Notes

[tarigwaemir]

Lowell House, on the Feast of All Saints

1. For the past few weeks, my P.I. has been holding a daily lab lunch, which has rice and kimchi as its main staples because she enjoys Asian food. Of course, I was thrilled at this development since it means I no longer have to stop by fly-by or walk back to the dining hall but can stay at the lab to grab my meal. Plus, real food! A meal is not a meal without rice and kimchi. The various members of the lab also contribute with stuff they bring from home, like salad greens from the farmer's market or leftover pork. Once, we even had eel! (I love eel on rice.)

Today, I brought some dried seasoned seaweed (the type you wrap sushi in), and there was tofu and natto to complement the meal. So yes, I tried natto for the first time, and it wasn't nearly as bad as people made it out to be. The texture is rather disgusting, but it doesn't smell any more than some of the stronger forms of 된장 (Korean fermented soybean paste). It tastes fine if you mix it with rice. It would taste even better if it was spicy, of course. (Ah, I had 된장찌개 or bean paste stew at Shilla with my parents on Saturday that was really delicious. Not that my opinion of Shilla has changed for the better. It's hard to mess up 된장찌개, unless you're truly incompetent. I mean, even I can make a pretty decent bean paste stew.)

2. Although I didn't like the idea of a facebook news feed (and have correspondingly disabled nearly everything that I can disable on the feed privacy options), I have to admit that I'm checking the site more often than usual. I suppose that just speaks to my predilection for cyberstalking people. -_- Anyway, I noticed this morning that a few Korean friends had joined a group called "Future Parents of Equally Gorgeous Fully Asian Children". Apparently, the group was made in protest of another facebook group called "Future Parents of Gorgeous Half-Asian Children".

Jokes about "yellow fever" aside, I think the issue is interesting because I must admit, my not-so-politically correct side kind of sympathizes with the "Fully Asian Children" group. But why is that? I mean, if you think about it biologically, interracial dating has more potential to generate genetic diversity, which my ethnic group sorely needs. But you know, I don't think I've ever seriously considered it. I mean, my parents haven't laid any edicts one way or the other (actually, at this stage, I think they'd be relieved if I was able to find any boyfriend), but I've really been culturally conditioned to assume that boyfriend material is restricted to Asian males. So where does this conditioning come from? Watching too many Korean dramas during formative adolescent years? Listening to grandmothers at my church automatically assume that if someone is dating, they're dating someone Korean (or at least Chinese)? Learning from my parents to be proud of "pure" Korean blood? (That sounds so bigoted, but actually what they meant was that Koreans managed to keep their own separate ethnic identity instead of being swallowed up by its larger neighbors. The idea of "pure" Korean ethnicity is a bit of a myth of course, but it's not entirely incorrect if you consider just how interrelated Koreans are and just how many taboos against incest have been instituted in Korean culture.) Or is it simply that I'm a narcissist and find males attractive only if they look similar to me?

Oddly enough, several of my Asian friends from high school said they would only date Asian males (with notable exceptions, of course), but now that I'm at Harvard, most of the Asian girls here say that they would prefer Caucasian boyfriends.

3. Good luck to all the NaNoWriMo participants! I'm not attempting anything other than grad school apps during the month of November, but I did sign up for yuletide, in a fit of insanity. >_> We'll see how that goes. For those of you not attempting 50,000-word epics, be on the watch for the next blind_go round, which will be starting up...as soon as I finish my NSF application. (silvermuse89, I'll email you about it this weekend, hopefully?)

I also signed up for the "Home Sweet Home" challenge on citynextdoor because I really, really, really want to write college!AU fanfic for Gundam Wing.

Wufei, the scary pre-med who lives his life in lab! Quatre, the legacy kid and economics concentrator frazzled from recruitment interviews. Trowa, who studies literature and does varsity sports of some kind. Duo, the gov jock. Enough said. Heero...well, the temptation would be to make him a CS concentrator, but in the interests of portraying as many stereotypes as possible, I thought he could be the insane pre-law social studies concentrator. (Yes, L.P., that's you, albeit with Heero's personality.)

There will be no plot, just long, loving descriptions of campus and gross distortions of character.

Yours &c.

Post-script: Whoa, was that just a conversation about anime on the kendo mailing list? O_O (Self, please resist temptation to mention Jojo.)

