What is your personal AngBao experience you still find amusing till this day?

With the coming CNY, what is your personal AngBao experience you still find amusing or interesting till this day?

My experience so far:

1. Uncle relative gave AngBao to every kid but no cash inside
2. Relative always put cash plus 20 cents in the AngBao so we know it’s hers
3. Relative gave $10 to my brother but gave $20 to me

What about you guys?

Netizens’ comments

• Was heartbroken when I got 2 dollars once. Not because of the amount but because it was 2x pristine bird series dollar bill. That relative ran out of money and had to dig into her collection.
  Told my parents and they kept a lookout for the relative and helped out when they can.
• I receive an angbao with $888 inside from my Aunt. Thought I was upgraded to her favorite nephew and was ready to be accepted as her godson.
  Then my Aunt frantically called my mother to tell her that she gave the wrong angbao and that was meant for my grandfather.
  Turns out, I was just a regular nephew and got $20 instead.
• Had a relative open his wallet and give us cash because he couldn’t be bothered to put into ang bao. Hardcore.
• When i was a kid there was once my aunt gave me $5 while my sister had like $50. This aunt usually gives $50 ever year so it was pretty weird. I told my mum. Not sure how she approached my aunt, turned out my aunt gave me a wrong red packet. After that year, the red packets she gave had our names written on it.
• When my 2 chocolate coins inside the angbao from primary scool melted and there was only sadness
• Went to mum’s best friends house, she’s married to a stock broker and he’d only just got back from a wild night out w 2 friends and they tagged along to get breakfast. Everyone was drunk af and bagged 3 $200 ang pow, one from each of them

What is the meaning of kinship in this era?

Saw a relative (cousin’s newly wed husband) at a corporate event today.

Went over to say hi and he doesn’t even know who I am.

For the past 7 years, he has been receiving Ang Bao from me during CNY.

Honestly, the whole family only gathers during CNY. We don’t even contact or meet up with each other during normal days. It’s just a once a year giving Ang Bao thing for the family.

In this era, people tend to be closer with their friends rather than relatives.

Can we still define kinship as blood connections or people we are close with but without blood relations?

Netizens’ comments

• I’ve had relatives that say “i forgot your name” every year for 2 decades lol
  And they are seniors/uncles its pretty nonsense if you have such relatives
  I’ve also met some outside of the “family gatherings” i walked right past them with none of them reacting in any way, totally not recognizing me
  Even old classmates would have recognized me since my looks are pretty much the same lol just sharing
• I…… Really don’t get much of the point behind a lot of CNY. All I hear from my Chinese friends is “the stress ofn the holidays for all the visit and awkward family conversations”….. Why bother, then? Just because a tradition is important is no reason to keep alive a tradition that’s stressful, this amuses me.
• Just be close with those you choose to be close with. Prioritise people who prioritise you.

Irritating? Is it normal

My husband is always sticking wherever I am since he was boss as well as husband…i feel irritated seeing him all the time.

Bcoz all the time he irritates me to the core, don’t share any household chores, instead order me to bring this and that…

If I make Food , finding fault in everything, after doing everything if I rest for few mins then he points you simply sit and do nothing… I’m getting irritated to the core…

If I don’t understand any calculations, he nags what have you studied in college , can’t you understand this…later if I prove his calculations are wrong..then he don’t say anything…

Not only irritating, I’m frustrated with him…is it normal to feel irritated for sticking all the time…

Netizens’ comments

1. If he’s complaining about you and you’re frustrated with him, then sit him down to understand the root of the issue and also set the boundaries. If he’s not happy with your cooking, ask him to order in with his own money. If he doesn’t want to share the household chores, both of you can apportion the amount to spend on sending a part-time cleaner on a weekly basis over.
2. Time for you to start standing up for yourself and tell him to stick it where the sun don’t shine.
3. you must tell him if he don’t appreciate you cooking , he can jolly well don’t eat if he keep finding fault . Find fault then don’t eat lah ? as simple as that, if he want eat then he better appreciate that you’re spending the time and effort to cook and think of what to cook . You gotta let him know otherwise he dk and you suffer in silence
4. I feel irritated just by reading this. Classic case of do what also wrong, do nothing also wrong

Would you ask for an exchange if you found a hair in your food
Question
My friend and I got into a discussion after I found a hair in my food. I just threw it away and continued eating but my friend asked me why I didn’t ask for an exchange.

