The Head Crazy

101 Things About Me

1. I love Islam.

2. I can drink copious amounts of tea… a trait I inherited from my late father :)

3. I can get along with just about anyone if I put my mind to it.

4. I like looking at henna designs, but hate the thought of having henna on myself.

5. I adore fonts and have hundreds saved.

6. I used to dabble in graphic and web design.

7. I love crafts but am quite inept, so I content myself with drooling over craft blogs.

8. I think my kids are awesome people – they put up with me, don’t they?

9. I have read To Kill A Mockingbird at least 50 times if not more. I am reading it another 50 times more… Marz is studying this book for her IGCSEs! Yayy!

10. I’m just average at most things – pretty much a Jack of all trades and master of none.

11. I developed adult-onset asthma some years ago, back in 2007.

12. When I was 8, I had an abusive teacher who slapped me extremely hard for using a pencil of the wrong grade. (I used HB and she favoured 2B.) My jaw ached for days.

13. I once won a radio contest for guessing a Michael Jackson song that was played backwards. I didn’t collect the prize (a T-shirt).

14. I don’t listen to music anymore… it’s an on-going battle, fighting bad habits.

15. I adore the Volkswagen Beetle and dream of owning a vintage model. My kids always point out the Beetles they see on the street. I also like Minis.

16. I love fried food and I don’t feel bad about it.

17. When I was in college, I would, every once in a while, lock myself up in my room with 2 (always 2) bags of Granny Goose chips and a good book. My way of destressing.

18. I don’t like to eat raw tomatoes. It makes me gag. (I can eat it in a sandwich.)

19. I listen to Islamic lectures frequently. I’ve hoarded loads.

20. I am rubbish at embroidery, but love doing it anyway.

21. I have always wanted to crochet. I want to make an Afghan some day in shaa Allah.

22. I cannot cook Malay food. At all.

23. I paint wooden dolls. I’d sell them if there was a market for them ;)

24. I recycle religiously when I am in Singapore.

25. I love Makkah and Madeenah.

26. I am bummed that silver and white gold do not suit me.

27. I went for two years owning only one pair of shoes. I now have two. (Technically, four but the soles are peeling off two of them, so they don’t count.)

28. I like snail mail and I’m encouraging my children to write letters daily. I have started pen palling again.

29. I like airplane food.

30. My kids and I always eat chicken congee at Suvarnabhumi Airport when on transit to and from Singapore.

31. I change my accent depending on what book I am reading with the kids. I sometimes change my accent depending on whom I am speaking with.

32. I am a good editor, but a mediocre (at best) writer.

33. I still entertain the fantasy that I will be a great writer someday.

34. I have never lived on my own.

35. I don’t have a driving license – I took the test 4 times and failed all 4 times.

36. One of my best friends lives in California. We’ve met in person only once – it was when she and her family made a 3-day visit to Islamabad.

37. I hate folding and ironing the laundry.

38. I lived in the US for a year and loved my time there. I think it is a wonderfully diverse place (beautiful land/terrain and people) and would love to walk across it the way Peter Jenkins did.

39. I would want to walk across many other countries, but I would start with English-speaking ones first just because it is easier.

40. Imaan is not my name but many people have known me as Imaan since 1997 and some continue to call me Imaan even after knowing my given name :)

41. I once had razzberry as my email ID. As a result, the said friend from California calls me Razzy. Her kids call me Aunty Razzy.

42. I read To Kill A Mockingbird to my elder daughter when she was 3. She is an old soul :)

43. I favour boots. I have bad ankles, so high heels would totally bust them.

44. I don’t like mints and I think After Eights are a waste of good chocolate.

45. I think textese is irritating. I send messages in proper English, thank you very much.

46. I once attended a wedding in bedroom slippers. True story.

47. I went on a camel safari in Rajasthan and slept under the stars in the dunes.

48. I have been giddy only once in my life.

49. After graduating from university, I temped as a receptionist for half a year. I loved answering phones. My temp agency told me to “get a real job” and to not waste my degree.

50. My dream house would be a cottage with a large garden. White, red roof and wrought iron bits – a lot like the house I lived in during my teenage years before my parents thought picket fences and marble balustrades went together. (?!?) My idea of a dream house changes every once in a while though, so you might get a different answer the next time you ask me.

