I am writing this cursory profile with the idea that perhaps it would be appropriate to explore some options, even if I will not have the means to realize any relationship in matrimony for, in my estimation, at least another decade. I suppose having some options in mind beforehand is preferable to the alternative of waiting to become financially established and then spending even more time looking for options.
I have a firm belief in the concept of
yuanfen, as when it is stripped of its Buddhist trappings, it is rather indistinguishable from Divine Providence. I must admit, I am somewhat uncomfortable with the idea of the Internet being a vehicle of this predestined affinity, however, this is perhaps due in no small part to my hope that I would someday have an arranged marriage with the daughter of someone close to my parents, thereby repaying some of the bottomless debt that I owe them by joining my family with that of one of their close friends. Simultaneously, for a few reasons, I am not even sure if marriage is my calling. However, as previously mentioned, I am just here to poke around a bit and, as it were, "test the waters". Even if I do not obtain any results from this little exercise, perhaps someone else reading will.
About me:
I am currently studying music and psychology in college. I hope to obtain a B.Mus. and a B.S. in these two fields. I estimate that will take at least another four years, possibly five. After that I plan on using the B.S. to enter some Master's program in a medical field. It is all still very much "up in the air". My experience and observations have led me to believe that it is better to have a general idea of one's potential options rather to be dead-set on one goal - life has many unexpected twists and turns; flexibility and adaptability are essential.
As to my personality, I am consistently categorized as a Melancholic or a Melancholic-Phlegmatic by Catholic personality tests. The Phlegmatic side is a recent addition to the normal results, but I do see some very selective aspects of it in my personality.
My interests include music , Chinese poetry (of all periods, excluding modern poetry in the vernacular), Confucianism, Taoism, literature (mainly from the Orient, but I am also a fan of Samuel Johnson and occasionally enjoy English lyric poetry from various periods, but particularly from the Elizabethan age), and various other miscellaneous subjects.
As far as how I apply those interests, I sing and take voice lessons (I sing bass, my lowest note being a low C - I cannot yet project it as clearly as I would like), I play and teach piano, and have been employed as an organist in the past. The music degree I am working on is in organ performance. I have tried my hand at writing Chinese poetry, mainly in the genre of the
Song-dynasty lyric "ci" poems . I think I've written a few poems that are worth salvaging for future compilation in what I hope to be a collection of my poems, those being categorized under "juvenilia". I've temporarily stopped writing and am devoting my time to more study of the Chinese language so that I can escape from stale expressions and stereotyped conventions and find my own poetic voice within the framework of the genre.
Aside from English, I am fluent in Vietnamese (fluency is relative, but I am fluent in most circuмstances), studied French in high school for four years, and am currently engaged in self-study of
classical Chinese . I casually study Mandarin and to some degree, Cantonese, but I am not particularly interested in modern vernacular spoken Chinese at this stage, and devote most of my study time to the written literary language. This of course is tremendously impractical, and results in me being able to read certain passages of Confucius with relative ease while not being able to strike up an ordinary conversation.
Anyways, that's a long-winded introduction, and hopefully I've said enough now for some impression to be made on my personality.