I am Horse

I was chatting with a friend of mine the other day about astrology, and whether believing in it can really benefit you or not. Does ‘seeing’ the future like this actually prepare you? There are some quite incredulous things you hear – the position of the stars and planets are supposed to tell you when you’ll get married, for example. While all of us who study science know that it has to do with the rotation and revolution of the planets around the Sun.

Living in Malaysia for eight years now, I can tell you that Chinese zodiacs are considered quite an authoritative source on a person’s personality and future. Chinese New Year is celebrated around February (although this changes depending on the calendar), and each year of the Chinese calendar is associated with one of the twelve animals of the Chinese Zodiac. These twelve animals are rotated, as shown (until 2010):

Year of the Rat –1912, 1924, 1936, 1948, 1960, 1972, 1984, 1996, 2008

Year of the Ox - 1913, 1925, 1937, 1949, 1961, 1973, 1985, 1997, 2009

Year of the Tiger - 1914, 1926, 1938, 1950, 1962, 1974, 1986, 1998, 2010

Year of the Rabbit - 1915, 1927, 1939, 1951, 1963, 1975, 1987, 1999

Year of the Dragon - 1916, 1928, 1940, 1952, 1964, 1976, 1988, 2000

Year of the Snake - 1917, 1929, 1941, 1953, 1965, 1977, 1989, 2001

Year of Horse - 1918, 1930, 1942, 1954, 1966, 1978, 1990, 2002

Year of the Sheep - 1919, 1931, 1943, 1955, 1967, 1979, 1991, 2003

Year of the Monkey - 1920, 1932, 1944, 1956, 1968, 1980, 1992, 2004

Year of the Rooster - 1921, 1933, 1945, 1957, 1969, 1981, 1993, 2005

Year of the Dog - 1922, 1934, 1946, 1958, 1970, 1982, 1994, 2006

Year of the Pig - 1923, 1935, 1947, 1959, 1971, 1983, 1995, 2007

The Chinese Zodiac gives information about your personality, your career, your health, and your relationships. It also tells you which other ‘animal’ you are compatible with. Being born in the Year of the Horse, I researched further, and this is what came up. I’m actually surprised at just how accurate it is, because I can relate to a LOT of these things:

Personality: The Horse symbolizes strength and an outgoing nature. Extremely animated, Horses thrive when they’re the center of attention. Horses are very appealing people. They are warm and friendly and dearly love social gatherings with plenty of people. They are perceptive and enjoy talking. Always in search of a good time, Horses keep the crowds happy with their humor and their wit. Horses are extremely intelligent so they’re able to grasp new subjects with ease. They’re also capable of multi-tasking; however they don’t always finish what they start because they’re forever chasing the next opportunity. Horses are honest, friendly and open-minded. They have a high spirited nature and are changeable. This makes them hot-tempered, rash, and headstrong. They’re perhaps a bit too centered on themselves and have been known to throw tantrums when situations don’t go their way.

Health: Horses are very healthy, most likely because they maintain a positive outlook on life and because they’re athletic. Lead Horses to wide, open spaces and watch them run free! Horses will usually only feel ill when they’re trapped inside. They are self-reliant and energetic. They love exercise, both mental and physical. Their movements are rapid, yet graceful; their speech is quick, yet elegant. Horses want things their way and they will become aggressive when all else fails.

Career: Horses enjoy positions in which they can interact with others. They aren’t fond of taking orders and they’ll run from jobs they consider routine. They’re able to grasp new subjects with ease making them capable of handling most any job. They’re effective communicators and they enjoy power. Horses find it difficult to unwind. They keep strange hours and suffer from insomnia. When they stop, it is usually from exhaustion. It is hard for them to follow a schedule for they have no respect for routine. They need to keep busy but do best when given a free hand. Horses are full of new ideas to solve tricky problems. When they have an idea, they want to get right to it. They work around the clock until they finish. Horses want you to come to the point quickly since they don't have time to spare. They will not care if you are blunt, just don't waste their time.

Relationships: Horses, being spontaneous, have a tendency to fall fast and hard for others. They are always falling in and out of love. They tend to give themselves fully in each new relationship a quality that ends up chipping away at their inner being. Fortunately, this exhausting trait mellows with age and relationships are stronger and more stable later in life.

Compatibility: Horses are compatible with a Dog or Tiger or Sheep, and should stay away from a Rat or Monkey or Rabbit.

More horoscopes for the other animals can be found in the following sites:

http://www.chinesezodiac.com/index.php

http://www.rainfall.com/horoscop/chinese.htm

http://www.travelchinaguide.com/intro/social_customs/zodiac/

You know, I am a wrestler. Let me take you down

So I wanted my first blog piece to be something general – about me, my friends, about blogging and recent blogs I’ve read, something simple like that, to get my (non-existent, or so I think) creative juices flowing. Because that’s what I’m here for, right? In fact, I had even started a blog before, around a couple of years ago, but I was so busy that I just didn’t have time for it. So here’s a fresh start. Like I said, I first wanted to write about something very common. But I had the misfortune to have had the above line used on me this morning, which leads to this.

Several other examples come to mind. I was out shopping with a friend the other day at 1Utama, the mega-huge shopping mall just a bike ride away from my home. We just happened to halt in front of this oh-so-beautiful Channel gown (with a studded neckline that looked like real diamonds. Diamonds!), when this sweaty, slightly out-of-breath middle-aged Vietnamese man stepped right in front of us, between us and the dress. He was one of those men who could be good-looking if they took just a little trouble. He, however, had an air of someone who thinks of themselves as completely irresistible. It’s ridiculous that most people who think so are really the complete opposite.

He looked from me to her and back to me again, and then decided to address her directly, which either meant that she looks ‘easier’ than me, or that he just preferred her. I didn’t really care which one it was - while being overlooked is usually a slap in the face, in his case I was satisfied enough to just watch what was about to happen.

My friend looked at him with polite interest; like how you look at someone who tries to sell you items while you’re walking along the road, minding your own business. It turned out to be a mistake though – the man mistakes her politeness for complete lust, and says “If you think that dress would look good on you, you should try me”. I nearly burst out laughing.

There are a zillion tacky ones out there. Another friend of mine, KS, came up to me one day and started talking about some pick-up lines he had come across on the internet related to Math and Science. He’s an exceptionally brilliant student, so the fact that the pick-up lines were associated with academics was just very fitting, somehow. So he just comes up to me and says “I wish you were my Math homework, ‘coz I’d be hard and you’d do me on your desk.” 

Is there anyone in this world who actually thinks that pick-up lines are effective? Do guys actually get girls this way? Mind you, there are some lines which are romantic, and could make a girl go weak in the knees. But these will only work on an existing girlfriend (or boyfriend) - I just cannot for the life of me think of a woman who would fall for a man she has never met, just because he says something so ridiculously cheesy.

Or, well, maybe that’s just me.