328. Woke up empty

Woke up this morning feeling that I'm missing something in my life.................I'll try to sleep off the feeling later in the afternoon. :D

Didn't get to sleep in the afternoon after all. Did however managed to install my new set of rims. Remember? Someone stole my rims back in October last year? Well, no one was arrested or castrated, so I finally had to replace them rims. :D

This be my new rim :)

Just got John Legend's Album "Get Lifted" after hearing his song "ordinary people" and all the buzz about him in the Grammy's. It's brilliant. Right now he's got 2 singles out. Ordinary People and Used To Love You. Both songs can be streamed from his WEBSITE under the MEDIA section or click on the link below. Just take a listen.

Streaming Video from John Legend's website:
i) Ordinary People
ii) Used To Love U

JOHN LEGEND
"Ordinary People"

[Verse 1]
Girl im in love with you
This ain't the honeymoon
Past the infatuation phase
Right in the thick of love
At times we get sick of love
It seems like we argue everyday

[Bridge]
I know i misbehaved
And you made your mistakes
And we both still got room left to grow
And though love sometimes hurts
I still put you first
And we'll make this thing work
But I think we should take it slow

[Chorus]
We're just ordinary people
We don't know which way to go
Cuz we're ordinary people
Maybe we should take it slow (Take it slow oh oh ohh)
This time we'll take it slow (Take it slow oh oh ohh)
This time we'll take it slow

[Verse 2]
This ain't a movie no
No fairy tale conclusion ya'll
It gets more confusing everyday
Sometimes it's heaven sent
Then we head back to hell again
We kiss then we make up on the way

[Bridge]
I hang up you call
We rise and we fall
And we feel like just walking away
As our love advances
We take second chances
Though it's not a fantasy
I Still want you to stay

[Chorus]
We're just ordinary people
We don't know which way to go
Cuz we're ordinary people
Maybe we should take it slow (Take it slow oh oh ohh)
This time we'll take it slow (Take it slow oh oh ohh)
This time we'll take it slow

[Verse 3]
Take it slow
Maybe we'll live and learn
Maybe we'll crash and burn
Maybe you'll stay, maybe you'll leave,
maybe you'll return
Maybe another fight
Maybe we won't survive
But maybe we'll grow
We never know baby youuuu and I

[Chorus]
We're just ordinary people
We don't know which way to go
Cuz we're ordinary people
Maybe we should take it slow (Heyyy)
We're just ordinary people
We don't know which way to go
Cuz we're ordinary people
Maybe we should take it slow (Take it slow oh oh ohh)
This time we'll take it slow (Take it slow oh oh ohh)
This time we'll take it slow
______________________________

After dinner at home, went to Gurney plaza with Seng and Ai Fen. The idea was to collect my camera, but they don't have stock yet, so I can only collect it next wednesday. Seng wanted to watch the Liverpool Vs Man U match. So we went to Segafredo and watched the match there.

After that, went over to Oasis at E-Gate to meet up with Fen's boss. The singer was nice & sweet. She actually have a day job working in Avago. I stayed for a while and went over to Starbucks to meet up with the rest of the guys.

Stayed until about 2ish and then went for Sany Char Koay Teow.

Gosh, it's already 4am! I wonder if I can wake up for breakfast tomorrow. It's mom's b'day, so by hook or by crook I'll be up I guess.

327. The Jam last nite

Massive jam on bridge
By J. SEBASTIAN

BUTTERWORTH: Bags of sugar fell out of a trailer on the Penang Bridge causing a massive traffic jam stretching as far as 2km from the bridge toll plaza here.

Traffic from Seberang Jaya, Prai, Bukit Mertajam and the North-South Expressway heading for the plaza came almost to a standstill.

The congestion following the 4pm accident yesterday was made worse about two hours later when office workers joined in the queue to head back home.

It was learnt that the bags fell out when one side of the trailer gave way at the 0.6km mark of the bridge.


THE CAUSE: Bags of sugar lying on the bridge forcing traffic to come to a standstill.

Among those stuck in the jam was Pauline Tan who was returning home from a working trip in Ipoh.

She said she exited the Juru toll plaza, about 3km from the Penang Bridge, about 6pm.

