My name is Jon. Well that’s what people call me, at least. It’s a short of my full name.
“redbeanjon” came out in 2004, when a story was told to me and I thought it would be a good reminder. The name stuck after a while, and it became an alias for a lot of things, primarily online.
I’m Singaporean by citizenship, grew up in Boston, Massachusetts, and can be rather indecisive about where might be the best place for me to spend my life. Factors include a job, a family of my own, etc, and no I’m not ashamed to admit it.
I don’t have Facebook. Really. Ok, I used to but I deleted it. ;)
I’m an engineer by education (B.Hons in Mechanical Engineering), but I’m told I’m not stereotypical of one. Figures.
I have a plethora of hobbies: I dance, sing, play the piano, guitar, bass, drums. I draw on occasion, which is primarily when I have inspiration that isn’t going to make me all weepy. I write, blog (obviously), tweet, and spend quite a fair amount of time on geekstuff.
I’m interested in all things in art, literature, and historical learnings. I also like to analyze social norms and concepts and debate their legitimacy.
People have asked me why I blog - because of the fascinations I’ve stated in #7, I find myself needing to put things down in words and concrete black and white (the drawback of being an engineer, I’d think) when I debunk these against my faith. Being a Christian, I have quite a bit to say about my own faith, and particularly of the people who deem themselves to practice it (note that this is a much larger set of people than the subset of those who actually practice it. I’m not sure where you might lump me though ;) )
I’m generally melancholy and deep in thought - but I have reasons to smile as well :)
I like to tinker around with stuff - be it thoughts, possibilities, gadgets (I own a fair amount of them) or writings.
I read a lot. And I mean a lot.
I enjoy philosophy and literary works!
I play quite a few sports - squash, handball, waterpolo, the leisurely soccer, and learned a bit of martial arts. After all that, I probably can’t defend myself anyway so it makes no difference :P
I cook! Yes, really. No, not instant noodles - I mean real food where you buy the raw ingredients and spend an hour or two in the kitchen preparing everything. And I love every single moment of it. Who says guys don’t cook? :)
I adore coffee. Coffeeeeeeeeeeeee.
I drink (meaning alcoholic), and I can hold my drink pretty well. Never been drunk, but I’m aware enough not to try to get close to that.
I’m protective. I tend to shelter the people around me, and sometimes it creates a lot of distress to myself.
I’m an emotional sentimental guy - another stereotype broken.
Because of my inquisitive nature (I tend to think about everything and anything all the time), I currently am employed as a Research Engineer at the National University of Singapore, researching on Lubrication of MEMS devices. Part of my research can be found here. I’ve got more works which shall be linked as time passes and they’ve been granted permission to be shared.
I appreciate both kinds of life - the calm silent times that revolve around soft conversations with close ones, as well as the adrenaline rush moments. There is a time and place for everything :)
"The unexamined life is not worth living" - Socrates