Sunday with the Shen Yun Performing Arts

My friend, Wendy, is all into Chinese stuff, so for her birthday, I scored tickets to the Shen Yun Performing Arts show a the Buell Theater on Sunday the 18th.

It's a day early for her birthday, but I figured it was close enough.


Wendy invited ShadowOwl, and I brought Wendy's mom, Karen, too. I thought she might like to get out and catch a show downtown (and I didn't want her to think that I'd only ever take her out to amusement parks).


I'd never been the to the Buell before. It's nice.


I haven't been downtown in AGES. But it was pretty much as I remembered it.


The whole DCPA complex is really pretty. I forget how much I dig interesting architecture.


With such beautiful old buildings around the Buell, it wasn't a surprise that Wendy wasn't the only photographer there.


Though the other photographer wasn't taking pictures of stuffed bunnies.


Obviously, photos weren't allowed inside during the show, but I can tell you it was incredible. All of us were completely in awe of the amazing grace and beauty of the dancers, and the orchestra was amazing (though invisible, tucked under the stage and all).


Afterwards, we wandered through downtown Denver, headed towards the perfect restaurant to follow up a Shen Yun performance.

It had really been a while since I'd been downtown, but it was just as nifty as I remembered it.

Nothing says "High Rise Apartments" like an Old Prospector. ShadowOwl and I have both been meaning to take our own "walking tour" of downtown and photograph some of the statues strewn about the city. You never know. We might just do it. Someday. Maybe.

Karen wanted a picture of me with the flowers. And who am I to refuse a photo request?

The Pegasus is new. I hadn't seen this before, and ShadowOwl said they'd just put it in in the past few months.

Really great view from up here, but I'm glad he didn't take off or anything.

And then, there we were. Yummy P.F. Chang's!

Everything at P.F. Chang's is delicious. It was hard to decide what to get.


Well yeah, I had to get a picture with Mr. Chang.

Mmmm, lettuce wraps.

Mmm, dual dessert!

We had the most awesome, most fun, most rabbit friendly waiter that I think we have EVER met. His name is Alon and he rocked. If you're ever at the P.F. Changs downtown and you're lucky enough to get Alon tell him that Gage the Bunny says "howdy" and tip him a lot. He's awesome.


More buildings on the walk back to the car. I forget how pretty downtown can be.

More tall buildings. Being a suburban bunny, I don't really see a lot of tall buildings. They're kind of cool every once in a while.

It was strange being back at the DCPA with no other people there.

Kind of cool, though. Awesome way to end an awesome day. And tomorrow, we're ditching work and going to the zoo (in honor of my and Wendy's birthdays. Mine was the 13th.) Zoo pictures to follow (and I have seriously got to catch up on blog entries. I've done a bunch of stuff, I just didn't post any of it. So yeah, keep an eye out for that too.)

Thanks for visiting. Hope you had a great weekend too.

Kumo: Ninja and Elephant Conquerer Pt 2

Morning didn't work out for Kumo's herd so it was more like early afternoon.

Once again, I met Kumo outside. I didn't bring Voltaire this time figuring a giant herd of elephants might be frightening to my little doggie (and if it was another small herd, seeing them get squished again might be traumatic.)

It actually started out pretty good.


Kumo had a larger herd this time. She set them running in front of her. And then, running behind them, she jumped up!



Quick as a flash, she was over the backs of the elephants heading for the lead elephant, just like Tony Jaa in the movie!


And then there she was, on the head of the lead elephant. Her paw on his forehead, he came to an abrupt stop (just like in the movie! Who knew that's how you dominate an elephant?)



All of the other elephants came around to face their new elephant mistress, Kumo, and bowed. And that was when I started to think there was something a bit strange about these elephants.


As Kumo came over to tell me what an awesome ninja she was, the "elephants" started taking off their masks, and I realized who Kumo had been on the phone with all night last night.


When I told her that I found her herd a little "familiar" she explained to me that she'd had a hard time finding elephants, so she decided to make her own.


Just then my cousin, Justin, wandered over to say "Hi" and remind Kumo that she'd promised all of the cousins she'd hired as elephants that she'd take them out for carrot cake.


So, as Kumo explained to the cousins that she was going to have to drive them over one at a time on her motorcycle because Wendy and I had a birthday party to go to I found myself able to rest assured of two facts:

Kumo has gotten this elephant thing out of her system, and that my dear, sweet, ninja, baby sister is a complete whackadoodle. Though, I wouldn't have her any other way.

Kumo: Ninja and Elephant Conquerer Pt 1

Some of you know my crazy sister, Kumo.

She thinks she's a ninja.

The other night, we watched the movie Ong Bak 2.


Which is a pretty awesome action/martial arts movie. There are some seriously crazy fight scenes and stunts in this film. It's an amazing piece of cinema. Kumo, however, sort of took it as an educational video.

