I was conceived in North Wales to Welsh parents, but born in Northern California. My father had been admitted to Cal Berkeley in Mathematics and Engineering. With only Welsh and French languages at birth, and no country, really, to call my own, I spent my early life obsessed with returning ‘home’, to Wales. Unfettered by national loyalty, I was bound, instead, to Wales, in heart and mind, by blood attachment. In Welsh, we call this sixth sense, hiraeth, a longing for home – for the earth, rock, sky, and sea of our motherland. I was back ‘home' at age ten, then back in the States – back and forth, back and forth. Drafted into the Vietnam conflict, trained as a Chinese linguist and decoder, though already fluent in several Slavic languages, I was sent to the East, then returned briefly West, then went back overseas – China, Japan, Southeast Asia…West and Central West Africa…Wales, again, always, and France, my third home, again. Decades passed. The only thing I gamble with is my life. I box, I surf, I fly. I write, I read, I study. Though multi-lingual and multi-cultural, my repertoire of languages continues to grow. I know several dialects of Chinese. Years in Sub-Saharan Africa bestowed upon me several Bantu languages, including Kiswahili. I read all my news in languages other than English – Welsh, French, Russian, and Chinese, especially. The languages of my mind, my thinking, my dreams, are also Welsh, French, Chinese, and Russian. In addition, I am learning Dari, Korean, Sanskrit, and Tagalog. Tagalog is the language of my wife. Besides writing, and blogging, seriously, my greatest passion is music. Belying my age, I am a devotee/connoisseur of new music – EDM, IDM, House, Deep House, ambient electronic, neo-classical, hip-hop, et cetera. Whenever possible, I am listening to music. I play guitar, saxophones, and sing, counter tenor. Regarding obsession, it is either that or mediocrity. Obsession is passion, devotion, adoration, worship. Mediocrity is complacency, self-satisfaction, self-righteousness, indifference. I loathe, abhor, and despise mediocrity. Hate is too strong a word for it, perhaps, reserved for the most insufferable of transgressions. Sometimes I want quiet thunder. Sometimes I want loud silence. When presented with easy and difficult, I choose difficult. If anyone can have it, I don't want it. If anyone can do it, I won't do it. If everyone thinks it, I won't think it. If everyone wants it, I won't have it. If I must choose between two evils, I pick the one I have never tried before. Regarding Hippo, have our destinies now collided? Though fate may not be coerced, cajoled, or counted on, I feel that this may be so.
