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Saturday, July 12, 2008
Updates
So here are a few updates from my life, the Internet, and even just random junk.
I'm still here in Japan, taking part in a TESOL (that's Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages, for all you normal folks) program at my favorite university, Tokiwa Daigaku. Going wonderfully, as usual- busy, having fun, occasionally hung-over. I swear, while I do like my regular glass of wine, I never drink as much at home as I do in Japan. It must be something about those nomihoudai's (a flat fee for 2 hours of all-the-alcohol-you-can-drink . . . can you imagine how Americans would abuse that system!?!) and every friend I made and teacher I knew last year inviting me out to go do something. My wallet is stretched to its limit, but I've been able to go a little farther thanks to the generosity of some very kind people. Thanks, guys.
On a different and more genderqueer-y note, I found out how to write my (real) name in kanji. Sorry, folks, but Gwen is only a pseudonym. And while I'd like to maintain web anonymity, the ancient Chinese character coincidences are just too cool to not mention. My real name, like that of most foreigners, has all of those pesky sounds which they can now deal with but just weren't equipped for back in the day when kanji were drifting from the Chinese mainland to the land of the rising sun. So while I can write the hard "D" sound at the end of Candy with katakana (キャンディ), no kanji exists to express that sound. If I want to use kanji, I need my whole name, Candice, and I change the pronunciation to "day", closer to its real sound instead of the spelling. Anyways, this is just background for those who don't know how to switch borrowed English into Japanese. But with the help of some Japanese friends and electronic dictionaries, whe found some kanji that works to represent my name. Interestingly enough, there's only one kanji for the sound of the first syllable of my name (kyan), and I was amazed to find that the meaning is something roughly akin to tomboy.
How cool is that? Add in the "de" and "su" sounds that complete the Japanese version of "Candice", and the result is very interesting. There are tons of kanji for each of these sounds, respectively, but my buddies chose 出 and 州, the former which means "exit, leaving" and the latter "state". Okay, so "state" in this case refers more to a concrete demarcated land area, like the 50 American states or Japanese prefectures, but I like to be more whimsical, and call it a state as in a state of mind. If you combine all three of these, then, you get a few interesting readings. It might be leaving the state of tomboyishness- a representation of my leaving androgyny and tomboy genderqueerness to seek out my inner queer femme (as I have lately been longing to do, in a safe space)? Or is it more like I'm leaving my normal state to seek out more tomboyishness, to the point of drag and purposeful genderbending? Either way, I'm thrilled at the fact that my name isn't something trite and silly- no "beautiful child" like is so common here. It's rare and strange, just like me, 侠出州.
In other news that isn't all about me . . .
1) Butch-Boi.com is up! Members Pages are now available, which means you can participate in the forum with other hot bois and lovers of bois, and interact in a multitude of ways. Good job, Butch-Boi.com, and we look forward to more!
2) Do you belief in that old superstition about someone dying for every new child that is born? Well, it isn't that serious, but just as Butch-Boi.com has been birthed, CrashPadSeries.com is a little bit ill. She isn't dying- no way, Jose- because you can't kill something so successful and loved with such a talented and determined team behind it. But for the moment, the site is down due to its web hosting service. No more forum. No more hot sex. Just a holding page that is as depressing and yet hopeful as the old-fashioned rainbow "Technical Difficulties" that used to appear on TV's- you kept watching hoping it would disappear and the good stuff would come back. Hopefully things get remedied soon. Good luck, Crash Pad, and looking forward to your return.
That's all for now, I guess, since my brain has gone on strike until my stomach gets the late lunch it is demanding. Bye, all!
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