I missed yet another Chinese New Year, not for being out of town, but a bad case of insomnia. Having dusted the house spick and span on the eve, I thought sleep would’ve come naturally. Well, that wasn’t the case. With a throbbing headache in the morning, I laid in bed the whole day, drifting between semi-consciousness and wakefulness while listening in on the many conversations.

As such, I didn’t get to visit on the first day this year too, although I eventually did on other days. And that’s how I remembered this CNY. Some people tell me, though, that that’s a blessing in disguise – especially when I’m single and jobless – as I could avoid pesky questions and awkward situations like these:

Auntie: Boy ah, got girlfriend already anot?
Me: Eh..don’t have.
Auntie: Aiyo, not young liao leh… Want ah yi to intro?
Me: …

Uncle: Your son graduated liao, now working as banker?
Dad: No la. He still looking for job.
Mum: Ya, nowadays job market not so good.
Uncle: Orh…so, he jobless la!
*Awkward silence*

But thankfully, most of them aren’t that prying.

To me though, CNY is probably one of the worst days in a year to fall ill. Besides not getting the chance to do house-visits (though I still got my ang baos), I also tend to miss out on the goodies like bak kwa, hae bee hiam, and more importantly some of my grandaunt’s tasty homemade treats. But I’ll get well and live to eat them another day.

This year, with my Dad holding the fort, Mum manning the kitchen, my brother keeping the children entertained, and my Grandma as the matriarch, I guess my presence wasn’t missed much. Relieved, I laid in bed and tried to catch some shuteye.