the first 3 days of CNY have passed with minimal fuss, and i'm glad that the visiting is now (hopefully) over for another year or so. it's not that i'm an -entirely- antisocial misfit who'd rather stay in and youtube/sidereel her life away, it's just that i'm not so hot on all the forced pleasantries that are required during those prolonged ang-pao harvests.

it's not like i even think that ang paos are the great deal in the Chinese tradition that lots of people make them out to be, since i learnt from a young age that whatever money i get usually barely covers the losses that the parents have to bear on these trips. i just think that giving money is such an insincere way of wishing someone well- it's like saying 'here's 10 bucks worth of health for the new year'. besides, the amounts are so arbitrary. does more money = more luck? if so, are all non-chinese doomed to have nothing good happen in their lives ever? and will i go to hell for wearing black jeans on the 1st day???

i don't understand what drives perfectly rational people to collectively adhere to a set of rules that aren't even REMOTELY grounded in logical fact. it's one thing to wear bright colors on happy occassions, but to insist you don't wash your hair because it might 'wash away good luck'??? does anyone else just think that's insane? and seriously, which newborn would be able to love a mother who hasn't bathed throughout her confinement? think of the smell. and the bacteria. it's just too gross!

and another thing, is it easier to accept these baseless traditions than it is to accept evidence of divine truth? and supposing you -do- already believe in a God, how do you reconcile your religion with the various other Gods of Wealth whom the bulk of CNY traditions aim at attracting? it seems like a bit of a hypocrisy to me.

anyway, apart from being a complete wetblanket about the festivities, which by the way i am not because i just LOVE yusheng, i've also had a bit of fun. yesterday i bai nianed at mark's house and was tricked into paying a visit to his humongous dog of a german shepherd. apparently when mark says that she's 'tied up', it doesn't mean that she's in a cage. which is basically how i ran out of the kitchen completely horrified and hopping and screaming when i was greeted by this hugeass wolf-like thing barking at me. i was so scared i thought i was like going to die or something. thankfully that was the only major incident of the day, as i don't think my weak heart could have taken much more.

later on i got to catch up with gerard and vanessa at her CNY gathering, whereupon we concluded that we have just so much work to catch up with that we need to start like now. and then i discovered that gerard shares my favourite pasttime of watching Friends reruns, and that we're both midway through re-watching season 5! what a coincidence :P oh, and i've decided that i want to go to japan during the june hols. land of meiji, here i come!

as for today, i had quite a nice lunch at sushi tei in gardens, after mark came over to bai nian. and then my sis brought her stupid friends over, and jumped on me whilst i was in deep sleep. as in, she literally pounced on me over my quilt. i was so pissed that i spewed a bunch of vulgarities, called them all bloody bitches (although i have come to believe at some point that this bit was only part of my imagination) and then slammed and locked the door. at least we know who'll be winning the scary sister of the year award now, haha.

happy CNY everyone! and for those of you who just CAN'T tear yourselves away from peanut cookies and lapis and tarts and everything else that's good and yummy about the season: i feel your pain! my throat is totally sore and yet i am still compulsively downing mouthfuls and mouthfuls of horrible dry, throat-killing cuttlefish, like a machine that won't stop till the whole box is empty! but anyway, who needs a voice??? talking is so overrated man. just remember to REHYDRATE! and sleep more!

see you soon! :)