Saturday, November 12, 2016

November 12th, 2016

Sitting here Saturday morning spell checking the below and we had a decent earthquake.  Let's see how long takes to report its size.  Happened at 6:26am.  My prediction is 5.4 at a depth of 17.4kms... 

The excellent Central Weather Bureau's website checked in 15 minutes later at 5.1 and 21.6kms deep.  Read that they think earthquakes most coincide with full moons and there is a super moon coming up soon.  Hang on Sloopy

As seen early morning last Sunday.  The Boy sitting in the office wearing a banana costume.  Told him I always considered him more of an egg than a banana.  As a mixed Asian/Caucasian, he has heard the banana//Twinkie reference often...yellow on the outside but white on the inside.  As his skin and appearance is more like mine, he isn't looked at as Chinese and to me, doesn't look Asian at all.  His friends both in the States and here say he looks Mexican.  Mom of course says he looks like her but please...c'mon man.  Anyway, I said he is like an egg...white on the outside, with a gooey transparent gel-like middle and a deep yellow yolk at his core.  Got no traction with that so...movin' on.



Quick follow ups from last week.  Questioned the idiotic Tuesday voting date and Last Week with John Oliver had a funny/insightful bit about it that I though I'd share.  This should absolutely be changed.


And did some more digging on the topic of daylight savings and while I still think it is ridiculous, am willing to give that one a pass for now.

I meant to put a note in last week about how Taiwan has direct voting for the President and not one determined by an electoral college.  This article,  which I read before the election, shows the inequity we have in our voices for President.  For instance, 1 electoral vote in California equals 500,000+ people while in Wyoming, it is 143,000.  How is that in any way fair.  The Senate is there to preserve the rights of the smaller states, so how does this make sense.   I put this link onto this space before the election and damn if we didn't get screwed by it for a second time in my life.  Not going to go deep into that result here cause there is a lot of stuff already written and people are wigging out and want to change the subject for a few minutes.  But very briefly, my feeling today is that as a straight white male, am not in any cross hairs, but my takeaway is that I need to watch out for and be prepared to fight with every breath and action for the rights of those not like me.  The deck is stacked but the power is always with the people.  Dust off the 60's protest playbooks. get a book of MLK quotations and count me in for whatever it takes.

My plan for this week was to talk about the neighborhood.  Before we moved to Taiwan, Betty and I came for a week to look at the schools and apartment hunt.  Now that we are 4+ years into this thing, I cannot believe how fortunate we were to choose the location we did.  Most of the other expats also live close to the school, but up the hill.  It is quieter there, but there is little shopping nearby and...you gotta walk up hill to get home. We picked a spot in the opposite direction from that in the flat direction.  Our place is an easy15 minute or less walk from everything we could possibly need.  Markets ranging from the western (re: expensive) to the "traditional" (more on them later).  A 10 screen movie theatre, which I don't go to a lot but is there when must see films come out.  Betty and I caught Inferno last Sunday.  That is probably not a must see for you as it got deservedly terrible reviews, but its locales were places we have visited recently and they traced a lot of our footsteps, so that was cool.  It had a lot less of the arcane religious and historical references than Angels and Demons or The DaVinci Code did, which were the parts I liked best, and they totally changed the ending from the book that was thought provoking on the future of mankind to one that was more wet t-shirt contest.  Still, I liked it and Tom Hanks is just the best.

Walking everywhere has the benefit of running into people you know on the street.  You become friendly with the peanut salesman on the corner or see one of the teachers and share a story or two.  We sorta knew all of these benefits when we picked the place, but the biggest surprise and hidden gem for me is the TianMu Sports Park that is right across the street.  I will be honest that my main motivation for our place selection was that the baseball stadium is there.  That has been a bit of a disappointment, not that it isn't fun to go, but there are so few games annually and this year, they are repairing it for 2017's Summer Universiade Games., so no games at all.

What I didn't see in our initial visit was that behind the stadium was a huge sports park that has indoor pools, gymnasiums and massive outdoor track and green areas.  It is associated with the attached sports college so all the grounds are kept immaculately clean.  As there are no cars, I (try) to go there every day for a walk or exercise.  One should exercise in some fashion every day and they say that you should vary the routine so you don't get bored and lazy.  I have not had that problem as there is always something going on at the park that is fun to look at.  During the weekdays, I see the ladies getting tennis lessons and the students from the college out getting lessons in sports ranging from baseball to track and field (I keep my head on a swivel when it is discus/javelin practice).  If I go late in the afternoon, all the old folks like me are also walking their laps.  On weekends, there is a bocce ball court that is always in use and has organized tournaments from time to time.  If I go on Sunday, a local religion (still don't know who they are) have two services in the gymnasium and there are hundreds of worshippers out, all wearing the same purple t-shirts.

