Monday, January 26, 2009
9:20 PM

Happy 牛Year!

Here comes the time of the year when we have to do spring cleaning, buy new clothes, eat steamboat dinners and go visiting. In Singapore, there's only my paternal relatives, while my maternal relatives are in Indonesia. I rarely see my Indo relatives, but my memories of them doting on me when I was young are vivid, especially the image of me sitting on the lap of my late grandma, donned in her baju kebaya.

I was glad I had a very different new year celebration last year in Germany as there's always this inertia in me every CNY. Part of the reason for this inertia is that there's a generation and culture gap between me and my paternal relatives. My dad has 13 siblings (3 of whom have passed on), so you can imagine how crowded and noisy my grandma's place will be. Some of them are hypocritical, some of them are genuinely nice, one of them is evil.

On my paternal side, dramas happen all the time. When I was young, uncle #3 wanted to hack aunt #5 with a chopper and hurt my dad in the process. Uncle #3 hung himself to death during the 1997 financial crisis, while aunt #4 CO-poisoned herself when she found out her husband's extramarital affair. Now and then, aunt #5 will be mad at uncle #5 over money issues, or that aunt #3 will be mad at aunt #1 over tupperware issues. Ridiculous isn't it? My dad is the only one not involved in these disputes. Their stories will make great Channel 8 drama serials.

No wonder my sis compares our family with dan's. His grandma gives him $100 hongbaos, but we can never expect our grandma to do that. It's just different. We should already be happy that our famed empee cousin does not give us a $2-hongbao despite his big pay package from the gahmernt. But really, can we blame them? They all grew up in an environment where all resources are shared. Money is a limited resource, so everyone guards their own treasures very much.

Of course, while the act of sharing is appreciated, wealth or bliss do not fall from the sky. So, instead of grumbling about others' behaviours, why not work for what you want? Yes, I'm talking to you. I think everyone should have dreams or ideas about what they want in life. Having a wealthy relative or sibling or bf may be a bonus, but instead of waiting for that to happen, work for and determine your own happiness.

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Selamat Tahun Baru Imlek! May the year ahead be one of good health, great careers and bullish markets for us!