My name is... 我叫做。。。 part 1

Who am I? To inquire at the most basic level of identification, what is my name? When it comes to my name(s), there is a bit of confusion - even on my part over the years. Yes, I have been puzzled by my very own name! Others may ponder the proverbial question of who they are in relation to the grand scheme of things i.e. the universe, but up until a few years ago, I couldn't even get past my own name.

The reasoning for this confusion has to do with the variety of dialects found in China and their respective pronunciations for the same characters. Well, they are considered "dialects," but differences in pronunciation may push some people to classify them as "languages."

As it stands, Cantonese and Mandarin are dialects of the Chinese language. Spanish and Italian are classified as separate languages altogether even though they sound very similar and are actually partially intelligible to speakers of each opposing language in question.

Actually, Cantonese is a sub-regional dialect that is part of the greater "Yue" (粵） dialect of the Chinese language which is comprised of Cantonese a.k.a. Guang Dong Hua (廣東話）and Tai Shan Hua (台山話）。

I can still recall a story from my old Chinese language teacher about an experiment that he did to determine once and for all if Tai Shan Hua and Guang Dong Hua (Cantonese) were the same. Apparently, he believed that they were the same dialect since they sounded so similar to him. He, of course, only knew one dialect of Chinese - Mandarin.

The experiment went as follows: What he did was he had one person who only knew how to speak Tai Shan Hua and one person who only knew Cantonese attempt a conversation using their native tongues to see if communication occurs and at what level of comprehension on each of their parts. The results proved him wrong. Each participant in the experiment wasn't able to make out what the other was saying at all. In other words, what came out of one person's mouth was unintelligible to the other.

This will serve to give one an idea of the differences between mere "dialects" in the Chinese language. Hm.. this is not even at the the dialectal level for disparity; such variety can be seen even in sub-regional dialects since both Tai Shan Hua and Cantonese are grouped under the Yue dialect.

With the above stated, I can go on to the topic at hand - my name. For all legal purposes, my name is (using American naming conventions and Mandarin pinyin) is Xin Qia Mei (新洽梅 - actually 梅新洽 using Chinese naming conventions). For familial matters, I am known as 梅尚洪 - Mei Shang Hong. Mei is the surname and the others are the given names.

For the sake of good taste in length and my Chinese studies, I will end this entry here and continue to explain my names, confusion in pronunciation and the various names that came about because of said confusion in my next entry using Chinese.

What's in a name? 一個名字會怎麽影響一個人的將來呢？

Shakespeare wrote "A Rose by any other name is still a rose." What I drew from this statement is that no matter what name has been bestowed upon an object, it will still be the same object - serve the same purpose, bear the same qualities, thrive in the same conditions, etc.

Now does such a statement apply to humans? If a person is labelled with a different moniker, s/he would surely live a different life, right? I believe this is so. If not, I wouldn't be able to see people going around with names like "President," "General," or my favorite - Corvette. Yes, there are people whom are named after sports cars! Maybe the parents wished for their children to grow up to be the president of something or a general in the military.

As cultures change, reactions towards such names change as well. Nevertheless, there will still be names that evoke knee-jerk reactions or inappropriate laughter. This couldn't be more evident than when watching "Meet the Fockers" which had a protagonist by the name of Gaylord Focker. I can remember a time when my cousin actually met a person named "Gaylord," he couldn't help from laughing...but he excused himself out of the room before doing so. Heh, at least he didn't laugh in front of the guy's face... Any way you look at it, a person's name has a huge effect on how others look at the person.

想起名字這個話題， 我忽然想起以前看過的日本動漫片,名為Ranma 1/2. Ranma 1/2 的世界裏面有一個好色的老伯。 他最愛做的就是到處偷村裏女士的絲襪。 我不記得那個故事的細節,但有一次那个好色的老伯帮了一位要临盆的孕妇顺利生下了孩子. 然後那個女士就讓他為剛出世的孩子起個名字。 你猜他為那個孩子起個什麽名字呢？ 你沒看過那部動漫片可能怎麽想也想不到他會為那個孩子取一個這麽有意義的名字 （對他來說有意義）。 好色老伯最喜歡女人的絲襪，所以就為那個孩子起了“絲襪太郎“ 這個名字。 是否很驚訝呢？ 是否一個万人敬佩的名字呢？ 哈哈。。。

帶着“絲襪太郎“ 這個名字，那個孩子的童年不好過 - 常常被人欺負。 他長大以後就不斷地找那位為他取一個那麽難聽的名。 而找那個老伯的原因就是要他改一個好一點的名字 （他們的風俗一定要原本起名的人幫他改名）。 最終他找到那個老伯但是那個老伯想的名字依然那麽奇怪的 - 想的名字都是“蟑螂太郎“ 類似的名字。

我原本想寫一些關於搞笑的名字的故事然後再詳細地寫關於我的名字以及我歷來認識過的相識的名字和外號但是后一半的文章要等到下次才可以寫。 <--- Would this be a run-on sentence in Chinese?

Edible decor 3

Edible decor 2

Edible decor

Looks good enough to eat

Deluxe toilet

Don't you want one?

