I have been tagged by my cyber-parenting-pal, The New Parent, to reveal eight random facts about myself.

Here goes :

1) When I was young, I used to spend my weekends at my aunt’s place. Nothing sad about the place - my best cousins, my best aunt and uncle and my brother around. But each time I stayed over night, I’d cry my heart out on the phone with my mom and very often, ended up vomitting from too much crying. When I was thirteen, my mom had to go to work. I cried for a month. That period of time changed my perspective of life. I’m shameless about crying. It expresses all my emotions - anger, frustrations, grief, incompetence, helplessness ….

2) I am trusting and I can give up my last ounce of energy, my last cent if you so tell me you need it. I have done it countless times but when I so deperately needed help, those whom I have put in my most feigned ignorance or gave out of convenience. Life has taught me it is worth keeping something for yourself but frankly, I prefer giving my all. It is not worth living if I’m not a whole but I can live with the lesson.

3) When I was picked off the street by the alternative dad, I had dreadlocks. The night before my wedding, I was at Far East Plaza, trying to find a hairdresser who would charge me reasonably for dreadlocks. I gave up at their outrageous pricing. I was browsing in one of the shops, trying my luck at alternative means when I found a ’stranger’ (teenager) who accepted my offer. At 12am the night before my wedding, I found myself at her house having my dreads done. This is but just one of those many incidents in my life that happen to me where I ‘chance upon’ something, someone, some events - they are all blessings which I never thought will happen. I can’t tell you how many times they have happened to me before.

4) I love driving and I drive any make, any type. I drove horribly when I first passed, honed that skill everyday and got the knack of it. Acquired a fondness for long distance driving while in Australia for seven months during my extended honeymoon. Floored the accelerator and drove our not-so-good-looking but definitely best car (for speed) ever to the outback at 180km (that was the maximum on the speedometer). Fell in love with a dream car which became our wedding car. Few months before I gave birth to the Angel, we had to give Jude (her name) up. I sent it to the scrapyard and I cried (remember, I’m (1). Now, I don’t put any sentimental value on the cars we own.

5) I used to travel to find my identity (I tend to lose it once in a while), discover more about myself (strengths, weaknesses, faults and all). Nowadays, being a mother is an identity I have come to terms with and it also means my beauty and flaws are constantly being illuminated by the little person with me; all I need is a daily reflection. As for travelling, I’d prefer to find a place called haven, spend time knowing the local language, local people, local area, taking local transport, tasting local food. I can’t wait till the Angel can do all that with me! And if I’m going on a holiday, then, please, please, just spare me from the cooking. I mean it, but I’m really tired of planning meals for three years.

6) I was in the choir in primary school. When the Angel was young, I would sing all the songs I know and after each song, she would clap really eagerly - as if I was the best singer in the world. Once, while driving through the Netherlands, I was trying to sing to keep the Angel entertained. The alternative dad had to stop me from my singing. In the darkness of the night, I cried (remember, I’m (1). You see, I’m tone deaf. But I never stop singing to the Angel. I still make up all sorts of songs for her, with her. She reminds my greatest fan.

7) I’m trying desperately to get organised and of course, training the Angel to be, too. The alternative dad is going to hire a helper to pick up after us if we are still not up to it. This book I’m reading hasn’t changed my life.

8 ) I often ask God for 48 hours; 24 to fulfill my responsibilities and maybe if I have that extra 24, (7) won’t have happened. Actually, I’m just trying to do too much in my lifetime!

It’s an enjoyable tag and allows others to know more about me and me to know about other fellow bloggers, too!

Here’s for tagging 8 others :

1) Mel at Perspective of Life at a Different Pasture

2) Michelle at Life at Home as a Mom

3) Irene at Bits and Pieces

4) Priscilla at Moments in A Day

5) Big Pumpkin at A Mother’s Monologue

6) Jazzmint at Jutz 1 Blog

7) Shirley (Binky) at Binky, Blogging and Such

8 ) Dory at Dory’s Journal

Here are the rules, ladies :

1. I have to post these rules before I give you the facts. (Opps, I didn’t!!)
2. Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
3. People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.
4. At the end of your blog, you need to choose people to get tagged and list their names.
5. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

Categories: Tag
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I’ve been tagged by Shirley (Binky) on the meaning of “Angel”. Many thanks for this tag, it is a thoughtful tag.

So, how did the “Angel” get her name?

First, we did not want to know the gender of our baby and we had a lot of fun toying with names. The alternative dad’s idea was a name that began with either an “A” or a “Z”! Try guessing why?!

Here were some names that we thought of :

Aristotle (Greek philosopher and begins with ‘A’),
Thoreau (after one of my favourite writer and philosopher),
Maximus (I like the sound of it but we read in UK that ‘Max’ is the number one name for dogs! Opps!),
Zann (alternative dad’s idea).

All boys’ names because I felt that I was going to have a boy! Anyway, I did want to have a boy (for reasons that you would laugh yourself silly, too!) but I’m equally elated to have a girl.

BUT our gynae had a slip of tongue when one day, she went, “Did I tell you that your baby is a girl!”

And we went, “NO!!!! You were not supposed to tell us! We were supposed to find out on that day!”

Then she went, “Ohhh, maybe I’m wrong. You didn’t remind me! It is easier for boys to be mistaken as girls. You will find out on that day….” and she changed topic thereafter.

So since the cat had been let out of the bag, we had to be prepare for a girl!

I suggested “Angel” as it was my song (Angel by Sarah Mclaren) at that moment of my life and it well, begins with an “A” (alternative’s dad requirement). Most importantly, I really want a child with compassion and I feel that the name speaks volume. It was easily agreed between us that we would have an “Angel”!

The Chinese name, again, was easily decided on. Then, we had a Chinese gymnastic teacher putting up with us and she suggested the word ”磊“(lei3)，(the ‘three rock character appeals to me) and the significant of it being steadfast and grounded. Since we are having a girl, we decided on keeping to the three characters and came up with “蕊“(rui) whereby the three characters of “心” matches the idea of a child with compassion. It refers to the stamen of a flower and a girl’s name with an affliation to a flower makes it appropriate.

However, I must say now that both “Angel” and “蕊“ has “male” connotations; Angels are males and stamens are the male reproductive parts of the flowers but the bottomline is, while masculine in nature, they are feminine in quality - that’s just what I’d like my daughter to be - not just another typical woman but one who has the quality of both.

The Chinese has a lot of ‘auspicious’ names, characters, and counting the number of strokes, etc. We chose not to be caught in that labyrinth because choosing that belief will give ground to more other beliefs (myth) later in life. I don’t want my child’s life to be grounded in beliefs of such. It being meaningful to us is more important than trying to keep up with myths and beliefs that might haunt a person for life.

And now, I need to tag five other people. Unfortunately, I do not know enough ‘friends’ in cyberspace, so I shall have to make do with two.

1) Tanya and Paris

2) Jean and Grace

Instructions :

**Start Copy**

Proposition: What is the meaning of your kid’s name?
Requirements: write about what or how or why you giving the name to your kids.
Quantity: FIVE PEOPLE.

Tag Mode: 1st - You leave their blog and post link and add to the list below.2nd - Let the blogger you want to tag know they been tagged by comment in their blog or etc.

1) Msaufong - Meaning Of SQ & Kiki’s name
2) Miche - My ACB
3) Sweetpea - My Little Fire
4) LiL’deviL - Mini Hawke
5) Fatty Poh - What’s in a name?
6) Binky - The meaning of Ian

Categories: Tag
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