Chinese New Year is coming......

An aspect of the Chinese New Year is the all-important reunion dinner. It is usually to be held on the eve of the New Year season but due to travel or work reasons, some families hold it before the eve. I just had mine 2 days ago since I'm going to be away during the period.

Some people feel that having it before the eve is not proper but to me, it's more of the fact that every family member alive gets together to enjoy the time shared. It's just like having Valentine's Day every day instead of just that one special day. It makes more sense to show love to your partner every day than to quarrel with him every other day except Valentine's Day, doesn't it?

There's also a debate between home-cooked food or takeaway food for the dinner. Does takeaway food make the dinner any less real? It's not the date or the food that matters but the concept of the word "family", I feel. Yes, cooking is a labour of love but if certain reasons cause us not to be able to have home-cooked dishes, the reunion dinner can still go on even if we have to eat takeaway food, or eat out, for that matter.

There are various reasons why people like Chinese New Year. Some look forward to the long break from work while some relish the experience of being with relatives. Some are into the cultural aspect of the season, which is an interesting opinion. There are people who feel the opposite. They detest the rituals and customs associated with the season, which present trouble for those who follow these traditions.

I love to read about the symbolism linked to the festival, about why we eat or do certain things. It is exciting to know more about the reasons behind what we do in preparation for the season. :) It makes them seem more significant when we carry them out.

Some people choose to go overseas during the New Year, primarily to avoid visitors. I do empathise with swinging singles who hate their relatives and friends asking when they are going to get married and thus decide to go abroad. I had a taste of this at my brother's wedding and I told them that it'd happen a decade later. Now the time's almost up but I seriously don't care about their reaction because it's my life and my problem. Period.

Some families travel abroad so that their long-standing feud with their relatives will not be any worse. They want to avoid seeing certain people and this gives them a chance to relax at the same time. On the other hand, some travel to be with their relatives who live overseas.

I think it's really the right of the families or individuals to decide to travel for negative reasons. People who are not in the knowing should not comment on or judge them but should use their free time to do other more worthwhile things instead.

Age is really just a number

I was at a bank when the banker asked me for my age with regards to standard procedures associated with the transaction I was doing. He thought I was still a student. When I told him my age, he was flabbergasted and remarked that I don't look my age. It may have been because of my dressing that day but I was still flattered because his reaction indicated a compliment. :P

Really, age is just a number because youths can think maturely but adults can think childishly, including yours truly. It depends on their family background and environment. I think suffering can strengthen character and refine thoughts.

Yes, I'm blessed with a youthful appearance, I admit. Still, I think external appearances can work against oneself. It is such a prevalent thing for youths to dress glamorously at Christmas, which actually makes them look older than their age, not mature as they want to be thought as.

As for me, I was really put off by the security guards at the entrance of Melbourne's Crown Casino. Though they were just doing their job, they asked me twice if I was bluffing about my age even though they had my passport! I am never stepping into there ever again!

I guess women at my age dress in coordinated suits and wear makeup as well as let their hair down. I don't do any of those. Hehe. Still, appearance doesn't bring out one's age. It can be used to one's advantage instead. No, I'm not defending myself. It's really what's in our mind and heart that matters.

Language's limitless dimensions

I was on the way to tuition when I saw and heard a girl yelling at her boyfriend. He was silent throughout her bratish behaviour. She was complaining about not getting a break and already trying her best.

Perhaps I had not heard the first part of the argument where he may have spoken but I was turned off by her. She was yelling loud enough for people to hear or else how could I have been able to know what she said exactly? She was just embarrassing herself rather than getting her point across.

Gaining attention for a petty triviality - ludicrous!

I was queuing up at a bank close to lunch time and the line was exceptionally long, also probably due to the impending New Year seaon.

A middle-aged woman came into the bank and joined me in queuing up. Her external appearance already attracted her attention from others. She spoke very loudly on her handphone in a husky-sounding voice, thus upping the attention factor on her. However, it was what she said that gained her the most attention and my extreme irritation.

She was complaining to the person on the other line of her phone about the inefficiencies of the bank's way of running its operations. She wasn't the only one in a snaking line and nobody else was making a big fuss about it as she was. People were giving her 'dirty' looks but she probably itched for them anyway. She was just embarrassing herself really.

Being directly in front of her, I was really exercising a lot of self-control. I really wanted to slap her face but only cast her 'dirty' glances from the corner of my eye. However, my face was 'black' and I looked really angry. Sometimes one knows how one looks when the feeling within is so strong.

She complained to the teller in a disgruntled tone when she reached the counter. I was shaking my head in a disparaging manner. I was so annoyed by then that I didn't care if she saw me. I may have placed myself at risk of getting beaten up by her but I am convicted that I was in the right.

Seriously, the reason why I was 'boiling' inside was because her grievance is petty. She acted as if the whole world owes her a living and gives me the impression that she thinks she's richer than the tellers, so she has the 'right' to complain.

Yes, the customer may be right but that can give way to arrogance, as in this case.

I pity her as well. She seems like an unhappy person who's bogged down by a heavy workload and lets trivialities get to her so much. She's so blind to the blessings she actually possesses, like a normal physicality and a son.

Spoilt Singaporeans

The reactions of some Singaporeans to the mock terrorist attack exercises have left me disgusted. They request that the exercises be held at non-peak hours, not when they are rushing to work. They think the earlier ones were inconvenient. Hullo?! The terrorists won't wait till the hours are convenient for them, to strike! Such a bunch of spoilt goons! Singaporeans have everything going for them, that's why!

Don't they know that it's God blessing us each day we're safe from such attacks?! We're such a small island that can sink anytime! Even the tsunami thing was because Sumatra protected us from it.

Christmas has ended

It's not Christmas anymore and we've taken the tree down. I didn't want to take it down because it was so well-decorated. My mum had redone it. It was such a waste to dismantle it.

A mishmash of thoughts

My internet access has been extremely unstable ever since I switched network and plan. It seems that many people in the vicinity are using the same one and hence the traffic is really slow. The helpline is also never available since all the technical officers are busy. It has been a frustrating time for me and it's either I cultivate more patience or use the net much later in the night, depriving myself of much-needed sleep.

However, there was an officer who helped me to calm down a lot by guiding me patiently through the manual procedure. It was not his area of expertise but he did it so obligingly nonetheless. He shows great contrast to another who just told me she couldn't help.

My illness, which started a few days before Christmas, has developed into asthma, the worst condition I fall prone to. That prompted me to see a doctor and to get another inhaler. I was given a day's MC and spent the day catching up on my reading and sleep. I had to cancel a dinner appointment I've owed someone for a long time. She was disappointed and I hope to meet her during the weekend as compensation.

I was absolutely disgusted and irritated with this customer I saw at Breadtalk Citylink Mall. She looked like a typical tai-tai and decided to buy $7 worth of buns for a Chinese New Year pouch. When she couldn't get the colour she wanted, because she didn't read the poster properly, she blamed the staff for it. She was pacified only when they offered her the one on display. I think she was really making a big issue out of a small matter and her money probably comes from her rich husband! She showed herself as inflexible as she could've just taken another colour and 'kiasu' since she obviously bought so many buns just for the pouch! I wonder how she's going to make her family eat all of them just for her own selfish interest!