November 17th, 2018

Hey there,

A programming note...next week is T-giving and we're headed to The Philippines for the long weekend so likely will not post next week.

This goes out to my Seattle pals.  I need you to do something for me...read about a restaurant where a review would be appreciated.  It's called Pintxo and is billed as a tapas bar and is right in the downtown core.  If you have talked to me within the last year have probably preached how transcendent our pintxo experience was and if this place is half as good as we found on the road, it has to be great.  Make it a date night and let me know?

Some Taiwan news for you this week.  Will go big to small.  Taiwan is having elections on November 24th and while my understanding of the issues of the day is not deep, I can base my opinions of the candidates based on the impressions of the advertising strewn about town.  Have to assume they advertise on local media but the big thing we notice are all the signs that get plastered on any available space around town.  Have taken a few photos and plan to do a recap of what I think of the candidates soon but will share one of them by Candidate # 7 as a teaser.  

He must be running for a high office cause his advertisements are all about town and recall him and this banner in particular from previous races.  This guy freaks me out.  While I am sure the image here is one of a  benevolent God, that demonic looking idol grabs your attention immediately.  But it is when you look into the candidates eyes that you become possessed.  Not a great shot here unfortunately, but if you look up "beady little eyes" in the dictionary, his are the visual definition.  His attire looks like he is the punch maker at the Peoples Temple.  Will get a better snap and have his words translated for the election recap.

Babydoll shared an article that details a study where half of all Taiwanese are blessed with the 'weight loss' gene.  Lucky...they get to late night snack and not exercise and still be rail thin.  Must be nice and help explains why I literally get waved off when I am looking at clothes at the stores here cause they simply don't carry anything that will fit.  Of course this explains why I see these skinny ass people eating nothing but oily fatty food.  

In other Babydoll news, this week saw their annual school dance production.  This year's piece is named a Christmas Carol and it is the classic Scrooge story combined with Devil Wears Prada.  Clever mash-up cause the cast is 6:1 girls so the protagonists can all be female.  Wish I was more of an art lover as I should go to the school's productions all the time as they are so well done.  Talented kids for sure, it is all the behind the scenes work the kids and faculty do that make these events.  They are real strict in people not taking photos/videos from the audience for good reason, so cannot share any with you.  Babydoll is in several scenes and had a duet where she is onstage with her partner alone for 3+ minutes.  Not versed enough in the genre to say if she was good or what, but I admire that anyone can get up in front of hundreds of people and do stuff like this.  She looked so mature and commanding up there, especially with all the make-up, that even though I knew it was her, had to ask Betty after to be sure it was.

As an evolved mind from the west coast of the United States, had to click on an article about the local police busting a marijuana factory.  Was kinda hoping that there was some underground industry and that these guys got popped by accident, but it turns out it was a couple that was turned in by their neighbors for having a single plant growing in their bedroom closet.  The article is sadly funny, but not as sad as the picture of the "factory" itself.

It's A Charlie Brown's Marijuana Factory.   I like to tout how progressive this dump is on social issues in relation to their SE Asian neighbors, but this is one area that they are far to the extreme.  That said, appears their objection to vaping has finally changed cause I am starting to see locals puffing on them around town and just saw a vape store open up nearby.  They love their booze, tobacco products are almost encouraged, and I know that speed is all over cause these kids can't maintain their study schedules without it.  But the weed?  Korea put out some directive to their citizens to not smoke out when they go to North America or face some kind of repercussion when they got home.  If they legalized it here the 7-11's would be so much cooler.  As they said in my day and age...mellow out man

Betty and I went to a Diwali party last weekend.  Diwali is a Hindu celebration and highlights light over darkness and the attainment of knowledge and consciousness.  The usual stuff.  Nice time but the only reason I mention it was that we enjoyed a performance of a Japanese guy playing sitar in Taiwan for a Hindu event.

I don't listen to nor have seen a ton of sitar based music, but he ran his through a bunch of effect pedals and looped rhythms so that the sound was like 4 of them playing in unison.  Pretty trippy.

