Getting Carded

Does not necessarily mean you look young and illegal.

What does a Roman man and the Chinese have in common? Feb 14th 2010. This year, Chinese New Year and Valentine's Day are sharing the spotlight. If you're a hopeless romantic, you will most likely be torn between all that love in the air and duties as a filial child. If you're an El Cheapo, you are more than happy to dodge this 'Valen-hai' day and receive money instead of spending.

However, this made me reminisce about the times when we were in primary school and every time a festival is near, we make our parents drive us to the closest stationery store and stack up on Chinese New Year cards. RM5 for a pack of 12. I, on the other hand, am smarter than that. I had my father bring home a stack of cards from his company for free. I had so many in hand that I distributed to every Chinese I knew in school. Yes, I was well liked by everyone in school. Both me and Asia Insurance Sdn Bhd.

Then technology took place. We traded our independency and sanity for a piece of plastic called: The Cellphone. I remember the times I will be on the mahjong table and my cell would beep incessantly with "Happy Chinese New Year to you and your family!" The following year, people just got lazier. Typing became a hassle and they sent forwarded ASCII art text messages with bears holding lanterns saying Gong Xi. Nokia was 'The Shitz' back then because, unless you owned a Nokia, these ASCII art wouldn't work and that bear would somehow look like a cipan on a Samsung or Motorola.

It ups the ante the following year. People just sent emails with a pair of oranges and some red packets positioned next to it on a table with some red tablecloth, taken with a fancy high res camera with a photoshopped "Gong Xi Fa Chai" on it. Look up into the sent list, at least 40 names are on it. In alphabetical order at it. Doesn't take a genius to know that it was from his or her contact list and you were just another Chinese name on that list.

Then came Facebook. Oh, Facebook. How you make the world a happier place to live in. And by happier, I mean stalking and bitching. But, apart from that, people now google images of a tiger/boar/rat/chicken/dog/rabbit/ox/snake/dragon/sheep/monkey/rooster, depending on the zodiac year, and TAG every Ong, Lai, Lee, Chan, Cheng, Chong, etc on their friends list. Yes, all fiv.. I mean 600 of them.

If that's too much work, just update your status to GONG XI FA CHAI EVERYONE that constitutes to having greeted all your friends.

I personally dislike how impersonal the world has become because I still appreciate a card or two (for every and any occasion). I'm sorry that somewhere out there, a little tree had to suffer because of it. I make it up by recycling and wrapping presents with pages from a magazine.