A Day in Life

Three weeks ago I went to collect my DNA Kit from Calvin Woon‘s and Patricia Lin‘s office in Singapore. I paid for the 23 And Me DNA Kit and since they do not ship to Malaysia, I asked Calvin and Pat to use their mailing address as Singapore is the closest country that the DNA Kit is shipped to.

I went to Calvin and Pat’s office in Singapore to fill the sample with my saliva on the spot and submitted it back to the 23 and Me genomes lab in the US on the same day via DHL Express.

So  What Is 23 And Me?

23andMe provides ancestry-related genetic reports and raw genetic data. The scientists at the lab will run tests on your saliva and from it, they can tell what your DNA says about you and your family, tracing your lineage back 10,000 years and discover your history from over 750 maternal lineages and over 500 paternal lineages.

Well, that’s what it says on their website.

Scientific research reveals that the idea of a ‘pure race’ is a myth. While many of us may identify to a specific race based on majority of our physical attributes, it is hard to believe that we are a product of generations of flawless ‘breeding’ strictly among our own kind. For example, are the Chinese, well, 100% Chinese?

I bought this DNA Kit from the 23andMe Lab out of curiosity as I’d like to see if it’s truly possible to trace my ancestry. After all, my mother could trace only up to her own grandmother from her mother’s side, and we know almost next to nothing about my father’s side.

Three weeks later and I just got an email from them saying that my complete 23andMe ancestry reports are ready to view! That’s pretty fast; I was expecting to wait for another month or two. 🙂

So here is an overview on my Ancestry composition:

That’s just the overview. Each of these sections are followed by detailed, lengthy explanations which I am still trying to ‘brain them’. Nonetheless, interesting! 🙂

If you want to find out about your own ancestry, you can give it a go starting at $99.

http://www.23andme.com/

Note that they don’t ship to Malaysia; the closest is Singapore, which is why I needed to get help from my friends in Singapore with their office address.

Elle and I went to the Taman Jaya park yesterday evening to release some animals and insects! We initiated our annual ritual after the heavy downpour. Right after releasing the last bird, we stumbled upon a resting turtle by surprise! Haha, my stars are truly aligned with that of the turtles.

Calvin Woon and Patricia Lin‘s first time in KL! I drove them over to meet the other entrepreneurs in the city and the casual meet up turned into an ‘evening tuition class’, joined by best-selling author on Gold & Silver investment Jonathan Quek and Youth Entrepreneur Icon Michael Teoh. An enriching evening indeed with great company and an awesome learning experience!

We missed the last key by a whisker to escape the room… shucks!

And… Ya ya ya… It’s my fault we lost. 🙁 How was I supposed to know the damned map was under the box?

We’ll be back and we’ll come back stronger smarter!

 

At 3:00 AM-ish I was on my way home from Khai’s house when I witnessed a Proton Waja hit the sides on the opposite lane; the car ended up on my lane and when the passenger was sent crashing out the windscreen.

A couple of passer-bys and I stopped our cars and we managed to get the victim out of the car just in time before the vehicle exploded and burst into flames.

Yep, exploded.

Just when you think this happens only in the movies.

I hesitated when I saw rummage of smokes quickly turned into fire at the front hood of the car, next to the victim. But somehow I plucked the courage and ran over – along with two other passer-bys – to help the driver evacuate his friend.

The driver got away with minor injuries, but to think his friend was just a minute away from getting killed in that flames.

I still shudder at the thought if I hadn’t acted on it – or what if I had acted too late? The man could have died there and then; maybe all of us if we were late by a short moment.

There was great difficulty getting to 999; police arrived first and the Bomba about 15 minutes later to put off the fires (there were small burst of flames now and then).

Ambulance came 20 minutes later. The man is saved, and fortunately not in such a critical condition since he could still speak albeit not see who hauled his ass out that night.

Die another day.