I've always liked the look of the Chinese character for rabbit; maybe because it's part of my Chinese name, so I have to write it every time I sign in Chinese, or maybe it's because of the curve of the last part of the character gives the shape of a tail, highlighting the anthropomorphic (that's not the name for describing a word that looks like an animal, but I just like that word) form of the character, it's like drawing a picture every time I write the word, and that's really the beauty of Chinese that I never thought about: in English you're confined to 26 letters, plus some dashes, ampersands, dollar signs, etc.......in Chinese you can act like Jean Michel Basquiat spreading graffiti to the printed page.
The year of one's zodiac sign is said to be even luckier than normal years, and since it comes every 12 years, it better be.....I don't remember anything particularly extraordinary when I was 12 years old or 24 years old (I did win a fantasy football championship that year, so maybe?) so maybe 3rd time's the charm! Maybe MJ and I have waited for this year to have a child so that everyone in our family could become veggie-eater zodiac animals: Mom = rooster, Dad = sheep, sister = rat (veggie eating? At least not a primary meat-eater like dragons or tigers or snakes) and Grandpa (miss him) and MJ are oxen. Miss out on this year (hurry up baby!) and it's going to be dragon, traditionally very auspicious but to me.......I prefer under-rated, under-the-radar performers who get overlooked by others. Dragons are too flashy. Rabbits like me are timid and hesitant, but quick-witted and easy-going and LUCKY! (According to the place setting at my local Chinese restaurant. But that's actually been kind of prophetic: I'm a naturally timid person who doesn't like confrontation: never got into a fight, don't like negotiating about salary or bargaining over anything really. Quick-witted- check! and easy-going (like to think so!) and I'm just learning how absolutely lucky it is that I grew into a body that doesn't need alcohol, caffeine, drugs, of any kind, doesn't need maintenance at the hospital very often, and goes to sleep easily. That's lucky, better than money can buy.
Some random trivia thoughts because, well, I haven't talked about trivia for a while and I need to review:
-I'd like to try vegemite (the Auzzie savory spread) and marmite (the British version) once just to note it and have them stick in my mind as popular trivia answers.
-How cool would it to be like Tom Cruise in The Color of Money or Paul Newman in The Hustler, playing a pool shark/hustler who just wins money by playing pool? Now that's a game I could see perfecting, just getting better and better until it becomes muscle memory (kind of like Jeopardy, where sometimes I read a clue and without even processing anything about what it's asking an answer will pop up, like "Delta Dawn," something I've barely heard about, will pop up in my head as a Helen Reddy song. The power of word association and remembering names with catchy titles, I guess.
Chess: there is actually an active lawsuit right now for defamation brought by a chess player who was accused by Magnus Carlsen of cheating during a game. Hans Neumann is the plaintiff suing for $100 million in a bizarre set of circumstances, especially for chess which is normally a gentleman-like game/sport/whatever you want to call it, not too much controversy, but this story has it all....and just to top it off Elon Musk has weighed in on the cheating. Will this be the new Johnny Depp-Amber Heard trial of 2023? If only chess could get that much attention, even for the wrong reasons.
I got disappointed today watching an episode of the Chase on a question asking about the "Princess of Xiaohe" and what it was; I've never heard of it but know Xiaohe means "little river" in Chinese, so guessed it was a waterfall, but it turned out to be a...mummy. A very well-preserved and beautiful mummy, thus why it's called a princess, but definitely not a waterfall, and Xiaohe was actually a small river but just the place where they found the mummy. Sometimes we put so much pressure on ourselves to get trivia questions in our areas of "strength" correct, but there are certain clues that you just won't get even if it's in your supposed wheelhouse, and we're at danger of overthinking. Later in the game, Buzzy Cohen, the chaser, got a question about what Italian designer known for their blazers.......he thought for a long time and guessed an Italian brand I've never heard of, showing off his knowledge of fashion (his area of expertise) but me a fashion zero, just went with the easy answer, Armani (because of all the jackets, etc.) and got it right. Trivia, at least general trivia and what Jeopardy uses, is said to be a mile broad but an inch deep: you don't need deep knowledge about any one particular topic, just a little knowledge about ALL topics.
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