Tagged!

Releasing the curse of the tag.

Rules of the game:
1. Each player of this game starts off with ten weird things or habits or little known facts about yourself.
2. People who get tagged must write in a blog of their own ten weird things or habits or little known facts as well as state this rule clearly.
3. At the end you must choose six people to be tagged and list their names.
4. No tagbacks!

1. As with most boys after watching Top Gun, I wanted to chase the flying dream. I signed on as a pilot trainee with the Singapore Air Force when I was eighteen. Three months into the training, I was "chopped" - on my birthday. So much from the people who are paid from the taxes inflicted on my parents and friends.

2. I have a history of self-inflicted injuries. My nose bridge is crocked from an childhood accident when my knee said Hi to the nose as I ducked under a tree branch while running. The scar on my right wrist was a result of me stepping on the hand after doing a triple-jump routine. I was wearing spiked shoes then. Ouch.

3. Ever since I saw Sundram do the bicycle kick against Brunei in 1994 at the National Stadium, I harboured hopes of doing the same in front of an appreciative audience. I practiced the routine every day on my bed and had the chance to pull it off when I was playing my first competitive match for VS. The boot met empty air instead. Tata to a trial with the Gunners.

4. Army was not where I learnt the art of killing. My first "kill" was a harmless pigeon which I rescued from the void deck when I was around 9-10 of age. Seeing that it was limping, I brought it home for a shower and tried to feed the bird. Unfortunately it didn't fancy a clean-up and was on a hunger strike. I tried to smoke out the nostrils and it died from CO2 poisoning. I buried it at the playground near my place.

5. My left hand is the only limb left untouched by surgeons. Both knees have undergone reconstruction and I was actually proud to cite competitive injuries as cause for their imperfection. Playing "catching" at the local playground and fracturing the right arm after a mis-guided jump probably didn't win me many followers in the neighbourhood.

6. My first real ambition was to be a PE teacher since I was into sports in school and was very close to my PE coaches. A neighbour, who was (and still is, I think) a history teacher, probably crushed my idealistic vision of a PE teacher when he quoted the following: "If you can, do it. If you can't, teach. If you still can't teach, do PE." - How motivating.

7. I then wanted to do economics in Uni, having struggled with impractical subjects like Physics and Chemistry (they don't change the economy, do they?). Then came a friend who told me Accountancy is the fastest way to getting a professional degree with honours in three years. And having the fairer sex as the majority in the cohort. I did not have to think twice.

8. I was probably a fantasy customer for retailers, at least until 2 years ago. It doesn't take much to convince me to buy anything. As long as the sales staff is nice and keep asking questions or giving me information, I will end up buying the product. I once shocked my friends when I "upped" the quoted price in Bali when a pretty Balinese tried to sell me some wooden monkey figurines. From Rp10,000 to Rp 20,000. She probably thought I was Li Ka-Shing.

9. I don't like to eat pork or beef. Beef because I was a Buddhist and is still not accustomed to eating beef after years of abstinence. Pork because I had an overdose of cold pork cubes in the Army. Funnily enough I liked char siew.

10. Speaking about char siew, I was a regular patron of the corner char siew rice stall at KFC (Kallang Food Centre) when I wa in Upper Sec. I faithfully ordered that culinary delight, topped with a hard-boiled egg and accompanied by a Ice Kachang for dessert, whenever I went there for lunch. So if you want to be like me, you know the dietary requirements!

My tag victims - Amy, Merlin, Weifu, Eliza (twice now), Xueyan and Kevin!