Red Sea

It's the time of the year where everything looks great. Kids dressed in scarlet red clothes run around with their sparklers at night having innocent fun while their grannies enjoy a game of old school mahjong. The men gather round the table to talk about what has been a great previous year and speak of their aspirations for the year ahead while the women have fun creating specialty dishes to savour during such an auspicious time of the year. Us lads sit around a small table and have a game of poker or 21 while dicussing the 'intellectual' issues that are hovering in the headlines for the past few days or two. In the day, families drop by to visit and strengthen old bonds. It just seems blissful and utopic. A typical picture of how the Chinese New Year is celebrated in my hometown. Ramblings on CNY are next...

Finger food... Cookies are always great to have when guests come over to visit. Something that people can munch on and enjoy while having a great cup of coffee. What i never really put into thought was the effort that was put into making that great jar of cookies. It's a pretty tedious effort if it's a home-made jar of cookies. Pre-CNY season has always been a hectic time for me and my mum. Baking cookies are definitely fun but when you've got a whole list of orders to fulfil, it can become a heavy chore. It was definitely a whole new experience this time round with a rather crazy amount of orders for various kinds of cookies. At the end of it all, my arms and legs were sore. It was as if i had just ran a marathon without stopping for a day. A worthwhile experience for sure. Something i'll remember hopefully when i graduate as a surgeon someday. At least i've baked cookies before. Sounds weird. :P

The journey home...Traffic was horrendous as usual. A trip that would usually take 2 hours lasted a crazy 5 hours this time round. To add to the misery, the queue at the toll plaza was also equally sick. Thank goodness for the wonder of a small card that sped things up a little. Despite all the crazy traffic, I have God to thank for allowing me to make it to the reunion dinner. (And also less one episode of firing from my grand-dad for being late :P)

The family...The family's the same old family minus my much missed grandma. Cousins are their usual self, cranky most of the time. Nephews have somewhat matured by are still a pain in the a55 at times. Aunties and uncles still the same bunch of fellers who ask... 'When you gonna finish studying ah??' Sheesh.. guess i'll have to answer the same question for another 8 yrs or so when i'm done with my postgraduate studies. As for grandparents, they just wanna enjoy their tea and mahjong. Not forgetting the pets, the 2 tortoises are a fatter than ever and trying to escape from the pond.

Chicks...Sorry, no chicks this year. I mean it !!

Angpow...If i recall, the KLSE closed at 914.01 points at 5.02 p.m. the day before CNY. That's a gain of 0.87 points from the day before. That means those people i visited should have gained some cash from their angpow investment whether contra or long term. Strangely, angpow collection didn't reflect the healthy signs of a rather bullish Malaysian economy that's predicted to hit the 1000 point mark again. Sob sob. Seems the 'kiam-siap' syndrome is evident again. Gonna do a retrospective study on this issue. Generosity has got to hit an all time high again. Btw, Angpow hunting season is still on, so all ye auntie and uncle... Please relieve your wallets and purses of those bling bling as the Angpow economist is on the prowl. Hehe. It's for a good cause of course. :P

Friends...Haven't gone visiting yet. Everyone's still back in their respective hometowns having fun i hope. As for those overseas, sounds like the Malaysian students society is the place to be at. Guess their having a dinner to celebrate CNY where ever they may be at.

House cleaning...Arghh. the dreadful part. Post CNY cleaning is always mad but someone's got to do it. :P

Aights. That's the CNY ramblings for now. Gong Hei Fatt Choy to everyone out there. Cheers!

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