Chinese New Year

Wow, because of CNY, haven't been able to properly have my own privacy of accessing the web. Anyway, hope everyone had a wonderful new year and an increase in ang pau income. This year, everyone felt generous. Usually I collected Rm300 odd only, this year I got double. Woot! But, such a great guy like me, of course I won't treat my friends. I will keep it in an untouchable bank account, my savings for the big U, my car, my house, and my future wife ( whom I haven't exactly met yet ).

This year, Chinese New Year arrived with the usual routines. On CNY eve, everyone came home, have dinner, gamble ( which I lost heavily ), boast to each other, and for the daughter-in-laws ( especially my mother, all my in-laws have too good a life, the thought of cutting veges and washing plates just makes them tremble with fear. Well, all except my 5th and 3rd aunt-in-law. Oh, I have 5 of them and 3 aunts, 3 wonderful aunts )

Well, besides ang pau and gambling and eating and boasting, nothing else. That is CNY to my family. Wtf sounds lame right? Well whatever, on to the strange stuff this year. This is gonna be a lenghty post.

First, CNY eve and first day of CNY is spent here in BP. That's when my father's 5 brothers and 3 sisters gather together, boast together and ignore my grandmother. They will bring along maybe like 7 girls, all great achievers and stories of their missing sons. For my family, I am among like, 5 or 6 boys. Ain't that great? Girls outnumber guys heavily, and the guys always go missing. One of my cousin is in UK working, and my bro is always occupied with his fiancee ( who irritates the hell out of everybody eventhough she just sits down quietly ).

Well, in BP, is where all the High Class Relatives ( HCR ) gather. Big car, big mouths, big wallets, BIG HANDPHONES ( omgwtf my uncle's handphone is double the width, height, length and thickness of my 3100 ) and big appetites, but small hearts. My grandmother is forever grumpy and forever ignored by her sons. Scions of Ng blood? Heh.. Lots of sumptous food is prepared by my mum, who happens to be better-than-restaurants-cook, simply a master in cooking. Even the way they gamble also annoying. 'Aiyo, wait I lose how?', 'Aiyo, he wants that card leh.. wait he game I lose how?' Knn, doctors, government servants and freaking rich people cannot afford to lose a couple of Ringgit in gambling. Scared lose don't play lar! And the bad thing is, they always disappear no the first day of CNY. Travel so far come back stay one night kpkb then pat their asses and go home just like that.

And on the CNY eve, around 11.30, my father will start preparing the tables and food at my house in Taman Makmur to pray. That's when the TV will be on ( always channel 8, Singapore's count down with lots of lame celebs trying to be funny ), then the world war will begin. *BOOM BOOM* goes the fireworks, and the phone lines will be so busy that I cannot even send a single greeting SMS to any friend. Then, we will offer joss sticks to the deities. This year, my brother was absent from the annual ritual. Reason? His fiancee is a Christian, and so is he now. Upset my mother like shit man.. No pun against Christians, but in a way my brother has abandoned our heritage. Heck, as if I am that devoted a Buddhist anyway, but I just do what my mum and dad does, and not upset them when it comes to religion.

On the 2nd day, my family and I will go back to my mum's hometown in Senaling, Kuala Pilah. It's a very small village, with all wooden houses and practically three quarters of the place are plants. This is where the village relatives ( VR ) are. My mum's sister's husband, my uncle-in-law, is also a successful guy working in S'pore. But he doesn't boast like the HCR, and he is easy going and very steady. He say treat means treat, and he cooks better than my mother ( OMGWTF everyone should try his fried chicken, if so KFC and MCdonalds can be out of business ) . And this is where you will find kids without shirts gambling on the floor, and some large piles of money will be under their wallets ( some will be empty and digging their ang pau money. Money exchange goes very fast here ) Crude? Remember this is a Chinese kampung. The older generation ( my mum's ) did not get much education in their youth during the British colonization, and they live with what work they can get. One of my uncles there is a Chinese healer-priest. Not the sai kongs or the whammy jumpy people, but he really finds things where people cannot. People from all over Malaysia come and find him when they are sick and GP's diagnosis finds nothing wrong with them. That's when he will start pulling out needles and getting rid of curses. I myself don't know if his skills are for real, but he is a remarkable man indeed. And incidentally, my mum's another brother's recent Vietnamese bride, who he married around November in 2005, is pregnant. I thought it was fast, until my mum told me about my bro. Appears she got married and is pregnant the following month. Lol my dad sure power man..

My mother had plans to go to Thailand with my priest uncle to pray, but the funny thing comes now. She packed money, clothes and everything and made sure that she forgot nothing before we set off on the 3 hour and half journey. Upon reaching, when she just got down from the car and stepped the first time, she screamed that she forgot her passport. LoL wtf!?

And we will spend the remaining of the day loitering around, gambling or napping. That's kampung life, no computers, no cyber cafes. Good thing bout in the kampung? Well, we sleep in my mum's wooden house, no air cons needed. Its frigid at night! And late at nights and come dawn, we can hear clearly damned youngsters zooming past in their motorcycles ( goddamn them, die earlier better ) at high speed, and my late grandfather's chickens 'cook-me-you-fool' calls. Looking at the chickens made me think of my late grandpa, who passed away at the end of 2004. He used to catch chicks for me to hold in my little hands when I was small, I still remember the feel of his hands as he passed the trembling chick into my tiny palm. But I was never close to him, so I felt no sorrow when he went, but performed the rites all the same as a grandson.

My brother further upset my parents again. His fiancee was sick, and she felt worse in kampung. Freaking city girl ( Singaporean ) cannot take in the fresh air in the mountains. So no choice, my brother chose to bring her back to Singapore. He drove 3½ hours, ate and sat down for half an hour, then drove another 5½ hours back to Singapore. The things my bro do for his fiancee.. foolish? Devoted? You decide. She cannot even warm up to the idea of resting in my aunt's bungalow with a big bed and an air conditioner. She just wants to get away from the village as fast and as far as possible.

That's Chinese New Year for 06. Hope I didn't sound too disturbing :p But I really feel that the festive spirit is getting dimmer each passing year. Soon, after my maternal grandma pass away, nobody will go back to the kampung anymore. Soon, after my paternal grandma pass away, HCR won't come back to BP anymore. I dread to think of CNY when that happens.