Quick Note on Chinese People and Firecrackers

So, J and I live near a park. This comes with certain benefits, like loudspeakers broadcasting exercise calls upon first light of dawn, lots of families with their butt-baring babies roaming around, and wide open spaces for lighting firecrackers.

This third benefit has really been taking the cake lately. I know this sounds like some kind of lame racist observation, but really, Chinese people love their firecrackers. Maybe they're still riding the high of the "Aha!" moment when they first invented them some five thousand years ago or something. Who knows.

Sometimes, they do it during special events like Mid-Autumn Festival or National Day (this is completely justified--in fact, I'd be a little disappointed if they held back); and sometimes, they'll do it, say, three days after a major holiday (this I can roll with...you've got some residual sparkle-sprouts stockpiled somewhere and your fingers itch to light 'em up! I say go for it!). But sometimes, I swear, they're just setting the suckers off because it's, like, Thursday. Is this really necessary? Especially when prime firecracking hours seem to fall during that awkward time that's just a little bit earlier than your alarm clock, but just a little late to justify going back to sleep? *This is me shaking my fist!*

Anyway, I know by the time J and I wake up (usually around 8 or 9ish, if we have stuff to do), all of Chinesedom has been up and about for at least 3 full hours, eating all manner of fried dough and constructing highrises and such, so I shouldn't be such a baby. (Actually, this reminds me of a funny but slightly unrelated anecdote: one time, my grandma woke my brother up at like 10am to take her to the supermarket, and she spent the entire drive telling him how lazy he is and how while Andrew was slumbering his life away, Dad had already made a few hundred dollars... No? Not funny? Maybe it was just us, but we had a good laugh about Grandma's pointed rhetoric.)

OK, so now I'm just rambling, and this was supposed to be a quickie. Let's just say that even though I've spent most of my life thinking that I'm Chinese, it's a little strange to be here and get smacked in the face with all the ways that make me less Chinese and more American. But I'll probably do some boring heartfelt post about that kinda thing later.