Our Chinese Calendar

Every year, while dining at Chong's (our favorite Chinese restaurant) around Christmastime, we are given a calendar because we are regular customers. The calendar is one of those long bamboo (fake) hangings with pretty pictures that illustrate the Chinese symbols for the different years. According to the calendar, if you were born in 1946, 1958, 1970, 1982, 1994, or 2006, you were born in the Year of the Dog.

We hung our fancy Chinese calendar on the wall in back of my computer so I could see it easily. I also like looking at the pretty pictures as I contemplate what I will write about on my blog.

I was born in 1942, which means that I was born in the Year of the Horse.

1918, 1930, 1942, 1954, 1966, 1978, 1990, 2002: People born in the Year of the Horse are popular. They are cheerful, skillful with money, and perceptive, although they sometimes talk too much. They are wise, talented, good with their hands, and sometimes have a weakness for members of the opposite sex. They are impatient and hot-blooded about everything except their daily work. They like entertainment and large crowds. They are very independent and rarely listen to advice. They are most compatible with Tigers, Dogs, and Sheep.

I don't know where the Chinese get their information. You tell me if this describes my personality.

1. Popular: Little kids, cats, and dogs love me.
2. Cheerful, skillful with money, perceptive, and sometimes talk too much: I am cheerful (most of the time), I'm good at borrowing money from banks, I'm really perceptive, and I ALWAYS talk too much on my blog (in person I tend to be shy and laid back).
3. Wise, talented, good with my hands, and a weakness for the guys: Yes, I'm a wiseacre, I'm talented on any number of levels, I make great bread and pizza dough, and give good massages, and I like men a lot.
4. Impatient and hot-blooded, except for my daily work: Yeah, typical Type A personality, hot to trot and hot to shoot off my mouth; my daily work never suffers because, as a Type A personality, everything must be perfect.
5. Likes entertainment and large crowds: I love movies, Broadway shows, talented people who amuse me, thrill me, and entertain me; large crowds make me nervous so I try to avoid them except when I'm at the theater.
6. Very independent and rarely listens to advice: My main ambition as a senior in high school was to leave for New York as soon as the graduation ceremonies were over and live as a beatnik in the Village (which I did in the early 1960s); since I didn't listen to anyone's advice, I always did as I pleased, but I eventually conformed (except when I married a hippy) and here I am, living in middle America, totally conforming to the middle class and loving it.
7. Most compatible with Tigers, Dogs, and Sheep: Now I know I'm in trouble since husband was born under the sign of the Snake, which means that we aren't compatible. Oh, well. Now I know why we tend to bicker over the smallest and largest of issues.

So, there you have a synopsis of what makes me tick. The Chinese are very talented on many different levels, especially their food, but in identifying personality traits and concocting fortune cookie sayings, they need to get a new hobby.