The massive news in Taiwan this week was the high court ruling that same sex marriage was legal. That Taiwan is the first Asian country that has gone this route speaks volumes. Cheers.
In other potentially massive local news on a personal level, the heat has not been as consistently bad as feared a couple weeks back, but we are still having those days of triple digits. While that isn't news in itself, on Wednesday, we had one of the stifling ones and everyone was bitching, but I didn't feel it as I usually do (i.e. schweaty balls and angry demeanor). They've been telling me for years that you get used to this weather, and the down jacket in summer wearing types would be an indicator that is true, but is it finally happening to me? Should I be happy about it, or fear that my Ph balance has been changed at the DNA level?
One of my current WTFT? (What the Fuck Taiwan?) items has to do with traffic signals. There are a couple on my daily commute that do this weird thing where the light is a solid red, and as you're sitting there, it turns yellow for maybe a second/second and a half and then goes back to solid red. I know you aren't supposed to go through the intersection, but it seems weird and feels completely dangerous. Few people seem to know what I'm talking about and no one has an explanation other than it is a technical glitch. Have been trying to get a video of it to show people (and you), but like the Sasquatch or our President telling a joke that is not horrifyingly apocalyptic, have not been able to capture it on film. More to follow on this.
In another preview of an upcoming entry, was talking to the folks at the Center where I work about the many postings on my Facebook page about being an introvert. I mention the Center often, mainly in regards to the outreach they do to the expat community, but their main function is to provide counseling services to that community, so many of the people that are there are therapists or are ancillarily engaged in that vocation. As I was wondering if Facebook knew more about me than I know myself, they suggested I take an on-line Myers-Briggs personality test. If you read this space with any regularity, you'll know that I have an affinity for astrology (both Greek and Chinese) and am fascinated by how they describe our personalities so accurately. I took this test and felt it was scary true. Perhaps I am projecting (as one is wont to do with astrological things), but the level of detail on how I view others, society and myself was eye opening.
Also learned in our Center discussions that the kids take an even more detailed version of this test at school and am after those results. In a future post, will share my results and it'd be fun to talk to you about yours. Take 5 minutes and take this on-line test...I would bet that you will find it enlightening.
In the 'Doing shit that entertains only me' file for today, this week I decided to give the local currency a nickname. Officially, they are NTD (New Taiwan Dollars), but I've yet to hear a single slang term. Obviously, in the States we have a ton of them and know you could easily come up with several off the top of your head...but according to Wikipedia...bucks, dough, bread, tamales, scratch, moolah, cheddar Cheese, guap, lettuce, paper, scrilla, scrill, stash, chips, cake, cabbage, Benjamin, Benji, loot[10] smackers, simoleons, ducats, and spondulix. What the hell is spondulix? Anyhoo, I rolled out my first attempt the other day to near unanimous looks of 'what's wrong with you'. Sun Yat Sens! Yes I put an exclamation point in there. I love it...he is on the most common bill, is universally regarded as a heroic revolutionary figure both here and on the mainland (much in the vein of George Washington), and it kinda rolls off the tongue. I know they don't go for the changing of the language slang here much, but this seems fun and harmless. You got gay marriage Taiwan, so I know you can loosen up a little.
In the local area social media chat club, someone posted about a new Peruvian chicken place in town. I was all, since when did anyone ever say, "let's go for Peruvian chicken." and was shamed for not knowing that it is apparently all the rage. Being away from the States, there is always the potential that we are missing out on some cultural trend, and totally felt that way on previous extended time outside of the country, but with the Web, have not felt that way the last 5 years. In fact, feel I was on the vanguard of the Korean chicken revolution. But this Peruvian chicken thing caught me totally unaware and the shame I was dealt was totally justified.
OK...it is final week of High School for the boy and have a couple of observances to share for this official record. First off, the Yearbook came out and it is a tome. Double the size of mine from '83. The quality and cleverness of it befits a school that considers itself one of the finest 'prep' schools on the planet. Am not comfortable with that description being the humble blue collar type that I think of myself as, but it is not wholly unjustified. All of the seniors get a half page for their picture and are given 150 words to write a note for posterity. I started reading them and all of the kids notes thanked either/all their parents, friends and teachers. While a couple had some humor, most were heartfelt odes to the people and places that defined their school years. My eyes were starting to hurt as there are a lot of names that start with the letter C (there is truth in the gag 'that guy is so fat, he has more Chins than a Chinese High School yearbook') that I was a little loopy when I got to the Imbrogulio page.
