Propaganda Dancing

Mingus came back from the vet’s with his left eye sewn shut and tubes sticking out. He was still heavily drugged when we got him and could not do more than stagger. However, he was in panic mode and ran around trying to knock the stuff from his eye. He could not stand the Elizabethan collar the vet put on him and removed it six times in a row within fifteen seconds of putting it on him, so I gave up. The only way I could calm him down and keep him from hurting himself was to sit up with him all night shut in my bedroom with the door closed, petting him and talking to him. Finally at 5:30 a.m. he fell asleep for an hour and a half and I slept for an hour. We had expensive tickets to Shen Yun in Boston the next afternoon. I told Woody we could not go, but he was angry because of the price of the tickets and that it was to be a birthday present for me. I called my friend Janet Lowenstein and asked her if she could catsit Mingus all day. She was willing. She’s fed the cats while we’re traveling so they know her and even Xena likes her. it was bitter cold in Boston with a cutting wind. I had hoped to walk to Chinatown to have dim sun but as soon as we got out of the car, it was clear it would be painful. We ate at Abby Lane across the street at what they call the chef’s table where you can watch all that’s going on in the kitchen. We enjoyed that and the food. We could see that ticket holders were lined up for most of the block across the street and the lien was barely moving. The waitress advised us to sit in the restaurant as long as we could. We did and then waited with a bunch of other ticketholders inside the entrance. Finally it was getting late so we went across the joined the freezing crowd. The Wang Center doesn’t seem to have solved the problem of getting people in. As a person in line pointed out, even with the rather rudimentary security that everyone had to go through at the Wang, at Gillette Stadium they move far more people along through more stringent security at a fast pace. The dancing was spectacular. I was curious how classic Chinese dancing differs from classical ballet. We both enjoyed the dancing but not the propaganda about their religion, Falun gong. I feel like you can propagandize if the performance is free, but not when you charge a lot for the tickets. But the ensemble dancing and costumes were gorgeous and the use of props, very skillful. The program incorporated a Tibetan and a Mongolian and an Eastern Chinese folk dance. We were still glad we went in spite of the propaganda. Mingus slept most of Saturday on or with Janet. We rushed back, skipping supper. Mingus occasionally tries to get rid of the tubes and stitches and I stop him, but mostly he accepts having only one usable eye and has been angelic about it. He does blackmail Woody into lying with him on his chest for at least two hours every evening while they watch a Netflix film together. I am trying to get medical marijuana for my glaucoma, as even after all the operations and the pressing on the eyeball 4 times a day and using prescription eyedrops twice a day, my pressure is easing upward. My father went blind with glaucoma, an outcome I’d like to avoid. But getting medical marijuana even in a state where pot is legal now is taking forever to navigate the usual unresponsive bureaucracy. So far, I have doctor’s approval but can’t get through the state obstacles. Mild midweek; frigid weekend with about 6 inches of new snow. More expected in midweek. Ugh. It’s beautiful out there but so cold it’s hard to endure. Some March. My birthday month is disappointing me big time.