ITS MY LIFE. I'LL DO WHAT I WANT: Reunion Dinner Post

Helloooo. I finally have time to sit down and blog. I spent yesterday and today afternoon recuperating from the past week. It has been soo hectic. Non stop activities. I went out last night some more, and tonight there was a family dinner. Just got back.

Can't believe the 10 days breaks is over. Nooo.. Back to reality. CNY is almost over for another year. Ahh..actually I need to return to reality. All day eating, drinking, and then sleeping late is bad for the health. Speaking of, guess who is sick again?

Got that right. Cs and I are having sore throats together AGAIN. We always get sick together. We need more rest! So yeah. Back to work and back to routine life might be better for us.

Anyway. Start from the beginning. These are from 30 night (the day/night before the 1st day of CNY). Its a day where we have reunion dinner with the family and relatives.

My family have reunion dinner at home and our relatives and grandma all come over to have dinner together. Cs' family just have dinner themselves. I think actually a lot of family just eat together, and not with all the relatives.

But my dad is really big on eating together. I think my grandpa started the trend. He loved gatherings too. When we were little, we can't watch tv or read books, or do anything while eating together. We have to sit at the same table and eat together. Cs' family don't - they eat watching tv, or not together at all. I find this weird. But then, not all families are the same.

Start with a few photos of me first. In case you missed me. Heh.

Reunion dinner outfit. :) This is my new uniform.

The reason why I was taking photos of myself in the car was because Cs was sweeping the car park. Some leaves and newspapers got blown into the car park, so we had to sweep it.

By the time we come home, it would be after midnight and you can't sweep the floors on the first day of CNY. Its tradition. Supposedly you're sweeping away your luck or money. Something like that.

This year, I had reunion dinner with Cs' family. After that, we headed to my house for another reunion dinner and stayed there till past midnight.

You see the leeks on the far right? We Chinese have to eat that every reunion dinner cos its supposed to bring you money. Something like that. Another tradition. I don't mind. I think it tastes good. :)

We had steamboat/hot pot too. Cs' father loves steamboats. Every occasion we have, we will eat it. My dad loves it too. Haih is this a guy thing? Cos I hate steamboats. I'm sorry. My family all know I hate it. Hehehe. But I have to go along whenever someone wants to eat.

Its just that you get so full so fast from eating fish balls, meat balls hot dog, prawns, and the smell lingers on your hair, your clothes. The whole house smells like steamboat. And the cleaning up is a bitch. Ok, maybe I don't clean everything up, but just looking at the mess makes me feel sorry for Eli. This is my house. At Cs' house, its not as messy. My dad is much more particular about food, and he's messy. Heheheh I still love you daddy.

Ever since Nathan came into the family, every gathering we have, all of us are cooing at him, taking turns to carry him. Everyone seem to revolve around him and its easy to see why. He is super easy. He doesn't cry much. He just sort of grunts a bit if he's uncomfortable but that's it. So cute too.

During the first day of CNY, they brought Nathan over and my dad carried him the most. He was holding Nathan walking around and talking to people while carrying him. Nathan is so easy to love. I hope my future kid is like that too.

Anyway. Back to reunion dinner. This was at my parents house.

Normally after the reunion dinner at home, we drink whiskey water, and catch up with the relatives. All of us gather round the table and talk, or we gamble. This year we played 21. Cs was the banker, with dad sponsoring him. By about 1030 pm, my dad actually went off to bed already and woke up again at about 1130pm. His whole face was red already. Hahah..

Cs was quite unlucky that day. He lost all of his money. Hahah at least everyone else were happy cos everyone else won.

After dinner the fireworks would start around the neighbor hood. But we only start putting the fireworks at midnight.

Every year, dad tries to outdo himself. When I walked into Kevin's place and saw all the boxes in the living room, I went woooahhh..

This is a ritual every year at 12 am at almost every house in Kuching. At 12am, it would seem like World War 3. Fireworks everywhere! I love it. The atmosphere. Everyone is admiring, taking photos, looking at the sky. This year it was slightly drizzling so we all stayed in the car park while the men did the work. Hehe.

My job was photographer. Sucks sometimes to be the photographer. I take photo after photo and don't get to enjoy the fireworks like everyone else. Ok maybe the guys have it worse. They have to carry heavy boxes in the rain.

Our cousins always stay till midnight with us all to watch the fireworks. Its like this every year. Now that I'm married, Cs' family seems so different from mine. They always go on vacations during CNY and I always dread that I won't be able to eat reunion dinner with my family, or help out on the first day.

But after this year, I'm actually glad that we are going somewhere for CNY next year. Tickets booked already. Kiasu. Hahahha but I'm not complaining! :)

Took me many many tries to get awesome shots. I'm not a good photographer and I know nuts about the settings. I don't bother most of the time.

I had to stand really close in the drizzling rain, trying to protect my camera, and being careful in case the fireworks explode wrongly. It happened a few times before. We got a few scares. And I got many debris on my face and even in my eyes. Standing too close - bad idea. By the end of the night, my camera got a bit crazy. I think it was too loud or something but I was scared and quickly turned it off.