25 Things you probably didn’t know about me
1. Sarah(my wife) is not my first girlfriend. My first girlfriend was Catherine in Nursery school. I can’t even remember whether we broke up (oops).
2. In primary 1, a girl called Stephanie stabbed my arm with a pencil. I cried and reported her to the teacher, and the teacher punished her. Ha!
3. I remember the He-Man Universe was one of my favourite toys. I collected all the good characters e.g. He-Man, Man-at-Arms, and did not buy a single bad guy. I even have Castle Greyskull in my collection (Duncan).
4. My first piano teacher was a woman called Cecilia. I dreaded going to class because she would scold me for not cutting my nails. That explains why i was always biting my nails when I was young, in order to trim them.
5. Scouts was my first ECA in Primary school. I wasn’t very good at collecting badges, although I distinctly remember getting the book-reading badge by submitting 10 book reports (of which I made up 9).
6. I read 6-7 books at a go, and maybe finish only 3 of them. I have a whole pile of books stacked up on the floor, beside my bed.
7. I can grow and shrink my waistline almost-at-will. My waistline fluctuated between 27 (recently) to 33 (2003 in army). I have stretch marks.
8. I almost signed on with the Air Force as an Air Operations Communications Officer (aka traffic controller), when I was in the army. I literally had the contract sitting in front of me waiting for my signature, but the good Lord stayed my hand and prevented me from making a mistake.
9. Chicken Rice is a meal that I can have 3 times a day, without feeling sick.
10. In primary school, I was 4th in command of a secret society. My codename was “Golden Pangolin”. Having gone to the night safari, I now realise that’s pretty unflattering.
11. I used to think that the Private Sector is more efficient, and more talented than the Civil Service. Now I don’t.
12. I was first attracted to Sarah because she was carrying a huge yellow Smiley Face bag.
13. When Sarah became my girlfriend, one of the first things she did was to cut her hair short like a boy. I still reckon its because she was testing me.
14. I remember I tried perming my hair before (the fringe). It looked weird.
15. I went to Zouk and Fire when I was 15. Back then, it was cool. Tea-dances were for kiddies.
16. I long to come home each day to a big HUG by Sarah, Lizzie, and Sasa. I get upset when I have to stay late and miss putting my kids to bed.
17. Everytime I go overseas, I always like to visit MacDonalds. It gives me a sense of familiarity and comfort.
18. I used to collect Panini stickers of the World cup and Basketball cards. I can’t believe how I used to remember exactly which stickers/cards were missing in my collection (there must be at least 500 cards to collect!). Rumeal Robinson (NBA Draft pick 10 in 1990) was by far the hardest card to get.
19. I did a science experiment once on chicks and diet. I fed them different combinations of vitamin C, chicken feed, egg. My conclusion was that those who were fed eggs grew healthiest.
20. My only appearance on TV was an brief interview for a hydoponics experiment I was part of, where I grew cherry tomatoes. I complained about how hot the “stupid greenhouse” was on National TV.
21. For my scholarship interview, I was asked whether Woman should do National Service. I emphatically stated NO!, and substantiated by saying that this could cause unintended social problems.
22. One of my proudest moment in my band life was transcribing, and performing Benny Goodman’s Sing, Sing, Sing from the Dallas Brass CD. We performed it in front of over 1000 people at the concert. I still can’t believe how we pulled it off.
23. I love to conduct - it gives me a high everytime I stand in front of musicians, wave my hands and the music flows.
24. I love playing music with others and my favourite instrument is the Euphonium. I hate to play music alone. I like it when we are in a band, and we’re playing different parts, but they all come together to make a wonderful heavenly sound.
25. Jesus Christ is my Lord and Saviour. I didn’t search for Him, but he came looking for me when I was as young as 6, when I found the Picture Bible in my Grandma’s house. I thought it was just a comic, but I only came to realise that comic book was actually Truth only much later on.