This party was in a space here called The Red Room.  Had heard about this space in the first month or so when we arrived in 2012 and that there was cool events going on all the time.  The space is in an abandoned Air Force facility in the core of downtown and was said to be really cool, but we had never gone or been invited so it was good to finally see what all the fuss was about.  One week later I get invited/told I had to go for a friend to an event they are having called My Tribe, which is a celebration of art and food and music from around the world and how it manifests itself to this time in Taiwan.  Obviously artsy fartsy in a way that doesn't fit my normal routine, but I go.  The art is quite good, two artists were showing, one Finnish and the other Thai.  The music was by a Ugandan dude that lived in Kenya and he was very affable, but I have seen some of the greats perform in a acoustic troubadour setting and not a single time did I not want to but a metal spike in my ear to stop the noise.  THe food was by a chef trained in South Africa that was hit and miss, and made me spew up a bit in the middle of the night, but it was one of the desserts that stole the show.

Here is a close-up

Koeksusters.  Say it fast.  South African doughnuts basically but so amazingly good.  Not sure where you get South African food, but time to add I t to your list.   And the gags.  Eating, fondling, deep throating them...I wrapped up a couple to bring home and the 'is that a Koeksuster in your pocket or are you just glad to see me' was a natural.  Probably don't need to note there was plenty of booze flowing.  I need to get out more.

Woke up early the other day and as I walk by one of our chatchkies, I see a giant cockroach perched on top of it.  The above photo is a recreation with my rubber cockroach friend Charlie standing in for the real thing.  Don't see many of these critters in our apartment but when we do, they are the little fellas.  Will see the giant flying kind on our balcony from time to time, but if they were living in the apartment, we'd see them right away cause they are loud and proud.   I figured the guy I saw this morning  must have slipped past the goalie when a door was open or something.  After being initially startled, started to look closely at him.  He didn't seem to be concerned at my presence at all and just sat there so we watched each other for a while and had this feeling come over me that I wasn't expecting...I saw him for the innocent creature that he is.  Almost perfectly designed and has survived unchanged over a period of time that is hard to imagine.  Was mesmerized by the movement of his antennae, each well over an inch long, as they probed the world around it.  Whether you feel he was the end result of millions of years of evolution or one of God's most perfect creatures, his beauty really couldn't be denied and I wondered which one of us was more evolved..  I then clubbed him with a book and while he was scrambling around unable to move due to the damage inflicted, picked him up with a paper towel and flung him off the 16th floor railing.

When I go out about my business in the neighborhood,  I pass by this tree.   Kind of an oddball shape with it bending over the sidewalk so you sorta have to duck your head to maneuver around it, so you notice it every time in a way that you wouldn't for most trees.  The amount of times I have gone past it and touched it or whatever is in the many thousands.

This week I go past and there is an old lady (60-70) lying on it and humping it like a dog. Vigorously.  I watched stunned for a few seconds but felt dirty and had to move on. They didn't teach me that in QiGong class and has to be a treatment for menopause I guessed.  One of those unexpected moments in life that will leave an impression forever.


Finally for today, had a T-shirt thought.  "I am not anti-social, society is anti-Me."  That came out of my head out of the blue  and thought I was pretty clever, but a Google search comes up with millions of hits for that saying in Facebook pages, song lyrics and many many t-shirts.  A wise man said that there is a fine line between clever and stupid.  Being original is awfully difficult.  That said, it is likely someone forwarded you this YouTube clip of Simon Sinek on "The Millenial Question"  It was in my feeds several different ways and have heard many folks referencing it as well.

I watched it and it struck that aggro nerve in me immediately.  Had to watch it again cause the first time became obsessed with this knucklehead saying "right?" at the end of every other sentence.  That is one of my most hated verbal ticks cause it is not inert like "like" or "umm" but is a way they subliminally get you to buy what they are pushing.

