Evolution

There's something to be said for the evolution of the written language.

I saw a character 雦 the other day, didn't know what it was. So I asked my coworker and we started doing some research (okay, she searched while I sat next to her), we found the following ensemble:

• 隹 (zhuī) - kind of bird
  
• 雔 (chóu) - pair of birds
  
• 雦 (jí/chóu) - to gather; archaic form of 集 (jí)
  
• 雥 (zá) - flock of birds
  
• 雧 (jí) - to gather (birds in a tree); another archaic form of 集

Isn't that neat?? Two birds? Just double the radical! More than that? Add another bird! And then put them all in a tree (木)!

How clever is that! =)

(Okay, maybe only a language buff like myself would fully appreciate this.)

I'm awake.

07:23.

I've barely slept an hour the entire night so far.

Why?

Because of ONE mosquito.

I am so tired....

Wake up and smell the java.

My coworker passed me a news article, about how in Austria, housekeeping and child-rearing are still widely regarded as women's responsibilities.

(The article's in Chinese but you can get a crude translation by running the URL through Babelfish. The general gist of the article is that 75% of Austrian men consider housekeeping and child-rearing a woman's job, compared to only 14% who believe men should share part of the burden.)

I'm not surprised that there are still places like that. I'm really not. But as I glanced at the article content, I suddenly became rather weary about why he had made a point of sending me the link. I mean, obviously it was an article of interest, but in what way?

It soon became apparent.

"In comparison," he remarked, "Taiwanese men are pitiable (可憐). They have to help clean, do laundry, take care of children... and they're not allowed to complain."

Come again?? Alright, alright, don't jump to conclusions. It's just a statement, and probably not his personal opinion. I cautiously asked if he thought these chores were the woman's responsibility, even using the ^o) emoticon as a subtle hint that he should answer with care.

"在台灣，只能認命吧。" ("In Taiwan, you can only submit to Life." / "C'est la vie.")

I was livid. And when I reprehended him, his counter?

"In Asia, Taiwan is already pretty good [in terms of male and female equality in society]." He actually did not find anything wrong with how the Austrian men thought, even envied the culture. I wanted to kick the sh!t out of him.

I told him to move to Austria.

I was so pissed off that I stopped MSN'ing him for the rest of the night. Before leaving work, however, I forced myself to be the bigger person and MSN'ed him saying that he was entitled to his archaic opinion and all the power to him if he found a partner who shared it. (He then blankly asked what I considered more "modern". I chose to ignore his cluelessness and closed the conversation window.)

I know that people are entitled to their own opinions, and we should all be open to different perspectives instead of chastising someone because they don't share your views. But honestly, some people's beliefs make you want to disassociate yourself from them.

Shut in

Shortly after posting that last tip, I received intel on an impending new policy at our workplace.

Starting next month, MSN and all IM programs will be banned at work. Those requiring MSN for work can apply for it (on a yearly basis). MSN usage and content will be monitored and submitted to your manager each month.

How's that for shutting off any connection to the outside world....

Now I realise that this measure is taken in the interest of productivity, but seriously if there were any way to make your employees feel imprisoned at work, this would be near the top of the list.

I also hear that some floors have already started adhering to another impending policy: no meals taken at your desk. Well, that just sounds absurd. Many employees eat meals at their desk so they can work or nap, or maybe they bring lunch from home. Unless this is only about preventing food spills on $$$$ equipment (sounds more like a high school policy), I don't see their purpose for this one....

What's next, timed bathroom trips? (I do know of one company that restricts employees to 48 minutes per day. Not kidding.)

Just break out the orange jumpsuits....

E-moting

After last month's viral attack, I recovered my laptop computer and painstakingly went through all the installations and uninstallations to restore Toshy to his former glory.

As I logged into the newly upgraded Windows Live Messenger, however, it dawned on me how much I relied on my accumulated collection of dancing moo cows and twirling penguins and the like. The clean emoticon slate left me feeling inarticulate and unexpressive.

This was unacceptable. I would have to rebuild my gallery of expressions.

