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cupofkey · 3 years

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Bit of a random question but do you think there was more than one personification of Vietnam? I think (based on reading a couple wiki pages) that there was a whole thing with north and south kingdoms even before the Vietnam war so idk.. plus a lot of south ocs for the Vietnam war itself..... idk just like to hear your thoughts

ok whoa this is gonna be LONG. I want to fully explain the history so maybe people can get a better understanding of the whole thing, since I feel most people just don’t really know much about our history or believe in misinformation. gonna throw in a fair amount of personal thoughts too. so I’ll do that rather than only stating my hcs and opinions without context... so yeah big long response under the cut.

but thank you for asking! this is like... a very personally relevant topic to me? I myself am not a scholar of Vietnamese history and politics or anything, but I grew up in a family of them, along with generally being a Vietnamese-American person and a child of refugees, and so this stuff has always been really important to me. I’m gonna discuss 3 facets of the questions about who Vietnam is and who she represents:

1. pre-1700s Vietnamese history, stretching back through the times of pre-Chinese domination

2. colonial and 20th century Viet history, including the Vietnam War

3. not directly related to your question, but I think it’s relevant to the central concept of “who is Vietnam”: Vietnamese diaspora and my general thoughts on nationhood/representation

also cw for like. war and colonization and turmoil. anyways here’s the history plus my thoughts, feelings, and opinions.

1. pre-1700s Vietnam

origins of the Vietnamese people

I’ve mentioned this before, but I hc Vietnam (who I’ll just be calling Linh throughout this to refer to the character, for clarity’s sake) as a northerner. this is because the ancient Vietnamese people were a group of tribes (Yue, Nanyue) who lived across southern China and northern Vietnam, specifically around the Red River and its delta, where modern-day Hanoi sits. the modern Vietnamese Kinh ethnic group (~85%) are descended from them.

the Cham people (who are now an ethnic minority) controlled the central to south part of the country for over a thousand years— however, their culture is completely different. they were seafarers arriving from Borneo (Malaysia), and like many other Southeast Asian civilizations, adopted many aspects of Indian culture from language and religion to architecture and law. their kingdom, Champa, was very much ethnically, genetically, and culturally separated from the Vietnamese of the north until the 18th century.

What Actually Happened during this period (~250BCE - ~1650 CE)

several kingdoms and dynasties existed in that area around the Red River delta starting in the 3rd century BCE. however, Han-dynasty China invaded the area known as Nam Việt/Nanyue in 111 BCE and thus began a millennia of Chinese domination. this period was interspersed with various revolts, independent kingdoms, and constant clashes between the Vietnamese and their Chinese conquerors. many of our folk heroes are folk heroes because they said “fuck you” to the Chinese back in these days, including the famous Trung sisters.

Vietnam was very powerful and stable once it gained independence in 939 CE and established its first dynasty. this soon becomes the kingdom of Đại Việt in 968, which lasts until the 1800s. thus, this is the name Linh has been under for the most time across her life. you have to remember, though, that Nam Viet and later Dai Viet still only covered that north/central area of modern-day Vietnam at first!

Champa (green) was founded a few centuries after that pre-China period in the north, in the year 192 CE. it quickly absorbed Indic influences from its neighbors (such as the state of Funan, which was centered even further south on the Mekong Delta. religious influences included Hinduism and Islam.) the kingdom reached its peak through the 7th-10th centuries, although it gradually declined and was eventually completely taken apart by several events. notably: a war with the Vietnamese in the 15th century which they lost very badly, Dai Viet’s gradual southward expansion beginning in the 11th century, and annexations of their remaining principalities ending in the 17th century. thus, the ethnic Vietnamese eventually took over the full area we now know as Vietnam.

ok, so what about hetalia?

to answer your first question: no, I don’t personally hc there being more than one “Vietnamese” personification during this time. The Cham people as previously stated were one of several groups living in what’s now South Vietnam; however, they are very different in many ways, and so I don’t consider the personification of Champa to be Vietnamese. (this is unlike how North and South Korea are both Koreans.)

I do think there was a personification of Champa-- is, really, since the Cham people are one of the most significant ethnic minorities in Vietnam-Laos-Cambodia. whoever they are, they probably live in Cambodia, since their population is largest there (there was a large migration after the dissolving of Champa to neighboring areas).

