102 Things About Me

1. I come from a family of four. Mom, dad, big brother and me.
2. We’re Chinese.
3. My grandparents (all four of them) came from China.
4. My hometown is Petaling Jaya (PJ), Selangor, Malaysia. I was born in Assunta Hospital and I lived and studied in PJ until I decided to come to Singapore to study.
5. That’s how I landed in this tiny island, south of my homeland. I came here to study at the National University of Singapore (NUS). I can’t believe it was that L-O-N-G ago.
6. What I can’t believe more is that I’m still here! And will be for sometime…
7. since I married a Singaporean and
8. bore him 2 Singaporean kids!
9. I grew up not knowing how to speak, read or write Mandarin (Chinese).
10. Neither could any of my immediate family members!
11. We spoke Cantonese (a Chinese dialect) and English at home.
12. Now I’ve learnt to speak some Mandarin (but I still can’t read or write)
13. not quite because I’m in Singapore as all of my friends here are more comfortable with English.
14. More because I had to communicate with my parents in law.
15. Although Bahasa Malaysia (Malay) was the medium of instruction throughout my schooling years,
16. I was (and am) most comfortable with English. Reading mainly English books.
17. I think it was because my teachers spoke to us in English and taught us using both English and Bahasa Malaysia.
18. So in school, I’d read the text in Malay, process it in English in my head and write a translated answer in Malay. Complicated huh? But it was second nature to me.
19. It’s a strange phenomenon. Unique to some of us Malaysians and is a result of British Colonialism and gaining independence.
20. I miss Malaysian food… A LOT.
21. My favourite food is Nasi Lemak (the best is with beef rendang on banana leaf… hmm…yummm).
22. I am only 5 feet 2 inches (156cm) tall.
23. Well at least I’m an inch or so taller than mom! No guesses where I got my vertically challenged genes from.
24. It’s the same genes that gave me brown hair instead of black (most, if not all my Asian friends have black hair).
25. It’s gotten darker now (almost black) which is strange because it was a lighter brown when I was in my teens.
26. I used to wish for black hair back then. I think it was because I associated it with beauty. You know, Snow White had black velvet hair!
27. But that changed halfway through secondary (high) school when tinting hair brown became “in”.
28. I have no favourite colour. Seriously I don’t.
29. I can’t ride a bicycle…
30. Yes, I am very embarrassed by that fact. Learn now? You gotta be kidding me; I’m just too chicken about falling and scraped knees!
31. But I can roller blade (see, I do have some sense of balance). Just the basic blading forward okay? No fancy smancy stuff (er… that includes braking nicely)
32. Nope, no roller skating or ice skating. Maybe I’ll give it a go… sometime.
33. I have a driving license but…
34. I can’t drive! Not anymore anyway.
35. I got my license in Malaysia just before I came to study in Singapore
36. And I couldn’t afford to have a car here with the price of cars in Singapore!
37. So… I haven’t driven since I got my license! (more than 10 years ago)
38. But learning to drive again is in my list of things to do.
39. I like to swim.
40. I don’t mind jogging.
41. But I have problems with scheduled group exercise such as aerobics
42. That’s because I basically do not like schedules very much. I am more of a wing it person.
43. However now that I’m a stay at home mom to two young kids I thrive on schedules. It’s one of the things that keep me sane. “You and you, it’s time for your scheduled nap!”
44. Yup, I am generally rather disorganized. Definitely not type A. A visit to my home would definitely highlight this virtue of mine! Hmm… I’d like to think that it’s organized mess. Order in disorder.