And what this guy is pushing?  Whew...  The poor Millennials are victims of parents telling them how great they are and teachers giving them A's.  Awwwww...the poor millennials and their suffering.  They can't be content in a job cause they don't own the company after two weeks and if they aren't content, then their life is a failure and they go back to mommies basement and eat avocado toast.   Simon's solution?  Companies need to make them feel more needed and must face the burden of reprogramming them.  I made some enemies back in the days when the kiddies were playing youth sports when they came around asking for us to pay for their nutty participation trophies.  Flat out told them it was psychotic and can still see the looks on the faces of these moms (it was always moms) that said I was a monster (a benefit was that they never asked me to be a  "Team Parent").  Whenever we'd come home with one of these I had a conversation with the kids and asked them if they wanted to put it up in their room or what.  They both knew by age 6 it was bullshit and the trophies soon found there way into the garbage (just think of the climate change implications of that you crazy Seattle bubbleites)

These kids know the deal.  Kids have always known the deal.  These millennials are messed up, perfectly fine, stunningly brilliant in ways all generations before them were and all will be after,  This guy says in the video more than once to the Millennials that "it is not their fault" and we (not you) need to once again fix something for you.  Doesn't every person in every generation ever come to the realization that not every person is gonna be a star, billionaire or whatever is their dream and that even if you work your ass off, it might not happen?  That's life baby, so buying into this guy and making excuses and assigning blame for your self perceived sorry ass state let's you off the hook that nut jobs like Simon Sinek have put on the wall for you in the first place.  Prevents you from enjoying life no?  Like watching a woman hump a tree or appreciating/destroying a cockroach.  I say to you Simon Sinek, knock it the fuck off.

November 9th, 2018

Hey there,

Friday snuck up this week.  Usually pen this end of the week and usually have some thoughts rolling around to share, but am plumb low.  Letting it rip stream of conscious...

Tuesday was Melbourne Cup.  There is always a party at the American Club hosted by the Aussies and each year hear about it after it's over.  The place I volunteer had bought  a table and needed to fill the seats.  Naturally, when people think about butts that can fill a seat, mine comes to mind.  I love the ponies, Australia and ladies in funny hats, so how have I not been to this before.  Quite a good time...they had a raffle where you pick horses out of a bowl and I ended up netting $60, which paid for the day.  Lucky I got the horse I handicapped as liking (Marmelo) if the track was off (it was) and he finished a strong second, so felt like I earned it.  If you don't know the Melbourne Cup, it is a 2 mile race that has been around as long as the Kentucky Derby and is billed as the Race That Stops a Nation.  The day is a holiday in Australia and is a huge deal with horses shipping in from Europe, Japan and NZ.  Like the Kentucky Derby, ladies (and fellas) with ornate hats are de rigueur.  I have a hat I bought 20 years ago that I have never worn but lugged around since that was perfect.  They took photos red carpet style and hope to share one next time.

What sets the Aussie race apart from its American counterpart is that the punters get wasted and there are dozens of sites that collect photos of the most trashed ladies and gentlemen in their finest at the end of the day.  Lying in the bushes, humping trash cans...classic Australia.  You owe it to yourself to check some out.  Here is one to get you started.

A piece of news I saw that did depress me was one on the demise of the company that makes the moka pot.  I use mine every damn day and it made me sad to hear the Bialetti corporation is in financial strife.  That this news came to me via the Melbourne newspaper 'The Age' that I still read every day 35 years after I lived there might explain why I loved the Melbourne Cup day so much.  Oh, and a new Midnight Oil live album from the tour last year came out today and it has been cranked all morning.  Scorching it is.  A very Aussie inspired week for yours truly.  That place put a tattoo on a 17/18 year old me that has not faded one bit.

Speaking of java, this week was also Coffee Morning and we had an expert in QiGong come in to explain and demo it.  Not gonna say I totally get it but from what I understand as of now, QiGong is the base that the other martial arts like Tai Chi build on.  It is the elementary school compared to Tai Chi being college.  Qi is your life force and the Gong is how you channel it.  Yin/Yang, meditation, breathing...all that crap is involved and the starting level is basically standing in a particular posture for as long as possible.  Lots of Yoga elements to it and the crowd of 15 seemed to enjoy it.  The teacher was good and have decided to organize a class in the park for us expats in the New Year.  More to come.

What won't be having more to come is me trying to learn any more Mandarin.  I am thwarted every time I try to say anything and feel equally stupid and humiliated whenever I do.  I said it a hundred times and never got QiGong correct.  I have been wanting to learn a certain phrase to use on my walks on the track for the times, which is one in four, where some butthole is going clockwise on the oval when the rest of the planet is going counter so I can explain to them proper etiquette.  I get in the car this morning with my girls and ask them how to say "counter clockwise".  They agree on the words and how to say it (sounds similar to 'hey so'), but then you know what comes next.  I repeat it exactly how they say it and they keep telling me I am using the wrong 'tone',  I try again, they ell me no again louder until the point that it  turns into a scene from 'I Love Lucy' except this is a rerun that has shown on a loop for the last 25 years.

