Lunar New Year 2020 - Year of the Rat

source: Vectorstock
Year of the Rat

Happy Lunar New Year 2020.

I was born in the Year of the Rat. The Year of the Rat comes every 12 years.

Let's just say I'll have passed my zodiac animal more than 4 times.

Or you can hear The Daily Show's
Ronny Chieng explain hilariously the true meaning of Chinese New Year to Chinese people from his Netflix special, "Asian Comedian Destroys America"

Enjoy.

New York Visit - February 2019

Chin and Li sisters at MOFAD

Chinese Restaurant, MOCA

I missed last week's entry as it was my first full day back from my week long trip to celebrate the birth of my nephew and celebrate Lunar New Year with the family.
Other than my 3 1/2 year unemployment phase, I usually visit New York and/or Columbus about once or twice a year.

This trip was almost like the past family cruises to Western Europe in 2017 and Alaska last summer. Day begins with a big breakfast (Sherman's father-in-law cooked every morning), sight see with loads of walking, big lunch, big dinner and retire around 10 or 11 pm. For me, it isn't until 1 to 1:30 am as my internal clock is firmly affixed in Pacific Time.

Day 1, Saturday: nephew's 100-day/Red Egg and Ginger party in Flushing.
Day 2, Sunday: Museum of Food and Drink in Brooklyn (MOFAD), early dinner and Kinky Boots Broadway show in Times Square.
Day 3, Monday: Girls lunch at Tamarind Tribeca, Lunar New Year Eve dinner at home with the family.
Day 4, Tuesday: Afternoon tea in the Gotham Room at The Peninsula Hotel in Midtown, near Rockefeller Center.
Day 5, Wednesday: Museum of Chinese in America, dinner at Scalini Fedeli.
Day 6, Thursday: stroll around World Trade Center
Day 7, Friday: 9/11 Museum, visit Vera, Jill and Chanterelle Sung at IMentor in Financial District.

A great visit. Lots of family bonding time, including bedtime readings to the irresistibly cute nephew. Learned a ton at the museums, especially at Museum of Food and Drink (Chow exhibition) and Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA) which included an exhibit of Kip Fulbeck's Hapa Project.

Lunar New Year 2019 - What Is Peppa?

thanks Rika for the cool image

Lunar New Year (Year of the Pig) is less than a week away. Thanks to a Facebook shared post from Jeff's brother Bill, there's a video that's gone viral about a grandfather looking to find Peppa, the pig his grandson wants for his Lunar New Year gift.

It's a short, charming video which shows the lengths a grandfather will go to find Peppa for his grandson.

Below is the video. Happy New Year!

2018 Asian American Bowling Association - Lunar New Year Tournament Results

source: aababowling.com

In my little corner of the bowling world, it's nice to know that I can participate in local handicap tournaments, bowl well, and make out with some cash. Especially if I'm able to win back what I paid in entry fees. Anything more is icing on the cake.

For 2018's Asian American Bowling Association's Chinese New Year Tournament, my Wednesday league night teammate Jason Wu and I did that. We finished in a 4-way tie for 20th place among a total of 333 teams. We'll split $65.

To see the complete list of cash winners, go to http://www.aababowling.com

Next up, 2 April tournaments: San Francisco USBC's City Tournament at Sea Bowl, April 14 and 15. I'll likely be there on both dates, as a participant and SFUSBC board member. On April 22 and 23, I'll be in Reno for the Women's USBC Nationals at National Bowling Stadium.

Lunar New Year 2017 -Year of the Rooster

source: Google image search results

A minor, probably nit-picky gripe tonight. Yesterday began the new Lunar New Year (Rooster).

I may be ethnically Chinese, but am on a mission to stop calling it "Chinese New Year". Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam and Malaysia are among a few Asian countries that also celebrate the Lunar New Year as well.

I even found 4 of my first 5 Google search results for "Lunar New Year" show "Happy Chinese New Year" or "Happy Chinese Lunar New Year". Hoped it would change when I cleared my cache and logged off my Google account. It didn't.

End of gripe. I wish everyone Happy Lunar New Year to family and the friends I consider family. If you're reading this now, you're probably one of them.

Lunar New Year of the Horse

Listed below are sweet, heartwarming and touching tweets and instagrams from those in the San Francisco Bay Area celebrating the Lunar New Year. George previously included my tweet this past October remembering the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake

Thanks again, George Kelly (Twitter name: @allaboutgeorge).

As previously I tweeted on January 30, "...this unmarried, 'jook sin' still graciously accepts red envelopes."

I wish you all a healthy, happy and prosperous Lunar New Year.