March 28, 2013

We had a 6.1 earthquake here yesterday...I was in the car and missed it.  It was centered in the middle of the island so Taipei didn't get the brunt of the force.  Watching the local news, they showed the obligatory camera shots of convenience store shelves falling over and people in elevators rocking and rolling.  One person died due to being crushed by the falling wall at a temple.  As you see around the world, the buildings that suffered the most damage were the un-reinforced cinder block style and everything else that was up to code was fine.  Someone told me the other day that the lovely mountain that our town sits in the shadow of is really a dormant volcano.  Good times.

I know that some parents award their kids with cash by bringing home good grades, but learned that they also offer other types of rewards here.  Was talking to some parents watching Carolyn's soccer game and it was a particularly heavy mosquito day at the park.  A couple of the parents said they offer money to their kids for bringing them dead mosquitoes.  Such a great idea, so have instituted a bounty system at home.  NT$10 for 51% of a mosquito carcass.  The compensation doubles to NT$20 if the mosquito was killed with a belly full of blood. 

Need to digress into a couple of quick road comments, so skip ahead a bit if these bore you.  First, I think that we have figured out the sticks on the front of cars are for.  Since a lot of bumpers on vehicles slope away from the driver and you cannot see where your car ends, and the fact that space is tight everywhere, the sticks help gauge how much room you have to maneuver into an small area.  Makes sense and they have been given my seal of approval.


The other road trait that has been bugging me of late is the use of turn signals, particularly when changing lanes.  Many drivers will start veering from one lane to the other without indicating, but once they are halfway, or more, into the new lane, they will hit the turn signals.  A bit late for that my friend.  THis is one of those tactics that whenever you see it happen in the States, you assume the driver is Chinese and it usually is.  Seeing it so widespread here makes you unbderstand that it isn't that they are novice drivers, but just bringing their style along with them.  Doesn't make it right in my book, but am willing to open it up for discussion to see if there is there is some reason for this totally annoying trait. 

There are a few interesting buildings around town, and had the opportunity to tour one of the more striking ones last week, the Grand Hotel.  The hotel sits on a hill side over looking the Taipei basin and can be seen throughout the city while offering commanding views of Taipei. 

 
It was built after the Nationalists came to Taiwan in 1949 as Chaing Kai Shek felt there were not adequate places for dignitaries to stay.  The architecture is traditional Chinese style and it's sheer size and hilltop location makes it quite an impressive site.  The decoration inside is also very ornate and they've done a decent job of keeping it in good condition. 


We got to see inside one of the rooms where we heard about some of the bad Feng Shui.  After the hotel was completed, the city planners routed the major freeway in town directly in front of the hotel, which cut off the flow of the building to the city.  The tour guide attributed this bad mojo to the death of General Chang a couple of years after the freeways completion.

Walking in the hallway to the rooms, the smell reminded me of they way the hallways smelled in Las Vegas when we'd go in the 70's.  A touch of mold combined with decades of cigarette smoke.  I must say that it wasn't offensive to me but rather brought back some childhood memories.

One of the big attractions of the tour was the chance to see the "secret" tunnels.  There is a lot of legend surrounding them, like they were connected to the far away airport and built so that General Chang could escape his enemies, and other ghost stories, but the reality is that they are air raid tunnels that connect the hotel to nearby parks and are big enough to hold up to 10,000 people.  The constant fear of the mainland attacking Taiwan for many years caused the Taiwanese to construct a lot of these shelters around town, and for good reason.  The tunnel we went into had a slide for the disabled to go down rather than the steep spiral staircases.  They wouldn't let me try it, and my Western butt didn't look like it would fit into the Eastern size, but am planning on sneaking Carolyn in there to go for a ride soon.

Spring break is next week, and to combat the stress we all are feeling from school, work and unemployment, we are off to Boracay in the Philippines this weekend for a few days.  Forecast is sunny and 84 every day, going down to 75 at night.  White sands and mango smoothies.  



Oh baby.

March 25, 2013

Allow me to address one of the bigger stereotypes of the Chinese...they do not all look alike.  But a lot of them do. 