I nearly drove my coworker nuts as I bugged her to send me emoticons from work and from home, so I could add them again, one by one. I finally decided this was ridiculous, and turned to the wonderful WWW. Sure enough,I found this helpful tidbit:

The custom emoticons are stored in:
C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Application Data\Microsoft\MSN Messenger\<account#>\CustomEmoticons\

I just copied the entire CustomEmoticons folder and then plopped it into the corresponding directory at home, and - presto! - all my lovely emoticons were once again at my fingertips! Yay!

I read that this only works for copying emoticons from an account to the same account on another computer. I haven't tried otherwise, so I can't verify this.

Apparently you can also do the same for display pictures; they're stored in the UserTile folder.

Complete bust

Well. I don't know what to say. My weekend was a complete bust. I had a full weekend all planned out - fun filled up to the brim. And not one of those plans panned out.

Friday night I went wall-climbing, and then had a night snack with the gang. I was going to go on a mini nocturnal adventure (just out wandering at night) but couldn't get a hold of my friends. I was a bit bummed out, so my coworker and I grabbed a drink from the 7-Eleven, chatted at the local basketball court until it started to rain at 03:30. When I got home I replied to a sad e-mail, almost fell asleep. My night adventure friend logged on, and we MSNed. Of course it was 06:00 by the time I really couldn't stay awake, and of course, my plans for the following day started at 06:50.

Saturday was a day in Lugang (鹿港). My coworker (different one) was going with a photography club to take pictures, and since I'd never been, I'd asked to tag along for the day.

But Saturday morning, I woke to a mobile phone displaying 07:10. I hurried out the door, but the bus was nowhere in sight, and that one person I knew going on this photography outing wasn't answering his mobile phone. I gave up at nearly 08:00 and went home, slept until 14:00. And when I woke up, in an equally blah mood... I went to work. But the not-rainy-as-anticipated weather and the nice walk to the office helped my mood immensely. I decided to help the trend by going for teppanyaki for dinner. =)

My coworker wanted to go climbing, so I went to belay for him. The climbing gang was going KTVing (or karaokeing) at midnight and then 4 of us were going to head straight to Longdong (龍洞) for some outdoor climbing. I chose to miss the first half of KTVing to pack my gear and get some work done, but when I eventually got there, I was told that there'd been a little incident and my friend (one of the 4 going to Longdong) had drowned himself in a bottle of vodka. When I left the KTV over an hour later, he was still sleeping it off.... In fact, he was in the washroom the entire time I was there; I didn't even see him. =(

And so here I am, blogging at 05:40 on Sunday morning, after the last of my highly anticipated plans got cancelled. Rightly cancelled, but still, I'd be lying if I didn't say I wasn't a little disappointed.

I think I'll sleep in until noon and then go to work. Work rarely disappoints.

[Editor's note: We'd been praying all week that the rain wouldn't wash away our Longdong plans. Right now, 11:51, the weather is gorgeous.... *sigh*]

Here's a short one....

Oh boy. Looks like my blog posts are getting a little long.

It's great to have stuff to talk about. =)

Or maybe I'm just too wordy. Verbal diarrhea, as my elementary school classmate once said. =P

Now THAT's a good day of fun.

I signed up for another riversourcing activity. Riversourcing is when you follow a river or creek upstream, crossing it or climbing to get to the source. It's also a term I coined, because I honestly don't know the actual name of the activity. If anyone knows, do tell me.

Anyhow, the organisation hosting the activity was iClimb, the wall-climbing centre I kind of frequent. I already knew and liked the instructors, so, short of a disaster, the day was guaranteed to be fun-filled. I had pulled two coworkers along, and one brought his girlfriend and 3 of her friends, too. The two on-line registrants had cancelled (probably figuring it'd be too cold), so it turned out to be a private outing. =D

We set out at 08:40. Last week's typhoon had engorged the rivers and washed out some of the roads, let loose a few rock slides, so getting to creek was a heart-stopping event in itself. For non-off-roading vehicles, the typhoon water runoff trickling over sloped roads made some segments challenging, quite reminiscent of driving in snow back home. A few undercarriage scraps and heart attacks later, we unloaded equipment and trekked down to the waterside.

