Not another New Year?!

Well, it's not that i hate new year, i've got off, and no one's complaining. Oh well. It's another time of the year when you collect money and put on weight from all the feasting.

The sad thing about this year was that the first day of new year fell on a sunday, and there wasn't church on sat. So i had to give church a miss and go visitng with my parents. I'm glad to be able to spend quality time with my parents, even though i was alittle sad that i had to miss church, especially knowing the fact that they were showing the story of Anne Frank on Christian Education. Heard that there were portions of the Fuhrer shown. =P

Anyway this year, like all the other years, was spent feasting and sitting among the older folks, hearing them talk about totally irrelevant stuff that doesn't interest me at all. Well, at least i tried giving my 2 cents worth, but it availed little. The only thing i can't really figure out is my inability to maintain any reasonable conversations with my relatives.

A typical conversation goes like this:

Aunt: "Hello! Aiyo! So tall now! Can't recognize you at all!"

Dom: "Yeah haha okie"
(Really? So how the heck did you figure that it was me?)

Aunt: "So what are you doing now? Finished NS?"
(Strangely, everyone thinks i'm done with NS...........)

Dom: "Erm, i'm in NS now..."

Aunt: "Really? How many more years?"
(Dom coughs blood)

Dom: "No, 9 more months to ORD"

Aunt: "Then what do you plan to do after NS? Study?"

Dom: "Sadly yes."

Aunt: "Okie all the best!"

Dom: "Thanks"

Well, who can i blame? Just that it's almost the same thing every year. At least this year i tried to strike up a conversation with one of my closer cousins whom i used to hang out with when i was much younger. And suddenly i realised that they were not the high achievers i thought they were. They were nice people, and we could be good friends outside. Sadly due to time constraint, i didn't really complete the conversations.

Well, at least i tried.

The cousins on my mother's side was a little more tricky. They are people of high status - RJC grads, Universtiy of Nottingham blar blar with honours blar blar, lawyers, accountants blar blar. Bascially the rich, handsome, pretty, nearly famous people. And everytime they visit my place, i'll try to disengage any involvement with them by hiding in my Wolf's Lair (My Room). This year was alittle different as i tried to make an effort in engaging them in meaningful conversation, but somehow my efforts died somewhere between the "hi" and the drinks. Strange. As usual, i went back to my hiding place, commanding Germanic tribes in massive battles on my computer.

I'd just figured that i'm pretty uncomfortable in making first moves talking to people. Sometimes that includes church setting, when new people come in. Church is really getting very big, but i hardly know any of the new people. I can't seem to keep the conversation alive for more than 5 mins. This is not good, especially since my social life is non-existant other than in church. There were actually many wonderful opportunity to get to know people, but somehow i can't seem to find the words to get the engine started. It's got nothing to do with confidence; i can be a pretty good speaker in public. (Don't forget i used to admire Adolf Hitler a long time ago) But when it comes to personal or a social setting i prefer to stay quiet. Sometimes i wonder how my friends do it; words simply flow from their mouth in the right situations; witty and funny words etc.

So much for new years.

And i'm planning a Passover dinner for my cell, been doing some research these past few days, and i must admit i really enjoy preparing such things... Hope to get a confirmed go by the leaders soon.