Just coming off one of the best Taipei weekends I've had so far.  Friday night, Betty and I went to The Wall Livehouse to see Grimes.  Had never heard of her before, but there was this new guy that started in my Chinese class a few weeks back, and I'm wearing a Yo La Tengo t-shirt and he says that he likes them.  Obviously the dude has good taste, so we strike up a conversation and he's telling me about some discs he just bought and mentions Grimes.  I remember seeing her on an upcoming show list, so long story short, we all went.  One of those rare acts that both Betty and I liked and was a ton of fun going to see some music together with a new friend.  Grimes is a 23 year old solo artist that creates her own music and layers her vocals in a very interesting and poppy style.  Very cute girl...says "like" a lot as in "like you are really cool Taipei".    We were the oldest ones there (by far) as her audience skews to the younger set, which is always a good sign, and the hipster people watching was first class.

 

Saturday was Carolyn's 10th b-day sleepover.  She invited some girls over to swim, and then a gal came over to do nails and hair, and then we went out for ice cream at Swenson's.  Yes, they still have those here...last time I went to Swenson's in the States was in Mammoth, CA in 1979. 

 From left, you have Jade, Carolyn, Madi, Yazda and Courtney

We got Carolyn a giant bear (from Costco) for her present.  She named it Snuggles and fell asleep on him that night.

Sunday was opening night at the local baseball stadium and the joint was packed.  When we went last season, it was practically empty every game.  Not sure if it was due to the energy caused by the World Baseball Classic or that it was the first game off the year, but it was a sell out.  We ended up getting scalped tix for $15 each ($6 face value)

With a packed stadium and mid-70's temps, was a perfect night at the park.  Here is Carolyn with her good buddy Madi.

As we are walking in the stadium, we see this pack of photographers and TV camera crews following a lady into the cheap seats.  We asked an usher what was up and he said that they were getting images of the Taiwanese President's wife.  Apparently, she is a big Elephant supporter and had to settle for some cheapies as it was a sellout, so she sat with the regular fans in the bleacher seats.  You have to like being in a country where stuff like that can still happen.

The Lions were the home team and in the middle of the game, they handed out these big orange Q-tip shaped balloons to the crowd.  At a break in the action, the entire stadium let their balloons all fly in unison.  We missed the nuance and didn't have our cameras ready to shoot, but it was very cool.

The Lions ended up winning 3-2 by scratching out a run in the bottom of the 9th.  Good times.

March 18, 2013

I recently read a good friends Facebook post about 25 random things about her.  The rules of this exercise are: "Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it's because I want to know more about you. Or, more likely because you already tagged me and I'm bored and decided to do the same." 

Thought it would make a decent diary entry, so what follows is a stream of conscious effort.

I've been taught to leave something better than when you found it, so one of the items below is not true and challenge you to guess which one it is.

1. I once ran over my friend Ched's legs in my Pinto station wagon.  Wasn't on purpose, he was trying to get out of the back seat Dukes of Hazard style.  Nothing broken.

2. My favorite food in the world is a good meatball sandwich. 

3. I've had 6 knee surgeries.

4. I have a recurring dream that I'm up on stage in a band playing guitar, and don't know how to play it.

5. I call myself an Atheist, mainly because I distrust all religions.  A famous quote I cite often is, "I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours."  Yet I find that I pray to God often.

6.  I've made guacamole on 5 continents.

7.  Never knew what I wanted to do/be when I grew up, and still don't.

8.  Drove from DC to LA after college with my buddies Matt and James in James' El Camino.  Stopped for a night at Matt's relatives in Panhandle, Texas and ate some homemade beans at a July 4th party in his cousin's barn that caused the smelliest farts I've ever had.

9.  I used to consider myself a Republican, and would still call myself a fiscal conservative, but cannot stand the rigid dogma, high school name calling and insensitive social agenda of what I see in today's Grand Old Party so much that it many times makes my eyes rattle around in my skull

10.  I went undefeated in singles badminton during my junior year at Arcadia High School.

11.  Drove 5 hours through the teeth of Typhoon Saola in a rental Toyota Camry with the kids.

12.  I met my wife in Argentina in 1986 and we have been married for 18 years, but with the wind chill factor, it feels like 30.

