JE$US

Just thought I'd grab your attention with the biggest word on the front of the Maclean's I recently read. Mother's package has finally arrived (after a mishap with me badly translating the address & one poor guy in Neihu being bothered with unsolicited mail multiple times). The hackeysacks were a nice touch, but since the trip I have been taking in more English media & also got my humour back... I bust out every once in a while (after dinner with my host dad, or on the phone with a random Mormon missionary that called me). Affability to the max.

Speaking of media I put a bunch of Chinese songs on my iPod. Also, I got an audiobook called "Free Culture." It's pretty interesting & I like the listening to someone else read while I rest my eyes. Too much ambient noise can irk me though.

When I went to pick up my package at Chen Jia, some random things happened. While enroute I ran into Chen ba, looking good as ever. Zhang ba is really, really ripped though--spends all his time slaving over handmaking fishing lures, but he's somehow got the kind of super-forearms I dream of... not near as ripped-to-the-bone as Gregg's but really muscular. Also met some Mormon missionary chicks and talked to them for a while. At Chen Jia I got to talk to Shiwei for a while too. Before, not only could I not speak Chinese but she was away morning noon & night. Now that she has compressed all of high school into 4 months of study, she has a teacher come to her house every day & just reviews for the test again.

I played drums today finally. After a false start (finally got the key) for the "safe" place in the activities building, I got shut down due to noise interefering with class. haha. So now I get to go to the place with the kit that features a double-kick pedal. Mmm...

That's all for now, folks. This post took 70 minutes but only because I went to talk to Zhang ba. We listened to tunes about the Hawker CD I just ripped (the next addition to my iPod library). I wonder if his new one is out yet. rock on

Why this post has lots of pictures

In the interests of not incriminating anyone for anything, I am going to keep the summary of the Rotary "Round Taiwan Tour" very brief & basically just show you some pictures I enjoyed from the trip. And also some pictures I thought you might enjoy... some wouldn't be in my personal top ten. Back to the subject of not talking about stuff people do, let's just say I don't consider myself enough of a dumbass as to post things people don't want made public on a public forum such as the internet.

On a darker note, if you like pictures you can also click here.

Also, you might check out the (only remotely related) Best Page in the Universe. The author even happens to have his opinions on goths, which I'll let you search for yourselves.

This is the first picture in chronological order. As you can see it was hot & sunny, and there were girls on our trip. The girl with the hat is half American.

There was apparently a light house on the following island, but I couldn't find it. We saw a lighthouse later, but not only was it short & sucky, but the pictures I took of it were also sucky. Go island!

This is where a lot of people got their first sunburn of the trip if they hadn't already. I am sure parts of my neck/shoulders burned through my shirt.

At Kenting, our hotel was fucking awesome. It was literally 5 star & the one night alone cost 40% of the trip budget. They had real showers, just like in north america. I had 3 in an 18 hour period. Besides swimming at the tropical beach, eating flying fish prepared 6 different ways, and finally talking to Ada (from Texas), I also got to enjoy an indoor water park with slides & a wave pool. Wheeee!

No trip post would be complete without a picture of me with my shirt off... I finally figured out the time-delay shot too.

We went to a shitty hostel in Gaoxiong right after that, it was shitty & Rotary really started cracking down on people. Played some ok pool though... I need to work on my form though, a lot. Anyway, once we got to Alishan I was impressed by how the forest and stuff was all like on Van Isle. I didn't bother posting pics of the big trees because if you want you can go to Cathedral Grove & see better ones. In this picture I finally got depth of field working, plus the foggy trees in the background hint as to what all my other pics were like. Does having a close-up of a flower automatically make it art? :P

And then we got up disgustingly, stomach wrenchingly early to watch the sunrise. Right at money shot time, my stomach was actually cramping and I missed a few key seconds... I still took a lot of pictures, not all of which are shown here.

I especially liked this picture of the people watching the 'dazzling orange orb damaging your retinae' as I once described this early morning eye candy. I of course have multitudinous examples of sun-behind-stuff pictures; this was one that turned out.

