About me

In birth...

1. I was born three days early.
2. Average length, average weight.
3. They called me 'Miss Fusspot' at the maternity ward.
4. I cried like a machine gun.
5. Instead of lullabies, my mother rocked me to sleep with a song from Saturday Night Fever.

In youth...

6. At age two, I pinched shandy from my dad.
7. Also at two, I threw a tantrum at Brent Cross in London, rolling on the floor screaming, “I hate shopping!”
8. I still hate shopping.
9. I mean, why can't we all just make a list, buy everything on it, and go home?
10. I played with machine guns and Transformers, not Barbie Dolls.You can't do much with dolls. I mean, you sit them on little doll chairs and pour them little doll tea. And dressing them up was such a chore.
11. I had Transformers that could turn into working microscopes, and six different shapes including a gun. Beat that!
12. I read Asterix and Tintin. And many books by Enid Blyton.
13. At four, feeling bored and lonely at home, I climbed onto the Yamaha organ and fingered out the song, 'Ebony and Ivory'.
14. My parents came home, amazed, and I was whisked off to Yamaha organ class...
15. Which I detested, because it simply involved pressing lots of buttons with a large group of other children. At the age of 5, I quit and joined another music school.
16. In Primary One, I completed most of the entire year's English coursework in one sitting.
17. My teacher and classmates couldn't believe it, and some of them swarmed around me. Afraid that I had done something wrong, I erased most of my work and acted dumb for the rest of the year.
18. One day while in the loo, I twisted one end of toilet paper and joined it to the other end, thus forming a mobius strip without even realising what it was until several years later.
19. In short, if not for the darned education system, I might've been a genius!

In person(ality)...

20. I'm generally quite funny.
21. But I get moody sometimes.
22. I still love reading.
23. I love sunflowers.
24. I really need to get out more and watch more movies. Here's how many I actually know.
25. I _so_ need a new wardrobe. (Working on this now)
26. I love tomatoes. Raw, cooked, pureed into sauce, mixed with salads, caprice, juice, soup, anything!
27. I no longer drink coffee. Unless where absolutely necessary.
28. I have never smoked.
29. And never will.
30. I don't do drugs. I didn't even know what marijuana smelled like, until my friend told me that was the smell coming from my next-door neighbour's room.
31. I'm really fussy about the way my pasta is cooked. I like it al dente, but not sloppy wet like how they make it in Singapore.
32. I love vinegar. In chips, crisps, soup, salad dressing, and mee pok (a Singaporean yellow flat noodle dish full of unhealthy things like pork lard and chilli oil).
33. I speak a little French. I scored a 'bien' grade for my first exam at Alliance Francaise. I have not learnt anything new since then, and you will probably not understand what I am trying to say.
34. For an ethnic Chinese, my Mandarin isn't too hot. It's embarassing at times.
35. I haven't fully watched Titanic yet, and don't intend to.
36. I will sleep at unearthly hours just to watch soccer.
37. I am going to be baptised soon. I was baptised on 6 April 2003. Hallelujah! And I have amazing testimony.
38. I prefer white wine to red, though I know red's supposed to be better for your health.
39. I have a massive CD collection.
40. I write and produce music. People usually can't tell the difference between my tracks and a professional album.
41. Soon, I'll have my own studio.
42. But I haven't had time / guts / technical know-how to cut a proper album. I might attend courses.
43. I've stopped writing poetry and short stories. I used to write in junior college and occasionally won prizes.
44. I prefer quiet cafes to discos so I can enjoy my conversations with friends.
45. I remember random, trivial things about people.
46. But I usually forget their birthdays, which isn't very nice.
47. Of the seven sins, my greatest is pride. (Emode confirms this)
48. The farthest I've ever run in a morning was 4.8 km, and that was because I was forced to.
49. The only time I scored a gold award for any physical fitness test, was in my final year in junior college.
50. I want to learn jazz piano. I am learning jazz piano.My jazz piano teacher rocks. Update 2007: I'm now playing in a fusion band called the Moon Jumpers.
51. I don't think I'll play classical music ever again. Wait -I take that back. I want to learn Chopin's Nocturne, inspired by The Pianist.
52. I get irritated when people swear, “Oh my Gawd”. Do not use the name of the Lord in vain.
53. People say I can find an alternative career in stand-up comedy, script writing and anything involving dangerous levels of melodrama.
54. I have yet to read Lord of the Rings. But I've finally bought the book! ; I am now reading Lord of the Rings!

In the flesh...