13. I have seen a lot of live music, and the best single show I ever saw was Midnight Oil at the Bayou in DC in 1984.  However, the music event that changed my life was going to all three days of the first US Festival in 1982,  That line-up:
Friday, September 3
Gang of Four
The Ramones
The English Beat
Oingo Boingo
The B-52's
Talking Heads
The Police
Saturday, September 4
The Joe Sharino Band
Dave Edmunds
Eddie Money
Santana
The Cars
The Kinks
Pat Benatar
Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers
Sunday, September 5
Grateful Dead
Jerry Jeff Walker
Jimmy Buffett
Jackson Browne
Fleetwood Mac
Looking at that line-up still gives me the shivers.  Drove there in the aforementioned Pinto wagon, it was 110 degrees the entire weekend, and my 17th b-day was on the 4th.  We were woefully unprepared with food and camping supplies, and these wonderful Deadheads we parked next to took us under their wing.

14.  I love to cook, but came to it late in life.  Am not very good at it but am trying hard to be better.  There is nothing more satisfying than putting food on the table and having someone go Mmmmmmm when they take a bite.

15.  I ran one season of  Cross Country in high school and hated every second of it.  Trained 5 days a week by running 5-10 miles a day in a smoggy SoCal summer, only to totally suck on race day.  Joined the team because of a girl and never did catch up to her.

16.  I've read Isaac Asimov's entire robot series, from I, Robot through Foundation and Earth, twice.

17.  I have lived for various amounts of time in; Los Angeles, CA, Melbourne, Australia, Washington D.C., Martha's Vineyard, MA, Buenos Aires, Argentina, Seattle, WA and Taipei, Taiwan. 

18.  My claim to world fame is being the first person to yell "Get Laid, Get Fucked" during the breakdown in Billy Idol's version of Mony Mony.  1984 at the 5th Column in Washington D.C.

19.  I prefer the company of women over the hanging out with the fellas.

20.  I have not missed an episode of Adam Carolla's Loveline or morning radio show, or his current podcast since 2001, and have seen all 500 episodes of the Simpsons at least twice.  And still anxiously await the next episode of each.

21.  I hate camping, but I am not Jewish. 

22.  Saw the fifth Space Shuttle (STS-5) landing at Edwards Air Force Base on November 16th, 1982.  In 1986, I would travel to Argentina for a study abroad semester with the son of one of the astronauts from that mission.  The astronauts name was William Lenoir, but cannot remember the name of the son as we only called him by his nickname, Cowboy. 

23.  My nickname in college was Gomez.  Freshman year, I had a mustache and wore a poncho, and a very high friend said I looked like the guy that made the coffee...Juan Gomez.  I mentioned he was really high, right?  30 years later, my wife and all my friends from those days only call me Gomez
.
24.  The first band I ever fell in love with was Kiss...they were also the first concert I ever saw.  1976 (Cheap Trick opened) at the Fabulous Forum

25.  I climbed Australia's Uluru (then called Ayers Rock) in bare feet. 

Whew.  That was actually kinda fun.  Why don't you give it a try?  Would love to read yours.

March 17, 2013

OK...the Chinese are officially out of control.  A running gag with Betty since I've known her is our on going back and forth as to how the Chinese invented everything.  By everything, she throws out paper, gun powder and noodles, but her list pretty much runs out after those three.  So am sitting in Chinese class the other day and we're learning food vocabulary, and as the teacher is talking about the word for noodles, she mentions that they are a Chinese invention.  She knows I'm a big Italian food junkie, and so I throw out the "spaghetti comes from China, but Italians make it best"  line (go to 1:29).  She then claims that not only does pasta come from China, but they invented pizza too and wondered aloud what did Italians eat before Marco Polo?  Heresy!  Research of the web shows this Chinese claim as inherently false, but has been repeated so often that they all believe it.  Add my Chinese teacher to the list of things I used to like.