Let's not forget a fun picture of Anna, who was so kind as to try on this excellent piece of headwear. I offered to buy it for her, but she didn't want it.

I also like taking picture of things in the morning light, but the sun is already a little high here. Still, not bad.


Anna came over to visit today for a while. She's fun. Her hair is black again. Scott & I played FAR too much computer. Tomorrow I am moving host families as is Greg. We'll see what the future has in store. This post took like two hours, internet is slow with 3 computers on it. hahahah. K out

edit: fixed crappy html making some pictures not show up. b'oh

I like music on high density storage devices

Let me tell you a story. This story is not as 'awesome' as those told by the Awesome Squad, what with the total lack of bush-jumping or Foo/'Lexis-girl antics; however, it does have its share of ups & downs.

Somehow, on Wednesday evening, I decided that the next day I was going to solve my digital storage problem & lack-of-portable-music-player in one fell swoop. Thus I loaded my wallet with cash.

On Thursday, instead of returning directly home after school, I headed to Taipei Main Station. Then I couldn't find the electronics superstore I'd visited before... plus the street level Apple dealership seemed to have disappeared. Finally I found a place where Apple products were on sale & looked at a price list. Though I originally planned to buy an iPod, I noticed the nice price of the iPod Photo, which has more storage space & nice features for handling photographs.

As part of the reason I sought this device was picture storage, I decided to go for the iPod photo model. I had not, however, planned on this earlier, so my funds were insufficient. I thus headed back into the street, trying every bank machine until I found another which works with my HSBC card. Yes! There are now 3 I know of in Taipei... note to others: bring a credit card or one with a credit logo.

So I luckily found the electronics place & the Apple dealership, then walked in and said--without even a hello--"I want to buy that." Luckily, people working in retail are trained to sell & thus the sale went without incidence. Though of course, unlike in some countries, mine doesn't come with the dock or the case. sigh

Anyway, returning home I begun the installation process. Or rather, I laughed at the Chinese instruction manual, opened it like I was unwrapping a present (which I was, this is birthday, christmas & prize for nat'l music competition all in one) and marveling at Apple's stylish design. And then I got to marvel at how Apple & Microsoft are enemies.

My computer literally could not read the installation CD. It was like "wtf is this CD? I have no idea what's on it." I cursed for a while, but luckily could download everything from the website. Anyway, today everything is finally working... apparently my computer has USB 2.0. How sweet it is. The controls are literally intuitive... just this one wheel that you can click and scroll...

And then a random picture of me from the concert a while back:

It should be noted that I am heading off on the round Taiwan tour soon... this will last about 6 days, and then I have a 1 day event after that, plus one tomorrow. And I am moving host families. In short--don't expect posts for over 1 week. That will be all, thank you. [2 hours 45] K out

High school accused of sex assault cover-up

Parents of a female student yesterday visited Wanfang High School and criticized the school for an attempt cover up of their daughter's sexual assault case.
Last December, the victim was severely beaten by one of her classmates, surnamed Hsu. She received a concussion and spinal cord and neck injuries. Wanfang High School attempted to resolve the incident with the two parties outside the court. However, because the female student's parents felt that Hsu's family lacked sincerity, they reported the situation to the poice.
When being interrogated, the victim originally described how Hsu physically abused her. Further questioning by the police revealed that Hsu is suspected to have sexually assaulted the victim and taken nude photographs of the victim.
The police immediately sent the victim for checkups and listed Hsu as the suspect. When the police attempted to establich contact with Hsu, his parents told them that he is currently studying abroad. The police is currently attempting to issue a subpoena to summon Hsu back to Taiwan for questioning.
According to the police, Hsu and the victim were in a relationship. Last May, Hsu forced the female student on top of the activities building in Wanfang High School, sexually assaulted her, and took lewd pictures of the victim.
According to the victim, Hsu later threatened her several times with the pictures and forced her to have sexual relationships with him. The victim also claimed that Hsu beat her on several occasions.
Wu Ching-chi of the Education Department of Taipei City expressed regret and shame to the consecutive campus scandals recently. He stated that the failure to execute a successful gender education is the cause of the latest events. Wu stated that the department will not attempt to cover up the scandal and will deliver punishments to the faulty and staff of Wanfang High School for their misconduct.

