2011: first's

Ever since I lived abroad and by myself for the first time, I've become very excited about first's. Here's 10 I've done this year that are fun.


1. Climbed a tree. I'm still very noob at it but when I feel gung-ho and have the guts, I appear very confident at it and it doesn't become all that scary anymore. That is rare though. These are two trees I've climbed:

The Heritage Tree at Botanic Gardens, Singapore. 

This Tembusu is apparently over 150 years old.

Little tree at Nav Center, Los Baños.

2. Wrote a song. The first one's titled "Bitter Heart". I've written a few more since then...


3. Broke apples into halves with my bare hands. My friend Christina and I laughed so much from doing it.

4. Peed in a desert. So now I have peed in the mountains in California and now I have also peed in the desert in Arizona. The sun on my butt was...lusciously warm on a cold morning and a long 16-hour drive to Yosemite.

NO PICTURE. 

JUST GO TO THE MIRROR AND LOOK AT YOUR OWN BUTT.

5. Saw a wild bear! He looked like Pooh incarnated, so cute. But he was strong enough to rip a tree trunk for food so I probably would have ran away if he came up close.

Blonde bear spotted at Yosemite!

6. Sat in an outdoor roller coaster ride. I was never really excited about roller coasters, but now that I've sat on an outdoor one (with a loop), I WANNA GO FOR MORE. Especially those that leave your body or legs hanging, woot. 

 California Adventure's loop roller coaster in the back.

Even kids were sitting on it, makes me feel noob,

but there were businessmen too, evens out the noobness. Fun!

7. Finished a (boiled but already cold) balut in the Philippines. It was a 17-day old duckling that a professor incubated and boiled specially for my team. I chickened out last year, but now I finally did it!

8. Getting a regular income. This means I am fully financially independent now and I'm able to contribute regularly to my family and whom God wants to use it on. 

9. Have a cat. Our neighbor had three cats that came out to chill every day. Playing with them drew my attention to the scared and hungry stray kittens and cats in my neighborhood. I started playing with them and fed them occasionally. Now my family is also 'in the business'. Bringing an abandoned little cat home was another milestone for us. And now we have two, Ginger, and Pearl (community cat who now guards our door while trying to sneak into our house.) 

Ginger (he likes shoes)

Pearl licking the genitals of her baby to encourage it to poo/pee.

A car ran over two out of the five in her last litter, 

and she lost all five babies in a single day.

She is now neutered, and also loves shoes.

10. Played an instrument and sang to the public. I played poorly at a TEDxKent Ridge Park event in front of under 300 people. Not the best way to start off but I have to say I like throwing myself into the deep end of the pool, even if I get frustrated initially.