“Many motorists are squeezing through at the emergency lane, worsening the traffic snarl,” she said when she was interviewed at 8pm while still stuck in the jam.

“I don't know how long I will be here before I reach the Penang Bridge toll plaza,” she said.

It was learnt that some passengers missed their flights as they were not able to get to the Penang International Airport in Bayan Lepas on time.

Those who tried to avoid the congestion on the bridge by making a detour to the ferry terminal found themselves caught in yet another massive jam.

A Sultan Abdul Halim ferry terminal official said at the peak of the jam at 5pm, the queue stretched all the way to the district police headquarters about 2km away.

At 8.15pm there were still many vehicles queueing up to board the six ferries in operation, he said.

A Penang Bridge Sdn Bhd hotline official said the bridge was cleared of the sugar-laden trailer and its fallen sugar bags at 8.10pm.

“We had a tough time removing the trailer and its load from the bridge,” he added.
________________________

Got a call from the camera shop which I sent my Canon Ixus V3 (that died back in June) for servicing. It seems that they can't repair my camera because they no longer have the spareparts for it. They offer to upgrade to the Canon Ixus 50 if I top up RM385. My initial thought was that's it's under warranty. Shouldn't they upgrade for free? I mean it's not my fault. After discussion with my bros and friends, they all think it's a good deal. So I'll go over to the shop tomorrow and take a look. I might top up more to upgrade to an even better camera? :D We'll see how it goes la.

326. Quotes

Percy Bysshe Shelley
(1792-1827), English Romantic poet who rebelled against English politics and conservative values.
All of us, who are worth anything, spend our manhood in unlearning the follies, or expiating the mistakes of our youth.

Martin Luther King, Jr,
I have a dream that one day the state of Alabama, whose governor's lips are presently dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, will be transformed into a situation where little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls and walk together as sisters and brothers. I have a dream today. I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together. This is our hope. This is the faith with which I return to the South. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning, "My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring." And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania! Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado! Let freedom ring from the curvaceous peaks of California! But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia! Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee! Let freedom ring from every hill and every molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"
_________________________

My Random Thots:

We need a local MLK! Since we don't have Martin Luther King, Jr here, Mr Mah Loo Kin oso can lah! Perhaps he too, can inspire Malaysians to have a DLEAM.

PLS TAKE NOTE THAT THIS IS MEANT TO BE TAKEN WITH A PINCH OF SALT. SO PLS TRY NOT TO BE OFFENDED OK?

I have a dleam lat one day le state of Penang, whose gobenor's lips ah plesently dlipping with le wods of inteposition and nullification, will be tlansformed into a situation where little boys and little girls of all races will be able to walk togeler as sisters and bladers. I have a dleam tolay. I have a dleam lat one lay evely valley sell be exalted, evely hill and mountain sell be made low, the lough places will be made plain, and the clooked places will be made slaight, and the gloly of the Lod shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it togeler. Lis is our hope. Lis is le faith with which I return to le South. With lis faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With lis faith we will be able to tlansform the jangling discords of our nation into a beauliful symphony of bladerhood. With lis faith we will be able to work togeler, to play togeler, to sluggle togeler, to go to jail togeler, to stand up for fleedom togeler, knowing lat we will be flee one lay.

Lis will be le lay when all of God's clildlen will be able to sing with a new meaning, "My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my falers died, land of the pilgrim's plide, from evely mountainside, let fleedom ling." And if Malaysia is to be a gleat nation, lis must become tlue. So let fleedom ling flom le prodigious hilltops of Bukit Larut. Let fleedom ling from le mighty mountains of Sabah. Let fleedom ling from the heightening range of Banjaran Titiwangsa! Let freedom ring from the top of Penang Hill in Penang! Let fleedom ling from the curvaceous peaks of Genting Highlands! But not only lat; let fleedom ling from stone caves of Kuching! Let fleedom ling from Mountain peaks of Gunung Tahan! Let fleedom ling flom evely hill and evely molehill of Pahang. Flom evely mountainside, let fleedom ling.

When we let fleedom ling, when we let it ling flom evely village and evely hamlet, from evely state and evely city, we will be able to speed up lat lay when all of God's childlen, black men, yellow men and brown men, Indians, Chinese and Malays, Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Flee at last! flee at last! lank God Almigly, we ah flee at last!"
_______________________

It's now 21:30. How is it that I'm so free to write all this stuff? Well, apparently a lorry overturned on the penang bridge and caused a massive jam going over to Penang. So here I am stuck in my office on the mainland. Damn!