One phrase I do whip out when dealing with the locals is buhaoyisi and always thought it meant excuse me.  An article devoted to buhaoyisi came through my transom last week that not only defines the term but uses it as a way to describe the culture.  It is a long article and is hard to summarize it in my usual pithy way, but if you want a view into what it is like here, think this thing nails a big part of daily life in a philosophical way.  I understand you don't like links so cut and pasted it to the bottom of today's entry.  As with anything cultural or otherwise, sometimes this way that they have aggravates but for the most part it really works and can really appreciate it.  Would probably get you shot on the streets of Anytown, America, but still.   

Finally for today, heard from The Boy and he confirmed he voted on Tuesday....his first time.  It should have been his second but he blew it off last year and have been on him something fierce ever since.  I didn't ask him what he voted for but was glad he made the effort.  There have been some commentaries out there about the young folks not voting, and at 53, feels like I hear those stories every year.  I did see a nice interview with some kids about the challenges this generation faces with regards to voting.  Their complaints might seem trivial to some, but felt they seemed perfectly sound and that they will be changing the way it is done sooner than later. First, since they are moving about so much, a permanent address is one that lasts a year, so a hassle to keep updated in the system.  As paper is almost nonexistent for them, having to deal with a ballot is like having to write in hieroglyphics on papyrus.  Not only can't they do it electronically, but then you have to stand in a line?  They can get shit delivered from Amazon faster than it takes to cast their vote.   The grumpy old man that was also part of the interview was talking about the "joy" of going to the polling place in the snow and stuff...Dude, your generation was lucky if they survived childbirth.  I'm with the kids on this one.

Will say that while there was some good news with the results, have been getting tired with the barrage of news in general.  No doubt you are too.  As part of my daily routine, have a rotating group of podcasts that accompany me on my errands and such.  Mostly football, a few funny ones, but some political ones too.  Those have become more aggravating and have been sampling some others to distract the mind.  One that I have liked recently is called You Must Remember This.  As the child of older parents who were into all the classics and were introduced to me subliminally as early as I can remember, have a fairly deep reserve of knowledge of the Golden Age of film.  This podcast does a weekly deep dive into a personality from that era, salacious details encouraged, that I find fascinating and is a good escape.  Thought I'd share if you have a similar history.

Allrighty then...here is that article.  Mangia!

Yun-Tzai Lee and Joanne Chen are one of those sickening couples that finish each other’s sentences, lace their fingers together and just won’t stop oozing adorable. But the three little words ‘I love you’ don’t come as easily to Lee as they do to his fiancée Chen. His face turns beetroot-red at the thought of uttering the phase, and causes him to feel ‘buhaoyisi’ (pronounced ‘boo-how-eee-suh’) – one of the many ways to feel mortified or to be sorry in Taiwan.  

“Most people here will feel this way,” Lee said.

Welcome to the linguistic minefield of apologising in Taiwan, where simply saying ‘buhaoyisi’ can open a Pandora’s Box of profuse politeness. The word is made up of four characters that literally translate to ‘bad meaning’ or ‘bad feeling’, and serves as a tidy catch-all that can be deployed in all kinds of situations, from meekly catching a waiter’s attention to expressing a guilt-ridden apology to your boss to the paralysing feeling that washes over you as you struggle to confess your love.

Buhaoyisi is forever on the lips of Taiwanese, according to Prof Chia-ju Chang, Chinese professor at Brooklyn College City University of New York. “We use it all the time as Taiwan is a verbally polite culture. So, we use it when we interrupt people or asking of a favour. We can even use it to start a conversation.”

Buhaoyisi is often spoken so fast that it comes out as a slurry of consonants that sounds like gibberish to the unsuspecting ear. And unlike ‘Entschuldigung’ in German or ‘excuse me’ in English, translating ‘buhaoyisi’ is no simple task, says Ouyu Yang, a teacher at National Taiwan University’s Chinese Language Division. The Western notion of ‘sorry’ is far too limited to express all the social graces and good form that weigh down on this loaded expression; buhaoyisi can also be a feeling, a sensation, a code of conduct and a whole system of thought that permeates Taiwanese culture.

