Happy New Year, everone! It is the year of the Ox, I am told. According to Wikipedia, the source of all enlightenment, The Ox is the sign of prosperity through fortitude and hard work. If that is so, then I think this is my year! Woot!
As the ball dropped last night, I put the finishing touches on my latest super big all-consuming project...
We may be in the year of the Ox but in my head, there are still dragons...

I'm calling it the Ancient Dragon, because it has a calm and wise look about it.
The color schemes I worked out with my last dragon design were experiments for this one...I knew I wanted this dragon to be coppery and old-looking...

...because I was inspired by this little guy in Ueno Park, last September.

I'm so glad I photographed him because he fascinates me. One of the smallest & most charming dragon fountains I've ever seen. The way he's climbing out of the volcanic rock...he almost seems real. I wanted to pet him, at the time.
I'm still playing with the design. I wanted this calm, wise aspect but also, I think the little dragon fountain has a fierce look to him that I totally neglected, so today I'm making another pattern. Fun fun!
We had a quiet night at home for New Year's eve...I missed the noise of the casino & Greg slept through the whole thing. :-/ Oh well. Anyway, Char & I stayed up all night watching True Blood on HBO so that was fun.
I also watched the Ninja Warrior "Behind The Scenes" special on G4...it reminded me of my trip of awesomeness last September when I went to Japan to SEE "Sasuke". I even saw myself & my brother in the background a few times (I was wandering in a perpetual daze and hiding from Nagano, mostly), which never fails to crack me up. ^__^ Hee! My Indian name should be "Hides From Sasuke All-Stars".
It SNOWED again yesterday, about 10 inches... but this time Greg helped me so I managed to clear Mom's driveway almost entirely. A neighbor with a big-ass snowblower helped too. It was about 20 below zero with the windchill...after a half hour of shoveling I could no longer feel my face. Brr...
I hope you are all happy and healthy, and ready to take on 2009! Hard work and fortitude, people!
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