What you need to know for this to make some sense.


My name is Jane Pek and I'm a junior majoring in history at Yale University. I'm from Singapore and proud of it. I want to be a writer - be it in theatre, film or good old fiction/poetry (right, as if one could ever make a living as a poet); travel around the world; fall and stay in love; live in London or New York.

As anyone who knows me can confirm, I adore food. I would rather die than go on the Atkins Diet. Imagine a life without bread, cake and pasta! I'm someone who definitely lives to eat, and the reason why I keep in such good shape (besides wanting to appear attractive, because I'm shallow and superficial) is so that I can eat what I want and get away with it. I practice taekwondo (Korean martial art) and capoeira (Afro-Brazilian dance/martial art), and go biking or running as the weather permits. (The weather right now hovers between -5 and -15 degrees celsius, which is a definite no for a tropics-bred girl like me.)

I alternate between supreme organisation and utter spontaneity; between being over-achieving and lazy. I'm antisocial but I love people. I'm intense but it annoys me when people take themselves too seriously. I think I'm fundamentally a reserved person who, for some reason, finds herself in too many crazy situations.

I value interesting and intelligent people over nice ones ... especially if they're hot. I'm such an aesthete. I used to think I wanted physical gratification without emotional attachment, but I've recently changed my mind.

Here are the classes I'm taking this semester (Spring 2004), because I think they're pretty cool:
HIST 361 - History of Brazil
HIST 424 - History of America's Civil Rights Movements
ENGL 463 - Fantasy Writing, Science Fiction, and Related Genres
E&EB 225 - Evolutionary Biology
SPAN 224 - Spanish in Politics, International Relations and the Media

As far as activities go, I've cut down on a lot of stuff this semester. I'm no longer an editor for the Yale Herald, the student weekly newspaper; we're no longer producing Lingo (a literary magazine I founded) because we've run out of money; soon (the sooner the better!) I'll hand over my responsibilities as Director of International Service for the Rotaract Club (which I also helped found). That leaves me with TKD and capoeira; my job in the marketing department of Yale University Press; and Stranger Than Family, the film that Suzanne and I are making this semester. The idea was to give me a lot more time to write and read - both of which are, needless to say, not happening.

And these are the people I talk about. They prove that the qualities of intelligence, interestingness and niceness aren't mutually exclusive.

At Yale
Paa Kwesi. Solid as a rock. Intellectual arguments. Ghana's future Prime Minister?
Bee-Seon. Tries to suck me into the world of classical music. Ice-cream, movies and commiseration over various unattainable individuals.
Jason. Guy of diverse talents (cooking, writing comedy scripts and Herald indexes).
Jen. A voice of sympathy and reason - "No, Jane, you're not turning asexual."
Chad. Because everyone needs an Arty Gay Male Friend.
Suzanne, Amy, Marissa, Erica, Summar, Jess, Katie. Suitemates!
Sarah. Es tan mas facil en ingles, no?
Alvin. My fellow Singaporean! Girl/guy talk and Yorkside suppers.