entry oh

'Oh' as in the Korean number 5, but I might be using it incorrectly here.  Different languages have different ways of counting and representing sequences or numbers.  What might be relevant to us as English speakers in a given language means something else to speakers of said language.

Case in point: a long while ago I was in a Wisconsin bar with a Taiwanese ex.  I loved how she was able to read tattoos to me, because Chinese tattoos are popular in America for some reason.  She read the Chinese number '5' written on the calf  of some guy's leg.  She laughed at this, while I was a bit more confused-- perhaps there's some numerical relevance to this number for him, something he feels the need to drape in Chinese.  A number can be a very symbolic thing.  There's power in this symbolism.  However maybe the way he wrote 5 or tried to represent this symbolism was lost completely in Chinese.  If I saw a foreigner with a tattoo of the number 5 I would be confused--in my mind, numerical tattoos suggest imprisonment.

The title of this blog-- the 8 O blog-- is symbolic of the following.

First, the emoticon it creates:  I'm a very patient, calm dude, but in my writing I persistently try to push myself to express more than I can with speech.  8O looks like somebody screaming to me.

Second, Vonnegut's assertion is that infinity is just nothing with a twist.  Infinity is not the number eight and nothingness is not the letter 'O'.  But these characters mimic the symbols of infinity and nothingness.

Third, my last name, Otto, is the number 'eight' in Italian (like Fellini's Otto e Mezzo). 

Fourth, eight notebooks made up my novel, which I hope to promote and eventually publish via this blog.

Fifth, the title suggests the 1980s decade, those of us who came of age in Y2K, and this is the generation I come from and understand best.

Anyway I could probably think of more.  I would have stopped at four but four is synonymous with 'death' in Chinese.  My interest in numbers (and Chinese astrology) has nothing to do with believing in fortune telling or numerology or anything like that.  I just look for symbolism in creative work of all kinds, and this symbolism is just another kind of language, as in communication with others and understanding of ourselves.

Still waiting for my passport.  In Eau Claire now, with my younger brother, getting my world in order.  It has been a few days of goodbyes now, and I hate saying goodbye.  I just never know what to say to anyone.  I was hugged by someone who never hugs anyone.  People have been doing me favors, buying me things I need for the trip.  How do I express my gratitude without feeling sad?  

more later

justin

五 5