This creek was a little less "exciting" than the one I was at in mid-September. The terrain had more climbing, a bit less river-crossing. The increased water flow made it more dangerous to cross, too, though. But still it was fun, and as anticipated, there was lots of egging on and horsing around. I was the target of plenty of it, but it was all in good fun.

I was also the crazy one, the only one to play in the cold water at our lunch stop. The 10m waterfall, normally only 2m wide, had widened to 5 or 6m, and the pool at the bottom had overflowed. I jumped in (with life-jacket) and swam in a relative calm area of the pool, but as I got a little nearer the waterfall, I realised that I wasn't moving forward. I was swimming on the spot. I was being sucked in by the waterfall. I like a bit of excitement, but I'm no fool. I yelped. And someone threw me a towline and reeled me in.

Of course that didn't stop me. I continued to frolic happily (and alone) in the water with my umbilical lifeline. They (the instructors) "made" me swim out and be carried away by the current. I climbed a little segment of rock (a couple of meters high, just a mini rock-climbing challenge), and they "made" me jump off.

Anyway, it was fun. Fun fun fun. And yet, while I yawned on the ride back, I wasn't that tired. So when we arrived back at the climbing centre around 19:00... I climbed. Except for a dinner break, I climbed and belayed until 22:30.

Then I got a shoulder massage. One of the instructors there had taken a class in sport massage therapy, so I plunked down in front of him and he proceeded to tell me how stiff all my shoulder and neck muscles were while he rubbed out a lot of knots. I must've yelped more than I had all day - it hurt - and yet those 15 minutes felt great. Or maybe it was the end of the 15 minutes that felt great, ha. I asked him for his work shift schedule so I could show up whenever he was there. XD (Yes, I was kidding.)

That did it, though. A day of riversourcing, extra hours of climbing and a shoulder massage. Guaranteed recipe for fun. I got home, took a hot shower, and I was out like a light. My shoulders are still sore today, but a good sore.

And best of all, I really want to get back into climbing. =)

Photos:
- 10/13: Pinjing Creek (小錦屏溪)
- 09/15: Taigang Creek (泰崗溪)

[Editor's note: my coworker informs me it's called river trekking. Wikipedia also offers "river tracing".]

Home sweet home, The End.

The journey back to Taiwan, dreaded and loathed as it was, was inescapable. Yet, dreaded and loathed as it was, my return to normal life with an abnormal work schedule didn't seem so bad. Because I already knew.

I started packing on the last day. All the souvenir shopping and the more-than-usual clothes shopping and the Costco runs had created a build up of plastic bags around my suitcase, but still I was only bringing back 1/3 the amount I'd brought over (and only 1/3 of which was actually mine...), so I nested the smaller suitcase within the larger one. The more "fragile" items - like cartons of Tazo chai tea mix (from Costco, nummy, can't wait to try that out) and some bottles of maple syrup - were wrapped in clothes and additionally padded by the suitcase buffer.

After my boyfriend drove me around collecting last minute purchases, I zipped up my suitcase (with an itty bit of difficulty), locked it, stowed my laptop into my carry-on pack, and off we went to the airport.

Finally making it to the baggage check-in counter, the attendant informed me that my suitcase was 2kg overweight. Doh. She told me to just remove 1kg and it'd be okay, so off to the side I went to see what I could take out.

Except that I couldn't find the lock key.

I tried unsuccessfully to pick the lock with a hair pin (it looks so easy in the movies), and about 15 minutes of panic later, I sheepishly went back to the attendant and asked her where I could get my lock cut off. I also asked what the fine for overweight luggage was. A whopping $600. Yes, Canadian dollars. Ouch.

After pleading with her that I just couldn't get into my luggage case, she took pity on me and said she would tag the suitcase "heavy", meaning it would be at the bottom of the luggage dogpile, and anything I had inside would risk getting squashed. I hesitated, but having faith in my double-baggaging (and opting not to pay the 600.00CAD fine), I accepted.

