My 21st Birthday! “Pure Attitude”- Kevin Macleod Royalty Free- www.incompetech.com

Technorati Tags: 21st, birthday, infused08

Purchasing a gift is not always easy especially it is for someone from a different culture. This article provides some interesting information if the gift is for a Chinese person.

As China is a big place with many provinces the culture can vary depending on which province the person comes from, but there are some general themes that can be followed to avoid embarrassment.

What you need to know?

To the Chinese, anything that brings prosperity, longevity or good fortune are fine and anything related or ‘sounds like’ death must be avoided. This rule applies to both numbers and colors that are being used in almost any occasions.

Note: The pronunciation is referring to Cantonese.

Bad numbers – number 4 is the most unwelcome number simply because it has a similar pronunciation to ‘death’.

Good numbers – number 8 sounds like prosperity and number 9 for longevity. Series of 8’s or 9’s such as ‘888’, ‘99’ are even better. Numbers ‘168’ and ‘138’ are also very popular for they sound like ‘continuous fortune’.

Bad colors – black and white are usually for funeral or mourning. Therefore, you should only send white flowers to a funeral. Gift wrapping paper should not be plain white or black. An exception, although wearing black or white to a wedding is not a tradition, it is acceptable if the wedding ceremony is held in a church which follows the western style.

Good colors – red and gold are for celebrations such as birthday and wedding.

Items to avoid – sharp objects such as knives or scissors as they would ‘cut-off’ a relationship. Umbrellas resemble separation. Clock sounds like “attend a funeral”. Handkerchiefs are for mourning. Books are not for Cantonese people who love gambling because it sounds like “loss”, otherwise they are fine.

Do not be offended if your hosts do not open the gift in front of you as it is not polite in the Chinese culture unless you insist. Also, they do not normally accept your gift immediately in case you feel they are greedy.

What are the popular items?

Cash

Cash can be used in almost all occasions. For happy occasions, it should be put inside a ‘red envelope’ that has some words of blessing pre-printed on it. Red envelopes can easily be found at most Chinese grocery stores but always check with the staff to find one for the occasion you want if you do not understand the Chinese characters on the envelope otherwise you might give away one for the wrong occasion.

The amount inside the envelope should follows the numbering rules as mentioned before i.e. use even numbers except number 4. Also, if you are a couple then you should give two envelopes instead of one to cover for both.

If it is used in a funeral, which is normally used for donation to the charity or assist the grieving family financially, you can put small amount of cash in ‘odd’ number in a normal ‘white envelope’.

Food

There is no doubt that Chinese love foods, this is always a good bet especially for older people. When visiting someone in person, it is always a good manner to bring a food basket containing fruits, biscuits or table wine. If he or she is a smoker then a good brand cigarettes is also fine. In the upper range you can give away food such as dried oysters, dried seafood, mushrooms or bird’s nests. For individual fruit such as oranges or apples, count them in even numbers e.g. 6, 8 or 10 pieces.

Jewellery or ornament

Normally given in big celebrations such as wedding, new born baby, 21st birthday, 60th birthday, 90th birthday and so forth.

Baby – parents like to host a banquet for their new born baby after one month of birth. Jade, gold or silver bracelet or necklace is a good gift, otherwise baby clothes.

Birthday – If you know the person’s Chinese zodiac sign, another hot item is a gold plated Chinese zodiac figurine represents the animal sign of the person.

Wedding – jade or gold bracelet or necklace resembles long lasting relationship.

What sort of gifts for festivals?

There are many festivals in China, but you will most likely be invited to join a family celebration in the following festivals:

Spring Festival (Chinese New Year) – this is the most important festival for the Chinese people which brings family members, friends and relatives together. It is a custom to give money in a red packet from married couple to single people or children. If you are single it is considered to be polite to bring a food/fruit basket to your hosts.

Mid-Autumn (Moon) Festival – This is the day when people would sit down with family and friends to watch the full moon and serve moon cakes and other type of food. Therefore, bringing some moon cakes or food along to your hosts is the best gift you can offer.

