Survey says: 2009 is the Year of the Earth Ox

2009, according to Chinese Horoscope, is the year of the Earth Ox. The Ox ( 牛 ) is one of the 12-year cycle of animals which appear in the Chinese zodiac related to the Chinese calendar. The Year of the Ox is denoted by the earthly branch character 丑. In the Vietnamese zodiac, the water buffalo occupies the position of the ox.

I have not much thing to do in the office today (or I have so many but, being a tardy goat as what the Chinese Zodiac says, I’m just too lazy to attend to) so I was checking the internet, not for pörn but for predictions about this coming Chinese Year of the Ox 2009. During my search, I noticed that most of the top hits are from local websites (or blogs) such as, in no particular order, RN Pinay, Raymond Lo – Professional Feng Shui Researcher & Practitioner and PinoyBusineness.ORG.

My stay in the Philippines during this year’s New Year made me realized how different the Tsinoy traditions in celebrating the occasion as compared to those being practiced in the Hopia Wonderland. There were no extravagant foods, round fruits or even the Tikoys in a Mainland Chinese table during Christmas eve, there were just dumplings that each of the family members had prepared. Now it got me thinking, why on earth are we having so much preparation in the Philippines when the genuine Chinese are just preparing simple meals? Did our Tsinoys just made up those traditions were practicing back home or was it just because China is so big and those popular Chinese traditions were just not being practiced in the area where I am?

Let’s do a survey, ladies and gentlemen. Please help me collect as much information by doing the procedures below:

1. Using Google (so we could contain the data in a single search engine), search the internet for the keyword 2009 Year of the Ox.
2. Copy the entire first page of the search results and paste it in a notepad.
3. Email the text document to me – kotsengkuba(at)gmail.com – with the following information:

• Name (pet or pseudo name is allowed if you opt for anonymity) and website (if applicable)
• Nationality
• Country
• Time and date of search

I will compile your responses on or before January 26, 2009 (Chinese New Year) and I’ll post in on my other blog Hopia Encounters with my analysis and interpretations. That’s all ladies and gentlemen. I hope you’ll participate in this (senseless) sensible activity. Belated Happy New Year and advanced Chinese New Year to all!

Photo credit: Cafe Astrology

My first Cebu Pacific flight: Beggars can’t be choosers

Although my wife had been taking Cebu Pacific flights when traveling to and from Shanghai, it was my very first time to actually see and ride their A-319 Airbus. And guess what? I got extremely dizzy during the flight, hahaha! Though I’m not sure whether that dizziness was caused by the aircraft itself or just my lack of sleep since my flight back to Shanghai, except the fact that I was seated between two Caucasians (Yeah, I’m a bigot now. Sue me!), was normal.

My wife is really afraid of flights (and heights, tall buildings, earthquakes and sailing) so I was trying to calm her during the start of the flight although I was actually getting slightly dizzy from start because I could feel the plain’s vibrations – those caused by the engines and the winds gushing to the aircraft – even after the plain was already flying stable. I’m could not clearly remember whether I could also feel those vibrations on the other three airlines – PAL, JAL and NWA - that I had taken in the past. I would if I could go back in time but I couldn’t so probably I wouldn’t remember.

I think I already had a short nap and when I woke up, I felt like vomiting or needing to go to the toilet. Yes, I was thinking of going to the toilet hoping that I would feel better if I could at least vomit or defecate or both. You know that feeling right? And I could feel myself perspiring from my head to my upper torso. I told my wife how I was feeling which only caused her to panic even more. She had to apply her ever-ready white flower on my nose thrills and, if I’m not mistaken, on my forehead. She kept doing it several times and she could just have to make me take a sip, she would probably have done it just to make me feel fine. I was trying to calculate whether I could make it to the toilet but because I can’t even convince myself to stand I just tried to inhale as much white flower as I could until I finally fell asleep. When I woke up, most of the passengers had already left.

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Walang ganyan sa… CHINA!!!

I just got back from a five-day vacation from the Carabao Republic and here I am again, freezing in cold in the Hopia Wonderland. I still have a lot of things to do before I could get back to normal blogging – moving back to Alcatraz where there would be no internet connection and catching up with whatever or whoever I could catch up with at work. I know you’ve missed me like hell (well, you should) but all I could have for now are photos. Things that we could be proud of, ashamed of and things that I may miss a lot dahil walang ganyan sa China. Tulad nito:

Mga naghuhubarang billboards sa mga highway

Na hindi pwedeng hindi tatalbugan ng “Holiday Greetings” from our dear government officials na ewan natin kung sa pondo ba ng bayan nanggaling ang pinampagawa

Mga highway na binakbak from end-to-end ng mga tinamaan ng magaling

Tapos sasabihin…

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