I am inclined towards structure, discipline and routine - particularly the possibility of perfection through repetition, but each attempt an improvement of its precedent for a better outcome. I attribute this to arriving in Singapore a sheltered, ignorant kampung kid (sheltered even by fellow kampung kids' standards). Back in the late 1990s, I was very impressed by how the little garden city was so advanced to every detail. People there took great pride in making everything better as the country - at that time - was striving to be world-class in its infrastructure. It was a culture shock but I learned to appreciate it very quickly. In fact, through the years I became such a person, running things in life asking how it can be done better, faster, and so on.
Hence, with much self-imposed pressure to do well - no excuse for me not to! - I cried myself to sleep the night before the first day in culinary school, knowing my life will be different when I wake up. You see, my life in the recent years has been rather "free-form" - I love it very much but at times I fear creating my own prison instead of playground, and growing unappealingly lazy. In Malaysia I took French and scored 90.5 for the minimum certification for a French passport. Having settled down in New York, I was undecided about doing French despite the French Institute having so much to offer. It is an option but not the only one.