What’s Your Zodiac?

Females normally look into their horoscopes and zodiac signs more than males do. When opening a newspaper, the sports section looks much more enticing to a guy than what his day might require to be successful and have a happy ending to it. I live in this fantasy bubble where the glass is always half-full and I am said to always be smiling. I think that I am always optimistic with the simple knowledge that there is always someone else out there who is having a worse day or who has worse luck than I do. Sometimes reading a horoscope gives you an uplifted and temporary fantasy on that day. The word horoscope is derived from the Greek word horoskopos meaning “a look at the hours.” Your horoscope or zodiac sign is determined by the month and day you were born. The zodiac signs include Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius and Pisces. I fall under the sign of the water bearer, Aquarius. My horoscope for today reads… “The upbeat energy in your life is given a shot of joy, encouraging you to pick up your pace and get more accomplished. You probably won't need to wait a long time to know if you're on the right track. Although you're not usually one to shy away from new experiences, now your enthusiasm could be quickly rewarded.” Horoscopes are also used in terms of yearly and monthly predictions, love compatibilities, and general characteristics. I enjoy reading my horoscope just as much as reading the Chinese fortune cookies, whether or not they are at times farfetched and/or unrealistic.

Chinese Zodiac

We live under the International or Gregorian calendar. Our years are determined by the months. The Chinese calendar is based upon astronomical observations and begins on the second new moon of the Winter Solstice. This normally falls between January and February of our year. The meaning behind the 12 animals designated to the Chinese years dates back to Lord Buddha. When he summoned all the animals to bed him farewell before departing from earth, only 12 animals arrived. These animals include Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Pig. He honored them by naming a year after them in the order of their arrival. I was always under the assumption that I was born during the Chinese year of the snake since I was born in 1989. I recently found out that the year of the snake did not start until the day after my birthday, February 6th, 1989. I was born in the year of the dragon. According to the Chinese traditions and zodiac signs, the season and time of day in which you are born have just as much of a major influence on the aspects in your life as the animal that is said to “hide in your heart” does. The animal tends to give a general horoscope. My characteristics as someone born in the year of the dragon are said (also in the link below) to be “Strong-willed, emotional, eccentric, born leader, great ability and high achiever. Lucky, successful, attracts wealth, full of pride, showman, confident, sincere, warm, demanding, high expectations.” My influential element traits of Earth are sociable, conventional and stable. And my compatibility rate with other animal signs (from best to worst) is as follows: Rat, Pig, Rabbit, Monkey, Tiger, Rooster, Sheep, Snake, Horse, Dog, Ox, and Dragon. I think it would be interesting and a little confusing if we lived by this calendar.

My Birth-DAY in History

I was born on Sunday, February 5th, 1989 at 12:44 in the afternoon at Staten Island’s University Hospital. The day obviously has special meaning to my life because it is when I celebrate my birthday year after year. However, there have to have been a handful of events in history with much significance that happened on February 5th as well. I looked up the day and it had many events that occurred. On my actual birthday and year, the last of the Russian troops withdrew from the capital city of Kabul in Afghanistan. All the following events, as well as others that I have not learned, fell on February 5th of different years. An immigration act was passed in 1917. In 1931, Sir Malcolm Campbell set a new race car record of 245MPH with his racing machine, the Bluebird, in Daytona Beach. The first “Don’t Walk” sign was installed in 1952. Children ran for sweets in 1953 after 13 years of sweet rationing in Great Britain since the commencement of WWII. The commander of Apollo 14 (Alan B. Shepard Jr.) became the fifth man to walk on the moon. Panama leader and 16 other associates were charged for drug smuggling and money laundering in 1988. In 1994 in Sarajevo, Bosnia, there was a mortar bomb that exploded in the central market square which killed 68 people and wounded another 200. And in 2008, what was reported to be the worst tornadoes in 2 decades swept across the 5 states of Tennessee, Kentucky, Arkansas, Kansas and Alabama, killing 54 people. Some of the events were happy and others were sad. All I know is that my birthday has had a lot more meaning in history than I could have ever imagined.

