EtsyBloggers Blog Carnival #1 for April 23, 2010

Happy birthday Joey & Aleethea! In your honor, this week's Blog Carnival is about birthdays: "Tell us your birthday/what astrological sign you are/what are your plans for your birthday this year?"


Well, my birthday for the year has already passed - January 14. On the standard Zodiac I am a Capricorn, the steadfast worker who perseveres, which is usually true. Things are a little trickier when you move to the Chinese Zodiac however. 1973 is the year of the Ox, which seems quite familiar to the Capricorn in me. However, Chinese New Year is not January 1st - it's actually a few weeks later. In the year I was born, Chinese New Year fell on February 2. So after years of anxiety over being compared to a big dumb cow, I discovered that I was actually born in the year of the Rat! Now, rats aren't exactly favored here in the U.S. But check out Wikipedia's description of a Rat on the Chinese Zodiac:


"Forthright, tenacious, intense, meticulous, charismatic, sensitive, hardworking, industrious, charming, eloquent, sociable, artistic, shrewd. Can be manipulative, vindictive, self-destructive, mendacious, venal, obstinate, critical, over-ambitious, ruthless, intolerant, scheming."

To me, the Rat makes so much more sense! I am actually dual-natured, sometimes quiet and reserved, but behind that is the crazy, wacky, wicked, and demanding. The Rat just sounds so much more balanced to me than Capricorn.

And then there's the fact that Rat is interchangeable with Mouse, the animal I associate with because of my name. The pronunciation of my name leads to all sorts of misspellings and nicknames, my favorite of which has always been Mousegirl.

Doing all of this fact checking, apparently there are more designations to determine your true zodiac, together called the Four Pillars. Here we go:

First Pillar (Ancestry and/or Early Age): Year of the Rat (Water, Yang)
Second Pillar/Inner Animal (Parents and/or Growing Age): Month of the Ox (Earth)
Third Pillar (my Upper Character, spouse's Lower Character; or Adult Age): Day of the Dog (Metal)
Fourth Pillar/Secret Animal (Kids or Late Age): Hour of the Dragon (Metal)

Supposedly, the Hour designation is supposed to be the truest representation of yourself. I'm kind of doubting this one:

Dragon - Magnanimous, stately, vigorous, strong, self-assured, proud, noble, direct, dignified, jealous, eccentric, intellectual, fiery, passionate, decisive, pioneering, artistic, generous, loyal. Can be tactless, arrogant, imperious, tyrannical, demanding, intolerant, dogmatic, violent, impetuous, brash.

While there are some things in there to relate to, the majority of characteristics are actually quite contrary to who I am. Hmm...

So, in summary, I am the Rat Ox Dog Dragon Mousegirl. They don't exactly sound like they would play well together, now do they?