When Results Day for any major examination in Singapore approaches, rumours ALWAYS fly about. Some are as ludicrous as - get this - receiving a certain letter inviting you to sign up for a certain course means you have failed your 'O' Levels badly. Myth, of course, as I have found out. It caused a great deal of worry, and I was so gullible that I would dash to the mailbox every morning, leafing through the wad of envelopes and praying that there wasn't any letter addressed to me. Most of the rumours turned out to be untrue, of course, as most rumours always turn out to be.

So then I have every reason to pooh-pooh every rumour regarding the 'A' Levels that manages to reach my ears. But I worry, and I always think, "What if?" Of course I'm not going to fall for the old "receive a letter and you're doomed" rumour. I just hope, and pray, that the results will only be released AFTER the Chinese New Year period. For a very simple reason, of course. Most of my friends would know I come from an extended family which evaluates a young person based on his/her academic success. Typical. It happens almost everywhere here.

So if the results are going to be released before CNY, and the nosy relatives get wind of it, imagine the barrage of torturous questions that I will be obliged to answer. Sure, there is the part about asking because they care; some genuinely do and I know who they are, but for others, I know bad news is merely fodder for their toxic gossip, letting them speculate and blind-guess why and how it happened. I just have to sit down, and listen very carefully to what they always talk about when they think no one's listening in. Everyone seems to love a twisted fairytale now. Give them a happy ending and they dismiss it as boring. Give them a warped conclusion, and they jump at it like eager beavers. Semi-hyperbolic, but you get the idea.

If I was the sort who stayed at home all day for CNY, I wouldn't give a damn. Thing is, I go visiting every New Year, which means I'd have to talk to people whom I don't really feel like talking to, about things I don't want to mention. Not even the red packets can make up for this. You would point out, hey, what if it's good news? I still wouldn't want to talk about it. What for? It'll only give them a chance to compare my poor cousins/nieces/nephews to the preconceived idea of a brilliant student. I had a taste of that. I didn't like it at all.

So to keep things simple, those results had better come in after CNY. Time to start crossing both my fingers and toes.