redeeming points

The first thing my father said today when I got to work was,

"I'm going to start taking $20 a day from you for Tet (Vietnamese New Year)."

For the past couple of years, my father has been sending his friend in Vietnam $500 dollars for the Vietnamese New Year with instructions to give it away to people who need it. So my father's friend, goes out into the streets and randomly hands out $20 bills (people in that part of Vietnam make about 50 cents a day).

There is a belief in many Asian cultures that how you begin the New Year is an indication of how the rest of your year will go. My father hopes the money will allow them to buy some new clothes and have a good feast, and hopefully the rest of their year will be plentiful and if not, then at least they will have a great week.

When my father started doing this, he said to me,

"Han, this will score you points with heaven." (I prefer scoring earthly stuff at the mall)

For the past couple of New Years, I've started the year twenty dollars shorter. Just hoping my dad is right about the whole heaven thing, cause I just bought a boat and I'd like to redeem my points for a nautical GPS system.