The rest of the way home wasn't very eventful. Admittedly, I didn't feel well-rested after my trip home, trying to visit friends, pick up souvenirs and stuff; but work was relatively peaceful. Because I was half asleep most of the day. And then under the quite-valid excuse of jet lag, I left shortly after dinner. I managed to borrow a metal saw from my company's "building maintenance" group, and in a short 10 minutes, freed my suitcase contents.

Oh, and on the following weekend, I was up in Taipei at my brother's place. And while getting cleaned up for the night, in my toiletries pouch, I found... the lock keys. I knew I had packed them! Ah well, too late now.

Clear the track!

You ockers need to keep your 'roos off the racetrack, alroyt?!

Select the least incorrect answer

Being a native English speaker, I was originally exempt from taking the TOEIC exam at work, but this morning I received an e-mail from my two-up manager saying that everyone in our department had to sit the exam after all, and so I arranged with HR to let me into the examination room.

The listening section was... slightly boring. To the point that my mind started wandering, hahaha. Oops.

And the reading section was... perplexing. The written questions had errors in them. Not just the "choose what's wrong" type of questions, I'm referring to the fill-in-the-blank questions and others, too. I started chuckling, which probably didn't help relax the other colleague in the room.

Let me give you an example of how ridiculous it was; I copied this down from the exam. Multiple choice question, choose one part of the sentence that should be corrected or rewritten:

(A) There's at least several of reasons that (B) explained why the sales manager (C) has quitted his job that (D) is envied by most people in the office.

Gee, can I select (A), (C), and other errors not listed in the choices?!

SOS, computer down!

GameSetup.exe
W32.Fujacks.D worm virus.

Norton AntiVirus 2004.
Expired licence.

Panda icons everywhere.
F&#@$^%*) sh!t.

Coming out of the closet

I was cleaning out my wardrobe last night (a rare event in itself) and came across a "new" jacket. The past came back to me....

We had put up the little Christmas tree, my brothers and I. Having traded down from the 6-foot tree to a little 3.5-footer whitey, we'd moved the tree upstairs, and loaded it up with as many decorations as was tastefully possible and strung lights upon the fake-snow-covered branches. We finished it all with a tree skirt around the base.

And then someone came up with a creative decorating idea: slipping the Christmas lights under the skirt, creating cool and colourful glow spots. A brilliant touch.

Come Christmas morning, the usual excitement brought us all together around the teeny tree. We passed out the presents and tore through pretty wrapping paper. (Okay, no, who am I kidding. We're Chinese, so we carefully peeled the tape off and folded the wrapping paper up neatly for reuse.)

Now, my mom, unarguably, knows how to dress. And though I'm usually more casual and conservative in my style, Mom is pretty good at getting me clothes that are great for occasions outside of my usual repertoire. I guess that's the fun in having a daughter; you get to dress them up - sometimes even when they're well into their twenties.... But, I digress.

My Christmas gift was a blazer jacket. Midnight blue with bits of white thread, knit, almost like low-pile carpeting. Obviously my mom's shopping.

And then we saw it.

Near the bottom of the buttons, the size of a cherry tomato. A burn mark.

Mom was not happy. She quickly isolated the cause of the burn. In the corner, by the tree, was a matching burn mark in the carpet. My brother and I inhaled sharply.

You see, the offending tungsten Christmas lightbulb, unseen under the tree skirt when the lights were off, became imprisoned between Christmas gift and carpet. After being lit overnight, the bulb eventually burnt right through the tree skirt and gift box, scorching my Christmas present. We're lucky it didn't start a fire.

My poor mom spent an hour picking and scraping away the traces of the burn as best she could, and colouring over with blue marker to make it less obvious.

That jacket has never been worn.

Perhaps I noticed the scorch every time I looked at it, or maybe I really never had that occasion outside my usual repertoire, but I think I might have worn it out once, at most.

As I removed the coat from my wardrobe last night, it saddened me to realise that my mom's care in choosing a gift for me spent over 6 years entirely in the closet. =(

But I'm going to start appreciating. Better late than never. <=)

Home sweet home, Part 2

It started with, surprise, a mad rush during the days prior to my departure, to finish (unsuccessfully) work tasks, to pick up various items for overseas delivery, and of course, to pack. Just a couple days after my 3-year anniversary of arriving - moving to Taiwan, I was going home for the Mid-Autumn holidays.