I knew that the word Karate in Japanese translates to "open hand", meaning that they fight without use of weapons.  I just learned that the word Karaoke translates to "open orchestra", meaning singing without live accompaniment.  The Japanese prefer to perform their karaoke in front of large groups, while the Chinese go into smaller rooms with friends to perform their songs.  The popular chain of these joints is called KTV.  You rent a private room and can order food and drinks while you and your friends butcher 'Like A Virgin' or 'Waterloo' during dinner.





Note the dork flashing the peace sign.  Something to be said for both types of karaoke.  Think it takes more huevos to get up in front of a large group of friends and strangers Japanese style, but makes for a more intimate group date night Chinese style.  One of the rare win-win scenarios. 

Why is it than when I wear black socks, the lint manages to get stuck in the side of the nail of my big toe, but never after wearing white socks?  Am I alone or is this an unspoken plague on modern man?

Paul burnt is calf walking too close to a recently ridden scooter this evening and it reminded me of a joke.  Did you hear about the Polish terrorist that tried to blow up a bus?  He burnt his lips.

 Things that I am looking forward to over the next year. 
-  That a new Veronica Mars movie is being filmed this summer for 2014 release.  When I think of my favorite shows of all time, VM has to be top 5.  There is the Simpsons, Veronica Mars, and I Love Lucy.  After that, not sure. 
- Kraftwerk is playing here on April 30th, already have my tickets!
- 5 days in Boracay end of March.
- A couple of months on the West Coast this summer visiting friends and family (and getting out of this sweat box)

March 15, 2013

Something I have not seen or heard once since moving here are leaf blowers.  I was having a quiet moment at home yesterday and noticed that I did not hear the constant far off drone of a two-stroke engine.  Thankfully, there is YouTube to provide some relief for this particular brand of homesickness.  One of My Favorite Things is to take a nap on the weekends, and it just isn't the same without that sound.  Think I would buy a white noise machine with that effect.

That is not to say that there aren't some constant noises here to replace the leaf blower.  One of them is the day long exercise fest in the park across the street.  Starting at sunrise and continuing almost unabated throughout the day and into the night, there will be groups of 40-50 something women Tai Chi'ing or dancing together.  Most of the time, there is no musical accompaniment and every 30-60 seconds, at the end of a routine, they will yell "hoowah" in unison.  Other groups will crank up a boom box and dance like this.  One of the groups across the street meets around 9AM and goes through their routines to the same song play list.  It kicks off with Henry Mancini's Baby Elephant Walk, and includes Starship's 'We Built This City' and I Wanna Dance With Somebody by Whitney Houston.  Amazing that their cassette from 1985 has lasted so long.

Aother white noise that is ever present is megaphone advertising.  There is a record feature on megaphones, and vendors will dictate their spiel into it and then broadcast it on an loop.  A lot of shops will hang one on their front door advising passerby's of their daily sale.  This photo was taken out front of the local drug store, and if my understanding of Chinese is accurate, think there was a special on some animal extract.

Quick digression, while walking away from this drug store, I see a lady take a tiny little snack dog out of her purse and put him on the ground to pee.  When he's done, she picked him up, took a tissue out of her bag and started wiping off his little weiner.  Totally makes sense, you wouldn't want to stain the leather of your Tod's bag with his dribble, but she was yanking so hard on the thing that it made me laugh.

What's worse than the stationary bullhorns are the trucks will drive slowly around town with megaphones strapped to the roof blasting information from their rigs.  Check out this link of a junk wagon and you'll totally understand.  Think Blues Brother's.  I'm guessing this is a holdover from the military government days telling people it's curfew time, and imagine this is common in today's North Korea with blaring testimonials about the Dear Leader and how they are going to set Washington DC on fire.

And at night, every night, the trash trucks make their rounds.  Check this out.   They all play this classical ditty and it is the lullaby that we all go to sleep to at night.

However, these noises do not bother me in the least and I find that not only do I welcome them, but need them.  I listen to some friends talk about getting away to total peace and quiet, and shudder as that is not the life for me.  When asked if I'd like to join them for some solitude, my reply is always "Dah-ling I love you but give me Park Avenue."

