year of the cock

[angus]

The year of the cock begins, boys and girls.  At the house of angus, we celebrated with a feast featuring several meats:  goat, beef, pork, rabbit, fish, and fish eggs.  (Okay, you may consider fish and fish eggs as the same group.  Then so be it.)  Either way, I've had enough cholesterol to feed a village.  Other foods featured two kinds of cabbage, three kinds of mushroom, carrots, rice, spinach, and copious amounts of a special blend of rioja and tempranillo.  Celebrations actually commenced yesterday with Russian Imperial Stout and burgers at Iron Hill Brewing Company, but today's the real deal.  

A trip to the gym this morning, which featured swimming and stationary cycling, yielded a systolic blood pressure of 119!  My lowest in a very long time.  In fact, I cannot remember my blood pressure ever being so low.  (I recognize that most posters here are around 14 years old, but when you're 3 weeks shy of your fiftieth birthday, you'll revel in a systolic pressure of 119.  Mine was typically 150 or so when we joined the gym 3 years ago, any my physician said I either need to start eating well, drinking less, or exercise.  I figured eating well and drinking less was out of the question, so I opted for a vigorous cardiovascular exercise program, and my BP has been going down steadily since I joined the club.  Some people go to lose weight--my weight is fine so that's not my goal.  Some people go to build muscle mass--I'm okay being a weakling so that's not my goal.  I'm all about getting the old heart in shape and I think I've done a pretty good job, so I'm feeling rather cocky.)

If you're really into it, this will be the year of the Fire Cock (as opposed to the Earth Cock, the Gold Cock, Wood Cock, or the Water Cock.)  The Fire Cock comes around only once every sixty years.  Let us all burn together.  Burn, baby, burn.

新年快乐!



Or, as they say on Vulcan, Live long and prosper.

[Mike Thick]

hehe

[Antonio the Sixth]

It certainly seems to be so in US politics.

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

benis

[Crumpets]

Yes. I was born in the year of the cock, so I'm feeling very auspicious.

[Lachi]

inb4 thread full of cock jokes XD

[angus]

Yes. I was born in the year of the cock, so I'm feeling very auspicious.

outstanding!  

My son is a monkeyboy and we just finished the year of the monkey.  (He turned 12 a few weeks ago.  I remember posting of his birth on this forum.  Tempus fugit!)  It was very much a monkey year.  Lots of shenanigans, cleverness, and general weirdness.

The cock is the epitome of fidelity and punctuality, so one might expect a very different turn this year.  The fire cock is said to be especially good at managing money, so we might expect either an austere economy or a grand investment with great long-term benefits.  It may be a very good year for those born in the year of the Ox (my wife, for example, and Vladimir Vladimirovitch Putin), and a very bad year for Rabbits, Tigers, and Dogs.

It is interesting to note that The Great One, our captain of industry, was born in year of the dog.  Cocks are very hard on dogs, according to the feng shui masters.  Chen Shuaifu of Beijing, chairman of the Feng Shui Association, says that The Donald might be forced to resign if the worst-case scenarios happen.  Xi Jinping seems to have an edge over The Donald, with a double dose of luck in his stars.  Xi was born in the year of the snake, and a Fire Snake at that, which, in the incoming year of the fire cock, portends many great things.  Nevertheless, Chen also says "The easiest way for Western people to be lucky or make a lot of money would be to follow Trump's clothing style and the layout and decoration of his office."

Check this recent installation to the front of a shopping mall in Shanxi province:  

[angus]

Now, you can buy a small one, suitable for home or office display, for only 25 US dollars!  Check it out: