It's done.

[kaigou]

If you see this name showing up on your list, eh, it's just me.

ETA: ahem, the good (and bad, if you're a student) of Mandarin is the tonal element, and if you don't know the tones (and don't have the characters) then pinyin could mean any of a huge number of things. In this case, gou is third tone: 狗 (dog). Although if I said first tone instead, it could mean "bamboo frame for drying clothes" -- 篝. But third tone could just as well be "basket for trapping fish" -- 笱.

Kai is third tone. So depending on mood, it could be 凯 (triumphant), 剀 (careful), 慨 (generous), 恺 (joyful), or the one I actually intended, which is 锴 (iron, of the kind used in armor & swords). Although if I said it's fourth tone, it'd be 忾, which means angry.

It's not Japanese, however, as I'm not a student of that language, though it is nice to hear that it has a positive meaning in that language -- "change of era" is apt. My original idea, actually, also had a meaning in Japanese, of "dissolution" (as in debt). But then I decided that fourth-tone shou --狩 (imperial hunting dog) -- wasn't common enough in usage compared to gou, and although in third tone it could be 守 (guarding), I didn't want it confused with 兽 (wild beast), even if the pun of 寿 (life, longevity) would've been nice. Besides, I don't like the sound of 'sh' nearly as much as the middle-ground tone of a hard 'g', on the ears.

Comments

[buymeaclue.livejournal.com]

And who are you?

[kaigou.livejournal.com]

formerly two journals, now one: sgreer and solitude1056.

[buymeaclue.livejournal.com]

Aha! I remember you talking about consolidating now.

[thesmorphoros.livejournal.com]

Welcome back! The Spawn sez your "be not sheep.." thingy is good advice. But will she take it? We shall see.

[kaigou.livejournal.com]

Eh? Sheep? What did I miss? She looking to replace Haru?

[thesmorphoros.livejournal.com]

ahem...it's the second item in your tags: be not sheep be llama.

[meritjubet.livejournal.com]

What's the meaning behind this name? And, hi again.

[kaigou.livejournal.com]

*waves*

I edited the post to explain the name, though perhaps I should add apologies to any who are native *cough* speakers... I suck at pronouncing it, though my teacher did say I had the prettiest handwriting in the class. (I hope that counts.)

[dayglow-pirate.livejournal.com]

Why did you change your name?

[kaigou.livejournal.com]

See this post (http://kaigou.livejournal.com/402020.html) for the logic.

(Hey, you changed yours, y'know. And btw, that Bosch bit you left with me? It rocks. Once the other bits are all successfully stripped out -- and I'm making significant progress with that, damn it -- I think I'll pitch them all and replace them all with Bosch. That little puppy's held up quite well.)

[whispurr267.livejournal.com]

Put me in for the ride. I'd still like to keep up with your comments, if that's ok.

[kaigou.livejournal.com]

It'll be a lot easier to be active on just one journal, instead of focusing on one and neglecting the other, sometimes for weeks at a time. (Ugh.)

[sans-pertinence.livejournal.com]

*waves* Nice one.

[kaigou.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Plus, "Kai" is a lot easier to shout across a crowded dealer's room -- easier to put force into a keh sound than a suh sound. Hah. I plan ahead!

[rurounitriv.livejournal.com]

*pokes "kaigou" into good ol' Jeffrey's translator* "Change of era"? It fits. :)

[kaigou.livejournal.com]

(See this post's entry for edited/added explanation of name.)

Except that I believe that meaning of kaigou is Japanese, and I chose this one because of its meaning in Mandarin. Though it is serendipitous to see that it has a positive meaning (and an apt one) in Japanese. Whew -- I was a little worried last night, after hitting "change name!" final step and having a split-second thought that it'd better not have some kind of obscene or truly offensive meaning in some other language.

I contemplated going with a gaelic phrase instead, but then realized there's no way anyone could a) pronounce it, if they chose to try to use it as a nickname, let alone b) successfully, repeatedly, spell the puppy. So many vowels and not enough consonants!

[rurounitriv.livejournal.com]

Yay for serendipity, then! (And silly me for making assumptions - a dangerous thing to do when you're involved! XD )

... and now I have to go find out what "iron dog" is in Japanese. *runs off to Jeffrey's again*

*is mildly addicted to Jeffreys, can you tell?*

Out of curiosity, what was the Gaelic phrase you were thinking of?

