December 23rd, 2020

 Hey there,

There is a saying that goes 'one death is a tragedy, a million is a statistic'.  Yesterday, Taiwan announced its first case of locally transmitted Covid in 253 days.  That articles says it was a pilot of New Zealand nationality breaking his quarantine and lists stores he visited while possibly infectious.  Costco of course, and two department stores in our neighborhood are on the list.  What the article doesn't say was filled in by the rumor mill almost immediately.  Betty is tuned into it way more than me and she says that this guy is a New Zealander of Iranian heritage, which of course makes him 10 times more ominous, and that he has been uncooperative with authorities cause he broke quarantine to step out on his wife, with the mistress being the person he transmitted the virus to.  Ouch.

It might be hard to imagine, but the entire country is freaking the fuck out.  I was out with a couple of relatively sensible American guys a couple days before this story broke and they are both convinced that Taiwan is lousy with the virus but it isn't being reported cause of some cover-up or that the locals have an immunity of some kind.  Lemme tell you, I have had it with all conspiracy bullshit and have no idea what to do about it.  We'll see what happens but people are talking about stricter distancing measures being put into place as early as today.

I was out with those guys cause we went to see a show by local faves of mine 88 Balaz.  Went into detail about them and a show we went to a couple months ago, but cannot tell you how fortunate I feel being able to get into a dark club and have my ears pummeled.

First band was called Shoot Up and they put on a decent high energy ska set.

88 Balaz is a tight professional unit.

I was up front by the speaker doing a bit of moshing and my buddy took this great snap from his vantage point.

It has been nice to have The Boy back in the house.  We're going on a trip down south the first week of the new year and are just hanging out, working on jigsaw puzzles, going to the dentist and such. The Boy and Babydoll took a cooking class together and learned how to make some local specialties including homemade bubble tea.  I only mention it to share the pictures the place took of them.

 Betty bought a mini Christmas Tree and we thought that we should get presents for each other.  We've never been in Taiwan for this holiday and so never got a tree, and haven't exchanged presents since 2011.  Haven't really missed it and don't want to get into the conspicuous consumption game again, so we decided to do all of our shopping at the 'crap shack'.  They have these stores that sell everything as long as it is of low quality and price.  A glorified dollar store if you will.  Have to say that I am looking forward to making breakfast and opening gifts in our pajamas.  May even turn on some Christmas music.

A couple quick local news follow-ups.  First, Iguanazilla!  A 6 foot long iguana 'scared' a local woman (it woulda startled me too) and has been 'arrested and brought to justice'.  It was later euthanized and thus ended the 'Pintung dinosaur rebellion'.  That poor beautiful creature was just trying to live its best life man.  It says the iguanas are a nuisance as they have no natural enemies, but I can think of one.

In other news, wish I had gotten wind about this event beforehand so I coulda gone and identified some people, but the Epoch Times helped organize a Stop The Steal rally right here in Taipei.  Noted international religious nut job purveyors of conspiracy theories the Epoch Times teamed up with noted local religious nut job purveyors of conspiracy theories the Falun Gong for heaping bowlful of crazy.  Expats and local idiots united to pledge fealty to the conman and freedom or something.  You could only tell that the rally was held here instead of Georgia by the wearing of masks.  

Finally for today, sharing this opinion piece from the NY Times with the title; Pound for Pound, Taiwan is the most important place in the world.  It details how Taiwan positioned itself to be an essential piece in the global chain of technology by investing in microchip infrastructure.  I remember when Made in Taiwan equated to cheap t-shirts.