March 13, 2013

Some random thoughts for today.

The Baby In Car stickers seem to be multiplying.  I saw one this morning that said 'Bike Rider In Car'.  After a quick shake of the head, and maybe a thought that it would be better if it said 'Bike Rider Under Car', I looked at our rig and wondered what the locals think of my sticker declaration.

And if you are going to apply a sticker to your car, put it on the window and not on the paint.  As with a tattoo, you will not be able to remove it without leaving a mark.

Between school and home, we walk past this "store" that is full of random stuff.  You see these little holes in the wall around town that are very similar to a garage sale or privatized Salvation Army.

 

Never understood why they called them 'flea markets', but am now willing to make a guess.  They typically have used clothes, shoes and other reclaimed treasures and are always manned by the scraggly old proprietor, often times with the long mole hairs.  Had never gone into our local, and as I was walking home from school with Carolyn last night, decided to put our head in the door since we had a couple free minutes.  We made a hasty retreat as it was more depressing on the inside than it looks on the outside, and as we were walking away, Carolyn said "nice crap shack".

Quick non sequitur.  I've always thought Copernicus was a cool name.

With the local English language community center, I took a tour of our local Traditional Market (Shi Dong) the other day.  I go there a lot as it is a block from home and the meat and veggies are fresh and relatively cheap.  Even though I'm there 4-5 times a week, the tour was great as the lady that led it helped explain what some of the local produce is and how to prepare it, and also pointed out some cool shops that I had always walked past, but will now be going to regularly.  A great find was the independent coffee guy who is passionate about his brew, and was far better at half the price than the coffee shop I have been patronizing.  Here is my new friend.

There is also this crazy smoothie stand that I have started sampling.

The leader in the clubhouse is The Health 5 Vegetable.  Haven't caught what the 5 veggies are, but there is no milk or sugar added and it's quite good.  Too good to really be healthy.

 

I made a pot comment about the Herbage Stem Juice offering that a couple of the old dopers in the tour group thought was funny.  And I have got to know what is in the Deluxe Juice that makes it "not for pregnancy"

My favorite moment of the trip was when the tour lady showed us the local zucchini's.  She said they are smaller than what we find in the west, but the Chinese like them smaller.  Insert your own penis joke here.

 

I was having an email exchange with a buddy in Seattle whose son and Paul grew up together, played on the same soccer team with us for years, etc..  He was telling me that the kid isn't playing soccer this season and is running track instead.  The boy is a very nice athlete and thought that track was a curious move for him as he was so talented with hand-eye coordination, and that since he doesn't have a typical runners build, that he would be wasting his talents running in circles.  The dad was also mystified at his 14 year-olds decision, but alluded that a girl might be involved.  As soon as I heard that, I flashed back to a 'young me' in 1981 trying out for the Arcadia High School Cross Country team.  I was just like this kid with good coordination with even less of a runner's body, but there was a girl on the team that I liked a lot.  That was probably the worst semester of my life.  I hated every second of training 5-10 miles a day in the smoggy SoCal heat, only to completely suck on race day.  And never did catch up to that girl.  Coincidentally, Young Me is the hottest Taiwanese pop star going.

Finally, these are for my Steely Dan loving friends.

Can you hear me doctor?

March 12, 2013

Woke up this morning and found this spelled out on the refrigerator.

I've been known to raid the fridge for a mid-night snack from time to time, but don't recall making any refrigeration magnet declarations.  No one has claimed responsibility either and there is certainly no lack of legitimate suspects.

There is a personal grooming trait amongst some elderly Chinese men that I have tried to ignore and put into the different strokes for different folks pile, but still makes me gag and look away every time I see it.  Am talking about the hairy mole guy

Not that kind...these guys.


I know that it is supposed to be lucky and signifies wisdom, and am sure it must help with your digestion, but so freaking gross.

I made a comment to Betty the other day how you rarely see blind people around town.  I grew up watching Kung-Fu and thought I'd see these blind Masters tooling around at least occasionally.  It is not a very pedestrian friendly place for those with perfect sight, but how cool would it be to see these blind Shaolin masters dodging traffic using their other senses.  Betty commented that Asia is not a very good place to be handicapped.  Ouch.  Think I'll watch an episode of Kung-Fu on Youtube tonight. 

