Amid, the pain, amid the sorrows, amid the thousand nails that scratched my skin and pierced my soul like an old balloon… I found you. You looked right into my soul and saw a blooming garden in places where everybody else could only find dead weeds and mud.
You made me smile.
Suddenly my gloomy days became ever so bright, and I learned there was another path in life, out of that in which I carried a burden like a stoic slave. You held my hand, and together we climbed the obstacles or smelled the pretty flowers. This happiness could have never been possible without you.
Now that time and distance make us swim against furious tides, I can only say Thank You for standing next to me despite it all. Thank you for teaching me to see this life with smiling eyes, and above it all… Thank you just for being who you are, with virtues and flaws, with laughter and tears… because who you are is all I ever want to embrace.
Aishitemasu, Minori…
Month: September 2003
I had a terrible experience with Acrónimos last night. I had earned a lot of points, but unfortunately, I hadn’t noticed that something had gone totally wrong with the game. I had to cancel lots of points from many people, and once again I’m losing. Maybe it’s a lesson from life. Yeah.
On the other hand, I still can’t find myself in academic terms. Where the heck am I supposed to go? In what direction? Am I a lit major or a language major? In which of these do I suck? I’m afraid of never finding my path and just getting lost amidst the darkness. I guess I’ll have to start asking everyone I know, although I know the true answer can only lie within myself.
Am I condemned to wander around the world to find myself? Are those who discover how big this planet is condemned to do so? The more I know, the more I doubt.
I know right now that I can’t take all this weight alone. I wish I became a brushstroke, and that Minori and I could write the word “hito”.
One leans onto the other.
Oh yeah, and we do.
“When you touch my weary head
And you tell me everything will be alright
You say ‘use my body for your bed
And my love will keep you warm throughout the night’
You’re my castle, you’re my cabin
And my instant pleasure dome
I need you in my house
‘Cause you’re my home.”
–Billy Joel
1. Is the name you have now the same name that’s on your birth certificate? If not, what’s changed?
It is exactly the same. Olavia Kite was a later addition, or rather than that, an alternative.
2. If you could change your name (first, middle and/or last), what would it be?
I would be called Jessica or Brittany. HAHAHAHA GOTCHA!!! By no means I would change my name… except if my family name were to change to Honda.
3. Why were you named what you were? (Is there a story behind it? Who specifically was responsible for naming you?)
Okay, here it goes. My mom was a diehard fan of Little House on the Prairie, and her favorite character was Laura Ingalls. Don’t laugh. It’s serious. I found out many years later that Laura Ingalls Wilder was a writer, so I’m proud of that. On the other side, my paternal grandparents always wanted to have a daughter named Camila, but they didn’t have another daughter after my aunt, I think, so I got to be Laura Camila. I love my name.
If you want to know why I’m Olavia as well,… it just popped up in my mind. I was going to use it for a character on the next story I wrote, but I ended up adding the last name Kite after the Beatles song Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite! , and I liked it so much I adopted it for myself. I even have a fountain pen with the name engraved.
4. Are there any names you really hate or love? What are they and why?
I met people with super cool names in Dubuque, Iowa. Here are some examples:
Minori Honda, Kotaro Takizawa, Foo Chi Tao, James Pollock, Brian Ellis, Mary Ask, Kaoru Maeda, Yusuke Kanaguchi, Yoichi Shimizu, Ryan Hanlon, Andy Rosenbaum, Matthew Parsons,… I’ll keep adding if I remember. Some of these people weren’t really nice (like Mary Ask), but the names are still cool.
Oh, and I hate the name Carlos.
5. Is the analysis of your name at kabalarians.com / triggur.org / astroexpert accurate? How or how isn’t it?
Well I don’t believe in that stuff…