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Write about your first name: its meaning, significance, etymology, etc.
I once had to write a short essay in my high school Spanish class about how my parents chose my given name & why, then read the story aloud to the class. So, I asked my dad who was sitting at his home office desk after dinner, how he chose my name. & why.
I should preface this by saying my dad was under the influence of a few glasses of post-dinner vodka. Yup, my dad was not quite sober when I decided to ask him a very serious question for my school homework assignment.
I couldn’t believe how he could try to keep a straight face while giving me a completely bullshit answer. As I kept asking him if what he was saying was the truth, he started cracking up. What was the story he made up about the origin of my name? Well let me tell you it was weird.
Let me start by saying if you’ve been paying attention to my username/handle, & you know an intermediate amount of Japanese vocabulary, then you can pretty much guess what my name is (or at least half of it). So, my name sounds like a Spanish name, but my family has no ties to any sort of Spanish culture or ethnicity. My entire family tree is as oriental as you can get. However, when my dad immigrated to the United States, he landed in San Antonio, Texas & immediately fell in love with Tex-Mex culture. That’s probably the real reason he chose a Spanish-sounding name for me. The story he told me?
Well, well, well. My dad (who had been a banker his entire professional career), told me that the first known lesbian he ever worked with had that first name. He went on to say he greatly admired that coworker (but did not elaborate on why), & that he liked the sound of her name, so he chose it for my name when I was born.
No matter how many times I asked him to tell me the truth, he stuck to that story. I even asked my mom if she knew why my given name was chosen, & she had no clue whatsoever. All she could say was that she let my dad pick my name at birth. I don’t know why I never questioned my dad again about it. Was it pure laziness on my part? Most likely. Was it a bullshit story made up by a man whose liver was soaked in a potato-based alcohol? Absolutely.
I ended up using that story for my homework assignment, but I embellished the story a little bit, mostly to fit the length requirement of the essay. I don’t remember what I wrote or what I ended up saying in front of my classmates, but I do remember my utter embarrassment in having to use that as my name origin story.
My dad has been out of the picture for 14 years now. So, I guess I will never know the true story of how I got my given name. That’s ok, though. I have kind of grown into liking my dad’s made-up farce of a backstory. It’s quirky, & that’s kind of cool. That’s all. Until the next one, cheers.
Song of the day:
What are your future travel plans?
Next week, Jian, his parents, our little bean & I are celebrating Jian’s birthday in Manhattan a.k.a. New York City. This was the place Jian & his parents first lived when they immigrated to the United States. So this city holds a special place in their hearts. Jian& his parents haven’t been back there for over 15 years. I haven’t been back there since 2009. I got violently sick on my last visit, so I never got to fully experience New York, but at least I fully utilized our hotel room. (Silver linings!)
Yes, the main reason we are all traveling to New York City is to celebrate Jian’s birthday. However, our second most important reason is to test our little bean on her first airplane ride. We as a trio are ultimately planning on going to Japan later this year, & we don’t want our little bean’s first plane ride to be a 12 hour flight across the International Date Line without any practice.
That brings me to our second major travel plans for the year. WE ARE GOING BACK TO JAPAN! WOO-HOO!! I don’t know if we will visit my family burial plot at the cemetery in Kamakura. It’s a tradition we do every time we go back to visit family, but according to our culture’s superstitions & beliefs, young children should not visit the dead. They are more susceptible to attracting spirits.
This upcoming trip to Japan is going to be a huge undertaking, one that Jian & I have never done before, even when we were childless. We are planning on city hopping this time on our 2 week vacation. We will first stay in Osaka, then migrate over to Tokyo for the second leg of our trip. Somewhere in between, we will have contact with my cousins who are based in Yokohama & Tokyo. We won’t be able to meet everyone, as my family is too big to see everybody, but we will at least get to introduce our little bean to a couple of close relatives.
I am really excited but also incredibly nervous to be traveling to such far away places with my little bean. Yes, these once-in-a-lifetime memories far outweigh the worries, but as a parent, I am a worrier by nature. I am praying like crazy that my kid will at least be moderately civilized on all her airplane rides. That is a ginormous hope, but I am crossing my fingers every time the thought crosses my mind.
I have been reading & seeing more news lately about more & more weather anomalies & extremely violent turbulence causing huge problems with airplanes & flights. As a professional overthinker, this terrifies me to no end. I know I cannot control any of these things, but still, these thoughts are sitting in the back of my mind. I can only hope for the best. That’s all I can do for now. At the very least, I am extremely grateful to have the opportunity & means to travel at all. For that, I shall focus all of my thoughts on gratitude & appreciation for my advantages. Until the next one, Bon Voyage & cheers!
Today’s song of the day:
What is your favorite genre of music?
This quote I found on Pinterest completely describes my musical interests. Also, yes. People still use Pinterest.
I am willing to listen to just about any type of music, even music in languages I don’t understand. I like songs in almost every genre or category, except Gregorian Chanting. That’s where I permanently draw the line. (I do not consider that music in the least.) My dad once bought a Gregorian Chanting CD from a CD subscription catalog (yes, that’s how looong ago it was), & he played it the entire time our family drove from San Francisco to Los Angeles. It was torture, but he wouldn’t allow us to change it. My mom was so irritated after that 7 hour car ride that she forbade my dad from listening to it on the drive home.
I don’t listen to a lot of songs from all genres, but there are a few songs I like from each category. For example, I don’t frequently listen to Country Western music; I listen to it very rarely, but there are a few Shania Twain, Taylor Swift, & Patsy Cline songs I like. I also don’t frequently listen to Reggae music, but I have been known to bop along to Bob Marley’s greatest hits.
Another genre that I do not listen to is Chinese pop, like C-pop or Canto-pop. It’s not that I think the music is bad. The one thing that turns me off from listening to this genre is the fact that all of the songs & their topics/themes sound the same. Every song is a love song, either about unrequited love, lost love, heartache, cute love, or sad love. There is no variety in the song subjects, & most of the songs are ballads. It just feels repetitive to listen to C-pop or Canto-pop music a lot of the time, so I avoid that genre most of the time.
Three of the biggest music genres I listen to the most these days are J-pop, Alternative Rock, & Jazz. I also love listening to other genres relating to these main categories, like: J-rap, Brit-Rock, & Bossa Nova. I used to be a super huge fan of Japanese male idol groups from the talent agency Johnny’s Entertainment, but since most of my favorite groups have either retired, broke up due to public controversy, or have disbanded, I haven’t really payed much attention to the new idol bands.
If you were to ask me which bands are on my repeat playlist, it would be:
I would definitely say that my preferences in music lean towards catchier songs, you know, songs with a catchy melody or chorus to sing along to. I also enjoy songs I can sing & bop along to. I wouldn’t say I have a great singing voice, but it’s at least adequate enough to carry a tune when I sing karaoke with my friends. Also, I have sung karaoke in public more than once & have not yet been booed off stage, so I’d say that counts as me being an okay singer.
I also like electronic music with no lyrics, LoFi ones that I can put on all day while I’m writing or doing house chores. Sometimes I will find a low key LoFi music stream on YouTube & run it in the background on the TV while I am playing with my little bean. She enjoys it as well. At least I think she does. It keeps her focused on playing in one spot & not running around the house like a child strung out on a sugar rush.
That pretty much sums up my taste in music. I could go in depth about every single specific type of music I listen to & which bands from each category I like, but that would take FOREVER! I’d like to end this post with my usual song of the day, but I will insert a playlist instead. Cheers!
Today’s PLAYLIST of the day:
Rabbits & Foxes 
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