Asian New Year
Otherwise known as Chinese New Year, the Chinese aren’t the only ones to celebrate this annual festivity in February, and this could quite possibly be the only holiday that Cabramatta business people take seriously. On most western holidays, the area around here is still buzzing, but not during this weekend, I don’t think. They’ll all be at home with their kids, parents and plenty and plenty of cousins.
Speaking of cousins, my dad went around the house early this morning packing things away, such as our phone chargers left in the lounge and cameras scattered around the kitchen. I didn’t catch why til he explained that my cousins might be coming over tomorrow. Fuck, cousins. I totally forgot about them. We’re not really that close, and even if we were, it’s definitely been a good year or two or even more. Most of my cousins have kids now and the rest are scheduled to be married, so the last group of company I would like to be immersed in is with them. I hate to be cynical, but they only come over so we could give their kids money. Luckily, I wasn’t present for this prestigious occasion last year as I was out. Thank goodness I missed it. I would be spewing if I saw the way the kids terrorised my study. Considering it’s been about two years since I’ve seen them in the house, here’s hoping that they’ve grown up a bit and learnt to keep their hands to themselves.
I’m not very good at family functions, and I’m not sure if my parents are, either. Well, I’m pretty sure they’re much better at it than me, but we tend to keep to ourselves. There’s nothing more annoying, I can imagine, than relatives streaming in and out of your house on a weekly or daily basis, which I am aware of from some of my friends. Our house is pretty quiet, and I kinda thought this sort of buzz would be welcomed around here, but I guess not. It really depends on the sort of buzz you get. There’s the annoying type and there’s the enjoyable type. At the moment, it’s sitting on the former. I don’t know why I find this so troubling, but it is. Maybe it’s because it’s family and I have no choice but to put up with them. It’s true what they say that line between family and friends and being able to choose, or not choose, and so on.
It’s very tempting to pull something out of the bag and find an excuse to leave the house, but that’s just rude. I’m being rude enough expressing my public intolerance for family members and it’s hard to explain why. I only feel this way towards relatives, though. Maybe it’s because when they’re here, they really get in my face and start quizzing me on all sorts of things, such as what I’m doing, what I’m studying or working as, what my average mark is (WTF?! Asians) and how old I am. They never, ever fail to cease asking me how old I am, despite being there when I was born. I don’t know if this is the lowest of bonding on their part, but it sure doesn’t encourage me anymore than it does the fact that they have no idea about anything.
Anyway, time to get out of this shit mode. It was Ivana’s 21st birthday yesterday, so to celebrate, we went lunching in Duy Linh, a vegetarian restaurant in Cabramatta with Jasmina and Nikola. Afterwards, we got some drinks- Halo Halo for me and Strongbow for Ivana and did some catching-up.
Am off now to see Cass. Woo! Noodle House! Noodle House!