45. I hate housework.
46. I don’t mind cooking, sometimes even enjoy it but HATE cleaning up after.
47. I don’t bake.
48. I don’t sew.
49. I ironed my first piece of clothing at 19.
50. I washed my own clothes using the washing machine only when I moved to Singapore (no choice, I was on my own).
51. Hmm… yes I’m not the least bit domesticated!
52. Don’t ask me how I survived 4 and half years (so far) of being a stay at home mom. It’s a miracle!
53. I am a stay at home mom by choice.
54. And continue to be one out of sheer determination.
55. Determined that if my kids were to be brainwashed they’d be brainwashed by me!
56. Yes, I am rather strong willed (it’s a much nicer word than stubborn don’t you think?)
57. And can be quite vocal (for an Asian).
58. I’m also very emotional.
59. I’m one of those who cry at movies, sometimes sob even!
60. Now that I’m a mother, it’s even worse. I’m super emotional.
61. Any news or stories of children being mistreated, dying, molested, going missing, forced to part with their mothers, etc. would just trigger sobbing. Yes, sobbing, not just tearing.
62. I sleep on my side and…
63. I need 3 pillows. One for my head, one between my legs and one on top of my head.
64. When I was pregnant I needed 5 pillows! One more to prop my head higher (to help with the heartburn) and one to support my back. Yeah, poor hubby, a very pregnant woman and 5 pillows! Goodness knows if he could turn at all!
65. I disliked both my pregnancies – 3 months of morning sickness! And another 3 months of heartburn (last trimester). Definitely didn’t glow!
66. Both my kids were delivered via C-section.
67. First was an emergency C-section after 20+ hours of labour and poor progress.
68. Second time round, when I didn’t dilate beyond 3cm after 2 hours of waiting, we decided to just go for a C-section.
69. So, not great pregnancies + C-sections = no more babies please!
70. I studied Economics and Statistics at university.
71. I even completed my Honours in Economics and completed it quite well too I might add (I don’t mean to brag, it’s just me needing the world to know that being a stay at home mom doesn’t mean I’ve no brains.)
72. I actually liked Mathematics (especially Additional Mathematics) in secondary (high) school and thrived in it.
73. I actually thrived in my studies.
74. Okay, I was more a nerd than miss popular or miss sporty.
75. Anyway, my first job was actually doing research!
76. But anyone who knew me could have figured I couldn’t last in such a job. One year and I called it quits.
77. Yup, I’m not that introverted.
78. My last “job” was office based, I did some research, organized some events, lots of meetings, networking, traveled some, “managed” some co-workers and a bit more than some coffee breaks.
79. It was a great place to work and I made some great friends there with whom I still keep in touch.
80. Yeah and of course I met my hubby there. (Hubby still works there)
81. Besides swimming, I like to read.
82. My favourite books are Jane Eyre, To Kill A Mockingbird and The Alchemist.
83. I’ve yet to read an entire non-fiction book this year.
84. I’m still trying to finish “Prayer” by Philip Yancey (quite obviously it’s a Christian book).
85. I love Philip Yancey books.
86. Another favourite Christian author of mine is Elisabeth Elliot.
87. At some point(s) in my life, especially in university, I wanted to be a missionary.
88. I went on several mission trips and loved each of them.
89. First was to Macau, a group of us (university friends) were there for 6 weeks.
90. Second, two of us joined the Doulos for 6 months traveling to East and South Africa.
91. I’m still open to going into the mission field should God calls us as a family.
92. I wasn’t born into a Christian family.
93. I became a Christian in my early teens.
94. That was a LONG time ago, somewhere in the 80s (that’s the closest hint you’ll get of my real age!)
95. I also like to watch movies.
96. My favourite movies are Fried Green Tomatoes, The Awakenings, Shawshank Redemption, The Bourne Identity Trilogy, Lord of the Rings Trilogy and others…
97. My current favourite TV show is Grey’s Anatomy.
98. The best part of the day for me is when both my kids are napping and I have the house quiet and all to myself.
99. The busiest parts of the day are the mornings and the evenings.
100. I used to be able to get through the day with just my morning cup of coffee.
101. These days I need two.
102. Wow, I can’t believe I made it to end of the list. What I can’t believe even more is that I’ve made it this far blogging!

Thanks so much for reading.