Lately

I can't remember what I did in the day on Tuesday, seriously. Well, I know I played pool with Scott (scratched cue ball off the break each time, but beat him 5 games to 1), but other than that I don't know. Oh wait... I helped the English teacher with her stuff until about 5:30, then went to play pool. Following that I returned home.

Wednesday featured the beginning of the process of "seeing Anna off at the airport." This was basically her last social event, though she had been making goodbyes to various people, such as down-islanders, for a while now. I don't know what her parents policy is on tattoos & piercings, but as of current Rotary rules it's all right in Taiwan. So we got to see her newly-acquired tatoo (springscream logo on her back) and a piercing she got some time. Fun stuff.

I started by meeting up with Katy & Greg at Main Station as they arrived from Taoyuan by train. We headed over to the pool hall by Wanfang as we were to be meeting Anna at Daan station at 3:00. Played for a while, Katy's not so good, Greg is usually better than I am, or at least I slipped up one time & he caught up from 2 balls behind to clear the table in one turn. Owned. We then headed to meet them at the MRT. American Alex, Claire & Anna were there when we arrived. We made some phone calls & it turned out David (the California breakdancer) was coming as well. So we decided to go to American Alex's house, and thus met David @ MRT Jingmei.

Claire/Anna's school friends Chocolate & nameless-girl showed up as well, so we were graced with Taiwanese people. We decided to have a BBQ at Alex's for dinner (though he suggested buying take-out). Thus the crew headed to a... grocery store I guess to buy a bunch of meat. We saw gross stuff for sale like a frog but didn't buy it. Some of the more immature members of our posse put random stuff like condoms and conditioner in the cart, which we took out as they were discovered. AA & I were mildly irked by the Taiwanese people's insistence on speaking English to us the whole time. The barbecue was not bad, good food, though it took a long time to get going.

Eventually some people had to leave, and a reduced posse sang some karaoke (I'll remember "I don't wanna miss a thing" by Aerosmith from that) then headed to Anna's by MRT/taxi. Here, we pass midnight, and it becomes Thursday. Claire had almost run out of money at this point, so for the remainder of the night I was picking up most of the tab for stuff. When we got to their host family we found out the terrible news (but to be expected of the likes of Taiwan Rotary) that the flight was changed to 2:00 PM the next day. Of course, nobody had told her, but somehow her host mother was angry at her, so we guys just chatted outside for about an hour while Claire translated the screaming/crying fest between the two combatants.

At this point we faced a problem -- low on resources, devoid of transportation, with 9 hours until Anna had to be back at her house, & none of us with a place to sleep. Now, it would have been smart to just get a hotel room and all sleep on the floor, but as teenagers, we decided hanging out until buses started running would be a good idea. After a false start on venues (though I did get a card written for a teacher) we found a reasonable-rate pool hall and shot some pool. At this point David was wearing a skirt for some reason, but we still played some close games. Tiredness only impairs ability a little.

Eventually, dawn came, I had a 7-11 burger, and went home from Main Station. There I showered, slept and got up at about 11:22 when Greg called me. Now, if it takes 20+ minutes to get to the bus station at Main Station, and if it takes at least an hour by bus to the airport, and you check in 2 hours before a 2:35 flight, is there enough time to get there? Not quite. So by the
time I got to the airport I'd missed my chance to achieve my original goal. I talked to her on MSN while she had a layover in Singapore, however, and it seems my presence during that long stretch of random was appreciated. whee

The rest of that day I just kind of chilled at home, and then slept at 10:30 or 11:00.

Friday I went to Scott's and we watched Golden Boy & the end of Evangelion. That encompassed a large portion of my day. It was fun, but the ending to Evangelion is weird indeed--almost as if they ran out of money and/or stopped trying.

Saturday started slow. I talked to Foo, Katelynne, Lawrie & perhaps others on MSN. Sometime around the late afternoon/early evening Scott showed up. I'd wanted to call him but I couldn't get Didi to tell me where the house book of phone numbers is (Taiwan doesn't seem to have phone books). It came as a random surprise.

Even more awesome was his story: at Su Jia he had began a normal day, RPing online and playing Warcraft III. Sometime in the afternoon, the parents had said they were going to the mountain for the night, so he replied "ok have fun, but say goodbye to me before you go." Up the stairs he went to hang his clothes to dry, as I had done many times before. In a situation that had never happened to me, he returned to find the metal door shut. It's just not openable from the outside without a key.

