October 6th, 2018

Hey there,

Have been battling a bit of racial profiling the last couple of weeks.  The parking at our place is underground and one morning a while back as we're walking to the car we see a book lying on the ground a few spots away.  I don't think much of it but can tell it is in English and Babydoll confirms it isn't hers.  The next morning, it is propped up by the pillar next to our car.  I leave it there cause the owner probably would like it back and should be able to retrace their steps, but it doesn't move for days.  I take it to the office and mumble something the dudes don't understand apparently cause the next day, there it is propped up again by our car.

This time I ask Babydoll, whose Mandarin is getting to be quite solid, how to say 'this is not my book'.  After several hilarious minutes of her saying the phrase, me repeating it exactly and her yelling at me for not using the correct tones, realize I now have my own in-house translator and have her to give it back to the office and tell them it isn't ours in the local dialect.  The next day, they put the damn thing in our mailbox.  Betty returned home the other day and I had her give it back to the office (I was there and she said stuff, then they both looked at me and laughed).  Haven't seen it since, but just because I am the only white person in the 17 story building, I am obviously the only one that reads in English?  I am outraged to the point that I feel the need to hashtag something.

See how idiotic it sounds when a white dude complains?  Was gonna transition into a diatribe about the SCOTUS imbroglio, even wrote a couple of paragraphs and deleted them cause the news is just too sick to comment upon and could find no way to do so in an amusing way.   Perhaps one day  I will address it and will definitely touch on it in my upcoming self-help tome.  Since that book above was haunting me, looked inside and found it was one of those.   Could only look at one page before  it disgusted me enough to put it down and remind myself to get going on my own self-help book.  Chapter titles in this thing like 'Choose Willingness' and 'Walking Your Why' made me cringe.

OK, I couldn't resist.  Here is a two minute video of the author talking about "Walking Your Why".

She definitely needs to see a doctor about fixing whatever is going on with her neck.  Second, walking your why is basically a cutesy way of saying don't be such a wuss, but it gets lost on me with all the happy values talk.

I added a new chapter to my book this week.  It is called "Eat It" and at a high level is about when you make a mistake, don't blame the world/boss/whoever and excuse your own behavior. Have some Confucianisms in there, ideas on how to self reflect, etc...you're gonna like it.

Know I have complained about them before but the old bats here and the way they conduct themselves in public annoys to no end.  The dudes will do this too, but mostly in the car.  They "hustle" to walk in front of you to get somewhere first and act like they don't see you.  They are like Magic Johnson...you think he doesn't see you and then bang, a bounce pass hits you in stride right in the chest except these gals aren't nearly as deft cause they obviously see you but they have this look on their face that is hard to describe but you know it immediately.  Of course I don't run them down (although I'd be in the right) and let them go in front cause they are still ladies and in my day it was assumed that you held the door for a woman, but these nasty women not only don't give a smile or even acknowledgement, they have this angry stink eye like we are in some gladiatorial death match. 

I know they don't drink their milk here and hope they get their calcium from somewhere cause they will get toppled and those hips must be awfully chalky.  Basically the mindset as I understand it is if they don't make eye contact, then the other people don't exist and they have free reign morally to do whatever they want.  The trick is to look them right in the eye and they back down every time.  Every time.

Finally, I said I was done talking about it but the weather has been absolutely spectacular.  Mentioned that there haven't been any typhoons and shared an article about just how unusual it has been this year.  If you are interested in Taiwan weather, meteorology in general, or just want to see some cool graphics, check this out.  It talks about how there have been 24 typhoons in the area this year and not a single one has hit Taiwan (the tracking overlays are mesmerizing).  Since 1911, this will be the third time no typhoons have hit the island.  Contrast that to four years in that same time frame when 7 typhoons have made landfall.  That article goes into why that is and such, but super interesting if you're into that kinda thing.

Speaking of typhoons, saw this article that has been making the rounds where the graphic of a  hurricane in the Pacific looks like a penis.

It looks more like a bone instead of a boner.  Think the one I have shared previously is way hotter and includes the money shot.

The last 10 days have been nice and warm enough to get a nice sweat going during the day and just right at night to sleep with the windows open and no A/C.  Even though I knew we'd get here, after months of pure hell, it was easy to forget and if you've been reading this lately, was obviously hitting some new lows.  What got me through it this time was knowing I had a four night run with my beloved Yo La Tengo in Japan,.  It is next week starting Monday in Osaka, Tuesday in Nagoya and ending with two nights in Tokyo.  The refrigerator says it all.


See ya on the other side.