Klingon

When I went to Kiel over the weekend, I took along my copy of The Klingon Dictionary, to read over the grammar again. I've been interested in the language again recently.

I've been reading up on the Internet and trying to catch up a little on my six-month backlog of mailing list digests. I'm a bit envious of those people who've been involved with the language for over ten years, speak it fluently by now, and talk about what they did at qep'a' wejDIch, which must have been in 1996.

On the other hand, I suppose I have a bit of an advantage over them in that I have more materials available than they did; for example, the addendum to TKD or Klingon for the Galactic Traveller, which introduces more vocabulary.

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Yesterday, I found out that there will be a qepHom in Germany this year (qepHom is a "minor meeting"—as opposed to the yearly qep'a' "major meeting" for all Klingonists, usually in the States) and was considering attending. Since it's unlikely that Stella will pay for this harebrained idea, I had a look at what it would cost me.

Apparently, the train ticket would cost at least €80 (unless I'm interested in travelling for twelve hours instead of about eight), and that's the discounted price, which means I have to take a certain train. (If I had a BahnCard 25, I'd be able to save 25% on that price and get the ticket for about €60… but I might get a BahnCard 50 from work soon, which doesn't allow me to save on discounted prices but does allow me to buy a normal, fully flexible, ticket for half the price, or about €80.) The stay in the youth hostel costs another €62 or €52, depending on whether I'd settle for a four-bed or a two-bed room, so I'm probably looking at something like €130. Hm.

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I'm also considering picking a name for myself, but I'm not sure yet what. I'm not particularly keen on translating either of my given names; while I'm fine with the names as names, I don't particularly want to make the meaning transparent by translating them. Another common theme is names based on occupations, but there's already a ghunchu'wI' "perfect programmer", so something based on programming would clash with that, in my opinion. Maybe a name based on other nicknames or aliasses I have?

For example, pne could yield something like pIne'. Or perhaps something like pIneH "we want you" or pIn'a' "master" :)

I imagine that whatever I come up with at the end will not have a meaning, though, and simply be "a name". I have a feeling I should put some thought into it, since as the FAQ says, "You should probably spend a little time thinking about it until you find the sound that you will be satisfied to be called by for a long time. That is, after all, the most important part of the decision." (emphasis mine)

The things you do for someone else

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