Of course, he didn't have a key, nor his MRT card, nor any other resource in his pockets, hanging clothes being a kind of "in the house/at home" activity. So he borrowed money from his neighbour and busted a long move on over to Zhang Jia. So we chilled for a while. The 'rents
eventually got home. We placed some calls but neither Su parent had a cell phone turned on, so Scott got to sleep over (on the floor).

As 'Amanda' the Zhang's daughter, and thus my host sister, was to be returning from Germany the 26th (Sunday morning) we asked to go with. Zhang mama said some random shit about it being too early (leave the house at 6:00 AM) and something else which made no sense. Scott gets up 5 AM most days and when I go to school I always got up at like 6 so I could shower, eat, and hop the bus / MRT. We also were like "how about we rent a movie" and she seemed kind of buhaoyisi about that too. Thus, we decided not to. Then Scott explained to me how in the reverse-logic of Taiwan culture she was trying to save face for us (really her) by giving us BS reasons not to go to the airport instead of saying she didn't want us to go.

I, being not good at people nor very perceptive, but nevertheless always in search of the truth and frowning when I hear obviously illogical statements, had to bow to his superior wisdom. I went straight into problem-solving mode, but of course I missed the fact that I was talking
to a woman & Taiwanese person thrown into one makes not only some logic, but most of my cultural expectations, fly out the window. So we basically chilled, chatted in my room, after cleaning a space on the floor for his sheet of sleeping material. I fashioned a pillow out of a scarf,
sweatervest, and ... some pants? Something like that.

In the morning Scott got up before I did to roleplay (on my computer) as usual. I got up shortly after, and ate some dry mantou. The fam & newly acquired daughter got back around 9. Scott & I basically hung out as they have had little time for us waiguoren. At 10 we decided to go play pool. So we headed to Jingmei where the rate was apparently 0.8nt/hour.

Surprise surprise it was closed on Sunday morning. Tried again at Gongguan--no luck. We read magazines at a bookstore, then Scott got water & I got bubble tea. That's right, I kind of like it now, but this is really stupid, because when I get back to Canada I bet I will love it but never have it because it's only in Victoria. We watched "Mr & Mrs. Smith" at the theater & then went to Su Jia.

We ate lunch & dinner while watching the first part of "Scrapped Princess" ... I was eating so slowly I had the last bite of my lunch while walking to the dinner table.

I got home recently. I heard the best thing ever from Amanda~ she is asking me to revise my plane ticket earlier so I won't be here so long. She wants for the family to visit their Grandmother in the south of Taiwan, but of course I am just evicted from the family (& the house?) if they go. This has slightly damaged my opinion of her, though I've only known her one day. Way to represent your country; you go girl. :p K out

5 days, bwah

Man, I sure have been neglectful in updating. I had a draft post a few days ago, but truth be told some of these days I haven't done much. Recently I've been battling a rebellious body which I think is making a statement about heat, food, sleep & the likes. I am like "I must eat more!!!" and it's like "nooo.... too hot... no energy needed at all..." Or I want to exercise but it's just so freakin hot & I lack energy. I think the heat is decreasing my quality of sleep or something. Anyway I was feeling not bad today.

Yesterday I wasted most of the morning/ early afternoon. I was feeling sleepy & directionless... originally Scott & I had planned lunch and pool with Flora. I had just got into bed sometime after 3:00 PM for a nap when Zhang mama summoned me to receive a phone call: Scott informed me Flora kept him waiting for info for 3 hours & then said she had some shiqing & could only hang out for a short time. Well, when plans fail... ANIME! whee. So we watched like 5 hours of Evangelion. We'll watch the rest some other time.

Saturday I can't remember what I did. Oh now I do... I wasted most of the day doing nothing, but then Scott called around dinner time. He had just finished writing a Chinese proficiency test at Shida & proposed going to see "Batman Begins." So we did. I was thoroughly impressed. This was kind of like going to see Star Wars, except the plot, dialogue, acting, characterization, pacing, etc. was all good & realistic. Unlike Anakin's shaky move to the Dark Side, Bruce Wayne's transformation into Batman was a logical development in character. The ninjas were a nice touch as well. Also, I liked the one or two random lines of Chinese he got.

