Year of The Dragon

          Year of The Dragon 2012                                                                                                         Fortune Bowl #1

Year of the Dragon

Slept like crap last night. Tossing, turning and trying to understand the stoic people in my dreams who were speaking the equivalent of the Old English except in French to each other. It was maddening; yoga working it’s magic I suppose. How the heck I knew they were speaking Old French is beyond me, but I knew it.  The maddening part was that they were totally unexpressive in their conversations. Like robots, except worse, human robots. I could tell from the pillows all over the floor and the sheets tied in knots it was upsetting.

I got up and made coffee and got through email exchanges with engineers pretty early. Edy and I touched base and wished each other a Happy Chinese New Year as I continued to plod through a few proposals and she went skiing with Heathe’. Year of the Dragon, bring it on.

I spent a lot of time last week reviewing all the Chinese sites I bookmarked previously to get their read on what to expect for this Dragon Year. White Tiger-Male Metal, Red Chicken are my Stems, Branches and Birth year. I enjoy this kind of thing and like the Torah, Bible and Quran try to sense into the times that were present during the initial writings. Chinese have had a lot of life run under their bridge and I kept on reading to glean more nuggets and facts. From facial moles, to chicken bones one’s fortune is ready to be read by astute “seers”, for a price.  By the time I got through all the readings and the apparent contradictions I was reminded that most core religions have principals based on an old Jim Croce song about “Jim”. Common sense and your “gut” will always steer you away from harm. Mess with it and well, much mis-fortune will befall you.

I have an Ex-step-sister-in-law (got it?) who is Chinese. When I was a teenager she taught me how to cook (ie…make 9 different meals from a chicken) and eat Chinese (a gentleman can sit 4ft from the table-her response to my not so great use of chopsticks). It was her way of offering me survival strategies that came in very handy shortly afterward. Her lessons have served me for decades and I remain grateful. Sometimes just knowing you can survive anything gets you through everything.

Usually when Edy travels I run out and eat all the things she can’t or doesn’t care for - Cajun, Pastas, Southern Food with Cornbread and Pecan Pie….etc. This trip has been different for varied reasons.  Perhaps it’s the Hot Yoga, perhaps it’s not wanting to dine without Edy or perhaps I have felt routines in and of themselves needing shifting. So, I bought a bunch of vegetables and a chicken a few days ago and will be on meal number four tonight from that one bag.   Stir fry Veggies in Hot Chicken Sauce.

While traveling in Asia many moons ago I bragged about an opulent lunch I had treated myself to. Some locals nodded and said they work hard every day to find the best/cheapest lunch they could possible find. Part game – part frugality –part adventure, all quite admirable in my book; Count me in. I continue to play occasionally and it's still just as fun.

As we enter this new year and all the yet unexplored adventures it has to offer us I offer my own sage advice for 2012:

“Don’t Spit into the Wind of a Dragon”……………………….and all will be well.