About Jade...

But before we get to that, how about meeting my little dragon? I adopted Devia from the Adopt-a-Dragon Foundation.

Okay, back to me.  So who am I?  I must admit, that is a very good question.  I'd like to know that too.  I know I am a person -- a female person -- but defining one's identity via gender has already been done and besides, it's just plain overrated.  Moreover, how do you know I exist?  Very well.  You don't.  Me neither.  To continue...

I am a student. (duh.)  My senior year in high school has just ended along with my difficult battle with senioritis.  I will attend Stanford this fall, and I constantly wonder if my parents will change their minds about moving West with me.  Hmmm...  I am a Libra, born year of the Pig, and since I skipped a grade, that would make me seventeen.  I'm gettin' old.  So old I forgot to explain my name.  I'll do that now.

[Aside]  Some people say that you're supposed to get wiser with age.  I'm not altogether sure of that.  (I'm not denying it; I'm just saying it's not for sure.)  I know I get progressively sarcastic with age, though.  Does that count?

Yes, so far you know me as "Jade Dragon."  You could visit my Dragon Sisters Site and look at my profile to know my other names.  In the meantime, I'll just tell you.  My birth name (Chinese name) is Wang Qi Qing (王琪卿), of which Qi is a type of jade and Qing is the title of a high-ranking government official (like prime minister).  Wang is my family name and it means king/royalty.  If you know me at school, you probably know my English name, Hannah, which was given to me by our host family back when my dad was a foreign exchange student.  I still use it, but online I'm more commonly known as "Jade."  Short.  Sweet.  Simple.  Fewer keystrokes.

I speak fluent (and read/write) Mandarin Chinese, English, and C++.  I am learning French, Java, and OpenGL.  (Give me a break.  It sounds funny when I'm half asleep and writing, like right now.)  I can also understand Shanghainese, though speaking is sometimes a problem.  I pretend to be perfectly fluent with people who don't know Shanghainese very well, and I downplay the little ability I have when I'm with a native speaker.  (Hey, at least I can admit it!)

I am also a martial artist.  My favorite weapon is the nine-section chain whip, but I couldn't use one if my life depended on it.  (Wait, if my life depended on it, I probably would figure it out...)  Julie (Sapphire) is not letting me get near one, though.  That's too bad.  If you read "The Forgotten Tragedy" which she wrote for Great American Writers, the "Qi Qing" in the story is supposed to be me, but there is no way (just to let you know now) I can whip out three little darts and hit three targets like that.  I could run them through with a straight sword, but that's not really as exciting, huh?  However, as a disclaimer to those readers who are the "potential stalkers" that "they" keep warning us about, getting impaled with my straight sword is still relatively painful.  I wouldn't suggest trying it out.  With that weapon at least, I know what I'm doing.

I enjoy writing poetry, as you might induce from there being a poetry section on this site.  I am also an eclectic wiccan, but I'll find time to write about that later.  I like niu-pi tang, a sticky Chinese candy, white-water rafting, and philosophy.  My parents will probably never let me go hang-gliding, but by now I've droned on for much too long, but if you feel like listening to me blab some more, subscribe to the Fun-e-zine, my email magazine, and you can listen to this stuff all the time (though Julie will be taking over soon).