Dragon Boat Festival – Rice parcels as big as a purse are made during this festival to honor a patriotic scholar named Chu Yuan who drowned himself to protest against the emperor. Before his body was recovered, people made the rice parcels and threw them into the water to stop any fish eating his flesh. Another saying is dragon boats were used to scare away ‘water spirits’ because the dragon is the god of the oceans. Rice parcels are made out of glutinous rice, pork and egg yolk wrapped with bamboo leaves which are sold in most shops during the festival. If you are interested in cooking, bring along some home made rice parcels which will surely impress your hosts.

Other occasions

Return from a vacation – small souvenirs to your neighbors, friends, colleagues and relatives when returning from a trip.

Farewell – cash in a red packet or small gift such as a sailing boat meaning smooth sailing to the new destination.

Visiting someone at home – food basket.

Visiting someone in the hospital – food plus health drinks (e.g. Ginseng) that will help speedy recovery.

Conclusion

Generally speaking, dealing with people from a difficult culture requires understanding. Some of the traditions have been practiced for a long time but are diminishing in the new generations. Chinese people are normally understandable in terms of culture conflict since they have over 2000 years of history and have different culture in different provinces. It is beneficial to know the customs but they do not need to be strictly followed as long as you stay away from the ‘death’ associations you should be safe.

For gift ideas, visit http://www.ozshopeasy.com/

Technorati Tags: Chinese, Customs, Giftgiving

I want to enjoy my youth while I can and turning 21 in 8 months what are some relativley cheap, fun crazy ideas, places to go before turning 21 besides vegas and such.
Image taken on 2007-09-22 18:58:21 by Benjamin Pender.

Technorati Tags: before, places, things, Turning

Learn To Recognize Your Trading Errors And How To Avoid Market Losses So You Can Turn Your Bottom Line From Red To Black. Trading Education: How To Go From Red To Black.

Technorati Tags: Black., Education, From, Trading

January 21,2008

Technorati Tags: 21st, birthday, dhexter, italy, part, party, udine

My best friend and practical sister is 21 today but I won’t be there to celebrate it on her actual day, i’ll be back in town on Thursday so i’m going to do something just her and I.
She did something really nice for my birthday, got professional best friend pictures taken of us and took my husband, her and me and her boyfriend out to an expensive restaurant… so I NEED to do something for her.
Here is the catch: I have a newborn son, my husband can watch him for me so thats not a problem but I am restricted to what I can do, but never the less, I have to come up with something.

Please suggest really nice things to do for someone’s 21st birthday! 10 points to best answer
The official drinking age where we live is 18, so its not as big of a deal for clubbing and drinking and casinos and stuff, she was able to do that stuff when she was 18… I realize I don’t HAVE to do something because she did something for me. I WANT to do something because I love her and she is having a bad day today (being it her real birthday) so I want to do something to make her 21st memorable, even though it won’t be on the day itself!

Naming stars is cheesy (unless you have a secret meaning thats sweet then)
Image taken on by .

Technorati Tags: 21st, Best, birthday, friends, help

Close Kept Secrets to Weight Loss Lesson #15

The simple aspect of breathing is the most incredible
experience. Each day we get to breathe and be grateful that we
are alive. Take a moment and take a deep breath and thank God
for your extraordinary life. He has great plans for you. You
know this, don’t you? The opportunity is just waiting for you.
That’s why it’s important for us to get on with our lives, our
purpose, and to live each day fully expressing our love for
ourselves. Your weight loss goals are right here and so is your
purpose—to feel alive with the riches that God has given us.

I want to share with you why life is so meaningful to me. My
daughter, Lindsay, just celebrated her 21st birthday and came
home from college to mark this occasion with family and friends.
As we all know the 21st birthday has significance attached to it
as it’s our entrance into full adulthood and all that it brings
to us.

My ex-husband, my daughter’s friend from junior high and I took
Lindsay out to dinner. We laughed and shared stories of their
teenage years. During the course of the conversation, we
remembered the traumatic events which surrounded Lindsay’s
birth. My ex-husband then retold the story of how she came into
this world.

