Buffetting : Solution

I never stopped to amaze myself at different circumstances in life.

A simple task of trying to fix the glutinous rice ball soup(Tang Yuan) made me realize that, I can now solve problems.

It seemed to be really trivial, but I'd figure it would give me some head start and spark on, I am actually stepping into adulthood and responsibility sooner than I thought I was.

This year the festival was different for our family because we didn't make those TY ourselves, but bought from the market instead. The soups were left on the altars from morning till night because dad forgot to inform us, while us being kids didn't really bother.

When dad decided to reheat those soups on the altar, only to realize some of them went a lil stale during the heating; mom almost went berserk on him. It's quite pointless because the berserk wouldn't solve any problem, like those episodes of tantrums before at home or at work.

The fact that I automatically fixed it by changing the soup, chucking the rest of the balls into cold water and making a new sugar solution base to rid the stale smell totally caught me off guard.

I became a solution machine at some point.

Maybe its a skill I pick up being in the university for the past 14 weeks solving others' problems but mine?

It's definitely useful and employer-desired-skill.

But sometimes I'd wish I could develop more skills and visions further than managerial level.

Or maybe I'm really just meant to be someone to be in the health field; fixing elephant's musth maybe?


On the side note, T has been really quiet these days. I mean, I get the test loads ans all, academics over lvoe and I really look up to that. But one text before you sleep wouldn't hurt right?

What happened to the passion, the pictures of events, the constant curiosity we had?

It's just not right to let it fade out like that, and I would really like to preserve this. But, for only one side of the party to preserve it, ain't going to make everything work, yes no?

Man, its only the 4th month, I swear I almost had one of the breakdowns and giving-up episodes last week. The constant gives without being reciprocated and all did tax on my mind, really, but sometimes T didn't really get what I wanted to tell.

I guess love is a double-edged sword; it makes your heart fluff up, and eats you up like a blood-thirsty macrophage at times.

Come on now, let's work harder!

Buffetting : Embracing Tradition 5

Considering me visioning myself to be the breaking tradition typo, its kinda contradictory for me to be the eldest son around the hose and picking up all the essential matters in keeping up the tradition around the house.

That includes:

1- Praying on the 1st and 15th of lunar calendar
2- Praying for the deceased ancestors on their deceased dates
3- Knowing what food to buy and what things to pick up FOR the prayers
4- Waking up freakin early in the morning to get these stuffs.
5- Be prepared to host these stuffs in my house in the future.

I can see myself keep holding up to these tradition, cause I'm somewhat a very traditional dude in some certain aspects, yet there are some traditions are meant to be broken.

Eg 1:
Burning the silver and gold papers. Seriously, spare mother earth. Maybe just for the sake of it, but not like a humongous dongous amount.

Eg 2:
Not eating beef because of Guan Yin. In my current house I respect the practice in the house, I don't take beef. But when I'm outside of the premise, sorry I take what I believe I need.

Anyway, about embracing yesterday's tradition, it was Grandpa's Death Anniversary, 2nd day of the 6th month of the lunar calender. Better jot this down here.

When it comes to these stuffs, the most important stuffs would be food.

We need to get the deceased's favorite food, in this case my grandpa loved durian, roasted pork, MILO, Da Pao(Big Bun) and all the nyonya cakes.

All these results in my and my dad's necessity to wake up in the morning to get them, setting them out in front of the altar, and cuing grandpa if he is done with his food or whatever.

It's fun to eat, but its not fun when you are the only person,(apart from my dad) who needs to take charge of all these.

MY elder sis does do some cooking, but when it's not necessary, most jobs are done by the males.

What happened to the other siblings?

Criminy I Hate being the eldest son.

And after food there's silver and golden papers folding and burning. Well, no comment about that. What we need to do is settle them FAST.


I definitely will keep up some of the tradition, or not most. It somehow keeps some identity in me, just like how I insisted on continuing my SPM Mandarin studies.

It's something in me which I do not want to lose.

Buffetting : Homecooked

I was pondering on what tags should I post this on, tradition or something else?

I guess its a Chinese tradition.

