dawn of the panda hat

When people make a to-do list for a visit to China, I think that the list goes like

1) hike the Great Wall and ponder the engineering feat

2) consider our quests for immortality while reviewing the Terracotta Warriors

3) OHMYGOSH PANDA EVERYTHING.

Well upon our arrival in Chengdu, we immediately booked our trip to the panda breeding center (in my opinion the video provided excessive details regarding techniques to ensure progeny). After ooh-ing and ahh-ing over pandas (!) for a few hours, we exited through the gift shop. A certain panda had quickly caught Tanu's eye and she bought it without haste. For me, however, Jim Carey's "The Mask" taught me to distrust any potentially enchanted masks/hats--and anything panda is most certainly enchanted.

True to Hollywood, for the next few days we had an Indian panda with us. Tanu transformed and would often speak in the third person--er.. animal: "panda is hungry" or "panda is tired" or "panda wants to do jump shot."

feed panda!

panda must hug prayer wheel!

panda loves cheesy Chinese poses (we actually did see this pose)

The hat eventually wore my defenses down and I tried it on. But hungry for my soul, it took me about three steps too far:

Not sure what I was thinking. Oh wait, I wasn't thinking- THE HAT WAS CONTROLLING ME.

I guess my parents'd trade me for a panda any day.

Just like my almost-was addiction to World of Warcraft, I was able to pull off the monster pretty quickly after this fiasco and returned to normal (for me).

Now it sits in Tanu's room, perched on the top of her book shelves, waiting for another host...