fortune-ately

Happy Lunar New Year! 2009 is the Year of the Ox. (at first I accidentally typed "Year of the Ex"- dear God, I hope not!) Anyway.

Happy to have another chance at starting the year right. Honestly the last 3 weeks have just been kinda ehhhh, after the great climatic ending I had to 2008. Unlike last year, I entered this one without any clear plans, so the next 12 months are just one big question mark. My one and only resolution is "find job." I think that's pressure enough. No need to add to that!

And so I look to the cosmos once again for some direction or some hint at what lies in store for me this year's rotation around the solar system. This time though with a healthy dose of skepticism, as last year's rat threatened many terrible things that thankfully didn't materialize. Quite the opposite, actually.

HORSES IN THE YEAR OF THE OX
(taken from chinesefortunecalendar.com)

"Some of those obstacles or troubles in 2008 will carry over to 2009. The first half of the year, Horse people still need to handle things slowly and surely and to avoid face-to-face conflict with your opponent. In the second half of the year, your money luck and career luck will be much stable. But it's still not the optimistic time yet. You need to stay alert on your job, investment and health."
Ok, so it's a bittersweet year ahead. Difficulties for the first half of the year, some of which I'm definitely feeling right now. But who is my opponent?? Could it be- dum dum dum!- myself? I hold myself back? Am I seriously over-analyzing these predictions conjured up in a fortune cookie company by Chinese immigrants who can't really speak English?

"Career: There are many Unlucky Stars showing in career area in 2009. The signs indicate that you cannot concentrate on your daily work quite often. The schedule of business or project will be slow down. Fortunately, there also is a strong Lucky Moon Star appearing in 2009. That means someone will show up to support and help you to solve the problems of entanglement. So you cam escape from those troubles and will work back into the normal track."
What! I can't have any more unlucky stars in my career area! Hello I've been unemployed all year! If I slow down anymore I will stop breathing. Ughhhh. Who is this mysterious "someone"? I need to identify the cast of characters in this fortune.

"Money: A big Unlucky Star from 2008 is gone, but a tiny Unlucky Star appears in 2009. This means that the money luck of Horse people is still struggling. The career is a big factor to determine your money luck. Since you don't have a good sign in career, you shouldn't expect your income will increase from there."
Ugh, no kidding. Tell me something I don't already know. And some good news please, for the love of God!

"Love: There is a Love Star coming in 2009."
Ok! There's a great start!
"However, this Love Star is not a Marriage Star."
Uh.
"That means you have a chance to meet someone you like. Both of you will produce the passion in love. But this relationship won't last too long."
Another year of broken hearts. My mother's, that is.

"Health: Unlucky Hurting and Disease Stars still gather in 2009. The signs indicate illness, exhaustion, panic, fright or weakness coming to people."
Well I'd guess that no job, money, or love might cause even the strongest of horses illness, exhaustion, panic, fright and weakness, don't you agree?

"Horse people must make sure have enough sleep during the night. Otherwise, they will have weak energy and weak resistance against the disease."
Well I got this one covered at least! Unemployment = plenty of sleepy time.

"Plus, you might have more social hours in your nightlife and not pay attention on your eating and drinking. Then, the headache and digestive system will often bother you in 2009."
At least my social life is looking up. Heh.

"Fortune: In general, Horse people don't have a good luck in 2009, but their luck have significant improvement when comparing with 2008. However, you still need to focus on your moves all the time to prevent any mistakes caused by neglect. Luckily, whenever you encounter the big difficulty, someone will appear to solve the problem for you. Therefore, you shouldn't give up anything when troubles come to challenge you. As long as you follow the rule and insist the principle, you will be fine in the year."
Ok! If I just follow the rule and insist the principle everything will be fine! I feel so much better already.

Here's wishing you all a wonderful year.

2008

Last year on the day before my birthday, I was out in SoHo by myself and a random woman stared at me for a minute at a crosswalk. She said "you should get a psychic reading. I see something big in your aura," and then she crossed the street. No attempt to sell me anything. Being the day before my birthday, I could feel it. So the next day I went and found someone to read my palm. The woman I went to was nothing special, perhaps not even remotely psychic. But she did say 2008 was my year, to contain a lot of traveling. She also said to Florida, California and the Caribbean... she got 1 out of 3 right I guess. So she was probably a quack, but still, I really wanted to believe that it was going to be my year. After an unbelievably crappy end to 2007, I was tired of feeling that way and was absolutely ready to shake it all up. Maybe I created some self-fulfilling prophecy right there, because 2008 is now recognized as The Best Year of My Life So Far! (So take that Year of the Rat!). I'm sad to see it go. It's been a helluva ride and it's so overwhelming now to attempt to sum up.