Bird nest, Chicken essence, Groundnut roots, ring any bell?

Yea the typical Chinese house growth tonics.

Well, not exactly tonics, but they are like things to be cooked and watched over by the clock when somebody in the house is in convalescence, so that they get back in shape ASAP.

As for today, the parents managed to cook this:

Slow-cooked longan with herbs(pete knows what's in side) and mini red dates. Seriously I suck in English good terms Screw that, I'm a typical Chinese and I'm cool like that. Who cares if I can't express food in English? As long as they taste great.

This was supposed to increase the stamina for my sis, in this case almost everyone in the house needs it cause we are all heading for a better performance in badminton. So hopefully it helps.

Plus, its super good and sweet thanks to the chicken, not to mention super oily, felt so sinful after the pleasure. XD Sounds like one night stand, no?

Owh I kinda missed the day I need to be the house cook. It's like the perfect training ground for house husband training. I'm sure anyone who bring me home now can get like great soups every night.

Peanuts with lotus roots, ABC soup, Spinach with dates, Winter melon stir, you name it. As long as a slow cooker exist, I can make any soup~

Why am I promoting myself for someone else as a maid again?

Must be the extra free time I have at home.

Criminy.

Buffetting : Embracing Tradition 3

I never did made any posts on Cheng Beng(清明), the pronunciation in English due to how Hokkien derives the words back in Sg Petani.

As for the festival in English, there's 3 version:

1-Qing Ming festival. As easy as its made.
2-Tomb Sweeping day. Well, because that's the main activity during the whole process.
3-Pure Brightness Festival. I have no idea how bright things can be, when the old Chinese poems has stated this:

	清明时节雨纷纷
	路上行人欲断魂
	借问酒家何处有
	牧童遥指杏花村

Thanks to the rain, I got to see rainbow!(jakun sial)

Direct translation available from Wikipedia.

Anyway, this year's CB(Cheng Beng, no other derivations) was indeed as denoted from the old poem. The sky was rather dark, and there was rain for just a few minutes while we were dealing with the very 1st ancestor of Teoh who set the foundation in Malaysia.

From where I heard, 张乌翻(Teoh Wu Fan, i think) had plenty of children. The problem I was thinking was, why are we the only ones doing the tomb sweeping?

The next in line was 张国华(Teoh Kok Wah), who was a teacher, an interpreter and also a person who had ambidexterity(able to to write with both hands). He had only one boy, my grand father and the others were all females. That explained why we were the only ones doing the tomb sweeping so far.

And my grandfather was 张志正（Teoh Zhi Zhen), also named as 张阿狗(Teoh Ah Dog). Why dog? No idea. Those days nicknaming after animals were cool I guess. Well, he wasn't a great man to begin with. He drunk and smoke, and ended up with cardiac infarction. The Teoh family,(well at least mine) was then prohibited to live with lifestyle including tobaccos and alcohol. I personally love alcohol, but its either shandy or wine, others would probably turn me off. As for smoking, only people who are ignorant enough of their health and people around them can live with that. I can't.

Anyway back to the family history. So I'm like the 5th generation in Malaysia now, pretty long isn't it? Normal Chinese family goes up to average of 3 or 4, while mine hit 5.

Well, my family is pretty much the average one. Not really big shot or what ever. But I'm proud that my family is still free from scandals or crimes , plus my dad was like the police officer so you get the drill.

So lets get to the women of the family!

I was so proud because the famous lady from Chinese literature,秋香 from the"唐伯虎点秋香" was married to my greatX2 grand pa! Proof?
I didn't lie~

Not much history. Same goes to the next in line 吴亚朱。Guess the ladies are always kept in the kitchen back then.

Next come to my grandmother, still living and kicking. Her surname is definitely 谢(Cheah) but I forgot the rest. She came from a really dark childhood though. Parents passed away early, had to work for the grandma's sister after her grandma passed away, pretty much the maid around the house. In the end, got married to my grandpa.

She's okay, but there are plenty of family drama stirred up and heard when I hit adulthood which made me think twice about her. There ain't no doubt on how she love us, and I'm glad to say I'm one of those who got pampered around her, but pretty much all the cousins get pampered around.