325. Some artsy fartsy shots

Here's my attempt at creativity. Taken in front of Lai's house of Yippie's (actually just a wheel) & Jack's car two days back.

Things that I get to dismantle at work. Anyone know what this is?

Went over to Butterworth after work for dinner. Went to this place called Old Town Kopitiam in Kampung Kastam near the Air Force base. Surprisingly quite upscale place for a little town. In fact, the whole area has developed so much that I hardly recognize it anymore. Had some bread and tea. Rather nice actually. Should've snapped some photos of the decor. Really nice and cozy. Left at about 10ish and went home. Wee is at Soho, but I'm too tired d. Need to nap.

324. Happy Valentine's Day!

Hmmm, nope, no sparks in the air. Damn! went to work as usual, only difference is I have to send my dad to the workshop after work to pick up his car.

Now we get to the juicy bits.

Got home and had dinner at home and took a nap! :)

End of juicy bits.

:D spent the later part of the evening sipping wine with my bros. Had the 1999 Paradise Ranch Ice Wine, finally found a wine that I like, sweet & light, but at RM200 a pop, guess it's reserved for special occasions.


Finally, a wine that I can truly say I enjoy

______________________

My Random Thots:

I'd be lying if I say this day have no effect on me emotionally. I do get nostalgic and a bit down, especially when the Radio, TV and everything else reminds you the significance of today. Time will tell if I survive my battle with insanity. :)

323. End of CNY

:( Today is officially the end of the CNY celebrations. No more ang pows, no more fireworks and no more gambling........ok, ok, a bit dramatic! But definitely no more ang pows, the other 2 are negotiable. :D

Anyway, adopted myself a pet tiger today. As you can see, it resides in the sidebar of my blog. It's name is Roar. If follows your pointer and will purr if you left click on it. If you wanna adopt one yourself, just go to their website.

Also tonite, we'll see a big fat full moon in the sky. :) Time to get my telescope and try to capture some shots :D

Picked up Chong from the airport at 815pm. He's back from Japan. Sent him home and after that stopped by Illusions with Lai and Nicholas for dinner. Anthony came over later with Amanda. I gotta say, the food wasn't too shabby considering it's a pub. :)

Anyway, took my leave and headed home after makan while they stayed for drinks.

Got home and wanted to take some shots of the moon with my telescope and trusty digicam. But, alas! It's cloudy, so I end up just taking some shots of my mom's potted plants. :) "Bo hu, Heh pun hoe la!" ( Chinese proverb: No fish, prawns will do) :D

The full moon under the cover of clouds


The potted plants in the garden

322. Yawn!
Saturday (11th Feb)

Work was dreadful! So tired and groggy. Will avoid going to town since the Thaipusam festival is still on. Most roads in town esp Western Road will be closed for the prossesions. Seng and Wee will be having dinner at Chasers in Gurney drive. I'm not too crazy about the idea, besides, I'll be going over to Lai's house.

Went over to Gembira parade to buy some bacon and sausages for the BBQ. Then headed over to pick up Boony and then off to Kepala Batas.

We were the first ones there. So we started the fire and started eating first. The rest of the guests came and of course the nite won't be complete without gambling. Didn't feel like actually taking part, so when Lai asked if we wanted to joint venture with him, I was more than happy to oblidge. 5 of us gave him RM50 each and let him take care of it. When we are ready to leave, we actually won back RM105, nett profit of RM55.

Adjourned to Sany Char Koay Teow in Sg Dua with Yippie, Jack & Ann.

Wonder if I can make it for church tomorrow morning......it's already 5am. *yawn*

Sunday (12th Feb)
13:00

Just woke up :) so nope, didn't make it to church. Had lunch while watching the A1 Grand Prix. Alex Yoong did a good job and grabbed 4th position in the 18 lap sprint race. Amazingly he manages to finish 2nd in the feature race, the first podium finish for Team Malaysia for the season. What's amazing is he's 1.9secs from the leader at the finish, while the 3rd place finisher only crossed the finish line 10.6secs after him. That's a big gap. Well done Alex! Actually, Team Canada (Sean McIntosh) was even more impressive. They started last on the grid yet finished 1st & that's despite having to do a drive thru penalty. That's what makes the A1 grand prix exciting. Everyone is driving basically the same car with the same engines, only gear ratios, suspension and aerodynamic settings can be changed by the team to best suit the driver's style.

