(no subject)

I will have to get to bed early tonight since I have to leave at about 6:15 in the morning to get out to Abbotsford. I have to be there at 8AM for the second part of the motorcycle ART course. I had agreed to escort another rider, who also lives downtown, to the location so I won't be riding there alone.

It's going to be a long day but they have arranged a caterer, which is a nice touch. I'm sure the traffic will be light but hopefully, it won't be too cold in the morning. I am so used to staying up late on Friday until early Saturday morning. It's going to take a lot of discipline for me to go to bed early.

(no subject)

I had dinner with my family this evening. As usual, we went to a Chinese restaurant. My mom, my sister and her family just got back from a month in China. I was suprised at how nice the goodies that they brought back for me was.

One was a Yixing purple clay tea set. I didn't ask for one, as I already have one from my other sister, but she thought I had asked her to get it for me. It's beautiful. It is also good to have a set used only for a specific kind of tea anyway so having more than one is a good thing. So I decided to keep it. :D

The other item was a stamp with my full Chinese name. My sister chose an absolutely beautiful pair of marble in which my name was carved into to use as a stamp. I will have to get some proper red ink for it. The wrong kind of ink can ruin it. I'll be using this stamp to "sign" my artwork and photos. I wasn't expecting these stamps to be anything but a stamp but my sister went above and beyond by picking out the matching stones in which they are made from. The second stamp is a reversed design of the other stamp.

My younger brother only asked for pictures of the terracotta warriors, especially the horses. But they brought back a small statue for him. He was pretty disappointed when he saw my stamps. He asked my mom why I even got two while he didn't get any at all. :P
My sister wanted to get my younger brother one as well but my mom said he probably wouldn't want or use it. Boy, was she ever wrong!

My older brother got a similiar tea set as well. He also got some nice tea leaves. Being an avid tea drinker and tea connoisseur, he was very happy.