The New Year Post

Yep, i realize I am 7 days late, but hey, still not yet Chap Goh Mei lei....so technically its still CNY..... :D

This year somehow the whole buzz of Chinese New Year was not there.There is no feel , no lau juak . I came up with several conclusions as why this is such...

1)Somehow everyone is worried to openly use the word 'pig' in public due to increasing religious sensitivities these days.It has therefore been replaced with the more scientific, more politically correct term, Sus Scrofa Domesticus Day.It may also be called Year of the Uncooked Pork, or even Year of the Buta (Japanese for Pork).Oh yeah I was born in the year of the Pig as well :P

2)MENJ succeeded in converting everyone and declared lion dances to be unholy as it equates worshipping a cute adorable lion.

3)As it is the year of the Fire Pig, The fire consumed the pig and now we have roasted pork.New Year has been renamed Char Siew day.Everyone eats Char Siew Pau and stuff.The Japanese will then celebrate Chasu Ramen Day, a more noodley version of the celebrations.

4)We are all getting poorer, the economy is bad, people are broke and starving,prices have soared but should be eternally grateful to the almighty government as things could be worse, and they could decide to merajuk and let the hopeless opposition run things for once.Sure, the opposition have economists,politicians,lawyers,public administration experts and social scientists amongst their ranks but how could that possibly measure up to the infinite wisdom and countless successes of the government in promoting religious harmony, making us rich, lowering prices, building useful and beneficial projects,lowering tax, and all while keeping us from killing each other.And not to mention the effective use of public funds and law abiding, humble state executive councillors.

I digress.

Anyway, I would not complain for myself.God has been really kind to me this last one year , giving me all I needed and though humans are never satisfied with what they have, I am grateful for what He has given me la.

I guess for me, being a half breed Chinese myself, Chinese New Year means a time to ask for blessings in the coming year, but also ponder on the blessings already given.Often these are things we take for granted, our families, our homes, our partners, our friends, even our pets(Aibo does not count.They are mechanical :P)..things we do not cherish, or even think about until someday they are yanked from under us, and we moan and cry and wail and ask why we were not given more time to show our affection.Well, we had all the time in the world.We just forgot.

Also, we tend to eat into the finality of fate and how things will or will not work out for us based on hunches, telltale signs, horoscope and etc.Though I am fascinated by astrology, and spend a lot of my time reading on it sometimes, I believe we should not be shrouded in it to the point of paralysis.

Even in astrology, it is believed that even your very fate can be changed through deeds and actions.So why succumb to is not yet final?Wannabe sagely advice aside, New Year for me was moderate and pleasant.For one my sister was supposed to come home from the States to celebrate with us but cancelled,so it meant more angpow and food for me la, LoL.

Food consists of my mum's dinner for the Eve.Though there is only three of us, she still does it every year for tradition's sake.As fate would have it, I got a Chinese girlfriend, so I guess it means if all goes well I'd still be having Eve dinners :D. anyway my mum would make several dishes which is basically must have every year kind of thing. My favourites would include lobak (minced meat and vege and sometimes mashed yam in bean curd skin, rolled and fried) bang kuan char (dried squid,radish,carrots, chicken cooked together with a soy based sauce) ... this dish is eaten by Penangites, like my mum and dad with salad leaves and sambal belacan.To me sambal belacan is fine la, but salad leaves looks like rabbit food.Curry chicken or bak cham kai (steam chicken) and some prawn dishes top my charts. My mum will make some other stuff like trotters with sweet sauce la, intestines soup etc, but I basically don't touch organs la.

Chinese New Year day itself did pretty much nothing, visited some friends, and gambled a little bit.

On the 7th day went for an amazing date with my better half and it was really surreal.Its beautiful to share special holidays with special people.Its a hard to describe feeling, but a really beautiful one.I could go have cold water and plain bread with her and still feel dreamy and all :D
I guess sometimes its the company rather than location or activity.I had a lot more to type but most of it escaped me by the morning.Anyway Here's Wishing a Happy Chinese New Year to all my friends!! Keong Hi Fatt Chai...Nien Nien Khuai Le....Sam Siong Si Seng.. (Thats 3 different dialects ) :P