Lunar New Year Horoscope Analysis

YOU'VE BEEN GREETED BY THE CHINESE NEW YEAR LION!
COMMENT BELOW OR ELSE THE LION WILL RUN OFF WITH ALL YOUR MONEY, LUCK AND COOKIES.

It's that time of year again... I mean, I was a bit reluctant to do this...

If you weren't here last year, or if you have never followed my previous blog, every year, I like to look at my horoscope for the past year to see how accurate it was, and my horoscope for the upcoming year to make some (often ridiculous) predictions. I've been reluctant to see my horoscope for this year because I was already alerted by the posters at our nearby Buddhist temple that I'd have a pretty bad year; but here goes!

YEAR OF THE WOODEN HORSE ANALYSIS (from here)
This is a connecting year for you. You may get lots of help from other people. Your people relations are good. This year especially favours the male sheep people. However, you are subject to accidents. Don't push yourself over your limit.
I can name four people I got major help from; but other than that, I didn't do a lot of connecting. I mean, I met a whole new group of friends in my coworkers, and added a couple of people on Facebook, but other than that... no, it wasn't really a connecting year for me. Also, I didn't get into any major accidents - oh wait, there was that time when I ran down a ramp at Laser Quest and sprained my ankle so badly I couldn't walk for two days.

Work: You favour business to do with cars. You also favour analytical work. If you are a surgeon, butcher, soldier or police, you should do very well. Other favourable businesses include public relations and entertainments.
I'm not even going to try to elaborate: all of this was not relevant to my life.

Wealth: Your wealth would be stable and even going up. Both regular and speculative incomes are good for you. For investments, you should simplify your portfolio.
My "personal" wealth did go up a bit, as my savings account is finally getting some love since I'm working now.

Relationships: This year makes you very lovable. Beware of love triangles. If you are still single, consider marriage. If you are married, you should be more loving to each other.
I remember being really hopeful when I read this. But nothing happened.

Health: You are much healthier this year compared with last year. However, you tend to get hurt easily. take your time in your work and drive carefully.
I didn't catch too many colds this year, so I'll say it was a pretty healthy year, despite that huge flu I had the weekend before my NECO interview. And I was easily hurt throughout the year, but I'll attribute that to my clumsiness (the number of times I have walked into things at work is too damn high).

Highlights of Sheep of Individual Years - 1991: Your achievements are in proportion to your effort.
My biggest achievement was probably getting into optometry school; you could say some effort was put into that.

YEAR OF THE WOODEN SHEEP PREDICTIONS (from here)
This is a lonely year for you. You may be prone to illnesses. Do not gamble. Don’t be greedy. Take things as they come along.
Not gonna lie, the lonely feels have hit me really hard already... or maybe those are from my hormones. I have been feeling a tiny bit under the weather recently but I don't think it's anything (*knocks on wood*); but man, I can NOT be sick this year at all. The most gambling I'll do this year is by participating in Roll Up The Rim To Win. And I know I can't be greedy this year.

WORK: You favor businesses to do accounting, arts, design. Also favorable ones are architecture, fashion design, movie directors, etc.
I really don't understand how this prediction works, so I'll leave it at that.

WEALTH: You only favor regular income but not speculative ones. Stay away from gambling.
Yeah, not gambling this year. But maybe one lotto ticket?

RELATIONS: Your relations are quiet. Just enjoy the calmness.
... okay, fiiiiiiiiiine. I guess this just goes with the whole "take things as they come along" thing.

HEALTH: You are prone to many small ailments. You may even be subject to accidents. Exercise well and rest well.
I can't be sick this year, especially since I will be going away for school; and this sounds pathetic, but I need my parents around when I'm sick, so do you see why I can NOT GET SICK UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES!?!?

Highlights of Sheep of Individual Years - 1991: Overall, your work is stable. Although there would volatilities at times, you should stay put and ride through the changes.
Well, I guess it's fortunate that I'm already a go-with-the-flow person. Don't harsh my mellow, though.

And now, I guess I better go rest now to avoid getting sick.