I’ve mentioned this, but I headcanon that personifications represent their peoples and cultures as a whole rather than specific pieces of political leadership. for example, several power splits occurred during this time (can google Mac/Le dynasties or Trinh/Nguyen lords, where the country was divided by different ruling families) but I would personally consider Linh representing both sides of that.

2. colonial to 20th century Vietnam

French Indochina

I won’t go into too many details here, but basically the French split Vietnam into 3 colonies: Tonkin, the north; Annam, the central region; and Cochinchina, the south; each one had a slightly different status under French governance. Laos and Cambodia were later incorporated. throughout this period, the Vietnamese people were continuously revolting for independence. this nationalism sparked movements moving away from royalism/regressive goals and toward modernization and radicalization, and of course all of it was cracked down on by the French.

after Japan’s ruinous takeover of Indochina at the end of WWII and the abdication of the last Vietnamese emperor (essentially a French puppet), the French tried to reassert themselves, but a new group called the Việt Minh stood in their way. (this group was led by Ho Chi Minh, and had been formed as an anti-Japanese/French group composed of north-central Communists and Viet-nationalists. they had received some support from the US during WWII as well, and are the foundation for the current Vietnamese government today.)

the first and second Indochina Wars

the conflict between the Viet Minh and France/America/a state created by France called the State of Vietnam is referred to as the First Indochina War, and it mostly took place in the north (fka Tonkin). the Viet Minh eventually won the war. an agreement was reached with France to have the Viet Minh take the northern half of the country from the line of the 17th parallel to create North Vietnam, and the State of Vietnam would cover the southern half.

later known as South Vietnam or the Republic (of Vietnam), this state was backed by the US and was led by the infamous Ngô Đình Diệm, and lots of crazy shit happened on both sides. once again won’t go into it bc you can just google, but basically things were not going well and the conflict was not over by a long shot. millions fled the North for the South to escape Communist persecution.

starting in 1956, a group called the Việt Cộng, a group of armed communists, initiated a guerilla war to overthrow South Vietnam and “unite” Vietnam. this, of course, is the Second Indochina War, better known in the US as the Vietnam War, and was fought between North and South Vietnam. as time went by, the Viet Cong were boosted then essentially replaced by North Vietnamese troops (like, from the government, since the guerilla warfare was overlapped by more conventional tactics and they needed help.) the North was backed by the USSR, PRC, and Laotian/Khmer communists; the South was backed by the US, South Korea, and several others. by 1973, the US withdrew completely, and in 1975 Saigon (the capital of South Vietnam) was captured. this marked the end of the war, and the beginning of “reunification.”

personifying South Vietnam?

clearly, there was an incredible amount of turmoil and violence and complexity within these wars. I’ve given the briefest of rundowns, and hopefully it’s even somewhat adequate to express just how bad things were, to show just how serious this all is, and just how little of it I can capture in my own musings about country people.

that being said. do I think there were separate North/South personifications during this time?

my answer is... no. for several reasons: firstly, as previously stated, there has never really been a South Vietnam Personification in my view, and there’s not much of a historical precedent for it. the divide only seriously began when the French split the country, which tbf is a long time, but idk if it would affect Linh herself seeing how old she is. after all, South Vietnam only really existed as an independent state for about 20 years.

secondly, north and south have different cultures for sure, but I don’t believe they’re culturally different enough to warrant separate personifications. government wise is a different story, but culturally Vietnamese people don’t have a large divide, and most of us consider ourselves Vietnamese at the core, not South Vietnamese or North Vietnamese. will discuss exceptions in a second.

thirdly, this war is often seen as a civil war, and I’m of the personal hc (maybe inspired by (un)civil, tbh!) that if nations have different “manifestations” of the belligerents, they don’t have separate bodies. basically what I mean is I think both “North Vietnam” and “South Vietnam” were separate concepts, sure, but they both existed at the same time in Linh’s body. does that make sense? I hope it does.

thus, my opinion is that there wasn’t a South Vietnam personification, but rather as Vietnam began to fragment ideologically in the 1930s (with those revolts against the French), more and more internal conflict built up in Linh’s body.

(and it’s not like that went away come 1975; no, I’d argue it became even worse. one must understand that there wasn’t just a north-south conflict in the realm of politics. this was a government-people conflict, too. if you look up land reform in North Vietnam, re-education camps, you’ll see what I mean. so I do think there was a lot of internal conflict for Linh throughout this whole period, just for many, many more reasons than is usually portrayed.)

3. who is Vietnam today?

well, it’s time for me to give my completely unsolicited opinions and thoughts even harder!