Anyway, that answers the questions about what's been up at my school recently. Good old English newspapers. Some of the grammatical errors & the typo of "Hus" are straight from the print of the original article.

Yesterday's concert was, well, random. The first song, "I Zombie," turned out rather well, and we put on a better show than the guys before us who did a metal song, just as planned. Unfortunately, too many things went wrong with "Welcome to Planet Motherfucker" though it still turned out 'ok' it was by no means good. (Note to self: next time insist on monitor speakers)

Scott informed me last night that he's had enough of Amy & requested an early move. So, I will be heading to the Zhang residence earlier than expected (they saved the best for last). The move is now to take place on the 16th, which leaves me 3 months less a day at that house. Needless to say, someone needs to get packing. On that day is also the annual district conference, which it thus appears Scott, Claire & I will be lucky enough not to attend. w00t.

Directly following said day, the "round taiwan tour" (or T-tour as we continue to call it) begins. I hope the arrangements for who is with whom work out well, and that I get a little bit of sleep before that. It should be pretty good though. Somewhere in there will mark 8 months as well (*sigh*). If I haven't said it before, I always hate it when another month passes, because I have to add another month to how long I say I've been in Taiwan.

Lately, though, people keep mishearing me. They say [trans.] "how long have you been in Taiwan?" I reply, "7 months," to which the usual response is "7 years." "No, 7 months," I say again. Now, this may be a bad sign for my pronunciation, but this guy asked me yesterday "How many years have you been in Taiwan?" so I suppose my Chinese must be getting better, a bit. I still get frustrated when people tell other people to speak English to me (& in that case I will grab them by the shoulders and shake them).

This morning, some douchebag came into our class & gave us a random lecture. Somehow, we the students are supposed to study up and work harder, when it is the faculty & staff who are under investigation, threatened with disciplinary action. Go to hell. All I do when he left was cough, "douchebag!" really loud, though other people were to describe him as baichi (白痴　idiot)... I am still weak on finding the perfect insult--my vocabulary can't handle it right now. Speaking of insults, have you guys ever seen 'the flame to end all flames' (a.k.a. "The Perfect Flame")?

That's all for now, rock on. And post comments, if such should be your bent. [45 minutes] K out

Ask & ye shall receive

Or, as Amay seems to prefer, just use the imperative. I was planning on posting earlier; really, I was. But, it seems that a little something called 'being insanely busy' took over, and I was denied both time & energy. Anyway, those things present themselves now.

Week at a Glance

Tuesday: I forget what happened on Tuesday. I pretty much just went to school.

Wednesday: I likewise forget... art class was cancelled. At lunch I found the drummers, and the drums. I'll be getting involved with this later. Also this was the last day of Chinese class, ever... in the morning I spent the entire thing writing my 1000 word essay, and got it done, I might add. In the afternoon we had the class. Fanny came to visit Claire as agreed & we studied a song the title of which translates to "Happy heaven/paradise" ... it's the theme song of the mid-80s move of the Taipei Zoo from its original Yuanshan location (about where the children's park is now) to the current "MRT Taipei City Zoo" place at the end of the brown line.

Thursday: I went to school in the morning Thursday. We watched I am Sam in "Domestic Science" because it is about family relationships (& the soundtrack is Beatles covers). Then, I went to a Rotary meeting. The meeting was rather sucky as usual... when we have Japanese food it's great eating but otherwise it's gross-restaurant-style Chinese food. After that, I went down to Main Station looking for "Taiwan Book Store" which I couldn't find; however, I did find a street of bookstores & got the cram school edition of the Chinese Grade 3 textbook, woohoo. I think that evening I watched the end of Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves and not much else worth noting.

