Chinese New Year and Valentine's Day. Most people say this is the best time of the year cause you get angpau from your married relatives and loads of sweets, cookies, chocolates and love letters from your friends and admirers. Well, for my case, yes we do get angpau but the travel of four hours back to my mother's hometown in Batu Pahat can be a killer.
Back when I was younger, my mother's BMW was like a mini human oven. On hot days and long journeys,especially when the air conditioning was not as cold as it use to be, my siblings and I used to hang our blankets up to block out the hot sun. Only thing I liked about going back there was seeing my cousins and spending time with them. Even the time was limited though due to the fact my cousins that come from Singapore have such short New Year holidays. The scenery and holiday mood was also enjoyable.
On the flip side, spending almost close to a week with just my family and my grandma in the house was a bit torturous. Being from a generation where WiFi has become a necessity, you could say we were deprived from it while we were there. Only time WiFi was available was at an aunt's place or at my mother's friend's place. The party she had there every year was pleasurable cause there were actually people my age at the party.
Normally in my grandma's house, I am stuck in the middle of the age groups. I have many cousins who are older than me by 4 years minimum. Then I have my closest cousin who is a year younger than I. Then cousins which are younger by 3 years or more. I end up only having that one cousin who actually talks to me but as I said before, he is Singaporean.
Last but not least for Chinese New Year, as a child that was born in early February, my birthday was normally really close with Chinese New Year and I have not got to celebrate it with friends for a long time. Their families busy due to Chinese New Year preparations. My family going back to my hometown really early or coming back really late. Those things tend to happen and even if it was my birthday on the second day of new year's, nobody really noticed or knew. In my opinion, Chinese New Year has its goods but the reasons above are why I dislike it.
Next for Valentine's Day, also known as Friendship Day in school (cause schools do not encourage relationships so Valentine's day is a no-no), most people end up buying chocolates and all for their friends. When you get to my age, sometimes spending money on such frivolous things can be such as waste of money. No offence to those people who yearn for February 14 every year but I just dislike this spending of money to give your friends chocolates, brownies and sweets that people sell.
It also makes me feel like a Scrooge or that I am poor. Some friends just do not understand that I am not in a position to spend money of thing that I do not really need. These materialistic offerings to a friend does not mean you treasure them fully. It just means you have some extra money you want to spend on them. Being a true friend is having their backs and helping them when they need it.
People in the world should be happy with what they are given not just on Valentine's Day. Just because it is the 14th of February, people think those gifts are worth gold. No! We should be thankful for all gifts. A hug when your sad, a piece of cake they share with you on any simple day, the teaching they give you when you just cannot seem to solve that math question. Treasure all those, not only the gifts on February the 14th.
I'm not an avid blogger because sometimes I feel sharing my thoughts may not make the world a better place. I tend to say things I feel very bluntly. If you know me in real life, I probably have hurt a lot of people with my dagger like words. After all nothing runs on the truth. If an industry told the truth all year long, a war would break out when men and women with army gear waiting to stab one another.
Anyways, with that I end my blog for today. Hopefully you got to read all the way till the end. If you have, thank you for your time. See you in the next blog post.
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