On Monday I started doing pilates again, and it was rough.  I had been doing them every day for a long time, progressed to more advanced exercises, and then after a vacation just couldn’t get back into it.  So there I was, almost eleven months later, starting all over from scratch with the beginner exercises.  It was sad…I’m so weak, so out of shape, and I was annoyed with myself.  But it’s one of those things where you just have to start again and stick with it, because if you obsess over where you used to be, you’re not going to want to try.  At least it was better than the very first time I did pilates, when I REALLY couldn’t do anything.  Things will come back faster, and interestingly enough I think parts of my core that were dormant have been reawakened.  I tried pirouettes just for funsies, and managed okay triples on both sides.  Given, I was wearing socks on a shiny hardwood floor, but I’ll take it!  There was one 3.5 that even stayed on relevé, so I think this is my body’s way of telling me to work out before it deteriorates completely.  Little gifts like triple pirouettes are only a taste of what’s to come, it promises.

Anyway, today is Wednesday, which for me, is ALL about Glee.  It’s no secret that I am completely obsessed with this show, and to a potentially unhealthy degree.  I guess in some ways it’s what I wish my high school experience was like.  Although I was (and never will be) no singer, I was involved in the geekier stuff like band and theatre that attracted bullying and teasing like a cows to an alien tractor beam.  I don’t know if this show will have any lasting effect on that, but it is my greatest hope that someday, something will change the minds of young people who think it’s acceptable to make fun of others based on what they’re passionate about.  I didn’t choose my talents and it was difficult for me to understand why people were so intent on being merciless towards me.  My senior year I was one of the best flute players in the school, and I was constantly mocked for that and many other reasons (being a minority, effeminate, skinny and unathletic…I was the TRIPLE bullseye).  I know what it’s like to be a Rachel or a Kurt (Kurchel?)…to have talents and a personality that few seemed to appreciate and although I never had a slushie thrown in my face I had plenty of cruelties tossed my way.  I’d be lying if I said it didn’t affect me…on the one hand, putting up with all that crap made me headstrong (maaaaaybe stubborn), but I still have plenty of insecurities.  But this can also be attributed to my zodiacs…the Aries in me always says “GO FOR IT!” but those who are born in the Year of the Rat with wood as their element are incredibly insecure people.  It’s a strange dynamic that I have to go through just to make decisions.

It wasn’t until I started dancing (and this was towards the end of university mind you!) that the repair process even began.  It was through dance that I finally started to appreciate the person I am, regardless of whether other people did or not.  This is why I love dance more than life itself and Glee almost as much as I love dance.  However, as much as I love both, I can’t see them mixing very well.  I don’t think a dance version of Glee would work out, for a couple of reasons.  First, being on the dance team doesn’t qualify as geeky.  Second, and the most important, is that people who sing can come from many different backgrounds, which is the same in dance, but with singing, the uniting force is language, and the spoken (er…sung?) word.  We’re trained as soon as we can make any kind of sound from our mouths to speak a language.  However, the common element between all the different dance forms is movement, which despite being the realm of exploration for modern, is much more obscure because most of us aren’t taught to “speak movement” so intensively.  This is why I feel an appreciation for dance is so necessary for a healthy, balanced life.  Just as one should know how to read, so should they know how to observe communication through dance.  It’s no wonder people often show up to their first dance class, a completely insecure wreck, because they’re so out of touch with their bodies.  Dance/movement training should be incorporated a lot more into schools methinks…I went to public school and we never had anything like that.  But dance education is a completely different beast, for another day.

Listen to what the cast of Glee had to say about their first dance experiences:

This begs the question though of why is dance so invisible in mainstream media?  Why is it reduced to the occasional, poorly done stereotype?  It was interesting to me that ballet and New York are kind of synonymous, and yet Veronika Part’s appearance on Letterman just a few months ago was the FIRST time they’ve ever had a ballet dancer.  WHAT?!?  Really??  We get a few movies here and there, most of them being terrible…why is it so difficult to have a compelling plot involving dance in a movie?  Or why aren’t there any television shows where characters are dancers?  And if there are, why are they always portrayed a certain way?  You know what I mean, there are exaggerated stereotypes, as if being a dancer prevents you from being a socially adjusted human being…like this one episode of Will and Grace where Will was dating a dancer, who said something like “I did a rond de jambe when I meant to grand jeté it was so embarrassing.”  First of all, there is no possible way to make that mistake, and there’s no way a dancer would say that to someone who had no idea what those terms meant.  Boo on you writers, for crossing your fingers and hoping the technical jargon would suffice.  Or how about when that character shows up at Will’s apartment decked in full Nutcracker makeup, jumping up and down at the door, and later on balancés down the sidewalk to catch snowflakes on his tongue.  Professional dancers don’t do that (unless they intend to)!  I do that!  And only because I’m trying to be funny, not because I’m crazy.