These experiences I’m going to share with you are condensed. You
can get the full view in my new e-book, Close Kept Secrets to
Overcoming Illness, which will be on my website soon.

I was six months pregnant on March 4, 1984 and awoke that
morning with intense pain in my leg. I called my doctor and he
thought it might be a blood clot, but wasn’t too concerned so I
got in the shower as I didn’t want to go to the hospital with
unshaven legs. Interesting where my focus was? While I was in
the shower, I began to feel faint and quickly lied down on the
bed. After this episode, we decided we better leave immediately.
Upon arriving at the ER I began to feel faint again. I told the
nurses and they instantly wheeled me into the trauma room. I
could hear them working on me, but all of the voices felt as if
they were light years away. They shouted, “We’re losing her and
the baby’s heart rate is dropping.” I can’t describe the peace I
felt and I only wanted to go to sleep. I felt no pain as I was
slowly leaving this world, but God had other plans for Lindsay
and me. Once they administered a blood thinner, I woke up and
didn’t quite know what had just happened. Unbeknownst to me, the
doctors had told my husband at the time that we could both die
and to be prepared.

What followed was a long sequence of events, but I was able to
carry Lindsay another month. She was born on April 6, 1984 after
almost four days of labor. Yes, four days!! She was born two
months early weighing a strapping 3 lbs. 11 oz and was 18 inches
long. What a gift from God.

I tell this story to illustrate that God has plans for you and
me. I believed in God, but wasn’t fully connected to him 21
years ago as I was deep in my own struggles with worry and fear
and continued that way for several years. It was through another
painful time nine years ago when I was very ill that I began to
know Him on such a deeper, profound level. Releasing my
childhood stuff was the catalyst for the change in which I saw
the world. Through this experience I realized He had a dream for
me. It took some time for me to appreciate what living in faith
meant, but now I am immersing myself in it as I help others with
their weight loss goals and adoption of healthy lifestyles. This
is the dream He has for me. Thank you God!!

Dreams come a size too big so that we can grow into them–
Josie Bisset

What is God’s dream He has for you? When are you going to start
living it?

Love yourself as God loves you. Connect to Him and watch how all
the right people show up for you in your weight loss adventures.
I’m so glad you were born.

Love and hugs,

Tami http://www.tamiclose.com http://www.closekeptsecrets.com

Technorati Tags: Close, Kept, Lesson, Loss, Secrets, Weight

This video is a section of the Video filmed at my 21st birthday where something corporate played. This clip features the announcing of kevin Page as Clutch. Also features the song STAYING HOME!

Technorati Tags: 21st, birthday, Blaynes, Corporate, Home, something, Staying

My grandmother is 92 years old and has a fantastic memory. She cooks herself a meal every day – meat and fresh vegetables. Rarely, if ever, does she have prepacked processed food. She also has false teeth.

I wish I had false teeth.

In my grandmother’s day people didn’t have fillings if they had toothache. Instead their teeth were extracted, usually at home and yes, they did tie a piece of string to the door knob. For their twenty first birthday those whose family could afford it were given a set (or two) of false teeth.

I wish I’d had false teeth for my 21st birthday.

I make that statement because I am one of the 3% of the population which the British Dental Authority admits to suffering mercury sensitivity. And if you are wondering what that has to do with teeth it’s because dental amalgam contains 50% mercury.

It is the second most toxic substance on the planet and the only metal that evapourates at room temperature so why was it put in my mouth? The remaining 50% incidentally comprises a mixture of silver, tin, copper and zinc.

Amalgam has been used for dental amalgam fillings since the early 1800’s and even then there were doubts as to its safety. The Amalgam Wars in USA resulted in a resolution being passed in 1845 pronouncing the use of amalgam as “malpractice”.

Originally amalgam was made out of a paste of filings from silver coins and mercury. The problem was that the impurities in the coins made it expand and crack the teeth, hence the new mixture.

You may not know anything about science but when various metals get put together they can react in different ways. Metals corrode especially when they are exposed to moisture and for some strange reason these toxic ones are put in our mouths.

