ling yeung b

I’ve been toying with the idea of starting a blog for over a year now. But the fact that I’m not a natural writer (mind you, I’m not sure I’m a natural scientist either despite my academic background!) has always put me off. Perhaps more importantly, I’ve never been sure what I’d blog about since I don’t feel like I’m particularly expert at anything!

I’ve done numerous personality tests since I was a kid, and the results always came back rather inconclusive. Depending on my mood on the day, my answers would change sufficiently to tip me from one classification into another. Now I’d like to think that means I’m a very well-balanced person, but the truth is, I’m just indecisive.

Growing up, I had a million so-called hobbies. I mean, I even joined Bridge club at one point and to this day, I still have no idea what it’s all about! I guess I was passable enough in some, and maybe even considered good at others, but I was never truly passionate about any of them.

Even now, I like to dabble in everything and have my fingers in lots of pies (metaphorically speaking, unless it’s a yummy savoury pie). It’s like my analytical left brain is constantly fighting my creative, intuitive right. A Masters in Chemistry and a day job in Finance mean that unfortunately my left brain has been in power for the past decade. (I suppose there’s always creative accounting, but I’m pretty sure I’ll get sacked for that!) My poor right brain is so deprived that every time I figure there’s something creative I can do, it literally goes into overdrive. Discovering Pinterest (ah, Pinterest… there will definitely be posts about Pinterest…) probably didn’t help either, but cue a timely proposal from then boyfriend and now hubby, I finally had an excuse to do all this artsy-craftsy stuff!

Wedding, or weddings in my case (3 times, to the same man within the space of 4 months before you ask) will probably feature quite heavily in future blog posts. An opportunity to wear multiple wedding dresses is most brides-to-be’s dream. Not mine. For me it was a nightmare and honestly, I’d rather… hmm… I was going to say get hit by a bus but they do say be careful what you wish for… so I’ll take that back, but you get the idea. I hated the idea of being the centre of attention, that I had to conform to society’s view of a “normal” wedding. Who cares about all of this commercial kerfuffle anyway? All I ever wanted was an intimate wedding – just the two of us and no one else. Alas, we succumbed to family and peer pressure and we did what was expected of us, with a slight compromise that we’d also get to do our own thing.

Whilst our Paris elopement (only a symbolic ceremony due to silly French law) was everything I wished for, the next two instalments had me in constant tears throughout our year-long engagement and I can count the number of times I slept through the night with one hand. It got so bad we considered seeking professional help, but in the end we decided that we’d wait and see how I feel once everything’s over. The only consolation for me was that with the multiple weddings, I didn’t have to decide on just one theme, and the thought of multiple DIY projects got me through the darkest days. Fast forward 6 months, I’m definitely feeling better, but I’m still not quite my old self. There are still days I wake up thinking the whole world has somehow wronged me, but I’m taking it one day at a time, and I hope writing this blog will help me focus on the good and get some closure on the bad.

So there you have it. Unlike some Generation Y bloggers out there, I don’t think I’m special and I’m not here to impart wisdom or change the world. I simply want to document my life, and share with you a few thoughts, tricks and hacks I’ve learnt along the way. I can’t guarantee you’re going to find my blog interesting, but I hope you’ll join me on this journey of self-discovery. Ok, that probably sounds more profound than it actually is. Chances are you may pick up a few cupcake baking tips if you’re lucky…

By the way, apparently the left-brain-right-brain theory is just a myth and is only taught to students these days as a “point of historical interest”. Nonetheless, it helps illustrate the title of this first blog rather well – the Chinese version of “Jack of all trades, master of none”.

Yours, ling yeung b

p.s ling yeung b is a nickname only a handful of very special people call me. “Ling yeung” in Cantonese means antelope, and my Chinese name (Ling Yan) means an antelope on the meadow. Rather poetic, non?