Ride the subway in Taipei and you’ll hear a cacophonous chorus of ‘buhaoyisi’ as passengers gingerly nudge past others in humble deference. Enter a classroom, and you’ll see students start and end each question with ‘buhaoyisi’, dripping with a sense of indebtedness and gratefulness even as the discussion continues. Open an email, and the first line will usually be ‘Buhaoyisi’ – implying ‘sorry to slightly bother you’ – even for the smallest of favours. And if a dear cousin gives you a gift, the correct response isn’t ‘thank you’, but rather, ‘buhaoyisi’ for the inconvenience I’ve caused you.

For the uninitiated outsider, Taiwan may seem like the world’s most apologetic country, a nation obsessed with saying sorry – but in fact, the culture of buhaoyisi reveals a lot about the islands’ hidden layers of modesty and shyness.

Decades of Japanese colonisation, as well as moral teachings of Confucianism, have played a huge hand in shaping Taiwan’s extreme apology culture to what you see and hear today, according to Khin-huann Li, sociolinguistics professor emeritus at National Taiwan Normal University. Although the phrase’s exact origins are unknown, Li and other linguists theorise that it is largely a product of the millennia-old Confucian notion of harmony, which centres on maintaining interpersonal relationships rather than individual ones. Preserving social cohesion at all costs is still the bedrock of Taiwan’s social morality; placing the larger clan, the society, before yourself, the individual, is key.

In addition, part of Taiwan's buhaoyisi culture is heavily influenced from Japan’s sumimasen apology culture, with the two sharing a deep history. 

Overall, as a habit, saying buhaoyisi often helps confrontations from escalating further, Li said.

“Traditional Taiwanese culture is like that – more delicate and thinking of other people, trying to keep polite relationships with others,” he explained.

On the one hand, the expression carries an air of submissiveness and hyper decorum, but on the other hand, it also demonstrates the unparalleled politeness of Taiwan. That's why, for the traveller, saying sorry in Chinese can easily turn into a linguistic minefield. When in doubt, Li says, err on the safe side and just say buhaoyisi; chances are they’ll say buhaoyisi back to you. It’s the unspoken rule on the islands of Taiwan.

Li also suggests that this culture of buhaoyisi is unique to Taiwan, as opposed to the rest of the Chinese-speaking world; while you'll hear buhaoysi many times over throughout the streets of Taiwan, you are less likely to hear buhaoyisi being used in this way in China or Malaysia, which place less emphasis on such polite-isms.

According to InterNations’ Expat Insider Index, Taiwan is consistently ranked as one of the world’s friendliest countries. Around 90% of expats in Taiwan gave residents high marks for hospitality, compared to a combined average of 65% in the rest of the surveyed countries. Nowadays, more than one-third of expats are considering staying on the tiny Pacific island forever, according to the survey of 12,500-plus respondents around the world. The secret to attracting people to the lush, tropical islands of Taiwan is really no secret at all – just be, well, nice.

However, according to 25-year-old pharmacist Jieru You, who lives in the port city of Kaohsiung, this nice, little narrative that Taiwan is leading the world in friendliness may be a false one, or at least not the full picture. Having to make yourself smaller and apologise constantly for small inconveniences, and sometimes even your mere presence, can ultimately do more harm than help. And ironically, asking permission to do, to speak, to come and to go all the time can be unnecessarily inconveniencing yourself more than anyone else

“When making a request to someone else, Taiwanese people will often use buhaoyisi as a lead-in to express their desire to ask for help from a place of humble submission,” You said. As a matter of fact, he was already feeling a bit ‘buhaoyisi’ – embarrassed to be interviewed at all – before diving into his thoughts.

The concept of ‘saving face’ is a big deal in Taiwan. Imagine a chessboard of social exchanges, in which everyone else’s moves affects your next one. Face, in this case, is the social currency that allows you to make friends and foster professional connections that can lead you to your next big job, an investment in your company or even a warm introduction to your future wife. Without ‘face’, people are less likely to trust you or help you get ahead in life. The end game is to protect yourself, your self-image and your dignity and curry favour with others by reciprocating their acts of kindness.