Another feature which makes the race more interesting is the power boost, which gives the car a momentary boost of 30bhp. Each driver will need to use his skill to carefully manage how and when the system is used during the race. They only get 8 activations each for the feature race.


basically slept the whole day. Wee's friend came over in the evening for some gambling. Didn't gamble too long as tomorrow I have to work & I loost quite a bit of money already. Oh well. Easy come, easy go. Went back to my room and watched the telly. Caught an interesting program on discovery channel. It's called Dragons: A Fantasy Made Real. Watch it and you'll be a believer.


The fun going on in Wee's room

Tonite is also "Chap Goh Meh". It represents the fifteenth and final day of the Lunar New Year period as celebrated by Chinese migrant communities. The term is from the Hokkien dialect and literally means the fifteenth day of the first month.

It is the occasion of the first full moon of the New Year.

The occasion is marked by feasting and various festivities, including the consuption of Tangyuan. In traditional Chinese culture, it is also celebrated as the Lantern Festival or the Shang Yuan Festival. In Southeast Asia, however, it coincides with the Chinese Valentine's Day, when young unmarried women gather to toss tangerines into the sea, in a hope that their future spouse will pick it up - a custom that originated in Penang, Malaysia. In the past, this is also the only day that unmarried ladies can be seen with their partners.

Retrieved from Wikipedia

Happy Chinese Valentine's Day :D Hmmmm, should I get emotional? :P

321. Thaipusam

After a long day at work, I was looking forward to a quiet nite. Just wanted to chill at home.

Didn't feel like going out coz it'll be very congested in town due to the Thaipusam festival.

At about 11ish, Wee called to say that Seng & Fen wants to learn Texas Hold'em. So we went over to his room and started the game. I lost quite a bit rather quickly. I think they graciously let me win back some of the money and we started chatting about child developement and all. They were discussing the developement of my niece and nephew. Interesting topic. :P after much chatting and drinking, it's already 3:30am. Gosh. Tomorrow is gonna be a long long day.

Was reminded earlier of Lai's BBQ tomorrow nite.

320. Funnies

A friend emailed this to me. It actually made me smile on a busy day. So it's won itself a spot here:

An old man was sitting on a bench at the mall. A teenager sat down next to him. He had spiked hair that was red, orange, yellow, green, blue & violet.

The old man stared.

Whenever the teen looked, the old man was staring.

Finally, the teenager said sarcastically : "What's the matter, old boy, never done anything wild in your life?"

Without missing a beat the old man replied :" Got drunk once and had sex with a peacock. Just wondering if you were my son."

After work, set off to install my car's spoiler, which I gatal and resprayed to flat black :) Just had to install it to see what it looks like. Don't worry, I still have the original one safely stowed away in case I wanna change it back :D After 2 hours of struggling, taking the spoiler off refitting the 3rd brake light and reinstalling the linings & wirings. I quite like it. I think the flat black matches the car's black trimmings well. I'll keep it......for now.

My gatal moment :)


After 2 hours of hard work, I'm rather pleased with the outcome

Just stayed home to watch the Grammy's. Boony came over as well. The first act by the Gorillaz & Madonna was awesome! You guys gotta watch it. I liked it even though the critics weren't too crazy about it.

Time to sleep. Need to wake up early.

319. Busy day at work.....again

Finally left work at about 7ish. Stopped by at Frame shop because we made a frame for the dart board. When we reach the shop was told it's not ready yet and that it'll be ready in 30mins. The truth is she actually forgot to get started on it.

Oh well, I'm learning not to bitch and take in everything the best way possible (though not always successful), so decided to go to the pasar malam nearby while Wee and I waited. Gotta say, it's been ages since I last went to a pasar malam. I can still remember the last time I was "dragged" to a pasar malam. It was the one near USM. I still remember giving RM5 to a beggar who seems like he's a victim of down syndrome (I'm not being mean) and later see him buy a pack of ciggies with the money. Anyway, we sat down and Wee had some Laksa and some drinks. I refrained worrying that I'll get IBS on the long way back to Penang. So just bought some Putu Mayong and I'll enjoy that in the comfort of home.

