Tuesday, April 15, 2008

100 Things About Me

I saw this somewhere. And decided to see what 100 things I would say about myself, and if anyone was remotely interested in them.

  1. I was born on 12th September, 1988. Mercy Hospital in Melbourne...
  2. Exactly 9 months after Mum and Dad's wedding anniversary...
  3. My middle name means 'Powerful Ocean'. My last name means 'Strong'. My Mum's maiden name (Ong - I know... not much of a change there) means 'Royalty'. My first name is Benjamin, which means 'on the right hand of God' or 'favourite son'. So, by my logic, my name means I am the favourite son, with the strength of an ocean, who sit on the right hand of God like royalty? Bit arrogant if you ask me. Hooray for Asian names.
  4. Speaking of Asia, being born in 1988 makes me, in the Chinese Zodiac, an Earth Dragon.
  5. Being born in September makes me a Virgo.
  6. I don't believe in horoscopes or zodiacs.
  7. I have two brothers. One older, one younger.
  8. I have a mum, she's from Malaysia.
  9. I have a dad, he's from Singapore.
  10. I consider myself an Australian. I don't really call myself Chinese.
  11. I have been in six different countries for at least a day: Australia, Germany, USA, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand.
  12. I don't remember Thailand.
  13. The countries I most want to visit are Egypt, Spain and anywhere in Africa.
  14. I did a three month exchange to Erlenbach am. Main in Germany. I can still speak German.
  15. I was part of the Global Young Leaders Conference 2005 in Washington and New York.
  16. I was super shy and introverted before those two trips.
  17. Now I'm not.
  18. Up until now, I have wanted to be: Policeman, astronaut, doctor, paediatrician, teacher, minister, charity worker, missionary, Lego employee.
  19. I currently want to be all of the last five, and I'm working on it.
  20. I have been at Doncaster Church of Christ my whole life.
  21. I'm a Christian, originally just because I tagged along with Mum and Dad to church.
  22. I started properly believing and asking my own questions in Grade 6, 2000.
  23. Then again in 2006.
  24. 2006 was a big learning and growing up stage for me. One of the reasons was Vetamorphus, a young Christian ministry course.
  25. Most of my closest friends did that course with me. Actually that's probably not true anymore. The first time I started writing this was in March 2007. It's a bit sad really.
  26. I do a youth ministry internship at my church.
  27. I lead a small group at church called The Garage, which consists of boys between Year 5 and 10.
  28. I helped found and now run a charity (in progress). It's called Africa Aid. It was started in 2005. This year we are trying to raise $30,000 for a school in Southern Uganda. Check out the Myspace or Facebook for more details.
  29. I am very unorganised in general, but also with Africa Aid. It makes me feel bad, and making it bigger and maintaining it scares me.
  30. I am employed as an Integration Aide and as a Small Group Leader for Elev8. It's very necessary since...volunteer work doesn't pay child support.
  31. Lucky I don't have to.
  32. I went to Serpell Primary School until Grade 5.
  33. I went to Trinity Grammar School for the rest of it.
  34. I study 2nd Year Arts at Monash University.
  35. I play touch rugby at Monash.
  36. I also do dancing with a group of friends at Monash.
  37. I have a girlfriend, who is rather pleasant. She has a nice smile and good oral hygiene. Sometimes she gives me muffins, but not so much anymore. She is also fun to chase. We have been going out for almost 3 years.
  38. I prefer trackpants over jeans.
  39. I would like to collect t-shirts, shoes or hats...if I had the money.
  40. My favourite food is most likely spaghetti bolognese, but I've never decided for sure.
  41. When I go out to eat, I still look at what comes with chips first.
  42. I love peach ice tea.
  43. I also love Choc-Mint/Bubblegum with nuts at Cold Rock. I ordered it the last 10 times I've been there.
  44. I have been to Cold Rock 10 times.
  45. I love most desserts in general, except pavlova. It's a devil cake. First it looks good, and then you have one bite, and it tastes stupid again.
  46. I do not like quite a few things: Tomatoes, mushrooms, asparagus, avocado, grapes, rocket lettuce (not to be mistaken with iceberg lettuce, which I love), egg yolk, fried eggs, sultanas and cheese to name a few.
  47. I struggle to not eat three times the suggested serving size if I'm eating chips or biscuits. But really, that's because the suggested serving size is ridiculous... eg. four biscuits.
  48. I play the piano, which I learnt for 10 years. Now I play for fun on a regular basis.
  49. I used to play the flute, which I learnt for 5 years.
  50. I can also play the melodica, which is an awesome instrument.
  51. I attempted to teach myself guitar, but got lazy. I want to learn still.
  52. I also want to learn the harmonica, the banjo, the ukelele, bass guitar, double bass, and the steel drums.
  53. I like to imagine I can sing but that doesn't make me awesome. I just sing to myself all the time.
  54. Like most people, I have an eclectic taste in music that is not really definable. I just like what I like. My favourite band is Lazy Susan, and I'll give you a dollar if you sing me one of their songs.
  55. In my life I have played or participated in gymnastics, swimming and basketball competitively (for a club). I also played basketball and soccer for my school.
  56. I have a third place from the National Gymnastics comp and a second from the State.
  57. I had to quit because I was too small. To stay on would have meant three years of training until I hit puberty and was as big as the other boys in my level.
