Melody (bittersky.org)

These interviews started with the intention of getting to know my online friends better, and exposing a side of them that might not necessarily be apparent online. Each interviewee was asked ten questions, five of which were generic, and five of which directly applied to the specific individual. If you are interested in being interviewed, please leave a comment on this post.

Interview with Melody of bittersky.org:

• Do your friends and family know you have a blog? If so, do they read it?
  My friends do… I think. I understand the blog is public and that anyone can view it, therefore I don’t discuss overly personal issues or name names. Although my URL is not something I’d put down on my resume, I am fairly open about it. It is listed on my Facebook, so anyone who has the slightest interest would notice. However, I keep no track of who visits it and who doesn’t. My boyfriend reads it regularly and makes the occasional comment on the site – he almost comments directly to me on every entry though. A close friend has asked me to keep writing because she enjoyed reading it – before I had no idea that she would visit.

  Back when I started blogging, I asked my dad to pay for my hosting/domain and I promised him it was a writing exercise so he definitely knows. He would still read my blog from time to time, but because he has realised there is no intimate personal stuff going on he has pretty much lost interest. As for my mum and my brother, they recognize it is just another hobby of mine and couldn’t care any less.

• When did you first start becoming involved in the “internet world”?
  As soon as I got internet, which means I must have been 12 or 13 years of age. As much as I am ashamed to say it, I first became involved in online Westlife fan communities. They were one of my early teenage obsessions like your Jonas Brothers today. I went on fansites every day, wrote fan fiction, built a fan site myself. As my interest in them deteriorated, my interest in the web only grew stronger. I started building my own personal site, first hosted by Geocities, later on hosted by a girl called Sam before I purchased my first domain. At the time, I also built a design site and a review site, which seem completely silly today – but I had a lot of fun with them and still have archives of their layouts.

  In short, I first got into the internet world about 10 years ago (!) and I am still loving it.

• What are your favorite places to visit online?
  Definitely Google, Wikipedia and sometimes BBC News. I refuse to make any page other than Google search home to be my homepage, it is very handy. Pathetically, every time one of my family member barges in and asks me something I don’t know, I press the little house button at the top of my browser. I am reasonably sure that I’m not the only one who keeps an eye on the Google logo changes. I can have easy access to my Gmail account from there, which is also an advantage. Wikipedia is simply an addiction, I can start with reading about David Bowie and go on to read more and more until I end up at the C4 explosives article. BBC News is my favourite news source, it’s precise, concise and user-friendly.

  The more or less narcissistic version of my response would be my own blog, LiveJournal, thefanlistings.org and Vegetarian Option. I check my blog frequently to read responses, because I like reading other people’s opinions no matter they agree with me or not. LJ has great communities where I get my fandom fixes. I staff at TFL so I must. :P The VegOpt forum because it is where I can talk about pretty much everything with my online friends and some interesting individuals.

• Do you ever feel like it’s hard to maintain a balance between online and offline life?
  Sometimes, I suppose? I would say I always know the priorities, I don’t believe it is necessary to have an online life. When real life gets too busy/demanding, a lot of people have simply given up their online presence. Although I would never want that to happen to me, I know it would be the right thing to do in that situation.
• Does your online personality differ from your offline personality? Do you find yourself acting differently in situations online than you would offline?
  It is probably more about whether I am used to/comfortable with the people than it is about whether it is online/offline. That said, I am probably a lot calmer and level-headed online. I find it easier to be articulate or eloquent online because I get to think about what I say before I ‘say’ it. And without real interactions, I won’t have to make sure they are convinced or study their facial expressions to decide how they perceive my words. In real life, I get awkward and nervous too many times.
• You have a passion for English literature and the English language. As you are not a native speaker, where did this passion begin?
  To tell you the truth, I first became interested in English because it seemed very easy. It almost seemed effortless to top the class (we are talking about primary school here). I liked Chinese, but it took so much time to write and was generally very difficult to understand for me. Around that time, my Canadian uncle brought back a number of story books from home. I started reading them and at times, reading them aloud. It was about the most entertaining thing I could do myself and with my younger brother. Since then I started reading more books, watching more programmes and movies. Eventually, I had developed a passion for the language. It is just so accessible and expressive. Before I started university, I knew I was going to pick a major that relies heavily on words. Journalism and law were among the candidates, but in the end I thought I should do something I was actually interested in so I went with an English degree. And I chose to concentrate in literature instead of linguistics for my degree in the hope of eventually improve my writing. After that, I was introduced to great books, studied in Glasgow, took a few writing courses… All of those only strengthened my interest in English literature.
• You also have a passion for traveling. What is your favorite place to visit out of all the places you have seen? What place do you want to visit the most that you have not visited yet?
  I probably like traveling as much as the average person does. It’s great to see something different and have a glimpse of other people’s life/culture. However, I love attachments and space too much to want to ever live a life of constant traveling.

