What's your Name?

See that's a pretty essential question, I think. The question about one's name. Everybody should have one. Some people have several, like Jay-Z. In my case it's two, a Korean one and a German one. Don't worry, I won't fall back into an identity crisis here, no, today I thought about something related to names.

Once you reach a certain age, I figured, people ask you for your name, when what they really want to know is what you're doing. Somebody, unfortunately I forgot who that somebody was, once told me to remember that for some people you're never going to be more than what you do. Since I was a kid back then, I said I understood, and then, of course forgot. 

A few days ago, a friend showed me his business card, and I felt stupid, because I couldn't show him mine. And that's because I don't have one. Christian Bale would stab a character like me without even blinking, but really, I don't own a card, not even a bad one. I don't know, I don't feel the need to have one, but ... that's not the only truth. Also, I don't have a real job. I'm a freelance translator, yes, but is that something you want to show people as your occupation? I don't think so, and I'll try to briefly explain why.

But first, let's get back to the name issue. What should be the name that appears on my card. My Korean name? Or the German one? I don't think it's an easy decision. Both maybe. But that'd be way too long a name for only one person. And I don't want the card to have a 16:9 format, just because of my name. Okay, to make this shorter, I'll tell you that in the past few years I kind of grew closer to my Korean name. So for now, I'd say I tend to omit my German one. 

Alright, let's say I'm settled on the name now. But what about my job? And it's not like I'm a famous freelance translator, I can't pull a Daniel Ocean with only my name in the middle of the card and that's enough for everybody to know what's up. I don't think there's a lot of people who could do that, actually. Much less in Germay. A handful of actors maybe. Perhaps a few politicians. It's funny how Germany has almost no real celebreties.

Man, that'd be cool, though, wouldn't it? Having a card like that. Mingling would be cooler, too. Some dude would come up to me and say "Hello, who the hell are you?", I'd hand him my card, he'd silently read my name on it and his attitude would change "Oh shit, you're XXX? Man, that's so awesome, I've always wanted to meet you. You're like really famous. You know, there's a lot of famous people in this city, but to meet you in person is just awesome, man. I'm telling you, nobody will believe me when I tell them I met you, fuckin XXX. I mean, hands down, you're just the best ... freelance translator ... 

See, and that's why I don't have a card.