TNT Interview
Name: Chiu Ma
Position: Cargo-ship Seaman
Q How did you get into working on ships?
. Some friends provided a referral. It was a way to see the world and get paid for travelling.
Q What did you study in school?
. I am not an educated man. I received basic public education.
Q Name your strengths.
. A lot of ship work consists of securing items with rope. I picked up a lot of knowledge on tying a multitude of knots. Also, I am pretty good with numbers, that is, I can quickly figure out the sum, difference, product or quotient in my head. Surprisingly I am not adept with calculators. But, with a traditional Chinese bisection abacus I can calculate numbers very quickly. I am almost as fast as a shopkeeper with the abacus.
Q Name your weaknesses.
. In the best of times, & in the worst of times I swear a lot.
Q What is your best character trait?
. Patience.
Q What character trait do you like in others?
. Willingness to help people.
Q Tell us about a favorite ship memory.
. As a Quartermaster on the ms Straat Bali, I thwarted a burglary and received a commendation.
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Q What was the worst thing that happened to you on a ship?
. I can not remember if we were near Central America or Indonesia, but I relieved the pilot on a shift & I fell asleep at the wheel. Nothing bad came of it and no one noticed but we did go off course for maybe half an hour.
Q What is your nickname?
. One of them is Fatty Ma
Q Who is a sports hero?
. It would have to be Michael Jordan or the Harlem Globe Trotters. This was before the time of China’s Yao Ming.
Q What sport do you enjoy other than basketball?
. Volleyball
Q Your childhood dream job?
. ship-man
Q What is something we wouldn’t guess about you?
. I enjoy manufacturing/preparing food items as a creative outlet. Don’t confuse this with cooking. I like making things like tofu, or egg noodles, or perogies, or shrimp chips. I make these in big batches.
Q What is your life philosophy?
. Work hard. Make lots of money.
Q What is your hobby?
. I collect coins and paper currency from each country I go to.
Q What would you eat for your last meal?
. Ox-tail stew with potatoes and carrots. Fried rice and spare-ribs in black bean sauce (or a T-bone steak with a side of rice). Gai-lan greens in oyster flavored sauce.
Q dream car?
. A roomy station-wagon with air conditioning.
Q Where would you like to travel next?
. I want to see modern Singapore. The first time I went, it was quite a run-down country. After that, I would like to visit China and Hong Kong again. I haven’t been there in over a lifetime.
Q Who is your favorite music artist?
. It would have to be music from China from the 1940s-1950s era.
Q What video game do you like?
. I enjoyed watching my kids play Colecovision or my nephew’s kids playing Nintendo. Other than that, the closest I have come to a computer or computer machine is the one I sat across from, on the desk of the income tax preparer (U & R Tax Services on High Street West).
Q What is a movie that you liked?
. Cool Hand Luke, the one where Newman eats a bunch of hardboiled eggs.
Q What kind of TV shows do you watch?
. Shows like “Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom” with Marlin Perkins or “The Nature of Things” with David Suzuki.
Q How does Chiu take his coffee?
. One cream and one sugar.
Q Pick a super power.
. Strength
Q You are stranded on a deserted island, what 2 things would you want with you?
. A 2-way radio & my toolbox.
Q I’m buying. Pick your poison.
. I seldom drink. If I had to choose one drink, it would be a glass of wine.
Q Name a book you enjoyed.
. The 1994 edition of the Edmonton published Mah’s in Canada. And… maybe a cookbook. … or Mao’s Little Red Book.
Q What do you have for breakfast?
. Coffee and Toast. The toast is with butter or peanut-butter or jam.
Q If you could time travel for 24 hours where would you go?
. I would take a 24 hour holiday to either Panama or Argentina. The year would be between 1960 – 1965.
Q What is your personal vice?
. I smoked cigarettes for over 30 years. If I could continue smoking, my preference would be Rothmans King Size brand (the one with the blue label not the Rothmans with the red label (mild)).
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Word Association:
Q cowboys
. music
Q school
. fun
Q hot
. Summer
Q hero
. (Mohammed) Ali
Q orange
. sweet
Q practice
. hard
Q shipmates
. good guys
