Bearing false idols
Originally published on Medium in 2012 (back when everyone was publishing on Medium). By Ernie Hsiung.

In high school, my Mom purchased a statue of a frog the size of a toaster.
Hollow and ceramic, it was painted in gold with fake ornate details in red and green, especially around its eyes. Bits of paint were beginning to chip off a little bit. There is a coin in the frog's mouth, the type of coin you see in Chinatown with the square holes and the Chinese characters. But you wouldn't know that at first glance and would assume it was something on par with something my mother would buy, tacky and expensive looking. If you sat me down and asked me to tell you everything I know about feng shui, even now, this is what I could explain to you: it has something to do with the flow of qi.
I don't exactly…
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