Happy Lunar New Year 2011

Happy New Year, Year of the Rabbit! So what does Lunar New Year mean for Chinese people? I can't tell you all the history and why we do all the stuff that we do, but here's a very to-the-point perspective of what this month-long holiday/celebration means to me.

1. Clean the house. Start the new year by cleaning out all the dust and dirt (and bad spirits) from your crib.

2. Get hair cut. (Hey, I only do it at most three times a year, so gotta look fresh.)

3. Go home for big dinner. (Get fat.)

4. Go to big Chinese restaurants for many New Year banquet style dinners. (Hey, you don't stop eating when you're full. That's not American. Banquet count: 3 out of 4.)

5. Collect lucky money in red envelopes. Say thank you and have a Happy New Year as you receive with smile. (Get bills so crisp you kind of wonder if they're real.)

OPTIONAL. Go to Annual Chinese New Year Parade in Chinatown NYC. (Don't make it like you're really going going to the parade. Have some brunch with good friends and catch all the confetti and all the other crap on the ground before the Sanitation Department sucks it all off the streets.)

Fresh New Year flowers.


Dad goes overboard. Something for everyone.


Did we miss the parade? Let's go for ice cream!


Prettiest garbage you'll ever see.


Malaysian New Year tradition. It's a bunch of raw veggies, fruit, raw fish, and non-foods piled together drizzled with a tangy sweet plum sauce that everyone mixes together with their chopsticks. Eat up and enjoy because you can't get this any other time of the year.


Huge venue for banquet dinner with over 100 guest tables. Ambassadors speak. Lions and dragons dance. Karaoke is a must.


COME HERE AND TAKE MY RED ENVELOPE!!


Cousin, why are you so damn cute?

Tiësto @ Webster Hall 02/13

Look at all that technology.

My first Tiësto concert!! Webster Hall is pretty grimy. They allowed all the ladies skip the line so that they could get security checked quickly, which rendered a long line of just dudes standing outside the venue. Gross. I reckoned it was so that the front of the standing room could be occupied by girls.

Tiësto was great! He really looked like he had a lot of fun and self-satisfaction doing his thing. I forgot about the whole motion graphics element to show, so I was pleasantly surprised and impressed by some of them. (I mean, what was I expecting, lasers? Yeah, I would be equally surprised and not surprised by crazy spasm-inducing laser lights.)

Since the venue was so small, I managed to get all the way up to the "second" row. It was definitely a gross journey up to the front as all these guys offer to let you get in front of them, only to give them the means to touch and grope you. It was uncalled for and nasty. Someone kept touching my hair as if they never felt girl hair before. YUCK. I hope cosmic Karma gets these guys back.

Tiësto shatters the roof only to raise it up. I must've watched this clip 20 times.


KILLER!


Tiësto vs Diplo - C'Mon
Look at the fucking size of these shows. Webster Hall made the show seem like an intimate private party compared to this shit. (Green developers/designers/engineers—please convert all that human energy into renewable energy. I believe in you.)