“Little Stone” – i.e. Stone and Gougou’s son – celebrated his first birthday today in the company of his parents and his four “uncles,” Ashin, Masa, Monster and Guanyou. Just for fun, they played a game in which they all laid out presents for said Small Fry, then waited to see which one he would pick up on his own. Stone provided a picture of himself and his wife, Ashin brought an electronic toy and some markers, Monster went for the wildly inappropriate and brought something for gambling (I assume this means things like cards or mah-jong tiles), Guanyou mistook Little Stone for his daughter and brought both women’s make-up and a calculator (so he can dream of selling insurance like Guanyou does?). This article adds CDs to the mix, and since the other one didn’t mention what Masa brought, we’ll just assume that’s it (especially as it includes a picture of Masa with Big and Little Stone alongside the CDs).
After assembling this odd miss-mash of items – none of which, to be perfectly honest, scream “baby’s first birthday” to me – they set Small Fry on the table among them and waited to see which item he’d choose as his favorite.
Stone expressed some apprehension about the whole thing, hoping that his offspring would not go for anything too girly (like the make-up, though Guanyou tried to defend it saying that make-up artists earn good money) or involving betting, like all the gambling gear.
The dear thing is apparently not yet harboring dreams of taking after Daddy, as the first thing he did was pick up the CD and toss it aside. Little Stone took a full twenty minutes to decide, but finally settled on a typewriter, which is oddly not mentioned as coming from any of the band members. (What, did they just forget to move it off the table?) So, they joked, maybe he’ll grow up to be a writer. I suppose you can never decide too early what you intend to do, though this might be pushing it a bit. Stone, of course, will be a published author himself soon, as his book co-written with his wife on family life and raising their son will be out in May.
(There’s a ton of news actually, but I’ll be posting most of it tomorrow. Too much to do between now and late afternoon…)
What is it with Guanyou? Does he do this stuff just to “be Guanyou”? And who has a typewriter anymore? I happen to know Stone’s a Mac guy. I smell a book publicity stunt. However, WHAT a cute kid!
I read in some other article that Masa brought the little typewriter and a camera.
This news clip (http://youtube.com/watch?v=DnLOajI3F6Q) reports on Little Stone’s “抓周” (begins 08:26)
i think it’s a kind of chinese tradition for placings several things on the table for the 1yr old baby to choose from.
apparently, the older chinese feels that from what the baby choose, the parents wld be able to make a guess what’s the baby would be interested when he/she grows up.
e.g. from the presents of other mayday’s members,
pen (or typewriter from masa in this case) – will become writer or talented in literary skills in the future
calculator (frm yanming) – accountant or something similar (like figures and money and counting, etc)
color pens (frm ashin) – artist, etc
mahjong tiles (frm guaishou) – like to gamble in the future?
i think this should explain the “weird presents”
That’s a very odd tradition. That’s a cute kid, though. I noticed a few other odds and ends on that table that the articles seem to leave out. There’s a bobblehead of a baseball player and a control for an X-Box. I suppose the X-Box control is for the electronic game that Ashin brought.
Yup, it’s definitely a chinese tradition, there’s also another name for it called “试儿”. That literally means “to test the child”. It’s supposed to be celebrated at the first-year birthday of the kid, and it’s to reflect the love of the parents towards the child. But like Y said, it’s to test the kid in order to get an inkling of his future tendencies and career path.
And apparently Guan You bought the makeup hoping that Little Stone would become a makeup artist haha
ok, i noticed that monster’s get-up is exactly the same as what he wore to the doctors! lol. and it’s a stay real tee. oh man, they are so endorsing ashin’s clothing label!