Comments

[harumi.livejournal.com]

*shudders*

I have never vomited when I eat, but I vomited when I ate natto, and I eat a HUGE variety of foods that would get anyone even slightly less brave than I puking for weeks. Chinese, you know, we eat everything so long as it flies, crawls, or slithers. Except natto. I tried it TWICE and it tasted just as bad the first time.

Never again. I know better now.

[troisroyaumes]

Heh, I guess I had an advantage having been raised on food with fermented soybeans (although not as fermented as natto is). I did find the, er, goopiness kind of off-putting though. -_-;;

[phoenixgold.livejournal.com]

I assume you've seen the yellow fever video? XD

[troisroyaumes]

Yup! It was hilarious. XD

[phoenixgold.livejournal.com]

Though I don't actually see many black and asian couples! Then again, I'm in redneck territory.

[troisroyaumes]

Yes, that's true...I haven't seen any such couples on campus (not that that means much) but I've seen several mixed black-Asian children in New York. Hmm...

[darcenciel.livejournal.com]

Join the military. There's TONS.

[darcenciel.livejournal.com]

I agree with you on the "only date Asian people" thing with my parents. Funny, since I've dated pretty much equally Asian and caucasian, and don't prefer one over the other. Though if you ask me which one I'd rather marry, I would probably say Caucasian because I'm rather sick of my parents spouting the "only Asian people are good!" rhetoric.

[troisroyaumes]

My parents have never overtly told me to marry another Asian actually, but I have an internal bias nonetheless. There definitely is a sort of unconscious superiority complex among Asians about their race and culture though, which can get a little ridiculous at times. ^_^;;

[moderntime.livejournal.com]

Ha, my parents are totally at the "relieved if she would just find any boyfriend" stage. XD

It's definitely an interesting question. I'd really like to date a Chinese guy, but it has never happened for the simple reason that a Chinese guy has never asked me out. In terms of my type, I think I do tend to date outside of my race simply because there aren't that many Chinese indie boys (though my current boyfriend is not Chinese and so not indie). In a lot of ways I think it'd be so awesome to have a Chinese-American boyfriend because I wouldn't have to sit there and explain all the issues I have about being Chinese-American (especially in China), but then, I have a huge group of Asian-American friends for that kind of thing.

Living in China now, I definitely can't marry one of the usual run of mainland Chinese guy. Ever. If I did it would have to be one who was seriously Westernized, one who had studied and lived abroad for an extended period of time. I really can't take some of the mainland Chinese cultural shit.

[troisroyaumes]

Yes, from a rational perspective, I think it makes sense to look for a Korean-American (or at least another Asian-American) because there's all sorts of little things like shared language and shared food. I don't think I could have a long-term relationship with someone who can't eat kimchi. XD

[tokyofish.livejournal.com]

Mixed kids are pretty good-looking. Not to say that non-mixed kids aren't, but, yeah, well, anyway . . .

. . . it's weird because I grew up adamantly opposed to dating Asian males. In fact, I told my parents since I was four(?) years old I was marrying a white boy and they'd just have to deal since we're in American and the ratio of Caucasians to Asians is pretty high . . . >__> Ah, societal conditioning! (It's totally that I grew up in a 98% white community, I know it. Whereas it seems like you grew up surrounded by lots of other Koreans so that was probably imprinted on you as the norm?) Anyways, it is totally weird for me that in my ripe old age I am finding Asian males attractive. o__O;

This is, of course, totally irrelevant since they have to find ME attractive and that's not happening! So I'm just going to get a dog and be happy in singledom! XDDDDD

I . . . I want to read your Gundam Wing 'fic. XD

[troisroyaumes]

Well, I did spend the first nine years of my life in Texas, where I was the only Korean in the school and the only one out of two Asians in the grade. ^_^;; But I guess I didn't exactly think of boys in terms of anything other than "ew, cooties" at that stage. XD And even then I still went to a Korean church, so I suppose the imprinting still worked. ^_^

But yes, it's a moot point for me too because regardless of who I find attractive, it needs to be reciprocated for anything to happen. -_-;; Actually, I rather like the idea of staying single for the rest of my life, although I suspect this is more out of sheer laziness on my part than any real sense of determination.