Vietnamese diaspora

this is a question I’ve been thinking about for a very long time, as a member of this very diaspora. does Linh represent her diaspora, too? do nations claim their diasporas? there are about 4.5 million overseas Vietnamese, with about half in the US, and that’s not a small number. so does Linh represent these people at all? especially if they were born in Vietnam and then moved, does she still represent them, or does someone else like Alfred? what about their children? is it about birth, even? residency, citizenship? self-identification? or just being inside the border?

the Viet diaspora also kind of throws a wrench into things because many of them are ardently nationalist, but specifically South Vietnamese nationalist. in places like France it’s more divided, but Viet-Americans especially are generally very antagonistic toward North Vietnam / the current Vietnamese government, as they literally left the country because of the regime. so do their nationalistic beliefs in the Republic create a personification? is this justification for some kind of cultural basis for a South Vietnam? I don’t think so, because at the end of the day it’s all for the sake of Vietnam period, not north or south. there are some northerners like this too. people aren’t monoliths. but...

really, just lots of questions. I don’t really have answers, honestly. I can throw out my personal feelings and thoughts, but it’s just hard to say, and I don’t think I’ll ever really have The Answers.

(( in my heart of hearts, though, I’d like to think... individuals and groups can be represented by many nations. I want to think they can feel anyone who considers themselves a part of that group, feel their pains and joys just as much as they do for their born-and-bred citizens. I like the idea of Linh deeply understanding her diaspora, because she was there when they were still a part of her, and she knows why they had to leave. and I think Alfred understands all the people living with him, and he ardently wants to make them welcome. I think he knows the dread of being alone, lost, without a home or family, looking to blaze a new trail, make a new home, find new comfort when everything else is lost... ))

a little bit about me

Viet-American. refugee family from both the North and South. literally all of the events I’ve mentioned, my family has been a direct part of somehow. I have direct relatives who were killed by the French, starved during the Japanese occupation, killed by North Vietnamese government efforts like land reform, killed by American bombs and Viet Cong, put into re-education camps, fled Vietnam by boat, plane, foot. I don’t think there’s a single Vietnamese person today who hasn’t been affected somehow.

I’m not trying to write a sob story, just letting you know. I’m not pity-fishing, because that’s not what this needs, anyway. just showing that things are really complicated, and painfully shitty, and crazy, and just plain weird. Vietnamese nationalism is a really complicated topic in general due to all the conflicting pressures from all levels of society and so I hope you can see that a little better. I hope this was enlightening in some way!

because I don’t think we see the Vietnamese perspective enough on everything that happened in the 20th century. it’s always the American, or French, or Chinese, but not ours... when it’s our story. so I hope I could tell it, maybe do it a bit of justice, who knows.

final words

writing this has really made me think about this one song. it’s called Gia Tài Của Mẹ, “A Mother’s Legacy”. here’s the lyrics+translation.

it’s very typical patriotic South Vietnamese music, by the poet Trịnh Công Sơn and sung by the singer Khánh Ly. many of Trinh Cong Son’s songs directly address the Vietnamese identity and collective trauma from the events of the 20th century. my dad used to sing them around the house all the time, play CDs, the first songs I learned on the guitar were TCS’s... I think they’re a really key part of thinking about the Southern Vietnamese identity, and this song especially touches on a lot of the history and emotions I addressed.

so go give it a listen, or look at the lyrics. I think it really covers this topic nicely. and let me know if I should talk more about these songs, because I think lots of them are really relevant to my thoughts...

ah, my thoughts, completely unasked for, but thank you for opening the door! please let me know what you think, if you learned anything, if you want to hear more specifically hetalia stuff abt Vietnam, idk, I would really like to hear from anyone reading this period. I also put a lot of time into putting this together dkfjsdkfj so yea any interaction is appreciated. this is something really important to me, I guess is what I’m trying to say. and if you made it this far I’m sending you lots of love, thank you <3

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writingwithcolor · 5 years

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LA's Asian Locations

Hello! I’m Kore, I’m Korean, Thai, and Chinese, and live in LA. I’m going to be sending some other things in, in a seperate POC Profile, but this was getting long. But if anyone ever is writing about Asians in LA(since there are… you know… a lot of Asians in LA), or just LA in generally and want to have their character visit one of parts of the city where more Asian people live, here is a small guide to most of them.

