Or "Happy New Year!" in Mandarin. It's funny, but we always say "Gung/Kung hee fat choy" in Hawaii. I guess because the Chinese who immigrated here speak Cantonese, but apparently that means "wishing you great happiness and prosperity." In Mandarin it would be "Gong xi fa cai," and it is a phrase used to wish a happy new year, but it doesn't actually mean "Happy New Year."

It's weird how you can go your whole life thinking something and find out it's not correct! I also recently found out it's a superstition that if your birth year is the same as the current year (e.g., this year is the year of the ox, so if you were born in the year of the ox), then it's considered unlucky for you, and you need to ward off that bad luck by wearing red underwear. EVERY SINGLE DAY OF THE YEAR. *LOL* Apparently they sell red underwear in large quantity in China for just that reason!

I wonder if having a red bottom every day would provide the same protection? *Note to self: Find out Mil's birth animal.*

Anyway, wishing everyone a wonderful year to come, hopefully it will be better than the last one! And to celebrate, here is a truly sublime recording, by Etta James:

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