Though many have heard me gripe and complain about the myriad of things that make me crazy at the ROM, there are at least as many things that keep me working here. Like tonight, for instance, Chinese New Year Celebration. This is probably my very favourite Friday night event and it happens every year. It's so popular that the media covers it. Every year. I don't get to see much of it, being at the front desk, but the Lion Dancers always start in the Rotunda and they're great. This year they are all kids, probably between twelve and fifteen years old and all of them a bunch of hams. They really perform for the audience, taking the Lions up to the spectators while they dance. In fact, this year, we discovered that the rear dancer in each lion controls the tail and they made them wag ! The kids doing the dancing were quite funny, milling around before it was time to perform. They were pulling marshal arts type poses at each other and one of them grabbed a streamered cymbal and put it on his head to add to the effect.

Whoo, here they come again, people are scurrying out of the way !!!

Awesome ! Man are those boys sweaty now. The girls with the cymbals are pretty flushed too. Now people are asking them questions. I just learned that those adorable wagging tails are actually quite heavy, whereas the heads that are lifted way into the air and -look- heavy aren't so much. They're drumming in the Currelly Gallery again, but the lions are just lying, unattended here in the Rotunda. People are posing with them, taking pictures with them, touching them... This is one of the many things that makes working at the ROM a wonderful experience.

In case you ever wondered why I would work here for five years.

Besides, where do you think I get all my amazing stupid-people stories?