Chapter : My Dad

Today is Australia’s Father’s Day. So this would be a short post…I think.

My dad has always played the “bad cop” role in the family. My siblings and I are scared shitless of my dad because he was the one that would discipline us whenever we did something wrong. Whenever one of us gets into trouble, he would grab his belt or cane and would whack us and the ones that were not in trouble hides in the room and pretend to be angels. I also remember the time that when we know that we would get a hell of a beating, we would run to our rooms, wear extra layers of clothing so the pain on our bums would be lessened. Before you go, “it’s child abuse!” I must say, it’s an Asian thing where parents hit their children. Have you not watch Russell Peters?

My dad is also very harsh with us when it comes to education. He believes that if his children receive good education, they would get better jobs in order to support themselves in the future. So whenever one of us fails an exam, we would be afraid to approach him to tell him our results. Well, mainly me because I was the least studious one…and I remember the one time when I failed my Math’s exam, he would ask me to do all the corrections on a piece of paper and he would look through it and then ask me to re-do it so I would remember not to make the same mistakes again.

Also, my dad isn’t the kind that forces his children to pursue something that they didn’t like so I was pretty grateful that my dad allowed me to pursue my interest in arts. I have friends that their parents weren’t supportive and forced them to do something that they didn’t like. Even though my dad doesn’t talk to us that much, but we know that he truly cares about us and takes personal note on our interests. For instance, my dad would find out whether he has friends in the animation industry and would ask to see whether they could offer me an internship or like he knows that my sister is into musical stuffs, he would buy all the musical CDs for her. 

I remember my friends would always say to me, “Jessie, your dad is so SCARY!!!” whenever they meet my dad for the first time because whenever they would greet him, he would just grunt in return. He always has this (what I call) the “bull dog” face because he is always looking so bad tempered. But I know, deep down that my dad is a softie at heart because once he is used to your presence, he would open up to you and talk to you more…he would tease you from time to time. But he is much better now because he can actually greet and talk to people and this was proven when my boyfriend met my dad for the first time and they talked a little and eventually my dad asked him to stay for dinner. Then when I asked him, “So, scared or not?” He replied, “Nope.” Or maybe my boyfriend has awesome people skills and is genuinely not afraid of anyone.

My dad can be pretty amusing at times because I remember when I broke up with my ex, he tried to give me a “talk” to tell me that there were many fishes in the sea and I shouldn’t be hung up over him and stuffs. I didn’t know what to react when he did that but nevertheless I was happy that he did. Also, when I found out that I failed my Masters, I cried shit loads and he would sit down with me, calm me down and said comforting words like everyone fails at least once in their lifetime. When my self-esteem was really down that time, he said this to me, “I know that you can do it, you just have to put your mind and work hard.” Those words gave me my confidence back and I managed to complete my resubmission on time.

So, to my dad, thank you for everything. If it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t be the person I am today and even though I would get frustrated with you from time to time, I love you.

Happy Father’s Day.