How to save yo moolah

Back in university, I was very much aware of the amount of money I was spending and I did the best I could to save every little bit. I used to limit the groceries I bought to only essentials (with the occasional box of cookies when they were on sale), monitor how much I ate to make sure I wasn't using up my food supply quicker than it could last, and hesitate to buy things for  or spend money on myself. But now, with a job and being back at home, I'm a bit ashamed to admit that these habits and my discipline have since dissipated.

Alas, with my return to school and the huge amount of debt that it accompanies on the horizon (less than seven months away!!!), I need to fall back into my old frugal ways, stat. And I thought I would share my tips and advice (this is also for me to refer back to when I lose my way):

Two exciting things:

1. Okay, so it hasn't been mentioned on this blog yet, so if you haven't heard... I got into NECO! I heard back at the beginning of the month, but it didn't really sink in - and it still hasn't really hit me yet what a monumental step in my career life this is. I was given a deadline to respond by, but it had graciously been extended to the end of this month so I could see if Waterloo would accept me first... which it hasn't yet. Not that I really want to go to Waterloo; I mean, I would be saving a lot of money, but no matter where I go, I'll still be in debt after it all anyway.

2. Many of you who know me probably know that my face is a fucking mess and has been a fucking mess since you've first met me. And for those of you who don't know me personally, I've been dealing with acne since grade 6. Drug store cleansers and prescribed antibiotics and ointments have been helping keep my breakouts to a minimum (though, this summer, however, nothing was able to stop my face from erupting with huge zits), but they haven't been able to eradicate the problem on a whole. So, finally, I've decided to go on Accutane... which I guess, isn't such a life milestone, but it is tres exciting for me, knowing that my face will (probably, most likely) be clear of pesky little bumps by the time I start optometry school. I'll be starting my treatment next month (assuming all is well and I don't get pregnant, but what are the chances of that happening to me, out of all people?!) and I'll update y'all whether you like it or not.

Okay that is all BYE!

Items to target at Target.

Hahaha, see what I did there?

As you may have heard, Target is shutting down here in Canada, and liquidation sales begin on Thursday. Now, I've been to Target only a handful of times so I'm no expert at shopping there, nor do I have any idea how liquidation sales work (other than the company trying to get rid of everything) but I am planning on perusing the sale after my volunteer shift (hopefully there'll still be some stuff at that time) and here's what I'm going to look out for:

1. Groceries. I don't know if the liquidation sale will be extended to food items, but if it will, then I'm specifically looking to stock up on pasta, canned soup, and Oreos. 

2. Art supplies. Again, having shopped Target only a handful of times, I'm not even sure if Target has the things I'm looking for (specifically, jewelry making things like cotton cord and beads); but if they do, then I will be allllll over that. 

3. Workout clothes. On one of my strolls through Target, I got a pair of gym shorts that are currently one of my favourite pairs (I guess it's also due to the fact that I only have two pairs, not counting my basketball shorts bought from the boys section at Winners). 

4. iPhone cases. My current case is lovely and all, but it's in the way of the camera's lens, giving all of my photos a semi vignette effect. I'll be looking for a wallet-style case like my current one, but also some simpler ones so I have options.

5. Toiletries and makeup. Specifically, cotton pads, mascara, heat protectant spray, and makeup removing wipes.

6. Half-socks. Or whatever those things are called. 

7. Dishwasher detergent. Because we don't have any at home. 

So... I've essentially shared my shopping list with you in a blog post. Whoops. Well it's mostly for me, so I make sure I don't end up buying a ton of crap that I don't really need. If I do actually end up buying things, I will write a follow-up post to let y'all know how it went. 

Stay cool but keep warm!

Update (February 7) On Thursday afternoon, before finishing my shift, twitter was abuzz about how a) the line-ups were ridiculous and b) the discounts were really pathetic; so I let my plans to venture there after my shift dissolve. But I ended up there anyway and wow, was it ever disappointing. I mean, come on, Target, if you're trying to get the hell out of here, you're gonna try harder than that. 

The only sale worth mentioning was the 30% off cosmetics but the cosmetics section was completely ravaged by the time I got there (and it wasn't any better when I visited another location after work the day after). It very much looked like a hurricane blew through. There was almost nothing displayed nicely, all the items were scattered everywhere and products were opened and used and gross, which was really disappointing because, come on people, did you have to rip everything off the shelves like hooligans?

Sigh. But mascaras for $4.90!!!!!!!!!