  I haven’t been to too many places, but my current favourite would be Edinburgh. It’s because technically I cannot say Scotland because I have lived there. Edinburgh is fantastic because:

  • Castle! In the middle of the city!
  • Hogmanay baby!
  • It is small, organized with incredible history and not too far away from nice landscapes
  • Idlewild

  That said, I have the habit of connecting places to certain experiences – I had a wonderful New Year’s with my boyfriend there in 07/08 so that is a pretty important reason. Ah, Cork was pretty nice too but I spent way too little time there.

  The places I’d love to visit to the most include Switzerland, New Zealand and Denmark. I think you can see a pattern here. I would love to go to places where there are more farm animals than people. I figured if I am to spend time on planning and getting used to time difference and all that, I might as well go to places that are completely different. So instead of having people’s shoulder touching mine every other minute, I would rather sit in front of a mountain and hear sheep and cow chew grass. And I didn’t mention anywhere too remote because I don’t really enjoy adventures that come with big risks, if anything happened to me I would still like to be rescued. Oh, Denmark is on the list because of Legoland.

• You often describe yourself as quiet, shy, and/or the “less pretty” one. Do you think this affects how people perceive you, or is this a result of previous perceptions?
  Ideally, one should not be too confident or too under-confident. Unfortunately, most people are either this or that. I happen to fall into the latter category.

  In terms of shyness, I am known to be quite babbly and at times even mean and sarcastic, among my closer friends and family. They are people I am comfortable with. With strangers it is a completely different story – I have attended countless meetings where I literally said zero words. I cannot pinpoint the reason, apart from feeling extremely awkward and uncomfortable. Regardless, people are going to perceive you as quiet when you are actually quiet. Once I get closer to them, I open up. Most people I know say, “Wow? I really didn’t think you’d say that!”

  As for prettiness, I know I am not beautiful but I often struggle with the idea that I might just be okay. My boyfriend would occasionally joke that I am just fishing for compliments, but we both know that it is more than a desperate cry for attention. The core of the issue is my lack of confidence, which might have come from my height or the impossible beauty standards nowadays. And I don’t do anything to make myself feel more confident – I don’t normally wear make-up or high heels. All of that aside, now I merely see my lack of attractiveness as a fact and don’t usually fret about it. I realise as long as the important people think I am pretty, it is all good.

• You currently live in Hong Kong. What do you like and dislike about the city?
  Oh boy. This one is worth a blog entry on its own. I’m from here, and I am proud of it. It is efficient and convenient and very safe, which is important nowadays. There are places where everything goes on and there are places where nothing goes on (with views of the skyscrapers in a distance). It’s exciting, you are never short of things to do whatever the time is. People are generally bright, flexible and well mannered. It’s definitely one of the best places on earth. What I don’t like about here is what most big cities suffer from: pollution, coldness and the severe lack of space. I’d personally prefer a bigger room in a bungalow near the sea, but if you want that here you need to be loaded. :P
• You do creative writing in your spare/free time. Do you think this hobby could turn into a career? Do you have any aspirations to get published, or have you been published previously?
  There are few things I want more than to turn it into a career. Writing is something I love, and there is nothing better than doing what you love and getting paid for that at the same time. As for how practical it would be, I still haven’t got an idea. I am open to other career paths which allow me to keep my creativity going and maybe help that in some way – I like my current job in terms of that. Writing is my true passion, it’s something I’d keep doing, no matter I get published or not. Of course I want to get published and have a readership. I will work on a portfolio and start trying my luck when I feel the time is right. I have previously been published twice by my university, when I did a short story writing course in 2006 and when I did a poetry writing course in 2008. They were not prestigious publications, but it was an honour to be chosen in such big classes. I feel that my hard work, and possibly talent, was recognised and it gave me a lot of motivation to keep writing. I wouldn’t mind more of that encouragement!

Tags: interviews