Actually, I am going to recommend you go see this movie. Maybe don't bring your small children, but go see it. It was really good, unlike all previous batman movies.

Friday (go reverse chronological order) was school. I did swimming in PE with S101 then probably just studied japanese in class for most of the day. At 2:00 PM I went to Starbucks with the teacher-lady to help edit her Master of TESL thesis again. It's been taking a long time. After that I busted a move on back to the school for the choir end party thing. It was also Ms. Liu's birthday the next day so we had two big cakes. They gave me cards & then I gave everyone my card so they can visit/contact me. And then I made everyone sign my shirt. Or, like 30+ people on one of my uniform shirts. So it's like a yearbook you can wear, but never wash. Luckily it was clean before, so I don't have a stinky 'yearbook.' :p

In the evening, Scott, Claire, Chen Ma & I went to Chen Shihan's school for her graduation dance performance. It's an all girls' school -- I think it's a mix between art & drama because the had crew members in equal part to dancers. A lot of it was pretty darn good. There were interpretive, hip-hop & classical numbers. Randomly in the middle was a version of "the ant & the grasshopper" with dancing. The little kids memorized so many English lines & delivered them great; we were impressed. Dobson & Dyson give it two thumbs up.

Scott: "I'm impressed--they're pretty good for a middle school performance."
Kevin: "Uh, Scott, this is elementary school only."
Scott: "Wow."

I'll save my 'wow' moment for later.

Today was quite a day. In the morning I headed to Wanfang to meet up with the teacher chick for lunch, but she cancelled. "So," I thought to myself, "what do I do for the next 7 hours?" First, I had lunch at the restaurant, then talked to one of the ladies that works there. I was enjoying the lovely clearish-skies but found it too hot. I had a vague idea of looking for a public library in which to study, or at least somewhere with airconditioning. I settled on taking the MRT to Danshui, so I could study for a long time, enjoy climate-controlled environment, and take in some view when the tracks go above ground past Minquan W. Road station. So I did.

When I got to Danshui I stood on the platform and was blown away by the nice scenery. The clouds alone were neat to watch, and the view was clear. I guess I've been missing seeing ocean, mountains, anything but cloudy skies & crappy looking buildings. I spent some time by the seaside in the shade enjoying the breeze & the salty yet clear air. I then took a walk (very far) to find a library which was closed, gave up and headed back along the seawall. I did find a wall covered in neat paintings by children & a KMT office. I also handle bubble tea & it was pretty good. The girl at the store was hot & also pretty much the only person I talked to besides that teacher & the Zhangs. mmm.... silence

On returning to Taipei I read part of an English-translated Japanese book about the sarin gas attacks on their subway. It was made up of interviews from people affected. Then I went to a choir concert, which rocked. I had originally thought it might suck because it was Zhang ba's company hosting it. As with other corporate events, however, it was actually quite good. They had a pro baritone on hire who sang stuff from "The Barber of Seville" & random Italian stuff for starters... there was also a masterful Erhu player (with cool blue robe & he did an encore) and a great cellist.

All the accompanying pianists were hot chicks too, and none of them were bad at piano. The company choir wasn't that good, though the family-members choir was ok. My wow moment came with the second set of the "Taipei Chamber Chorus"'s second set. The first part was accompanied but this was a capella. When they came out dressed in aboriginal costumes I was like "whoa this is going to be campy & bad" but I forgot they are professional singers. So they did a train song (way better than "Plenty Good Room") with a guy making a falsetto 'woo' steam whistle sound... then 3 aboriginal songs (the last ending in a dance) -- these alone restored, and in fact redoubled my respect for Taiwan's native culture. Together with the train song it compromises one of the best choral sets I've ever seen. wow

Anyway, my host mom just said I was up too late, but I'm not the one getting up to take phone calls in the middle of the night. I mean wtf is that. rock on / K out

6 killed as Chinese peasants attacked in land dispute

I saw this story on the tv news a while ago, and I thought I would post it because it was kind of interesting. Enjoy:

2005/6/17
By Philip P. Pan SHENGYOU, China, The Washington Post


Hundreds of men armed with shotguns, clubs and pipes on Saturday attacked a group of farmers who were resisting official demands to surrender land to a state-owned power plant, witnesses said. Six farmers were killed and as many as 100 others were seriously injured in one of China's deadliest incidents of rural unrest in years.
The farmers, who had pitched tents and dug foxholes and trenches on the disputed land to prevent the authorities from seizing it, said they suspected the assailants were hired by corrupt local officials. They said scores of villagers were beaten or stabbed and several were shot in the back while fleeing.

