On the third day after someone dies, the soul comes back to settle scores. In my mother's case, this would be the first day of the lunar new year. And because it is the new year, all debts must be paid, or disaster and misfortune will follow.

Chaos is the penance for leisure.

Those who don't heed the warnings don't live to admit they were stupid not to do so.

But she never looked back with regret. There were so many ways for things to get better. -Jing-mei

I would still like to have that luxury, to be able to just sit and draw for hours and hours and hours. In a way, that's what I do as a writer.

My mother had a very difficult childhood, having seen her own mother kill herself. So she didnt always know how to be the nurturing mother that we all expect we should have.

Language is the tool of my trade -and I use them all - all the Englishes I grew up with