Year of the Dragon

February 27, 2024

Chuc mung nam moi!

It’s finally my year, the year of the dragon! Here are some dragon horoscopes I found for all my fellow dragons. For the most part they sound like me, while there are definitely a few aspects I don’t totally agree with and some are a stretch. But it’s all in good fun so I take everything with a grain of salt.

The year that is ruled by the same master of the year is usually very positive for that sign (similar to golden birthdays). The compatibility of the energy of the ruling sign lifts up and enhances the year. This is especially true for the majestic Dragon. Therefore 2024 promises many pleasant and joyful moments. As the energy of the Dragon perfectly harmonizes with the Dragon ruling the year, the period is set to be flowing and stable in almost all aspects of the Dragon’s life.

In 2024, Dragons should prepare for significant yet favorable changes in many aspects of their lives. This year will be filled with vibrant events, positivity, and a constant sense of celebration. The Dragons will constantly find themselves at the center of events. There is a great chance of going on a prolonged trip, changing cities, or even countries. Dragons who have long struggled to determine a direction in life will gain a clearer understanding of what the most important goals are. Education, skill upgrades, and exploring and unlocking new talents are all highly encouraged.

In terms of love and romance, 2024 will be the onset of a period filled with passion and strong emotions for the Dragon. Dragons who are in a committed relationship can count on harmony in relationships and the onset of a mostly stable period throughout 2024. Although it is this “boring” stability that can create a feeling of routine, in which case a Dragon who is craving excitement, sharp sensations, and adrenaline may go looking for them elsewhere. To prevent relationships from ending due to the infidelity of a passionate spouse, the Dragon should work on diversifying the relationship and keep being engaged with their partner. They can introduce something new and try out sensual practices together with their partner. Problems can also arise if the Dragon is too consumed with their work. It is important to clearly distinguish between professional and personal life, devoting sufficient time and attention to the latter to avoid subsequent problems and disappointments in the relationship as a result of neglecting the relationship.

To implement any serious project, the Dragon will need like-minded people. It will be extremely hard, if not impossible, to succeed alone with larger projects. Such partners must fully share their views and have the same goal. One can take risks in 2024, but everything still needs to be carefully planned and calculated.

With regard to health, 2024 promises an active year filled with opportunities to improve and strengthen their health throughout the year by engaging in various activities, which should be plenty to choose from. Despite the overall favorable forecast, the Dragon should not neglect their physical and mental condition. Overall strengthening of the body will be beneficial, whether incidentally by participating in physical activities or by quite deliberately establishing a steady gym routine. It is as important to adhere to a balanced diet, get enough sleep, and not forget to rest. With a flurry of activity, it will be easy for the busy Dragon to push the necessary rest to the back of their mind. This would, however, be a mistake. The year 2024 is full of various events, which means that their nervous system will be in overdrive, and without the necessary rest, the Dragon will have no time to recuperate and recover. It is recommended to regularly stay in the fresh air, participate in active sports and, most importantly, do something for relaxation like yoga, meditation, breathing exercises, etc. The more physically active the Dragon is, the fewer health problems they will have. To maintain a positive attitude, it is recommended to participate in fun activities as often as possible. These can be both team sports and individual ones. The main thing is regularity. Chronic diseases may worsen, so it is desirable to visit specialists for routine examinations before the period when the symptoms usually appear. The Dragon should avoid engaging in self-medication, as this can lead to a sharp deterioration in their health. It is best to trust professionals with any serious condition.

The year 2024 will be an extremely positive one for Dragons, as their own sign's energy will enhance and uplift them. Significant yet favorable changes are in store across all aspects of life. The first half of 2024 brings increasing sociability, new acquaintances, and the potential for changing careers or occupations successfully. Travel, moves, and important decisions about life direction are best made in the latter half of the year. Romantic relationships will be passionate, though possibly short-lived. For committed partnerships, maintaining engagement and novelty will be important to avoid restlessness and other complications.

Professionally, Dragons should focus on skill-building and qualifications in the first six months to take advantage of lucrative opportunities that will open up thereafter. Taking on side jobs can also be greatly beneficial financially and for experience. While luck will be on their side, relying solely on it would be unwise. Dragons would do well to invest in 2024. Health-wise, active participation in sports and recreation will enhance well-being, but rest and moderation will be essential to avoid burnout from the hectic pace. Overall, it will be an extremely lively and prosperous year for Dragons if they tap into the available support of the positive energy of 2024 while exercising wisdom and balance at every turn.

