Mum's Logic
My mum has her own brand of logic/ advice that she claims will get us through life successfully. Based on her child-rearing track record (a typical Asian/ tiger mum to the n-th degree which I could never hope to replicate), we siblings are probably reasonably successful by usual standards (I think).
Here I share what I can remember:
1- Always wear good underwear because if you meet with an accident & gets admitted to hospital where an emergency procedure has to be carried out, at least you will not be embarrassed by terrible looking underwear.
2- The best type of spice is the one that you mill/ process yourself.. or you can buy such spices at any shop that does freshly milled spices.. nothing like it.
3- Never go for a man who you love more than he loves you. Go instead for a man who loves you like crazy and learn to love him (clearly I don't listen).
4- When frying fish, put a slice or two of asam keping/ asam gelugur so that the fish doesn't stick to the wok.
5- When frying chicken, fry them with a few stalks of lemongrass for aroma.
6- Do not talk about mice/ rat loudly or in a hateful way because apparently they can hear and understand us and may come when we are unaware and wreak havoc in the house. So, just whisper (nowadays I suppose we can whatsapp) and put lots of pandan (screwpine) leaves everywhere around the house to steer them away.
7- Never tell anybody about your dreams (unless they're really close family & love you to pieces) because if they interpret your dreams badly, your luck will go south.
8- If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is (this one you may say is so cliche BUT I have heard it from her first before reading it elsewhere).
9- Those with hands/ fingers of a certain shape is likely to be really successful in life. [Basically she reads people well too- I think she may have studied some mystic skills before, because she reads faces and body parts in a way that normal people don't]
10- Always pay attention to people's words and verbal cues- they may appear nice and sweet and wholesome but their choice of words and their body language in your presence will reflect what they really feel about you.
11- Be a useful person always. Never be that person who other people curse for causing difficulty to others for example those who block other people's porch/ entrance; or those who throw rubbish everywhere indiscriminately and makes it someone else's problems; or those who leave shopping trolleys behind other peoples' parked cars.
12- Never live with your in-laws (especially not mother(s)-in-law) or live with your children (after they have gotten married). This one is non-negotiable. Never do it, because it reveals too much information that you would have liked to know otherwise.
13- ALWAYS be nice to everybody regardless of their position or wealth or title, because you never know when the wheel will turn or when we may need that person's help (which you're not likely going to get if you had treated him/ her badly).
14- Remember always that everything that (I/ we) have now is borrowed & not ours to own and especially not to boast about. These are material, worldly things that will all be left behind as we go six feet under. So do good ALL the time, not only when certain people are watching.
15- Who judges you is God and not humans. Fret not and listen not to haters (hipster vocab), people who criticise or bring you down. Keep doing what you needed to do and ignore the noise. In the same vein, from her I have learnt to ignore criticism/ non-constructive 'advice' and treat it as pure insignificant noise.
Here I share what I can remember:
1- Always wear good underwear because if you meet with an accident & gets admitted to hospital where an emergency procedure has to be carried out, at least you will not be embarrassed by terrible looking underwear.
2- The best type of spice is the one that you mill/ process yourself.. or you can buy such spices at any shop that does freshly milled spices.. nothing like it.
3- Never go for a man who you love more than he loves you. Go instead for a man who loves you like crazy and learn to love him (clearly I don't listen).
4- When frying fish, put a slice or two of asam keping/ asam gelugur so that the fish doesn't stick to the wok.
5- When frying chicken, fry them with a few stalks of lemongrass for aroma.
6- Do not talk about mice/ rat loudly or in a hateful way because apparently they can hear and understand us and may come when we are unaware and wreak havoc in the house. So, just whisper (nowadays I suppose we can whatsapp) and put lots of pandan (screwpine) leaves everywhere around the house to steer them away.
7- Never tell anybody about your dreams (unless they're really close family & love you to pieces) because if they interpret your dreams badly, your luck will go south.
8- If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is (this one you may say is so cliche BUT I have heard it from her first before reading it elsewhere).
9- Those with hands/ fingers of a certain shape is likely to be really successful in life. [Basically she reads people well too- I think she may have studied some mystic skills before, because she reads faces and body parts in a way that normal people don't]
10- Always pay attention to people's words and verbal cues- they may appear nice and sweet and wholesome but their choice of words and their body language in your presence will reflect what they really feel about you.
11- Be a useful person always. Never be that person who other people curse for causing difficulty to others for example those who block other people's porch/ entrance; or those who throw rubbish everywhere indiscriminately and makes it someone else's problems; or those who leave shopping trolleys behind other peoples' parked cars.
12- Never live with your in-laws (especially not mother(s)-in-law) or live with your children (after they have gotten married). This one is non-negotiable. Never do it, because it reveals too much information that you would have liked to know otherwise.
13- ALWAYS be nice to everybody regardless of their position or wealth or title, because you never know when the wheel will turn or when we may need that person's help (which you're not likely going to get if you had treated him/ her badly).
14- Remember always that everything that (I/ we) have now is borrowed & not ours to own and especially not to boast about. These are material, worldly things that will all be left behind as we go six feet under. So do good ALL the time, not only when certain people are watching.
15- Who judges you is God and not humans. Fret not and listen not to haters (hipster vocab), people who criticise or bring you down. Keep doing what you needed to do and ignore the noise. In the same vein, from her I have learnt to ignore criticism/ non-constructive 'advice' and treat it as pure insignificant noise.
posted by elya at 3:53 am
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