A scene of the Pasar Malam

The frame was ready on time and off we went.

Reached home and Alex came back dressed in traditional baju melayu, complete with songkok and sarong. I was so shocked that I forgot to snap a picture of him. My dad actually thought he's a muslim and ask Wee to check if the bowl of Shitake mushroom actually had pork in it.

My maid was actually attracted to Alex after seeing him in the baju melayu and sarong. He asked Raine twice about him. Looks like we have a SPG (the meaning as explained by the Coxford Singlish Dictionary; look under sarong party girl) in the making.

Alex's dressing actually brought up the topic of the "cartoon protests". The cartoon which ran in the Danish newspaper way back in Sept 05 that pissed off the Muslim community. Well, I'll not publish my stand on the whole issue as it's not my intend to make this a political site. I will say, however, that it's a chicken and egg arguement. Which came first, violence or freedom of speech? Think about it for a while. For further discussion, feel free to speak to me personally. ;) Btw, there's a new issue that angered the muslim community. It seems that there's a Thai Rapper that quoted the Quran and hence insulted their faith. Mr Abhisit Opasiemlikit was quick to apologize though. Hopefully that's the end of that issue.

Chuwy came over with his entire family. Spent the evening in the nursery playing with my niece and nephews. Kids warm up to each other a lot faster than adults :P Sophia is always a joy to watch. Wonder if the kid is just naturally sweet or it's the upbringing.

After they left, it's off to Wee's Casino. Learnt a new game today. It's called Texas Hold'em Texas Hold'em Poker. Interesting game and it won me a couple of bucks. :)

318. Time to vent

Decided to take a drive after work today. Needed to vent some pent up emotions. Met up with Jack, Ann & Boony for dinner at the Pulau Tikus market first. After dinner waited for Yippie, Dennis, Anthony and Jia Li. After they arrived we off we went for the drive. That was rather relaxing. Reached home feeling much more refreshed and relaxed.


A nite shot of the Teluk Bahang dam.......serene

317. Praying to the God of Heaven

Woke up late today, didn't manage to go to church. Went straight for "breakfast" with Yippie and Boony at US Pizza. After pizza they decided to go for gaming at NetCity. I headed home as I'm not much of a gamer.

Tonite, the Chinese prays to the God of Heaven. Alex arrived just before midnite and will be staying with us for the next 2 weeks. He just came back from rock climbing and scuba diving in Krabi. I can only wish I have the free time and cash to join him.

Man, even tonite is quiet. Normally you'll hear firecrackers come midnite. Guess, people take the firecracker ban very seriously this year. Sigh! Before long, we'll all lose our culture, traditions and identity and Malaysia will truly be a "Muhibbah" nation.

Stayed up with Seng & Wee to watch the Liverpool Chelsea match. Disappoining match. I just hope the Ferrari F1 team won't be as disappointing this year.

The feast for the Gods


Seng lighting the firecracker


The burning of "Gold"(I initially thot they were hell notes, but was corrected by Ann. Thanks!)


Alex giving us a hand

316. Beau's Party

Went over to Beau's new place in Sri Golden Bay for his BBQ party. Initially the idea was to go there for BBQ and gambling. The BBQ was great, but surprisingly, there was no gambling at all! This is a first. :)

Beau bought 2 huge boxes of fireworks and decided to set it off by the beach. Halfway thru the second box, the cops showed up! :) They got busted and got their hair shaved! No, I jest! The cops did show up and in true Malaysian style wanted to settle out of court ;) Beau is RM100 poorer.

After dinner went over to Anthony's house to chill a bit before heading out to Haagen Daaz to meet up with Yippie, Jack & Ann.

After that, they came over to my place in an attempt to gamble. For the 2nd time today, no gabling. We just sat and watched the MU game and I spend some time to catch up with my Blogging. :)

Beau (our host) & his lovely girl Mandy; Wee and Raine @ the grill


Dan the man; Wee reflecting


Raine, Wee, Ee Ling, Say Keat, Louisa & Jules; A shot of the sunset as seen from the poolside of Sri Golden Bay


The perps who lit the fireworks!

