Xīn Nián Kuài Lè!

Happy Chinese (Lunar) new year, everybody!

I'm currently at home (this post is as close to real-time as possible, since I'm publishing it within seconds of finishing hte final draft), as are Mom & Dad.  AJ and the Pipsqueak are with some of our MIT friends at the Kennedy Center in downtown Washington, DC for some of the free Lunar New Year events being held there[1].

(A quick aside: Yes, there are some concerns about both influenza and the Novel Coronavirus, but at this point we all have our shots for the former and the area is still considered safe for the latter.) [2]

Anyway, a few of our MIT families had a sleepover for several of the kids last night at one family's home -- ironically the one that might be the farthest from DC! -- and AJ availed herself of the offer to hang around and also spent the night as a sort of micro-vacation.  (Me?  I took Mom & Dad shopping and then did some coursework in the evening. Wild & crazy, eh?)  Miri had a rough week so a little fun time with some of her besties and a special event afterwards seemed to be A Good Idea.  (It also helps make up for our missing the big FCC Chinese New Year celebration this year because her dance team has a competition the same weekend.)

In place of my usual subject matter, I'm going to talk about some of the details of the Lunar New Year -- it's actually a lot more complex than all those Chinese restaurant placemats would have you believe.[3]  (If you're interested in digging more deeply into the Chinese zodiac & associated horoscopes or just learning more about this fascinating subject that's shared by various Asian cultures, I recommend The Handbook of Chinese Horoscopes by Theodora & Laura Lau -- it's an easy read chock-full of information, including comparisions & links to corresponding Western information.)
[The book title above is an Amazon Affiliate link; clicking on it to buy the book will help me out a little financially. You will be billed ONLY if you choose to actually purchase the book on the Amazon product page.]

Because the Gregorian calendar is solar-based, it's not exactly in synch with the Lunisolar system that controls the classic Chinese calendar (or many other non-Western calendars, both geographic and religious) so there is not a perfect one-to-one correspondence between years.  For example, I was born in 1959 so my Chinese Zodiac animal is the Pig -- but anyone born in that same year during the first seven days of January would've still been born in the Year of the Dog (and the coming Year of the Ox doesn't start until the 11th of February 2021).  In addition, the Chinese Zodiac includes Yin/Yang associations, elemental associations (using the Eastern elements Earth, Fire, Metal, Water, and Wood), along with ten "Heavenly Stems" and twelve "Earthly Branches" that are too involved to delve into here.  So if you really want to know what year this is, here you go:
- Lunar Year Animal: Rat
- Elemental Association: Yang Metal
- Heavenly Stem: 庚  (Geng)
- Earthly Branch: 子  (Zi)
- Gregorian Dates: 2020/01/25 - 2021/02/11

Are you a Rat?  Here are some corresponding dates from the Gregorian calendar (note that the Elemental Association, Heavenly Stem, and Earthly Branch will be different for most of these):
- 1924_02_05 thru 1925_01_23
- 1936_01_24 thru 1937_02_10
- 1948_02_10 thru 1949_01_28
- 1960_01_28 thru 1961_02_14
- 1972_02_15 thru 1973_02_02
- 1984_02_02 thru 1985_02_19
- 1996_02_19 thru 1997_02_06
- 2008_02_07 thru 2009_01_25
- 2020_01_25 thru 2021_02_11
- 2032_02_11 thru 2033_01_30

People born in the Year of the Rat are thought to be industrious, diligent, thrify, and adaptable, with a positive outlook on life.  They are intelligent, perhaps a tad suspicious of people they don't know, and they are survivors; they are most compatible with people born under the sign of Ox, Dragon, and Monkey.  Rats make good leaders, but can also be somewhat unpredictable.  In particular, men born under this sign can be creative when it comes to taking advantage of opportunity but may lack the courage to do so; women born under this sign often have a stronger sense of responsibility and an enhanced ability to create order out of chaos.  Some old Chinese sayings referencing Rat traits are to call someone "shrewder than a rat" or "as changeable as a rat" -- both of which are meant as compliments.

For those born in the current year of the Metal Rat (or in the most recent previous such year, 1960_01_21 thru 1961_02_14), the outlook is one of both stable personality and stable life, along with an ability to "make lemonade" when life hands them lemons.

So there you have a (very short!) lesson in what the Year of the Rat means.   I'll get back to the usual "wutz up wit da Pipsqueak" posts in a few days (plenty to write about, both positive and not), but in the meantime we all wish you and yours a happy, healthy, and prosperous Year of the Rat!

