John's Blog

They say the best things in life are free, but in this case they just seem rather reasonably priced. I drove past this sign twice today in Chinatown, and wanted to whip out my camera phone to document it. But with my "inappropriate filter" locked safely in place because we were there for a funeral, I had to behave and keep all my smart-assed remarks to myself. But no longer. I really don't have a clue what they were really offering, but I can hope that my first instinct is correct.

Most of my weekend involved maneuvering through both the streets of Lower Manhattan as well as the customs and practices of a very traditional Chinese funeral. Needless to say, I spent much time lost and confused, so this sign was just one example.

We spent several hours on Saturday folding joss, which is thin paper with foil embellishments that after being folded and rolled resembles money. It is then burned to provide the deceased with money to spend in the afterlife. Personally, I wanted to take a few of them and fold them into a paper ATM which I felt could be helpful, but once again the "inappropriate filter" kicked in and I kept the thought to myself. But apparently my idea wasn't all that wacky, since I found out that there is joss paper available that represents "MP3 players, planes, boats and even paper condoms, paper prostitutes and Viagra".

Unfortunately, the busy agenda didn't leave us enough time to visit one of my favorite spots for take-out, The Big Wong Restaurant. It's not the food I like, but their plastic containers make for some great lunchroom conversations when I reuse them to take food to work.

Tags: life experiences, pointless rambling, history, culture