Lady Alejandra's (Tomi Naff) Biography

¡Hola! My name is Lady Alejandra Garcia-Mendoza and I am 22. I have been in the SCA since about October of 1999. Since that time, my interests and activities within the Society have grown. I received my first and so far, only award in Oct. of 2002, at Harvest Feast, my AoA.

Though I have no real prevalent hobbies within the SCA, I enjoy rapier and I hope to be good enough to fight in tourneys one day. My persona is 16th century Spanish Romany. I am working on developing the Romany half but I consider myself assimilated into Spanish culture, and I speak fluent Spanish. I am also very much interested in Japanese language and culture. I took about 5 years of Japanese in my high school days (though not so long ago...) and I am still moderately fluent. I continue self-study within the SCA and without. I am working on development of a Japanese persona as we speak! If you have any tips to help me with either of my personas, please share. I am interested to hear.

Recently, I have been asked by the Royal Scribe of An Tir to help in translation of various scrolls into Japanese. Though I can't do Western/Roman calligraphy, my Japanese handwriting is descent. If anyone would like a scroll translated into Japanese or Spanish, please tell me! I enjoy this work very much and I do consider it as part of my activity in the SCA.

A small note for those seeking translation aid:

Japanese in itself cannot be translated like any of the European languages. You cannot, for example, use the Japanese script to write words in English like one might in Nordic Runes or Greek. Therefore, I ask that you consider the layout of your scroll before you ask for translations. It can be done a number of ways and may not so literally translate like those of Western language scrolls.  Also, if you are the scribe and the one to write the scroll, and you have never dealt with the Japanese script (it can be daunting. Trust me, I know! I'm left-handed also and this script is not made for left handed people!), I can assist in the stroke order and direction of the script.

Doumo arigatou gozaimasu!

Within my Shire, I hold position of Webmistress. I am always working on the site and trying to improve it.

Please contact me at: t_naff@yahoo.com for information and inquiries for scroll translation! Always happy to help! ¡Muchas Gracias!