Hashtag #zzzpop means I am having a dream. Look it up on Twitter X.

I just had this weird dream.

I was in the 台山 and I was in the peoples liberation army in full military uniform with a small platoon at night time near the river. We were chanting 我們一起要解放台灣！ I was issued a small handheld mortar launcher, with one round of mortar rocket which was small and made of plastic. When we were by the river, I was ordered to load the mortar and fire it. It's just so happened that there was a boatload of peoples liberation army in it. The round exploded, but it did not do any harm because it was just like a firecracker. After that, I was questioning my superiors what was the purpose of our mission. No one seems to have an explanation.

==

I finally turned on my SAD light. I've been feeling blue.

But I shouldn't complain... I did pretty well at the Silverbells crafts faire. Sold over $1500 mostly my doodles.

Of course being in pain from my osteoarthritis is a drag. I guest. It's all karma I guess… For all the bad karma from the pain I am awarded with good karma for my art.

It's weird so many things in art are happening for me right now. I currently have an exhibit called now and then at NJAHS Gallery along with Leon and Rich. Ros paid us a $500 stipend too!

We're all a bunch of old farts now. Rich is 79 , Leon is 77 and I am 72.

The three amigos

==

my matt cutter looks like this

I've got my art up at Taisho restaurant. Darryl finally hung up some of my art. I try to go there and do a live painting session on Fridays.

At Taisho

Shit I'm missing my matte cutter!
==

Hidden Dragon,
4' x 4''

I've got an upcoming exhibition with the Edge on the Square gallery called Hidden Dragons. That's some times in March.

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I have a 18 day exhibition at the Blue Stream gallery on Grant Avenue towards the end of the year. It's a huge gallery and gonna be a one man show. I'm naming it Out of the Blue.

Because of the massive size Gallery, I plan to fill it up with large paintings. Which I must paint now on the spot.

Seems like my pain in my osteoarthritic hip is getting worse and it's been hurting. It takes a while for me to stand up in every move his pain. I am afraid it may get to a point where I cannot walk at all and I will really be wheelchair bound And homebound.

==

It is winter time and the days or shorter and the nights are longer which can give me the winter blues. Usually, I pull up my light box and sit in front of it every day during the winter so that I will not get so depressed. But I have not been doing that this time around. I find myself sleeping for a long time and losing track of daytime and night time.

==

Recently, I have not been drawing as much. Is that a sign of depression? Art is all I have left in my life. I can no longer do any screen printing because it requires standing up and being able to carry things. I have sold my Screen Print equipment for a real cheap. I cannot do photography neither because it requires being able to run around which I cannot do now due to the osteoarthritis.

How's it been going? Every once in a while I remember I have this blog. I started many years ago but have not added anything new. What's going on with me at the moment? Seems like my Osteo arthritis on my left hip is not getting any better if not getting worse. I'm worried that would make it to a point where I cannot walk at all. There are 30 steps from the street up into the house here and one day I may not be able to walk that at all.

Currently, I am having an exhibit at the national Japanese American historical society in town along with Rich Tokeshi and Leon Sun. It is called now and then.

The exhibit will be up till the end of the year.

The world has become surreal since March.

What have I been doing? Mostly staying indoors. I've been going out to get senior lunches mostly at Kimochi as an activity to force me to get out and do some walking.

Sometimes you feel like a lean how… Sometimes you don't

Sorry, I have hardly touched this Xanga blog. Does anyone even look at this blog? It feels so lonely here. I feel like I'm talking to a blank wall coming here.

What's up with me? I'm still in pain with severe osteoarthritis of the left hip and knee. Need a walker wherever I go. Yes...I am disabled.My world is so limited. It takes a lot for me to go anywhere. I have to plan how I will transport myself to and back. How much walking will be involved as well as the logistics.

It's easy to forget I've got this condition. When I talk I think that I am normal and can walk and stand for long periods like before, but when I come to my senses, I remember that I can't walk.

I got a commission by the Chinese Culture Center to do their second annual Hungry Ghost Festival. I caught this festival twice while I was Hong Kong and Penang, Malaysia forty seven years ago. It is a highly spiritually charged festival.

In every neighborhood there would be an altar with a giant paper effigy of Da Shi Yeh（大士爺）， the King of Hell. Before the face of Da Shi Yeh would be covered with red paper. On the first day of the ghost month there would be a ceremony to take off the red paper to welcome the King of Hell. During the month neighborhoods all have altars, paper ghost effigies, food offerings and stages with live entertainment such as Chinese Opera, modern Chinese singing etc. for the wandering and hungry ghosts. The front row is left empty for wandering ghosts.

On the fifteenth day paper joss money, incense as well as the giant paper ghost king effigy is burnt to send him and all the ghosts back to hell/heaven till next year.

It's a new year!

I must say 2023 was a tough year for me. My osteoarthritis on my left hip has gotten worse. It's down to bone on bone pain. The cartilage is probably mostly gone. Any weight or shifting onto my left hip sends a sharp shooting pain. I went from using trekking poles to canes now I require a walker to get anywhere. The walker helps keep my balance better. I hardly go anywhere anymore.

==

So... all I have left in my life is my art. Al Cheng used my dragon's for his whiskey club. No problem! Looks good!

I feel like Saggy Baggy the elephant. One year older and feeling different.

What can I say... it has been painful with this osteoarthritis on my left hip. My world has gotten smaller since I have been limited in my mobility.
I wished the condition would miraculously disappear and I am no longer experiencing such pain and able to walk and do the things I used to do.

I find myself praying to god as I'm trying to go to sleep. And I am not religious neither! I am desperate!

