This is the first retractable banner ( 道旗 ) made for Dallas Chinese Calligraphy & Painting Association. Many people besides our members liked to take pictures in front of it during today's event. Some of our senior members were amazed by the banner. 

Eight members donated money to make this banner. Five of them are also members of North America Chinese Cheongsam "Qipao" Association, Dallas Chapter. Three of them are actually painters.

We first came up with the idea of making a retractable banner after I made my own with TopCopy last December. We voted for it on January 23, 2016. Then we started by donating money and assigning the spots for each member according to the amounts of donations. As the President of the Association, I was the one responsible to collect money, design, and coordinate with another printing shop. To meet the due date, we went through many inefficient communications since the girls do not understand the importance of fize sizes of their pictures... The commitee of Plano AsiaFest also made a banner of their own. The initial design was made by a lady (a friend of my friend) who left her job from the publisher... In return, I had to be in charge of two banners. (Since our Association does not pay for the rent to Plano Courtyard Theater for the joint exhibition, I decided to pay for the design fee of Plano AsiaFest's banner.) The Chinese owner of the printing shop has a son who barely knows Chinese... I was assigned to work with a Mexican who does not know Chinese either. Then I spent three hours in their office to coordinate all the words to be included in our banner. With all those lengthy and uneffective communications for more than twenty hours, plus the lenghthy coordinating and planning of today's event with other art organizations and Plano AsiaFest commitee of no less than thirty hours since December 2015, my accounting work schedules, personal life, and health were affected. During the ten-day period before March 20, my lunch hours were usually 3:30PM or 4PM.

Retractable Banner Design Processes  { keep index-4 since it was sent in emails; index-1 to index-6 deleted }

Accupuncture has been very helpful for my minor problems. Since December 2015, I have had coughing, stomachake, muscle aches, heartburn, and then allergy to pollens... Finally I had time to have an accupuncture treatment on March 22. I am the person who usually does not take pills or see medical doctors. I adhere to balances of life styles, flowing of Qi and energy, and etc. However due to the extensive demonstration and teaching schedules early this year, my personal well being fluctuated a lot - I became sick or weak very soon if I don't take care of myself, also, recover very quickly when I take care of myself. Currently, one of two accunpuncture treatments are very suffice for me.

As an accountant and artist, I closely monitor my health conditions, especially for nerve systems and visions. The last accunpuncture treatment I had was sometime before Thanksgiving 2015. Due to conflicting schedules, I have had some minor problems - coughing being the number one due to excessive talking at work and repeated explanations to audiences during events. Finanlly the accupunture treatment on March 22 gave me great relief! Like my father, we usually don't go to see a doctor until the last minute when we are very sick. In a word, stubborn. For me, no time. But never stingy.

Sometimes I wanted to divide tasks among our new members. But due to limitations of communication and the knowledge levels of CalligraPainting and our Assoication, it's more effective to complete them by myself. Dallas Chinese Calligraphy & Painting Association was founded in 1997. Now at least 60% of our members are over 60 years old and are not so active as in a few years ago. Now the responsibilities of sharing these arts fall on the younger generation. Our very best wishes for our senior members!

Due to distractions such as space and time limitation and noises, substandard samples are not included here.

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Good fortune or blessings, 福

I love you ( 我愛你 ) in Chinese calligraphy

Mandarin

Joshua's Journal:

Today

Time management is really important.