February 20, 1999

I have a smashing number of THREE (3) -- yes, count 'em! -- THREE votes thinking the site was great. Thank you, thank you and thank you. However, I must also admit I made the first vote just to see if it works, and I guess I pretty much threatened the second vote out of a friend. It's ironic that when I finally update my page, the countless hits I was getting suddenly stopped. It's not the first time that has happened, either. Odd. But hey, I have better things to do than worry why that is. And you know what? I like my page; it could be a whole lot better, surely, but I've put as much of me as I dare, and I'm happy with it. So, if you don't like it, well, go play with a search engine!

And no, I wasn't venting. Honest.

I have survived yet another Chinese New Year. It was only after the first day that I realized how it was always the same, year after year. I never fail to get a little excited, the anticipation of... I don't know, something. And when it finally arrives, I'm irritated.

I have great admiration for my grandparents, and the way they manage to "keep in touch". You see, I've always thought reunions to be a set of grandparents, their children and their children's children. That's normal. That's picturesque. That's your typical American Thanksgiving dinner! My reunions, on the other hand, tend to be a little more...complex.

My grandparents have siblings. Alright, that's not so odd. And said-siblings being grandparents themselves isn't odd either. Actually, it's not very strange at all. Well, let us imagine 7 siblings (give or take) with their spouses (well, not all) and their children (some with spouse). Then go one more generation down, and you can't forget the grandchildren of 7 sets of grandparents, now can you? Now keep all of that in mind, and stick them in one house. No, scratch that, stick them all in your house.

I love the way grandparents know everyone. But for the rest of us, we're pretty much strangers stuck together by our elders. I'm not trying to paint a spiteful generation of offspring-- just that after the pleasantries and the expected exchanges of gifts, there isn't much to do. Not even with three computers, three tvs and lots and lots of children running around. It's all one can do to sit somewhere and keep a polite little smile.

Perhaps the anticipation that comes each year is the anticipation of by some miracle, we actually feel like a family. There's always a 'maybe' that a second-cousin or two would strike a conversation (despite the fact there's nearly always a language barrier). It hasn't happened so far. In fact, this year, I was re-introduced as the 'grandchild of the second brother' who doesn't speak Cantonese well. Joyous.

I suspect all these huge reunions will literally fall apart once the first generation is gone, and the second generation will carry on the tradition on a much smaller scale: a family of 7 siblings become a family of 4 siblings, and then a family of 2 siblings. Ah well.

But, I suppose I traded off knowing my extended relatives for a closer relationship with my immediate family. I guess that's not so bad.

I didn't mean to go off into a long tirade about family relations. Particularly mine, and not in general. (gasp) Being personal here! Ack! Just thought I'd jump right in and talk about it. In fact, I explained more than I reflected, didn't I? Oh, pfft, whatever. At least I didn't go into my paternal grandmother's side of the reunion (a rough number of oh... 15 siblings!). [By the by, some of the (updated) indicators are from the last update... since there haven't been much visits, I wanted to keep them up a while longer... just in case.]

Previous Scribblings: Feb 12, 1999 - Web-lift!

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