01/22/2004 Entry: "Monkey No Glad To See You...This Just Banana!"

Happy Lunar New Year. Hopefully this year will be a Helpful Monkey instead of a naughty one (or a smirking one, for that matter.)

And I even bought bananas today too....

It already looks to be a slightly crazy year. Monkey left a little prank in the trash can outside the bedroom windows: a "defective" smoke detector that's been complaining—intermittently last night, persistantly tonight—about the rotten food and other garbage that have been laid to rest on top of it. Yes, I even dug down inside the big black can tonight (in the dark) to try to put it out of its misery. Our neighbors really need to buy better quality trash bags. Anyway, the alarm must have heard me searching for it and quit beeping for a while. Until I washed my hands and took off my shoes, of course. I'm trying not to let it bother me. I'm trying to be patient. But tomorrow morning better be a garbage day or else I'm going to tip over the can and fling poo like a bad monkey.

But besides pranks, Monkey is a year of quick choices; it's supposed to be a prosperous year as long as one keeps one's wits about them. Already, day one, there are changes afoot that I am not at liberty to discuss but will require some prompt decisions. Could be good, could be bad. Monkey is the year to make a shrewd decision and leap...or a dumb move and fall. Time will tell which is which.