During the day I've been taking 600 mg of ibuprofen. And to sleep I've been taking 650 mg of Tylenol for arthritis. The doctor gave me hydrocodone for pain but I have been reluctant to take it since it is an opioid drug. I can easily become addicted to it since I would have to take it every day. It is a very controlled drug. They only give me five days worth at a time. Kaiser wouldn't send me hydrocodone neither. I have to personally go into the pick it up at the pharmacy.

I need a walker wherever I go now. Hope to purchase an electric mobility scooter soon.

It's been hard doing simple household chores.

==

Thinking of my father who lived to 72 years old.

I'm afraid my condition would get worse and I am unable to walk at all. The pain becomes unbearable. I can't do anything for myself. Not even wiping my o reds I will require to be in an assisted living facility. Those places can cost over $7k a month. Where can I get that kind of money? Mine as well talk that exit pill.

==
I've been taking ozempic like about three months. I currently weigh about 192. That's coming from weighing about 230 lbs. ozempic takes away my appetite and I easily feel full. So I can't put down food like I used to.
==
I am no longer screen printing. I sold my exposure unit and conveyorized dryer for cheap. $800.

I've given away all my plastisol inks to Cameron. Probably over a thousand bucks worth.

I still have my Hopkins 4C printer and my Starter Line 4C Hopkins printer. I have to get rid of it. Anyone want it? Cheap!

I have a a bunch of Newman retensionable screens too.
==

I am posting from my new iPad 9th generation. I got this iPad because it Roy Sexton convinced me to get one in order to draw. It cost me over $400 from Costco.com with the Apple Pencil.

I find that there is a bit of a learning curve here. I am trying to learn how to use Procreate to draw. I also have another program that I use called Tayasui sketches, which I am a bit familiar with on my iPhone.

We shall see how this will progress as time goes on, and as I learn more about the drawing programs using the iPad.

This was a small exhibit at the Chinese Culture Center four years ago. Just thought I'd paste the introduction about me.

On Growing Up in a Chinatown Store
Curator: Alice Wu
Date: 4/27 – 10/27/19
Location: CCC Design Store, 750 Kearny St. 3rd Floor. CA 94108

On Growing Up in a Chinatown Store is styled as a hybrid of gallery and retail, featuring the art of Leland Wong, selections of vintage inventory from his father’s Chinatown curio shop, and installations by Amy Li Projects, Lions Den, Choose Chinatown, Ooga Booga, and Pearl River Mart. Leland’s artwork and the legacy of Fueng Wah Company reflect a personal history of San Francisco Chinatown, shown in fellowship with innovative art and design-focused enterprises in New York and Los Angeles Chinatowns. This CCC Design Store exhibit invites visitors to discover the backstories of these spaces, and shop from a hand-picked selection of art and design goods.

Leland Wong (b. 1952) is best known for his hand-screenprinted posters, illustrations, and photographs focusing on Asian American life. He was born and raised in San Francisco’s Chinatown, where his father operated Fueng Wah Company (1942-1970), a Grant Avenue curio shop for tourists. The Wong family lived in a loft in the store. Alongside the souvenir trinkets, novelty items, and eclectic Asian imports, the elder Wong sold his own calligraphy, prints, and paintings at the shop. Leland helped his parents run Fueng Wah until the shop’s 1970 closure. Leland cites his father’s encouragement and the experience of growing up in the store as important in his decision to become an artist.

While the Fueng Wah novelty items surrounding him in his youth had a great influence on Leland’s waggish aesthetic, his experiences as a young man track through the years of the Civil Rights Movement, urban riots, Vietnam War, and college campus protests. Increasingly conscious of the social problems in Chinatown and among Asian Americans, Leland became deeply involved with community organizations such as Chinatown North Beach Youth Council, Kearny Street Workshop, and Japantown Arts and Media. Leland created artwork to promote their events and to express social justice concerns. He has now been active as an artist for over five decades.

Bonsai Tears, that was the title Steve Nakajo gave the poster. He interpreted the design to be the eye giving out tears to nourish the bonsai tree. The bonsai tree symbolizing Japanese culture and tradition.

The year was 1974. I was twenty one years old. In my fourth year at San Francisco State University as an art major. I was ready to graduate but had two general studies requirements I had to take. I was in no rush because I decided I also wanted to learn Chinese and wanted to take the second semester course.

I was doing psychedelic light shows with the Kanzaki brothers. Our group was called Red Lantern light show. It consisted of three of us mainly. Ron and Kenny Kanzaki and I. I was the main and only artist of the group. I wound up developing the bulk of the material we used in the light show. I consisted of slide projectors and overhead projectors along with spinning wheels with color gels. We did light shows at various dances and concerts so we did a bit of traveling whenever we were hired to do lightshows. Later we were hired by Glide Church to do the lightshows during their celebrations.

Community street fairs were happening in many communities in San Francisco. Chinatown was doing the Hop Jok fair. The Kanzaki brothers along with Nakajo and others in J-Town wanted to do a street fair in Japantown too. I was the convenient artist around to design and print the first Nihonmachi Street Fair poster. I don't think I got paid much to do the poster. I drew the poster in my basement studio. I remember using the eyedropper from the India ink bottle to draw the bonsai tree. At the time I was growing bonsai trees at the time. One of the ways I enjoyed viewing the bonsai tree was putting my eye right up to the bottom of the tree and imagine me sitting right under the tree. We printed the poster at Kearny Street Workshop, an Asian community arts organization I was involved with at the time. It a simple two color poster.

There were not any community booths. Only one booth sold beer and that was Red Lantern's booth. It was mostly a music festival at the peace paged plaza. The main draw was Azteca, a popular recording latin band at the time. A lot of latinos from the Mission district attended the fair. It was a jam packed crowd and the street fair was a success.

Who knew that it would lead up for me to do the Nihonmachi Street fair poster for the next thirty years.