回望球場：自稱可愛的男孩

阿， 很久沒有踏步入籃球場了。 很久沒有看啊芳（姓 "Fang" 的是否用“芳“這個字呢？） 的老前輩了。 他的歲數雖然過五十（可能過六十）但是他射的球還比球場的年輕人准。 還有啊才。 阿才説話有問題所以常常被別人欺負， 但人家只是跟他玩玩而已。 我也知道單純的阿才也沒放在心裏的。 每天到球場都帶着一份不能假裝的笑容。 我最欣賞他的絕招。 他用左手（他是慣用左手的）在籃板後面抛起到籃板正面進籃。 他射十球能入八球。 簡直無人能及阿！

但是我的標題是關於可愛的男孩喔。 我怎麽會寫一些關於別的東西呢？ 何謂“自稱可愛的男孩“呢？ 其實我寫的都是球場令我想起的東西. 至於可愛的男孩就是我在球場認識的一個朋友. 有人可能覺得阿才可愛,可是他並沒有說自己可愛. 我也沒有.

自稱可愛的男孩是一個我認識了...八年的姓"周" 的朋友. "周" 在廣東拼音裏念"Chow." 而Chow 在美國人的口語中是用來形容糧食的. 有時候想弄吃的就說"Time to get some chow." 狗糧就是"dog food" 或者 "dog chow." 我這位朋友自認可愛得像小狗(puppy) 所以叫自己 "puppy." 連姓的全名就是 "puppy chow" - 小狗的糧食.

"Puppy" 可以說是他的外號但是我從來沒有聼過別人這樣叫他. 多數聼到人家叫他"Chow" 但沒有叫他 Puppy (小狗).

我當初聼到他說自己可愛覺得有點奇怪. 哪裏有男孩說自己可愛的? 原來這裡就有. 一般的男孩會說自己帥或者 cool (廣東話裏 - 有形) 但不會說自己可愛. I guess to each, his own.

他雖然自稱可愛但我覺得他並不可愛. 這可能因爲我和他的性格不同. 他很好勝並喜歡說假話. 我就沒那麽好勝也不喜歡散荒. 其實他的性格很難捉摸的. 真的認識小狗的人都知道他說的話不可靠; 看不見證據就不能信他. 人家因爲沒有耐性查探虛實, 就在他面前信他但背後懷疑他. 我不知道他是否跟他所有認識的人都這樣但起碼跟我和我老表是這樣. 呵呵, 我的老表叫他 "Bullshit King" 說他是大話精(普通話裏有"大話" 的單詞嗎?).

阿,現在沒時間繼續寫但有時閒可能再回到關於小狗的話題. 現在就到此爲止...

Into the X-ray machine

What's on the other end?

標題之標題

我已經決定一個星期寫一次部落格。 我想， 我會記得寫可是話題就可能沒那麽多。 避免缺話題來寫，我就先想定幾個標題然後隨著我的想法來寫。 因爲我發覺看見一些東西或者感覺到一些東西就啓動我腦裏的機器令我記起一些回憶。 其實每個人都是這樣的。 我只是用這一點來幫助自己寫部落格。

我將會寫的部落格會包括以下標題背後的故事。

- 回望球場：自稱可愛的男孩

- 無產階級但還有一顆善良的心

- My Impressions of SE K800i

- 我的志願

- What's in a name? 一個名字會怎麽影響一個人的將來呢？

- 文盲的藝術： 紋身也不要紋一些連自己都不懂的東西吧！

Just so I don't completely lose my ability to write in English, I'll probably write in English as well.

Peering outside in

Raining on my parade

‘記’不可失

我知道那句本來是“機不可失，” 但我現在的話題是記憶。 我發覺我的記憶近來越來越差。 其實我本來就記性差， 但是這幾個星期覺得荒廢得比以前多。 有時候需要做件事但怕不記得就托朋友提醒我做。 他就回答叫我題他題我。 事實過後才發現忘記了做那件事。 其實也不是很重要的事情（要不然會寫下），但我常常這樣所以覺得無奈。

我也不懂我爲什麽有些東西一瞬間就把忘了但有些話和句子就深刻在記憶裏。 哈， 該記的記不了。 不該記的就偏記得。 會不會跟我小的時候撞倒（還是“踫到”？）頭的意外有關呢？

網友說吃核桃可以幫助我的記性。 呵呵， 以形補形！ 我以前也聼過這種理論。 要是腿筋有問題就吃吃牛腿。 肺不妥就吃豬肺？ 核桃像人的腦袋， 所以根據這種理論可以補腦。 大不了可以試試吃猴子的腦。 哈哈， 但想起來就令我反胃。 怎麽吃呢？

也許人的記性有限。 也許應該說我的記憶有限才對。 能夠釋放舊的或者不管用的記憶便可以吸收到需要記的東西。 我總是把沒用的東西聚集在我的記憶裏； 有用的東西卻是不記得。

或許多寫點blog 可以幫助我的記性。 一來可以釋放沉着腦裏的煩惱。 二來可以鍛煉我的語言技能。
那就決定了。 一個星期起碼寫一次部落各。 有沒有話題都好。 總之寫得就寫。 哈哈， 看一下這個決定能維持多久。。。