Imperfection

7 random people spotted at cafes

I'm no Kabbalist, but I learnt recently that in the book of Revelations 7 is supposed to be a number for perfection and completeness. There's also the lucky 7, the 7 deadly sins, Kurosawa's 7 Samurai, John Ford's The Magnificent Seven...and now, the blogosphere's 7 meme that malefactor and thirty pounces tagged me with. It seemed simple enough to complete at first: 7 lists of 7 items. But I was wrong.

And since perfection in life is an impossibility on this fallen earth, here's my imperfect 7.

7 things that scare me:
1. Horror movies...even trailers for horror movies
2. Empty public toilets
3. Quiet, empty streets at night
4. Taking the lift alone at night (thanks to trailers for Dark Water)
5. Losing family/friends to disease/death
6. Heights
7. Lizards

7 things I like the most:
1. Chowchow (see #1 next)
2. A late morning coffee at Killiney Kopitiam on a weekday when everyone else is working
3. BBQ chicken wings (made by the guy in the photo holding the Starry Wings t-shirt )
4. Funny-looking children
5. Weekend mornings in bed (watching cartoons)
6. An empty swimming pool all to myself on a clear day
7. Stories

7 important things in my room:
1. My security blanket - Chow-chow (trans: smelly). It has been with me since I was 5...I have so many stories of Chowchow I think I shall soon dedicate a post to it. I love Chowchow. Wherever there is Chowchow, it's my room.
2. Coming in a distant second is my 6-month old ibook.
3. Shelves of booksbooksbooks

Ok, that's only 3. Imperfect but at least it's a prime number.

7 random facts about me:
1. I have been having a recurring dream for the past few years. In it, I find myself in Cambridge UK again, rushing to buy groceries at Sainsbury's before it shuts, looking for my old bike, checking my mailbox...getting asked by people why have I returned. Uneventful, really. But so persistent and predictable.
2. I have a sister who is 14 years younger than me
3. I chew my finger nails and have never had to cut them
4. I'm a good girl (my closest brush with the law is for jaywalking in front of a police station)
5. I am taller than Tolkein's hobbits
6. I have only watched 1 horror movie - Poltegeist - from start to end. Never again.
7. I had acute pneumonia last year and had to stay in Tan Tock Seng Hospital's new isolation ward (built after the SARS scare and at the start of the avian flu).

7 things i plan to do before i die:
1. Publish a picture/graphic/anything book or 7
2. Start and sustain a retail store - books, music, clothes, toys...
3. Start and sustain a good publishing company
4. Take my mom on more holidays
5. Complete a MFA
6. Help out on a regular, committed basis with a youth organisation
7. Of course, to make sure 1-6 stand a higher chance: quit my job.

7 things i can do:
1. Write funding proposals, 8 hours a day if I have to
2. Write long sentences with multiple digressions and parentheses and exclamation marks (though not in funding proposals, however much I am tempted to)
3. Look on the bright side...
4. Say sorry first
5. Curl up in an economy class plane seat
6. Draw strangers on the train between stops
7. Draw strangers while eavesdropping on their conversations

7 things I can't do:
1. Watch horror movies
2. Stay angry
3. Talk softly (here, my mother's demure Teochew ways are overwhelmed by my Father's loud, southern, Hainanese genes. Hainanese women are supposedly known for their revolutionary spirit. And of course, revolutionaries must have loud, bold voices. )
4. Whistle
5. Drive
6. Grow taller
7. Remember things I was supposed to do/bring/remember (hence #1 below...)

7 things I say the most:
1. "Aiyah, I forgot!"
2. "No probs"
3. "Funny siah"
4. "I need a coffee"
5. "Nice, very lang ga" (trans: crash/collide/clash)
6. "Nice, very let-low" (trans: retro)
7. "You ah, you're really full of shit" (To J only, and really, it's affection)

7 celebrity crushes:
Hmm...none. Another imperfection. So here's a photo instead of a perfect-looking mushroom we spotted this morning.

The photo is by J who, though not a celebrity, is the closest I can think of as a crush.






7 people who could do this:
Most people i know who have a blog have done this or have already been tagged...so the remaining folks are -
- terz
- jing
- wurx
- radiohate
- thinktank
- wheyface