Gong Hei Fatt Choi

I'm hoping this niu year will be as ox-picious as all the wishes I've gotten on my phone. (Total of 5 smses?)

As the number of cars and number of Singaporeans who need to go back to Malaysia increase exponentially, we were bound to finally experience 2-3 hour causeway jams. The queue begins 2km from the Singapore customs and 1.5km from the Malaysian customs. Or the reverse, depending on whether you're going north or south. My uncle says it's because all the Malaysians married Singaporeans. Of course, you need both hands to clap.

I think this is the age in life (at least for our family) where the number of relatives we have available to visit has decreased. Some relatives have discovered the joy of an annual pilgrimage to ancestral China, so I haven't celebrated CNY with them in awhile. With the passing of my grandaunt, there's no more center for all the twice and thrice removed relatives to gather. I do not foresee anyone stepping up to replace that role, so we've lost another 2/3rds of our family there.

The next phase will have to be when my generation gets married and we need to start visiting in-laws. And the phase after that when everyone has kids.

In the meantime, CNY has become a pretty quiet affair.