Happy New Year! 新年快樂！

Aaaaannndddd....! Gong Hei Fat Choi! Good Health, Prosperity, and Luck!

Also am being bombarded by these following images on my WhatsApp/Wechat/whatever other messaging platform:

Some clever people will use a mixture of languages. The Mandarin (or, Putonghua) pronunciation of Ox/Cow is something like "Niu" so it sounds like New. So... Happy 牛 Year is like, Happy "New" Year or Happy "Cow" Year, take your pick.

However, I'm not having a good day so far because I didn't wash my hair. I'm a daily-wash-hair type of person. It is only very rare that I would not wash my hair (the day being particularly cold + I'm feeling lazy + my hair actually looks and feels alright). Today is neither. It's not particularly cold, I'm not feeling lazy, and my hair actually feels not clean. Guh! Hate that feeling!

That's because of good old superstition. You don't wash your hair during Chinese New Year. You don't sweep, you don't clean, you don't take out the trash during Chinese New Year. Oh, you don't buy new shoes during the Chinese New Year as well. There are certain foods that you eat (a vegetarian dish called 齋 (tchai) that consists of tofu, tofu skin, some sort of lettuce, a kind of fungus or veggie that looks like black hair (original name 發菜, but it sounds like 發財 "getting rich") and etc...

However, since my Mom herself is from a somewhat mixed cultural background herself, these superstitions are somewhat... twisted to fit all other cultures involved within that family. I can't think of an exact example, but say something like, you're not supposed to wash your hair during the period of Chinese New Year. We've just twisted it in such a way that, it's just on Chinese Year Year Day (Day 1) that we won't wash our hair.

I also did a no-no this morning LOL. I wanted to do some yoga, so before I spread out my yoga mat, I swept the floor because the cat spilled a lot of cat sand around. Yes, I've swept wealth away. Sorry. I don't want to be the richest person on earth, I just want to have enough, just like that cat sand box. There's enough in the box. That's just what I'll need in life. Sorry! So I swept the floor of my room. Big deal. I got an hour of yoga done. I consider that a major win. Yay.

So the plan today is... binge the new Elisa Lam documentary thing on Netflix (friend J said she wanted to watch, and I needed a reason to actually USE my subscription), Chinese New Year Lunch with the family (buffet somewhere), more binging in the afternoon... and rest of the day, apart from the usual dog walk and dinner and etc.

Hope everyone has a great weekend ahead!

Friday Five Double 11-February-2021

First off, questions from thefridayfive!

1. What fictional character would you like to sit down and have dinner with, and why?
Huh. Uhm. Well. Hmmmmmmmmmmmm...............................
John Watson!
As to the why... I have no idea LOL. Sherlock Holmes would be too intimidating, I guess, John Watson would be an easier person to talk with, I believe.

2. What three famous people would you like to invite to a small party you're throwing, and why?
Erm............................ I'm not really into celebrities and gossip and whatnot, so I don't know who and who are considered "famous". Erm............... I mean, famous people are interesting because they are like, people far away over there. They usually lose their interestingness when they are here. So I dunno? Who do I know of that are famous and may seem interesting? Gordon Ramsay, Emma Watson, and Thomas "Afu" I-don't-know-his-surname. Despite the show Hell's Kitchen, I've seen Gordon Ramsay on other shows and he seems pretty much a nicer guy than Hell's Kitchen portrayed LOL. Emma Watson coz dunno, she just came up and Thomas "Afu" is a China-centric-Youtuber who is German, wrote a book. In more recent videos he's managed a successful weight loss as well. Just seemed like there would be interesting conversation, I suppose.

3. What historical figure do you wish you could have met?
Ughhh.... why are this week's questions so tough? I don't have any particular want to meet any historical figure... it'd be cool to, but I don't have any particular wishlist. I really dunno. I dunno. I'll consider dead famous people as "historical figures" as well, so David Bowie. I'd say hi to him then push my friend who's a big fan to continue chatting. Since I don't have any wishlist, I might as well grant that wish to a friend.

4. What actor would you like to have participate in your next games night?
Again, I don't particularly fan girl anyone, and I don't have games night, so, I don't know. I really don't know. What do people do on games night? Which actor is fun? Hm..... from the Graham Norton shows, one of the Chris' seem to be fun to play games with. Now which Chris is it? After a search, it's Chris Pratt. And if you ask me "Why?" Then I don't have a satisfying answer. I don't know them. I just happen to know of them.

5. If you could have any band perform at your next birthday party, which band would it be?
................... Suede. About the only (English-language) band I listen to.

Followed by, questions from F.riday5.com!

1. Which celebrity couple, past or present, do you find particularly interesting?
Not again!? I don't know anything about celebrities! I probably know of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie because of Mr. and Mrs. Smith, but that's about it. I only know of this celebrity couple. Though I don't find them interesting. So I'm skipping this question. Hah!

2. A couplet is a pair of rhyming lines of verse, one after another. Example:
I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.*
In the form of a couplet, how would you describe your weekend?
This is going to be a long weekend
I shall attempt to read a book or ten.

3. With what (or whom) have you recently, consciously uncoupled?
I'm pretty stable with my relationships (no matter with people or material things) so, again a tough question. WELL, I don't want to jump into conclusion, but there's a group at work that we always had sporadic lunch gatherings with. I saw on Facebook yesterday that they had a year-end lunch gathering and I wasn't invited. For the past 4 or 5 years, I had been invited for all these gatherings, and this time I wasn't. It does sting a bit (the pride) but in all honestly, it's not like I ever wanted to join them, but, again, it's the pride. Or ego. Or whatever. So I guess I've been uncoupled from this group, I suppose, and I don't even know why.

4. When did you last purchase something in a two-pack only because it doesn’t come in a one-pack?
This one is easy. Lint roller refills. I bought a new lint roller device, and had to buy the refills separately. The refills were only sold in a pack of 2 rollers.

5. What were you doing a couple of hours ago, and what will you be doing in a couple of hours?
I was just sitting on my bed, binging on Netflix. After writing this, it will be dinner, then the night dog walk, and, again back in bed and continue binging Netflix.