my photo in an exam paper

This is something completely unexpected. I received a comment at this particular blog post about Dixit, saying that the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority (HKEAA) wished to use material from my website and was thus seeking my permission. At first I thought it was some kind of Nigerian scam. But what could I be tricked of? My blog is public information anyway. So I wrote to that email in the comment. No response for the next few days. So I forgot about it.

And then I received a proper email with a formal letter from HKEAA. Looks like this is legit! So I happily replied within 5 minutes. I guess I’m quite easy to please. Even such a small thing made me pretty excited. It was just one of my photos being used as one part of one question in an exam paper. This is the photo.

This appears in the 2012 Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education Examination, English Paper 1, Part A, Reading Passage Question 13. I feel a little giddy that so many Hong Kong teenagers have seen my thumb. Is it too fat? Is my fingernail too long? Am I holding my hand at a good angle?

It was a relief that they didn’t actually use that blog post itself. My English was not exactly prim and proper. I was suddenly quite self-conscious of it for a while. Phew...