Treadmill

If you have the deliver the blessing correctly, the word "Happy" comes before "Chinese New Year" for a good reason - at least to me.
It is a holiday DESIGNED to give families time to come together. It seems like a chore already for teenagers. After checking with a dozen of my friends, we've all arrived at the same conclusion: SIAN LAH. Basically, the holiday can be summarised with 5 things to do.
1) Collecting red packets. This year's unique for me, since my mum's siblings have all forgotten to give me any red packets. Not that I'm complaining, because all I ever do with money is dump it into the bank. Who wouldn't get tired of doing it, already?
2) Eat. First you devour all the snacks available at everyone's houses, which range from pineapple tarts to chinese jerky (Bakkwa). Oh, the bakkwa always tastes nicer from the shop that your aunt purchased from, not yours. Next, the compulsory "lao yu sheng" where you have a field day at messing up the table while chanting out queer blessings nonstop. At the end of the day, you'll get a throat so sore your eyes can't match despite looking at terrible skits acted out by Mediacorp actors on stage.
3) I'm asked the same question everytime: "You're in secondary what ar?" Alternatively, I'll get the "Whoa you're really tall now!" remark that irks me the most. I'm uncertain as to the age when human beings become senile, but I'm sure it isn't fifty for every single adult out there. TELL ME SOMETHING DIFFERENT NEXT TIME CAN? I promise my nephews/nieces that I'll be alot nicer. If I don't have anything to say, I will dao them entirely. How's that for doing them a favour?
4) This is one cool thing that I'm pretty new to, and I've never made a profit yet thus far. I'm still very inept at deciding which tiles to keep, or be aware of what "feng" it is already. Worse still, I've no idea what decides how much money I'm actually tossing out each turn. Yes, it is the amazing game that rivals golf when it comes to being a socialiazing avenue. I'm so blur that I can miss out on "pong"-able tiles half the time ^^
5) I invented it this year. Well if you don't have any mahjong or poker cards at hand, and if you happen to have robo-aunties/uncles that say the same thing everytime, you can just position yourself at the best possible spot ever - the sofa. Simply curl comfortably into one corner, close your eyes, and count sheeps until you arrive at Lalaland. Your parents will tell you when it's time to go anyway. Sounds like a flight, yes?
(Un)Fortunately, we're teenagers for just a couple of years more. Work, university, or stupid NS will somehow ensure that at least one of your future *happy* chinese new years may no longer be the same anymore. Thirty years down the road, I won't ever get to listen to "Whoa you're really tall now!" anymore (I'm not dying to hear it). By then, it will just seem as though I made this post the day before.
"Time flies past really fast leh!" Anyone got that from their aunt?