But here it is.

To start, I've celebrated a new year 3 times in the past 365 days- Gregorian, Lunar and Buddhist. A nice reminder that it's never too late to start anew.

I went to wondrous, exotic places that I'd never been to before, spanning 4 continents this year alone and completing my lifelong goal of seeing them all (minus Antartica) before age 30.

(23 countries and counting)

I got to go home again.

I got out of my comfort zone/rut and threw myself into the opposite. On the opposite side of the world. I traded in the concrete jungle for the simple life. I became a foreigner in an un-diverse setting. I had to learn how to pack light and re-learn how to ride a bicycle. (Now I only fear motorbikes).

I learned how to dive after a lifetime of dreaming about it. I surfed, took up samba, rode elephants, and kayaked with turtles. I slept in a bunk bed with flesh-eating ants. I got mistaken for a ladyboy. I learned some Thai.

I learned not to stress. Mai bpen rai!

Perhaps because I also experienced the joys of prolonged unemployment? Work is so overrated, ha ha. The truth is, I got caught in the great American recession, so it wasn't necessarily my choice to be in this situation, but my real accomplishment was turning that into an opportunity to grow in other areas of my life. I didn't expect it to last this long, but I definitely milked the hell outta it while I had (/have) it! Enjoying in the now, knowing that this won't last forever. So, poor in the bank, but so much richer at heart.

And yet, strangely during this super-duper-extended vacation, I think I've done equally valuable progress in building my career. I know what I want, and I know that it can happen.

I saw change come to America and experienced a renewed faith in the goodness/mental soundness of people in general. I was a part of the revolution that ushered in the first black president of the country.

I moved out of and back into New York.

I got to spend some serious quality time with virtually all the most important people in my life, and there are so many. I've been blessed with the best friends and the best family. And then I was enriched by the introduction of so many new people into my life-- people so different from me, people so the same (same same but different!), people that I never expected to meet, people that I never expected to like, big people, small people, red people, blue people. I met the gayest gays that ever gayed. I formed bonds with people without even sharing a common language.

I sorted out my priorities, I am comfortable in my own skin, and I feel truly truly TRULY blessed. I think, so far, I've lived a pretty full life-- full of discovery, re-discovery, adventure, joy and so so much love. All this, and still the potential for more.

Then, at the end of a year-long celebration, I turned 30, going out with a bang heard round the world. There was no better way to prepare, and now I feel ready for the next stage. Bring it on!

Happy 2009.

holy s--- songkran!!!

It is so hot here. It is a steamy Thai summer, & the sun beats down relentlessly for 12 hours of the day, melting concrete & makeup & brains without mercy. My bedroom has no aircon, so I lie awake for at least an hour each night after going to bed, unable to sleep even with an electric fan pointed 2 inches from my face blowing hot air, & I wake up uncomfortably drenched in sweat as soon as the sun peeks its head out over the horizon once again. I take 3 showers a day. It is unbelievably hot.

The Buddhist New Year celebration of Songkran coincides with this most sweaty season, when the sun enters into a new position in the zodiac. The word Songkran is derived from Sanskrit & means passage into a new phase. Sacred Buddha images are washed & water is symbolically tossed on one another as a sign of blessings & cleansing for a prosperous year ahead. It's a good way to cool down in this heat. But Chiang Mai takes the festivities to a whole other level, & the city erupts into full-blown water warfare. No exaggeration either. For FOUR WHOLE DAYS it is absolutely impossible to stay dry, as the moment you leave the confines of the house, you’re pelted with water guns, hoses & buckets-full of water. The square-shaped moat is the center of all the action & becomes a throbbing mess of slippery bodies, flooded streets & pure pandemonium. Pails attached on strings are lowered into the moat & subsequently emptied onto a victim’s head or the passing motorists. On the street, open tuktuks & pick-up trucks filled with revelers & huge drums of water speed by & blast everyone in their path with water canons. And if you’re really lucky, you might just end up in the moat, as my roommate did when she went to refill her bucket & a (now former) friend shoved her in. Shudder. And I hated the ice water! Cold then hot then cold again. No one & nothing is safe, & you have to shield your most delicate belongings (i.e. mobiles, cameras) in quadruple-wrapped plastic bags or leave them at home altogether, lest they get damaged. I can only wonder how many mobiles have been destroyed, skin rashes have broken out, and shoes have been lost in the moat over the course of the festivities.