That’s why Taiwan is confrontation-averse; it’s a country constantly striving to avoid conflicts and preserve harmony at all costs. But what happens when fiercely following that moral compass goes awry? You just might get something akin to Taiwan’s conundrum of over-apologising.

On the flipside, people with ‘thin face’, meaning a lack or loss of your social reputation and status, try not to trouble others for fear of inconveniencing them, and they certainly don't like to lose face in public, adds Yang. So instead of standing up, everyone sits down and stays there while little gets done.

Yang feels like she’s drowning in a pool of too many perfunctory apologies, in which saying buhaoyisi is more of a habit than a word with deeper meaning. The result is half-hearted, stripped of any sincere apology or regret. Not to mention, thanks to the island’s growing global isolation and economic malaise, Taiwanese are suffering from the poetically named syndrome of guidao, or ‘ghost island’.

On the world stage, Taiwan’s identity is often misunderstood, says Wenhui Chen, informatics professor at Ming Chuan University, who studies the ghost-island phenomenon. He says that the island is often viewed as a pawn between China and the US, floating along without many of the diplomatic trappings of an officially recognised country. Chen predicts Taiwan’s apologetic, kow-towing culture may not prove so fruitful in the end, and could even lead to the society’s own undoing.

Of course, not everyone bears such a doom-and-gloom forecast for Taiwan. Li, for his part, sees the island’s deep buhaoyisi culture as integral to keeping the peace – and if the culture of buhaoyisi disappears, then so will centuries of timeworn tradition.

“If the society keeps these concepts and expresses these words daily, then the society could be more polite, more moral and more conservative,” Li said. “If not, the society becomes impolite, immoral and too aggressive. Taiwan’s culture [must] be kept in a good shape in terms of morality and harmony.” He then ended with the obligatory ‘buhaoyisi’.

November 3rd, 2018

Hey there,

Outrage and vindication.  If our family had a crest, those words would be on it.   You will recall that there has been a dichotomy between articles you see on the internet about the deliciousness of Taiwan's food and what you hear from me.  Stumbled across this article about Taiwan being a foodie haven  fallacy and it turns out that a few years ago the TW tourist bureau hired a few European food writers to publish glowing reviews about the island being the next big thing in cuisine.  I do not fault the bureau for making this effort nor for the writers lying to get paid cause it shows you the lengths people will go to make a buck, but it is always good to know that...once again... my assessment has been proven true.  The linked article above is about a new book written about the history of food in Taiwan, and while the history aspect of the book  does sound well researched, it is obvious without saying so that they came to the conclusion that the food here is not any good.  One throwaway fact in there that was interesting was the reason the Hungarians have a pork heavy diet is that when the Muslims occupied the area they took all the other animals away.  

Another history lesson...this one I gave to Babydoll and was from first hand experience.  We're sitting at dinner and something she said (or how she said it)  triggered me to talk in 'Valley Girl'  I do not like to brag, but my fluency in it and how I can hit the right tones is impressive and even acknowledged as such by B-doll and her friends. Wish I could hit my tones in Mandarin with a sliver of the expertise I can talk in Valley Girl,   I was trying to explain to her how I can talk like them so well and was describing how growing up in the valley in SoCal in the 80's was where it originated and then remembered the song.  Stopped everything and pulled this up on YouTube.

Some of the lingo has changed (bitchin', barf out and Mr Bufu) but the lyrical underpinnings are exactly the same.  She was shaken that this stuff is 35 years old and that her generation might not be as clever as they think they are. 

Some follow-ups from last week.  Boy-o's iGEM team did not garner any hardware last weekend.   It was nice of the TAS teacher to take a few snaps of them and provide some info.  God forbid he ever does...

Last Friday night was the Community Center auction and it was easily the best one of theirs I have attended.  A perfect night with the venue being under 101, which was lit in Dodger blue and white.

Eff' the Dodgers.  The fact that I had to agree with Trump's analysis of Dave Roberts managerial moves made me sick to my stomach.  Here is another gorgeous shot a buddy took on the rare blue sky/puffy cloud day with the building acting as a mirror.  Woulda like to have seen this in color.

I usually have some criticism of the night but it was practically flawless.  The room looked great and the items up for bid were interesting, varied and there wasn't too many of them.  They were so good that nothing stayed at price point that I could afford, which is good for the Center and probably good for us.  