I told her my reasons are

seems Abit bad to the shop as they need to lose money on a new plate, especially if the shop is some hawker shop just trying to get by

I can’t even prove that the hair is from them (unless ofc if it’s a long hair then it’s obviously not mine) But that will also open a big can of worms then everyone can just put one hair in and ask for exchange

Even it it’s from them, my belief is that outside food is already very gross when it comes to hygiene (I’ve worked in f&b last time) So whenever I eat out I close one eye when it comes to hygiene as long as its not an egregious breach of hygiene I’m fine. Singular hair won’t kill me, I’m sure I’ve ingested countless hairs in food which I did not spot in my life too. It just happens that I spotted this

Would love to hear some discussion on what other Singaporeans think

I am confused and I need help to understand this situation I’m in.

So I have a female friend, (I’ll call her Mary for reference), she and I are pretty close. Long ago, she confessed to me that she liked me.

Unfortunately I don’t feel the same towards her, but I told her that that doesn’t mean we can’t be close friends as we already are. She said it’s okay, and she understands that. No big deal.

About 4 months after, she got a bf. I’m happy for her and it shows that she got over her feelings towards me. We’re still friends then. Literally everyday, she always talk about her bf, like how sweet, nice, loyal, trustworthy, etc he is.

I simply just listen cause hey why not get to know this bf of hers. I even met him and he’s a great guy.

One day, Mary started to ignore me everywhere. From texting to seeing me in real life, like if she saw me she’ll immediately avoid me.

At first, I thought, maybe her bf didn’t want me and her to be close, which is understandable really. But why now instead of before? So I managed to confront her and ask if it’s me who did something wrong or maybe the bf didn’t want us to be friends anymore.

Apparently, it’s neither. She said “I think I’m losing you as a close friend ever since I found out that you have a gf”. I’m like….what gf? I’m not with anyone. She said that she respects my “relationship” and she felt “sad and really hurt” to “lose me”. I don’t… I don’t understand?

So apparently there’s a rumor that I have a gf, but that’s not true at all. Mary found out and she decided to keep her distance immediately.

But my question is…even if the rumor is true, why does Mary felt hurt? Why does she need to keep her distance like that? She didn’t even bother asking me if the rumors are true.

I mean, when she got a bf, she just went on all about him all day long, and I have no complaints. But even if it’s true that I have a gf, won’t she want to know more about her as she did to me?

One of Mary’s bestfriend came to me and told me that Mary cried whole night long after finding out about that rumor that I’m with someone.

But… Why is she sad? Isn’t she supposed to be happy if I’m actually with someone?

So.. What’s going on with her? I’m confused please help.

$4 red packets

What do you all think about receiving red packets with $4 inside? Would you think it’s inauspicious or insulting?

My finances aren’t great this year and $4 seems to be the best I can do, but I’m afraid it would offend some people.