It’s about time dance got some decent exposure on television, for what it truly is.  Not as background for music videos, “reality” shows or B-movies.  I wish there was a talk show that invited dancers, choreographers, artistic directors etc. to be interviewed and  allowed audiences to get to know them as people as well as find out more about their upcoming projects.  Kind of like Actor’s Studio, or even better, something laid back like Ellen DeGeneres’ show…and the host should be me because I could use a job.  I’m interested in everything dance, so why not?  Except butoh…sorry, won’t do that again.

And just for fun, Kurt…because we love Kurt.

This is the fiftieth post I’ve written since youdancefunny’s sacred inception.  Fifty is a pretty monumental number, so I shall write about a dance that was monumental to me.  I was actually thinking about saving this for entry one hundred, but after realizing that would take a few more months, I chacked the idea.  The thought of having this thought linger in my brain for a few more months was not one I was fond of, because when I get a good idea I tend to become pretty impatient about it.  After all, the only way to get another good idea is to get rid of the one you’re holding.  It’s all thanks to a combination of the impatience of an Aries and a lust for living in the present moment that comes from being born in the Year of the Rat.  My birthright has thus rendered me virtually incapable of dealing with the long term stuff, in either direction, past or future.  Too much information?  Maybe.

So in honor of post cincuenta, today’s entry is dedicated to first dance that ever inspired me, Remanso, choreographed by Nacho Duato, to music by composer Enrique Granados’ Valses Poéticos.  I was first introduced to this dance by ballet teacher Yen Fang, ages ago.  Well, more like less than two years, but remember that I am indeed one who lives in the present so two years is like half of eternity.  I think I’ve mentioned her a couple times before, as the teacher who swears like a sailor and would beat me in class.  She would also tell me to carry out the center barres because that’s what the boys should do…or rather boy, since I was the only boy in the class.  Despite her abusive ways, I’ll always remember her class because it was one of my first ballet classes ever, where I first heard the mazurka to Coppelia, and where I was introduced to Remanso.  I started taking dance classes at my university, so the approach was always a little more academic rather than just dancing all the time, so teachers would often show videos and have us write papers and the like.  The one Yen Fang showed was American Ballet Theatre Now – Variety and Virtuosity, which one can purchase brand new at amazon.com for a monstrous $97.89.  HOLY BILLY ELLIOT.  Back up, $100?  Seriously?!?  This is not a drill people…although if you own an artifact called a “VCR,” you can purchase a VHS for a much kinder six dollars.

Sticker shock aside, I found that Remanso appealed to many of my tastes.  The first being the music.  I have a strange affinity for waltzes and time signatures in threes, for which I have no explanation.  Anyway, sometimes a solo piano piece is really all it takes to satisfy the soul, and Valses Poéticos does just that.  In fact, I was so in love with the music I rekindled this idea that I could teach myself how to play piano.  I go through this phase every now and then, with varying degrees of success, ranging from purchasing music and never playing it, to learning the first page of a piece before getting overwhelmed.  Quite frankly, piano (or any classical instrument for that matter), like ballet is not something you can teach yourself, but I decided to buy the music anyway.  What should have been a simple purchase turned into an ordeal when I ordered the music in July, got a call from the store that it had arrived, and had plans to go but somehow got distracted and it slipped my mind.  After that initial day, again, as someone who lives in the present, of course I also forgot all about it (plus going downtown is a pain and I always get lost), until a couple months later when the store lady called again, not leaving a message the first time and then leaving a message the day after.  I rushed to the store and picked it up, with a different store clerk helping me, but the one who had ordered it and made the phone calls was also there and she was giving me the evil eye the whole time.  “I’m sorry!  I forgot!  It was an honest mistake!” I pleaded with my eyes, but she would not relent, and I left feeling dirty and ashamed.

