Morning Rush CNY

It's the first day of CNY, will you be taking your own car for transport of BMW(Bus, MRT & Walk)?

OK, jokes aside, this year I still haven't got my car yet, but I will the next year. The car will be on my list of NYR. Just in case you're interested, take a look at my NYR.

In case you just came to Singapore, Chinese New Year is a festive season when we go and visit our relatives and friends, exchange red packets(I give your children, you give my children) and most importantly, to catch up.

However, there will be some key activities that you will experience during CNY in Singapore. They are:
- Gambling
- Eat and grow fat

First of all, gambling. They say that 50% of the Chinese are gamblers, the rest are liars. In any case, if you are a chinese and you don't gamble during chinese new year, chances are you are still gambling somewhere else. You could be a weekend gambler or screen-based gambler.

Weekend gamblers are people who buy 4D and Toto. Screen-based gambler are classified into 2 - people who gamble on soccer and people who gamble on stocks. The first class of gamblers are not professionally-proclaimed, but the second class are always self-proclaimed.

If you're a chinese and you do not fall in any one of those classes, please post a comment here. We would like to do an interview with you.

The 2nd key activity is "Eat and grow fat". This is inevitable because chinese are gluttons - we eat anything that moves and everything that doesn't move. Move meaning animals. Doesn't move meaning those that are placed on your relative's living room table. Trust me, even if you don't touch anything on that table, your relatives are going to open them for you and shove it to you.

Now, these CNY tibits are not that fattening, the trouble is once you start, you can't stop. You'll keep eating until the next gambling session starts or when it's time to leave. That's what gambling is for - keeping your hands busy so that you don't eat so much. There are certain times when you will just sit there and do nothing, your hand will go for the nearest jar of goodies. The even worse part is, nobody is forcing you to eat.

Come to think of it, these goodies are really fattening because they're all pure carbohydrates without any tinge of nutritional value. The bah gua isn't as bad as the egg rolls and pineapple tarts. So if you really need to eat, go for the bah gua. At least it's more expensive.

The one thing I really like about CNY is that you get to see expensive cars at your void deck. Somehow your neighbour might have a millionaire uncle or auntie who pays for their school fees and send them to college, but they only come visit during CNY. At least they do once a year.

Sometimes you wonder why you don't have that kind of aunties and uncles; instead you get those who'll need to squeeze into your father's small Vios to move from house to house. Sometimes you wonder when you'll become that rich uncle or auntie who can pay for your nephews' and nieces' uni fees.

Well, that's one of my NYR - to drive a Maserati to my relative's house next year.  But then again, when you upsize your car, you also need to upsize your ang pow money, which increases at a factor of 10X minimum. Come to think of it, I think I better stick with my BMWs.