The auctioneer and MC are in their 3rd year together and while they are not professionals, they certainly could be.  Even the food, which in a hotel being served to 300 people simultaneously has a lousy success was outstanding.  As it was a Halloween themed event, each dish had little spooky touches that made the plating attractive.  I always get the vegetarian option at these things as they seem to make more of an effort on those and the soup was served in a mini-hollowed out gourd.  First rate.

The booze flows liberally and with the room being filled with folks that are all well aquianted and mostly dressed in costumes (many outstanding ones), people were letting their freak flags fly.  I did not wear a costume sadly.  I had purchased one but couldn't wear it.  When I was walking around in Japan went into a superstore crap shack called Mega Don Quixote and they had a wall full of those costumes in a bag.  As they were sized for the Japanese clientele, there were only two that I thought would fit me...Catholic Priest and Prison Convict.  Really wanted the priest one but this was a formal event for an organization I work for and thought it to be in poor taste, so grabbed the orange prison jumpsuit and was gonna go as Paul Manafort.  On the day of the event I rip open the bag and it has this written all over it.  

Again, am OK making fun of the mentally ill in general,  but as this is an event for an organization that is a mental health facility my inner voice that tells me not to do inappropriate things, which is usually very quiet and easily ignored, really shouted out from her diaphragm.  I felt underdressed once I was there cause everyone really made an effort with their outfits, but I did have the misfire costume story to tell.  Was telling it to an aquaintence and they say they have something I could put on that they said was perfect for me.

Sadly, it was unanimous in people saying what an appropriate choice of mask it was.

On a big banner on the stage is a list of the major donors for the evening and they are broken into Gold and Silver categories.  Costco always helps out the Center and I know they donated the wine for the evening, but they are listed at the Silver level only.  The Country Manager for Costco, who is a lovely guy and friend is there and it was so much fun riding him that some of his major competition in town, like those French bastards at Carrefour, got higher billing.  Betty misses out on stuff when she travels so I will often put things like this in this space just for her.  

Speaking of Costco, I get the weekly advertising emails for them and this weeks had something called Frozen Chicken Essence

Am hesitant to want to know what part of the chicken is its "essence" and even less as to how they extract it.  Will also take a pass on the Frozen Manchurian Sour Cabbage Hot Pot Soup.  That sounds like something they would serve orphans in a Dickens novel

Helping out with auction spotting and other things were a couple of senior boys from the kids school.  At one point early in the evening, the dude sitting next to me that knew them says he has been seeing them sneaking drinks.  By the end of the night when things are getting rambunctious on the dance floor, these guys are flying high, pogoing with their light sabres and making spectacles out of themselves.  Keep in mind this event has a hundred people from the school in attendance and half of those are on staff.  No one seemed to mind and I thought it was hilarious, but they were asked to leave the party by the No-Fun Police.

Sounds like a perfect night, no?  Well it wouldn't have been perfect if I didn't have that minor annoyance on which to rail.  In the house this evening was the couple that wears their Red Sox/Patriots shit all the time.  Am positive I have mentioned them before...have yet to see them at any event without some effin' Pats gear on.   They don't talk to me anymore cause I am relentless in my disdain for their attire (and way of life) and am quite adept at insulting people.  Anyhoo, they are there and at a table where everyone is wearing Montreal Canadien hockey sweaters.  A table of ten with these two wearing their fucking Tom Brady jerseys.   It took every ounce of strength not to go up to the guy and tell him how much I loved his costume...Colossal Douchebag.  They gave awards out for the costumes and one of them was best group costume and this table wins it (not cause it was clever but they were the only group costume).  They go up on stage to accept their prize and the DoucheBrady  grabs the microphone and yells "Canadienes suck"  What a perfect example of why everyone hates them.  

