I just came back from Lorong Koo Chye Ba Temple where my mom made my family go to pray for good luck. She went to the temple at 5am in the morning to get a good waiting number (yes, people queue at the temple at the earliest time possible to be the first few to get blessed by the taoist priest. Think of it like the iPhone release day). When my father, brother and me arrived at about 9am, the number flashing on the queuing board is 132 (yes, I was at a temple). Our number is 233.
I really respect my mom for doing this every year. For the benefit of the family, she dragged herself out of bed at 4am, cab down to the temple, queue for the number (whether she jockeyed other aunties in the process, I don't know) and finally, waited at the temple alone for several hours for us, just so we could sleep in later. I guess that's why mothers are the noblest person in the world. Every family has one!
While waiting for our turn, I walked to the Zodiac chart to check out my fortune for this year; my blossom luck will be good (really?) but my financial luck is only so-so. Career wise, I will meet some expensive people who will assist me but since I am still studying, I hope that also means some expensive people will come help improve my GPA. I saw something about "Six Misfortunes" afflicting me this year but even so, the chart says it won't amount to much problems for those born in the year of the Dragon. A generally good year for me I guess.
My mom bought muah-chee for me. So nice.
By 10am, the number flashing on the queuing board is only 180. Worried that she might miss her ferry to Batam at 11am, my mom went to ask some temple attendant if we would go first or something. Guess what? The attendant asked us to just sneak into the queue line outside the Blessing Room and keep silent about our number. Wow. Isn't that like... cheating? And its kinda easy isnt it? Haha. Either way, we did just that and managed to get blessed 50 spots ahead of our turn.
I wonder if the deities know...
Ahhhh. But the attendant said we could!
I saw a couple of idioms at the temple which I though I should share it with others:
恶语伤人六月寒
(Badmouthing others will bring yourself 6 months of cold)
良言一句三冬暖
(Saying good things will keep you warm through 3 winters)
烦恼只因强出头
(Vexation comes only because you try too hard)
是非只因多开口
(Scandals/gossip comes only because you speak withing thinking)
Ok. My translation may not be entirely correct but the general meaning is to be nice to others and be carefree.
No comments:
Post a Comment