Mama - The Energizer Bunny

Being the poor family that we were years ago, I never had much time with my parents, as they were both working trying to support the family. They worked hard so that my sister and I could have a better life, and no reason to discontinue studies like them.

Mama has always lamented about spending too little time with us in the past, but she did made a big impact on my outlook and attitude towards life.

Mama has been a firm believer in progressive learning.
Even at her current near-retirement age, she is very active after work hours.
She reads the newspapers until wee hours, attend numerous seminars, read up library books (mostly on health), go for folk dance, sing karaoke. She is now trying to learn the computer.
She cooks and does the housechores too, and all these are done after work hours.

My Mama never stops. She's a Energizer Rabbit that goes on and on.


Mama taught me never to waste time watching "useless" shows like drama serials.
My Daddy supports her with this catchy phrase "yan3 xi4 si4 pian4 zi3, kan4 xi4 si4 sa2 zi3" which means "actors are cheaters, viewers are silly people".

Mama taught me that being rich means you save alot, not by earning alot.
Liquid savings = Income - Expenses
If you earn less, spend less.
If you earn more, also spend less.
I later learnt from reading that excess money should be put to good use like investments and business.
Anyway, my mum spends most of her money on fruits than anything else, she a SUPER fruit eater. Crazy, huh?

Mama taught me knowledge on all the evil food that is around us. For instance, Char Siew and bak kwa has artificial colouring, which is one cause for cancer even though they are permitted colouring. It doesn't kill you instantly, it poisons you slowly. I realised there are so much evil food around, and later learnt the importance of nutritions.

Mama taught me that one can only be arrogant if he is good in something. This is one of the MOST memorable things she taught me. I suspected that she was the one who created Mr Ego. You must work hard to be the best, after which you can decide how you want to show off what you have. My students always comment that I'm an arrogant teacher, but then they love the way I teach. Confidence could sometimes be mistaken as an act of arrogance.

I shall end this entry with one little story.
When I was young, I loved McDonalds, never mind that the food there are EVIL.

Then, Happy Meals cost about $5 each.
I chanced upon a discount voucher of buying the Happy Meal at $4, and happily asked my mum "If you let me buy the Happy Meal, we can save $1".
She replied "If you don't buy the Happy Meal, we can save $5".

A shoutout here to my Mama, never mind that she's not reading this.
Thanks for being my Mama!!