Anyway, back to the dance, it is a modern ballet, and Duato’s choreography is so whimsical and charming, and the lightness of his style really fits the buoyancy of the music itself.  Designed for a male pas de trois (plus a mysterious hand of a fourth human holding a rose), the costumes are simple, leotards in solid dark tones paired with black shorts, which allows for a real sense of the dynamism of the male body.  The set and lighting too are minimal, with just a white square on a black stage, which would illuminate with different colors matching the dancer’s outfits.  It’s such a simple, perfect idea, and the minimized production elements really force your eyes to watch the dancing only.  There’s nothing harsh; it’s sweet, chocolate covered and easy to digest thanks to wonderful symmetry, motifs, repetitions and echoing.  No one dancer overpowers another, and they are playful without it being exaggerated.  It’s also pleasing because I believe it is comprised of all seven movements of Valses Poéticos, so you get a variety of tempi so it never settles into one mood for too long, each one on the verge ephemerality.  I think in many ways, this dance felt like “me.”  After watching it, THAT was the moment when I realized I wished I was a dancer, and it was at that moment I realized I needed to have dance be a significant part of my life or else I wouldn’t truly be human without it.  So I immersed myself, and the rest they say is history…a history that is fading into the recesses of my memory.  Luckily, Remanso never will.

So here it is, for your enjoyment, Remanso, danced by Parrish Maynard, (green…and I want his arabesque), Keith Roberts (gray) and Vladimir Malakhov (blue)…thank Billy nobody has to pay a ridiculous $100 for the DVD and Variety and Virtuosity in its entirety is available on YouTube.  You can also catch a glimpse of Julie Kent at the end, who is featured in the next dance.  Now, I hadn’t seen Center Stage at the time, and only knew of it because friend Mama J-bear (with whom I had my adventures in China with) said it was worth watching because Sascha Radetsky is hot, but I’ll never forget the girl in my class who asked “Is that the girl from Center Stage?  I didn’t like her…she was a bitch.”

So my many followers, okay, my two followers, are probably wondering, “Hey Bonita, why no posts since last week?”  This blog is the result of the changes I have made in my life in the last year and a half. What began as an attempt to honor the year of the rat evolved into my “cosmic colonic” which in turn led me to declare myself a DJ / Artist and start this blog. Let’s back it up to the year of the rat, shall we?

February 2008

Honoring the year of the Rat

The Chinese have some interesting New Year’s traditions. One of them includes cleaning your house until there is not a “speck of dust” left from the previous year.  I am a rat and the year of the rat began in February 2008. I knew it would be a prosperous year for our family and I wanted to honor the rat properly. However, with two small children, it wasn’t possible to clean my house in a fitting way. So I made a deal with the rat, I would do one thing in my house every day that year, to get my house to a standard worthy of la rata.

So I started taking care of all those little things around the house that had been bugging me. You know all those things that catch your eye when your walking through your home and gets added to your mental to do list which is already long and overwhelming. Dumb little stuff that never took more than 10 – 15 minutes, like wiping out the vegetable drawers in the fridge or hanging some pictures. Getting the stain off the bedspread or replacing some ratty bathmats. And each little task gave me such a sense of accomplishment while relieving some of the internal pressure that left me feeling overwhelmed all the time.

This is going to make someone very happy, but it’s not me

Once I started clearing out some of that gray noise in my head, there was room to take on more.  Closets were next. Not just the clothes I never wore, but the clothes I wanted to like but didn’t and the clothes I liked but didn’t wear. My mantra was: this is going to make someone very happy, but it’s not me.  And removing all the stuff I didn’t need uncovered some treasures. I loved how empty my closet was.  No more mental clutter and I was only facing clothes that gave me joy.

Can you hear the angels singing?

I kept moving through the house. How on earth could we ever need all these coats? Why am i keeping this set of sheets that don’t fit any bed in our house?  Do I seriously need 12 boxes of teaching materials when I am 80% sure I do not want to go back to classroom teaching? What the hell am I doing with all these scraps of wrapping paper? (Yeah, that one freaked me a little. I don’t want to be the old lady that saves pieces of twine!)

Redistributing my embarrassment of riches

I worked to find the proper owners for my embarrassment of riches. I had garage sales. I donate, I gave stuff to friends, family, neighbors.  I craigslisted hundreds of  items, many of them for free. I cleared out our storage space and then canceled it. And with every action, I felt a lightening. These gilded cages are oppressive. We have more than we could ever need and are miserable. Clearly, this isn’t what we were put here to do.

And every time I cleared out space, I left it empty. I would open doors as I passed by closets and just enjoy the emptiness. I didn’t want to start filling it all up with more crap, I wanted to fill these spaces mindfully. I bought myself art supplies for my  birthday, they found just the right home in the previously overstuffed laundry room closet.

