It's a new year as my sister pointed out and last night our parents gave us money. But that money did not come at no cost. Every year our family has a painful discussion that usually lasts for hours. Before we can get our greedy little paws on the bulging red envelope of cash we have to sell our souls. We have to promise a thousand little and big promises, often to our parent's tune of "Say it in Vietnamese! You get more money if you say it in Vietnamese!"
Here are some examples over the past year of some of the things I've said:
In this new year...
I will go for my masters.
I will help my mom out more with the chores.
I will play more piano.
I will take more showers.
Looking back, at least I got my masters!
And then there are the things that we wish for them, our parents:
In this new year...
I hope you guys have a lot of sex like how you did on the cruise.
I hope you have a lot of energy so you can go out and party every night like how you always go and party every night.
I hope all the fatty chinese food you eat doesn't make you fat.
I hope you win the lottery.
Okay so the stuff we say about ourselves and to them doesn't seem so bad and sometimes it's jokes, but you would never believe how tense the session is without actually being there. I can't remember the last time we've had a session without tears. These sessions are some sort of cathartic release. It's also an opportunity for our parents to make us do things we normally wouldn't, like how they asked my brothers to shake hands because they haven't spoke with each other all year. Brian moved his hand out in an exaggerated slow motion and I recorded it on tape, then we all gaily appluaded.