Westside

Asian-Americans in LA have a shit ton of places you can go. To begin with is the Westside. This is the area near the Ocean, but isn’t directly on it generally. It’s called the Westside, because it’s almost the western most part of LA. On the Westside there’s Little Persia, with a lot of Persian food, and UCLA. This is specifically called Westwood, but we also call it the Westside. So hah. But because of UCLA there ends up being more East Asians around here because of UCLA, because of this, there’s a super strong East Asian presence around here with a lot of restaurants and stuff. In Mar Vista around here, there’s also a Chinese School that’s super big and popular.

Little Osaka

Then there’s Little Osaka, technically still part of the Westside, also technically called Sawtelle because it’s like three, maybe four, blocks of Sawtelle Blvd. But Little Osaka deserves a special mention of it’s own. This is the first of two Japanese areas in LA, however, Little Osaka also has a lot of Korean things, with many Korean people running Japanese stores. Little Osaka, is super popular to just mostly get food. There’s nothing actually to do here? But hey, food.

Koreatown

Next is Koreatown. So this place is almost in the heart of LA, it’s about 30 min to an hour from the Westside in terms of driving. This is half residential and half not. It’s 100% lit at night. In the heart of Koreatown we’ve got a lot of night clubs, and places to drink. On the peripherals, it’s dead at night. But there’s good food, and a lot of supermarkets. Around 60k Koreans live here alone. There are a lot more than that in LA. Around here is also Little Bangledesh. I’ve never actually been, but that’s also mostly made up of Korean people. Recently Little Bangledesh tried to take over half of Koreatown and make it into little Bangledesh, but was defeated in a vote, as Korean people really didn’t appreciate that.

Right outside of here is Wilshire Korean School, which is a bilingual private school that has Korean School on Saturdays. This is one of maybe… three? Proper Korean schools in LA, most people just home teach their kids Korean. There are two supermarkets here. Galleria and HMart, both of them in Plaza sort of places. Galleria’s has better food, and probably better shopping. But HMart is the OG Asian supermarket and is near two really awesome desert places. One of them you can get a sweet bread, shaped like a fish, filled with ice cream and either red bean, custard, or nutella, and the other one you can get patbingsoo at, or Korean shaved ice.

Little Tokyo

There’s also Little Tokyo. Which I don’t think I’ve ever been to, odd, since I’ve lived in LA my whole life. But I mostly keep to Koreatown and the Westside too.

Chinatown(s)

Okay now for the Chinatowns. So there’s technically one, and that’s in the middle of LA. But let me tell you, that’s not Chinatown. It was, once upon a time, however, a lot of Chinese people moved out of there and to either Alhambra, or Montery Park. So we’ve got Old Chinatown, New Chinatown, and Chinatown. Now I can’t remember whether Montery Park or Alhambra is Old or New, but these are both out a bit a ways from the Chinatown in the middle of LA.

In that Chinatown, all the festivals are thrown. It’s also tiny. Alhambra is a lot more laid out than Montery, which is super laid out. But Montery Park, and Alhambra, have got great food. Also no social lives, but great great food. There’s a supermarket here, when you leave the heart of Chinatown, and walk for maybe 10 minutes, that’s probably the biggest Thai supermarket I’ve ever seen. I mean… You can buy so much coconut sugar here. It's insane.

Thaitown

There’s also Thaitown!! Which is closer to Koreatown than both Old and New Chinatown. This is where you can get a lot of Thai Food, and products. There’s not a lot to do here, and it’s mostly disappearing. But food. Really though, this place is super duper duper boring.

Little India

There’s Little India as well. It’s maybe three streets at most.

Little Saigon

Little Saigon is the heart and soul of the Vietnamese diaspora in LA. It’s beautiful, and actually really awesome. Unlike Thaitown though, you can get good Vietnamese food outside of it. They’ve got streetfood (illegal in LA technically), and a super duper ginourmous market that’s bigger than the biggest HMart that I’ve ever see. It’s so… big.

Everything else isn’t of much note, I’m not going to lie. I hope you’ve enjoyed this guide! I enjoyed writing it for sure.

More PoC Profiles here

Commentary

I’m assuming much of the above is confined to Los Angeles (City) proper. Because much of the Asian population in LA moves pretty fluidly between cities, here are my additions for LA County as a whole (including some key LA landmarks that were left out).