The other event this week was the High School awards ceremony. It started out with the Superintendent giving opening remarks that were a defense for having an awards ceremony in the first place. The gist of the speech was the program was to highlight the exceptionalism of the students and a middle finger to the 'everyone gets a trophy' ethic. I thought we had all agreed that was a bullshit Baby Boomer feel good thing and I had no problem with it other than having to listen to a defense of the event for 5 minutes.
The program was almost two hours long and in listening to the accomplishments of these students, was floored by the level of everything these kids did. Simply stunning young people.
Quick side note...want to share a couple things I learned from my years working at Nordstrom. This is mainly for my kids in hopes they read this one day, but feel this is just good policy for anyone. Hope they will say to themselves that they do these things and that they learned it from me. First, write Thank You notes. Doing them on the computer is OK I suppose (not gonna be old man Grumpy and say these newfangled idiot boxes ruined everything), but a hand written note to someone that did something for you is probably the least you could do and it means the world to the person that receives it. Old man Grumpy says to never give up some of the etiquette of yore. I encouraged the Boy (he would say I made him do it but know that he did it willingly) to go see a couple of his old Middle School teachers that made a dent on his life in a positive way just to say hello/goodbye/thanks. The level of their appreciation that he reached out to them made their day. I'd think that after cash and prizes, seeing the impact a teacher has on a couple of kids has to be the most satisfying thing for them. To the kiddies, to myself and to anyone out there, make a conscious effort to thank someone in a truly meaningful way. It feels good for everyone concerned.
The other Nordstrom tip I give to you today I saw from watching the Nordstrom boys themselves when they came to the quarterly awards ceremonies. They would always...always...sit in the front and be clapping the loudest for the winners. You could hear their claps over the other 100's of people applauding. I was always taken by that and resolved to do the same whenever I had the opportunity. Not only are the optics good, but you get into the emotion of the event more and I know that the people getting their recognition see and feel it. It's just the right thing to do. A couple of people came up to me after this ceremony the other day commenting that I clap really loud, so I felt that I accomplished this goal (although my hands were truly sore afterward). While I saw a lot of enthusiasm amongst some of the other attendees, both Betty and I were disgusted watching a bunch of others barely clap and worse, have their heads down in their phones the entire fucking time. Hey...Old man Grumpy here again. What the hell is the wrong with you? Why come? Yuck.
So here is the proud parent portion of today's piece...and I am not proud of me. I don't like the word pride in general for some messed up reason that I've never understood, but there you go. The Boy was honored a couple of times during the event. First, he received the Spirit of Science award, which is given to "the student who achieves well in multiple disciplines in higher level classes, demonstrates a great passion for science, and has shown a genuine appreciation for science that goes beyond grades." Not sure about the "beyond grades" thing but very nice and a $65 Amazon gift card.
He also received the last award of the day. The Roger Castiglioni Memorial Scholarship. Contrary to popular belief, it is not given to the student with the most Italian sounding last name (and in looking at the yearbook, he has the only Italian last name). And the name Roger Castiglioni made me think of Tony Taglioni from the "A Trip To The Movies" trailer.
Per the program, the Castiglioni scholarship is "given to a grade 12 student who best demonstrates a love of learning rather than a focus on just receiving good grades. The award recipient's enthusiastic attitude is evinced by active participation in class and in other opportunities around the school; the student must have made a positive impact on practicing the TAS values of honesty, respect, responsibility, kindness and courage."
First, 'evinced' is a cool word. Second, and am not sure this is great, but he totally cornered the 'beyond grades' angle at this place. I remember writing in this diary at the very start that one of the most surprising things between his Seattle and Taipei schools was that in the States, speaking up in class, perhaps not always in a constructive way, was a disruption and it was called out in every parent/teacher conference as a negative. In Taiwan, speaking up in class was in rare supply and it has always been a characteristic that was appreciated by the teachers. They encouraged it while helping him smooth off the edges. That that quality would result in recognition by this award, which comes with US$3,000 in money to his school of choice, should give all parents with the kid that won't shut up some hope (although we've known it is a good thing all along)
The cash prize winners...
We go to his graduation ceremony this afternoon and know that it is gonna be a bit emotional. Am kinda choked up just writing about it at this point. I remember one of the first things I said about him when he was an annoying crying blob of shitting awfulness, was that you always love your kids, but sometimes, you don't like them. And that is OK. Well, I can say with total honesty that today, I like you Boy.
There was an article on yahoo or somewhere this week about Mister Rogers. Must be some anniversary of his and they told his story through some quotations from his show. While this sentiment has been said many times and many ways, I love the simplicity of Mister Rogers
Often when you think you're at the end of something, you're at the beginning of something else.
