YSunday, February 24, 2008


Valentine's Day, Orientation 2 have passed. Cheeky grins and the tinkle of merry laughter fade from my consciousness.

Term exams are fast approaching.

I'm gonna pretend that I'm busy studying.

But I lie, lie, lie to myself.

Hoping for the wakeup call that I so desperately need.

Enjoying (while it lasts) the illusion of the importance of my puny, miniscule, insignificant life.

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Blogged @ 9:32 PM

YSunday, February 10, 2008

CNY CNY CNY

Yet another Chinese New Year has gone by. I've penned down my general thoughts regarding this 15-day-long new year day last year. Go take a look.

Man I can be such a bastard.

Anyway, let me just leave you with a few recollections regarding my journey into this hopefully prosperous year of the rat. (You know how they always wish you good fortune and blessings and prosperity and yadda-yadda yabadabadoo every year? So that means we're supposed to keep getting luckier and richer and cleverer and better in every way every year? Now that's just bullshit.)

Chinese New Year is held in celebration of the return of the 2 noble deities, namely King Bah Kwa Emperor of all things Meat, and His Highness, the Grand Pineapple Tart. They bring along with them countless lesser deities, such as Captain Keropok, the Honourable Orange brothers, as well as Lord Melon Seed, among many others. We, as their noble subjects, celebrate their return by, well, basically just eating them all up. We gouge ourselves. Seriously.

Every year, friends and relatives give us piles and piles of these goodies. There are put on a nice table, that is (unfortunately) very accessible for me. So what happens is that I just stand at the table and eat and eat and eat and eat. Commercial break? Eat. Walking past for no apparent reason? Eat. Going to the toilet? Wash hands then eat. My grandma even had to bright idea of cutting the bah kwa into tiny bite-sized portions, to make it even easier for me to put into my mouth. You know usually when you have to eat a big square greasy piece of meat you feel a bit overwhelmed? Not when that same piece of meat is cut up into a few smaller slices. You can polish off 10 without breaking a sweat.

Then there's the reunion dinner. My gosh. Abalone, sea cucumbers, scallops, crab, shark's fin(Oh no here comes the environmentalists.), and pretty much everything else that you imagine would cost a lot of money. It all went onto my plate. I doubt I'll ever eat anything that rich again, that is, until the year of the Cow/Ox/Buffalo comes.

I fear what the weighing scale will reveal to me.

Every year, there will be quite a large party at my house. The entire family is roped into preparations. I want to talk about this, but this really does deserve its own post. Since most of the people who are invited are about, on average, 40 years older than me, and really have no interest in learning more about my life (the feeling is mutual) I decided to invite a few of my friends to come over. It was really, simple put, an awesome deal for them. They come over to my house, eat a very large quantity of the freaking delicious food, which I helped to prepare, then go on to take money from the various married people handing them out to all the kids. I'm not even sure if the old people know that they aren't part of the family at all. Not that I'm bitter or anything.

Going to someone's house, eating their food, and getting paid to do so? That sounds like something I would want to do for a job. Like, EVERYDAY.

Many people get stressed during Chinese New Year, just as they do during Christmas time. There's cleaning to be done, the house must be swept, old things thrown out, decorations to be put up. Those who are married must part with their money, giving it away to little brats who should be kept on leashes and fed only bread and water. Relatives that you've neglected for an entire year suddenly pop up at your door, and you must entertain that cousin you've always considered to be a bit of a freak. Food must be meticulously prepared, to ruin a meal at this sort of time would be catastrophic. It can all be quite overwhelming.

But to me, Chinese New Year is a time during which it is expected of you to indulge in excesses. You eat too much, you drink too much (for those who are of legal age), you buy lots of new clothes, you gamble all your money away, you make merry, and for the little kids, you collect lots of money. It's a time to have fun, to celebrate, to enjoy life.

And that's just the way I like it.

Happy Chinese New Year.

May you be showered with blessings. (Ugh.)

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Blogged @ 9:18 PM

YSunday, February 3, 2008

Shamelss Self-Promotion

This applies only to students currently studying in ACJC. The rest of you can ignore this post.

You know, recently all the classes have been selling all sorts of fantastical goodies as a part of their fun-o-rama fund raising efforts. I've sampled many of their delicious and very exotic foods. I've experienced the refreshing fruitiness of frozen yogurt, tasted the donuts imported from Malaysia, and even enjoyed the taste of authetic Sweet Talk bubble tea.

They were all very good.

But I crave something else. I want classic. I want simple. I want delicious. I want the foods you ate as a kid. The kind you eat with your hands, and messily so. Forks and spoons are terribly overrated.

That's why 2SB3 is selling homemade cookies, cupcakes, jelly, and hot/cold chocolate tomorrow. Satisfy those cravings. You know what you want.

Only for tomorrow and tuesday.

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Blogged @ 8:59 PM