I managed to drop all my work without too much guilt (or concern) so I could get back to my dorm and shower before my flight. My coworker picked me up and off we headed to the airport. Surprisingly, I felt... nothing. No emotions. No worries about the work I'd dropped, no irritation about the work I'd brought with me (to complete on a best-effort basis) and not even excitement about going home. There was nothing positive nor negative.

When I got to the airport, the lineup for baggage check-in was moderately long. I listened to some men speaking Spanish queued in front of me while waiting my turn. As expected, the check-in staff paused at my passport... and then asked me to follow her to the Immigration Office. And there I was scolded by a middle-aged Immigration official for not getting a new passport after obtaining Taiwanese citizenship. He went on about how I shouldn't keep using my current passport just to save trouble and to save on the passport application fee and that I was inconveniencing myself as well as Immigration (for having to verify my status). He did have a point. Though quite honestly, it had just never occurred to me to renew my passport after receiving a status upgrade; it wasn't about the application fee nor the eons-away expiry date (10-year validity). Anyway that was quite the earful.

In an effort to minimise the effects of jet lag, I stayed up most of the flight. As I'd only slept an hour the previous night (working and packing), staying awake an additional 12 hours proved a little more difficult that it might normally have been. I watched Fantastic Four 2: Silver Surfer (mediocre), The Ex (entertaining), and made it partway through Surf's Up and Ocean's Thirteen and some interactive games (looking for whatever required the least brain power) (though in the end, nothing helped). It was with a skip of joy that I heard them announce our descent to YVR.

I managed to break skin on the glass barriers lining the stairs, and Customs asked me to present myself to Agriculture after collecting my luggage, for inspection of the mooncake my mother special-ordered. I waited half an hour for my large suitcase, before hearing an announcement and recalling that I hadn't removed an old "Fragile" label... and off I went to looking for my fragile suitcase. Then it was another half-hour as Agriculture looked into a woman's canned mutton from New Zealand before deeming that my vegetarian mooncakes wouldn't cause an epidemic outbreak.

And then FInally... I was home.

Home sweet home

Where the heart is.

There's nothing luxurious about my house. My parents aren't waiting on me, hand on foot. I haven't even slept in past 8:30AM yet (which one would expect, given my crazy work schedule). It doesn't matter that it's gloomy and cold out. There's just something about home that makes it home.

And Vancouver will always be home.

It's nice to be back. (Even if just for a visit.)

Unnerved

I've always had a fascination for the supernatural. I like reading "ghost stories" and about strange phenomena.

Admittedly, this morbid fascination of mine has augmented since coming to Taiwan. They believe in spirits and rituals and sorcery, yin and yang.... They even have tv shows dedicated to exploring haunted sites around Taiwan.

But today was probably the first time I was actually scared.

After a frustrating day at work (not uncommon nowadays), I had to detour to my brother's place to pick up stuff to bring home to Vancouver.

The quickest route between my place and my brother's is a shortcut... that passes by some burials. (I'm not sure there's an actual cemetery there, but there are several tombs.) It was just after midnight. Normally after dark I would take the longer better-lit route (the major road) to my brother's, but today I was tired and irritated and really just cared to get there and back quickly.

I turned left into the shortcut, and flipped on my high-beam as I approached the darkness.

Precisely at that instant, a car alarm sounded, startling me.

I slowed slightly... and noticed that the car on the side of the road with its alarm blaring... had no one in it.

I'm not sure why that would unnerve me so much - the car was parked, it was after midnight, why would someone be sitting in the car?

It just didn't feel right.

It was enough to make me turn my scooter around back to the intersection to take the longer main road.

And precisely when I straightened out after my U-turn... the car alarm fell silent.

I don't know what this incident means, if anything at all. Was it a warning, or a coincidence? All I know is that that feeling was not a welcome one!

The big 3-0

Well. I turn 30 tomorrow.