Torrance, Gardena and parts of Culver City: Home to the largest Nikkei and Japanese expat population in LA. This used to be the homebase for Toyota America until they moved their HQ close to their factories in Texas. However, many other Japanese companies still use this region for their American homebases, and as such the biggest Japanese grocery chains (Nijiya, Tokyo Central and Mitsuwa) all operate their largest Californian stores here. This region also has sizable Korean, SE Asian and S. Asian communities. One of LA’s more popular Indian grocers (Samosa House) is based in Culver City. Asahi Gakuen, a Japanese Saturday language school designed to help Japanese American kids keep up with the Japanese national curriculum, is also based here.

San Gabriel Valley aka 626: This includes not only Alhambra, Montebello and Monterey Park, but also Arcadia, Covina, West Covina, San Gabriel, Duarte, El Monte, Commerce, Asuza and Chino). It’s a pretty big, diverse place home to a large number of diaspora in various waves from Taiwan, mainland China, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia and South Asia. The annual 626 Night Market (a street food fair) is held near the Santa Anita racetracks. When I was a kid, most of my lion dance jobs for the Lunar New Year were in Old Chinatown, but they have all since moved here. The diversity in cuisine is incredible. To get a sense of just how many different types of food there are out here, I recommend reading old reviews by the late, great Jonathan Gold from the LA Times.

Glendale and Pasadena: Large Armenian and Persian communities. Lots of very good bakeries, restaurants and also Armenian evangelical churches.

Artesia and Norwalk: Little India, basically, but there are also large Vietnamese and Filipino communities. Pioneer Blvd. in Artesia in particular has many Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi grocers, restaurants and clothing shops.

All of the cities I have mentioned have things like language schools, religion and culture centers, grocers, restaurants, etc. specific to the communities I’ve described above.

Religion (Major landmarks):

Hinduism: Venkateswara Temple - Malibu; Shri Swaminarayan Mandir Temple - Chino Hills;

Buddhism: Zen Center Los Angeles - Koreatown; Koyasan Betsuin - Little Tokyo; Nishi Honganji - Little Tokyo; Higashi Honganji - Little Tokyo; Zenshuji Soto Mission - Little Tokyo; Guan Di temple - Old Chinatown

Taoism: Thien Hau Temple - Old Chinatown

Shintoism: Konko Church - Boyle Heights, Gardena, Whittier

There are also many gurdwaras and mosques spread out throughout LA County (North Hollywood in particular for LA proper), but I’m not saying where they are because humanity is terrible.

Addendums for Little Tokyo:

Japanese American Museum: Covers the history of Japanese Americans in the US, internment during WWII and Little Tokyo. Also provides assistance to families looking to review historical, declassified records about interned relatives.

Nihonmura Plaza: main setting for festivals for Tanabata, Obon and New Years. Has a nifty looking traditional Japanese fire tower

Kinokuniya: LA branch of a major Japanese bookstore chain

Addendums for Koreatown:

Dawooljung/ Korean Pavilion: A gazebo and open space across the street from the Seoul International Park and the Koreatown Community Center

Schools for Eastern Medicine/ Acupuncture: There are at least 2 schools in Koreatown for Eastern/ Chinese/ Alternative medicine that quite a few Asian Americans who run their own clinics have trained at.

LA is so big and so diverse that there’s no one way to really capture how much of Asia is represented here. I know our county registrar and DMV offers information in Armenian, Chinese, Cambodian/Khmer, Farsi, Korean, Tagalog/Filipino, Vietnamese, Hindi/ Urdu, and Japanese because at least 5% of the voting population speaks each of those languages. I’d love to see further additions from other Asian Los Angelenos.

- Marika.

#POC Profiles #submission #Asian #East Asian #Asian American #Chinese #Korean #Japanese #Thai #Vietnamese #LA #USA #settings #writer reference #culture #food #worldbuilding

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svartikotturinn · 5 years

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Trimming down my OK Cupid profile: the ‘before’ part

My self-summary

אוֹקִ֥יר אֱנ֖וֹשׁ מִפָּ֑ז וְאָדָ֖ם מִכֶּ֥תֶם אוֹפִֽיר׃

I’m an unpredictable but fiercely empathetic person, with a somewhat off-beat sense of humour. A huge fan of languages and human cultures. Moved to Haifa in Dec. 2017 and loving it, now working as a tutor and loving it too. Currently working my MA in sign language linguistics at Haifa U, planning to study teaching ESL at NUI Galway later on and later then going to settle abroad somewhere undecided to work in Deaf education (likely Montréal).If you want to know more about me, you can read more about me on my Tumblog. You should probably read the ‘About’ page and maybe look through my more important posts (for some of my observations and opinions), and in general pay particular attention to this post. (I’m not re-typing everything over here…)

Also, I have a Quora account. And a mostly inactive YouTube channel, with Hebrew CC & English subs for all vids there.

