Me

I am known by several names. My original name is in chinese characters. Because I was born in Malaysia, my parents had to alphabetize my name into some words that are telligible to the Malay government. Yong Hua Jin. Sadly, of all the three words, only Hua is correct. Yong (my last name) in mandarin pin yin is supposed to be Yang 2nd tone, pronouced as Young to the west. Jin is wrong. The actual pin yin for it is Jing 1st tone. It makes me mad to think that my legal name is full of mistakes.

Nobody calls me Hua Jin anymore. That was my school name for 12 years. Relatives call me Jing Jing. Parents still call me Jing Yang, which is an endearment term for a child. I officially became Angeline when I attended college, but then those who became closer with me in college began to call me Hua Jing. And I actually wouldnt allow them to call me Angeline, for instance with Zoe, my best friend. I remember once she said Angeline and I cringed at how weird it felt and so I made her promise never to address me like that ever. I never called Zoe by Zoe either.

I had another interesting circle of close friends that called me Cat, as in the purrry animal, in varying terms namely, kucing, which means cat in Malaysian, Ah Mao, in mandarin, and meow meow. That happened throughout the time I was in college. There were instances where friends and acquaintances didnt get to know my real name for the longest time because we became so friendly with me just being a 'cat'.

Then when I got to Hong Kong, I was able to keep my cattitude low for quite a bit, and then somehow during the outreach phase, I inevitably let the cat out of the bag again. Terms like gato, xiao mao mao, kitty and such began to proliferate.

And of course for most people in my life right now, as far as they are concerned, I am Angeline.

But what do I consider me? Hua Jing, Angeline, and Mao Mao, they are all equally significant. It is said, God calls me by my name... I can't help to wonder, by which one?