25

Ok I have been tagged like 3 times with this now, so I suppose I'll write about this.
I'm not going to tag another 25 ppl though so yeah like tammer says, tag yourself.
I don't have internets at home yet due to AT&T's typical fuckups, so don't have too much time to write still. Hopefully that will change. It's been really hectic since the move-out/move-in, oh well. can't do it all.

1. I love cheese. Triple cream cheeses, hard cheeses, stinky cheeses, any cheeses. I love them all.

2. I traveled a lot as a child: been all over China, Japan, South East Asia, western Europe, New Zealand. I don't remember much from a lot of these trips, but I am sure those experiences have shaped a lot of my world view.

3. My legal status has had an interesting history: British National Overseas (BNO, aka, you're a colonial subject of the British Empire and no citizenship for you), Hong Kong Permanent Resident (HK Citizenship is a grey and strange area, is there even such a thing?), Canadian (whoo!!), US Resident alien. I don't like the xenophobic ring of that last one, alien? Wtf.

4. I don't really have specific new year resolutions, I have two general perennial resolutions: to visit a new place every year, to do a new activity every year. This year's is already technically satisfied.... Kauai, and helicopter ride.

5. I love subways and light rails.

6. I like playing boardgames though I cannot play anything that requires any knowledge of trivia. Not growing up in the sphere of North American influence really cripples you in that dept.

7. I can write English backwards, or mirrored. Like, Leonardo style. I learned how to do that while being bored out of my fucking mind at corporate meetings.

8. I can fold my tongue in half, lengthwise. Like, without use of teeth. I learned how to do that while being bored out of my fucking mind in grade school.

9. I am in that strange and special club of people who can properly counter "you fight like a dairy farmer."

10. Holy three-headed-monkey, I make a living in that strange and special club now.

11. I really admire Nicolas Kristof, NYT columnist. His broadly humanist reporting inspires me to aim for a more empathetic and responsible life. He is also fluent in Chinese and Arabic, which I find totally awesome.

12. Related to #11, I took a year of Arabic (MSA). I still feel utterly elated when I can understand one or two words (mostly numbers) from snipbits of broadcast, or when I can read a sign in a restaurant. I really want to get back into it, but only when I can mentally commit fully to it again.

13. I take my charity support very seriously. I feel that informed and persistent giving has turned into a moral compass in my life. With knowledge comes responsibility. I support: CARE, Doctors Without Borders (MSF), UNICEF, Habitat for Humanity, Half the Sky, Somaly Mann Foundation.

14. I have a secret wish to go on a MSF mission at some point in my life. I lament that I lack any sort of qualifications to do such a thing.

15. I won a Home Economics prize when I was in grade 7 (8?) in Hong Kong. Funny I'm an artist now.

16. I won a Top in Sciences prize when I was in grade 12 in Vancouver. Funny I'm an artist now.

17. Most of my scary dreams have a theme: big dark shapes lurking in the ocean.

18. I love being on the water, but not really in the water, maybe due to #17. Paddling thus fits the bill perfectly.

19. I used to play the piano, the clarinet, and the Chinese flute. Though what I really want to play is the Chinese zither = Zheng.

20. One of the most memorable moments in my life: waking up at dawn on the deck of a felucca by the shore of the Nile, listening to the first prayer call echo over the waters, watching the reflection of the moon shimmer on the Nile.

21. My hair is naturally wavy, which is very unusual for ethic Chinese peeps. My great great grandfather on my dad's side supposedly had green eyes, or so his name suggested. Maybe the wave came from him.

22. I have a very complicated emotional relationship with my heritage. It is very hard for anybody who never had to adopt another nationality to understand.

23. I have lived in the US for a decade. Watching Obama's historic ascension to the presidency was the first time I felt like I wanted to be American.

24. I used to have more guy friends than female friends. As I get older I cherish my female friends more and more. Maybe it's because we actually grow up.

25. I grew up playing with box cutters. I still find the western aversion to giving kids actual sharp tools to be odd. Pain is a very good and effective lesson towards dexterity. Let them learn.



I suppose those are pretty random points. Yeah, so tag yourselves.