spinninghead

Living in China, you are likely to encounter some of these types of decorations. Especially the long red ones with gold Chinese lettering, that look like they could border a door - because many Chinese people border their front doors of their apartments with these. My apartment has these things around the door. New ones are put up every year at Chinese New Year, to bring luck to the people living in that apartment for that year.

Cinnamon was just chatting to me on Skype and said that she had an idea that we could make our own decorations to go around our door, writing in Chinese calligraphy. I feel like I would be pretty bad at it to begin with, but maybe if she knows how or knows someone who could show us how, that would be pretty awesome. She showed me a brush and ink that we could get, and we could even get blank fans that we could write things on, which would be cute.

Then she was showing me this, which cracked both of us up. It's the same idea but they tried to translate it into English, and some of it is pretty funny. "Gelivable" isn't even a word - but they tried to make one up from the Chinese word "geili," which means something turning out well, or literally, to give strength. I also liked the one that said "great peace, great wealth, great luckily," and the one that says "new century" - are these from 12 years ago? We haven't had a new century since 2000. Hehe.

She also said we could get some firecrackers and fireworks, and I'm kind of excited thinking about that - I have never lived anywhere where it's been legal to actually set off real firecrackers or fireworks, so setting off our own here would be pretty cool. And I know Rudy would also enjoy it. :)

Now I'm even more looking forward to Chinese New Year itself, not just for the fact that I'll have days off and Rudy will be visiting. It will be cool to celebrate the holiday, since it's one I have never celebrated before.

Funniest moment while packing: I packed my keys. I had been wearing a jacket earlier and put my keys in the pocket... then I was packing my DVD player and used the jacket as padding, and then packed other stuff on top in this big box, and of course right after I taped it shut I realized what I'd done. Sometimes I really am a genius. :D

Saddest moment while packing: Finding a Christmas card from lacygreenlaw. I miss her terribly. :(

Most awesome moment while packing: Finding a paycheck from Hallmark that I never cashed. It's only for about $32, but hey, it's money and it's from Hallmark, where I was thoroughly underappreciated. Ha!

Most gratifying moments while packing: Throwing away school assignments from this last semester, or notes from school. What's weirder is now my roommate is going to school while I'm at home all day. It's so strange to be done, but so nice.

There is definitely something good to be said for moving, and that is that it forces you to come into contact with everything you own. Or at least if you aren't lazy and actually look through your things and decide what to keep and what to throw out. It has been really good for me to physically touch all of my belongings and decide whether or not to keep them - and for the majority of them, I've decided not to. It's freeing to get rid of things, because things really only weigh us down, and there's no point in owning so many things that I never use. The annoying part is having to lug it all to the Goodwill or the trash bins.

I've just got my dresser to go through and my bathroom stuff, and maybe a few things in the kitchen to pack and I'll be set. :)

But this was too good not to post. :) Snagged from somewhere online:

Top 10 reasons to Vote No on Prop 8:

1) Being gay is not natural. Real Americans always reject unnatural things like eyeglasses, polyester, and air conditioning.

2) Gay marriage will encourage people to be gay, in the same way that hanging around tall people will make you tall.

3) Gay marriage will change the foundation of society; we could never adapt to new social norms. Just like we haven't adapted to cars, the service-sector economy, or longer life spans.

4) Straight marriage has been around a long time and hasn't changed at all; women are still property, blacks still can't marry whites, and divorce is still illegal.

5) Straight marriage will be less meaningful if gay marriage were allowed; the sanctity of Brittany Spears' 55-hour just-for-fun marriage would be destroyed.

6) Straight marriages are valid because they produce children. Gay couples, infertile couples, and old people shouldn't be allowed to marry because our orphanages aren't full yet, and the world needs more children.

7) Obviously gay parents will raise gay children, since straight parents only raise straight children.

8) Gay marriage is not supported by religion. In a theocracy like ours, the values of one religion are imposed on the entire country. That's why we have only one religion in America.

9) Children can never succeed without a male and a female role model at home. That's why we as a society expressly forbid single parents to raise children.

10) Legalizing gay marriage will open the door to all kinds of crazy behavior. People may even wish to marry their pets, because a dog has legal standing and can sign a marriage contract.

