No end

A couple of 'uncles' join our table for breakfast.

"So this is your son ah! And he's working in Singapore, you say. What does he do?"

"He does...  office work..."

"Oh my son is in Singapore too! He works for a big American company dealing in electronics!"

"[budak] travels quite a lot for his work..."

"That's good! My son travels everywhere for work too! Has your boy ever been to China?"

"No lah.... not China. But he goes to Germany quite often."

"Is that so? I have been to Germany too! And France! And Holland! Also Mei Guo! Canada! Australia! ..... does your son go to Jakarta? Bangkok?"

".... yes...."

".... Good! Good! But must go to China you know... now very important!"

"[budak] doesn't have business in China..."

"Where does he stay in Singapore?"

"Oh, Ang Mo Kio."

"Good, good..... got a place so you can go visit him often.... my daughter is also in Singapore you know!"

"I think it's time for me to catch my bus..."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

I hate this bloody game of one-upmanship that you people play, where your children's achievements, matrimonial progeny and manifestations of material piety are brandished like trophies at your peers. Why should I answer your smiling queries on how much I earn, what bonuses and raises have I received, or how much my wife makes? I refuse to join in your charade of care and concern for the well-being for our family good, scorn your earnest enquiries on this household's successes, and wish my parents had the will and wherewithal to disclaim this dance of egos. For in their ardent partaking of such parries, I have not the heart to be honest about my accomplishments and my failures, my dreams and denials, hearing as I do hopes that  may not withstand the deadness of truth and parsimony of modest ambitions.

- - - - - - -

Sometimes blood is so much thicker than water that it smothers and stifles the life out of relationships, preferring to seal with superficial clots wounds that should be left to bleed dry. 

- - - - - - -

Besides SGH, where else can I get a seminal analysis done? And in a conducive environment – I doubt handing me a sterile jar at 7.30 am and telling me to go to the nearest toilet cubicle will help my duck produce the necessary sample. 

- - - - - - -

I missed the stupid bus back to my hometown on Thursday, despite arriving at the terminal early. Ten minutes after the scheduled departure time, there was no sign of the bus, and I found out that it had already left. The next bus would leave only in six hours, so I had to hop into a cab to rush to the checkpoint where I joined the daytrippers on SBS 170 to arrive at that hellhole of crime and grime known as Larkin Bus Terminal. It was a weekday so I could get a bus that departed in half an hour. 

If it were a weekend or Friday evening, there would be little chance of getting such immediate seats. Assuming I arrive at the terminal at, say, 10 am, I would be lucky to get a bus that leaves in the mid-afternoon, as most tickets would have been purchased earlier in the week by local folk who commute between the towns on a weekly basis. So, I could well (and have done just that in the past) spend something like 8-9 hours on the road, much of it rotting at the bus terminal while fending off beggars and extortioners, before reaching home – a journey that takes a 'mere' three hours by car. And they still wonder why I don't take the opportunity to rush home every other weekend or public holiday....

Comments

[monkey]

poor duck pat pat pat
ok lah duck.... i still think ur job is blardy impressive

[GooglyBear]

I've learnt to deal with this situation a long time ago.

Coming from a family that has 23 uncles and aunts (not counting in-laws) 4 things that work for me and mine:

1. Misdirection.

2. Skeletons in other people's closets.

3. Making alliances.

4. Information compartmentalization

Kinda like office life actually.

Like all things that you hold precious, love requires constant planning and a lot of work.

It is worth fighting for.

[monkey]

how come nobody ever ask me during family get-togethers? lol i must look too much like a loser-monkey that does nothing all day but monkey around. oh well

[GooglyBear]

Oh yes, agree with Monkey; you should be proud enough of your job to defend it.