51. Having a house by the beach appeals to me. I do worry about storms and tsunami though.

52. I cannot draw for toffee. Can’t even sketch. Don’t even doodle.

53. I hate arranging books on shelves because I keep thinking they will collapse. Don’t even talk about dishes and overhead cabinets.

54. I majored in History and Sociology.

55. I wish I had studied languages instead.

56. I always order a Sticky Chewy Chocolate sundae when I go to Swensen’s.

57. I have a daughter who looks like Dora the Explorer. (Well, she is 14 now, but she was a DEAD RINGER for Dora between 3-5.)

58. I love all things Turkish.

59. I would not mind living on a farm… if it looked like the Lake District :P

60. My kids (well, two of them) and I are voracious readers and compulsive book hoarders.

61. I don’t like using the telephone. My cell phone is for taking photos for Instagram. ;)

62. I am a wiz at searching for things/information online.

63. I am mad about Instagram.

64. I treat my kids to Madventures when we are in Singapore – we go out all day and return home late at night when we can’t take the exhaustion anymore. My husband lacks the necessary stamina to accompany us :)

65. I can speak English and Malay. I understand a bit of Urdu.

66. When I was a kid, I was notorious for being car-sick all the time.

67. I don’t tweet. What is the whole darn point?!?

68. I don’t do Facebook … anymore. OK… I do, but I’m not proud of it.

69. I was severely bullied as a child.

70. One of my dreams is to set up a twaddle-free library. With a cafe.

71. I love movies about inspiring teachers.

72. I also love sports movies.

73. I don’t watch movies anymore as a rule.

74. I don’t own a television set. I am glad because it is one of those addictions I would fall right back into.

75. In 1994, I was in between jobs and put off getting one till after the World Cup because I was following it avidly.

78. I am no longer obsessed with football.

79. I went backpacking in India when I was 26. My first meal there was a bag of spinach pakoras. It was the first time I had ever tasted pakoras.

80. The first time I had kulfi and faluda was at the beach in Mumbai… it was Bombay then.

81. I love trains. The old fashioned ones, not subways and mass rapid transits.

82. I don’t have any of my wedding pictures. By choice. Love the marriage, just in case you are wondering :P

83. I love instant noodles. Myojo’s extra spicy ramen noodles are my poison.

84. I own a sewing machine. I don’t know how to use it. I am afraid it will eat me.

85. I overthink things and end up not doing them… especially crafts.

86. I don’t like to begin sentences with conjunctions as a rule. But I sometimes break this rule. ;)

87. I don’t celebrate birthdays.

88. I am mad about Traveler’s Notebooks. If you don’t know what these are, ask me. I can talk about them ALL day ;) Seriously.

89. I want to handpiece a quilt.

90. I love that my kids love the wonky dolls I make them. I told you they are awesome ma shaa Allah ;)

91. I have two names – friends use my first name and family members use my second. Once, a friend called me repeatedly but couldn’t get through to me because my aunt kept picking up the phone and telling her that she had dialled the wrong number. My aunt didn’t know my first name ;)

92. I can make some pretty mean chocolate chip cookies… from scratch.

93. I have an older brother and a younger sister. My brother is a dreamer and fabulous photographer. My sister is brilliant and pretty much excels at everything she puts her mind to. I am the boring one who’s yet to get her act together.

92. I can read an entire book in a day if left alone.

93. I learnt how to use chopsticks when I was 8. My very lovely mother taught me.

94. It took almost 2 years for my (late) father-in-law to speak to me directly :) He always bought me stuff I liked to eat, so I know he was always ok with me.

95. I started working on Islamic websites because I wanted to do something useful for the sake of Allah and for sadaqah jariya for my father. I need to work harder at them.

96. I hate to admit that I have no idea how to use Photoshop. I hate admitting that I use Paint Shop Pro because it sounds sissy.

97. My mind is always filled with ideas for Islamic homeschooling materials. I would love to have more time to make these.

98. I’ve always wanted to be a biker chick. When I was younger, I wanted to ride a Harley, but never even took lessons because my parents were mortally afraid of motorbikes.

99. I love true stories… I love oral history. I wish I could write books like Studs Terkel.

100. It makes me angry when people tell me not to give anything to beggars. Just do not go there, OK?

101. I believe in making excuses for people.