Happy Lego Lunar New Year!

 

February 10th, 2024 has arrived, and with it I have officially completed IRVING!  Yes, Irving the Auspicious New Year Dragon.  In truth, I had finished him several days before, but as a symbolic personal gesture, I did not affix the plaque (seen in lower third of photo) until today.

I named the dragon Irving (Full name Irving Long), when a joke made by comedian Jon Stewart crossed my thoughts unbidden.  Jon was making up the name of a law firm with two WASPy names and one stereotypically “Jewish” name.  “Williams, Flagstone… and OOIIIIVIIINNNGG!” said Mr. Stewart.

Irving, thought I.  Yes, Irving.  It’s a nice sanguine salt-of-the-earth name.  Not a mighty name normally associated with a dragon, but I liked the juxtaposition.  As mentioned above, his full name is Irving Long.  The word “long” is Mandarin for the giant, divine serpent erroneously referred to by we Western folk as a “dragon,” since we had no other cultural analogue.

In fact, the long and the dragon could be no more different than an angelfish and a piranha.  The long is wise and generous, it bestows luck and prosperity often in the shape of a pearl.  Quiniu, Yazi, Chaofeng, Panlong, Bixi, Dilong, Pulao, Suanni, Tianlong… some were associated with nature and common folk, while others fathered mighty emperors who established long-lived royal dynasties.  Yes, some are indeed fierce, but are nowhere as diabolical as the dragon, which is a hoarder of gold, a destroyer of cities, and the bane of many a western hero.  Think of Beowulf’s wyrm, or St. George’s serpent, the ill-fated Túrin Turambar versus Glaurung,  the bright eyed mariner Eärendil versus Ancalagon the Black, or Bard the Bowman, who, with the aid of a burglar hobbit named Bilbo, took down Smaug - the scourge of Erebor, the harrier of Laketown, and last of the great dragons of Middle Earth.

While constructing Irving, my imagination soared.  In my mind, I rode along with these undulating chimaera that patrolled the sun, the air, and the deeps of the sea.  I nearly got caught up with visions of a good year ahead.

Almost.

Then I received grim reminders from my friends of the storms that flood Los Angeles.  News of two aged men - both with increasing displays of senescence rather than wisdom - who strive to take the executive seat of the most powerful nation on earth.  The ice caps that melt into the increasingly heated oceans.  Outbreaks of international wars.  Governments that hoard resources like coiled dragons…

I’m not feeling very fortunate now.

Yet, I still have my health, my beloved wife, my dear mother… and a dragon named Irving Long.

Xīnnián kuàilè,

- JJB