What I'm doing with my life

Having finished my BA in linguistics and East Asian studies, I translate and teach Hebrew and English whenever I get to (I translated the young adult fantasy novel Murderess by Daya Marnin to English), while learning a whole bunch of languages, most notably improving my already decent Japanese, and being as politically active (staunch leftist here) as circumstances allow. Also, I am now a tutor for K–12 students, teaching English, math, and Hebrew grammar & composition.

You’re more than welcome to contact me if you’re interested in learning Hebrew!

Also, I’m trying to make some money off my poetry, either through personalised commissions or through Patreon supporters.

I'm really good at

Languages are definitely my thing. I’m studying all languages currently available on Duolingo (finished 11 already and counting) and then some, and when Duolingo releases more I’ll add them to the list. (So you’re more than welcome to tell me what languages get you going… 😉)

Other than that I’m very good with words, as a translator and a poet (as I pointed out, I translated a book, and it had poetry in it; I’ve written poetry that’s moved people to tears, too), and I’m a pretty good dancer. Also, I’m creative and rather skilful in the kitchen, having honed these skills somewhat during the time I was a vegan. (If I like you, I’ll definitely make you something nice!)

My golden rule

‘Integrity above all.’

Favorite books, movies, shows, music, and food

BOOKS

My all-time favourite is Summer Celebration by Natan Alterman (look it up on TV Tropes; I wrote that article). Other than that I loved:

I Am a Cat by Natsume Souseki

Mr. Muo’s Travelling Couch by Dai Sijie

The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger

The Lover by A. B. Yehoshu‘a

Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green & David Leviathan

The Narrow Road to Oku by Matsuo Basho: I actually wrote a book report on it and dressed up as Basho for Purim in the 10th grade

…and others

FILMS

My all-time favourite is Pink Floyd’s The Wall. Other than that I loved:

everything by Satoshi Kon

almost everything by Hayao Miyazaki (I’ve seen ALL of his films), the only exception being Porco Rosso

Love & Pop and Shiki Jitsu by Hideaki Anno

Wild Strawberries and The Best Intentions by Ingmar Bergman

anything by Akira Kurosawa

The White Ribbon and Funny Games by Michael Haneke

almost every Israeli film I’ve seen

almost every German film I’ve seen

The Rocky Horror Picture Show & Shock Treatment

(Needless to say, I’m somewhat of a film enthusiast; this doesn’t even begin to cover it)

SHOWS

My all-time favourite is Hideaki Anno’s life-changing fantastic Neon Genesis Evangelion. Others include quite a few good anime series and some non-anime ones:

Fullmetal Alchemist (2003)

Elfen Lied

Samurai Champloo

Cowboy Bebop

Kino’s Journey

Gunbuster

Ouran High School Host Club

Loveless

Shinsekai Yori

Aggretsuko

Live action:

Kidding

The Good Wife & The Good Fight

Orange is the New Black

Dexter

Breaking Bad

Borgen

Ray Donovan

Please Like Me

Looking

Jinn

some Israeli series

Non-anime animated:

Steven Universe

Adventure Time

MUSIC

Pink Floyd is my favourite band. I also love:

Bands:

Sigur Rós, especially Von (though I struggle to listen to them after Orri Páll Dýrason got #MeToo’d)

HaBiluim

HaMechashefot

The Seatbelts

Enigma

Jane Bordeaux (my guilty pleasure)

Stereopony (another guilty pleasure)

Individual artists:

Nujabes

Zemfira

John Coltrane

Antonio Carlos Jobim

Thijs van Leer

Hughes de Courson

Jacques Brel

Composers:

Bach

Beethoven

Prokofiev

Scriabin

Purcell

(These lists are by no means exhaustive…)

Generally, I find Modern Hebrew to be just the right amount of rugged for rock music. But I’m probably biased because Israeli rock was very much in vogue here when I was a little kid…

My taste is generally very eclectic though I don’t listen to music all that much on my own; basically, it amounts to ‘everything good, especially ambience, Western art music, chillout, jazz, prog/post-rock, and folk’.