[zoesque.livejournal.com]

BLIND GO ROUND TWO HECK YES. *cheers*

I reeeally hope the deadline for submissions will be well into December, though with my luck, it'll probably land on the day my finals start or something. And then I would probably have to tragically opt-out. T_T

[troisroyaumes]

XDXDXD I was thinking December 14 to time it with Akira's birthday? Although I'll probably try to run a poll first just to check with prospective writers.

[zoesque.livejournal.com]

Yeah, see, that is the day of my History final. And the day after my English final. WOO. XDDDD *hates university sometimes* But y'know, then you guys get the whole drama of me going, "I really shouldn't sign up. BUT I WANT TO. BUT - MY GRADES?!" and general weeping. *laughs*

[troisroyaumes]

Hrm, I see. Well, we'll definitely do our best to accomodate people, so we may push it back if it's inconvenient. (What would be a good time for you, by the way? Can't make any promises but just to start gauging people's schedules.)

[zoesque.livejournal.com]

*__* Well, the first half of the week of the 14th is the worst possible date; I will be spending it studying and trying not to cry. *glares at Touya* YOUR BIRTHDAY IS WRONG. XDDD A dead line around New Year's would kill me a lot less, but I'm sure many people are going away from the holidays and whatnot, so that's probably not going to be convenient, either.

Aw, hell, dead line are NEVER convenient, what am I even talking about?! *laughs* Is it going to be like round one, or are...alterations going to be made? *waggles eyebrows*

[troisroyaumes]

Haha, I have to discuss with silvermuse89 first, but I think we'll probably do the shortfic idea. (But still give everyone a month to write, of course. ^_^) I think everyone is busy around that time, so I guess we'll just have to try to juggle as much as possible? XD

[flonnebonne]

I have yet to try natto, but I regularly get asked about whether I've tried it. Japanese people seem to love feeding natto to foreigners.

My father has warned me against dating Chinese guys because he says they're a bunch of backward hooligans who'll treat me like a slave, and he's also warned me against dating Caucasian guys because they're a bunch of racist pigs who look down on us and they'll treat me like a slave too (he's also told me if I ever get married I should go elope to Vegas so he doesn't have to pay for the wedding, but anyways). What I think he's really saying is that I should marry a Western-born Chinese, ie. someone who is exactly like me. Or maybe he's saying I should marry someone who'll be my personal slave, I dunno.

NEXT ROUND OF BLIND_GO?? YOU TRYING TO KILL US WOMAN???

(Just kidding, I've actually been working on my blind_go fic anyway.)

[troisroyaumes]

I had it again today, mixed with rice. I have yet to get used to the goopiness, but I think I rather like the taste. ^_^ But then again, my palate is rather odd to begin with.

Or maybe he's saying I should marry someone who'll be my personal slave, I dunno.

Hahaha! XD My father refuses to mention the subject of dating or marriage because it will probably ruin his illusion that I'm still a little girl. ^_^ But my mother has expounded her opinions on the type of guy I should marry ad nauseum. Strangely enough though, race is not really one of her top considerations.

Mwahahaha, my plan is to continually wreak havoc in Hikago fandom for my own nefarious purposes (i.e. incite people to write more fanfic!). XD And whoa, you've started working on it already? O_O;;;;

[imbrii.livejournal.com]

More blind go? Oh dear, that makes me want to sign up even though I hate deadlines and have no confidance in my writing.

[silvermuse89.livejournal.com]

My computer is experiencing issues right now and will probably have to be taken in to be repaired, so there might be a bit of a delay before I can respond to your e-mail.

Good luck with your apps!

[jaebi-lit.livejournal.com]

I spent dinner catching up on my flist (I read off my laptop while I eat - it's easier to scroll down than to try holding a book and a bowl and chopsticks all at once) for the first time in ages and your post caught my eye. My mother has always said that my brother needs to marry a Korean girl b/c he likes 한식, but she hasn't said much about that to me. The marriage talk (and bf talk) has been thankfully scarce. There was at one point mention that bringing home a white man would horrify my grandparents and that marrying Koreans is better because of shared culture, yadda yadda. It's difficult being an immigrant or immigrant-descended, because you don't quite fit into the old culture and you don't quite fit into the new one, either, and it's hard to find someone who'll understand you in all of your aspects.