7 things about me

It has been long since I received a blogger award. I don't know what so versatile about me ~ but I got nominated for the Versatile Blogger Award by Adeline at Dancing In The Storm a few days ago. :) Thanks, Adeline! Was too busy to "participate" in the fun, thanks to my assignments - but I finally got down to it today. After a State-wide prayer meeting at the Georgetown Baptist Church too.

So, here’s the fun I am supposed to enjoy:

1) Add The Versatile Blogger award photo on a blog post
2) Thank the person who presented you with the award and link back to him or her in your post
3) Share seven things about yourself
4) Pass the award along to 15 bloggers you’ve recently discovered. Contact the chosen bloggers to let them know about the award.

Hmmm... seven things about myself? *Furiously combs brain* Well, here goes (in no particular order of importance)...

1) I love the arts. Be it music, performing arts, theatre, visual arts, literary arts, etcetera etcetera etcetera, I am game for it. As a child, my parents, by the divine arrangement of God, have always exposed me to learning, appraising, enjoying, doing and performing the arts. Various kinds. As a result, I have grown up into a young adult who always aches and itches to be involved in some kind of art... whether for fun or to bless others. When I am the artist, I feel alive, passionate, inspired and I encounter God.

2) I like eating. My hubby often says that when he first met me, he already knew (apparently by looking at my face) that I really like eating. I bet he is kidding ~ but nothing could be further from the truth. :P I do have a tam-chiak face. (Tam-chiak is "greedy for eats" if literally translated from Hokkien to English.) I do try not to go out of control ~ especially when I am traveling to new places with loads of new foods to explore. And I do try to exercise regularly. So, I hope it's OK to be incandescently happy when I am eating.

3) I am a seminary student. I have been in the seminary since year 2009 and I don't know for real when God wants me out of the seminary. I have graduated once in year 2011 ~ and yet, I am still in the seminary. I always tell myself that I am tired and that I need to have a break from the seminary... but I would find myself being drawn back to it somehow ~ so I guess, my time in the seminary is not up yet. I do other stuff as well ~ wife ministry (to my hubby), teach music, disciple, serve in the music ministry, missions, etc.

4) I have a good memory ~ it is a gift from God. My furthest memory goes all the way back to my 1st birthday, when I sat in my lacy pink dress on the Persian carpet of our living room... and thought, "It is really hot in here. I am not sure that I like lace." Following my 1st birthday, my memories are archived by the years. Say for instance, 1994, and I can remember the happenings that I encountered that year. Perhaps not all of them... but significant (and sometimes random) ones. I remember events via "video clips" of those events stored in my brain. I remember the stuff I need to regurgitate in my written exams by taking mental photographs of the pages (of the book) they appear on. I can play the songs I have listened to just once or twice. Pictures, diagrams, faces, numbers, colours, names, contrasting tones of voice, thoughts and music are treasures, because they crystallise my memories even more. Well, my memory does help me a lot in the ministries I am in (and my life as a student). It also helps me to be grateful ~ and therefore, experience the joys of my own gratitude. But having such a good memory has its drawbacks too - and these drawbacks are often the source of my greatest miseries. I remember the things I don't want to remember ~ and past hurts stay with me much longer. I feel guilty for much longer. I am always nolstalgic. And nothing is encountered in the present without creating a foot-note to my past. I think it would be very difficult for me if I were to have amnesia.

5) My most unfavourite thing in the world? Public toilets ~ even though they are often a need. I am always suspicious that there are bad micro-organisms lurking on the toilet seats and whatever else I touch. I can be a little OCD-ish in public toilets and yes, I am quite ashamed to admit this - I tend to use a lot of toilet paper everytime I visit any public toilet. Even when it looks decently clean. Even when I am in Singapore. :P SORRY, trees!!!

6) I am a Christian. Basically, I gave Jesus Christ my life when I was 17 and struggling with life. I had eating disorders, my mother was very ill that year (and passed away 3 months after I became a Christian), I was doing major school exams and I didn't know if I would be good enough to enter medical school. Well, my troubles did not go away after I became a Christian. Christianity isn't about a magical formula for an easy life. Rather, it is about having a relationship with the one and only God ~ through faith in the risen Christ who was crucified for our sins that separated us from our Creator. This love relationship gave me the strength to go on despite my struggles, and I began living a very different sort of life - one filled with much joy, peace and hope. Is it possible to have joy, peace and hope when you are in the fires of trial and tribulation? Well, I would say, humanly speaking, it is impossible. However, in Christ, supernatural joy, peace and hope are availed while you pass through such furnaces. Today, I have come very far by God's grace. For example, I no longer have disordered eating... and so, I testify that Jesus Christ is very much alive indeed. He has risen. Whoever believes in Him dies a bodily death like everyone else ~ but beyond death, goes to be with God eternally.

7) I am a night-person. An owl. Most of my inspirations come at night.

PHEW. Done. I hereby nominate my best friend's blog (don't have 15, so 1 will do) for the Versatile Blogger Award. :P

Sorry I broke the rules...