Dragons are confident, resolute, strong, and proud. Most people born in the year of the dragon are full of fighting spirit and strength. They are charismatic, attracting a lot of followers and their talented leadership skills naturally convince every subordinate. Dragons may look indifferent, however, they actually are chivalrous and always think of others.

Strengths: Determined, ambitious, independent, energetic, sincere, and enjoy great popularity among friends.

Weaknesses: Easily give up, little willpower, and unwilling to admit mistakes.

Dragon Men: Dragon men have high self-esteem and always forge ahead. As one of the best leaders ever, Dragon men prone to be energetic, motivated, and skillful at work and they love to set dramatic and ambitious goals and then lead the team to complete them. They are also faithful and generous to friends and lovers, seldom flirting with others. However, they need more courage to face failures and challenges.

Dragon Women: Dragon women are typical feminists. They think women can perform as well as men, and even do better. Besides. They have a clear plan about their future and will be determined to fight for it. In life, dragon women prefer simple and comfortable clothing to fashionable styles. At work, they tend to be career-oriented and creative.

I originally wanted to spent this year’s tet in either Vietnam for the dragon year or in California. Unfortunately, finances did not align the stars for me so it was a no go. Hopefully the next time the dragon year comes around, I’ll get the chance. In the meantime, I wanted to make the most of it so I spent the last 3 weekends I had off in Chinatown and celebrating with friends and family in the regular traditional way I did growing up NY with good food and street festivals/lion dances. The only thing I didn’t get to see was the CNY parade since I couldn’t ask for a 4th weekend off in a row. Maybe next year! The lion dances were a sight to see and so fun! It’s chaotic but a good chaos in the city watching all the streets line up with performances on every corner going door to door. I love seeing all the color and as an adult, now I appreciate how beautiful Chinatown is and understand the importance of supporting all these small businesses that I grew up with, watching my mother buy our groceries on our monthly trip to the city to stock up on Asian goods we couldn’t find on Long Island.

Personally, I have no idea where I want this year to take me. I’m a little lost when it comes to what goals I want to set and work on next, but I still want to manifest some big dragon energy for the year. It’s my year so I really should take chances and bet on myself more instead of being cautious and worrying about everything all the time. Let’s see where this dragon year takes me!

Chuc Mung Nam Moi

January 26, 2020

This weekend is the Chinese/Lunar New Year, also known as Tet for the Vietnamese.

I always found Asian New Year celebrations better than the regular New Year celebrations. The traditions and all it entails are more fun and I love that it brings family together. It’s a time to celebrate, with food, games, money, family and friends.

As a kid I loved receiving li xi (lucky red envelopes) and counting all the money I would get and thinking of all the ridiculous, useless things I don’t need, to spend it on. Of course, my mom would always take it away from me at the end of the night, insisting she was “keeping it safe” for me. In the end, she probably was, because, as stated, I would’ve thrown it away on garbage toys and other tchotchkes. Now as an adult, and married as well, I’m no longer allowed to receive envelopes but rather it’s my turn to give. They symbolize you passing on good luck and fortune to others, and in turn, it will come back double to you. There are also a lot of little fun games with dice, paper and numbers played. One year, my husband gambled with the kids and almost gambled my car away because he lost all his New Year money to them but wanted to keep playing, haha!

I didn’t appreciate the food back then when I was young but now I’m all about it. I love being able to pick from many different dishes at one meal and this celebration is no exception. A traditional New Year meal has many different dishes due to the different symbolism attached with each dish and animal, as well as differing a little bit from culture to culture (i.e. I commonly see dumplings, fish and spring rolls in Chinese gatherings, but for Vietnamese, I see more banh tet, gio cha (Vietnamese ham), and thit kho usually. My mom always makes banh tet, which takes an entire day to prep and another day to cook. She always makes a big batch to give away to friends and family.