The next day, am listening to an interview with Neil Strauss.  He is a writer and his most famous book is The Game: Penetrating the Secret Society of Pick-up Artists.  An interesting and controversial guy.  During the interview the conversation went on a tangent about being annoyed at people, kinda like me and the Pats fans.  Their example was an annoyance at some guy in a store with his emotional support animal (in this case a cat in a baby Bjorn).  In this discussion they talked about the Jungian concept of psychology called shadow.  They said that in this line of thought, we get most annoyed at traits in others that we have and dislike in ourselves.  Hmmm...is this me maybe? Probably?   Saw that a Boston fan was stabbed after the Red Sox beat the Dodgers and am now rethinking all of this crap.  I love my teams and like to think that a stabbing level of violence has never crossed my mind, but I did joke the other night of wanting to smash Brady-douch (Bradouche) in the head with a giant magnum of wine. And this is just sports...when you see the shit going down with racial and political violence this week, makes you think about your own impulses.  I will try to do better.

Then again...

Why can't we all be like Bills fans and just throw dildos on the field in good fun?

The day after the auctions  was fun in the neighborhood.  A giant neighborhood Halloween bloc party and also an American football game, which is the first I've seen here. 

The football game was fun...the local Taipei Predators had at least 52 guys while the visiting Beijing Cyclones only dressed 10.  Unsurprisingly, it was a 31-0 drubbing.  The field was modified so the end zones were only 5 yards long and field was 80 total.  

The quality of the game was not good but the players were all having a good time with it..  Fans got to be close up...really close up.  These babies in strollers were on the sidelines

It being Halloween, some odd scenes were inevitable.

As you can see, the day was spectacular and it made me sad that I did not see a single soul I knew out there watching.  An unusual sporting event within a 10 minute walk from your house for free on a glorious Saturday?  Whatevs.  Here is a recap of the game and the challenges the sport faces if you want more...

I tooled around the Halloween party that was also in the park during halftime and afterwards.  All the shops on the adjacent boulevard were handing out candy all day until 9pm so the entire town was out and all dressed in Halloween garb.

I had a more than decent hot dog loaded with jalapenos and there were a couple stands serving beer.  Damn civilized.

One can never get enough child on child violence in giant plastic bubbles.

Didn't see nearly as many Sexy Devil costumes this year.  There were these two however.  I haven't seen it, but are all women's costumes now Handmaid's Tale inspired?

And more than one dude passed out under a tree.  I wonder if he wears his sanitary mask to bed?

One more Halloween note...was manning the phones on Wednesday/Halloween morning at the Center.  The landlord also owns some daycares nearby and every year he has the classes come by in their costumes to sing a song in English and trick or treat.  Three different classes two, three and four year olds.  They are freaking adorable of course.

The junior doctor costume is a bit on the nose.      




The Halloween song they sing has something to do with not being afraid of things...like the big green monster, etc.  The last verse goes "I'm not afraid of the big white ghost" and I kid you not, tall the kids/toddlers stared daggers at me while the sang that one.

This time of year kicks off the travel season for us.  This is the part where I get to brag a bit about so be forewarned.   We are heading to somewhere near Cebu in the Philippines that Betty has been eyeing for years for Thanksgiving.   For Christmas this year, we are heading to Ireland/Great Britain.  We start in Dublin for a few days and then road trip for 5 days ending up in Edinburgh for New Years, then train down to London for 4-5 nights.  Have all the accommodations and modes of transport reserved and am fine tuning things like tours and places to eat.

Am working feverishly on our  Chinese New Year trip to New Zealand.  We have plane tickets already so am trying to figure out the best plan of attack for us that doesn't involve too much Lord of the Rings shit.  A lot of the folks that go to NZ tour the place in an RV and looked into that, but after reading this article about planning an RV trip with kids, just cannot see why people do that.  The smells alone...

Finally, here is a word that I would love to whip out in conversation.  Have ample opportunity to do so but just cannot bring myself to spit it out.  Tu quoque.  It is Latin for "You also" and the definition is "an informal fallacy that intends to discredit the opponent's argument by asserting the opponent's failure to act consistently in accordance with its conclusion(s). "

The example given is 

Peter: "Bill is guilty of defrauding the government out of tax dollars."

Bill: "How can you say that when you yourself have 20 outstanding parking tickets?"

It is a fallacy because the moral character or actions of the opponent are generally irrelevant to the logic of the argument.^[3] It is often used as a red herring tactic and is a special case of the ad hominem fallacy, which is a category of fallacies in which a claim or argument is rejected on the basis of facts about the person presenting or supporting the claim or argument.^[4] 

Sound useful?