Regardless of the day or time, there are always kids playing sports on the big grass area, on the playgrounds or in the water feature.  There are usually older people in wheelchairs hooked up to oxygen tanks that are brought there by their Filipina caregivers who park them in a shady spot so they can chat.  The Filipina ladies also get to socialize and eat their good looking homemade snacks too.

And regardless of the time or day, there are always people, sometimes in groups and sometimes alone, doing that Tai chi/qi chong body self flagellation exercises.  Kinda like this guy.
The other day, I saw a lady flailing her arms about so wildly that she looked like one of these things.

Not like one of these.

In addition to the regulars, as it is a big open space, there are occasional festivals happening.  The week before was a Halloween thing, but I went to Pride instead and missed it but know there were a ton of young women wearing sexy devil outfits.   Last weekend was an aboriginal cultural thing.  Thought it was cool looking so ran home and grabbed my camera...

This is the Tiamnu Baseball stadium under repair/construction.

I don't understand a ton of whats going on normally but came home and googled the festivals name...Mgay Bari
Wouldn't want WikiLeaks to share my Google history cause when you type in Mgay Bari into a search engine, a few hundred results about Gay Baristas come up.  YouTube had better results.

Basically, aboriginal games and a way to share their culture.  Cool outfits
Spear and arrow competitions

Love this target.  I asked if I could have one but the looked at me like I was speaking another language, which of course I was.
Never did see what the logs were for
Thought the peace sign throwing thing was so over in 2014.



Guy doing wood carving on-site
Kids are always cute at these things.

It was 80-85 degrees and people wear down jackets.  No words.
Lots of games to be played...this one is where a ring is passed between people via straws.  Very sexy.
Wasn't gonna take a photo of the National Guard recruitment tent, but they looked lonely and could tell they really wanted me to take a photo.
Not a lot for me to do, and there was not a single aboriginal food stand, which was an outrage.  Coulda gone for some venison skewers or something.  Since I had my camera and my belly was grumbling, decided to stop by the above mentioned Traditional market to show you some of the abominations that they call food.  This stand is the biggest culprit and sits right across the aisle from my coffee guy, so have to linger next to it when it's time to buy beans or get a cappuccino. 





As you can tell from this photo, it must be good cause this lady was itching her ass out of anticipation something fierce.   

Here is a bunch of shots of the "trays" of food.  Other than the last photo, which is obviously hearts, I would hesitate a guess as to exactly what any of these body parts are or from what type of body they came from.  I asked my coffee guy if he eats there and he smiled and nodded that he did.  "Very chewy".  Quite a recommendation.














I think that's why the locals are so keen to go to medical school.  Had been led to believe that it was that it would make for a lucrative career, but think that it's just an easy entry after a life of looking at the insides of everything.

I said I liked the Traditional Market as there is the good along with the haunted house stalls.

The fresh beans and spices people are useful.
And there are several produce stands, which makes getting fresh whatever is in season convenient.
But then you go next door and there are all the parts of a pig laid out.
Then a flower stall.
And more chicken feet and other assorted parts
But then fresh clams
and squid.
Then more parts.
It is a daily ride that is equal parts traumatic and satisfying.
Had the occasion recently to drive the Costco team responsible for paper products to the airport and one of the reasons they were here was to research a probable change to Kirkland toilet paper in Taiwan.  Seems the locals do not like their TP to come in rolls, but in individual sheets that look like Kleenex.  The thought is to eliminate importing my beloved Kirkland 48 roll packs from the States and source these locally.

I'm going to keep an open mind on this hot topic.  In one way, Taiwan is fighting back against Western encroachment, which I can admire.  But then I saw these new items for sale at the 7-11

They don't call them KING SIZE, but that's what they are. Xtra Twix and Snickers Super bars.  I wonder if they don't call them King size cause they don't have Kings or are wary of the concept of one in general.   The chocolate offerings here while limited, are always in the regular sized offerings.  The locals do not share the Western affliction of being obese and had always thought it was a metabolism thing cause they eat a ton of rice and see them all downing those hugely fattening bubble teas everywhere. Looking at the people wearing down jackets in the heat makes it obvious our pH balances are different.   But now I think their smaller frames have as much to do with portion size as their metabolism.  This huge candy bar thing could be the first step in changing all of that and is a sneaky version of colonialism.