I got rid of six pairs of shoes from the late nineties and  I began a six month quest for just the right pair of loafers.  Now when I wear my loafers, people stop me and say, “Damn Bonita, those are some nice shoes.” Okay, that just happened once, but everytime I wear them they make me happy AND are super comfy.

It's like a smile for my feet.

Filling the Space Mindfully

I want to fill this space mindfully. I want this blog to make you think and help you discover the changes you need to make to lighten your load. But I want to do it in a way that is sustainable to me.  Lord knows I do not need this to be one more homework assignment that I am always procrastinating and resenting because no one tells me what to do or when to do it.

So stay tuned. This blog will find its rhythm and I will post on a more regular basis. And no way this will only be a blog of growth and self discovery, BARF. But we have so much work to do and the first step is to get your shit in order. So I ask you, where can you start cleaning out clutter from your life?

Well, would you look at that?  Looks like my frantic blogging pace has finally gotten the better of me.  You knew this would happen though, didn’t you?  You think I’m too flighty to stick to one mode of creative expression for any length of time.  Well, that may be true, but you don’t have to be so smug about it.  Bastard.

In other words, I went to the discussion group thing last night and it was awful…awfully-awesome!  I stayed up pretty late last night so I don’t feel like I can recount last night’s exercise in painfully awkward socialization and wholly inappropriate discussion of medical practice with the humor and rigor it deserves.  Seriously though, when I put it up, you’re going to lol and lol.

In penance for shirking on my commitment to provide fresh, semi-daily, Anna-approved, hot content, I offer the following adorable picture of Badly Drawn Boy demonstrating the London Loving Cup to a young girl in need during the “Year of the Rat” music video (which can be found below and is wonderful and makes me cry fucking buckets every single time I watch it).

A still from "Year of the Rat"

Re: the sentence above, seriously you guys, one day, I’m going to start writing a sentence that will be so long that it will take me the rest of my days to finish and will become my one and only all-consuming passion…and stuff.

Charlie Becker, Pod-Rat-OX

As an SF Bay Area native, I don’t feel a strong pull to head down to LA.  At least I haven’t, until now.

I’d like to see an art show at Giant Robot 2 (in LA) but alas, I won’t make it before the April 15 closing night.  In case you are in the area and can make it, here are the details:

Giant Robot is proud to host Year of the Ox, a group art show celebrating year 4707 on the lunar calendar. Pieces will include illustration, oils, pencils, prints, watercolor, sculpture, and other media-all dedicated to the hardest-working animal of the Chinese zodiac cycle.

GR2
2062 Sawtelle Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90025
gr2.net
(310) 445-9276

Punk legend Jello Biafra of the Dead Kennedys came out to Fucked Up’s recent San Francisco show and they invited him onstage (as I’m sure many bands do when they find out Jello is in the club in SF) to play this Ramones cover of “Blitzkrieg Bop”. Brilliant stuff!

In other news, Fucked Up just started streaming the song “Year of the Rat” from their upcoming 12″ single that will be released on What’s Your Rupture. Check it here!

Si on mettait un peu plus de passion et d’amour dans tout ce qu’on fait et ce qui nous entoure…

Sources

http://twitpic.com/1762m

Twitter Feat #95 was realized on a day possessing significance in regards to the feat’s content.

First of all, an explanation. The arch seen in the picture is none other than the “Friendship Arch,” locally known as the “Chinatown Arch.” It spans North 10th Street, a few feet north of (surprise!) Arch Street in Philadelphia’s Chinatown neighborhood. Here is a photograph of how it appears when taken from a photographer NOT interested in pursuing Twitter feats in 9 degree weather:

(Above photograph comes courtesy of the Wikipedia article on Philadelphia’s Chinatown neighborhood and was taken by Wikipedia user “Thoth”)

The arch is located along the neighborhood’s southernmost border, roughly 4-5 blocks west of the city’s much-more-renowned Historic District, home to such sights as Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell, and tourists older than these two landmarks (who are the only ones that find them interesting and visit-worthy).

The date on which the Feat was realized is significant in the quickly-shrinking Chinatown neighborhood (thanks to its ever-expanding yet ultimately useless neighbor, the Pennsylvania Convention Center), as it marked Chinese/Lunar New Year’s Eve. Yes, as my numb fingers snapped the photograph and uploaded it, the Year of the Rat was seeing its last few hours tick away. At midnight on January 26, 2009, the Year of the Ox (the Earth Ox, to be specific) was ushered in; it will be replaced on Valentine’s Day 2010 by the Year of the Rabbit.

