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What a wonderful beginning to the new year! Class of '75 gathered at Pu Tien Restuarant @ Nex for the New Year dinner last night. There's no better way to start the dinner than the tossing of lo hei.... huat ahh!!!!! Other than the backbone members, we also have the french connection Weng Cheong and my rock buddy Mike Poh. Despite the few gatherings last year, the good old feeling of seeing each other again remained at last night gathering. No doubt the dinner lasted for more than 2 over hours, we proceeded to the coffee shop nearby after dinner. We called it a night somewhere past midnight. You guys rock!!!!
For the record, we missed the few absentees due to their work and unfortunate incidents. Especially for Choy Fong, please take care.
Two nights ago, I dreamt of my mother, sister and me won the 1st prize in 4D lottery. All of us were so happy and celebrating. When I woke up, the set of numbers etched in my head. I told myself that it was just a dream. Yet, I went to place a $15 bet on it. Sadly, the numbers didn't appear on tonight's draw. The good news is I won on another set of numbers on the starter prize. OMG! $1250.
I couldn't ask for more. In all, I would say my mother came to celebrate the new year with me and give me this generous ang pow. Thank you Mum and I pray that you'll continue to bless us all.
A surprise email from a friend in Hong Kong sending me new year wishes. At the same time, Pinky wrote to keep me updated on his life there. The last I heard from him was about a year ago. Once again, thanks for writing and hope to hear from you more often. Kong Hei Fatt Choy!!!
Overeating is never a good thing. I am just one of them suffering as a consequence of it. New year goodies, once a year. Maybe I took in too many cashew nuts which cause indigestion. Or is it the bak kwa (BBQ pork)? Too fatty. Lots of gas pushing up to my throat. Enough is enough. Time to trim down my bloated tummy a little. Easier said than done. Gonna laze myself for a good massage later. Oo la la....
My first day at work in the Snake Year 2013. Nice to be back at the office with all of us exchanging new year wishes. Guess everyone had rest enough except for one who went off after an hour. Maybe he had to attend to some urgent matter outside.
I wonder if it is a water snake that rules this year. It rains almost everyday since the lunar new year. For the Cantonese, water is luck. Let's see how much luck do we have this year. Sad that my zodiac 'Pig' cannot get along with the Snake. Worst, both my father-in-law and daughter were born in the year of the Snake. Definitely there are some truth in this saying. Haha.....
The gang remains the same. A crazy annual CNY get-together at Ban Heng Restaurant @Bendemeer. The jokes throughout the night were comparable to those stand-up comedy. Who needs to pay to have this bout of laughters?
No doubt there were 6 of us but an uninvited guest crashed in. Yes, the restaurant female Captain from China. She was given an ang pow after the pre-ceremonial chanting of the lo-hei. Somehow Pipi and Lee Hoon enlightened me to say 'received' whenever the Captain showered words of blessing in preparation of the lo-hei. During the tossing of the yu sheng and shouting 'Huat-Ah' , the Captain watched and shouted 'received'. Only then did we realised that we were 'conned' of the ang pow and burst into laughter.
We were not born loser either. At the end of the dinner, we got complementary dessert from the restaurant. For the record, Tuah Kiat bought us the $188 pern cai as a side dish. Thank you so much.
Note : The gang shall attend Pipi's daughter wedding on the 24 Feb 2013.
It's the annual Family CNY celebration at my sister's place. A good time to catch up with my brothers and sister. As all our children are young adults, life is much easier for us nowadays.
The highlights for this year celebration were :
An unfortunate incident happened. My eldest brother suffered a bout of Parkinson disease attack causing his whole body to tremble and felt cold. Luckily he recovered (though not fully) after an hour or so. So sad and scary.
On the brighter side, it was a first for my nephew Yu Shih to bring his girlfriend to the celebration. Welcome to the party!
We would like to thank my sister and family for the invitation and Patrick for the lift home. Peizhi, thanks for the luggage bag. We should be back to celebrate your birthday.
Happy Lunar New Year 2013! Gong xi fa cai. May the Snake Year brings abundance of good health, luck and wealth to everyone. The most important and celebrated event in Asia has finally arrived.
