You wish you hadn't asked...

UPDATE: I found out I had redundant items, and corrected it today (10/08/04)

Inspired by other people's profile lists, I decided to compile my own:

1. I was born in Malaysia, in Tanjong Malim, a small border town between Perak and Selangor, two of the most historic and most populous states in Malaysia.
2. After I finished high school in Malaysia, I worked as a Christian missionary field staff worker with a well-known international Christian organization for three years, and during my tenure there, I was assigned to almost every state in Malaysia, except for the northernmost state, Perlis, and the easternmost, Sabah.
3. I lived in Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean for almost four years. It was an Island of great extremes. On the one hand, it had many aspects of a natural beauty, yet on the other, the industry on the island (phosphate mining) made it out to be an industrial outpost, dirty, industrial and barren.
4. I am apparently distantly related to Michelle Yeoh, the star of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, by marriage (oh, all right, so it is quite distant... her sister married my cousin!)
5. Right after my son was born, when I was driving home from the hospital, I must have been a little heavy on the accelerator. I was stopped by a cop. I tried explaining my state of mind and the reason for it to the officer. "Best story I've heard so far!" he retorted. I got my ticket anyway. Only the second traffic ticket I've ever got in my life.
6. I went to college at an evangelical Christian liberal arts college in upstate New York. A fine institution, beautiful campus and loving, sincere people.
7. I have been a member of Mensa since 1982.
8. My wife and I were married in a beautiful house overlooking the serene Indian Ocean on top of a hill in Christmas Island on a beautiful, clear blue-skied Saturday afternoon. The ceremony was conducted by a lay church leader in front of close family and friends, surrounded by the church family, officiated by a Government representative who conducted a brief 5-minute "official interlude" to legalize the proceedings, and included traditional Chinese wedding ceremonial rites. My wife and I wrote our own vows and my mom cooked for all the guests. Sweet memories, literally!
9. By the time I was 10 my family had moved six times, and by the time I was 15, I had moved 10 times, the last few times without my family!
10. I spent three months on a short term missionary project in Sarawak and lived among many of the natives in Sarawak. While there, the locals gave me a native Sarawakian name, “Pengiran Ngerob” which I was told meant “Mountain Rat” and was the name of a legendary head-hunter former head-man of their village. So beware!
11. In college, I was so undecided in what I wanted to do that I declared double major in Philosophy and Communications, with minors in Psychology, Sociology and Computer Science; I ended up with a magna cum laude in Philosophy, with minors in Bible and Computer Science only because I completed my degree in three years rather than the normal four.
12. I have four children, all boys, except for three girls, and one precocious but absolutely adorable Shitzu puppy.
13. My mom was born in the year of the Rat, my number one daughter was born in the year of the Rat and so was I.
14. I became a Christian because initially I wanted to prove to my family that I was more intelligent than my older brother; I found some “lessons” that my brother had done, which turned out to be a Bible Correspondence course that he was taking. I saw that they were relatively "easy" lessons, yet my brother had made some mistakes. I decided that if I were to take the same courses, and got the right answers, it would prove that once and for all, I am an intellectual superior to my older brother. It turned out that I never took the same courses he took. Instead I was recommended several courses more relevant to my age group, and I came to accept Christ as my personal savior before the end of my first course!
15. I love dim sum.
16. One of the reasons that I am now here in California can be partly attributed to the Waltons!
17. My family car is a Honda Odyssey
18. I wish I had taken up the scholarship offer to study at the University of Chicago oh so many years ago.
19. I used to love Kentucky Fried Chicken. I still enjoy it now, but only if I have it once every three to four months.
20. I work for a software consulting company as a consultant and account manager in Customer Relationship Management software.
