I always wanted to be a...

Spammed my Tweeps today with 3 consecutive tweets. I must be crazy, haha! And all thanks to a Trending Topic!

Ok lah, let me delete them and blog about it instead, heehee! Here's the way more than 140-character tweet:
#ialwayswantedtobea architect (5), hairstylist (8), photographer (8), fashion designer (10), journalist (15), script writer (16), graphic designer (16), photojournalist (17), darkroom photo developer (18), mother (22), wife n mother (24), web designer (24), animator (27), writer (28), counsellor (29).

The number in brackets represent the age I was when I had that idea. These ambitions dun always go away but stay in the background and manifest at the back of my mind...muahahahahaaaa!!!

#ialwayswantedtobea Architect (5)
I made doll-houses out of tissue-boxes. I can't remember when it started or how. But by the time I was 5, it was something I liked to do on my own, and I was getting pretty good with the scissors.

#ialwayswantedtobea Hairstylist (8)
This was official. It was a school assignment and we even have to dress up for it. I had a funky shirt that tied in front. It had a matching red skirt which was my favourite colour at the time. I thought I looked like a hairstylist and decided to play the part. I'm glad I did as 75% of the entire Primary 2 cohort were boringly-dressed teachers.

#ialwayswantedtobea Photographer (8)
The year we visited New Zealand for the very first time. And Dad handed me a disposable Kodak camera! I remember I was fascinated with the Black Swan. Dad liked the shots I took :)

#ialwayswantedtobea Fashion Designer (10)
Mum gave me my first and only Barbie doll when I was 9. I started sewing clothes for her, so I doodled before making. Then the doodling took over, they became sketches. There were plenty of dresses, lots and lots of it. Then on to jackets, trousers, etc. This carried on until I was about 12.

#ialwayswantedtobea Journalist (15)
Classes changed when you're Sec 3. A combo of ambition and not fantastic results landed me in a unique class. The only Literature class, the second of only two 8-subject Pure Science class (which means we're the second smartest class), the COOLEST class, the only class where half the class were from the same class, the noisiest class. And our form-teacher as well as English teacher, Miss Tok, was even more unique. She was radical and unconventional. There were so many new ideas, new thinking. Report-writing was fun. Literature was fun in all the wrong ways. My classmates were awesome! I got to know the Malay culture. I actually liked Chinese lessons, thanks to Mdm Tan Lee Cheng, who was also Chinese HOD. My world grew four-fold. I wanted to get out there. Then Miss Tok left :( after just one year. We were all very sad.

#ialwayswantedtobea Script Writer (16)
This was from a back-board project. A committee was set up I think to "decorate" it. My classmate, James, designated that career to me. He thinks I make a good Script Writer because I was very good in composition. And my partner-in-crime was the A-Maths Genius, Salahuddin who was the "Director". That I dun understand.

#ialwayswantedtobea Graphic Designer (16)
I was getting really good in Art for the very first time in Sec 2. My sketching was so good that my (stupid) Art teacher wrote a comment: "If this is your work, it is good." NNBCCB! Anyway, I continued sketching on my desk, textbooks, foolscap paper. After 'O' Levels results came out, I didn't make it to VJC, I was 2-3 points short with zero contacts and rubbish CCA points. Sick of this academic ratrace bollocks, I wanted to be rid of exams and ran off to the nearest Art School with my sketches.

#ialwayswantedtobea Photojournalist (17)
So I'm in Art School now. The place looks nice, my dad's a photographer, and it's govt-aided so I guess it was a very safe choice...not. Anyway, I picked up black and white photography voluntarily for a Design Fundamentals project. I fell in love with it whole-heartedly.

#ialwayswantedtobea Darkroom Photo Developer (18)
This was my second year when we were officially taught Darkroom Techniques. And I was one of the better ones :P I realised the darkness, the cold, the one-dimensional pungent smell of Developer and the methodical routine of the Darkroom process made me focus very well. I've promised myself I'll come back to this when I retire.

#ialwayswantedtobea Mother (22)
It was the honeymoon period of a proper relationship and I suddenly thought of baby names, during a random conversation. My niece was also about 1 year old at the time.

#ialwayswantedtobea Wife and Mother (24)
So I travelled half the world over to meet the then-bf's sister and we talked about our future together in detail. The relationship didn't work out.

#ialwayswantedtobea Web Designer (24)
I finally feel secure at a job and believe I can do something like it in the long run without getting bored. Everyday I did research, I met clients, I talked, I shared, I listened.

#ialwayswantedtobea Animator (27)
At a new job and I was tasked to animate. And I can animate. And it's fun. And apparently, even management are impressed by it. My colleagues talk about it. One screened it in front of the entire company. I was embarrassed yet proud at the same time.

#ialwayswantedtobea Writer (28)
Work was so stressed, I have to watch TV everyday before I can fall asleep. So I watched too much. I even feel I cannot keep pace with the web world and wanted something simpler and more close to the heart. I started blogging more and writing more, surfing more, expressing ideas.

#ialwayswantedtobea Counsellor (29)
After watching Intervention among other real-life documentaries, I begin to see the Family is the foundation of Humanity. And without a happy family, many kids cannot function as adults and seek unhealthy ways out. So I wanted to be part of this solution.

And now I'm on a one-year Lay Counselling course. It's non-academic but it's a start. Meanwhile, let's make use of what I already have. These aspirations are still with me and I'm a sum of them, they come in forms of interests, conversations, books and experiences. Many dreams are better than none at all.