Occasionally, I would visit a Taoist temple to pray and worship a god by the name of Wong Tai Sin. Honestly, I don't know a whole whopping lot about this god, but I do know he had something to with leading the Taoist movement and that's about it.

So, what's the difference between Buddhism and Taoism?

Other than some of the philosophical angles that I have no understanding of, the main difference is Buddhists do not consume anything with a face. The religion dictates how all life forms have a place in this world and to kill another animal for your personal consumption is a sin.

In Taoism, it's okay to chow down on a lambchop. But that's not really the reason why I'm a pseudo Taoist.

When mum emigrated from Communist China to Hong Kong back in the 60's, she possessed no real religious beliefs because Mao condemned any and all practices that would poison the human mind, which in turn, posed threats to the government. Her friends, however, were brought up in a strict religious household in China and highly appreciated the freedom to once again to worship their beloved gods in Hong Kong. One day, mum tagged along with them on a trip to the largest Taoist temple in Hong Kong.

While her friends lit up a bunch of incense for their prayer, she rolled her eyes in disbelief and scoffed at their mechanically ritualistic behavior. In a split second, she felt a sharp slap across her face. With no one standing beside her in broad daylight, she was badly shakened up. It was this very moment when she realized that these almighty beings from above existed and this god had read her disrespectful thoughts in his own temple. She immediately dropped down on the floor and begged for his forgiveness. Since then, mum raised us as Taoists.

During her second pregnancy, she wanted to find out the sex of her child. Inside the temple, were these numbered bamboo sticks located by the altar and are intended for the worshipper to have his/her query answered. The sticks are individually numbered and shaken out of a bamboo cup during the prayer. When a stick falls out, the individual will approach a fortune teller with this number (who has a board with little pieces of paper numbered from 1-100) to retrieve an answer from the god himself. For those who cannot decipher the cryptic meanings of these fortunes, the fortune teller will explain / summarize and suggest next steps of what the contents reveal for an additional charge. Usually the sayings on these fortunes are derived from ancient folk tales, quotes from historical masterpieces and the lot. So you better know your history and literature.

Not only did mum get a girl, Wong Tai Sin also accepted her offer to have the child become one of his many godchildren.

Here, in the States, I usually visit a local Wong Tai Sin temple whenever I have a chance. Over the years, the temple has been run by corrupted managers who extort contributions in the most heinous way. There used to be a Guang Yin temple on the lower level managed by a Buddhist priestess that my family has grown fond of. These nasty people would treat her horribly by forcing her to use piss pot instead of the bathroom.

So, I stopped going except on major lunar holidays. The nice thing about our religion is that thoughtfulness does hold weight.

Whenever I enter the temple, I would occasionally purchase an English fortune which is rolled up in a little piece of paper. For the most part, it has definitely held immeasurable significance at a personal level. This isn't those little white strips of paper with a red typeset found in fortune cookies.

Last year, I was tremendously agitated and angry with Grace. I went into the temple to calm myself down by praying for all the good things to come and the usual whatnot. I walked by the fortune bin and figured, what the heck, it's been a long while since I grabbed one of these. I thought about my query and popped in a dollar bill.

I wanted to know how the business would progress or something along those lines. This is what I got:

No. 53 Probability of Success: Poor
You must keep everything in mind.
Many a time you may have been blind.
You befriended someone and now you find
That he is a thief of the worst kind.

Back then, Grace seriously burned a hole in my stomach. No matter what, the wackadoo occupied my thoughts in my waking moment because her imprint was far too strong to ignore. It's not a coincidence I received this fortune and no matter how many people sympathized with her, she was doing me plenty of injustice at the office and in my personal life.

I kept this fortune only because it confirmed my worst nightmare. For the past 10+ years I've received these fortunes, I've never received anything quite this negative, not in even in the worst times of my life. This was startling moment for me.

The betrayal of friendship and the lack of trust aren't the reasons behind my anger. It's the fact how she tries to lay on my nerves and play me for a fool.