"Perhaps it is unfair to judge any place during spring break. After all, the students who flock to these resorts are generally not the brightest lights in the American galaxy. These are people for whom a vacation does not officially begin until they have thrown up a couple of times. It seems like such a waste for them to fly to the Bahamas, or anywhere else, since they can just as easily go to a motel in their own neck of the woods and simply pass out for a week. It would serve this country better if these types could have their passports stamped "Domestic Travel Only," thereby limiting the damage they do as national embarrassments."
-Firoozeh Dumas, Funny in Farsi

Oh, and... while I'm posting here today, I figured I should also include an amusing anecdote from yesterday.

Yesterday my friend Drew and I made plans to meet up and study our British Lit together, and then go ballroom dancing. We both had to take the bus, and the same route, but I got on the bus quite a bit before his stop. I wore a cute dress and did some makeup for ballroom dancing, and I hoped that no creepy guys would be looking at me on the bus, and was glad that at least it was daytime.

Lo and behold, a hispanic guy in his 30s, hauling this huge-ass stereo system, gets on the bus and sits directly in front of me. He turns around, and says "You look very pretty". I'm a bit taken aback by this direct compliment, so I pause for a second and then say "... thank you". He proceeds to tell me he likes my tattoo, and I don't even think he could have seen my wrist very well at that moment, considering I just had my hands resting in my lap... so he could have seen the side of it I guess. I thanked him again, and he asked how old I am. I told him I'm 24, and at this he said "Oh okay, you must have a husband then, huh?" and I replied with "yeah". Haha, yes, I lied, but what else was I to say? Not going to give this man my life story, just try to get rid of him. He was like "okay, cool, I respect that" and he told me again that I look very pretty. After this he got up and moved to a different seat, but still sitting in front of me.

I was quite amused, and I texted Drew and told him I'd just been hit on, and that he could be my "husband" when he got on the bus. He asked if that was a marriage proposal, and I said yes, for the next 20 minutes it is. Haha. So he texted me back saying "till 20 min. do us part", which made me laugh. Of course, the creepy guy just ended up getting off the bus a couple stops before Drew got on, so our marriage was annuled before it even began... oh well. We even had stories about why we weren't wearing wedding rings. :P

Anyway, I did end up having a fun and productive time studying with Drew, and ballroom dancing was good, but it sucked that we had to get his girlfriend to come pick us up and drive each of us home, because none of my friends ended up showing up at ballroom dancing, except for one, who couldn't give us rides. We had planned to take the bus if we had to, but we would have had to leave really early if we did... and we just missed it. It was all okay, though... I invited Drew and his girlfriend in and we watched a movie afterwards, Dave, which was an okay film.

I'm hoping to go blues dancing tonight, and perhaps get some drawing done during the day today. :) I bought some charcoal pencils yesterday, and I am hoping to draw a Tegan and Sara picture.

That is all for now!

In the English speaking world, it is a tradition that women may propose marriage only on leap years. While it has been argued that the tradition was initiated by Saint Patrick or Brigid of Kildare in 5th century Ireland, it is dubious as the tradition has not been attested before the 19th century.[7] Supposedly, a 1288 law by Queen Margaret of Scotland (then age five and living in Norway), required that fines be levied if a marriage proposal was refused by the man; compensation ranged from a kiss to £1 to a silk gown, in order to soften the blow.[8] Because men felt that put them at too great a risk, the tradition was in some places tightened to restricting female proposals to the modern leap day, 29 February, or to the medieval leap day, 24 February. According to Felten: "A play from the turn of the 17th century, 'The Maydes Metamorphosis,' has it that 'this is leape year/women wear breeches.' A few hundred years later, breeches wouldn't do at all: Women looking to take advantage of their opportunity to pitch woo were expected to wear a scarlet petticoat -- fair warning, if you will."[9]

In Denmark, the tradition is that women may propose on leap day 24 February and that refusal must be compensated with 12 pairs of gloves.

In Greece, it is believed that getting married in a leap year is bad luck for the couple[citation needed]. Thus, mainly in the middle of the past century, couples avoided setting a marriage date in a leap year.


-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bissextile

I think these 'old laws of leap year' should be reinstated! Hehe! :D


ETA:
( I proposed to Aaron... here's how it went downCollapse )