21. I completed my college work in 3 rather than 4 years, was on Dean's List 7 out of 8 semesters, finished with departmental honors, graduation honors and high honors in my thesis, won several scholarships on the way, but the greatest honor was that I entered college a married man with 1 child, and finished college still married! I thought I was happily married then, but that was not the case (I was an arrogant man, but rather ignorant about certain things). By the grace and mercies of God, we are happily married now!
22. My wife and I are avid fans of the TV series, Alias.
23. I love Australian Rules Football and support the Fremantle Dockers.
24. I once ate five servings at lunch made up of mostly rice, some preserved vegetables and salted fish.
25. I love Boba Tea!
26. While travelling on the 101 Freeway, the car I was travelling in came alongside Jay Leno in one of his classic cars, and he waved to us while I snapped a photo of him.
27. I am a part-time graduate student in Philosophy. I am writing my MA thesis in Business Ethics.
28. I am a Chinese, hakka by dialect although I do not speak any of that dialect. Instead I am fluent in Cantonese.
29. My grandfather had two wives and three concubines. (Blank stare... no more comment...)
30. I once dreamed that I had the winning ticket to the California State Lottery.
31. I once travelled all the way from Perth in Western Australia to Los Angeles, California by air, and then took the "Red Eye" to Orlando, Florida, and then jumped into a rental car and drove ten hours to Atlanta.
32. One of my all time favorite movies is the "Back to the Future" trilogy.
33. I am a Man United fan from waaaaaaaay back, when Georgie Best used to play!
34. At a church retreat, I once won an award for being the best actor - I was playing the part of a baby!
35. I love sushi.
36. I sleep on the right side of the bed. When my wife tries to get to my side of the bed, I make her go back to her side.
37. I like to put on my slacks, pants or jeans before putting on my tops. In between I like to comb my hair first. Then when I put on my top, I unbuckle, unzip and tuck my shirt in if necessary, before I readjust my pants, belt, etc.
38. I love fruits and juice only for breakfast, but once or twice a week, on the weekend, I will splurge on a cooked breakfast, although I would normally have Asian style breakfast such as fried noodles, rice porridge, etc. instead of bacon, sausages and eggs, etc. except when I am on a business trip or on a vacation, or on a conference when breakfast is served.
39. I used to attend a church that the women must cover their heads with scarves and only the men may speak, lead, pray, etc., except for the Sunday School.
40. I am a die-hard Buffalo Bills fan. I learned all about NFL Football when I was invited to watch a Miami-Buffalo game on TV during the heyday of Maimi and just before the Bills signed Jim Kelly. I learned all the best moves of football by Miami and all the worst moves from the Bills in that one game.
41. When I bought my first Bible, I was so proud of owning my own Bible, that I wanted to make it uniquely mine. I had earlier seen other people's Bibles had verses underlined. I asked a friend why he underlined some verses and he told me that he did so to highlight important verses in the Bible. I opened the first pages of my Bible and began reading the first chapter. By the end of that first night, I realized that I had practically underlined every verse in the first four chapters of the Bible!
42. I used to love durians.
43. In 1991, I became an Australian citizen, and thought that I would live the rest of my life in the land down under.
44. Right after I completed college, I was declined on an application for an American Express card for Graduates. The reason: my major area of study (philosophy). I'll show them!
45. I once rapelled off the face of a cliff only to be stuck in the top of a tree.
46. I love Hwee Hwee Tan's two books, Foreign Bodies and Mammon, Inc. and wish she would write more fiction. I read Mammon, Inc. in a couple of days.
47. I love vegemite sandwiches. Even though we moved from Australia to the US in 2000, I still have many jars of vegemite in the pantry - we shipped a carton over when we first moved.
48. My wife had two of her four babies delivered via hypnosis therapy. Both were done at a public hospital, but the ward was a special ward. She had a room by herself, and it was decorated with "homely" motifs. Very cool.
49. My favorite handroll from a sushi bar is the deep-fried salmon skin handroll. Especially love it with a little bit of sambal chilli paste. A shushi chef served me his specialty once at the Sheraton LAX. Quite memorable.
50. I once drank a whole bottle of Guinness Stout all by myself (quite a feat when you consider that I don't drink and my face gets really red after a couple sips of any alcohol). I drank the Stout that evening because I was really exhausted after helping to unload a full shipment of 25 kg bags of rice at the grocery store where I was working at the time.