Saw a new bug yesterday.  

 

Hard to see but they are fire red and ominous looking. From what I could discern on-line, they are the Japanese beetle and learned from this article that they are not only harmless, but are quite amazing parents. It appears that they will go into hibernation soon enough, but they freaked me out when I saw tree of them crawling on my leg.   What is it with the Asians and the color red?

Woke up the other day to find three mosquito bites on my calf.  They seem to attack the kids more than me, so guessed that it's because their blood is closer to the surface and easier to extract.  Got me to thinking about mozzies, how they go about their business, and if there were any ways to limit ones exposure.  Some interesting but ultimately useless facts?  Mosquitoes don't take blood for food, but rather it is the lady mosquitoes that bite as they use the blood to make their nests.  They can sense carbon dioxide keenly and are attracted to heat, so know where you are at all times.    Mosquitoes can live up to 5 months and unlike bees, they do not die after they sting/bite you.  The same mosquito can bite you several times at once and they can bite through clothing (even denim).  The color of clothing you wear doesn't seem to have much of an effect, and the only positive thing I can find is that they don't like the smell of garlic.  Luckily, Chinese food is loaded with it and I use it a lot in what I cook, so my takeaway from this exercise is to double down on the garlic.

Finally for today, Carolyn went to a b-day party over the weekend with a friend who is Israeli.  The friends mom was name was Hagar.  Had never seen that name outside of the classic cartoon.  I really identify with that guy.

March 9, 2013

More follow-ups.  I mentioned a couple of days ago that I hadn't received a speeding ticket in 3 months and feared that as soon as I wrote it, I would get one.  Of course, the next day, rec'd a NT$1600 ticket for doing 68 kph in a 50 kph zone.  This karma shit is such a bitch.

Also, cross-checking why the locals smack themselves around when they exercise, found this video showing how to do it.  And it specifically mentions that it helps digestion. 

And I asked my Chinese teacher about the sticks on the cars, and she said they were for flags (seemingly confirming Betty's hypothesis).  I mentioned I hadn't seen a car with the flags being flown and she said it was mainly done around election time.  We then got off topic talking about Taiwanese politics and how we missed how they used to get into get into fights during legislature sessions.  There are tons of these to be found on YouTube.  She said that they have made an effort to curtail these outbreaks as it is an obvious embarrassment to the country, but is such good fun.  And I find it so hot that the women are as violent as the men.  Am looking forward to the next election cycle when the drivers start showing their party allegiance on their cars and the hilariously violent road rage that ensues.  Lucky they don't have liberal gun laws here.  Can you imagine the Road Warrioresque violence that would play out on the highways if this was common practice in the States?

I hate to doubt my Chinese teacher's knowledge on these sticks, but take a peek at this example of them.

There is no way to affix a flag to this style of sword, and while they may serve as a flag pole in many cases, there has to be another explanation.

Have I mentioned how great the weather has been here?  October through February were splendid (60's-70's), little rain and only two days where I needed long pants.  There is a sports park across the street that I'll go for a walk from time to time, and there are track teams that will be practicing there.  Yesterday, my iPhone said it was 79 degrees, and I see these kids warming up to practice by doing laps in puffy down jackets and long pants.  You can feel the real heat starting to come back with temperatures in the 80's becoming the norm, but with all the griping I did July to September about the merciless heat, needed to give equal time to the good stuff.  It also doesn't feel like the air is very polluted, but the locals freak out (and justifiably so) about that nasty Chinese wave of pollution wafting over.  Not many places escape some form of bad weather, and since we get to escape here for a couple months in the summer, will consider myself lucky.

Speaking of pollution in China, I'm sure you've seen the news reports of how gawdawful it is in Beijing.  Was chatting with one of the moms at school the other day and knew they are moving to the mainland this summer, and of course the first question out of my mouth is wondering how they are going to deal with the pollution?  Immediately wanted to take it back as that is like asking a person who works graveyard how they manage to deal with the reversal of the clock?.   Answer to both questions?   Miserably...thanks for asking.  So I apologize to her.