Reached by telephone, a spokesman for the provincial government said he could not confirm or discuss the incident. "So far, we've been ordered not to issue any information about it," he said.

Large contingents of police have been posted around Shengyou, about 100 miles southwest of Beijing, but bruised and bandaged residents smuggled a reporter into the village Monday and led him to a vast field littered with abandoned weapons, spent shell casings and bloody rags. They also provided footage of the melee made with a digital video camera.

Despite the attack, the farmers remained defiant and in control of the disputed land. They also occupied the local headquarters of the ruling Communist Party, where they placed the bodies of six of their slain compatriots. A crowd of emotional mourners filled the courtyard outside; hanging over the front gate was a white flag with a word scrawled in black ink: "Injustice."

Residents said party officials abandoned the building and fled town, apparently because they feared they would be blamed for the killings.

"We want to know who gave the orders, who sent them to attack us," said Niu Zhanzong, 50, a bald, wiry farmer who made a video of part of the battle before men knocked him down, smashed his camera and broke his arm. "We hope the central government will come and investigate. We believe in party central, but we don't believe in the local police."

The incident in Shengyou, a wheat- and peanut-farming village in central Hebei province, was unusual because the men sent to suppress the peasants appeared to be hired thugs rather than police, and because the conflict resulted in so many casualties.

Residents said the men arrived in six white buses before dawn, most of them wearing hard hats and combat fatigues, and they struck without warning, repeatedly shouting "Kill!" and "Attack!" Police failed to respond to calls for help until nearly six hours later, residents said, long after the assailants had departed.

Villagers said they began camping on the disputed land in the fall of 2003, after the plant announced that it would build a facility there for storing coal ash. Twelve villages surrendered land for the project, but peasants in Shengyou refused to give up their 67 acres. The plant agreed to pay them about US$1,800 per acre, but residents said the offer did not meet national guidelines. They also accused local officials of stealing some of the money and demanded a full accounting.

Instead, Dingzhou police began harassing the village, detaining its leaders and once going so far as to surround the town in what residents said was an attempt to cut off food and water shipments. The farmers responded by digging in to block construction and keeping a 24-hour watch on the land, even through the winter.

The standoff appears to have to caused serious problems for the power plant, which the provincial government describes as one of its most important projects. A party newspaper said last year that the land dispute could force parts of the plant to shut down.

Relatives identified the victims as Niu Zhanbao, 46, a pig farmer who suffered a fatal gunshot wound to his back; Hou Tongshun, 56, a father of three who was struck in the chest by a hook; Niu Shunlin, 26, a migrant worker who was both shot and stabbed; Niu Chengshe, 49, who suffered a fatal blow to the head; and Zhao Yingzhi, 50, who suffered multiple wounds.

Niu Tongyin, 62, one of the leaders of the farmers' movement, bled to death from a stab wound. His body lay in the Party Members' Activity Room, under portraits of Mao, Stalin, Lenin, Marx and Engels.

Researcher Vivian Zhang in Beijing contributed to this report

30 days remaining

Well, if I plan on returning to Canada on July 15th, and today is June 15th, how long do I have left?

I finally got that Japanese textbook I'd been wanting. It's used for the entirety of 1st-year so I can use it whether I get to skip the introductory course (JAP 100) and go straight to JAP 101 or not. Either way it's an excellent book & I suppose I'll give Foo a boo as well. I'm supposed to acquire, speaking of Foo, a Japanese name for him, but preliminary studies indicate Kenta has stopped attending classes. Clever boy.

I haven't been doing much of anything lately, except skipping the morning to varying degrees as I sleep in. I started writing a farewell address to the choir today; maybe I can get rid of my excess business cards there. Really I have several hundred left so that's wishful thinking in the extreme. I really need to do some packing & figure out how much I need to ship or throw out.

One thing I want to do before I go is write a ballad about Augustin. He's practically a folk hero in the eyes of many exchange students. Michael (from Texas) was the only one Rotary managed to nail, randomly enough, and successfully send home. Some people in other countries have already left for home as scheduled, like one girl from Canada, and have begun to experience "the rebound"--what for some is a dreadful time of not-fitting-in worse than initial 'exchange culture shock.' We'll see about that though.