I love Wikipedia. It makes me sound intelligent and cultured.

I also love how years in the Chinese calendar apparently have extra days; the time between the dawn of the Ox year and the dawn of the Rat year is a cool 384 days, a significant amount more than the 365-366-day limit allotted by American calendars. And yet, the Chinese still seem to be in the year 4000-something.

I’m launching a total of 12 Itsy Bitsy Red Journals into the mix. Each book is a small satin covered hardbound book. The front is bead embellished and they hail from Indian craftsmen.

The Theme is Chinese Zodiac with each of the journals dedicated to one animal year. This one’s theme is The Year of The Rat.

Have fun adding your creative inspirations to the many little blank white pages. Do as many as 10 pages, or just keep it to one tiny entry. Enjoy. Relist within two weeks using this same listing. I will mooch it back when completed or return to me.

-Joy Found / Lauri Jean Crowe

Heading: The year of the Ox

Subheading: Slow and steady wins the race.

We are, just now, reaching the end of the year of the rat and it has proved true to form with the economic downturn and financial crisis. For the rat, is great, in times of paucity, drought and starvation – a great provider when things are scarce. How have you coped in the year of the rat? Are you feeling bereft of your usual sense of security or have you refocused your sense of values to the simpler things in life? Down sized your expectations and let go of the longer term life view – and perhaps you are finding joy in the company of friends and family. Enjoying a good meal or a good book and making do with a sense of surviving to live another day, until the winds change and you might raise up the energy for another foray forward.
The spectre of 2009 looms before us and the dreaded ‘R’ word – recession is whispered around the world, with all its negative implications for continuing prosperity. The year of the ox brings with it no lightning fast resurrection of the markets but more a stolid one foot in front of the other approach to living. This will be an attention to detail kind of year, where progress can be made, slowly and with steady intention. The year of the ox will bring success to those that persevere and tether their camels. Starting again at the beginning, can be initially, a melancholy business but it is what is needed to get back into the game of life. The ox does what is required, works hard and pulls the dray to get those crops in and growing. Patience comes to the fore and the work will pay rewards in the end but is a no get rich quick scheme.
Indeed this year is the year we need to have in response to the ‘greed squeeze’ factors, which have put us all where we are – cap in hand- so to speak. Regulation and appreciation of just rewards are on the menu in 2009 – Wall St cowboys and the Howard years are well and truly over. Get used to a return to the values of yesteryear – an honest return for an honest day’s work! Welcome to the year of the ox.
©Sudha Hamilton.

Eco Living Emag

Midas Word

“[The Year of the Rat] provides a waggish romp.”-The Bloomsbury Review

“Endearing characters and an amusing storyline.”-Paper Tigers

The year 2009 is the Year of the Ox! The feisty calf Olivia befriends the girl Mei, but pulling her weight on the farm isn’t easy. When a flood threatens her “sister” and village, can Olivia save the day?

The popular series’ fourth book features the Chinese zodiac’s twelve charismatic animals, including the dog, pig, and rat. Welcome the new year with these entertaining adventures!

Author Oliver Chin lives in San Francisco, California.

The series’ illustrator, Jeremiah Alcorn, lives near Birmingham, Alabama.

The Year of the Ox: Tales from the Chinese Zodiac is available at Amazon for $10.85. To Order click here
Amazon Product Pages contain a lot of other details on this product as Customer Reviews, Sales Ranking, Special Offers, Alternate products that customers are going for and much more.Want to read these details? click here

Want to get some other Format / Binding / Version? You can search for them from here

Other Products of Interest

• The Year of the Rat: Tales from the Chinese Zodiac
• The Year of the Dog: Tales from the Chinese Zodiac
• The Year of the Pig: Tales from the Chinese Zodiac
• Celebrating Chinese New Year: An Activity Book
• The Great Race

Especially fitting as we approach the end of the Year of The Rat.

“Especially people who usually collect bottles could get one euro for every dead rat,” Henner Schmidt, head of the business-friendly Free Democrat party in the Mitte district of Berlin, told Berliner Kurier newspaper this week.

Instead of paying per rat, they should pay by weight. Imagine the payoff for bringing in Herr Schmidt? Or Mr. Madoff?