This family is one of the nicer ones that I've met and their leaving highlighted an aspect of this ex-pat lifestyle that I knew was coming, but find it more frustrating than advertised.  That is the temporary aspect of most ex-pats existence in their current city.  Kind of like Logan's Run, or more recently in the Justin Timberlake movie In Time, you know that the people you meet are going to disappear at some time in the near future.  Carolyn has already had two friends leave and it hasn't even been a full year, and this other girl who she is really close with is planning on leaving at the end of the next school year.  A couple of the friends I have made are both contemplating going back to the states this summer.  I wish I was more like Betty in her ability to make friends with people so fast.  She is not around much and goes to school functions rarely, and the other night we went to a thing there that was talking about middle schoolers transition into the high school, and she knows everyone.  Starts talking to them like she has known them for years while she really has met them passingly a couple of times.  Me?  I'm like moss...takes me a while to grow on you, so it sucks bad when I finally get to know a person and then hear that they are hitting the road, kind of bums me out.

Speaking of Justin Timberlake, caught the movie Bad Teacher on HBO the other night and LOVED it.  All I knew about it was the terrible reviews, but I found it hilarious and dark from start to finish.  Total tour de force from Cameron Diaz, and the antagonist character (Amy Squirrel) was brilliantly done.  Great for mindless movie rental night.

March 4, 2013

Am going to clean out some notes I've been making in my notebook today, but first, need to make a quick follow-up to the last posting..  My local sources say the locals bang their bodies while exercising in acupressure points.  Suppose that makes sense and I have yet to explore that black art to have an opinion on it, but it did remind me that acupuncture is something I have wanted to try and will be looking into it near future.

Also, the Baby In Car stickers bothers most people as much as it does me, but the blame for them was assigned to Canadians by the Taiwan intelligentsia.  Not sure if I am buying that explanation.

Have been accused, and rightly so, of devoting too much time in this diary to life on the road, but need to get a couple more thoughts on it out there.  I know that as soon as I type this, that it'll jinx my luck, but it has been over three months since I've received a speeding ticket.  I received 7 or 8 of them from July to November but have rallied to go 0-fer the last three months.  Hooray for me.

I had a major revelation as to why there there are so many idiot drivers.  I would wager that the vast majority of the local population has their first driving experience on a scooter rather than behind the wheel of a car.  Scooter driving is totally different than a car as you typically weave through traffic at lights to go to the front of the line and easily maneuver around stopped vehicles to get ahead.  This is totally expected and acceptable, but once they graduate into a car, their scooter mentality is so ingrained that they drive their cars in a dangerous and selfish style.  Totally unacceptable, but at least I feel better with the understanding. 

Additionally, am somewhat disgusted by those that have shrines hanging from their rear view mirrors. It has been my experience that in general, drivers that have stuff hanging from the mirror seem to make poor choices on the road. They are like babies that get distracted when you shake your shiny key ring at them. Have always felt this way, but am noticing that the majority of the cars here sport all kinds of religious or other totems.  I would imagine that the distraction of these swinging charms causes more accidents than their good luck omens prevent.

Saw Django Unchained yesterday afternoon and loved it.  Pure Tarantino.  Twisted, brutal, funny and unlike any other movie out there. 

Feel like I've mentioned this before, but never know whether to acknowledge a fellow White Boy or White Girl on the street or just ignore them as I would on the streets in the States.

I know I've mentioned this one before, but being late to everything is not an endearing trait.  Had an encounter with one of these people yesterday and it ticks me off to no end.  I understand unexpected delays or traffic getting in ones way from time to time, and being fashionably late to a party is fashionable (dinner parties excluded), but it is the habitual tardiness types that need an intervention, so here it goes.  While we may make light of your affliction in front of you, we really want to tell you how much it pisses off the rest of us who lead organized lives.  You are disrespectful to us and it is a classic sign of rampant narcissism.  We secretly either tell you the wrong time of arrival or just stop inviting you.  Set your alarm, pull your head out and get your shit together.