Number One: Just because a yellow flame is not as hot as a blue one does not mean it won’t burn your finger.

Curiosity has always been my best friend and enemy. It has compelled me to act on many dubious wonders, i.e. touching a yellow flame.

Despite my parents rendering me “annoying”, they have always taken pleasure in my quirky questions like “what if President Kennedy was still alive?” or if lead in pencils is actually made of lead. I’d imagine it to be quite a task to keep up with my nine-year-old inquisitive mind, especially when I bring mosses and crawling creatures into the house encased in jars and plastic so I could study their beauty.

For me, curiosity has never been just a phase. Science, art, politics, and the love of Austen and Fitzgerald only skim the surface of interests that serve my quizzical nature. I still find trouble to answer a question that many of my acquaintances loves to ask, “What is your hobby?”

Number Two: Perseverance is more than the ‘I-think-I-can-I-think-I-can’ effort in hope to conquer a mountain.

“Frog jumps. Five courts. Ten laps. Now!”, my coach demanded.

I started jumping across the badminton courts with two feet plummeting hard against the ground while the bulk of my plump dawdled in the air.

First lap, done. Legs: shutting down. Lungs: shutting down.

I skimmed the hall for my team members. They’re two laps ahead of me.

Second lap. I really can’t do this. Where are my legs? I can’t feel my legs!!!

Next thing I knew my checks were glued the wooden floor, out of breath, lightheaded and my ego in shambles. I woke up the next morning with legs of mush, irresponsive of my commands to perform my daily routine. I trained arduously in the days that followed until I could leap ten laps and dropped ten kilos.

I believe perseverance is the feeling of laboring fruitlessly until one day realizing “I did it”.

Number Three: No trivia or knowledge is too trivial and no adventure is ever a lackluster quest.

I have compiled much trivia over my years. Many of those came from adventures I seek intentionally and accidentally, but they have always led to serendipity. Above all, I came to realize that the pursuit of knowledge itself has merits. Though I may not need to cite Oscar Wilde’s biography or play the piano with my eyes closed, the adventures that have led to these masteries will forever define my perception to the world: one infinite enigma awaiting to be discovered.