There's a scene in this movie where Tony Jaa runs across the backs of a running herd of elephants. It's not CGI, it's not blue screen, he really did it. And ever since we watched it, Kumo's been talking about reenacting the "running on the tops of the elephants" scene.



Voltaire and I met her outside this afternoon, where she said she'd gotten this elephant thing figured out.


She said the hardest part had been figuring out where to get a herd of elephants. But that Tycho had helped her out.

Tycho showed up just then, and said that he hoped Kumo wasn't disspointed, because it was a pretty small herd of elephants, but that he hoped they'd work for what she wanted to do.



He wasn't kidding when he said a "small herd." They were tiny!


I figured Kumo hadn't told Tycho what her plans for the elephants were, and that that would be the end of it. But Kumo took a look at the elephants and declared that she was going to give it a try!


As she lined up the "herd" I figured maybe she was just going to jump OVER the elephants, and that that would probably be enough like the Tony Jaa scene to make her happy.

I was wrong.

And it went about as well as you would've expected running over the backs of tiny elephants would go. Poor little things.

Tycho rescued his slightly traumatized (and squished) herd and left. And I really thought that would be the end of it. But again, I was wrong.



Kumo said that she had it figured out, she just needed the right elephants. She said to come back to the same place tomorrow morning and I'd see.

And now she's been on the phone all night, but I don't know who she's been calling. I'm almost afraid to see what happens tomorrow morning. But hopefully no more elephants will be squished in her attempt to imitate Tony Jaa.

Fine Farewell for the "Crocodile Hunter"

Crocodile Hunter Gage?

I heard on the radio that there would be a candlelight memorial for Steve Irwin, the "Crocodile Hunter" at the Denver Zoo tonight, and I knew I really wanted to go. With such short notice, I couldn't find anyone else to go with me, they all had other plans, even though a lot of people wanted to come along. So it was just me and Wendy at the Zoo.

I know Australians don't like rabbits, and I even understand why, but I think it's a different kind of rabbit than I am. Whether he liked rabbits or not, I really admired Steve Irwin, and everything he did for conservation and animals all over the world. I think it's a shame that he died so young, and I think the world has grown a little darker for his no longer being in it.

I didn't know how many people would be there, but it turned out to be a pretty good sized crowd. This is shortly after we got there, and a lot more showed up after we did.




It was all put together by a lovely lady called Coco, and her family. She said she just wanted people to have a chance to say "good-bye" to Steve Irwin, and I think that is a very kind thought for those of us who were big fans of his work.

She seemed like a nice lady, seemed to like rabbits, and even had a stuffie of her own in her shirt pocket!




One super nice thing Coco did was set up some posters for people to sign that will then be rolled up and mailed to the Australian Zoo.



In the crowd, I was spotted by the eagle eyes of a nice stuffie named Kane, who came up and said "hi".



Kane told me that he and his human packmate, Joy, just got back from vacationing for a week in Alaska. It sounds like he's had a bunch of great adventures, and I tried to encourage him to start a blog too, but I don't know if he will. Seemed like a very nice fellow though, and it's always nice to meet another traveling stuffie in a crowd.

Eventually, everyone lit their candles, and Coco stood up and gave a lovely speech about what had drawn us all there, the work Steve Irwin had done, and how he had touched so many lives.


She was absolutely right, he will be missed, and I am with her in the belief/hope that his work will continue.

There were lots of very sad children, some crying over the loss of the Crocodile Hunter. But there were also many who, when I talked to them, said they wanted to continue his work. So perhaps some of the next generation of conservationists and zoologists were standing there with us, in front of the Zoo entrance.

All in all, I can't imagine a better farewell for such a kind, and passionate person. Wherever you are, Mr. Irwin, I wish you all the best. You were deeply loved here, touched more lives than you probably knew, and I hope you had a moment to peek over and watch us in Denver, where we were all thinking about you and wishing healing and kindness towards your family.

Thank you Coco for putting this together. It was a lovely way to say "good-bye".

Gratuitous Cuteness

I have a final this afternoon that I'm not sure I'm ready for. So I'm going to go off and study until I have to go to school.

Since I'm stressed out beyond all imagining and don't have time to do a real entry, here is a gratuitously cute puppy picture for you.

The pups are almost completely weaned, nursing more for comfort than nutrition at this point I suspect, and they're becoming independent little monsters doggies all of their own. Voltaire plays with them, and in a doggie motherly way teaches them, but she's starting to want to spend more time with me than she was when they were smaller. So, Voltaire and I have gone back to sleeping on the couch, and the puppies just sleep all over the place, on the floor, in the office.

Last night, Musashi apparently decided to sleep in my jacket. So here's what I woke up to this morning.


Three more weeks and the puppies can go to their new homes!
Anyway, wish me luck on my final! Have a great Tuesday!