In the meantime, try to leave a day after the 15th open in your books for some hanging out with me. A social gathering may be in the works, but if not feel free to drop by (recommended course of action: call in advance) for some video games, pool, hackey sack, army of darkness, jamming or just plain chilling. Good luck with exams, those of you still in school, & remember to do a re-write of every single provincial :P rock on

post frequency... increasing...

Yesterday was a pretty good day overall. I headed over to Wanfang in the morning (with a surprising 10-minute transfer at Guting) to meet up with the choir, as we were going to an old folks' home. One again, I enjoyed a microwaved 7-11 chicken burger (600~ calories, mmm) for breakfast.

Having arrived at our destination, a total lack of organization ensued. People dispersed to visit various floors, but instead of making groups with balanced section representation, people just hung out with their friends, so on the ground level we had 5 tenors & a bass--talk about that full-choir sound :p People could hardly decide what songs to sing, so we just did a lot of our Taiwanese-language ones as it was most people's mother tongue. Eventually we got the whole choir together & went floor to floor doing songs. We got to meet cool people, like, this one guy that was really friendly. We also got to meet random people: lots of toothless old ladies; people who could no longer stand up; and the one guy who couldn't communicate using language, was tied to his chair, and lacked the ability to consume beverages through a straw.

I kind of prefer Berwick for atmosphere & patronage, but I guess it's my responsibility to take care of myself & end up there so as to avoid spending my last days watchingJackie Chan movies on t.v. while being spoonfed by a Phillipinean woman whose English was better than her Chinese. I did meet this one lady from the Phillipines there who was on staff, so we talked a bit. I don't think I would like her job very much. Wealthy families throughout Asia employ part-or-full-time housekeepers, who are usually women from the Phillipines. Some people from my choir, speaking of spoon-feeding, managed to do just that, but unfortunately my heart was about two sizes too small. I think I could spoonfeed a baby, but not an old person.

Aftewards, I made my leisurely way up to Yuanshan MRT (by way of Gongguan), reading a Maclean's magazine as I went. I met up with Scott & together we waited for Claire & the Chens to arrive. The Chens were surprisingly well dressed and we felt underdressed. We went to one of those fancy buffet restaurants where the food is actually good. I had a bunch of japanese stuff, like sushi, sashimi, and whatever. Scott doesn't like sashimi, but I think it's because he can't eat the soy sauce/wasabi mix that ought accompany many japanese foods. mmm... burning

The dragon boat races in themselves were kind of lame. I took pictures but don't feel like uploading them. Instead, here's one from the protest march I went to in March (sorry about redeye):

From left to right: me, a random funny guy we met (drunk?), Anna, Greg, & a guy from Saskatchewan.

Following that Scott & I made our way to Wanfang to play pool with Flora. As she is usually late, the one time we were late she was--of course--on time waiting for us. I got owned a lot, partially due to bad luck (I sunk the 8-ball almost off the break once) & also because Scott & I are of very close skill levels. When we play, only one person can be good (i.e. make anything but the easiest of shots) at a time. So I will be sucking while Scott slams unlikely long ones in or makes impossible angles on the side pocket. But at other times I can make 3 or 4 in a row, tapping them in with perfect weight, making combination shots, playing the cue ball & target ball off multiple walls, etc. But only sometimes. When I can practise at home, I plan on not sucking, but for now I'm still bad.

Today I basically slept, did some pushups, had a shower, ate, and have been on MSN ever since. How exciting. It was raining before but now it's not, so perhaps soon I will buy some stationery or something. How exciting! :P rock on

teacher after all?

Sometimes it seems people just come to me for advice or instruction. This very day I've helped someone pick out Chinese for a tattoo (do not, I repeat, do not do chinese or kanji tattoos in North America). In fact as I was beginning to write this post I had someone looking for conics review. But whenever I think of high school I am like "man, I didn't like that very much... I don't want to propogate the system."

Tuesday was good. I went in the morning, then in the afternoon I walked out the front gate, met Scott at the restaurant & then went to play pool. Afterwards we went to Su Jia & watched all of "Shingetsutan Tsukihime." Thus, I practised listening to Japanese. It was a good series except for the ending, which kind of bothered me. I didn't feel it was fair or inevitable.