FOOD

I was a vegan for almost two years starting around November 2014; it was somewhat of a challenge, but it did teach me to be very creative in the kitchen, and very aware of vegans’ needs. Generally, I’m pretty open-minded, but I particularly love:

East Asian food: Indian, Thai, Vietnamese, Chinese, Japanese

French and Italian food

Seafood

Six things I could never do without

Cats

Human interaction (in moderation!)

Textbooks and other study materials

The ability to watch films

The ability to listen to music when I want to

Good food

I spend a lot of time thinking about

My day-to-day obligations, politics (including SJ), my ambitions, general philosophy… There’s plenty.

A perfect day

A day I feel I’ve been productive in: having read something, or learned something, worked out, cooked, written… and spent time with loved ones.

If I were sent to jail, I'd be arrested for

Either something I didn’t do, or some heroic act of vigilantism.

You should message me if

And now for what I’m looking for, especially for a more prolonged interaction.

As I said, I am obviously into languages and East Asian cultures (specifically Japanese), but I’m also happy to learn. If you’re willing to learn more about these topics (and in general) but your main field of interest is different, I’d be delighted, as I’d feel we could complete each other. (Same goes for speaking a foreign language.)

Genuine empathy matters a lot to me. If I think you lack it or deny it arbitrarily, I’ll be alarmed, but genuine warmth is something I love and will likely be drawn to you for.

With regards to personal convictions (e.g. political and religious): my main requirement is that you stick by what you believe in and be able to reasonably explain why you do. I may disagree with you fiercely, but I’ll respect you deeply for sticking by an informed opinion—I’ve gotten along surprisingly well with people from a very wide range of opinions.

Also, a pretty important pet peeve of mine: if I’m not calm or smiling there’s almost certainly a good, objective reason for it. You’re more than welcome to address those, or offer comfort and understanding, which I’ll appreciate immensely, but it really rubs me the wrong way when people try to tell me to react differently just because (‘Aw c’mon… Smile!’).

That’s about it in terms of personality. As for looks, I like soft facial features, smooth skin, and any body type that isn’t fat, or excessively muscular on women (nothing against those body types, they’re just not my taste).

Finally, as for expectations from talking: I’m not looking into anything too serious, for a variety of reasons. But I could make concessions if truly swept off my feet…

#me #personal #OK Cupid

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scriptych · 7 years

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50 Questions Tag

I was tagged by my fav wtfparkjimin to do a 50 questions tag . Sorry I’m doing this all the way in April ~~

What’s your favorite candle scent? I really like lemon grass apparently and ocean breeze.

Which female celebrity do you wish was your sister? I think Eunji would be a cool sister; she takes care of her little bro really went and she’d be really easy-going and really chill in general.

Which male celebrity do you wish was your brother? There’s so many but if I had to narrow it down it would probably be Zayn, who seems to be a really sweet and caring bro, or Jackson, who’d be a really fun, dumb one that would make me laugh constantly (I could see him as being the protective type, too).

How old do you think you’ll be when you get married? Late 20’s to mid-30’s if I really think about it. I’m not really the relationship type.

Do you know a hoarder? Yes my dad -.- he likes to keep the most unnecessary items claiming he’ll use then “later”

Can you do a split? Lol no, but I can’t say I haven’t attempted and failed miserably.

How old were you when you learned how to ride a bike? Probably 9 or 10 and it was one of the most accomplished moments in my life since I taught myself tbrh

How many oceans have you swam in? I think 2? Pacific and Indian.

How many countries have you been to? Two, not counting all the stops I’ve made in between, but I hope to travel the world one day so my goal is 50 before I die.

Is anyone in your family in the army? No, not currently.

What would you name your daughter if you had one? If I had to pick a vietnamese name it would probably be Mai and as for American, Jada or Cecilia or Mona maybe. I also really like boyish names for girls, too. Lol, I haven’t put much thought into names.

What would you name your son if you had one? Again, no clue but I like Parker for some reason.

What’s the worst grade you got on a test? I’ve gotten a 66% this year and I can’t remember anything else.

What was your favorite tv show when you were a child? What did you dress up as on halloween when you were eight? My favorite tv shows as a kid were either Pokemon or Sailor Moon because I was a geeky Asian child. I think I was a ninja lol.

What did you dress up as on halloween when you were eight? A blue ninja and it was cute af. Or maybe a witch I think I’ve only ever bought like 3 costumes lol.

