About Me — U-Ming Lee

How I learned to stop ignoring the call to write

The author tucking into fruit in Bangkok, Thailand

Thank you Quy Ma for reaching out and introducing me to this great publication.

Hi, I’m U-Ming. It’s pronounced “Yew”, not “Oo.” My parents came up with the name because they were huge Dallas fans. To this day, I have no idea if they thought of me as a Bobby or a J.R. Ewing.

Denial

I’ve always been told I have a knack for writing.

In kindergarten, I wrote an essay my teacher loved. She brought it to the attention of the headmistress and, for a year, this piece was proudly pinned up in a prominent location.

My prize-winning essay. No honourable mention for the sketch, though!

I didn’t listen to them when they told me I should “write more.” After all, adults tend to say nice things about/to children, especially when they were good little teacher’s pets like I was. I wanted to do something with outer space or dinosaurs, so astronaut or palaeontologist were on my list of things to do when I grew up.

Not writing.

Bargaining

In school, I saw myself as a “numbers guy”, as is common with scientifically-minded young boys…