Welcome to GA.com and the blogs, David!

I just have to say: Wow....hoyay in Dream of the Red Chamber!

Good luck on your last chapter!

And a suggestion: if you find younger guys too immature for you, why not try someone a little older? Us older guys aren't so bad, ya know

Awesome, someone in Taiwan. That's pretty cool. It's probably the area in Asia I have the second most interest in right now. As a non-native how'd you become interested in studying there? From what I've heard Taiwan U is pretty hard to get into, that's pretty impressive that you got in as a foreigner... and won a scholarship. wow.

Well, I'm not really a member of the welcoming committe, but welcome anyway! It's always nice to have smart people joining us. You're a student working on a graduate thesis on homoerotic literature. How'd you decide to write your thesis on that topic?

What's it like being a foreigner in Taiwan? I have some friends who are in the opposite position, Taiwanese studying in America. They have a hard time mainly with the language. Are you pretty well accepted? What's it like to be an American dating a Taiwanese guy? Is being gay accepted in Taiwanese culture?

I'm looking forward to reading more!

//shadows

edit: Younger guys aren't all bad!

Well, I'm not really a member of the welcoming committe, but welcome anyway!

Dear Mr. Shadows. My union rep wanted me to pass on that you need to tread carefully. While we'll let this welcome go by, our work rules are very clear that only Official Welcoming Committee Union Members are allowed to use the phrase welcoming committee.

If these illegal activities continue, we may be forced to file a grievence against you. The penalties can be severe, possibly a visit from 'Uncle Vinny :axeman: ' & 'Uncle Gino :mace: ' or worse preventing you from reading DD when the newest chapters get released.

Take Care®,

Vic

P.S. - hehehe

Great first Blog David and if you haven't already gotten an official one... 'WELCOME' .

My BF has a good friend teaching at a University in Taiwan, I'll have to try to find out which one it is.

I took a quick run around your website and saw where you had tattoos. What does the one in the 'lower area' mean .

Take Care®,

Vic

I took a quick run around your website and saw where you had tattoos. What does the one in the 'lower area' mean

LOL. So predictable, vic.

is pronounced "FU". So maybe it's a little joke, with the meaning conveyed by the English letters "F <space> U".

OR

(much more likely) the usual meaning of this character is Buddhism. (*looks to see if sumbloke perks up*)

OR

it might be a reference to his alma mater (Florida = "fu luo li da", )

OR

.....littlebuddha_tw/David can speak for himself & give the true answer when he wakes up in a couple hours...

OR

 

(much more likely) the usual meaning of this character is Buddhism. (*looks to see if sumbloke perks up*)

 

.....littlebuddha_tw/David can speak for himself & give the true answer when he wakes up in a couple hours...

Hmmm...so the hypothesis is true: Buddhist boys are cuter! (OK - that was bad: I'll chant later).

I don't know hanzi but the hanyu pinyin "fu" (without the tone anyway...) could also refer to: fu dogs (rui shi?) the lion dogs. Or happiness, or husband (!) or mastery (in the phrase gong fu (kung fu)).

The other tattoo David has between the shoulder blades is Sanskrit - sunishcitam aashcaryavat!

Anyway, welcome David. The totally awesome scholastic record will fit right in with all the other brains around here - the rest of us are just (almost) decorative.

sumbloke

Haha ... glad to see that everyone's taken an interest in my tattoos ...

The correct romanization is "fo" (not "fu"), and it does refer to "Buddha" ... being Buddhist and all. I got it back when I was still in Florida, sort of as a permanent reminder to myself that regardless of whatever sh*t I come across or get into in my life, that is where my real path lies ... kind of hard to forget when I have to see it every day when I'm washing my crotch in the shower!

And I'm not that "intellectual" really ... I'm just good with languages/literature, and particularly like what I'm researching (homoeroticism in pre-modern Chinese literature) ... I got into it about 7 years ago when I read the book "Passions of the Cut Sleeve: The Male Homosexual Tradition in China" (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1990) by Bret Hinsch. After I relocated to Taiwan, I found out that Bret Hinsch had been living here for the past 15 years and teaching Chinese history at a university in Taiwan, so I met up with him and he's been a great friend and mentor since. It's not always easy living here, but he's been my rock.

Anyway, thanks to everyone for your welcomes. I'll post another boring entry to my blog later today after I get back from meeting with my "xue jie" (senior female classmate) to discuss my thesis!

David