[kaigou.livejournal.com]

I have no idea what 'iron dog' might in Japanese, though I know 'inu' is one word for dog -- the idea of dealing with making proper synonyms (let alone a name) in Japanese just boggles my mind. All that grammar -- so much easier in Mandarin!

There were several gaelic words or phrases, among them coingeis (independent, indifferent), cuairtear (traveller), or some variant with cu (dog) -- except that adjectives in gaelic are even more of a nightmare than in japanese, and I'd rather not be utterly ignorant and just throw two words together. (At least in Mandarin, I know I can do that, to a certain extent.) Unfortunately, s'rioghal or srioghal is already taken, and I contemplated modhream but figured no one would ever be able to figure out how to pronounce that.

(Bad enough my beagle was named Saimhain, and I spent eleven years either correcting the vet's assistants -- "No, it's Sah-ven, like seven, not Sam-hane" -- not that pagans were much better, calling her Ska-ven, or Sah-wen, and I kept having to explain, "no, not the old Irish pronounciation, or the modern Irish version, the Scottish version, and yes, it is different..." (Though I don't know which region in Scotland in particular -- I think Aberdeen, but I could be wrong.)

Oi, vey.

[maldoror-gw.livejournal.com]

Transformation...COMPLETE! *strikes cheesy Power Ranger pose* May the new you live long and prosper. Oy, I need more caffeine and less geekery...

[kaigou.livejournal.com]

Gee, and I was thinking "Wonder Twins Power, Activate!"

*cough*

I just totally revealed what generation I am (as though the use of gou doesn't, in and of itself, though maybe I'll get lucky and people will think I'm twelve years younger than I really am.

I've been meaning to write you back, btw -- life just keeps carrying me along (though I suspect it's same for you, these days) -- but still, very very happy to know you've achieved spawnage. I need to get a real job, so I have some security before I can sally forth and continue the quest, myself. Sigh.

[atpolittlebit.livejournal.com]

"Form of...an iron dog!"

[roseya19.livejournal.com]

Cool new id. And I totally understand your reasons for wanting to change. Is there any particular inspiration (hidden significance) to this new one? Just curious. (Or nosy...one of my better virtues faults. ^_^)

[kaigou.livejournal.com]

(See edits in post, above, for fuller explanation.)

Yeah, it was time to set the past aside and accept that I'm not that person anymore. I feel a strange kind of relief mixed with regret, which is odd -- who would've thought I'd be more attached to a nick/concept than I ever have been to things, which I freely and happily donate/ditch at a moment's notice.

[petenshi.livejournal.com]

Wow, interesting seeing 'kaigou' with the icons I associated with your previous name. *raises glass* Here's to a new beginning.

[kaigou.livejournal.com]

Heh, don't worry, if you meet me at AX or Ycon next year, I'll probably still answer to 'Sol' just as often as 'Heero' ... for some reason, 'Akito' as a nickname hasn't caught on to any extent to compete with 'Heero' -- I think it's because my friends all like the way the 'r' sound rolls off their tongues. Ffffttt.

*blinks* Is it Sol?

[driftingdoll.livejournal.com]

You're just trying to confuse me, aren't you?

What does kaigou mean?

Also, I miss you. We haven't spoken in forever XP

Re: *blinks* Is it Sol?

[girl-starfish.livejournal.com]

Speaking of forever ...

*squeee!*

[driftingdoll.livejournal.com]

Hello! *loves* I suspect this means I should update my journal on a semi-regular basis. Even monthly would be better than what I have now :P

Re: *squeee!*

[girl-starfish.livejournal.com]

*Loves back!*

Yes, I'm trying to get into some better habits myself. We can inspire each other maybe?

[kaigou.livejournal.com]

Did I succeed? ;P~~

(Oi, I don't have your new email address, so did Zeal forward the picture of Sachiko with her new baby, the orange monkey? It's not the highest quality, and I'm trying to catch a better picture, but every time she sees the camera, she stops whatever she's doing and hunkers down. I'm not sure why, but it means I have to be especially sneaky.)

See edited post, above, for extended meaning-options.

