my 25...whatever(s)

there was a silly tradition going on at facebook where people wrote down 25 random facts about themselves and put it up. they also tagged a whole lot of their friends and made them write their own notes. i found it quite stupid at first, although i had a lot of fun laughing over other peoples' notes.

only when i started writing my own did i realise how much harder it is to remember the not-so-obvious details about oneself. so as a memory, i have put it down here.

here goes...

1. my name means 'night' - and its kinda cool that i was born at night :) not that my parents saw it that way when they named me. it took some years before i developed my talents of synthesis and speech to make the connection and tell them about it.

2. i love coffee - i spend time and effort searching out good coffee. i also hope to fulfil my two aims of owning a espresso machine (a sleek one with the works) and becoming a barista someday (i mean a knowledgeable barista, not the starbucks kind)

3. i once developed a sci-fi theory about parallel worlds that are born out of and exist to play out the many different consequences stemming from every action on our planet - i later found out that it is a real, accepted scientific theory, and the basis for a novel called 'timeline' by crichton. i felt like a genius when i found that out!! :D

4. i have found out that it really pays to have a friend who is into photography - you get to pose as his/her unofficial model and have some amazing photographs taken for keeps!! :)

5. i tried learning french (once at uni, twice at a french school) - i realised i don't have the ear or tongue for the language. and i cant understand how u call a thing a 'he' or 'she'. i have given up.

6. i love good food. i think that rest is self-explanatory.

7. i cant stand 'organic' vegetarian restaurants that serve up bad food in the name of health. i mean, why shud i pay (and a bomb at that) for bland pasta and dry cake? on the same note, i find it weird that people would pay a whole lotta money for tomatoes with their leaves still stuck on.

8. i lived in canada for close to a year. i got to experience winter, spring and summer but not autumn - and that is the season i always wanted to see. i still haven't had a chance to go back in time for autumn.

9. i love batman - he is my all-time favourite superhero. i used to have another favourite called phantom when i was much younger, but didn't see many comics about him as i was growing up, so the interest slowly went down.

10. i love chocolates - sweet and dark. there is no comfort food as good as chocolate! i visited the ghirardelli factory in san francisco, and was very impressed by just how much work it takes to make good chocolate!

11. i enjoy travelling - there is something very liberating about getting on a plane or train and going away someplace be it familiar or new.

12. i like CSI, but get quite freaked out by pyscho movies. i saw 'bone collector' and very affected by it. i actually refused to take a taxi alone right after that.

13. i have a mouse-pad with the year's calendar on it, a stand-up calendar and a pencil-holder with the month's dates on it. but every time i need to check the date, i end up looking for my phone or my comp's calendar. talk about memory loss!

14. i once tried curling my already curly hair (to make it more evenly curly). it ended in a disaster. i learnt a worthwhile lesson that day and decided not to mess with chemicals anymore.

15. my mother tongue is tamil, but i never went beyond speaking it until the end of my school years. when my brother was in primary school, i used his tamil textbooks to learn how to read. i can now read tamil (albeit very slowly).

16. i have a terrible sense of direction. i have gotten lost even in familiar places. i walked to the back of my block and found it to be a whole new area. even when going to something as popular as the national library, i have to get full-scale directions and landmark pointers. oh, and i cant read maps for nuts.

17. when i was about 3, my parents got me a picture book for learning alphabets. i took the
'e for elephant' to heart. one night, i saw a mouse running across the room and screamed, "look, an elephant!" needless to say, the adults couldn't stop laughing. not too long after, my parents took me to a zoo to see a real elephant :D

18. i am accident-prone. i have fallen in buses and down flights of steps, jammed my fingers and toes, and bumped into furniture numerous times. not to mention that i have spilt coffee on my desk and drenched documents far too many times.

19. i used to have a fascination for encyclopedias when i was younger (until i entered my teens, i think). i used to read them back-to-back, over and over again. i cant remember what caused that fascination, but i do remember an encyclopedia collection that my cousin owned - it was beautifully illustrated with entries written in as stories. it is still one of the best books i have ever read, but sadly have never come across it since.

20. i discovered a love for baking when i made a cake for my brother last year. he seemed a bit hesitant to try it at first, but later said it was 'quite ok' (thats a compliment for him) my latest accomplishment was a batch of cinnamon buns, complete with frosting. alas, i don't own an oven yet, but i got to bake my buns in my fren's oven.

21. like many kids out there, i once nursed dreams of being a doctor. i imagined myself as a surgeon who would go out there and save people. biology in secondary school rid me of such aspirations. i now satisfy any left-over ambitions by watching Grey's Anatomy.

22. i have a horrendous fear of thrill rides and animals (includes insects). many people have tried to convince me of the merits of both, and even offered suggestions of how to go about conquering my fear. to date, i haven't been able to overcome my fear of either.

23. i am quite fond of my brother, but sometimes cant remember exactly which year of uni he is in right now. i am also a bit confused as to what course he is studying.

24. i never realised how much i like the combination of bus rides and music until last night – when i sacrificed a taxi ride i could have claimed for, just so i could take the bus home and listen to my ipod.

25. some four years back, i went to disney land for the first time, and saw the 'snow white' musical there. it brought the story alive for me, and i was as mesmerized by it as the five-year-olds sitting next to me. to date, it is one of the best shows i have seen :)