Little Known Facts

A great philosopher once cleverly noted that human beings are the only creatures who take great pride and satisfaction in amassing knowledge of trivial information and facts that no one has any use for. What a wise man.

Since everyone is interested in anyone else's trivia, I shall start the ball rolling by providing mine.

- When I was much younger, I could sleep standing up. (Regrettably, I have since lost this ability.)

- I could sleepwalk too. (I've lost this ability as well...)

- My sister and I would chase each other around the apartment with kitchen knives. (Pause) Wait a minute. Correction: My sister would chase me around the apartment with kitchen knives. Yes, my younger sister.

- I was a really shy and quiet kid back then. Not sure what happened to me down the road. Now, no one believes me when I tell them this.

- The first-ever prize that I received was a $100 HSBC cash savings account from an art competition. It was held at the zoo and I had a photo taken with Ah Meng the orangutan when I went onstage to receive my prize. On retrospect, they probably mistook me for an abtract art prodigy.

- I can play the piano. I'll show you my certificates from The Association of the Royal Schools of Music, just don't ask me to play.

- I was one of the top 2 AV Librarians in primary school. By primary 5, I was fully certified to operate and maintain every single audio-visual machine in the school. Now I can't even figure out my own cell phone.

- I represented my school in a national Chinese Dance competition and we got a silver award. It was a peacock dance item and I had feathers stuck to my head and all that.

- I was also part of my primary school athletics team, but I was a reserve runner so I never had the chance to compete at all.

- I can hula hoop forever if you don't stop me. Thus, I don't understand why some people can't do it.

- I can't swim properly with the freestyle. Better to stick to breaststroke if I don't want to drown.

- I once helped a classmate cheat in a Home Economics exam by baking a cake for her at the very last minute. The one she made looked like vomit and I happened to be in a charitable mood.

- Gee, I was part of my class's Chinese poetry reciting team. It was a scam.

- I hosted 2 Taiwanese girls in my home for my school exchange program. They were so traumatized that I never heard from them again.

- I won the first prize for an English poetry contest. I took a cue form beauty pageants and wrote something about world peace. And I think all I got was a lousy certificate.

- I skipped classes in JC to play Pictionary with my PE teacher.

- I did double math double sciences at A levels. Until now, I'm not sure why I was THAT suicidal. I am convinced that 'Further Mathematics' is a hoax. They meant for it to be 'Fail Mathematics'.

- I was once kindly advised by my civics tutor to lengthen my JC skirt.

- Had stayed over illegally in school, attempted everything from hanging hammocks along the corridors, lugging guitars up onto the roof to sing in the moonlight, to (can you beat this) having a Chinese New Year steamboat dinner smack right on the track field. Lots of extension wire for that, I tell ya...

- My mom still recalls with pride my execution of 'commando flips' over the school gate when she came to pick me up from school on late nights. It's pretty simple actually...fling bag over gate, pull up skirt, climb gate, push, pose and flip.

- I participated in the Big Walk women's team event with ODAC mates and we came in 3rd. The prize was a trophy and a Timex watch each...and very sore legs. The trophy broke by the time I got home, and I gave the watch away. The only lasting thing was the pair of sore legs.

- I got my first black Motorola pager in 1995 and my first cell phone 3 years later - and lost my freedom ever since.

- I had red hair. Well, Uncle Ronald McDonald was the icon of that time.

- My numerous part-time/vacation jobs in my school years include:
1) dermatology clinic assistant
2) math tutor
3) summer camp counselor
4) college store clerk (selling candy, laundry tokens and college memorabilia)
5) volunteer English teacher for Asian women and kids at Sunday church
6) translator
7) western cook
8) bartender
9) stand-in office manager at the Hawaiian Trade Office (In between watering plants and replacing printer cartridges, the only significant thing I did on this job was typing and translating an official US visa request document for a for a Taiwan Minister's visit to Hawaii.)

- I rowed in a women's eight race on the Mississippi River. Our daily training involves waking up at 4:30am and running up and down a hill before sunrise in -10 degree C weather, rowing for 3 straight hours and then washing up the sweep boat. Mind you, we still had class after that, followed by more gym practice on rowing machines. I must be outta my mind.

- I stole muffins and fruits from the university cafeteria on a daily basis. It helped that the Minnesota weather is permanently at ice-point and we all wore huge jackets. Some dudes even stole dining trays for snowsliding.

- I was forever being mistaken for Keiko, who was one year my senior in college. And I would be 'the girl who looks just like Keiko'. No one remembered my name, I think.

- My first uni crush was on this guy who bought laundry tokens from me at the college store. He played the trumpet in the college jazz band and was a tennis player. Now you know why I cannot resist guys who play jazz and tennis.

- I learnt to drive in the states. It was a cute red Chevy. No need for theory tests or anything at all. The minute I met my instructor, he put me in the driver's seat and said, " OK, young lady, let's go!"

- I was once stalked by a frog-T-shirt weirdo from South Carolina when we were on exchange in Japan. It was rather scary but nothing dangerous. Having huge guy friends to walk you around can be a life-saver.

- I sang in a pseudo rock band called Dirty Dogs (we later realized that a dozen other college bands went by the same name too, and decided to change it to Rock Bandit). That was the start and the end of my singing career.

- I don't chat on the phone. It's a health hazard. I type fervently on MSN instead. Easier to let my fingers do the talking.

- I can dance a decent Hawaiian hula dance. In fact, I coached 5 other girls overnight and performed our first item on stage to resounding success. I think. Girls, tell me it was a success...Or, well at least we were the cutest performers.

- I really wanted to be a nurse or a teacher or a tai-tai who does charity work. Now it's a little late but I'm working on it... guess which one.

- I am crazy about writing and photography. If you need someone to write your obituary or shoot your last fleeting presence, I'll be glad to help.

- I am addicted to my blog.

- I think I can't stop.

Someone help...