I know, I know! No visits in so long... Aren't you coming up this way for at least one home-game this year? I'd like to do a major not-really-thanksgiving day, and have folks come from all over to celebrate both un-holiday and a new (mostly) kitchen... but that won't be until after exams. The suggestion of anything before then gets a grumpy recitation of all the exam dates and upcoming papers due... sigh. Life with student.

[driftingdoll.livejournal.com]

Zeal did NOT forward said email! My email address is courtney at gibbstex dot com. My sweetlysour email address still forwards, but you really need to get the new one on file ;)

I believe I'll be in town for the game on Nov 10th. It's our last home game. I've been up for a few others, but they've either been family weekends, or very very short trips. I came up for that awful KS game and stood in the rain before driving back home the same day.

We just need to arrange a weekend, obviously :) If you're talking after exams, it'll have to be after Christmas and New Years, but I'd love to come up for a weekend. Keep me posted on maybe good visit dates. I just have to plan ahead :P

[haya5h1.livejournal.com]

*snicker* You changed your name to..."change of name"?XD

[kaigou.livejournal.com]

Except that I don't speak/study Japanese! ...but if I'm seriously off in the Mandarin, you'll have to tell me. (I hope I'm not; I didn't exactly pick a complex combination... I hope.)

Oh, btw, there was a post I made over on the (now-going-away) fan-account, prompted in part by some of your comments, plus my own observations/complaints -- http://solitude1056.livejournal.com/104343.html ... in case you're interested. ;-)

[haya5h1.livejournal.com]

heh, my knowledge of Mandarin is exactly zero (other than the kanji that the Japanese stole appropriated) so I wouldn't know if the combo was snickery in Chinese. In Japanese "iron dog" would be 鉄の犬 - tetsu no inu (or if you wanted to get fancy, 黒金の犬 - kurogane no inu).

...oh, and "kai" is "chicken" in Cantonese so it could also be "chicken dog"...XD

and would you believe that I didn't actually know of the existence of that other journal till now?XD

[annotated_em]

Shiny new name.

Also, I don't think I've ever mentioned this, but I seriously love that icon.

[kaigou.livejournal.com]

Hehehe, so do I... when CP calls me a lizard, he's actually just continuing a tradition begun by my grandmother, who noted that I had to be "part-lizard, to explain your cold-bloodedness" (in a physiological sense, not psychological) -- after she noticed me shivering in church, on a June Sunday, when everyone else was wearing short sleeves!

The temp gets below about 78F, and I'm putting on a sweatshirt. It gets to below 68F, and I've got on multiple layers, wool socks, and I'm getting cranky, and stiff from sitting curled in a ball to conserve heat. When it hits about 55F, I'm thoroughly miserable, half-asleep, and every muscle is cramping from trying to curl in on itself, unless I'm attempting to wrap myself around the nearest source of heat.

Not saying I like to bask in the sun -- but I do tend to turn off the A/C, open the windows, and get down to tank-top and shorts with the internal temp at about 85F, and think nothing of it. (Then again, I also grew up in the Deep South, and we rarely had the money to turn on the A/C during the summer, so it was always ceiling fans, open windows, and one or two room-fans to get air circulating.)

Which is a really long-winded way to say, yes, I am part-lizard. ;-)

[girl-starfish.livejournal.com]

This is how out of things I am: Just commented to say I love the icon.

[kaigou.livejournal.com]

:-)

(See my comment to written-in-blue, above.)

Yeah, the idea of a British (or Aussie?) iguana does sort of have a peculiar je ne sais quoi...

[its-the-mask.livejournal.com]

Using this RP journal to reply because the icon is right.

Yes, yes it does.

[pixiepilot.livejournal.com]

*gnaws happily on your shoulder*

[kaigou.livejournal.com]

Oh, yeah!? Come down here and try doing that in person, baka!

(btw, did you get those icons/images I sent you? I want to see what Sanzo does with them...)

[caseyvalhalla.livejournal.com]

*thumbs up*

I'm still calling you Sol, though, as it would just be strange not to.

[kaigou.livejournal.com]

I suspect a lot of people would agree with you (hence keeping some reference to it in the name of this journal, or at least the 'working' name, whatever you call that explanation that shows up next to your username in some layouts...