I keep getting phone calls from my relatives this morning, and it doesn't help that other than my uncles and aunts , I don't exactly recognise the other relatives, esp my granduncles and grandaunts.
I have had 1 maternal grandaunt and 1 paternal grandaunt calling my place within the past hour, and when asked if I knew who they were, I ventured out the relatively safe "lao yee". I mean, it's either always "lao yee" or "lao khin". Obviously I have no idea how to spell teochew words in English, so don't come shooting at me for that lol. Plus, I think I remember only calling 2 people "lao khin", one of which kinda raised me when I was young, considering I spent my entire day at her home when I was attending kindergarten and that I spent my school holidays there in primary school.
Speaking of relatives, this girl here has an astonishing web of relatives. Lol. I am not kidding, I have relatives in far more influential places I could ever imagine (that freaked me out when I found out), a relative that taught me history for 2 years, that I DIDN'T even know of, who happened to also sign my Red Cross Link Enrolment Certificate (she was the director). A relative I probably have to call "sir" if I continued on with the Red Cross (yikes, that would be strange, btw that happens to also be my teacher's son lol). I didn't know I have relatives living in the Jln Senang area till 2 years ago... and everytime at wedding dinners, I always end up greeting strange people whom I have NEVER met. But I STILL have a problem greeting the relatives that I've been seeing all my life by the proper address. Wouldn't "uncle" and "auntie" suffice? It seems not. You have one set of greetings for the paternal side and another one for the maternal side. It's really a hazard trying to remember them all. Call me lazy if you like, but I still prefer uncles and aunties (Oh.. haha and just to spite a certain reader, HELLO AUNTIE CHARLES!!) I think I probably should avoid Charles, he might come after me with a cleaver.
Cousins are less complicated, unless you consider your parent's cousins to be your cousins (I think of them as uncles and aunts, which makes it easier, and more appropriate). I know the names of most of my cousins, the direct ones that is lol. Most??? Hahaha.. ok.. I THINK I know all of them. Used to be bugged by them.... no idea why they wouldn't bug the slob. Now that we're more grown up, the bugging stopped. But 2 of my cousin's, my 2nd eldest uncle on my mum's side children, are damn cute, especially the younger one, Nicholas. Haha, he has this pair of too pinchable cheeks. The 2 of them are nice (they tend to have flattering comments about me, hence I like them =P) but they terrorise my dogs. Over all the other cousins, my dogs enjoy peace, freedom, joy. With this 2 around, my dogs go into hiding. Lol. We don't hide them, the dogs hide themselves, with their tails tucked between their legs lol. Too playful, I remember the 2 boys once dropped the poor dogs.. no wonder the dogs are afraid. Not that they dropped the dogs on purpose, they were too young and didn't really have a good hold on the dogs. Now they're older (the older one's probably in P5) so I reckon it should be safer, but the dogs are still afraid, years on since the incident passed lol. Least fav cousins have to be my eldest uncle's children..... for reasons which I shall not elaborate. Haha, my bro and I are the eldest on both the paternal and maternal side. Well, unless you factor in the really distant relatives.
I'm a 3rd year student in what is probably the largest autonomous university in Singapore majoring in a Science-related subject (well it sorta IS SCIENCE). I'm known to be introverted, sarcastic (at times), funny when I rant (which isn't a good thing lol) and somewhat of a loner. I miss LA and would move there in a heartbeat :(