Where else except for my mother-in-law place as our 1st house visit? Had a good chat with my father-in-law and understand that he had a faulty handphone. Bought him a new one and he spent the afternoon meddling with it.
There was a gambling session with Toa Payoh Gang and their grandmother there too. In between, relatives came and went. In the evening, we visited Andrew's (brother-in-law) place and had dinner there. It goes without saying that the gambling session continued there. No doubt we lost $90 for the day, we are happy to see the smile on my mother-in-law face, She won about $70. At times it's not about money anymore.
The elderly must not be forgotten in a festival like this. Once again, have a happy hoilday.
It was raining cats and dogs. We tried and despite our best effort, we simply couldn't get a taxi. Given no choice, we traveled there by bus. Needless to say, we were the last family to arrive. The family reunion dinner 2013 finally started after 10 minutes.
Like me, all my brothers are getting older. My eldest brother is down with Parkinson disease and at its final stage. Sad but we have to face reality. Yes, I have to thank my 4th brother Poh Kiang for the or nee (yam paste). Both Fyn and Yu Jia are in the States and had to give this dinner a miss.
With about an hour to go, may I wish everyone 'Abundance in good health and fortune in the Snake Year 2013'.
Less than 48 hours to go and it's happy Lunar New Year. Shy to say, my wife cleaned up the whole house except the toilets which I will clean tomorrow. She is on leave today. With a little spare time this evening, we shopped at Takashimaya and Paragon.
Everything was so rushed for we had to work. We were more at ease after giving thanks at our ancestors and parents praying session last Sunday for their blessing. As it was the last weekend and was raining non=stop, I worried about missing it.
Guess we have bought everything on the list. Yes, we are ready to welcome the Year of the Snake. Prior to that, a family reunion dinner awaits. Gong xi gong xi gong xi ni ya...........
3 more days to go and we have managed to clean up about 10% of our house. If only we can finish 70% , I would call it a successful Spring Cleaning 2013. Come Friday, the air-con technicians would come to service our system.
The new year goodies are almost there except for a few items. Though we bought 2 cartons of assorted can drinks, Smily just came back with another two. The Dragon Year has been kind to us, blessing us with good health. Me and Margaret have stable jobs and both our children graduated. We couldn't ask for more. Many many Kum Sia. Dragon rocks!!!!!!!!
It's the 6th day and there wasn't any news. I took out my receipt and called the service centre preparing to give them a Sir Alex Ferguson 'hair-dryer' treatment. To my surprise, I was told that it was ready for collection. I rushed down during lunch time and reunited with my Samsung Galaxy S3 once more. They changed the mother board and till now, it's working perfectly. Very satisfying. Thank you so much. Samsung rawkz!!!!!!
Reunion dinner is meant to be a happy occasion reuniting family members and loved ones, especially those celebrating at their parents' home. Many simply ignore the amount of work preparing this dinner from going to market to buy the food stuff to the kitchen work. Worst, they would leave without cleaning up after dinner.
Sad, and I felt so sorry for the elderly who struggled to pull and push their trolleys home from the market and supermarket. Just this afternoon, I helped another old lady to lift her trolley up the bus.
Are children of today so lazy and inconsiderate? I am sure the word Filial Piety is no longer in their dictionary. If they cannot help up in simple chore like this, how in the world are they to care for their aged parents. Sigh...
I can feel the distance to a near perfect stranger. How many times do I talk to her in a year? Probably five to eight times. And the chances of meeting up with her is even more remote. At least it's about twice a year during the Chinese New Year period.
I had a miss call from her yesterday and returned her call in the evening. I just did not feel that I was talking to my sister at the initial stage. It was not too long ago that we were living under one roof with our parents. Guess at one stage of our lives we were too busy with our family and work. That's where we were drifted apart.
It's only at the half hour mark of our call that the familiar laughters returned and it just couldn't stop. We also talked about our children and our common interest Travelling. Before we knew it, it was almost an hour. We had to hang up.
We shall be meeting our brothers and family members at the CNY Reunion Dinner next Saturday. Till then....
