January 23 is Chinese New Year. And this is the Year of the Dragon. More specifically, this is the Year of the Black Dragon. I imagine if you were the producer of "Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" you would find this an auspicious time indeed.
Last Sunday my husband and I entertained a group of people at our Manhattan apartment for brunch. I couldn't resist a little Chinese New Year theme, so we did dragon centerpieces and a few other things to carry out the theme. Best of all, though, were the little red Chinese New Year envelopes.
Have you seen them? They are a mainstay of Chinese New Years celebration for the Chinese. You put money in the little envelope and give it to someone important to you. We went a little different route. When people had gotten to know each other a bit and before we sat down, we gave everyone pencil and paper, on the top of which had been written "Confucius asks..."
So instead of "Confucius say..." we asked each guest to write down a question to address the other guests at the table. Could be silly or serious. Didn't matter. We got some of each. On the serious side,
people asked things like "Confucius asks...what will the DOW Jones be on December 20, 2012?" And "If the Mayan calendar is correct in predicting that the world will end in December 2012, where would you like to be at that time?"
My favorite, though, was on the silly side: "If Mitt Romney's dog could drive, would he put Mitt on the top of the car and go to Canada?" I love the mental image this suggests.
Silly or sad, though, the questions fueled terrific conversation. in fact, no one wanted to leave. We barely made it on time to watch the Giants defeat the Green Bay Packers. Talk about divided loyalty. My husband is a serious Giants fan. I mean serious. And I am from Wisconsin, home of the Packers. Need I say more?
I like to think that I know most everything about my husband but he surprised me again. While watching the game, at one point we lost the sound. My husband said, "No problem. I don't listen to it anyway. I can just watch the game...don't need the commentary." Really? I can't imagine watching any sporting event without the chatter of the announcers. Not my guy. He'd just as soon turn the sound off.
Learn something new--literally--every day.
Author of I is for Intercourse: The ABC's of Conversation, Susan Bird is the visionary behind Wf360, and a sought-after speaker around the world for her views on leadership, the strategic importance of conversation, entrepreneurship, and the role of women business leaders.
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