I haven’t celebrated Tet with my extended family in a while, due to work and adult life schedules but I try to at least spend some time with my immediate family. I was off this year so I spent the day with my sisters. We gram toured around Chinatown for whatever cute New Year desserts we could find and had dinner at Madame Vo BBQ. It was really nice to spend time with them as we prepare to travel together next month to take on the runDisney Princess Half Marathon weekend together. I feel like it was symbolic of our year to come for 2020, more sister time and bonding.

I do want to expand on these traditions and one year prepare and host a New Year dinner with my family instead of going out to eat. I love eating out because the prep and cleanup is taken care of, but I also love a home cooked meal better. I haven’t had a big Asian sit down dinner at home in a while so maybe I’ll make this a goal for another year. I can do Thanksgiving just fine so I really should start learning to cook for my own cultural traditions as well. I also want to visit Vietnam again one year but I want to also experience Tet celebrations and how they celebrate there. I always hear from my parents and their friends about how beautiful, festive and fun it is. And next year, Valentine’s Day falls around the same time as New Year and Disneyland California is the only park that celebrates both holidays with decorations and food and all! I want to see if I can make it there next year as well. It’s funny how Disneyland is a much smaller park than Disney World but they always do the holiday celebrations better. More signs pointing me to the West Coast move.

Another thing I love about it is the folklore and the zodiac signs and all the different things about them. The Chinese New Year is based on a different zodiac than the astrological signs, with 12 different animals cycling through to represent each new year. The order is based on old Chinese mythology, where 12 animals were selected for a great race. This year is the year of the rat, which is the first animal in order of the zodiac. How did the rat win the race? By being a rat! He was cunning enough to hitch a ride on the ox and ran forward at the finish line.

I was born in the sign of the dragon. Why did the dragon not win, you ask? There are two different versions of the story; one version says the dragon stopped to help put out a fire at a nearby village and saved the people, another version says the dragon was in first place and got cocky, and decided to take a nap (like the tortoise and the hare story) and woke up in time to make it as 5th place. Which story is right? Being a dragon myself, I can tell you both versions are right, hahaha. I do find it in my nature to help others when I can, but I do tend to overestimate myself sometimes when I think I’m ahead. Hence my procrastination skills are always followed by my superpowers where I come through and do ultimately complete my tasks on time, albeit last minute. Although I AM working on it! Last year I told myself to finish my pharmacy CEs early and I stuck to that goal instead of having to complete them last minute like last renewal period. I also started being better at packing for traveling and doing it a week ahead of time instead of the night before. Baby steps.

Along with the different animals, there are different elements in each sign as well. You can look up your individual birth year to find out your elemental animal. For my year, I’m an Earth dragon in the zodiac.

While they’ll be trying to become better with every day that passes, the Earth dragon will manage to reinvent themselves every step of the way.
I feel like I've been reinventing myself since I was 5.😅 When I was in elementary school, I wanted to fit in, being the only Asian kid in school, so I tried hard to learn the language, speak with no accent and dress like my peers. When I was in high school, I wanted to be popular, so I tried too hard to make myself likable and friendly. When I got to college, I realized I didn't really care what people thought of me, so I finally became more myself, loud, outspoken and "brazen" as I was labeled by two faced friends. I dialed it back when I graduated as I had to become more "professional" for the working world. But as I grew into adulthood, I learned to balance myself, being who I really am, and pulling back when necessary for certain situations and circumstances. But that's the power of the Earth dragon. Perhaps the greatest risk any of us will ever take is to be seen as we really are.

What sign are you? Do you think you match the traits associated with it? I don’t fully believe in everything I read about zodiac signs and horoscopes but I still find them fun to read and it’s always interesting to see how some things do line up. Although I do find that I do match up to a lot of the characteristics of a dragon as well as a Scorpio. For the year of the rat, the dragon is supposed to have overall improved good fortune and I’m really hoping that means no financial curveballs this year. But with it, means I also have to stop pushing the envelope and spending frivolously. I’m going to try and make it a goal to travel a little less, save a little more and if I do travel, I need to stick to a budget and no more YOLO-ing. I met the YOLO quota for the decade from the last 3-4 years traveling. Time to buckle up and work on being more smart with my money. I know I can do it, I just have to learn discipline with money as much as I learned to discipline my health and fitness in the last 2 years.