Trivial Talk #1 - St. Valentine's Day & 大年初七 - 人日

By now, all should know that today is St. Valentine's Day, better known as just Valentine's Day. I wonder how many people actually knows the true meaning behind this very special day. What used to be a day of romantic love has slowly become a commercial tool, a business gimmick, a day of showoff for "winners" and agony and pain for the "losers". There is an over-commericalization of Valentine's Day, especially if even university undergraduates are using this opportunity to make money by selling flowers and gifts. However, I must admit there is still value in Valentine's Day in our times. Especially when Singapore often hogged the charts for being the country with one of the least romantic and sexed people. ;-P Hey you single people out there, fret not! Valentine's Day (at least in my humble opinion) is just another day on the calendar. Another special day for some. If even Lunar New Year can pass quiet these days, I don't see why you should frown if you have nothing on Valentine's Day.

Talking about Lunar New Year, this brings me to another topic. Tomorrow's 大年初七 - 人日. It's 捞鱼生 time! However, just like Valentine's Day, it has become just another day for restaurants to make big business. How many of you has the same "鱼-生-again-so-what" feeling I had when you go for reunion dinners? I'm not saying that we should give up doing that. I just feel that these days there are too much commercial elements involved and people just "go through the motion" when they carry out new year traditions. Think 红包 and the big money grab. The gist of these traditions are little known these days and fading, or maybe, people just don't care now.