Am also rethinking my disdain for massage chairs.  Not a huge fan of massages in general and have never liked sitting in these kinds of chairs whenever the opportunity has presented itself, but this must be a huge industry here cause I see demos for them in the malls and stores selling them all over town.  After watching this commercial, which came on during the election during the  break on CNN just after they announced Florida, I could be all turned around on this cause this woman is so having an orgasm while enjoying her Osim uLove massage chair.


Thought I'd make a large post today as the travel calendar really starts to heat up for yours truly and the family soon so may not get to post as regularly.  I hesitate to detail our incredible luck in this regard as it is so great and I really do not like to brag, but since I recount these trips in this space, you might as well hear it.

Thanksgiving long weekend in Malaysia.  A couple days after we get back, I am going solo to Seoul for a night to see my absolute favorites Yo La Tengo play (they come here two nights later, so you know I am way pumped for that double header).  Our Christmas break is going to be in Italy, starting in Naples and driving down to Sicily for two weeks.  Chinese New Year week at the end of January in Sri Lanka and then Spring Break week in Australia.  I was telling this to a guy here the other day and he looked at me and said, "damn you've got a good life".  No argument. 

One trip that just came up and am leaving for tonight is a week in the Bay Area.  Don't think I mentioned it earlier, but about 6 weeks ago, my 90 year old mother was on an outing with her friends and she slipped on a stair and fell.  Didn't break anything but banged her head pretty bad.  She was shaken up, they did a bunch of tests but seemed to be OK.  A couple of weeks ago, she starts getting headaches, goes to the doctor and gets the 'take some tylenol' advice.  A week after that, she starts having these episodes where she is getting disoriented and doesn't know where she is.  Doctor says they are busy and their earliest appointment is in December.  Luckily, my sister works in conjunction with a hospital and gets her into see a doctor on Tuesday.  Am not expecting any news cause tests take a while and as I'm sitting there agonizing about Trump, get a call from my sister saying that they found a subdural hematoma in her skull (I've watched a lot of MASH and know that is a blood clot on the brain) and they are headed to the ER.  Quite the surreal day of watching the election unfold while waiting to hear what's what. 

Get a call a few hours later after they met with the neurosurgeon and the choices were to cut a "big" chunk of her skull off and clean out the brain and then put the chunk back, drill a smaller hole and drain it out, or just to let it ride and hope it subsides.  We're also told that if she were a younger person that she'd be dead, but since your brain shrinks as you get older, there was room for this clot to pool.  Ear lobes get longer, brain gets smaller.  My mom has said for decades, and is ironclad in her living will,  that she does not want to be hooked up to a tube or machine to keep her alive, and says today that she has no intention of them drilling a hole in her head, so home she went that night.  No one can say if it'll kill her tomorrow or it could dissipate and she'll live for another 5-10 years.  Other than the times she gets disoriented, she seems totally fine and is in no pain whatsoever.

When we made the decision to move here, there were a lot of things to consider.  Kids acclimation, my "career", missing friends...all the changes and challenges that anyone would face when uprooting a comfortable and organized life.   I just reread that last sentence during editing and laughed at how much of a Virgo I am when an "organized" life is a trait I deem most important.   There was absolutely no hesitation or fear of any of those changes or challenges as the prospect for growth and exposure to the world, culture, etc. would far  outweigh any sadness or inconvenience.  But the only thing that ever made me feel any angst about leaving, and have fretted and thought about a ton over the last 4+ years, was getting the call that mom is _______.  I feel awful for my sister that has to deal with this...she's not alone as she has a massive support group, great husband, etc, but when it's family, you are sorta alone cause no one else has the same relationship.  She has been good to keep me informed, making sure I am OK with the decisions they are making. but can tell it is weighing heavily.  I couldn't talk on the phone this morning/their night when she called me and she sent an email saying that she just left my mom's place and was worried that if she left her alone that I would be mad cause she might die. 

I don't relate this to elicit sympathy or condolences, mainly cause I am uncomfortable with both, but do so as this diary is to capture what's what as unfiltered as possible for friends and for future generations.  I try to look at this scenario as an opportunity to celebrate her while she is here and to remember my 51 years (so far) with her.  She has had an amazing run, has been a picture of health her whole life and think she has had a good one.  That is certainly something to celebrate.  



Saturday, November 5, 2016

November 5th, 2016


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. 














Asian societies aren't know for their openness to the LBGT community, but they aren't known for being exceptionally hostile against them either.   I think that's mainly due that they don't have a book that preaches intolerance towards anything if interpreted just so.  Much impressed.

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.


Stay lovable Chicago.