expiration date 

yeah, i know this is a facebook thing. i was tagged by rani the other day. a few months ago, alfa also tagged me on the “10 things about me”, and i haven’t done anything about it. i hope, combining those two are okay.

so here it is: 25 bits of me.

1. i used to hate cooking and would try to avoid it in any cost (and it cost me a a lot when i lived in NYC). the food i cook never tasted good and i hate washing dishes. after i got married and stopped working, i start to cook more often and find it enjoyable. it probably has something to do with the extra time i have and the joy of cooking for someone else. i still don’t like washing dishes, though.
2. i’ve been blogging (or online-journaling) for over 10 years, even before the term “blog” was coined and blogger.com didn’t exist. the first entry is on January 1999. it was a trip to Rhode Island and a meet up with our old Yahoo Chat friends.
3. when i was little, i lived in a fantasy world where my brother and i are gods. our stuffed animals, barbies, G.I. Joes and Ninja Turtles are the regular people, our pillows are friendly aliens, the microwave oven is where Hell is, and our playroom is located on top of a Magic Mountain. this fantasy lived on until i was in highschool.
4. my teeth keep breaking when i eat soft things.
5. i can ride a horse. not that well, but i had equestrian class and can actually do the jumping thing. i also had a few accident with horses: a few falls and one where my foot got stepped by a very tall horse and i couldn’t move two of my toes for over 8 years.
6. i can play a few musical instruments.
7. i try to be adventurous in eating, but so far, i can’t bring myself to eat insects. they give me shivers whether they’re dead or alive. oh, and i try not to eat the kind of animal that i currently have as pets…
8. my first summer job was snapping keyboards letter buttons on to the keyboards from 9 to 5. i was just graduated from 6th grade at that time. i was so happy that i could make money on my own despite the super-sore thumb.
9. i’m very good with directions. and i can read maps well.
10. after being a heavy smoker for a little less than 20 years, i stopped cold turkey on my birthday in 2006. i haven’t smoked since. the husband still smokes, and strangely, it doesn’t bother me. sometimes, though, i miss smoking for its “cool” factor… yeah, i still think it’s cool.
11. i have two tattoos: a drawing of my dog and a cempaka flower, which is the middle name of my daughter.
12. back in NYC, i used to drink a lot of coffee everyday: in the morning 1 large cup of coffee with 5 (yes, five) tablespoon of sugar. in the afternoon, another smaller cup of coffee. sometimes, i drank one more cup before bedtime. then, after i quit working, i stopped drinking coffee all together. just like the cigarettes, i quit cold turkey. i felt like i no longer need to caffeine/sugar boost… now, i hardly drink coffee.
13. i have stayed and worked in all continents except Africa.
14. i met my husband on a ski trip to Killington, Vermont. he was a black diamond skier, while i was a total novice. he persuaded me to go up to the Killington peak (which was beautiful), then he left me up there. it took me 5 hours to get to the bottom of the mountain, almost fell off the cliff 3 times. my husband nearly killed me before we started dating!
15. i love sorting and organizing things. i think it’s one of my passions. alphabetical CDs, categorized in genre. all photos are dated and organized in dated and named folders. i spend hours and hours to rename and revise songs in my iPod and iTunes. all of my comics are grouped by genre, then by the heights and thickness. and i buy containers, folders, and pen holders on impulse.
16. i have a very specific way to do my laundry. i have a certain way to hang t-shirts and trousers. i color-coordinate the clothes pins. and i can fold clothes really fast.
17. i don’t like watching horror movies, because i have vivid dreams. it’s almost certain that if i watch a horror movie, i’d be in it once i fall asleep. the hubby, though, loves horror movies. so he would watch it by himself, then afterwards, my lame self bug him to tell me the story…
18. i was bullied pretty badly when i was in elementary school. i got used to the name-calling, but there were a few people who pushed and spat on me on daily basis. i still remember who they are and how hurt they hurt me.
19. i’ve been depressed twice. the first one was when i was living in NYC, not long after the 9/11 incident. the second one was after i gave birth to aina. the first one went away after i moved from the States, the second one seems to be under control after medications.
20. the nail of my left pinky toe is deformed. it always looks as if it’s about to fall off and freaks my husband out.
21. i used to have a pretty bad case of TMJ. i didn’t eat apple for almost 10 years, because it will cause the lock-jaw and it was painful. the lock-jaw went away completely not long after i had all my wisdom teeth removed… and now i eat apples again.
22. it’s very hard for me to find a pair of fitting glasses. the bridge of my nose is practically non-existent, so most glasses just slide down the nose and rest on my cheeks. that’s why i prefer contacts.
23. i know quite a lot about astronomy. i wanted to be an astronomer when i was little.
24. i had biopsy twice. both on the neck and for the same problem: overactive lymph nodes.
25. i’ve done 100 of these, back in 2002. surprisingly, i don’t change much.