As you can imagine, have been tuning into the World Series. Am writing this in the top of the 3rd of game 7. Get the vibe that the casual fan is rooting for the Cubs but am rooting for the First Nations. Am not super thrilled with their continued use of the cartoonish Chief Wahoo, but the reasons to cheer against the Cubbies are these. First, am a huge fan of the Indian team from Major League...managed by the crusty Lou Dobbs, deserved hall of famers like Willie Mays Hayes, Pedro Serano, Wild Thing and my favorite of all...Roger Dorn (holding down the hot corner of course) litter the roster. And freakin' 'just a bit outside' Bob Uecker. An almost perfect film. In contrast, Rookie of the Year is unwatchable; that kid is such a wuss but mainly due to the ever annoying Gary Busey portraying both a rational human and love interest makes it close to a horror movie.
Second, am on the record as being a fan of all things Cleveland as I always go for the underdog and there isn't much under Cleveland. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is cool, although it gets reviewed poorly and even the inductees get their plaques and show in NYC rather than in the Metropolis of the Western Reserve. Chicago on the other hand has the Art Institute, a rich tradition of architecture, history and culture...and food.
But by far the biggest reason that a Cleveland win is better is what might happen to the Cubs fans. Anyone that has been to a Red Sox game outside of Boston knows how insufferable they have become. So many phonies with their green Sox caps and boorish Irish heritage affinity (am so suspicious of people that are so into their heritage that are multi-generational Americans). I can just see going to a Mariner or A's game next summer and seeing a bunch of Cubs wear. There is hope as the Red Sox fans were always...and am generalizing here but from first hand experience...racist douchebags. Before 2004, that rap was tolerable as they were to be pitied due to years of sucketude, but would never have called them lovable losers. Since they have had a decade of success, the arrogance and conceit has become intolerable. Cubs fans on the other hand are lovable and think/hope they can weather success gracefully, but know that Cleveland will never take it for granted.
Have mentioned the speed cameras a bunch of times and thought I'd share a photo of one of them.
Bastards.
I bash Taiwan a lot, but this week, the weather broke. Highs in the upper 70's with a little rain...lows in the 60's at night and can finally turn off the AC and fans, open a window and enjoy pulling up a light blanket to get toasty at night. This has changed my outlook on the place totally and thought I'd share some positives.
There is no daylight savings. I know you'll all enjoy your extra hour of sleep, but this unnecessary bi-annual body clock adjustment is an idea whose time has expired. And while we're fixing that, can we lose the voting on Tuesday thing too? Was a rational decision when we were agrarian society but is woefully out of date in today's world. I was surprised at how many countries observe it, but not that the countries that do are all European or were colonized by them. The idea is that it is there to make better use of daylight hours, but how does changing the clocks change the amount of daylight there is any given day? I love ya Ben (Franklin), but am way over this one.
Quick break from Taiwan feather fluffing. Have made a concerted effort to distract myself from this election cycle and have been diving into historical podcasts lately. Have run through all the previously mentioned Whistlestop and Hardcore History ones, but have found a treasure trove at the BBC, especially one called In Our Time. Hosted by Melvyn Bragg, who has this charming wheeze of a laugh when he cracks himself up on some corny arcane joke, he gets three experts on a subject and they break it all the way down. Oftentimes, when a guest goes off topic, Bragg will shut the down in the snarky but erudite British way. There are scores of episodes and it is a great way to learn about history. Fills in some of the blanks on topics with one is familiar, and opens the mind to others that have never passed through the transom. Who knew I would come to love Frederick the Great or the Sikhs? While the accent is primarily and annoyingly British, it is not as mind numbing as the hushed tones on NPR, but still mellow enough to listen to at bedtime.
A good resource for a non-Mandarin reader to stay tuned into the local political scene that someone hipped me to recently is a blog called The View From Taiwan. Interesting takes on cross straight relations and such. The latest geo-political kerfuffle was a KMT party apparatchik going to China to talk about a peace treaty. The KMT party is currently not the one in power, having been soundly trounced in elections last year, and are so out of touch with the feelings of the population (70% of the locals favor independence and that number grows annually as the old timers die off) that this seems naive at best and highly nefarious at worst. I relate it to the GOP inviting Netanyahu to speak in Congress. When was the last time one heard the term "loyal opposition"?
Also a decent post in there about last weekend's Pride parade. Better than the recap in the major English language Taipei Times. I went and walked the route and it was much the same as you'd find in the States. The gay dudes were brilliantly flamboyant while the gay chicks all hung in pairs and had their arms around each other in an angry half-Nelson as if they were to let go, their partner would run away. I'd say that about half of the parade participants were dressed conservatively and was hard to tell if they were there to let their freak flag fly or just to support the cause. I saw no one protesting them and it was all very calm and pleasant. A ton of foreigners were out to enjoy the day and also lend their encouragement.
Probably the best thing about being an expat in Taiwan is that most everyone we deal with is of like mind politically. Obviously, I don't talk to too many local locals due to the language barrier, but the locals that speak English and nearly all of the expats kinda come from the same place. They have all made a choice to branch out, whether it be linguistically by learning a foreign language or by taking a risk and moving into a different world from their own. You don't easily become an expat without education and as is plainly evident in the cycle, it is the white, non-educated dudes fueling the party of Lincoln these days. And you don't volunteer to live overseas without being able to look at a person different than you and try to understand, appreciate and celebrate their differences rather than just assume they are evil or "whatever". So there has never been a situation here where we have to dance around the nutty racist that watches Fox News/reads Wall St. Journal/clicks on Breitbart for the "facts" and if there are those types, even they are smart enough to keep their trap shut.
I lied when I said that was the best thing about Taiwan. By far the best thing about living in Taiwan is getting gas. While I've never been a huge fan of the NJ/Oregon laws where you are not allowed to pump your own, that is mainly because the petrol jockeys are highly inefficient drifters who are there mainly to perform some credit card fraud. Here, pumping gas is still an art form and they are opening your gas cap before you can turn off the motor (and I've forgotten to turn it off a few times and they pump away happily regardless). While that is all good, at the place we go to, we receive a gift at every fill up. I usually ask for the box of water and yes, it is a box of fourteen 12-ounce bottles, but you can choose from a variety of options like dish soap, toilet paper or aluminum foil. So great.
Election on Tuesday. Wishing us all the best and that I chose a better horse in that race than I did in the World Series...Cubs Win. Cubs Win.
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