It’s a welcome respite from the heat, & the first day I was fully into it, but by day 2 I was hiding indoors & begging for mercy. How could this possibly go on for 4 days??! You can’t get anything done. There’s no greater feeling of dread than when you’re walking down the street alone, still shivering from ice water attacks & there is a group of 20 boys on the sidewalk, waiting with evil grins & water hoses, ready to ambush you. And you have to good-naturedly take each & every water attack, bow your head & thank your assailant for the “blessing,” even thought he nearly ruined your $400 digital camera with a bucket-full of parasite-infested murky moat water. Yaaargghhh.

These are the best pictures I managed to take, since every time I took out my camera from its plastic fortress I was risking its life. I looked like a drowned rat. But so did everyone else. The gay boys were especially sexy in their see-through & skimpy t-shirts. I worked with them one of the days of the festival handing out wet condoms & dancing on the streets. The only straight boy in the pic, the guy next to me, is a local celebrity apparently, but I have no idea who he is. I think his name is Tek?

When not working I was out at one of the millions of parades or outdoor parties going on, or my favorite bar, which had transformed into a soaked & sloshed wonderland. I’ve never seen anything like it in my life.

I just realized that I’ve been able to participate in at least 3 New Year celebrations in the past 4 months. It’s like starting over & over again, & a reminder to keep a brighter perspective each time. It’s turning out to be a very good year.

kung hei fat choi!

Or happy year of the rat!

My zodiac forecast (Horse) for the year is pretty awful, much to my dismay. It basically says that anything that can go wrong will.

Horse Rating: "3 neutral and 9 unfavorable months. Horse is the sign that fares least well in the year of the Rat."
Ew.

Horse Career: " Your difficult year will probably extend into your career as well. You will find that projects will become a bit more difficult and delays could be the norm."
Hm well this is probably going to be true. I have no delusions about the work I'm doing in Thailand to be easy. And the program directors I'm working with feel the need to remind me over & over again that business operates at a much... slower... pace... there. So I need to shed my New York impatience & refamiliarize myself with my island time upbringing.

Horse Health: "You may experience signs of decreased energy."
As long as it isn't dengue fever!

Horse Relationships: "Tough times at work will cause you to seek solitude. Relationships may cause you some distress, especially if your loved one is also of the Rat, Monkey or Dragon groups."
Well this is true every year.

Horse Wealth: "This is definitely not the time for risk-taking."
Um. Too late!

Ominous! But: "The trick will be to force yourself to rely more on your head than your heart. That is contrary to the Horse nature, so it won't be easy." Forced to use my head? Oh dear. But the whole point of this Thailand sabbatical was to use less of my head...

It also says that Horses are the nomads of the zodiac animals.

In other rat news, my friend sent me this recommendation on a new dish to try when I get to Thailand. Yum! From bbc.co.uk:

Thai fast food sellers are enjoying a boom in rat sales, as people learn to love the taste of the rodent.

While rat has long been eaten in Thailand's poorer northern regions, a growing number of the country's roadside vendors are now serving it up.

The rats are drowned and sold uncooked or ready to eat, with happy customers purchasing rat meat for as much as 150 baht ($4.82; £2.30) a kilogram.

"It's better than chicken," one customer told the AP news agency.

'Nothing can compete'

"It all depends what you like, but it's a normal meat like any other," added Thongyu Roruchit.

One rat seller, Sala Prompim, said that the hip and liver were the best cuts. "It's tastier than other meats - nothing can compete with rat," he added. Mr Prompim said he only used rats caught from rice fields, and not those found in towns or cities. "They are definitely clean," he said.

The animals are killed by drowning, before being skinned ready for cooking - poached, fried, grilled or baked.

Mr Prompim says he sells as much as 100kg of rat meat on some days.