CNY YNC NYC

Singaporeans just love acronyms.

This past Chinese New Year (note the non-use of acronyms) was an interesting one. Mom pointed out that for the first time ever, I was the one bugging her to go, and the one who wanted to stay a little bit longer.

Guess the reason was cos I had been feeling out of touch with my relatives. Being the eldest cousin by 6 years, I was equally doted upon by all my aunts, and was pretty close to most of my cousins. Fond memories of being called "Kor Kor" as i was growing up.

But I had a very different set of influences from most of my family. Mixing around with classmates who came from a much more upper-class background, going overseas to study... All of these were very different from what my aunts and cousins went through. So it's not surprising that we kinda grew apart over the years. Part of it was that I didn't quite know how to relate to my aunts as an adult, and my cousins were all still in school.

So this CNY turned out to be quite a meaningful one, cos it gave me a chance to connect with some of my aunts and cousins. Got to chat with them a little bit one-on-one, find out what was going on in their lives, catch up a little. Seems kinda ironic that we all live 5 min apart from each other, but the one time I get to talk to them is at Chinese New Year once a year...

I even got to help my aunt with something work-related, which was nice. Helped me to better relate to her as an adult. And I got to play Maple Story (an online roleplaying game, which is a whole another blog) with one of my older cousin, and subsequently chatted with him online (actually, am chatting with him right now :P). Strangely enough, his chatting style is almost completely similar to L's (do all male poly students between the ages of 17-22 chat the same way?)

Anyway, all in all, it was a nice CNY. While the red packets were obviously far fewer, and we didn't get to play "ban lat" (Chinese version of blackjack), I got to catch up with family, relax a little and play a little. That sounds like what CNY should be to me :)

Ajantis is trying to avoid thinking about work