Wednesday was ... all right. We spent a good part of the day practising for choir (unexpectedly to me). The weather was too hot for my liking.

Thursday was the graduation ceremony for the Junior 3's (grade 9) and the Senior 3's (grade 12). We had the event at the police academy next to our school. There was a pretty sweet hall with a massive flag, big statue of Chiang Kai-Shek, patriotic paintings and everything. Everything except the national anthem, which my school is very, very lame at. It's a shame, as I quite like the song.

The performance went ok. I was wearing a suit again (French Alex retied my tie, so I think I can do a double-windsor now, a proper one, the knot made a proper triangle). I also played drums some more, crappily I might add, so now people at least know I can.

Today was not too bad. I studied japanese a bit in the morning. I think I might buy the textbook even expensive as it is. If I can order it online faster & better I will, but I'm not sure shipping to Taiwan is good or cheap--textbooks are heavy, making airmail troublesome.

In choir we talked about our last performance, which will be tomorrow morning. It's at an old folks home. This evening I went to the Chens' to pick up my package from M. We talked for a while and when I got home Zhang ma was pissed because it was like 11:50. I miss the good old days of hanging with Brad until 2, 3 or later on a Friday night.

Tomorrow I plan on going to an old folks' home, having lunch/tea with the Chens, Scott & Claire, then watching dragon boat races with Scott. Happy Dragon Boat festival, whee! rock on

Goals: set 'em & achieve 'em

Well, I achieved everything which I set out to achieve on the weekend.

Saturday morning at 1:00 AM my time I took advantage of my IOS status at Mal-U & registered for this year's courses (goal #1). I've pretty much decided to go there, but I may see what kind of schedule I can put together at UVic as well. Right now I feel like I could use a year or two of good old Nanaimo--I have a great team of music teachers and I really like the town, even with all the awful intersections. Part of the reason is of course the people that live in it. :p

After a brief sleep I was up again for choir practise at the church. Our venue for the Sunday concert was a Chinese-language Baptist church near Zhongxiao Xinsheng station. A girl was leading the way & somehow we ended up near the Train station (by main station) before realising by exactly how much we'd missed the route. The building actually had a tin roof, but it's chief feature of awesomeness was an organ. The drums weren't bad but the cymbals had too much trashy attack & not enough splash / brightness / hiss. It's hard to describe, but hopefully someone will get what I mean. The practise was to stretch into the afternoon but no-one told us beforehand so I left for my next, and last, appointment with the Mormons (goal #2).

That evening, Scott came over for dinner & we subsequently went to see "Sin City" at Gongguan. There were more people in the theatre but it was still spacious & we got seats with legroom. Scott described it as "the ultimate guy movie" & it had pretty much everything guys like, but nothing girly or that girls would like. Afterwards I watched a movie... I don't know the English title, but it was about this girl who went to Germany to spy in WWII and stuff. Not bad.

Sunday I was at the church at 10:30 for the concert prep. Somebody (=everybody) neglected to mention I was supposed to bring school uniform as well as choir uniform. Ms. Liu had told me to bring a suit as well, so I had that, but I went home & back again to get the extra outfit. I was kind of irked, but I listened to tunes on my iPod & a hot middle-aged woman was making eyes at me on the MRT, so my foul mood soon faded.

The concert itself went pretty well. In some of the practise there was still anger on our teacher's part; however, I am pretty sure she didn't cut any songs. I sang for most of it except the second-years' section (they did some songs I knew & some I didn't from the previous year), the non-choir section, & certain Phantom songs in which I played the drums. The costumes were hilarious -- most guys [most basses, really] dressed up as he Phantom, with big black capes and masks stuck to their faces. Some guys dressed up as Raoul, wearing tricked-out coattails with white frills & ruffles on their shirts. I was jealous, as I just wore my suit with a tux shirt, maple leaf cuff links (borrowed from G), and a silver tie to match some other guy. All in all it was pretty fun.

At the end, we tacked an extra song on to the end--a popular sentimental piece of soft emo with rewritten lyrics. It was great; Ms. Liu was really excited at the beginning and just got a hilarious expression on her face from the words (like "Liu ma is Big Face / She always loves to arrive late / She likes things in confused disorder / ...") but we made her cry in the chorus & I may have shed a few tears myself, and because of this condition encountered some difficulty in singing. Then we did an encore after that.