315. Ru Yi's official B'day party

The traffic on the Penang Bridge was surprisingly smooth today! After having the bridge clogged up with traffic, I was very surprised that there weren't many cars! Guess all them visitors has gone back to their kandang. :)

A picture of traffic on the bridge taken from their website

Rushed back to celerabrate what seems to be Ru Yi's official b'day party. It's more like another good excuse for people to come over for food and then gamble. And gamble they did! :) It was scary watching them gamble. You won't believe the amount at stake. These high rollers would make any casino owner happy.

The birthday girl & her parents; The guys


The kids playing with fireworks

314. Work begins!

It's an official working day today! Gosh, it was hard to get up & get back to the routine. :P

313. Blank!

Can't remember much of what happened today! :) Just spent the day chilling and catching up on my sleep.

312. Blur!

Got back from Lai's house at 9 in the morning. What a crazy nite. Took a nap and after lunch, started drilling holes on my work desk to make a hole so that I can connect my monitor to my PC. This project has been put off for 3 mths. Glad I finally got it out of the way.


I was going for a smiley face with the 2 eyes at the top, fine, so it didn't work out as well as I planned :)

Had dinner with Yew Peng, Chong & Adrian at McDonald's. It's been a while since I last had McDs. Not too bad.

After dinner, they went back to my place for gambling. We were joined by Jeff and Jo. It's the first time I played poker in God knows how long! Did alright. :) Was an early nite becoz Yew Peng and Chong actually starts work tomorrow morning.

311. Party at Lai's

Woke up at 11am and went over to Starbucks at E-Gate to meet up with Chong, Arif and Jane. Had breakfast with them and then rushed over to Wei Wei's house for a reunion with ex-Xaverians. By the time I got there, most of them have already left. End up just spending time catching up with Wei & her hubby.


casa de los Lai (Lai's house)

After a short nap, went over to Kepala Batas with Jack and Ann to Lai's new house for a house warming and CNY BBQ. After food, they started gambling. What I wasn't prepared for was that we gambled thru the nite and went back home only after breakfast. After that, it was time to hibernate for a bit.

310. GONG XI FA CAI

Actually managed to wake up for church in the morning. It was a short 1 hour service. The pastor gave out Ang Pows with bible verse in it and 2 mandarin oranges.

After a short nap, went over to Jimbo's house with Seng, Fen, Wee & Raine. Had a long session with Jimbo's family and friends. Had a good time.

In the evening, Yew Peng, Chong, Adrian & Eva dropped by for more gambling. Seng has to leave for Muar early tomorrow morning, so he excused himself earlier.

309. Of Ang Pows, Gambling & Firecrackers

Tonite is the eve of the Lunar New Year! As such, we have our reunion dinner & as always, it had steamboat again. After the reunion dinner, we celebrated Ru Yi's birthday.

After the celebrations, it's time for firecrackers! It's seems that whoever is caught lighting firecrackers, they can be fined up to RM300. My dad will be paying in case we get caught anyway, so time to burn! :)

The aftermath of the fireworks! We're suppose to leave our lawn red like that coz it's good luck!

Chinese New Year

Chinese New Year (Chinese: 春節, 春节, Chūnjíe; 農曆新年, 农历新年, Nónglì Xīnnián; or 過年, 过年, Guònián), also known as the Lunar New Year or the Spring Festival is the most important of the traditional Chinese holidays. It consists of a period of celebrations, starting on New Year's Day, celebrated on the first day of the first month of the Chinese calendar, i.e. the day of the second new moon after the day on which the winter solstice occurs, unless there is an intercalary eleventh or twelfth month in the lead-up to the New Year—in such a case, the New Year falls on the day of the third new moon after the solstice. (The next time this occurs is in 2033.) The Chinese New Year period ends with the Lantern Festival, the fifteenth day of the month.

Some Chinese believe that Nian ("Nyehn") was a reptilian predator that could infiltrate houses silently like the infamous man-eating leopards of India. The Chinese soon learned that Nian was sensitive to loud noises, and they scared it away with explosions and fireworks.

