Proud and loud

The Girl from Ipanema has come up with a tag which is simply brillianto - reasons or events that make you proud of yourself. Methinks this will be one popular tag cos rarely does one get an opportunity to be honest and proud and rave about oneself without being called vain (I was tagged what! *innocent look*).

So here I go! Wheee!

• In school days, I always stood (not up on the bench!) first in class.
  
  
• I followed Dad's and Mom's rules like a good girl - no staying up late to study, no cable TV, no pocket money, no speaking in English at home. It taught me the value of money (hey, having 20 pairs of shoes is a totally different issue altogether!), discipline and heritage. When I see kids who can't speak their native language because their parents only spoke to them in English, I feel so proud that I know how to read, write and speak in my language even though I never studied it in school or lived in my state for that matter.
  
  
• I have a passion for my job and that helps me be good at it. I loved my last job. And I love my present job. I was head-hunted by two competitors when I was at my last job, and though I am not against being head-hunted, the reasons were all wrong, and I am glad I did not jump ship just for the money. I have had the best bosses and I'm proud of the training they gave me. And I think I make a decent boss too. Recently, I was so flattered when all of the three new hires wanted to be in my team because they had heard 'good things' about me.
  
  
• I cook a mean meal. My friends and family will vouch for it (without me holding them at knifepoint).
  
  
• When I was a kid, you could make your parents proud only if you became a doctor or an engineer. So an engineer I did become, but who was to say that I had to work as one? Muahahaha! :D So I refused and became an editor. Wasn't easy, considering the first publisher I approached kicked me out for having the 'wrong qualifications and background'. Not convinced by their reasons, I applied to the same company again two weeks later. Last year I completed 4 years in that company. I'm proud that I was so persistent in following my passion. It gave me a foothold in the publishing industry.
  
  
• I volunteer as a waitress at Annalakshmi, and as a henna artist for SVC's Olympic Dream.
  
  
• I'd put on quite a bit of weight in my first year at university. I exercised like hell, and without going on a diet, went and got myself one of those figgah thingies. (It was like getting a car. You have no idea when you're getting one that maintenance is going to be a toughie.)
  
  
• I'd never stayed away from home, but at the age of 18, I packed my bags and decided to take up the scholarship and go and live in a foreign land, of which I knew nothing, for ten years.
  
  
• I did a part-time Master's in Mass Communication course (I could not afford the full-time course) and completed all modules AND my dissertation in record time of 1.5 years. I lived a crazy life back then. I had to get up at 6.30 am to go to work in the east, finish work, then take a bus, a train and another bus to go to class in the west, finish at 9.30 pm, take a bus, a train and another bus home, go to sleep by midnight, and then wake up at 6.30 am for the next cycle all over again. It was like a loooooooong exhausting day that lasted 1.5 years. But I am proud of it, because it was the first time I was paying for my own education and this Wednesday, my parents will be there to see me convocate.
  
  
• I married my best friend.
  

Wheee! I am done and you are tagged!

Be proud. Be loud.