coriander in pho

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  • The Year of the Ox

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    Tomorrow is the celebration of the Chinese New Year/Lunar New Year. For this year, it’s The Year of The Ox.

    Unlike its western counterparts, Chinese zodiacs are defined on year — not months. For example, folks that were born in 1984 would be under the Rat zodiac, then 1985 would be under the Ox zodiac, and so on.

    The Chinese zodiacs itself has its own story of origin. The Jade King, the benevolent ruler of the Heavens — some said it was the Goddess Kwan Im or Buddha — called upon animals to give respect to him. Twelve animals came, and the zodiac positions were given to them according to the order of their arrival.

    Red color is the main star on the celebrations. It signifies happiness and good luck. That’s why you can see folks wearing red during weddings and celebrations (while black and white are frowned upon during festivities as it symbolizes mourning and sadness.)

    This year’s Chinese New Year was far from celebrations. Restaurants are empty, while it used to be crowded with dining guests having their reunion dinner, chatting happily and tossing yee sang.

    We were on this shopping mall, having our takeout dinner — several portions of pasta from our favorite Italian restaurant.

    I strolled at the mall’s plaza. Looking at the Chinese New Year ornaments and decorations.

    Some visitors walked by, but it was empty. It’s unusual for Kuala Lumpur to be empty during Chinese New Year. As one of major tourists destinations, there are always folks coming from outside the town or even foreign tourists.

    They have this… Wishing Tree in the middle. Mall visitors wrote down their wishes on a piece of card and hang it on the tree.

    And it seems, for the first time, every wish that I saw on the tree is not for one individual’s happiness or good luck.

    The wishes are selfless.

    “Wish for pandemic to end. Good health for everyone.”

    And the loudest whisper of one’s longing is a selfless one.

    “Everyone stay healthy and be happy. Happy Chinese New Year.”

    May all our prayers and wishes reaching the Heavens.

    Happy Chinese New Year, all. Stay safe and stay healthy.

  • On WordPress and languages

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    Sometimes a user asked, or mentioned, that they found the translation of a string on their WordPress.com website using their preferred language is incorrect — and they want to know how to change it.

    I usually use this opportunity to encourage them to contribute. One thing that I notice on how folks doing business is the minimum opportunity for consumers to contribute. Contribution usually equals with “feedback”, and public tends to see feedback as an unread letter addressed to a company which will never be read.

    I really want to change that; and I guess this is something that WordPress as a community — so not WordPress.com only — wants to encourage.

    So! What can you do if you see your website in your preferred language has a string/text/sentence translated incorrectly?

    For WordPress.com, you can submit your translation here.

    For WordPress.org — this is the core. The words and texts and sentences you see on WP Admin area — you can submit your translation here. You can also submit translations for other Automattic products such as WooCommerce and Jetpack; even third-party plugins and themes!

    Every week, the translation validator will receive newsletters to nudge them to review the translations and approve/reject/edit it.

    So go ahead and click the links to see any open translation projects in the language you are well-versed in and share your contributions to the community!

  • Small Wins

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    Animal Crossing.

    Animal Crossing is my small wins. This game helped me get through when my son got hospitalized back in October 2020. Late night at the hospital, along with the beeping sound of IV machine (that usually goes, “beep beep BEEPBEEPBEEP BEEEEEEEEPPPPP” every 2 hours), midnight visits from the nurses (can somebody enlighten me why paracetamol needed at 2 AM in the morning?), and the whole ordeal of not knowing what we are facing during that time.

    “Look, I dig a fossil!”, “look! I catch a fish!”, “look! I catch a bug!”

    The fall leaves, the snow, the aurora. All the things I never experience in real life.

    It’s a game. A mere game.

    Yet it helps. It gives me confidence and assurance that I can do something. I able to catch a freaking coelacanth in-game, so I definitely can do something in real life, right?

    Or helping a wisp to collect its spirit pieces. Helping others can be done across dimensions.

    It doesn’t have to be Animal Crossing. It can be your favorite game or your hobby. You can even get small wins from Minesweeper if you are really really good at it (don’t look at me. The mines always exploded on my third step.)

    You wake up every morning and brush your teeth. Small win.

    You tidy up your bed. Small win.

    You woke up, feeling like an utter living turd, yet you soldier on with your life. I’m hyping here for you. Yaaaaaaaas, show ‘em what you got.

    Even when you don’t feel like it, when you feel the need to stop and take a break. Take a deep breath and exhale. We are here with you.

Nindya’s quick blurbs

  • A month too late, but I just stumbled upon IKEA France’s Tiktok video, hinting a possible collab with Animal Crossing. Unfortunately, no further information about this other than IGN picked up this news when the video was posted.

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