Friday: left at 6:30 AM for school, as usual. In "three principles" we watched a Charlie Chaplin film. Nobody could hazard a guess as to the relationship to principles of government, Taiwan, or Sun Yat-sen. More drumming at lunch. In the afternoon I went to the library & studied some passages from my grade 3 book that my teacher assigned to me. Well, I finished one, but haven't got to the other. Choir has been seeming longer lately. After that I found a club that is a study-Japanese club, so I asked the teacher the difference between "wa" & "ga," because they're evil. He pronounces 'ga' kind of like 'na' which I found odd. After this I ate dinner then went to Jinghe high school (in Zhonghe) which took a LONG time to get to & practised with the band. We were sucking... I finally got home at like 11:30, yay.

Today: (well... yesterday now) I went to choir in the morning, then to Guting for our "lineup practise" where all the bands do their sets at a rehearsal place. We had to wait about 75 minutes for the room, for no reason. For some reason I just rocked the fucking socks off of "I zombie"--the faster of the two songs... I'd been playing it too slow before. Got to listen to some other bands & talk to a few people. Out the door at 8:00 AM & back at 6:40 PM.

In the afternoon we're doing the concert... playing at "the Wall," a tiny place that is apparently Taipei's premier underground rock venue. I went there with AA one time before, back in the day. This post took a long time because I was doing other things. Check out "The Jovial Athiest," especially his section on prayer, which I thought was an interesting take. K out

Best performance I have ever seen, bwah!

Though I won't call it the best possible or best ever. The amount of talent concentrated into Diana Krall, her bassist, drummer & guitar player was just ridiculous. There were solos like you wouldn't believe, and ones like I wouldn't believe. There were all sorts of grooves in a wide range of cover songs. The guitar player did a terrific solo/interpretation of the intro to "Girl in the Other Room." Diana herself played an unaccompanied piano/voice of "the Sunny Side of the Street" though during the intro I could've sworn it was "On the Street Where you Live" ... similar chord progressions? The bassist kicked out some nimble-fingered solos as well & even played with a bow for one song. And of course the drummer, who played traditional-style the whole time (with sticks or brushes)--except when he played with one stick & his bare hand--went insane for an 'extended' solo to end off the last before the encore.

My seat kicked ass view-wise. The audio was excellent. It was not raining; we were inside. The only thing that could have made it closer to perfect would have been a live rendition of "Departure Bay" (well, & temptation, but not necessary). Neither "Dept. Bay" nor "I've Changed My Address" from The Girl in the Other Room were played, though the 3 other originals from that album were.

On the weekend, I went to choir practise & then to practise with Fabio's band on Saturday. On Sunday was the "choir event" which basically entailed going to the "Taipei Children's Recreation Park" which is indeed for children... basically a toned-down amusement park. One of the most amusing parts was when this bass from our choir was crushing on a girl from 北一女 (bei yi nü Taipei 1st Girl's School), and was going to go talk her up, but then wussed out. And just stood there, by the bumper cars, for a long time. Bumper cars was fun as well... we all lined up together and the choir took up the whole thing--I made sure to ram lots of people, like the tenors, our teacher, and the leader of the basses, who annoys me often.

After that we went to a restaurant near ZXFX. The food was good... I found a kind of tea/flavour I like plus 'chocolate coffee.' This was probably why I couldn't sleep well that night, haha. So today I was tired & drank more coffee, because I'm smart :p Anyway, at the end we played cards which was fun and, to top it off, I got a hug. They sustain me. Friends would be nice, but this little bit of human interaction will do nicely. Been feeling shuai recently [24 minutes] K out

"Can a frog save the world?"

or, how basically all I did today was go to a sticker-picture-place but it turned out all right in the end. As it is April Fool's Day, I am will try to avoid all humour & deception. Or, all humour that involves deception.

I have been pretty busy lately, what with Avril on Tuesday, Taoyuan on Wednesday, staying up late for no reason on Thursday, and this Friday night a few things...

