My Lucky Rooster Year

A sigh of relief.

The big affair is finally over. Chinese New Year had once again struck and left in record time, as it always would.

This year, however, it had left me feeling quite exuberant and excited about the new year. I am feeling extra lucky, quite sure that my new career will be a success, a love relationship will eventually blossom, and everything will fall nice and neat into a perfect life. There is no stopping Bliss.

Alright, I am a die-hard optimist, I know it. How not to be, when all the signs are pointing to a fabulous year ahead?

In fact, my spate of good luck arrived even before the rooster came a-calling. Just one week ago I received my pay increment and the letter of offer for a teaching career on the same day. In that same period, some very long-lost, long-distance friends were recovered, and I experienced great friendship and camaraderie in my workplace. Even my boss was agreeable and supportive of my decision to follow my calling to join the education service.

For New Year's Day itself, things got even better. I took flight for Bangkok with 13 other family members for the traditional Chinese New Year visiting of our Thai relatives. It was a fun and shamelessly noisy trip. Everyone was in a festive mood and participated in endless Teochew chatter from airport to hotel to everywhere else. This is exactly how Chinese New Year should be like - loud and boisterous.

Our Thai granduncles gave us expensive seafood treats and fed us like pigs. I never had a whole claypot-full of whole shark's fins to myself before (I apologize for the environmentally-unfriendly behavior but believe me, I would rather have it otherwise), and that was just a fraction of the feasting that continued for days.

I also received, in spite of my age, several big fat ang pows that covered all my shopping expenses in Bangkok, plus a 2-hour traditional Thai massage to boot.

So here I am back in Singapore, feeling slightly dumpy due to the overeating but otherwise very radiant from the festivities. They say that Dragons will experience exceptional luck this year, and I am never more convinced.