Memed

My earliest memory is… you know, I’m not sure. I can remember the first time I realized I could read, though. I was just idly looking at the New Straits Times tv section and suddenly it dawned on me that there was news in Tamil on RTM 2 and that I was reading it. I went and read bits of the paper and from then on I could read! I think I was 4? 5? Or 6? I wish I could remember what time the news in Tamil was on, though…

At school i… hated Maths. In primary school we used to do congak, which is sort of maths dictation where the teacher states a problem and you work it out and write down the answer. We regularly did 10 questions at a time, and it was not unusual for me to get less than 50% correct. One time one of my teachers decided I was being recalcitrant for getting 2/10 or lower every day for a week and made me stand in the back of the room for the whole Maths period…

My first relationship was… a disaster. It started off as an experiment on my part. He asked me out and I thought, ‘Why not?’ and then stupidly went and got besotted. I suppose everyone needs at least one episode of painful, unrequited love in their lives.

I don’t like talking about… lots of things. That’s why I am so good at gabbing on about lots of other things. Distracts from whatever it is I don’t feel like talking about at the time.

My drink of choice is… strong hot tea, with a slurp of cow’s milk. Or cold green tea. Or Heineken beer.

My mother and father always told me… Mum always said whistling was unladylike (so I can now whistle most things), and “if you haven’t got anything nice to say, don’t say anything.” Dad? Can’t think of anything, sorry.

I wish i had learned… the Chinese language (any dialect) properly as a child. I learned it at university, so now I will always be a Chinese-as-a-second-language speaker.

I wish i hadn’t… cut my shoe laces. They’re fraying everywhere and make my shoes look like they’ve had a bad perm, according to one of my workmates.

My most humiliating moment was… so humiliating I repressed the memory (just my facetious way of saying I can’t remember anything that humiliating).

My happiest moment was… getting married to M.

At home i cook… infrequently. I am lazy.

My last meal would be… completely indulgent and full of fats, salts and everything forbidden by medical science.

I’m loving… my life as it is now. (Corny but true!)

Living to 100 would be… good, so long as I was healthy and lucid. I’d love to come back in 200, 300 years’ time and see what the world has evolved into!

Friends say i am… too helpful for my own good sometimes.

One day i’ll… drag M to Europe with me to visit the Dutch relatives!

Perhaps i should’ve studied… something more practical than Chinese politics and librarianship? Naaaaaah…

If only… there were more hours in a day!

The last big belly laugh i had… with M. I can’t remember what made us laugh but I was holding my sides, coughing and wiping the tears from my eyes.

What i don’t find amusing is… ignorance, and pride in that ignorance.

On my bedside table are… a bottle of water, the To Read pile and the alarm clock.

I’m always being asked… “Do you work here?”

My favourite game is… Civilisation. All versions. When is Civ 4 coming out??

If i were a car i’d be… electric!

I often wonder how… long it will be before we find other sentient life in the universe.

Courtesy of CherryRipe in Sydney.

Feel free to do this!

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