it just gets worse every year, don't you think? tripping up and down singapore, visiting various homes, smiling and greeting, getting alienated by cousins who aren't of my age, hearing things like "now you're looking more like (fill in your blanks, cue the 'er's)", these are just part and parcel of a grand tradition we call the lunar new year. and then i think, whoa, years down the road, i ain't gonna see much of this extended family no more, it will be me bringing my kids to my parents and i'll see my siblings and maybe some cousins and that's it. the compartmentalization of the family tree. i wouldn't even know my relatives if i saw them on the street. which is already the case, by the way. it's sad i know.
but for now, i'll just have to bear with the polite conversation with strangers whom my parents happen to know, and see the older generation grey, see the younger ones get married or stay out of the house, see the toddlers turn into children, watch the bad television programmes...