The Soft Roar...

Well, its Chinese New Year again, and this year, its the year of the Tiger! ROAR!!! Spirits high, curiosity peeks, cheers everywhere, fireworks beyond eardrum's limit, eh? WRONG! This year has got to be one of the least spirited years among all Chinese New Years I have ever celebrated. No, its not because we don't have the mood to celebrate, we still are our usual selves during Chinese New Year. Just... something's missing...

The thing is... crowd. Every year, my family and a few uncles/aunties will compete with another family of our relatives to see who will 'pai chia' the earliest. I still remember I was called to wake up at 7 to get ready. This year however, we started to 'pai chia' a little later, which is 9.00a.m... Also, the amount of relatives we were to visit has decreased drastically over time. I still remember I could complete downloading a 1GB+ size file of Maple Story Installer if I were to initiate the download before I depart to 'pai chia' as soon as I came home... Now, hah! I bet I couldn't even finish downloading full albums... We could only go to 4 houses this year...

1st house, a tall apartment at Paya Terubong. Short visit, but I love visiting that place... Their house is located at the 23rd floor, so the breeze is very strong at any time... Its a nice place to just relax...

2nd house, directly behind a 4D Toto, opposite of the Air Itam Police Station. Another short visit... Had a drink and watched the Race Skating among countries. VERY VERY amazed at how South Korea representative could win when came in last at the beginning of the race, and won the race by just an inch, pointing out her toes... Oh yeah, not to mention the red packets. Love them... (Muahahaha)

3rd house, a few metres away from the 2nd. This house is an ancient house, but boy, I love it. The structure is really amazing, really symbolizes the heritage of Penang. Its comfortable, seriously, even without soft cushions and sofas. The kitchen is superb. Not the designs and stuff, but the space... just... wow. Stopped at this house the longest, since the previous generation spoke a lot more here. Then I realised, did I took picture of the previous houses? NO! *Snatches camera from sis*

They offered us Nasi Lemak, which I find difficulty eating, since I took a heavy breakfast, which is also curry! My stomach...

But if you were to slowly enjoy it, its pretty good.

Act cute...

Went and took a few more pictures...

... and on to the next house after chatting a little while longer.

4th house, near Chung Nam Hawker Store.

Somehow, I felt that the environment is a little gloomy. I guess perhaps its because most of the conversation is serious, not jokes and stuff... Things have seriously changed compared to the previous years... There used to be 1, 2 or more families in one home, making the surrounding more noisy and compact, but the... OMPH! is there... Not to mention I guess the red packets have decreased too... But whatever it is the money will still go to my father's hand since I asked for an advance in my allowance for a new cellphone... *sigh* this is not a good sign to start of the year...

Went home, switched on the computer... OUCH, STOMACH ACHE!!! Must be from all the curry consumption... Even after a long struggle in the lavatory, my stomach continues to ache... Things just don't get better, do they?

Tomorrow, I will depart to Sungai Petani and visit my grandma. Maybe things will change, or maybe not?

Signed off,
Teng Aun.