Have you read any of the harry potter, hunger games or twilight series? I’ve read and seen Harry Potter more times than I can count; it’s my favorite series without a doubt. Fair warning, I’ll try to group everyone in a house if I could so you’ll see a lot of Harry Potter au fanart or fics reblog (maybe written). I’ve read the Hunger Game series a few times too, but I’ve never even opened a Twilight book.

Would you rather have an american accent or a british accent? As cool as British accents may sound to me, I think I’ll stick to the American accent.

Did your mother go to college? No? I don’t think so

Are your grandparents still married? Yes, amazingly although they tend to argue every time I see them.

Have you ever taken karate lessons? No, my parents didn’t sign me up for extracurricular as a child sadly.

Do you know who kermit the frog is? To quote Zahraa: “*sips tea* yeah, but thats none of your business”.

What’s the first amusement park you’ve been to? Six Flags

What language, besides your native language, would you like to be fluent in? I’ve been learning French for 2 years now and I’m aiming to be fluent by the time I graduate. I’d also like to be fluent in Vietnamese; I guess I am fluent but I’d like to know more words so i’m not struggling with I move away for simple topics. Japanese, Korean, and Spanish would be really cool too. Honestly, just give me all the languages.

Do you spell the color as grey or gray? Grey. I read on some tumblr post that that’s the “English way” because grE(ngland)y and I’m calling bs right now.

Is your father bald? Nope, still has a full head of hair.

Do you know any triplets? No, but I love the Song Triplets.

Do you prefer titanic or the notebook? I haven’t seen The Notebook and I’ve seen maybe 40% of the Titanic, so it wins by default.

Ever had indian food? I’ve had curry but that’s as far as it goes. I’d like to widen my palate ,so I’m opening to any suggestions.

What’s the name of your favorite restaurant? I really like this little sushi restaurant called Cafe Mochi, but I prefer buffets to most restaurants.

Have you ever been to olive garden? Nope.

Do you belong to any warehouse stores (costco, bj’s, etc)? Nah, my parents would never pay for membership lol.

What would your parents have named you if you were the opposite gender? Hmm, never asked them that.

If you have a nickname, what is it? I don’t have a nickname since my name is already pretty short; however, Zahraa likes to call me ‘Annie’ sometimes.

Who’s your favorite person in the world? The person I’ve mentioned multiple times in this post already as well as the co-owner of this blog, my bestest friend in the world, Zahraa. We’ve been friends for so long that we know each other like the back of our hands and plus she’s amazing for putting up with me for this long. Other than her, it’s probably our other best friend, Lizzy, or my mom tbh.

Would you rather live in a rural area or in the suburbs? I’d rather live in the city, but if I had to pick the suburbs. I would run out of things to do in the rural area and end up sleeping 18 hours a day.

Can you whistle? No, I’ve never understood it and I feel like I’ve missed the appropriate age to ask someone to teach me.

Do you sleep with a nightlight? No, although I did sleep with a nightlight a lot later than everyone else I feel like.

Do you eat breakfast every morning? Yes, if I have school that day. On weekends, I sleep in way past breakfast.

Do you take any pills or medication daily? No.

What medical conditions do you have? None that I’m aware of.

How many times have you been to the hospital? For an illness: 2. In general: more than 7?

Have you ever seen finding nemo? Yes, ofc. I’m alive aren’t I?

Where do you buy your jeans? Lol Marshall’s. They have quality jeans for less.

What’s the last compliment you got? My eyebrows look good (the only compliment I’ll ever need).

Do you usually remember your dreams in the morning? Yes, but they’re really weird and random.

What types of tea do you enjoy? I’d drink any tea (tea > coffee any day) but I like green tea and if I’m at Starbucks I’d order green tea lemonade with a pump of raspberry

How many pairs of shoes do you currently own? 6 maybe more.

What religion will you raise your children to practice? I’m not really religious (maybe Atheist, maybe Buddhist), so I’d let my children decide their own religion if they choose to have one.

How old were you when you found out that santa wasn’t real? My family doesn’t celebrate Christmas, so I’ve never believed in Santa. Yes, I’m one of those people (it actually says a lot about me). Even when we talked about it in school, it never added up to me. A fat guy in a white suit breaking into houses to deliver presents with flying reindeers as his prefered mode of transportation? I don’t think so.

Why do you have tumblr? I’ve had my other tumblr account since 2011 I’ve seen hell and back on this site, so I don’t really remember. I don’t even know how I even discovered what a Tumblr is.

#lol zahraa tagged me in this in september #i think i'm just procrastinating my 4 page paper due ;-;#about an

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