A Simple Case of "Bad" Genes

It's true, sometimes nature is not fair. As the song goes, some "people" (I know the original lyrics is a "guy" but I'm trying to be gender sensitive) have all the luck. If my memory serves me right, we have 23 chromosome pairs half of which we get from mom and the other half from dad. This means that we have a 50% chance of getting a trait from each of our parents.

My dad has a pretty nose for an asian. He is also big boned, tall, dark and in my honest opinion, considerably handsome as I can see from his younger years' photos. My mother on the other hand is tall, light in complexion, and is a pretty lady in her prime years.

But wait! I am not implying that Im a good looking son of a b*tch, because both my parents are relatively attractive. If we look closely, our parents too have 23 pairs of those chromosomes and only some of them are "expressed". So it might be that what we have from mom and dad are not the "expressed" traits, and we need a little digging the family tree to know where we get these traits.

And here it is the "where did I get these traits" list (Im still on the process of self discovery and this list is not at all complete and accurate).

Mom side:
The lean gene. As I can see my relatives from both sides, I can say that my mother side has the most "lean" bodies. I have cousins who are like me in that they dont get fat easily. Though through time (they are now on their late 20's/early 30s) they are starting to get those pounds, and I can only surmise that it will hit me too.

Intelligence. Ok, hold on to your seats! I'm not saying that I'm Einsten-like. Most literature I read says that intelligence comes from your maternal side. I observed and compared scholastic records of my relatives from both sides and yes I confirmed that my mother-side had all great education-success stories and some of them are now (im)migrats to other countries. Though my mother is only a highschool graduate and my father a college dropout - I would still choose them over than any parent of the world.

Receding hairline (and soon baldness). My mother is not bald (or balding), and I can remember that my grandfather was not also bald. My father is bald(ing), but why do I put this here? Aside from what I read that it is from your maternal side that this gene is passed, I confirmed from a recent family reunion that my mother side's far cousins/relatives have bald patches. That's the inconvenient truth for me and it is easier I think to just accept nature's design (good thing caps/bonnet are available whenever confidence is not a hundred percent).

Dad side:
Chinless/Nose/Face Contour. Yeah, my face is not balanced. I dont have a chin (or not prominent enough). My father has a chin, my grandfather too. My nose and face structure is not also similar to either my dad or mom. Nature decided to give me most of my lola's features than my dad's. Talk about pamana.

Common:
Heart disease, hypertension and diabetes. Both sides of the family have these and it is a strong motivation for me to try to be healthy (through avoiding unhealthy foods and alcohol) because I don't want to be hospitalized (who does?).

Mystery:
Gray Hair. None of my recent relatives both from my mother and father side expressed this trait.