Mercury is incredibly dangerous. The Egyptians used it to repel tomb raiders and warnings are always given not to breathe it in or ingest it. It used to be used in the hat making process and many people went mad. Mercury toxicity is often referred to as Mad Hatter’s Disease. Remember the character in Alice in Wonderland?

Mercury is used in fillings because it is incredibly durable, easy to place and cheap. As it was used long before there were any safety regulatory bodies people just assumed it was safe and even now most dentists hold that view.

However, mercury is dangerous. It is toxic and even dentists have to use it with care.

In the 1980’s dentists were given 15 recommendations of mercury hygiene for their protection. These included,

Working in a well-ventilated area
Avoiding heating mercury or amalgam
Using a no-touch technique for handling amalgam
Storing mercury in unbreakable, tightly sealed containers
Alerting all personnel of the potential hazard of mercury vapour
Getting anyone regularly employed in a dentist office to have an annual mercury check up.

Seemingly the scrap amalgam (the bit left over after the filling is placed) was considered dangerous and yet the exact same amalgam placed in the mouth was okay.

Doesn’t that seem strange to you?

Dentists who’ve always been taught otherwise deny amalgam can be dangerous and yet as a “precautionary measure” they no longer use it on children, pregnant women or nursing mothers. You see mercury vapour gets into the bloodstream and can pass into the foetus through the umbilical chord and also via a mother’s milk.

Mercury Poisoning is invisible and is caused when the body is unable to get rid of the continual production of mercury vapour. It builds up over a period of time and compromises the immune system and as it is not contagious it doesn’t have to be reported. It is therefore difficult to assess just how many people are affected.

Often it is misdiagnosed as the symptoms are vague and could be attributed to many different things. It is also very difficult to test for.

Until recently doctors dismissed mercury poisoning caused by dental amalgam as nonsense but thankfully there is now more awareness. If you display an increasing amount of INEXPLICABLE symptoms you may even find your doctor asking if you’ve had any recent dental work.

If you do discover you have mercury toxicity please have your fillings removed SAFELY. Removing amalgam can be very dangerous and make you even more ill. If your body is full of mercury the last thing you want is another dose of vapour when the amalgam is disturbed.

As I said, I wish I’d had false teeth on my 21st birthday.

Technorati Tags: Dentist, Mercury, Trust

The above describes the theme of a book by Melvin Pasternak and it tells you the best 21, of over 100 candlestick patterns which you can see or use on a forex chart. If you love candlestick charting or you want to learn, this book is a good place to start and at just $20.00 it’s a steal.

Pasternak claims that by Knowing these 21 formations traders can gain a trading edge. There are those that occur most often and are more reliable and there are those that are warning signs of turning points.

Why are Candlesticks Such a Great Trading Tool?

The reason lies in the fact that they paint a picture on a chart.

This give you a more visual illustration of human psychology than a bar chart ever can. Candlestick charts bring human emotion to life right before your eyes and that’s a good advantage to have, to initiate new positions or as a warning to cut and run!

A Deep Insight into Human Psychology

The answer can be found in the clear and straight-forward nature of the candlesticks themselves-offering traders the ability to see the bigger picture.

Continuation patterns, reversal patterns, emerging trends, bottom and tops — all of these insights come together in a way that other charting systems just can’t compete with.

The book explains the following:

* About the candlesticks (21 formations) every trader must know by name

* Discover the candlesticks that occur most often

* Learn about the candlesticks that will immediately affect your trading decisions

* Find out how to increase your accuracy and trade with greater confidence.

Candles combine well with other tools of technical analysis such as support and resistance, moving average, and indicators such, stochastics, RSI, ADX and MACD to name but a few.

I think paternick’s choice of candlestick patterns is excellent and if you like the idea of candlestick charting, or are trading with them already, then this book will appeal to you.

Candlestick charts have been used for thousands of years and it’s only in the eighties that they became popular again and let’s hope that they stay popular. There fun, easy to use, can give you a deep insight into human psychology and if you are using forex charts – that’s just what you need.

21 Candlesticks Every Trader Should Know, is 128 pages, an easy read and at a price of just under $20 it’s a bargain.

Technorati Tags: Candlestick, Every, Formations, know, should, Trader