Year of the Fire Horse

Okay, so let’s try that again.

The new year got off to a decidedly rocky start for me when I got a nasty cold just five days into 2026.

As if that didn’t suck enough on its own, the torment was compounded by the fact that I had been sick just a month ago in early December.

Nobody likes being sick, but I’ve had health problems for most of my adult life, so getting hammered by back-to-back illnesses really rocks my world.

I have been absolutely miserable for the last several days, wallowing in a rancid stew of resentment, regret and rage.

My subconscious mind has been working extra hard to replay all my mistakes and missteps in glorious technicolor.

It started last Monday with a series of seemingly endless sneezing fits. I was hoping I was having some kind of allergy attack, but I had to finally throw in the tissue and admit that was I sick once again.

I had been so high on starting the new year on the right foot and now I could barely stand up. I wound up taking two days off from work including January 6, which marked the fifth anniversary on Donald Trump’s assault on democracy.

And I recalled that I was sick back on that dark day, too.

On the plus side, I was able to stay healthy during the holidays while my niece and her husband were in town. Perhaps I got wiped with all the activity, but I’m still mighty pissed.

Logically, of course, New Year’s Day it’s just another day. People assign importance to various dates on the calendar, but they have no sway over events. Bad times work on their own schedule, not ours.

So, I’m back on the chicken soup and bad TV routine. I burned through Run Away, the latest Harlan Coben miniseries on Netflix in under two days, something I never do when I’m well.

I’m feeling marginally better now, but I’m really spooked.

Horsing Around

The news is full of stories about a rampant flu bug that can get around the current vaccine and then there’s the Norovirus lingering out there in the shadows just waiting to pounce on my innards and turn them inside out.

I know that this kind of thinking it not in the least bit helpful and I’ve looking around for some kind positive sign.

I’ve decided I’m going to reboot the new year.

Feb. 17 marks the start of the Year of the Fire Horse, which occurs only once every 60 years.

The Fire Horse signifies intense energy, passion, independence, and transformative change, encouraging bold moves, breaking old patterns, and seeking freedom and self-expression, often bringing cultural shifts and major opportunities for growth.

That’s the good news.

However, there's a Fire Horse of a different color coming down the trail. An article in the South China Post said the Year of the Fire Horse—also known as the Red Horse-- brings bad fortune as well as good.

“It will be followed by the Year of the Fire or Red Sheep in 2027, and these two consecutive ‘red’ years –are known among the superstitious as the ‘Red Horse and Red Sheep Calamity’– are expected to bring much disruption or even warfare,” the article said.

In 1966, the last Year of the Fire Horse, the Cultural Revolution plunged China into a decade of chaos and violence. The following year, riots broke out in Hong Kong.

And 60 years before that, in 1906, the San Francisco earthquake raised all kinds of unholy hell.

This is starting to sound like a good advertisement for suspended animation.

Nevertheless, the article said that people are encouraged to chase their dreams in the coming year, “as it will present many golden opportunities.”

That’s more like it.