In his defense, “Lassen Sie sie Ratten essen!” doesn’t really sound all that much worse than “Lassen Sie sie Kuchen essen!” (A/K/A “Laissez-les manger le gâteau.”) Still not nearly as good as “Permetta loro di mangiare formaggio!“

UPDATE: Now the Italians (or at least the Milanese) are saying, “Lascili mangiare il caviale!”  Customs inspectors in Milan seized 40 kilogrammes (88 pounds) of beluga caviar last month from two couriers travelling from Warsaw, Corriere della Sera newspaper reported. Prosecutors will hang on to a sample of the prized sturgeon eggs worth a total of 400,000 euros (557,000 dollars) for the investigation, while the rest will be given to charities to give to the poor.

Merivale Street

Available on my Google Map of Brisbane:

View Larger Map

I have four scratchers in my hand. I’m tempted to scratch them. I bought these a over a week ago. I do this from time to time…to test my luck?

I let them sit for awhile. Reassuring myself that the longer I wait, the more my “luck” will build up. I know that’s bogus, but that doesn’t stop me from doing it.

So…should I scratch them or not? Yes or no? I’m thinking about waiting till I find a coin that has the year 1984. What are my chances of that? How long am I going to have to wait?

Why 1984? For starters, it is my birth year…the year of the Rat…which is this current year…2008. In the beginning of the year, I thought to myself.

1) I can’t believe Ferry Corsten is performing on New Years 2008 @ Together As One. My favorite DJ in the whole freaking world…starting my year off right. Someone up there loves me!

2) I can’t believe that it’s finally the year of the Rat.

3) I’m going to have the best luck this year.

4) I can’t believe I’m starting my career doing something I really like.

I thought this was my lucky year damnit! WOW.

Couple months goes by, and my luck slowly started to fall apart. I nearly ripped the bumper off my car. I was driving around without registration because I needed to get it smogged. I decided to quit my job because I was going through a nervous breakdown. I met someone that wasn’t who I thought they were. We are entering another Depression. Wow…what a year.

But you know what? This year is about the end, and the bad luck will go away. Only 2 more months! I’m looking forward to this New Year.

Yup, these scratchers are going to wait…till I find that lucky coin. So if I want to scratch them anytime soon, I better keep a eye open for it.

Life…is a gamble.

We’ll get to that in a second, but first, a little primer:

The Chinese zodiac is a combination of five elements and twelve animals that repeats every sixty years.

The five elements are:
1) wood 2) fire 3) earth 4) metal 5) water

And the twelve animals are:
Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, Boar

Lunar New Year is a major Chinese holiday, is ususally celebrated with gatherings of friends and family, and festivities may include fireworks, dragon dances, and giving red envelopes.

About a week after the official start of the new year, the 15th day of the lunar new year month marks the conclusion of the celebrations with the biggest party of all: the Lantern Festival. Although there are variations on the story of the origin of the Lantern Festival, to this day it is celebrated with brightly colored lanterns and convivial social gatherings.

THEMES FAVORED BY Year of the Rat:

  
• Practicality
• Relationships
• Upheaval

 

As I was doing the Daily Dose this morning, I realized that I’m about to encounter a unique alignment – everything will be as it was on the day I was born.  The Sun will be in Leo, the year according to Chinese astrology is the year of the rat, and the moon will be in Aries – everything aligned exactly as it was on the day of my birth. 

2008 is the year of the rat.  As of today, the Sun shifted into Leo.  As of 3:22 a.m. tomorrow morning (tonight), the moon shifts into Aries (my Moon sign), where it will stay for the remainder of Wednesday, all of Thursday, until 6:30 a.m. Friday.

If I’m not mistaken, the Chinese zodiac sign only comes about once every twelve years… since I’m about to turn 36, this would be only my third alignment with all the elements in place – Leo, Rat, and Aries, and I won’t experience it again until I’m turning 48.

I wonder if this has anything to do with my current “shift”, introspective tendencies, and sense of transformation.

Well, where was I twelve years ago? 1996. Interestingly enough, I got married that year (Year of the rat is supposed to be a good time for marriage, even though I was divorced by 2001).  I also discovered that year that I had cervical cancer and would engage in a two year battle for my life.  I had surgery every three months for the following two years, which ultimately led to a hysterectomy when I was 25 – April of 1998. It was a time of MAJOR transformation, soul searching, and trying to find and define the value of my own life and my purpose for living.  The daily threat of death has that effect. 

So if I’m right in thinking that this alignment has something to do with my current emotional/mental/spiritual state, then all I can do is hope that this time, the cycle takes it a bit easier on me!

Just a thought.

W