[1] The events are free, but just in case you're from out of the area and want to visit -- and the Kennedy Center IS worth visiting -- parking in the basement garage is first come, first served and costs $23 per vehicle (ouch!), and you pay at the entrance. They accept American Express, Discover, Mastercard, and Visa as well as cash.  Also, if you have a larger vehicle, the maximum clearance in the garage is just 7 feet so beware!  If you are there just to purchase tickets (and/or spend at least $10 in the gift shop), you can have your parking ticket validated for up to 2 free hours of parking -- see the Kennedy Center website at www.kennedy-center.org for details.

[2] The Novel Coronavirus outbreak that started in Wuhan is downright scary, but here's something for y'all to ponder.  About an hour before I started typing this post, I read a news story saying the PRC had just reported its 41st Novel Coronavirus death.  In somewhat ironic contrast, I read a news story yesterday in which North Carolina reported its 41st flu death of the 2019-2020 flu season.  I checked the CDC website and they are already reporting over 6,600 flu-related deaths and over 125,000 flu-related hospitalizations in the USA for the 2019-2020 flu season... and a "second wave" of flu is just beginning, with at least another 2-3 months before the season winds down.  (This "2nd wave" is a different strain of flu virus from the 1st, happily one that the current flu vaccine is very good at knocking out.)  So... yes, keep your eye on developments with the Novel Coronavirus... but GET YOUR FLU SHOT.  Please.

[3] This is actually a very abbreviated description/discussion. I'm not touching upon discussion of the meaning of the Elemental Associations, and haven't even mentioned the hourly, daily, and seasonal associations -- or several other details.

Welcome to the New Decade!(?)

Wow -- there's no describing the feeling of logging into one's blogging account only to find one is two weeks into a new year and new decade without having posted a single thing yet.  Let's just say Yours Truly is a bit embarrassed and leave it at that, okay...?  Okay!

I hope everyone's new year holiday was festive and fun and filled with good times and good friends... and that anyone who passed the time alone did so purely by choice. Here's wishing one and all a happy, healthy, and prosperous new year!  (And yeah, I know some purists insist it's not a new decade until 2021 but I'm sticking to zero as the beginning.)

Aside from planning and then totally forgetting a new year/year in review post, it's also been brought to my attention that I never actually finished catching up on 2018, much less keeping up with 2019.  (Now that is embarrassing.) So, since I promised it, I'll make a quick series of posts for each moth that I missed... But first, let's take a quick look back at what was happening with the family a decade ago during the Pipsquek's "Gotcha year"...

Here in the DMV, we were still dealing with Snowmageddon -- although we were soon to learn Old Man Winter was just yanking on our chains, giving us a light dusting or three of snow while quietly gathering his strength for the next big event.  The best part of having to constantly worry about shoveling snow off the sidewalks and clearing our cars before going anywhere was that it took our minds off the fact that AJ's LID (the Log In Date, when China officially records receipt of adoption papers) was years in the past and that the process was still moving at a snail's pace, with a slowly-growing backlog on the Chinese end of things.  Meanwhile, on the other side of the globe, the Pipsqueak was slowly growing and (as we were later told) becoming a favorite of the SWI's director.

---

Now let's fast-forward most of the way back up to the present and pick up the unfinished review of events from 2018... starting right now with July of 2018, picking up shortly after our annual pilgrimage to Lot 1 of UMCP for the Independence Day fireworks.

Miri started off the month by proving she is by far the most physically fit member of the family... who somehow still manages to walk into walls and trip over her own feet when not undertaking acts requiring grace, balance and skill!

Later on the 8th we had a party with the MIT families to celebrate the Pipsqueak's birthday --  two weeks after the date because it was the only time everyone could make it!  Things started with arts & crafts...

...and then moved on to a rollicking, no-holds-barred, water balloon war in the backyard!  The grownups didn't participate (but did receive a little bit of accidental "shrapnel" a few times) but -- despite much yelling of, "OW! That hurt!"  the kids all had a great time.

Despite all the noise, people of all sizes all over the back yard, noise, flying water balloons, noise, splashing water, and noise, this lil' fella invited himself to the festivities and stayed for quite a while.

The kids finished some of their art projects while drying off....

...and then after rousing renditions of "Happy Birthday" in both English and Mandarin, demolished the cake.  Nobody went home unhappy, and nobody went home hungry. All in all, a fun day!

Things were generally quiet, and then Miri participated in the DEVIATE intensive dance camp held at SBA (the studio where she takes regular classes).  The year's last session closed out on the 27th with a performance of all the different routines & dance styles attended by all the dancers' families.

A got a happy surprise at the post-performance DEVIATE awards ceremony -- Miri received recognition for  showing the most advancement as a dancer since the previous year's sessions!

We closed out the day with a celebratory smoothie and set our sights on August.

So there you have them, the incredibly long-overdue highlights of July 2018. August is coming soon  (really!) -- so I'll see y'all then...