I can't say that I've had any particular anxiety [so far] about this completion of a decade, at least not directly related to turning 30. I've had a lot of things on my mind the past half year or even whole year, so turning 30 is nothing.

Anyhow, it just happens that I'll be hiking this weekend, so I get to spend my birthday atop a mountain with friends, breathing fresh air, and - most importantly - being away from the office.

Of course, the flip side is... it's all downhill from there.

We Are Family

I have a sister! =D Almost.

A couple days ago, on her birthday, my brother popped the question, and she said yes! She said yes, she said yes, she said yes! =D

So yesterday, I left work early (way earlier than usual, anyway) and booted up to Taipei for a surprise party for M at the Duckbill darts bar.

I had one Long Island iced tea. And that was it.

Omigosh, it was loaded.

I'm not an alcoholic, but it's not like I haven't had drinks before. But this Long Island iced tea was seriously loaded. And it was with great effort that I walked straight. I'm not sure I succeeded. But yeah, that one drink did me in.

I had 4 glasses of water after showering and zonked out nearing 3am. So this morning, I'm in pretty good shape. =)

So. A family engagement, and a strong Long Island iced tea. Great Friday. =)

Out for a bite

May 1st is Labour Day in Taiwan. But more importantly, it's a stat holiday in Taiwan.

I've been a little down lately, and cooped up at work, so my coworker and I went out to a coffee shop about half an hour out from Hsinchu. The owner used to be the manager at our company coffee shop, but he'd opened his own coffee shop 2 years ago, a quaint shop on a little lake.

When we got there, the owner told us that the tung flowers (油桐花) were in season and recommended that my coworker and I go take a walk into a wooded area, where the flowers covered the grassy area. But it was a little disappointing because the flowers had already wilted and had been trampled by previous visitors to the area.

But worst of all were the blackflies or black mosquitoes or black whatever insects that attacked us on our leisurely stroll. The tiny insects swarmed my calves (I was wearing a dress) and pricked and pricked and pricked and pricked and pricked! Needless to say the walk was cut short and we dodged back to the safety of the road and back to the coffee shop where we immediately applied whatever balm was available.

I've been going crazy from the itch of the bites. I counted 51 bites on my right leg, and 49 on my left. Tiny bites that dot my calves like islands in the South Pacific. I've already used one third of a new tube of mosquito bite cream. Hopefully they'll fade soon, and even more hopefully they'll fade without leaving scar. <=\

In Season

Much to my dismay, I spotted a cockroach lurking outside the main door of my building.

Looks like it's cockroach season again. : (

All in a Name

Before I moved to Taiwan, I was under the impression that Asian immigrants only choose "boring" English names. Common names that occur in a classroom 2 or 3 times: Danny, David, Michael, Jerry, Johnny. Jenny, Cindy, Amy, Julie.

Boy was I ever wrong.

Turns out Asians can be rather creative when choosing English names. And turns out that browsing the company phone directory can be quite entertaining.

We have famous people who work here: Gauss, Morse, Dior, Gucci, Yanni, Yoda.

And then we have...

AceBest AOK Bear Bigfox Culture - given name translated literally Double - given name has the family name repeated! Dragon Ericbill - guess they couldn't decide? Forever - Chinese name has the word "ever" Frog - uh... I got nothin' Frost Gene - 2 with this name; does that make it a Gene pool? Magic Megaa - complete with echo! Milk

MIT - show-off Mtjade - named after the mountain... "Mt." included! Nivea - walking advertisement Ripple Showermi - how forward! Singing Smallp - um. Shock Testy - UM. Tobaccoo Twodogs Walksky - kinda like Skywalker, but no copyright infringement Wealth - clear goals in life Wego - where?

(Note: These are all taken from the company directory. Just a subset of "interesting" names. And I didn't list any names that were Chinese names written in English, only literal translations.)

I know about a third of the people above, and they're very nice people.

Now I realize that people are free to take on any name they please. However, this name is used for their corporate e-mail address. So maybe they should put more thought into finding a name that will represent them professionally, instead of choosing an alias for a BBS/forum.

And perhaps HR should consider having a name book on hand for when new employees report to work.

