Horror-scopes

Happy belated Chinese New Year guys! I know this post came a little very late (I planned to post it on the last few days of CNY) but it was the time of the year when people binged on pineapple tarts, gave/received ang baos and endured hours of loud CNY songs.. Who had time to blog?! (Ok, apparently a lot of people still did so it was just me being lazy.)

Another common thing done during CNY would be to check out the yearly fortune according to zodiac signs. I never believed in horoscopes because the idea that your whole life is already planned out based on the date and time you were born is just a concept too ridiculous to me. Let me count the ways..

1.  Too many different types

There are actually many other different kinds of astrology, but these 2 are the more common ones.. The normal horoscope and the Chinese zodiac horoscope.. Which one should you follow? What if they clash? For example, I’m a Libra and also an Ox. What if my Libra horoscope says my lucky colour is red and my Ox one states that it’s blue? Should I just mix it up and wear purple?

      2. The readings are way too generic.

Here are 2 examples of the Ox horoscope this year.

“Those who are employed will either be helped by a benefactor, receive compliments from superiors or be promoted.”

Ok, the promotion part is pretty straightforward and probably has the lowest probability to happen out of the 3. 

About being helped by a benefactor.. The definition of benefactor is generally someone who helps someone else so basically this is saying that out of the 365 days in the entire year, there will be a day that someone helps you. Great prediction! 

And receiving compliments from superiors.. All I can say is, if your superior doesn’t even compliment you once in an entire year, you should be thinking twice about your job and I don’t need to read the stars to tell you that.

Now I’m confused! Is my lucky number 5502 or 3 and 7?

Oh, this one is even more laughable. Not sure if it’s a horoscope reading or a help board for people with no common sense.

“If you are able to plan your financial wisely, you will be able to see a satisfactory amount in your account.” Thanks for the advice, I never knew I would be able to see a satisfactory amount in my account if I could plan my finances properly! How lucky am I to be born in the year of the Ox?

“Those who are married should avoid getting into extra-marital relationship which could ruin your family.” Please note that this is only for people who are born in the year of the Ox. Those who aren’t, lucky you! You can go ahead to have extra-marital relationships which won’t ruin your family.

“It is important to maintain a healthy lifestyle.” No shit.

       3. Only God knows.

I believe that only God has full control over the future, not some stars (which he created too).  And the most awesome part is that he gives us free will, so our future is definitely not written in the stars!

       4. Wiki says it best.

Yes, I know Wikipedia is a page that anyone can contribute to or edit, but there are references to support what is being published!

"No scientific studies have shown support for the accuracy of horoscopes, and the methods used to make interpretations are generally considered pseudo-scientific. In modern scientific framework no known interaction exists that could be responsible for the transmission of the alleged influence between a person and the position of stars in the sky at the moment of birth. Besides, all tests done so far, keeping strict methods to include a control group and proper blinding between experimenters and subjects have shown no effect beyond pure chance. Further, some psychological tests have shown that it is possible to construct personality descriptions and foretelling generic enough to satisfy most members of a large audience simultaneously. This is usually referred to as the Forer or Barnum effect."

So yes, sometimes I do read horoscopes for fun and to be amused by how wrong/ridiculous they are, but I’m not gonna be affected or live my life according to the positioning of stars.