Today I went to school as usual, though super-tired (12:00 AM to 6:00 AM is not enough). Basketball with S210 in the rain kind of sucked, but at least they didn't wuss out and go inside... to call that P.E. I did some sleeping in parts of morning classes as well. Oh, in Sanmin Zhuyi we talked about "minsheng" but I didn't understand what the lady was saying except for the simple definition... I need to read through the text & look up some stuff then I think I'll get it. I did note discussion of the "two shores" Taiwan / China issue in class. They decided what parts of the 3 Principles it fell under (i.e. which kinds of rights and other stuff).

After lunch had a good class of Chinese with LIAO Ling-ling, she's come up with a new method for going through the text which seems to work quicker. Taiwanese people just have some really different opinions about stuff, like their relationship to authority & role in a group. Question everything is what I always say (well, what I actually always say is "smash the state" but that's beside the point). Chinese class was pretty random, got a handle on some grammatical constructs I understood but didn't/couldn't use before. We've got a 1000 wd essay to do soon, handwritten of course. After class I changed clothes, then proceeded with Scott to Gongguan, and I thence to Yongan Market.

I met Fabio--turns out my phone won't make calls anymore, even though there's still money on it--and we went to the music store. If I hadn't mentioned already, he's in a band, but can't make it to their performance so I am filling in... playing Rob Zombie nonetheless. I plan to avoid making the same repetitive fast beat & instead just improvise the whole thing. The practise is tomorrow, as we discovered, so we went to MOS burger. I had a burger, and then another, just so I could try the rice-instead-of-bun goodness~ I hadn't had it before. Fabio & I also talked awhile.

As for the evening: As I will speak about later regarding the craziness in Taoyuan (in another post) we scored an invite with good xiaojies to go to Shilin Night Market. Turns out Rotary decided to change the plans & not only were fewer ch1x0rz going, but some Rotarians and all of the Japanese exchange students who have been making a short visit to Greg's club/district. Now, I do enjoy talking to Japanese people, but these girls were a little young (Grade 9). All of that crowd also came late.

To make a long story short most of the evening sucked and was boring. We went to the picture place & it was kind of fun, for a while. Eventually the Rotarians were just dicking around at like 10:30... going to take everyone in TAXIs back to Taoyuan... it takes 30 minutes by TRAIN. We couldn't figure out if they were drunk, insane, or just couldn't comprehend the cost. Michael, an outbound girl & I were eventually like "fuck it" and headed for the MRT. Michael lives by Houshanpi, so the girl was going to go to Kunyang that way. I informed her of the excellent buses all the way to Donghu--she lives somewhat near Dahu--from Yuanshan MRT.

This is where the evening turned around. Hooray for talking to people in Chinese, it never ceases to make my day. Turns out Lisa is going on exchange to Oregon this year... anyone up for a road trip to Oregon? I'll be going eventually, to visit her & Kaylee. All in all this was a fun experience and I made one more Taiwanese friend, yay.

In response to comments:

Mother-- email checked, will respond in a while.

Brianna-- I don't know I'll be able to do that kind of lifting; after all, I am not exactly a mighty and strong-jawed French hunter like Gaston. I am 'less than happy' in general & would say that recently it has been better. Today was good. This month I am busy and not to be bored, in fact lots of kickass events are coming up. I like the idea of Long Beach as well... I plan on heading up-Island to visit people too.

Brad-- well, I just did 30. The faster they are, the easier, to a point. After that, my cardiovascular system can't keep up. Apparently Scott met this one guy (a U.S. Marine) who did 400 of the course of 45 minutes one time. You also have a bench press, but I'm not sure how much the muscle groups for the two activities overlap.

With that, bed for me. Tomorrow brings choir + drum practise, then a full day choir event on Sunday, then DIANA KRALL ON MONDAY, w00t. People think I'm going to Kenting, but I'm not... there's also word (which I've not heard) that my choir might go to China. That would be pretty sweet. keep on rocking [30 minutes] K out