Quick follow up to last weeks local news item about Taiwan rescinding the law that made adultery illegal, gonorrhea cases on the island have hit a 5-year high. While that article does not equate the two and the reporting are from the 6 month period before the adultery rule was abolished, you gotta think there is some correlation. Or maybe it has to do with the virus keeping people indoors the first half of the year. Anyway, in response to this outbreak, the Central News Agency says that, "Individuals are urged to engage in safe sex and use the country's STD-friendly clinics for early diagnosis and intervention." STD friendly clinics must have a cute mascot.
In a likely related news story is this one about a teen girl that jumped on the hood of her dad's mistress' car and got taken for a ride. The mom/wife was also there and rammed her car with her own. A scuffle ensued and was still ongoing when the cops arrived. In that article is a snippet of video of the girl clinging to the windshield and the adulterer speeds down the road. All parties are pressing charges against one another. Since you can't bust the cheaters legally anymore, suspect/hope to see more of these articles.
Another enlightening article from the Taiwan News site to share is this one about a big drug bust of a favorite of the young folks here called Meow Meow. The bust itself was 3 tons of an ingredient in the Meow Meow called Mephedrone, which mixed with other stuff and put into coffee sachets gives a feeling of ecstasy and is hard to detect in urine samples. Upon further research, Mepherone based drugs are also called bath salts, which is a cool name too, but Meow Meow is better. I am not a fan of the speed aspect of this drug, but the ecstasy part has an appeal. The local kids like their speed to do more homework and ride their scooters like Evel Knievel.
One more headline ripped from Taiwan News but out of India...Alcoholic monkey gets life sentence in India after attacking 250 pedestrians. The six year old monkey named Kalua was "formerly owned by an 'occultist' who routinely supplied him liquor to drink, which turned him into an alcoholic." When the owner died, his liquor supply dried up and he started attacking people with, "many of his victims, particularly women and girls, had to have plastic surgery to repair the bite wounds caused by the simian.". He was sent to the zoo where zookeepers tried to change Kalua's behavior by putting him on a vegetarian diet, to no avail. I coulda told you that curing an alcoholic by putting him on a vegetarian diet was not gonna work.
I injured myself this week in truly classic old man fashion. Last weekend we had people over for dinner and needed to put the extra leaf in the dining room table. Was putting the house back in order on Sunday and enlisted Babydoll's help in taking the leaf out. Pushing the table back together was not working cause the mechanism must be rusty from all the humidity, so it was gonna need a strong push. I tell B-doll to brace herself and I'm gonna push hard as I can on three. Grab the table with my arms like I'm carrying a laundry basket and push as hard as I can, and pull something in my left arm something fierce that I screamed and fell to the floor in pain. Felt like I was stabbed and that I broke a bone. Didn't go to the doctor and after some time self diagnosed as pulling the muscles that connect the bicep and forearm at the elbow. Arm was in exquisite pain for three days but is now to the point where I can hold stuff in that arm and reach around to properly clean my butt crack. I should be thankful that I didn't wrench my back I suppose, but yet another example of how getting old sucks.
Since last time and after the haircut, have seen a mess of people. Unanimously, I was told that it looks so much better but I could tell in the eyes of some of the women that they were sad to see it go. Babydoll had not been a fan of it for years as it caused her embarrassment, but when she saw me for the first time said something that sounded like a real compliment but have been wondering how much of one since. She said, "you have a nice hair line...for a man your age."
Was hoping the haircut would make things better with the heat, and I guess it did, but it is hard to tell for sure as temps here are consistently awful. The lowest 'high' temperature of any day so far in June has been 108, and most days it is getting to be 110. Every day without exception. I cannot impress upon you enough just how much it messes with your synapsis. Yesterday was the second hottest June day ever since they started recording them in 1896...am not making this up. Anyway, here is a screenshot from yesterday. Fuck me.
Have sorta kept it together by thinking that we may be able to escape late July/early August to somewhere cold...specifically potential travel bubble partner New Zealand. I loved that place when we went a couple years ago, perhaps even more than my beloved Australia. Since they and TW have eradicated the bug, there had been talk, mostly by me, of us two having a free exchange of people without quarantine. In my brain, makes total sense for all of the reasons. We were at a b-day party last weekend that had some folks from there and I was all juiced to talk about it, and they said that it would never happen cause the mainlanders would get pissed and the NZ government would never do something to jeopardize them selling their agricultural products to them. Gawdamnit.
Finally for today, it is Dragon Boat festival tomorrow. Don't think I'll have any stories from it next time as I have zero plans to do any Dragon Boat activities, but I really didn't know anything about it as we have always been gone this time of year so have never researched its significance. It did not disappoint.
Also called Double Fifth, it is celebrated on the fifth day of the fifth month of the (pagan) Lunar calendar, The origin of the holiday is from a 2000 year old story...
The festival’s origins date back to southern China more than 2,000 years ago and come from the tale of the death of celebrated poet and minister Qu Yuan (屈原). Exiled from the state of Chu for supposed treason, Qu committed suicide by drowning himself in the Miluo River. Locals rushed out in boats to try and save him, dropping sticky rice into the water to keep the fish from eating his body – hence the modern-day traditions of eating zongzi and racing Dragon Boats.
Since some poet jumped into the river 2000 ears ago, we have dragon boat races and they eat that sticky rice (zongzi) thing this time of year. Another fun thing to do on this day is to balance an egg on its end at noon, thereby ensuring good luck for the next year. I'm gonna try it.
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