Happy CNY y'all!

It is once again Chinese New Year. Everywhere is decked out in red, people are traveling all over visiting relatives and friends and of course, kids are having fun playing with illegal fireworks (and setting fire to that annoying neighbour's house... but hey, fire is 'ong' right?).

To all those people who are unmarried, CNY is the probably the only time where one can truly rob lots of your relatives and friends - all just because tradition demands it. A haul of Rm1K+ over 3 days ain't bad huh? On the other side of the coin, married couples stand to lose quite a lot annually, but I guess it's compensated by all those times they've collected ang paus in their younger days, and factor in compound interest, inflation etc. So it's a bit like giving it back to the next generation.

But wait! It would be naive to think that ang paus are 'free'. No way. They come with the hidden cost of you actually having to show your money-grabbing face to all those pokey and nosey relatives. That's when the inane pleasantries and small talk start. These people tend to be so predictable in their conversations that I should start betting double ang pau money that I can tell what they are going to say (yup, gambling is oh-so-CNY too!).

Typical lines range from the condescending "Wah, tua han liau lor! (wah, so big already!)" and "Wah, entau/sui lor! (wah, handsome/pretty already!)" to the annoying "So, got gf/bf already ar?" They might even go into their Let's Compare mode and see how you stack up to some distant cousin you never even knew existed prior to that.

If you have the sufficient will power (or a super thick face), you might be able to weather the onslaught of annoying relatives to enjoy the oranges, tit-bits, and being a pyromaniac kid again.


Tahun ini tahun babi
Tuah datang, sial pergi
Aku budak mencari rezeki
Jadi cepatlah ang pau beri!

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