Gruel

For years i loyally used Asian Suite by Union Way to type in Chinese, mostly to communicate with my mother via email.

After finally having my new computer in place, i find, to my dismay, that Asian Suite is not compatible with Windows Vista.

I've written sales@unionway.com to inquire whether they are working on an updated version. I mean Vista has been out a while! No response.

I've resorted to NJStar. No offense to NJStar's developers, but, just like the Microsoft built-in Input Method Editor, the only way to type traditional (as opposed to simplified) is pinyin (for someone who can't Cangjie).

Pinyin is a skill i learned in college. Two years, no less. So i can do it. Nearly proficiently. But... To spell in pinyin is to think in Mandarin. What i love about Asian Suite is its unique Canto phonetic feature. I can think and spell in my mother tongue. Plus there are characters available that only exist in Canto speech. Not to mention the keyboard shortcuts are a breeze.

At first i was so exasperated, after days had gone by and i remained unable to reply to my mother's email, i actually picked up a pen [rollerball - it's the only way to write! ; ) ], wrote two pages (on 8" x 11" - not too shabby!), scanned, saved as image files, pasted in a Word file, then emailed the Word file as attachment. Whew!

Remarked Denisse, "That's dedicated!"

"Less exhausting than phonetic typing," i replied.

My mother was thrilled. She called it "the real thing".

In her reply she asked me if i had heard a Chinese proverb:

White cat. Black cat. As long as it kills mice, it's a good cat.

referring to the two apps.

No, i hadn't. I was in awe. At the same time i understood why Confucious gets mocked to this day.

I wrote back:

Black cat encounters hurdles all the way. White cat was better.

Since i handwrote that note (oh, wow, that's really mouse-free), i should add:

Fuck the cats. I have me!