Celebrated internationally in areas with large populations of ethnic Chinese, Chinese New Year is considered to be a major holiday for the Chinese as well as ethnic groups such as the Mongolians, Koreans, the Miao (Chinese Hmong) and the Vietnamese, who were influenced by Chinese culture in terms of religious and philosophical worldview, language and culture in general. Chinese New Year is also the time when the largest human migration takes place when Chinese all around the world return home on Chinese New Year eve to have reunion dinner with their family.


Greetings
Around the New Year people greet each other with:

Traditional Chinese: 恭喜發財; Simplified Chinese: 恭喜发财; pinyin: Gōngxǐ fācái; Hokkien Keong hee huat chye (POJ: Kiong-hí hoat-châi); Cantonese: Kung hei fat choi; Hakka: Kung hee fat choi, which translates to "Congratulations and be prosperous."

Traditional Chinese: 新年快樂; Simplified Chinese: 新年快乐; pinyin: Xīnnián kuàilè; Hokkien POJ: Sin-nî khòai-lo̍k, which translates to "Happy new year."


Traditions
Traditionally, red packets (Mandarin: 'hong bao' (紅包); Hokkien: 'ang pow' (POJ: âng-pau); Hakka: 'fung bao'; Cantonese: 'lai see' (利是)) are passed out during the Chinese New Year's celebrations, from married couples to unmarried people (usually children). Chinese New Year is celebrated with firecrackers, dragon dances and lion dances. Typically the game of mahjong is played.


Reunion dinner
A reunion dinner is held on New Year's Eve where members of the family, near and far, get together for celebration. The New Year's Eve dinner is very large and traditionally includes chicken. Fish (魚, yú) is included, but not eaten up completely (and the remaining stored overnight), as the Chinese phrase 年年有魚/餘; (nián nián yǒu yú, or "every year there is fish/leftover") is a homophone for phrases which could mean "be blessed every year" or "have profit every year", since "yú" is also the pronunciation for "profit". A type of black hair-like algae, pronounced "fat choy" in Cantonese, is also featured in many dishes since its name sounds similar to "prosperity". Hakka will serve "kiu nyuk" 扣肉 and "ngiong tiu fu" 釀豆腐. Because the things sound alike, the belief is that having one will lead to the other, like the old child's aphorism "step on a crack, break your mother's back".


First day of the new year
New Year's day is also celebrated within the family. Usually family members gather on the morning of New Year's Day. It is at this gathering that red packets are given to unmarried members of the family. The age of the recipient is not material to receiving the packets. Married couples usually give out two red packets on the first new year after being married. This is because the wife presents one and the husband presents one. In subsequent years they may give one as a couple.

Red packets traditionally consisted of amounts which were considered multiples. Amounts like $2 (two piece of $1), or $20 were acceptable. Similarly "multiples" such as $1.10 and $2.20 were also acceptable. However, this is not strictly adhered to. The gift was originally a token amount but these days it is not uncommon to receive large sums in affluent families. In some families this tradition has evolved into the practice to substituting money-like instruments (stocks, bonds, unit trust) in place of large sums of cash.

Red packets are also given to unmarried visitors but the sums are often smaller than the packets given to family members or close friends.


Second day of the new year
The second day of the new year is usually for visiting the family of the wife if a couple is married. A large feast is also typically held on the second day of the new year.


Seventh day of the new year
The seventh day traditionally is known as the common man's birthday, the day when everyone grows one year older. It is also the day when tossed fish salad, yusheng, is eaten. People get together to toss the colourful salad and make wishes for continued wealth and prosperity. This is only celebrated amongst the Chinese in Southeast Asia, such as Malaysia and Singapore.

New Year dates
The dates of the Spring Festival from 1996 to 2019 (in the Gregorian calendar) are listed below with pinyin romanizations for the earthly branches associated with the animals, which are not their translations.

Animal
Rat <1996> <2008>
Ox <1997> <2009>
Tiger <1998> <2010>
Rabbit <1999> <2011>
Dragon <2000> <2012>
Snake <2001> <2013>
Horse <2002> <2014>
Goat <2003> <2015>
Monkey <2004> <2016>
Rooster <2005> <2017>
Dog <2006> <2018>
Pig <2007> <2019>

More info available on the Chinese New Year here:
i)At Answers.Com
ii)ChineseCulture.Com
iii)Tuvy.Com