Facts About Me

One for each year of my life, inspired by Pretend Typewriter. The list is in no particular order.

1. By myself, I moved to Canada from China at the age of 17 to pursue the life I’d wanted. I had no family in Canada. This is one of the best decisions I’ve made in my life.
2. English is my most proficient language. I can also speak Cantonese and type written Cantonese. I can understand standard Mandarin but not speak it well. I speak a bit of European Portuguese (A1 level, currently learning).
3. My favourite TV show of all time, which I watched as a kid and had a huge impact on my attitudes in life, is a Japanese superhero drama series called Kamen Rider Kuuga.
4. My favourite movies of all time will always be the National Treasure trilogy starring Nicholas Cage. I watched it when I was a kid, and rewatched it many times years later as I got older and the 3 movies slapped every time.
5. My favourite book of all time is The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas.
6. I’m very particular about my hair and very afraid of changing my existing hairstyle.
7. I have meibomian gland dysfunction (MGD), which gives me dry eye often, especially after prolonged screen use and being in an environment with low humidity. I have to cleanse my eyelids twice a day and do hot compress on my eyelids every day to manage the symptoms.
8. I once had a huge stye on my left upper eyelid once due to my MGD, and since then, the scarring has left it looking a bit different than before.
9. I used to be a huge metalhead who exclusively listened to metal music, but I hated live metal music because it was way too loud and chaotic. With the exception of orchestral music, I prefer listening to recordings. My favourite metal band of all time was Lamb of God before Chris Adler, the original drummer, left the band. My favourite album by them is Ashes of the Wake; favourite track is “Hourglass.”
10. I love physical dictionaries and used to collect dictionaries for fun. I pre-ordered the newest edition of Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary as soon as it was announced.
11. I buy light roast coffee beans from specialty roasters, grind them myself, and make filter coffee via various brewers and espresso via OutIn Mino using water that I make specifically for optimal coffee brewing (see what beans I’m currently enjoying on my Now page).
12. I’m half-Hakka; I can understand limited Hakka Chinese but not speak it.
13. I’m extremely hard to offend and I’ve never been offended.
14. I don’t believe in heaven or hell. I think that when we die, it’s just like falling asleep or losing consciousness.
15. I go to therapy on a regular basis.
16. My teeth are only somewhat crooked and I’ve never had braces. The first dental work I had was a small cavity filling at the age of 29.
17. I’m right-handed but I alternate between my left and right wrists for wearing my watch.
18. I had a journalist stint as a staff writer for my university’s campus newspaper and had many publications, one of which was featured on the front page (a few of them are still up). I did it because I thought I wanted to be a journalist¹, but it was through this experience that I realized journalism wasn’t for me.
19. When I walk by myself, I walk very fast because I don’t like walking.
20. I’m an only child due to China’s One-Child policy.
21. I’m afraid of the dark and extremely easily spooked. If I read or watch something scary, I wouldn’t be able to sleep well for weeks. One of my parents had to sleep with me at night until my early teens.
22. I grew up watching Naruto and my favourite character will forever be Kakashi.
23. I’m terrified of dehydration for some reason, so every morning, I fill up an 87oz (2.57L) water bottle and aim to drink most of it by sleep time.
24. I’m bad at remembering to trim my toenails so they’re often longer than should be.
25. My hands and face are perpetually dry.
26. Sometimes when I’m lying in bed trying to sleep, I would feel the bed vibrate. My wife tells me the bed never vibrates.
27. I’m a back sleeper and I cannot sleep on my left side because my left leg would fall asleep after a while. I don’t have this issue on my right side, though—so bizarre!
28. I’ve never smoked at all, and I don’t drink except for the occasional sip or two. I don’t intend to change that.
29. I have very bad (over -5.0) eyesight. I started wearing glasses since grade 4.
30. I have 2 peer-reviewed publications in academic journals.