Happy New Year

New Years Eve in the year 2000… I can remember like it was yesterday. It was referred to as “Y2K.” There was this superstition that all of our technology was going to fail on us once the clock struck 12. Computers and cell phones and all the materials we had grown so dependent upon were not going to be in use as of 12:00AM on January 1st, 2000. The panic and hysteria left even those who were not superstitious to begin to believe in it in some way, shape or form. When we normally count down to a New Year, we are happy and celebrating the year that passed and excited about the year that will soon follow. It wasn’t until we were sure that we were able to wish our loved ones a Happy New Year over the cell phones that the world was at ease. Superstitions like this have been going on since ancient times and they will continue to live as long as people like us grow the slightest doubt in their own certainties.

Isn’t it Ironic?

Our days always seem to have some touch of irony in them. It appears to be the determination of how our luck unfolds and how that day will unravel. Irony can be defined as what can seem coincidental. Maike Oergel from the Encyclopaedia of German Literature writes that “Irony is a state of affairs or an event that seems deliberately contrary to what one expects...” A song was written by Alanis Morissette entitled “Ironic.” The song goes into some extremes but the lyrics can be understood depending on what kind of day you are having and what you’re doing on that particular day. She says lines like “it’s like ten thousand spoons, when all you need is a knife,” “it’s like rain on your wedding day,” “a traffic jam when you’re already late,” and “a no smoking sign on your cigarette break.” The lines of the song are pieces of a bad day that just keeps getting worse. It defines how you feel before you say the words “this is just my luck,” or “this could only happen to me.”

“13” Precautions

In many countries around the world, in order to help citizens cope with their fears of the number 13, authorities take certain actions they consider necessary to keep everyone happy. For instance, in Scotland, there is no gate at any airport numbered 13. Instead, it is referred to as Gate 12B. In many airplanes, they tend to skip row 13 altogether. Many cultures tend to discourage getting married on the 13th of a month. A race car has never won the Indianapolis 500 or NASCAR Nextel Cup, causing most race car drivers to shy away from having 13 in their number. There is no 13th law in the Code of Hammurabi. According to a superstition, when 13 individuals sit around a table for a meal, one is presumed to die within the following year. There is no sound stage number 13 in Universal Studios, California and no Microsoft Office 13. Bill Gates lost his title of being the richest man in the world after 13 years, according to the 2008 list of world billionaires in Forbes’ magazine. And to reiterate why these superstitions are taken into such account, it was on April 13th that the Apollo 13 spacecraft broke down forcing a return to Earth without reaching the moon and jeopardizing the entire crew.

The Unlucky Number

In many cultures, the number “13” is synonymous with the UNLUCKY NUMBER. In English-speaking cultures, Sweden, Russia and Germany, it is unlucky when the 13th day of the month falls on a Friday (Friday the 13th). A specific fear of Friday the 13th is called paraskevidekatriaphobia or friggatriskaidekaphobia.However, in the Greek or Spanish-speaking cultures, there is an unlucky presence when the 13th day falls on a Tuesday. Fear of the number 13 is called triskaidekaphobia. There are many interpretations used to try and explain why the number is termed “unlucky.” As a start to years of superstition and scare, in his writings in 1925, Charles A. Platt proposed that the reason the number 13 was considered to be unlucky was that a person could only count from 1-12 with their 8 fingers, 2 thumbs and 2 feet but not beyond that. Christians believe that it is ill-fated since the 13th disciple to sit at the Last Supper was Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Jesus in the end. The 13th card of Tarot Decks of the Major Arcana is Death. A calendar of 13 months was used in England up until Tudor times when scientific methods were put into effect. Another interpretation as to why the number 13 is unlucky is because it is the number of full moons in a calendar year. Although there are many other superstitions in the world today, this seems to be the one with the most substantiated evidence and reasoning as to why it still stands today and how it came about to start off with.