Anyway, the fact is there were that many dramas, not cope to be scandals yet, but they are too long to be posted her. I'll save it for some other time.

Last but not least, camwhoring when things get boring around the place.
Cute no? Okay I will try again when i got my abs XD
Wild Sex. Got this while I was getting an extra long stick to allow more air to enter the burning boxes of golds for the deceased.

Their crabs were die for! Filled with eggs! And the family who ran it was really nice too! We had to take the crabs because we went across 2 towns and 3 restaurants to get CRABS!!!

Despo I know, but still. CRABS.

Till next post

Buffetting : Girl Power

I have been exposed to several girl power medias lately, and I just have to share them here peeps!

I'm not sure if you were a fan, but I was definitely a fan of Sailor Moon when I was that small. You know the synopsis, the story and the lovey-dovey behind everything. What I loved about this show was its comedy! You can just laugh for like hours while watching all 200 episodes of the series in front of the laptop like some lunatic!




Just a small chunk of it, now lets go to when I was bigger, Totally spies!

Another funny show for people like me! The laughing off the couch never ends when Disney Channel had this cartoon on screen. Unlike stuffs like Ben Ten in Cartoon Network and cheesy Power rangers today, Totally spies definitely is much funnier and better in plot, minus the cliches XD


Never knew they had a movie though, megaupload time!

And last but not least:


Omgourd these girls are just superb man! The loved the *ding ding ding TSUNAMI* part alot and practically laughed like mad! Go asian girl power! Screw the blur blondie Alexandra Wallace with boobs but no brains! These 2 girls really make great actresses! For comedy I guess.

So, any girl power for you lately?

Buffetting : Embracing Tradition 3

There so many cultural practices in the Chinese tradition, and some were shared between ethnics while some weren't.

拜天公(Bai Tian Gong/BTG) is one of those which is practiced by most Hokkien families. Due to the large number of Hokkiens practicing this culture, it managed to nab a significant number of Chinese from other ethnics to practice them as well, under the wings of Hokkiens of course.

BTG is celebrated or rather, performed on the night of the 8th day in the lunar calendar, and the ritual of praying and gold paper burning starts usually around 0000 hours of the 9th day in lunar calendar. Unlike the CNY reunion dinner, BTG plays a much more significant role in the CNY of Hokkiens, which explains the hassle of preparation and details for the day.

Preparations includes the folding of piles and mountains of 金纸（Golden Papers), buying tonnes of 供品（Sacrificial Things(with the lack of words)), and also preparation to be hauled and screamed over minor problems by the mother.

As the eldest son of the family, Binn can get away from nothing. Each chore and duty requires my participation with maximum devotion and output. Although the responsibility comes with the reason that Binn has nothing to do for the next 8 months, I bed to differ as I had to complete the similar tasks whether I liked it or not for the past years. Unlike the younger siblings who are allowed to get away with the tasks, Binn had to pick up after their mess.

The typical chores includes folding golden papers, sticking up red strings around fruits and packets of nuts and tin foods, helping the father to carry things around the house, serving the food and pig.

Did Binn mention pig? Yes because behold:


More like pork I guess.
The night reached its climax when the piling of the golden paper mountain starts. This is when all the criticism from each and every one of the family starts to devouring each other. Issues such as:

1. The paper you folded looked like thrash.(mum)
2. The way you stack looked as if the whole pile might crash any time.(elder sis)
3. The shape of the circle looked like an egg.(binn)
4. OMG, you are so fat already stop sitting of the seemed-to-be-broken stool!(bro)
5.I can't stand the girl you like at school she looked like AUNTY only.(elder sis)
6.You know, there was a guy at school masturbated and put the semen on the pass of my teacher!(younger sis)
7.(younger sis) There's only one girl who looked pretty in scho../(snapped in by elder sis) Yer she is so ugly and they say she is pretty??!!!

And the conversation went on till the whole burning fiesta took part:


And the night ends with a stuffed supper.

