Thursday, March 09, 2006
Gong Xi Fa Cai!!!
First of all: GONG XI FA CAI to all of my passengers and many many prosperity for this coming year.
And what better way to spend the New Year but by watching Kung Fu shows. Haha. I went to watch Fearless (Huo Yuan Jia) and boy, it was a good movie, not in plot sense, but in the actions. It's nothing like western punch punch, kick kick bom, bom, crash bash action; this action is beautiful, every punch so beautifully executed like it did not even contained strength, but the power behind those blows were powerful.
That is what I love about Chinese Kung Fu. Be like the water, soft and gentle, with an infinite force hidden within.
Among all Chinese actors who perform Kung Fu stunts, I have never found another that could do it as beautifully as Jet Li. My first movie in the cinema (you know the old Rex cinemas before the time of GSC and TGV and now can only be found in places like Kuching and Miri and KKB) happened to be Once Upon A Time In China. I was about 8 and fell in love with the main character: Wong Fei Hong, played of course by Jet Li. No other actor could have done a better job being Wong Fei Hong, not then, not now and I dare to bet never. To me, Wong Fei Hong would be always the baby face doctor with superb kungfu that seemed to flow like the gentle river.
Ever since then, I've been watching all of Jet Li's movies. The whole Once Upon A Time In China set, Fong Sai Yuk 1 & 2, some movie about Tai Chi, another about revenge. And I'm beginning to start downloading all his movies too. Haha, the miracle of broadband and bittorrent. It's too bad that he won't be doing any of these movies anymore. The world will never another wushu exponent with moves as beautiful as him.
Anyway, Gong Xi Fa Cai means Ang Pow Na Lai. Haha... but again this year I have not gone to any of my friends house other than close friends, so there goes a large part of my angpow gathering field. And I did not go see my other relatives that promised huge huge angpows. Even the one that promised to give me a RM1000 angpow if I wear a dress for him. Too bad he ran to Austria for the holidays. Blah.
Chinese New Year has three components:
1) Angpows
2) Mandarin Oranges
3) Gambling
And No. 3 is something I take close to my heart, it is a passion (pronounced PAS-SEE-YEE-ON) of mine since high school. Imagine a room of prefects gambling and got caught by the discipline master, well, I'm the gangleader. Bwahaha!!! I strive to learn all card games, may it be:-
- Chua Tai Ti - Chinese poker with a twist, where the biggest card is 2 spades. We play this all the time back in high school, 10sens per card, double if above 20cards, triple if full hand.
- poker - strip, russian, english, chinese, you say the name, I play the game. Strip poker is fun, but not so fun if you are dressed like you going to antartica and when earrings and jewelleries are counted as clothes as well. Bla. I learnt russian from my dad and you win big and lose big with this game that it is scary.
- baccarat - dumb game of luck. I seemed to get 1 and 2 a lot.
- BlackJack 21 - another dumb game of luck. I always get 15/16/17, so I never know when to hit or not. There was once I got Double Ace with a RM5 bet. Meaning I get a triple, and RM15, but the discipline master walk in and we had detention.
- ginrummy - this game brings make sweet and sour memories. sweet: I learnt it from 2 good friends that made the India trip so memorable, sour: I suck at this game and had to buy dinner for them. Bla.
- Hearts / Spades - I fell for this game while reading Hearts in Atlantis by Stephen King. Shoot the Moon and catch that Black Bitch, I'm pretty good at this game against the computer. Haha.
- Bridge - I'm learning this game and see it as a potential money earner.
- Others - There are just so many in the world, but I have an entire life in front of me. Maybe I should make this my life-goal or something.
And you cannot forget the other types of gambling methods:-
- Mah Jong - first learnt it becos of Jody Goh and quickly mastered it when my dad ENCOURAGES us to play Mah Jong. 3 kaki, 4 kaki, any one also can. It is tough finding friends to play mahjong with, but, I did, sapuing all their money in the process.
- Roulette - A luck game of suicide (Russian roulette literally means that). You know the round spinning thing Chinese put in the centre of their dining tables so that it is easier to have dinner. Well, that was our roulette table that night. Mwahaha... and made of marble too.
- Big/Small - a simple game involving 2-3 dices. Throw the dice and see where your bets land. With 2 dices, 6 below is small, 7 above is big. Simple? Yup. Pure luck, no skill involved.
- Monopoly with real money as money - Skills and battering involved. 10 dollar is 10 cents and so forth. Taught to me by my cousin and friends and really addictive and scary!!! Everyone starts with a certain amount of money. The 200dollar when pass Go doesn't work. Banker sits and collect money. Real good fun with lots of confusion.
- Chapkut - Ginrummy with mahjong tiles instead of cards. Enough said.
Gambling are like drugs, they relieve pain and suffering for a single moment but when you take it away, the pain returns. And it is addictive as well.
Take for example my grandma:
She has sciatica and her legs will get really painful when she stands for a very long time. On the fifth night of CNY, we went to my cousin's place for a open house. After spending three hours there, my grandma was eager to go back. But then my cousin brought out the cards for blackjack and my grandma agreed to play a few rounds.
She stayed to four in the morning to play rounds after rounds. And she stood up almost through the entire time.
Me: AhMa, your leg not pain ah? (in hokkien)
Grandma: What pain? No pain la (in hokkien)
Next day she suffered from severe pain.
So gambling are like drugs. And I am hooked on to it... until I start losing money that is. Which I have!!!
I barely got the chance to gamble the last few years and when this year I attempted my luck with my grandma, I lost RM50. Bla... hate it. But I won it back from Jody Goh, mwahaha!!!
On my report of my angpow collection this year:
I collected a total of RM650 which I gave my dad for investment or just put it into my FD to gain interest. He invested / gambled it in Genting and doubled it. And it is all mine!!! Woohoo!!!
Start of a new year, start of a new life...
Gong Xi Fa Cai!!!
What's the most important thing in life?
To be free of obligations!
Otherwise you lose the ability to gamble...
- Setzer, Final Fantasy VI