55. By world standards, I'm not very tall. Unless you compare me to the Pygmies or Hobbits, in which case I am a towering giant.
56. I've never had a hangover.
57. Even though I drink sometimes.
58. I should work out more at the gym.
59. I used to play tennis and badminton.
60. But I'm terribly out of practice.
61. I've never coloured my hair.
62. But I've just rebonded it! It's grown out. Nice n'messy again.
63. I'm pretty good at pool. I had my own cue as a child. [Update 2007: I haven't played in yonks. I probably suck at it now.]
64. I've challenged Ah Bengs at pool before. (Definition of Ah Beng: punk-like Singaporean Chinese male youth, usually well known for being kickass at games like pool and bowling).
65. While I haven't won a match against any Ah Beng yet, our scorelines have always been very close.
66. I used to bowl. I had my own bowling ball and shoes...

As a geek...

67. I get a kick out of reading source codes, to see how things work.
68. I also get really excitable when I figure out something complicated on my own.
69. I think spy gadgets are cool.
70. I have a comprehensive comic book collection, mostly of the X-Men.
71. They're all boarded, bound, and sealed.
72. While in England, I made money by surfing the web and viewing advertisements...
73. Enough money to register a domain name and get my website hosted.
74. I support licensed software and music.
75. In fact, I believe use of pirated material is a form of theft, even as an end user. Thou shalt not steal.
76. As a result, I own licensed copies of Windows 2000 Professional, Microsoft Office XP, and the latest Macromedia Studio MX 2004. $$$$$$.
77. I am often taunted for being respecting intellectual property, but I feel I'm doing what's right. So there!

While in Bristol, England...

78. I used to stay up really late in the computer lab so I could have all the bandwidth to myself.
79. Until they put ethernet in our rooms. Woo-hoo!
80. Once, I was ranked the eighth most busy user on ResNet.
81. Naturally, I found out the secret rankings page through some incredibly obscure keyword search on the university intranet.
82. I joined the MSSA (Malaysian-Singaporean Singapore Association) and got elected into the Committee.
83. It was an incredibly humbling experience, but to this day I am proud to have been part of the team.
84. I learnt web design from a fellow Committee Member, and registered my first domain name. (Just updated his website address)
85. I even taught myself how to use Majordomo, the common mailing list tool. How geek is that?!
86. After a drunken Halloween bash, I bantered with an officer who pulled up beside me at a major road, on which I was squatting just moments before, in an attempt to prove to a friend that hardly there were any cars on the road at that time of night.
87. I once walked all the way from the city centre, to North Somerset, another district. The weather was lovely. I even saw deer.
88. I once missed the bus to Heathrow Airport, dashed to the train station, got stuck halfway at Reading, and ended up taking a taxi all the way to the airport.
89. That cost me 50 quid. Which isn't too unreasonable a price to pay for catching the flight home.
90. I have been collecting Habitat catalogues since 2000. They're one of the most beautiful and inspirational catalogues I've ever seen. Beats IKEA hands down.
91. I miss Bristol.
92. I'd do it all over again.
93. And would you know ... I still haven't finished writing '100 things' yet ... please check back later. (Nos. 1-93 were last modified on 11/8/03 which is a very long time ago. Let me try to add a few more)

My work...

94. I've been through too many jobs in too little time. I can say I've been retrenched once, due to the dotcom boom. I can also say that I've been enjoying my new job and I think this is closer to what I want to do (where the Internet is concerned).
95. However I've made little secret of the fact that I do want to get some of my songs published. I'm happy with being a songwriter, unless I miraculously tone up my abs, grow one foot taller, turn white or black, develop a grrl attitude, do something about my hair, change my face, speak different languages, speak with a hip accent, and am willing to face the frontlines with millions of screaming, adoring fans and rows of paparazzi.
96. I am currently trying to lose more weight and exercise more. And eat more fruits and vegetables. That's part of my job now, don't you know. I'm relying on God to keep my mind clean and healthy.
97. I can be pretty fussy at times but have come to realise that 80% of the things I worry about, don't really matter, and the other 20% can be worked on in time, because not everyone is up to date on the latest practices, and also because I am once again on the bottom scale of the corporate ladder.
98. People in my current workplace are generally nice. I am thankful for that, because it lets me concentrate on important things, like real work.
99. I am actually proud that I meet with members of the public occasionally, usually through chance emails or telephone calls which somehow get diverted to me. Most are decent, some are a little demanding, but so far they've all had valid reasons for their requests.

That's all folks!

100. And I will probably revise this list when I have more time. So see you next, next year, folks!