brainylady

Xin Nian Kwai Le! Gong Xi Fa Cai!

Sometimes I really do miss Taiwan. On this first day of the Year of the Dog, I went to the Taipei papers to bring you some Lunar New Year info:

"Superstitions and New Year traditions persist." A reminder that this (actually yesterday) is the one day a year when you don't have to eat the fish head; also, validation that I'm not getting any work done on my thesis this week because "Those who start working after the god's birthday are lazy and disrespectful to the god of heaven." Yeah, that's it.

"Chinese zodiac predictions." You can check the year's forecast based on your zodiac sign here. Since Bill and I were both born in the year of the rat, we will not be visiting the sick this year, nor drinking and driving. But next year is another story.

"Chen urges 'indigenous dog spirit.'" This story cracks me up. President Chen Shui-bian put out a televised Happy New Year message last night, which, it turns out, was very inconvenient for journalists who would have rather been eating with their families than covering Chen's broadcast. By contrast, "Rather than holding people from their reunion dinner with family, Premier Su Tseng-chang used a song as the ring tone for his phones." LOL! Who needs the personal touch when you can have a ring tone?

"Lucky dogs for a lucky New Year." This is just generally ridiculous, and exactly the kind of thing I miss. Case in point: "For people who can't have a dog but who still dream about playing with one, going to a pet restaurant is the best option."

As one of my coworkers in Taiwan e-mailed the other day, "Wish you have good luck and lots of fortune in the New Year!"