Following a lengthy waiting & clean-up period (in which I snapped some pictures) we headed to a steak house (St. Paul's steak) at Ximen.

Taiwan's steak houses are not exactly like regular steak-serving venues or even like western steakehouses. I mean, there is a basic-premise similarity to 'The Keg' or something, but not much else. Firstly, the meat is served on a hot iron plate (set in wood). The server brings it with a stainless steel lid, and then reveals your hissing, spluttering dish to you. Sometimes you get splattered with the sauce bubbling on the painfully hot metal. Also on this plate are thick quasi-linguine noodles & an egg. The egg is raw when they crack it onto the dish in the kitchen, but it quickly cooks. If you get the meal fast enough, you can scramble it. Other than the steak being kind of different, and the weird non-steak selections, it's pretty similar. There is still unlimited salad bar, soft drinks, etc.

I once again foolishy ordered fish (at a steak house) because it was 'iceland somethingfish.' It was ok, but it had a lot of bones in it. I don't mind picking out the big ones at the Zhangs', but little bones are trouble and irk me. I need some fish 'n' chips.

When I got home that evening, I watched "Alexander" with my host family. Did I mention there were pictures? Here's our accompanist for Phantom & some other songs:

And now for the requisite Taiwan girls. You'd be surprised at how many hits my site gets based on those keywords. The internet is a random, random place. You'll also notice my hair is a bit longer, and that I shaved recently. Also, my shaver rocks ... it's so nice & I swear I've only charged it about twice since I came to Taiwan.

Now, wasn't that fun? Anyway, today was ok. Apparently I was a little tired, because when I walked into the library this morning Alex & Ivan asked me if I had been drinking. I'm just a little out of energy since the weekend, but as I get more sleep my disposition improves. Hurrah! Also, tomorrow I plan on cutting the afternoon to go play pool with Scott. We'll see if I can really escape or not.

Well, blogfans, rock on for now. K out

Back in 39 days
Lived here 289 days

a funny thing happened on the way to the forum

My apologies for using a "z" in the previous post title. It was really uncalled for. One of these days I am going to have to try bubble tea again ~ maybe now that I am used to all this food I will like it. I mean, now I love "shrimp & pineapple" flavoured pizza from Pizza Hut. mmmm...

Anyway, in a couple hours I need to register for courses online. It will be at 10 AM for you guys or something, but it gets to be like 1:00 AM for me, w00t. Of course I gotta get up next morning for choir practise. We are doing a "Phantom of the Opera" medley in a church with a real organ. It will be sweet, as long as I don't mess up the drums or any of my solos.

Speaking of practising, Ms. Liu got really, really angry today at our collective incompetence and thus spontaneously ended choir practise for the day. I only went to like 2 classes: Chinese(but with added Kenta) & History, where I sang the national anthem. In the morning we worked on the drums/piano parts, and afternoon singing practise went from 1 'til about 5:30.

Scott was randomly at my house when I got back, or just got there after me with Kevin & some DVDs they had rented. He left his lunch box.

Wednesday I pretty much forget. I must have, like, went to class and the likes. Probably studied some Japanese & Chinese as well. The evening was fun because I played a lot of piano. I am starting an easy Prelude and Fugue. mmm

Thursday featured sleeping in (10.5 hours) followed by Rotary. There was an excellent speaker. They made me give a speech at the end, and I just said some nice things & it was well received.

Afterwards I went to hang out at 101 with Anna. She certainly smokes a lot, just like my host father. We read stuff at the bookstore. I found the textbook for Japanese that I was looking for, but SWEET JESUS JEEBUS it was expensive. I am going to ask someone how much it costs at the bookstore ~ I don't feel like placing an international call.

Anyway, we hung out for a while. Somehow, had subway for dinner. I tried to make the guy sing the anthem, but he said he "didn't have free time at that point." There were lots of foreigners there for some NVidia conference. There was like this line of Taiwanese people with noisemakers and they would all clap them when you walked by, to "generate excitement." They didn't do it for us, so I berated one of the guys. You could get your picture taken with their attractive girls in makeup to demonstrate some printing technology or something, but we weren't on the guest list so no go. It was still pretty random.

I may try to grab 2 hours of sleep before I sign on to webreg. rock on