25 Things

I succumbed to the rampant Facebook meme. So here are 25 things you may or may not know about me.

1. The sport I think I am best at is ice skating. (Unfortunate given that I am Singaporean)

2. I am not actually a 12 year ACS boy. I spent Primary 1 studying in Canada where I lived for five years.

3. I tend to like people very quickly, though I have come to realize that falling into like is not falling into love.

4. I wanted to be a Paleontologist and dig up Dinosaur bones when I was 5 years old.

5. I applied to Trinity College in Oxford after going on a school trip to the UK and visiting Oxford on one of those perfect summer days (of which I realized there are only 10 every year). Trinity was recommended by the person showing us around because his girlfriend went there and he said it had nice lawns.

6. I vacillate over making important decisions but I ultimately finally make my call mainly based on my gut instinct (and not reason).

7. I am a terrible procrastinator, and I often like the randomness of doing something at the spur of the moment.

8. When I travel, I prefer to backpack and I prefer to do so on my own. (Though I am on the lookout for good travel companions!)

9. I am probably one of the only people to shed a tear during the sequence where Gene Kelly dances and sings in the rain in Singin' in the Rain, which is one of the most joyous scenes in cinema. (Why? Ask me and I might tell you)

10. I like staying up late, and I am not a morning person by nature or inclination.

11. I still haven't learned how to drive a car.

12. I think that more guys than girls tried to hit on me when I was at University.

13. I have appeared on 4 televised quiz shows in my lifetime, and competed for my University in quizzing. (Yes, there is such a thing as quizzing tournaments!)

14. I sometimes wonder if coming back to Singapore was the right decision and if I should have stayed in the UK. In many ways, Oxford will always have my heart.

15. My dream jobs include writing for the Economist, becoming the film critic of the New York Times, a professorship at a top US University though I would settle for winning $20 million dollars and then being able to do what I want.

16. The first crush I remember having (other than a really sweet and quiet girl whom I always wanted to sit next to when I was five) was when I saw Natalie Portman in Leon (The Professional) when I was 13.

17. I probably have more than 2,o00 books in my bedroom. If a fire were to start, I would be in deep trouble.

18. Caleb actually means "dog" in Hebrew though it also means "Brave one". And I am born in the Chinese year of the dog.

19. I loved waterfalls when I was younger. Visiting Iguazu Falls (in South America) and Victoria Falls (in Africa) remain lifelong dreams. My family visited Niagara Falls a half dozen times when we were in Canada.

20. I attended an American high school for 3 months when I was 13.

21. Reading Science Fiction and Fantasy is one of my guilty pleasures which I picked up when I read Dune and The Lord of the Rings respectively when I was 14.

22. I think it would be wonderful to own a bookshop, a pub, or a cafe, or why not all three

23. I am inherently less competitive now than I was when I was younger, but I still dislike losing.

24. I once met the Sultan of Trengganu's wife in person (a sultana, I have been informed) when I accompanied a close friend on a holiday there. His family knew the Royals personally, apparently.

25. I am a closet romantic at heart despite my somewhat harder more cynical exterior. I call this being an M&M (hard on the outside, soft and gooey inside).