Pretensions has somewhat neglected this blog for the last few weeks as she was busy with a student concert. Upon viewing the video of her perfomance a couple days ago, she feels that she has improved significantly over the last time but has a long way to go. Pictures may be forthcoming if P gets any!

Anyway, she hopes to return to blogging shortly, but today is the eve of the Chinese New Year so family matters call! P has actually just had her reunion dinner; ‘tho her family tends to have small-scale celebrations rather than the Grand Reunion Dinners that bring together several generations of the family. All the kitschy red decorations are up and house is well, about as clean as it usually gets.

Tomorrow comes the bit that P normally dreads, where P’s mom and dad and P trawl around older relatives houses bearing oranges (symbolic gold). As P is still unmarried, this occasions much tut-tutting among the aunties and discussions over what could be the problem. Unmarried men and women are still considered children in Chinese tradition, so P would be the reluctant recipient of several red packets containing small sums of money. This gets more embarrassing as the years go by, but P hasn’t quite reached the stage of some 50+ year old acquaintances whose married friends keep complaining about the red packets!

2009 is the Year of the Ox (chinese character Niu) in the Chinese Zodiac and is supposed to be a relatively decent year for P’s own birth animal (Rooster). To be more specific, it is an Earth Ox (think 5 elements). Oxen are slow, plodding conventional animals that have to work very hard for their living. Earth lends stability. Most predictions that P has seen say that 2009 will be a long hard grind but ultimately rewarding – freeloaders will not be tolerated ‘though! Simplicity, Patience and Unity of effort is key this year – or so the astrologers say.

Anyway, P would like to wish all readers a very happy Lunar New Year – she will post more interesting stuff soon, she promises!

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