*August Moon Festival on August 18th, 2002* (2,030 words)

Location: Chinatown, Boston -First Draft Revision 2 - ABRIDGED EDIT (all set to leave restricted access)

PART I: A Prelude Cut Short

An accomplished writer's goal is to put across an idea using the least amount of words. Though for me, any event is worth more than five thousand words. Since this is a personal narration- brevity need not apply here. At the same time, May is limiting my wisdom and accepted wisdom to a page. Thus, I will try to be as contrite, I mean- concise as possible- short and snappy, promise. Here's a prelude cut short: I met Wendy on the train after blowing $300 on clothes. Now I was oblivious to why she wanted to volunteer at a rock concert- seemed overly eccentric for such a shy girl. It's the static, I know. What was supposed to be August Fest. malformed itself in my auditory canal as "Oz Fest." I feel somewhat stupid having stated, "Hmm, I don't know- I don't really like rock music much Wendy..." Sadly enough I didn't grasp my mistake till my friend Andrew searched online for Oz Fest tour dates in Boston. Which was never.

7:30 A.M. The girls gathered at a street corner in Chinatown- which was as Chinese as ever. Cigarette butts and the mid segment of a Miss Pucca doll, in place of leaves and acorn, were rapped on by-not blustery weather- rather, miasma blowing out of a butcher's sewer grate. You can't wholeheartedly blame the litter & debris on dyed hair ackdongs; in fact, partial liability rests on old people. Especially, the old people. In short of my picturesque view, I made out Wendy au milieu and sauntered over there. But not without the proper sacraments, no doubt. I felt out of place because all the volunteers were girls. I had doubts about Henry, but he didn't come until later- so they were all girls. Lint: brushed off; v-neck: still a V; broadcloth outer shirt: flappable; Nike visor: starched and white; bamboo fan: very Azn; and finally, shades- taut and affixed to hair. Time to strut. So I walked over there and no one said anything really. Okay... Whew, got my t-shirt and made it back. Afterwards, I basically stood there until familiar faces such as Lisa arrived. We started moving tables and chairs hereon. The tables were the perfect distraction for my anxieties and were of no trouble. The girls were signing a contact list, but I thought I'd hassle them to ask if I could sign. Not a big deal really. That's not so much for detail- though I don't feel like describing the scenery or provide any telling facts about Chinatown. Basically, a lot of merchants and there was a distinct Chinatown smell. I apologize if this is monotonous or uninspiring to you- just that I can't write about murder, sex, drugs, and infidelity with the wife here. From that point on, my only aims were to finish my job and leave for home.

Part II: The "Little Fluffy Clouds"

I'm inept at remembering names- one individual told me her name and five minutes later, I had no idea what it was. This was at camp. Many times I call Andrew's cell phone and ask if Leon is there. When I am not able to remember Emily, Karen, Lisa, or Sophie's name- I just call them all Josephine. So bear with me if I can't recall half the names of people I've met during the festival. Actually, names have every bit of relevance in my synopsis. The other James (James Zheng) and I had a laugh since people kept confusing us. It's just the A and the E! He kept getting my Latin papers back from Ms. Shea (uh oh..)! We got pleasure out of tossing garbage into a truck, and I had fun poking fun at his photography skills. Good times, good times. Maybe I should go by a name by name approach instead of chronological order? Kaite would be next since his name was interesting as well. I thought he was Korean on account of his name and his knowledge of k-pop (Korean Pop) music. Actually, my second guess presumed him to be Japanese. Well only Japanese by name: Kai-te. For some reason we looked familiar to each other. (For those who don't know Kaite- He goes to Edna's ASC SAT I Preparation course, is going to be a senior at North Quincy, wore red tinted sunglasses and sat between me and Elliot during dinner.) We deducted that very possibly we saw each other at Structure.

The rest of the afternoon did not have much bearing to myself in particular; consequently, I can't say I remember much of it. We made balloons and lots of them. Everyone helped out: Wendy inflated the multi-coloured things- Anne, Henry, Elliot, Lisa, and others tied them up with ribbons. The C.C.B.A. guy and I tied balloons onto the stage. It was rather relaxing to bask in the sun rays and watch rubber knock against rubber. The work was secondary only to the laughter, entertainment and the occasional mishaps. You know, one or two balloons had gone AWOL- several exploded, and a string of them had gone MIA soon after.