Personally, I don't think I will celebrate BTG as much as I do now in the far future. Maybe just a small gathering and some traditional food, but I wouldn't follow as rigid as what the book the father bought as referral says.

Plus, my dream house for the first 10 years in my career is a condo, and the rest a gold course. So, I can take my time.

So, any other CNY traditions to share?

Buffetting : Embracing Tradition 2

Back to upholding another tradition.

When it comes to CNY, what youngsters anticipate most?

Yes, Ang Pao, also known as Red Packets, or Red Envelope as suggested by Wiki.

The whole diversity of ang paos are available in the link stated, so Binn shall spare you the eyesore of a long post.

As for Binn's family, red packets don't come around that easily. As cliche as it sounds, there ain't no free lunch in the world, not even for kids.

What the family does is that, when there's an adult distributing angpaos, the kids are all required to line up, and wish the adult with phrases and chinese 4 versed idioms in order to pass the Family Quality Check and receive their red packets.

The typical idioms normal goes like this:(pardon me for the weird translation cause Binn's doing direct translation)

恭喜发财(Congratulation on getting rich)，万事如意(All Plans Proceed as Expected)，
金玉满堂(Gold and Jade Filled in the House)，身体健康(Best Health Attained)，
年年有余(Blessed with Extras Annually)，步步高升(Getting Higher Every Steps)，财源广进(More Business and Financial Fount) and the list goes on.

Binn normal lists 20 just to be on the save side, usually within a minute's time.

Why? Being one of the eldest around, there's a certain reputation and standard to keep up.

So, any weird traditions you keep at home?

Buffetting : Embracing Tradition

Just before stepping into the realms of responsibility and sensibility, heading back to the hometown was fun and pretty much unwavering.

Yet, as time passed, it became a burden, even more when you are the eldest around. There are expectations to be attained, no matter how one wishes to flee from it.

From the decors, to the last bit of grocery duties, as the eldest son everything should pass the QC of the parents, and the siblings no less.

Of course, it wasn't all that bad. It was fun, and satisfying when your room gets a new tangy look after 2 years of misery, diving into seas and seas of delocalized notes, books and color pencils.


Why the color pencils?


This is why:



Back to embracing the tradition. The lunar new year shows the sign of gathering most, to Binn.

The fun of gambling, eating IMBA food and drinks are just ways to commute.
Fine, the ice creams ain't that IMBA so blame the 8mp camera.
The red packets filled with blessings of the elders are now seen as the status of a family's wealth in the modern kids' eyes;

While to the adults, its more like the distance between each family; the more the closer.

As we perform each practice, what's the point of them?

To make sure each and every one of the family members are there to participate, hence gathering.


The CNY traditions in the family are pretty much upheld till today, and there are so many of them.

One of it is being back to the paternal side's hometown, all the way in the state of golden maizes, Kedah.

Each year, one of the brothers take charge of the reunion dinner. Although there are 6 siblings in the family, only 4 brothers take part, including Binn's.

The sister being the woman, and also another prequel of drama behind it, doesn't take part in organizing.

The youngest brother, due to another prequel of personal drama, is unable to take charge too, hence resulting in only 4 so-to-speak capable brothers.

The prequels will be discussed in further posts under z-family drama.

So this year was the 2nd brothers' turn, and next is the Dad's turn. And only during the Dad's turn, Binn and family gets to have the reunion dinner with the maternal side of the family. This happens as Binn's family is in SJ, hence the whole family form the paternal side comes down from Kedah to celebrate.

It's kinda weird, cause thee TRUE reunion for both families only upholds every 4 year, just like the 29th Feb babies.

Yet, if other families were to take their maternal side of the family into account, the whole restaurant probably can't fit them all.

Guess its still superior to the paternal side then.
Some of the cousins from the maternal family.

Of course, Binn personally enjoy the company of the maternal side, due to the high frequency of weekly meetings and outings together. Unlike the paternal side, meeting up or chatting is just probably through the net or few month basis.

The paternal side's members are fun, but the clique is much more prominent in the maternal side to Binn.

So that's one of the tradition of Binn's CNY, and more has to come.

What's your CNY tradition?