Too Much Fancyness

Today is the third time in these few weeks that I've attended a formal Chinese dinner, and the second night in a row. And thus, I made this new observation:

I don't really like Chinese dinner food. It's like all supposed to be expensive and everything, but sometimes the food just tastes bland without any rice or other carbs, and also there's so much seafood everywhere - almost in every dish - that somehow, even after 6 or 7 courses, I don't feel completely full. Whereas sometimes even one plate of rice or one bowl of noodles can make me feel oh so bloated.

And the whole sit-down dinner thing. You get crammed into a 10-person table often with people you don't know very well, the music is booming with the bass cranked up, the emcee is boring/irritating, everyone's just waiting for the speeches to end and the food to come...and what's more, you have a limited range of movement because you are wearing pretty clothes and pretty makeup and pretty hair and just about doing anything besides sitting still as a rock will upset the elegance karma somehow.

I'm glad I'm still 18 and usually the youngest at a table. Seriously, I don't know how adults stand it. The interminable periods of waiting waiting waiting...the inactivity. I can't take it, I must do something or sms. You run out of conversational fodder with your seatmates at some point, and then everyone just stares at each other or blankly at the stage/wall. That is the time I pull my handphone out of my clutch and start to sms, a little discreetly. But sometimes get carried away, then not so discreetly lah.

Maybe when you grow older, you get more...sedate. Which is why you don't see 40 year olds going clubbing till the wee hours of the morning or young hip urbanites throwing a 10-course Chinese dinner for their birthday party. It's the circle of life, reflected in our tastes and bodies and personalities and ability to withstand long periods of non-stimulation.

But until I reach that period of life, I'm going to avoid going to more formal dinners.