random in nature.

Last night I got scolded by my mother twice in the span of two minutes. For not greeting everyone around the table before starting to eat, and having the temerity to begin eating first.
*roll eyes*

Funny, I never thought my family was rigid or a stickler for protocol when growing up. So it kind of shocked me that none of my friends ever seemed to have to greet everyone around the table, in chronological order, and with respect to closeness of relationship. Eg.

Grandfather, eat. (Correct, cos grandfather is the oldest son on his side of the family)
Second granduncle and second sum-por, eat.
Big grandaunt and big koo-zhang-kong, eat. (the difference due to the idea that the second granduncle and the big grandaunt were my grandfather's siblings, and the other in the pair merely their spouses.)

All the above have to be said in Cantonese or Mandarin, and that's already a concession to the fact that my command of Hakka and Hainanese are both nonexistent.

It made for cold dinners. Especially when all 13 of my grandfather's siblings and all 7 of my father's siblings were present. =P


I also realised that my uncle's now-2-year son is an utter horror. *shudder*.
He yowls his head off whenever he wants something; he will not be pacified with a 'later' and demands his needs be attended to on the spot.
What needs? The need for a new toy every time he goes into a shopping mall. And not just any toy - he has a fetish for cars; not your itsy bitsy little matchstick brand cars either but big-ass ones with whopping i-feel-so-important remote controls. The lifespan of his interest in his new car depends on how long his parents take to get to the next mall, where he will demand a new and instantly throw the old aside.

*grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr* what a spendthrift kid.