26 Random Things About Me

1. My closest friends are not of the same age group, with most of them almost 10 years older than me. I've always been able to get along better with them than with my peers, not too sure why.

2. I love food and I enjoy eating and the only time I've actually really lost my appetite was when I was down with a bout of food poisoning in Bhutan and Nepal. It was the first time LGG saw me unable to eat, and it was quite worrying. Thankfully I was able to start eating soon after I came back to Singapore.

3. I finally understood the true meaning of family and family support in 2008. My family has been there for me through thick and thin and without them I won't know where I'd be today. I've learned to treasure them a whole lot more.

4. The first thing I install in my computer at any job is MSN. Oops, I forgot it's called Windows Live Messenger now. I'm addicted and have too many contacts on my list. (340 contacts! I need to start pruning my list.) One of my dream jobs is to get paid to chat with my friends on MSN all day. I'll be rich!

5. Sometimes I have the weirdest dreams. Apparently it's a reflection of repressed desires. If that's true, I'm really quite disturbed. Lol.

6. I've been blessed to work in jobs that require me to travel. The best work trip I've been on was probably to Mongolia where I was paid to take minutes for one meeting! Spent the rest of the time drinking vodka, riding horses and enjoying the countryside.

7. Giving up alcohol was one of the harder changes I've had to make. It wasn't just avoiding booze, but changing my social lifestyle as well. I struggled with it a lot in the initial stages and would avoid meeting friends because I didn't want to be tempted. Things are a lot better now and I don't think too much about it anymore.

8. The only time that I've been hospitalised was when I had an undetected case of urinary tract infection. I didn't have any of the usual symptoms and went to the A&E when my fever kept spiking. I had to be warded to make sure the infection didn't spread to my kidneys and spent my birthday in 2005 in hospital. It was the first (and only) time I got 3 birthday cakes- one from my family, another from JM and the third from the doctor who probably bought it because I whined so much about being in hospital on my birthday.

9. I've made mayonnaise from scratch. I've also made kaya and butter. No reason really, I just wanted to see if I could.

10. One of my favourite singers is Astrud Gilberto. I listened to her music a lot when I was going through my first serious breakup but never knew who she was until a couple of years later. Listening to her songs still brings me back to those days when I'd cry myself to sleep in my hostel room almost 8 years ago.

11. Most of the books that I've read were recommended to me by my sister. She's a voracious reader and was the one who introduced me to the books that I now have come to love and enjoy. Without her I probably wouldn't had read as much as I have now.

12. I used to be quite violent when I was younger, with my poor sister getting the brunt of most of my tantrums. Apparently I've hit her in the face with a badminton racket, stabbed her hand with a mechanical pencil and thrown a knife at her. I used to have anger management issues I reckon.

13. I also used to be a very weird child. Apparently I stapled my finger with a stapler because I wanted to see how painful it was and I'd cut my eyelashes because I thought they were too long.

14. Sometimes I question why we have to do the right thing and behave like responsible adults. I yearn for the days of self indulgence and irresponsible behaviour but try to control myself now because I am frightfully afraid of having to answer to God. (God: Why did you kiss another guy when you were still legally married? Me: Er cos I couldn't wait for my papers to be finalised? FAIL.)

15. No, I didn't kiss any guy, and there is no queue. I'm still waiting for my papers to be finalised. I think my marriage and subsequent split taught me a lot about myself and I think one of the ongoing lessons for me is patience.

16. I shop like a man. I'm not one of those who can go from shop to shop to shop to shop and try on a million different articles of clothing, compare prices and then go try on the same items of clothing but in different colours. I have an item that I need to get, I find it, try them on to make sure it fits, then buy it.

17. One bad habit that I have is cracking my knuckles. My hands feel stiff if I don't crack them but I know it's making my fingers look all weird and knobby. I have ugly man-hands.

18. My friends used to tease me that I was surgically attached to my phone. I'm not as bad anymore but I still feel uncomfortable if I don't have my phone with me. Actually, I don't think I've ever forgotten to bring my phone out before, but I have forgotten to charge the battery and I've had my phone die on me a couple of times.

19. I made my Chemistry teacher cry when I was in secondary school and was subsequently kicked out of class just a month before the O' Level examinations. Basically I lied about getting permission from her to skip class and got found out. She was appalled that I'd lie about such a thing and instead of getting to sit in revision classes I had to make my way to the discipline office during her classes.

20. During Chinese New Year, I can easily eat as many as 10 mandarin oranges a day. Probably more. No lack of vitamin C during this season!

21. I have to cover myself with a blanket when sleeping, no matter what the weather is. I'd rather have the fan blast at me and cover up, than sleep without a blanket.

22. Something that I need to conquer (but am not sure how) is my fear of heights. My legs literally tremble and sometimes I get paralysed with fear. This doesn't stop me from going on holidays where I have to climb though. I'm proud to say that I've climbed the Great Wall of China, the Angkor Wat in Cambodia and my highest achievement, the Tiger's Nest in Bhutan (3300m!).

23. Even though I used to booze heavily in the past, I've never smoked a cigarette, shisha or done any recreational drugs. Except for the one time I forgot that I was on painkillers after taking out my wisdom teeth, and had a bourbon coke soon after. I couldn't even stand and had to be carried back by 2 friends.

24. I think the best song of all time is Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody.

25. Someone once told me, "If you're going to do it don't regret it, if you're going to regret it don't do it." Fantastic words of wisdom that I live by.

26. One of the things I'm going to do is say "yes" more this year. Yes to meeting friends. Yes to experiences. Yes to life. (Yeah yeah, I know this sounds like Jim Carrey's Yes Man.)