The school friends

Many batches of visitors came through Singapore these past weeks. Some were friends from long ago, some were friends I got to know in recent years. Some are not even friends in any meaningful sense of the word; others are people I knew from long ago and wish I never met.

Then there is this very special small group of women from the earliest school days. There is a lot of shared history among us. We have seen each other through heartbreak days, harrowing experiences, and celebrated the little victories in between. These days, we only meet up when we have an old friend visiting. Those occasions are few and far in between, and I treasure every moment of the little time we have with one another before going about our lives again.

I often think I might like for the ones living here to get together more frequently. But we never tried. Because I think it is precisely because these opportunities are rare that they become all the more special.

And so, until I see them again, I will remember the open laughter and conversation we shared this one afternoon.

The big dinner

We do three big dinners in the year for the friends and family: the Chinese New Year round up, Christmas and New Year's Eve.

After many trials and errors with choice of food and mix of dinner friends, we more or less have our act together.

The huge spread of food got to the table with minimal hiccup, and the humans got along nicely.

There was even a little surprise birthday celebration thrown in the mix!

It was a lot of work, but we got a lot of help from the friends throughout the evening with putting away dishes, refilling drinks and making merry.

And so it came to pass; we had a grand time celebrating the first of three big festivals of the year.

The friends, the family, the food, the drinks. Everything was right.

CNY - Hanging in there

Day by day, life returns to normal, as we reluctantly or gaily let go of the forced frenzied grip that is the Chinese New Year holidays.

The dance aunties return to their dance classes with tales of woe that beset them the week before.

Seeing the detestable relatives whom they avoid the rest of the year. Stories of frightful elders who are unhappy with the size of their ang pows. All the busy work that went into sending the gods back to the heavens to report on the good conduct of the household. All the anxiety to welcome the gods back in style and splendour. Frustration at raised prices of everything before the New Year that are not coming back down after. Tempers flared at long queues for bak kwa at inflated prices. Only for their effort to be dismissed by ungrateful recipients who say that bak kwa from another long queue is better.

Hang in there just a bit longer, ladies. It will all be over on the night of the 15th (that will be the Thursday of the 17th of February for the confused angmoh chek philistines). I expect a collective sigh of relief from the long-suffering.

Until the next go around on 23 January 2012.

To everything there is a season

I returned to playing mahjong after 12 long years. In the company of gracious and elegant players, the game is all about good humour and conviviality. Otherwise, it is a waste of time.

I have been asked again and again to teach the game. I almost always decline. For me, it is not a simple matter of teaching the rules of play. There are many players who can impart this information. Heck, they can even learn it online! For me, it is about one's philosophy and therefore it is about one's attitude.

I will have nothing to do with players (and learners) who view mahjong as a gambling game, whose only objective is die-die-must-win.
Good play is a lot more subtle than that. The beauty of the game is that to everything there is a season.

Try teaching that to the philistines.

January

was the month
of seemingly endless catching up with all sorts of friends and family.

The very dear girl (women?) friends finally nailed a date and place for coffee. Only for us to find the place closed that week for renovations when we got there. Bah! We ended up at a hotel coffee house for our sad coffees, but the step down in coffee choice was more than compensated by the chance to meet for a few hours of exciting updates.

Another special woman friend remembered my wishful thinking of using gold bricks for door stoppers. She went and got one for me! She lugged it into town to put it into my grabby hands! She had knee surgery recently and was still doing rehab physio. Wow! I feel the love, friend :)

Various people told me of various people coming into town; various people suggested get-togethers for the visitors at various places and various times. I agreed we should get together, then made no plans. I have learned to not act on rumours. I figured someone else who heard the rumour closer to source would be moved to organise some sort of meet-up and let me know. And I shall graciously show up.

I met the parents for lunch and did the ang pow exchange thing.

I am so ready for the New Year now.