November 11th, 2021 Q13

Hey there,

Q13

Today is when they came to take the pre-release Covid test.  It costs NT$500 (about US$15) that you pay at the time it's administered.  They call you down from the room when the bus comes, and it is a proper city bus converted into a mobile testing facility.  They park in front of the hotel and you walk out to it.  

This is the first time I've seen the area in daylight (my room faces away from the street and is just ugly rooftops) and am on a busy street.  Lots of folks walking and such, and as soon as I walk out the door, the people parted like the Red Sea before Moses.  The look of horror as the unclean white boy wearing hotel slippers was just beautiful.   For the PCR test they have here, they take a swab about the length of a chopstick with an end like a little bottle brush and stick it up your nose until I could feel it at the back of my throat.  The dude gives it a little twirl and that's it.  Directly back to my plush cell. 

It is hard to remember what happened the previous 12 days.  Watched all the football games and that is the only time that being cooped up is good..  We have Hulu and they show hockey and have been watching Kraken games.  I wish I was feeling something for them...maybe by watching all the games I will come to love them.  No doubt that they look fantastic in their uniforms.  

Someone recommended Money Heist as a quarantine watch and I enjoyed the first 7 episodes or so.  Thought it was a one season bank heist show, but it is 5 seasons.  At episode 8 in season 1, things happened that were strange, and then what the characters did started to piss me off.  The women in this show are so stupid that it hurts.  That it is Spanish and obviously written by macho men is obvious.  Problem is that I cant quit something in the middle no matter how dumb it is or how angry I get at the show.  I still watch NCIS the day it comes out and it is season 18 or something.

I spend some time each day on this space, watch some sports and then read.  I know...am as surprised as you.  I brought two books.  Started 'The Birth Of Loud' on the plane and knocked it out by day 2.  It is the history of the electric guitar told via the lives of Les Paul and Leo Fender.  Well told and if you love the electric guitar half as much as me, it is a good read.

The other book I brought was purchased with quarantine in mind.

'Isaac Asimov's Guide To The Bible'  Asimov is having a bit of a renaissance lately as they have started to make his Foundation series of books into a show.  I love those Foundation books so much and have read them all at  least 4 times over the years and will probably do it again.  Read most of his other sci-fi stuff and have dove deep into interviews where he talks about religion and rationality...here is a good one with Tom Snyder for instance.

In that clip he talks about science in 1988 in a way that is eerily relevant in today's discourse.  Had heard about this bible book and that it is a historical analysis of the Old and New Testaments.  What was going on in Egypt's recorded history during the time the Jews were there and how they match up for instance.   Chose this book cause I enjoy history and Asimov.  And it is 1300 pages long, so figure I could read 100 pages a day and that would get me to the other side.

Have met my reading goals so far and should finish it tomorrow.  Is it good?  It is dry, which makes for perfect pre-afternoon nap fodder.  Lots of smiting in the first half, a lot of debate on circumcision in part II.   I don't think you read this for excitement, and I thought he would be more scathing in his views of the bible, but it does put biblical times into context of the wider world at the time and makes a lot of what goes on in the bible understandable.  At 1300 pages, have taken a lot away that will probably come out in conversations, and a ton of things to think about.  Way too much to even start dissecting it at this point, but wanted to share a quarantine time killer for posterity. 

The hotel gave me a little gift last night.

It came in my dinner bag and thought it was chocolate at first, but it is a mini Lego horse

Well it isn't official Lego, but their Made in China counterpart.  The pieces are so small that I am not even gonna try to put it together.  Not only are the pieces a classic choking hazard, but are probably filled with lead paint so if you survive swallowing them, you'll be poisoned.

During States-time, I kept a running list of things that I could share here some day.  It got pretty long and have been taking chunks out the last couple of weeks.  The one thing left was a list of observances about how things in the States have changed, and I managed to delete it yesterday.  Not sure how to recover it and will probably just spit things out as the come back into focus, which is getting harder with each passing year.  I will share one event today that was a fun ethics exercise.  

One afternoon, B-doll asks me to drop her and a friend off at the Goodwill Outlet.  First of all, thought all Goodwills were outlets but learned so much about the second hand game from the girls this summer.  The Goodwill Outlet is just that...stuff that doesn't make the cut at a regular Goodwill goes to this place where they sell clothes by the pound.  I popped in to see what was what later in the summer and it is a trip.  Big bins of all manner of clothes and could not imagine rifling through any of them.  Went home and showered just from being in there but did see packs of girls dressed exactly like B-doll going through the bins and can see the attraction for them.  They can get all manner of funky clothes for pennies.  I also learned from Babydoll that there is a high end Goodwill, which is located on Capitol Hill.  Went with her there one day and it is that...nicer things that are displayed like a boutique store.  

Anyhoo, drop the girls off and a guy pulls out of a parking space where I am doing so and dings the bumper of our car.  It doesn't look bad, but we exchange info, take pictures, etc.  The driver looks like a high school kid and turns out he was.  By the time the girls get home from the Goodwill, they know where this kid goes to school, what sports team he is on, and probably more.  Later that night, get a text from the kid's dad and I tell him that we can play it out whichever way works best for us.  I go out and get two estimates at places Mercedes uses, and one comes back significantly less than the other.  I tell the dad about these estimates, he prefers to handle it outside of insurance and almost immediately sends me the estimated cost in full via Venmo.  I forget the exact cost, but it is close to $1,300.

I make an appointment to get the repairs done (two months later as everything in the States takes two months minimum).  I drop the car off on a Monday and it is done on Friday.  They don't have loaner cars and the way the week shook out, was able to take care of all my errands and activities via Metro or someone giving me a ride.

The repair place that we chose gave two estimates.  One for $1,300 that included new parts, and another that was less if the damage that could not be seen was minor and they could simply repair it.  It wasn't too serious and the repairs came out exactly $200 less than what I was given by the dad via Venmo.

The ethics question is...what to do with the extra $200?  That night was at dinner with some friends and there were 6 of us total and I posed this question.  I got 5 different answers ranging from keep it all, give different percentages back, to give it all back.  What would you have done?  Will tell you what I did tomorrow.  

Until then...stay hydrated my friends.