  58. I have no pets, but used to have a big German Shepherd called Rex. He was actually called Sultan, which is a pretty cool name, but... us boys were young. And Rex seemed more dog-like.
  59. I also used to have a baby chicken called Timothy. One day Timothy escaped outside and saw Rex. He had a heart attack and died.
  60. I do not have a favourite colour. At least, not one I could say without feeling I was being unfaithful to the other colours.
  61. I love the game Taboo.
  62. I also love Risk.
  63. Like the colours, I don't know if I could say my favourite movie. There are lots up there.
  64. Disney holds a special place in my movie love.
  65. I once played Yoko Ono in a musical about John Lennon.
  66. I love Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares. It's awesome.
  67. Amongst some other things I would like to learn are photography, video filming and editing, photoshopping and other digital imagery, cooking (especially pastry cooking) and surfing.
  68. I love to read, although I don't read as much as I did when I was little. No real favourite authors, but I do like Nick Earls a bit. Terry Pratchett too.
  69. When I was little, I would go to the library and before checking for any other books, I would go to the Childrens - Humour section first to see if there were any Garfield books in.
  70. This year I am going to the Philippines on a mission trip with International Needs.
  71. I am passionate about issues of social justice and equality.
  72. In the last few years, I have done some work with the MakePovertyHistory campaign. I was an Ambassador at the concert in November '06 and a Group Leader on the ZeroSeven Road Trip in 2007.
  73. I enjoy writing. It's one of those things that I love to do, but procrastinate over doing. I've been working on a few pieces for the last few years, but not as in actively working on. Just starting, and then leaving for a long time, until I've forgotten the ideas that made me want to write them in the first place.
  74. I once won a competition for writing. I felt like I'd plagiarised something I'd read but couldn't remember.
  75. I have recently developed a fascination at other people's obsessions with things. Most notably, bacon. Examples are here, here, here and here.
  76. I once had a phobia of heights. I was too scared to even go down the slides at playgrounds. After I started gymnastics, that left. I don't really have a phobia now.
  77. The first thing I notice on the opposite sex is their face.
  78. I like playing computer/video games. GTA: San Andreas is my favourite, followed closely by Mario Kart and Minesweeper.
  79. According to some website where you submit your monthly best Minesweeper score, I was third in the world. For one glorious month. I'm all washed up now. It's all downhill from here.
  80. I'm not interested in cars in the slightest. Shiny round ones attract my interest though. But not Volkswagen round, they're too small.
  81. I like Hummers, but it has nothing to do with them as a car, and definitely not to do with their contribution to the environment. It's part of a game we played when I was in America.
  82. I have shinier than average fingernails. Unsure why.
  83. I dislike cats. It comes from a deep relationship of mistreatment between the two of us that began in Germany. I was patting a cat, I wanted to get up and leave, cat scratched my face, I punched cat, cat disappears for two days, I thought I'd killed it. Cats are not as good as dogs.
  84. If I was an animal, I think I'd be a mongoose.
  85. My favourite animal used to be the Eastern Quoll, just to be different. I have no idea what my favourite is anymore.
  86. I would love to work with animals, but I doubt it would ever happen. I saw a documentary once about people who have moved to go live with orphaned elephants and look after them. I would love to do that, but there's also a million other things I'd like to do.
  87. I can type at an average of 109 words per minute. Mavis Beacon tells me so.
  88. I have attempted to read the entire Bible in one year, but failed miserably. I think it had to do with trying to read it in order, no dedication, and just kinda rushing through it. I would like to one day accomplish this.
  89. I have a dream of travelling with friends in a bus. I've wanted to do it since I was about 8. With cars, what attracts me is the number of seats, followed by cupholders.
  90. I have had a fascination with learning everything I could since childhood. Not exactly school things, but random facts of information. One of my favourite books ever was 1001 Amazing Facts, and I would tell people facts from the book at random. I used to do extra projects on things like Volcanoes and Pirates...just for fun.
  91. I like learning about history and important people of the past.
  92. I keep a list of people that I need to read and learn about.
  93. I enjoy public speaking. I used to be scared of it, and so my job on the debating team was to write the speeches.
  94. I like comedy, it's my favourite genre of movies and books. Mostly. My favourite comedians include Demetri Martin, Jason Byrne, Steven K Amos, Mitch Hedburg and Dave Chapelle.
  95. Doing stand-up is one of the scariest things I can think of, and I'd like to do it once in my life.
  96. My three most visited websites are Hotmail, Facebook and Blogger. That's not very exciting, so the next three are CollegeHumor.com, JakeandAmir.com, and YouTube.com.
  97. Before I die, I would like to do most extreme sports, learn the above listed things I want to learn, meet Nelson Mandela, go to a home game at Anfield, see the LA Lakers and the Detroit Redwings, and many others.
  98. I recently made the transition from standing to sitting when I wipe.
  99. I STILL shout at the kids on game shows for being stupid... even though I'm almost 20.
  100. This blog took 443 days to write. I'm glad it's over.