Netizens’ comments

• yeah, in chinese culture ‘4’ is probably the most unpropitious number so yeah its even better to not give it at all. after all the whole angpao thing and lunar new year are mostly chinese tradition so yeah its better to respect that
  if u only want to give some 2 note, then choose ‘6’ or ‘8’, which shouldnt add too much financial burden
• Give $8 but to only half the people you usually give to. The closest ones.
  Completely sit out any other gatherings with less “important” people/relatives. If you want a legit reason to skip a gathering or leave early, I chia you 1 x McSpicy Double with XL Milo 30-60 mins before the gathering.
• Just give within your means.
  I have been receiving $4 angbao since the day I was born. It doesn’t really matter. If I suppose to die, due to the inauspicious numbers I would have died as an infant since the year I was born. 🥹
• Just give 2, they will understand.
  If your relation with your relatives is strained over how much their children receive for Ang pow, you might want to reconsider your relationship with them haha
• I think the alternative way to look at it is a pair of $2s. I received $4 as a kid from parents’ acquaintances and no one thought it was a slight.
• If finances are tight to the extent that you can’t afford it, why not simply just stay home and make an excuse that you’re not feeling too great?
  Or if you’re like those people who rather dodge CNY, just take a day trip to JB? Or claim that you have to go out of country for work?
  Just get your family members to make excuses for you if needed.
• $4 is double $2 ma.. I’ve already not cared and just give within means.. no point thinking of the way ppl look at you especially those u see once a year, it’s more important that my own family have enough for survival than having face.
  I’m waiting for someone to kickstart the no give Ang Pao trend, it’s stupid to give away a big portion of your bonus where you can use it for your family or even as a mean for survival for those not well to do.
  Totally already defeated the purpose of giving Ang Pao. Should just give to kids and parents and no one else.
  And yes I’m giving $4!

My dad [38M] is marrying my ex-girlfriend [26F].

This is all such a mess and I really don’t know how I’m supposed to feel about it. For some backstory, my dad isn’t my biological father.

He and my egg donor started dating when I was 2 and got married when I was 4, and then got divorced when I was 16.

Honestly, I was far closer to my dad than I was to my egg donor, and my egg donor would regularly mistreat both of us.

After the divorce, he tried to stay in touch with me, but my egg donor purposely isolated him from me because she was so mad that he finally became confident enough in himself to escape from her.

As soon as I graduated from school when I was 21, I completely cut off contact with her and reached out to him again. Even though it had been over 5 years since we last spoke at that point, I was very happy to have in my life again.

My ex-girlfriend and I dated while I was in school. I was pretty lowkey about the relationship because I was pretty sure if my mom ever found out, she would also cut me off completely.

We started dating when I was 18 and dated for almost 3 years. I also never told my dad about her, since we broke up only a few months after we reconnected. He did comfort me through the breakup, but he never met her or really knew anything about her.

That brings us to last night. My dad and I have a standing dinner date for every other Wednesday, but we’ve both been busy for the last month, so I haven’t seen him since before Thanksgiving.

He told me that he would be bringing his girlfriend to tag along, and I have to admit that I was both sad because it wouldn’t be just the two of us like it normally is, but also excited to finally meet her.

Unfortunately, once I reach the restaurant, I’m absolutely floored to see my dad sitting there with my ex-girlfriend. I’m absolutely shocked to see them together, and when my dad introduces her to me, he introduces her as his fiance, and tells me that he wanted me to be the first to know.

Apparently they got engaged two weeks ago, but hadn’t told anyone except for her parents (who I’ve even met before). I must have had a shocked look on my face, because he starts going into this whole thing about how he knows that I might be uncomfortable with him dating a girl who’s so close in age to me and how the age gap concerned him too, especially because of my egg donor.

Well, I would never compare him to her. The entire time I was talking to him though, I was staring right at my ex-girlfriend in complete shock.

It ended up being way too weird for me, so I just told them that I needed to go after like 5 minutes. My dad texted me again today telling me how was so sorry to ambush me with that information, and that he was sorry that it came off the way it had.

He told me again that he understood if the age gap made me uncomfortable, but he hoped I didn’t think he was some kind of creep for dating a woman so much younger than him.

He then told me that he felt like he was truly happy for the first time in the last 20 years, and he hoped that I could come to accept this, even if it took me a long time.

I, on the other hand, am just completely lost. I’m pretty sure he doesn’t know that we dated, and I really don’t know whether or not I should tell him. I don’t have anyone to go to about this since he’s literally the person I would vent to normally, so I just decided to let it out here.