giant statue of 夸父 of all people? And a GIANT EYE of Technology???)


Gotta know Chinese for these:
- a surprisingly critical one of Chinese bureaucracy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXf9vc_7Wgw&t=3152s
- cute 相声 about buying veggies: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHGXOL3lcPo&t=2689s