Tet 2016 marks the beginning of ‘Binh Than’ or Year of the Monkey. Got your fireworks and votive paper organized? Have you made the Kitchen Gods happy and repainted the house? Yep, it’s going to be quite a year.

According to my quick research on Facebook and other reliable sources, ‘Monkey people’ are brilliant, artistic, inventive and naughty. Unsurprisingly, this is predicted to be an unstable year. I’m not sure if this will be the fault of people born under the monkey sign or the over-reactions of other people’s jealousy that you managed to be born in that year.

I’m a ‘Dog’ in the lunar horoscope – I’m totally incompatible with ‘Monkey people.’ I knew that when I was a boy living in Malaysia and a monkey slapped me. Even since then, I’ve avoided people with talent who are building something in their front garden.

Still it promises to be a fantastic year, full of unforeseen events and excitement. Maybe Vietnam will win the football this year or gold will be discovered in Ha Long Bay. Personally I just want to get out of teaching and write something more successful than ‘Harry Potter.’

How about you? What’s the plan this year? Get a 7.5 in IELTS? Surrender to your families nagging and marry that hottie from Da Nang before you’re 27? Quit your job to become a tour guide? Or will you be sensible, stop at the red light and not drink coffee after 10:00 am?

As we head into a new year we all hope our luck changes. However you will have to accept that this coming year will bring lots of astonishing U-turns and flabbergasting moments. If you prayed hard in 2015 at the pagoda this should happen. If you remembered to give lucky envelopes to the boss’s kids then it’s almost guaranteed that you’ll get that promotion.

Don’t forget to focus on your goals this coming year. New Year’s Eve will blow you away, however your mum will still want you to clean up after your 400 relatives have visited and you give the left-over fruit to your neighbors. So keep your mum happy and maybe she’ll let you visit Da Lat with your friends this year, finally.

For myself I’ll celebrate quietly at home and leave the country for another visa. Usually I switch off the phone about fifteen minutes after midnight on New Year’s Eve to avoid all the Happy New Year graphics people send me. Fortunately I won’t be stuck in the traffic or try to find my motorbike for two hours after the fireworks. I’m smart, I’ll light a candle and bow to the moon because I’m a moon child and whisper lots of good luck for myself. Try it, it works!

All kidding aside, it’s a great time to be alive and celebrate reaching another year in life. The Vietnamese zest for a party is an energy to behold...safely... from a distance. The distant roar of beer toasts and jumbo jet music will float gently to my garden as my three dogs stretch their ears and go back to sleep. I’ll draw a monkey on my tiger beer can just to decorate the house and toast my luck at having found Vietnam.

So, as we raise our heads to the purple night sky, as the colors of the firework rainbows explode and kids scream in delight, we also secretly hold tight to our wishes for a great year. That our children will have a better life and that we find the satisfaction in life we crave. That our friends and loved ones will still be with us a year from now – older perhaps but certainly more treasured. More importantly, that we ourselves will grow wiser and luckier in whatever direction we think of including love, jobs, travel or simply doing something breathtaking.

Each year is measured by our memories of it, the good and bad, the highs and lows and how it turned out against our expectations. If we passed the test by only a little bit we can be pleased with that. Disappointments are a waste of our hearts. So I hope and offer my desire that 2016 will be all those things you missed out on or enjoyed over the last year and that you and those that you care about have a great year.

May the Monkey make your world warm and wonderful in 2016.

For this coming year, I’d like to say ‘Van Su Nhu Y’ (All Wishes Come True) to all our readers and just about everyone! Yayyy!