12 comments:

  1. You're almost 20. Goodness, the end of your teenage years!

    I can't really imagine you being shy and introverted.

    This really is the biggest blog of all time.

    It is a very fun list. You could make a book called '1001 Amazing Facts About the Favourite Son With The Strength Of An Ocean And Who Sits On The Right Hand Of God Like Royalty.'

    You could sell it on ebay.

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  2. I would not even consider buying that book, but I did enjoy this blog very much.

    I'm very impressed that you managed this without any of the things being stupid and boring like 'most people call me Ben' or 'I usually wear pants' or something.

    And I believe that you should be impressed that two whole people got the whole way through the list in approximately 442.8 less days than it took you to write it.

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  3. make that three.
    And i love the how you kept up the class all the way to the end (#98).

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  4. Em: This blog is so big and took up so much time, I'm going to find a way to permanently link it from my front page.

    That book is in publication procedure. If I find someone else has already copyrighted that title, I'll be very upset.

    Kyla: You should definitely consider the book, it might just change your life. I was impressed, it's a massive list. You should do it. I'll read up to like 13 or something. Maybe 100.

    PS. My name is Ben and most people know me for wearing pants.

    David: I thought the last two were the classiest. Clearly we are opposing class magnets.

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  5. Benjamin, darling, there is no way I would be able to write a list that big about myself. I'd give up by #36. Also, I will buy the book if you don't grow a rattail. Deal?

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  6. Well I just had my haircut, and opted not to get it this time. Mostly because I need to grow it longer before it's any good, so maybe next time. But if you wanted to buy the book... I'd have to come up with 901 more things about me, and I'd honestly rather just grow the rat-tail.

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  7. Thanks Ben for the 100 things about you. I always find it interesting to see what people mention about themselves, I learnt all kinds of new things about you. I didn't know you spoke German!! I speak it a little too, but only on weekends.

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  8. Sime: As if you didn't know I speak German. We joke about in German all the time. Sillyhead.

    Nobody is willing to take the challenge of writing their 100. Will you be the One?

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  9. Chong,
    I have accepted the challenge and you will see a new post on my blog now...
    Happy reading.

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  10. You are a winner Simon. If only more people were like you... in that they also posted 100 things.

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  11. Ben,
    I was also being sarcastic about you being able to speak German. I did know that you could speak that wonderful language :). I should learn to never use sarcasm in comments.

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  12. Your sarcasm was hard to detect. It looked more like excited discovery. Maybe put it in italics.

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