Crazy 8

I put a lot of thought into this and took at least 2 hours to complete it. Very crazy.

I was recently tagged by the beautiful Sandy at momisodes AND the gorgeous Michelle at Fabricated Goddess to do the Crazy 8. It’s been DAYS.. wait, maybe even more than a week.. Yikes. So I better get on with it. So here goes the crazies. Thanks for the tags.

8 things I’m passionate about.
1. My kids. I love them to bits and pieces and will do anything and everything to keep them safe. And I know Karate, mama style, and beyatch style. So don’t mess with me.

2. My husband. He carried me through the toughest times of my life: fighting my cancer alongside me just 10 weeks after our wedding, and picked me up and pieced me together for the second time 4 years later, after we lost our 2nd baby. He deserves Husband of the Century Award.

3. My family. Some are too nice and some not so nice, some makes me run the other way and pretend I don’t know them. But I do, and I still love them all the same.

4. Our business. This KangarooBoo is consuming my days and nights and nearly every waking moment I have.

5. Food. I LOVE to eat. If I were to list my favorite foods, it would take an entire page, and more. But at the top would be sushi and dimsum — both unfortunately cost an arm and two legs for ONE meal. There’s no dimsum here anyway..

6. My friends. I know a lot of people, but I have very few good friends. I could probably count my very good friends with one hand and still have spots left. But the ones that I do have, I love them dearly. I live far away from all of them. But if we did not talk for months or even years, we’d pick up where we left off and no one would feel one bit awkward. And they wouldn’t mind that I listed them after “food”..

7. Cancer research / charity. In a retelling of the Aesop fable of the Lion and the Mouse by Mark White, at the end there is a line where the mouse says to the lion, “You didn’t think I could help you, but an act of kindness is never wasted.” There is no amount that is too small when it comes to charity. It might be small to you, but it is not for the one you helped.

8. My computer/internet. It connects me to (way too many) things and people that I would otherwise not able to. Like you yourself! Did you know it also connected me to my husband?

8 Things I want to do before I die…
1. Travel the world with my husband. By flight, by sea, by train. The list is very long, and I hope we will have the funds and energy to do it all. The type of travel we want to do is self-guided. No tours, no cruises. Well maybe a cruise just once to see what the big wah-hoo is about.
2. See all the Great Wonders. I would be happy if I only saw half.

3. See my kids have kids, and possibly grandkids. I was practically raised by my great-grandmother, who passed away when she was 92. I want to experience that, having great grandkids. Probably not carrying them on my back like my great-grandmother did though We didn’t have strollers.

4. Learn how to swim. I know! Can you believe I don’t know how to swim!

5. Live in another state/country.

6. Learn to speed read. I read very slow. My brain doesn’t seem to want to cooperate and translate the data, so I have to read things 2 or 3 times. Sometimes more. It’s a wonder I get anything done, and this is precisely the reason why I don’t comment much on blogs or read that many blogs or read any books. Also if/when I read books, I need to know what happened at the end, RIGHT NOW. So I read as many pages as I can in one sitting..

7. Learn how to be a better public speaker. Sure I can talk for hours and hours and hours… (just ask my friends who had to endure it over the phone with me!) but put me in front of a few people, I freeze.

8. Build an orphanage. Or a few. One summer day when I was a young child, I was at the river doing some washings with my aunt. A box floated by.. my aunt brought it closer to see what was inside. She opened it and saw… a dead infant girl. I saw it too. She said a prayer and sent the box away. I was no more than 6 years old and that memory has haunted me since.

8 Things I say often….
1. Oh shit.

2. You guys, Stop it! What can I say, the kids get on each other’s nerves. They like to play with each other but they both have strong personalities and the result is, mama ends up shouting.

3. What happened? Again, kids-related.

4. What did you do? Yep, you guessed it.

5. What are you doing? OK this is getting old.

6. What’s for dinner? Hubby now cooks some of the meals and I’m not very good with surprise food.

7. Good job!

8. I love you.

8 Books I’ve read recently…
1. Mr. Doodle had a poodle.

2. The Lion and the Mouse

3. Tell Me Why (a science sort of book, toddler level, in Chinese)

4. Chicka Chicka ABC

5. Down by the Station

6. Parents Magazine (does that count??)

7. The Bisquits Collection

8. Fiona’s Magic Fairytale.

* After I finished this and the previous section, I realize just how rooted the kids are in everyday things, in everything.

8 Songs I could listen to over and over…
I’m going to be the only person who will leave this blank. I prefer silence. There aren’t any songs in the world that I could listen to over and over and over. None. Zilch.

Whew. That was the easiest one.

8 Things that attract me to my best friends….
1. Reliability. This has to be the most important thing for me. If I can’t rely on you when I need you, then fergettabout it. Sadly (fortunately depending on how you look at it), my traumatic experiences has shown me which ones I couldn’t rely on.

2. Honesty. If I’m being a jerk, tell me. If I’m making your day, tell me, too.

3. Common interests. If we don’t like to do anything together, then fergettabout it too.

4. Humor. Everything is better when there’s laughter.

5. Rich. (just kidding! I was testing if you’re still awake)

6. Kind.

7. Love/big heart.

8. Shared viewpoints / morals / “Same wavelength” about things.

8 People who should do this Crazy Eights meme:
1. Amie

2. Andie

3. Lisa

4. Elaine

5. Mary Mia

6. Lotus

7. Mumsgather

8. Aimee.