At first I was infuriated by the DJ next to us, who was playing church songs and recitations on women's rights- you would know if you knew how into music I am. Later on, I realized that was all he had . The guy even asked me if I could bring him some Chinese music. So I did- bought a CD at this store. Now I don't listen to C-pop at all. Additionally, I forgot how to read Chinese after all these years. So I browsed through them- saw a Billboard 18 Compilation- Sure, they looked hot enough, and gave it to him. The music playing during cleanup and the latter part of the day? That was all me baby. After the balloons were finished, Lisa and I went to get some free Fuze drinks. It was so amusing how the Fuze guy randomly had Lisa take a picture with the Fuze bottle. (The Fuze guy was so nice! He gave us that big bag of ice we used in two shakes of a lamb's tail) People left for lunch; I just stayed near the stage since my friends didn't come yet. Wein found me soon after and we discussed how the festival was plagued with political intent instead of celebration: We had Romney's Lieutenant Governor nominee, treasurers, and other Caucasians coming up to the stage to get their own thirty seconds of advertising- In Chinatown, on a Chinese holiday. Meanwhile, I missed the afternoon shift due to my misinterpretations. I apologized at the volunteer table where others like myself were sitting. Nothing fascinating at that point- except this girl at my school recognized me and asked if I was the same James who wrote prelude. Again, the thing about random people reading my work. All the same, I was delighted she took interest and we got to talking.

Part III: iio Rapture

"You said we'd meet under the gate at twelve." Andrew startled me. I expressed regret with a grin and it was a given. Leon came along as well. And I was waiting all day for them to arrive and relieve me of you know- of my foreign surroundings. Ok, they were all girls and I knew the few guys who were there anyway. In this manner, my friends left and I trudged right behind them. Now I've just realized that where we ate lunch has no significance to my story. This is my first draft so bear with me, sorry. Now then Chinatown never looked cleaner after the celebration ended and after we sterilized the whole town of course. Cleanup had been tiresome and problematic; though I think time willingly passed by. Needless to say it was a gratifying experience: to be helping your community even if most of us were from Dorchester, South Boston, Quincy, and similarly far away places. At some points, it seemed hopeless for me to sweep the streets since trash collected into mountainous piles and the stubborn wind just beckoned more trash into the streets. I was relieved when May, Kaite, Henry, and the girls came to where I was and started to help out. The whodunit (you always need one) presented itself to be how I broke my broom. I've never done that in my entire life and hope that wasn't a bad omen. In fact, my suspicion rested on me doing too many reps and seeing that "it was a $9.95 broom," quoted Kaite. Throwing garbage into the truck was the most nauseating: ok that's redundant since it was trash and trash, especially Chinese people's trash, smell really really bad. Plus, I got turtle juice on my shirt after throwing some boxes in. Pushing the helium canister seven blocks was perhaps the most mind-boggling, tense shifting experience ever. James and I had to coordinate, visualize, and send that thing to Dynasty. It was serious merriment and a great workout. Not to mention there was more of the shoving ice down girl's shirts, as Elliot demonstrated yet again- during our break.

Part IV: Fin

Dinner was categorically the best part. It was like when Moses freed the Israelites when I sat down and Noah having his ark flooded when I went to the bathroom. (that's Writing Core 40 "Biblical Allusions") I did drink eight sodas and two aquafinas. Regardless, I didn't mind the hour wait for the food. I wasn't hungry at all. The excitement, labour, and the experience had left me in a satisfied stupor. I sat between Kaite and Henry at the end of our table, which was two rounds covered with table cloth. Helen was directly across from me, and there was Anne on one side, Nancy and Elliot on the other and some other girls. I can't really impart on the cuisine given this is not a food review. We did, however, have seven or eight courses and plenty of ice water. James got Elliot, Henry and me together for a picture- and wanted us to "get intimate." That was funny, but I think Henry was taking it a bit too far there when he shouted "James you love him more than me!" In any case, the food at Empire Garden, respectfully, was decent and enjoyable. It only took us an hour to decide who should break up the fish. Henry decided he had the audacity to do so. And so, we chatted a bunch, ate food, and did similarly normal things at dinner: for example, run your finger back and forth across a glass to hear the "reverberations", trying to connect two glasses together- only to break it and to hide it under the table, etc. That was one of the longest dinners I've ever had although I didn't mind. Towards 9:30 or so, some volunteers began to leave and Kaite nudged me, told me how two seats were open at the opposing table. He caught on pretty fast. We were bickering about this quandary if anyone saw us. I, on the other hand, decided to stay to see Anne bite Henry and Henry throwing paper balls down Nancy's shirt. No point in moving tables when the action was this dramatic. Finally and regretfully, our glass squeaking contests came to a halt- no more loitering- we had to go. I'm not sure if there was a gathering at the commons that late at night; Kaite and I headed for the T. He told me about the hookers at 3A.M. while I enlightened him about S.E.S.'s plastic surgery. Consequently, it took us a while to find the station. Kaite's pretty fascinating- I still can't believe he's going to be a senior next year (ok, no age jokes here, hah). It seemed that we missed our stop, Downtown Crossing, since we were so busy chatting about humdrum subjects which warrant no mention. It was tiring, it was fun. Still, there's wasn't an excuse for putting orange juice in the kitchen cabinet. That's my ending. Bai!

-James Zhang webmaster wolfyserver.org AIM: thatbiggbadwolfy 6173063533@mobile.att.net