CNY thoughts

** "BIAS" is a special feature in my blog where I get to say whatever I want with scant regards for your feelings. I'm not politically correct in this feature, so go ahead, judge me."


Some thoughts that are lingering in my mind during the last 72 hours. Why do I think so much? No idea - thoughts just come streaming to me at the weirdest time.

1. I was wondering why do Chinese keep wishing others gong xi fa cai (literally - congratulations on striking rich). The fa cai is the part that is intriguing. Do other nationality and religion celebrate their new year by wishing each other prosperous? Or are Chinese just money minded? I'm very very sure the Chinese of olden years (like Tang dynasty or Ming) do not wish each other gong xi fa cai, so it's very interesting to know when this practice of wishing each other to 'strike it big' began.

Must be another one of those 'invented traditions', like the yu-sheng, or wearing red etc etc.


2. I can't wait to give my first ang bao to people. But as tradition goes, I should only begin after I get married, thus this year will be the last where I'll receive ang bao. Somehow, in my mind, giving ang bao is a sign that I have reached independence. No, not the financial independence type, it's the kind where you pass a certain milestone in life.

Do I care about the money? Nah, all under control. Did a little bit of calculation and it's not much.


3. I read about people talking about gadgets the other day. There seem to be two extremes. On one side, there are people who abhor gadgets. On the other, there exist people who crave for gadgets and spend their hardearned money all on them.

Well, I've my smartphone from HTC that can help me organise my life and surf the internet while I'm waiting for people in shopping malls for $0, because I signed up with a new telco. I do not have fancy watches but instead wore an old casio watch because it had everything I wanted in it - light, date, time and stopwatch. I crave for the latest itouch and its bastard relatives - iriver story e-book and amazon's kindle (the only thing that stopped me is that there are no colours and I don't feel like supporting apple). I still have my old pencil that had served me well for 15 yrs and I'm still using it.

So what am I? I think I don't mind spending more on things that can last long and are of value to me.


4. Do not underestimate the power of a satisfying meal. I was forced to eat very crappy stuff because of the chinese new year and all the coffeeshops are closed. Two consecutive meals of crap send my mood dropping down down down. It was only yesterday night after my reunion dinner that I finally have a decent meal.

Told my gf about it and she commented that little things makes me happy. Yes, rule no. 32 - enjoy the little things in life :)