Au clair de la lune

Today is 元宵節, which is the first full moon after the Lunar New Year. It's customary to gather and to light "sky lanterns". On them, you write your wishes and hopes for the year, and then watch the little paper hot air balloons float up into the night sky.... Well, I had to miss it this year. Boooo.

But the full moon was lovely. As I stared up at it, I was reminded of a friend.

See, I haven't talked to this friend for about a year now. We used to talk on the phone (long-distance, I might add) on full moon nights, just about life, about everything, about nothing. We got along great and understood each other really well, especially considering we aren't even on the same continent.

About a year ago, though, we stopped talking (for reasons I'm not at liberty to disclose). Zero contact.

I don't usually think of this friend, not so much anymore. I guess you just have to accept the fact and move on. But tonight as I looked up at the silver moon, I did.

And I wondered when it might be okay again.

Sorry, where am I from again?

My friend brought a beautiful "carrying" case to my desk today, measuring 24"x4"x2.5". Inside, nestled in a bed of... shiny polyester... was a nice champagne flute, and a bottle of ice wine.

As lovely as it was, and as delighted as I was to receive this gift, I looked at my coworker and exclaimed,

"Have you forgotten where I'm from??"

Product of Canada.

Happy V-Day

Sometimes I do get frustrated with being the 3rd, 5th, 7th... wheel.... (Though as my brother says, it doesn't matter, 'cause even with him here, I'll always be odd....)

But sometimes... sometimes, I just miss holding his hand. : (

*sigh*

Happy V-Day, sweetie.

Once was found but now is lost

Have you ever finally found a great product, only to find that the product is discontinued shortly thereafter?

My friend gave me Shiseido FF Planetarium Eyes eyeliner for my birthday. After a bit of practice, it no longer looked like eye black grease for a football game. The brown colour is subtle but with enough sparkle to bring some energy to my eyes. Available at Watson's (like Pharmasave or Shoppers' Drug Mart).

Except that it's not. When I asked about it later on, that same friend told me that it was no longer available! Seems like Watson's decided not to carry it anymore. Boooo.

But as luck would have it, another friend is going to Japan for CNY, so I'm getting him to smuggle some back for me. Yay!

What great product have you found, that you can no longer find?

Bloody Blood Diamond

Two movie tickets were about to expire, so I took the night off and went to movies with my coworker. I'm not really one for war movies (Saving Private Ryan, Schindler's List, etc.), but I actually really liked Blood Diamond.

No spoilers, but just a few post-movie thoughts:

• Okay, the ending was rather predictable, but that's okay; it was a good ending, and the one I would've chosen for this film.
  
• The movie was focused on the storyline, and didn't stray off too much to preach about politics and conflicts. Yay! "Just enough truth" to provide a realistic setting.
  
• ...But the brutality and goriness weren't any easier to watch. (What, I'm just not very good with savageness.)
  
• Leonardo DiCaprio is quite good in this movie. He does a fantastic African accent when meeting with the colonel near the beginning of the film. Physically he's filled in a bit, in the face and torso, losing the chubby look he was sporting a few years back. So he looks more mature now, instead of the young pretty boy he was before (Titanic, Man in the Iron Mask).

The movie was quite heavy. I guess I personally was opting for the lighter Night at the Museum, but I'm glad I watched this one; I really enjoyed it.

Although, I don't know that the movie will dissuade many people from buying their sparkly engagement rings....

Skin Art, Part 2

Alright, here's a survey: if you were to get a tattoo, what would you ink? and where?

Dead as a doornail

While out to lunch with my brother and his girlfriend this weekend, a comment about yellowing fingernails (because they can't breathe under nail polish/lacquer) spawned a discussion about whether nails are alive.

B: Nails are dead!
M: No, they aren't; they grow.
B: They're dead; that's why you don't feel anything when you cut them.
M: You don't feel anything because there aren't any nerves.
M: Mine are alive.
B: Well, mine aren't.

Skin Art

As if I weren't lacking sleep already, I got hooked on a new (to me) tv show this week.

Miami Ink is in much the style of American Chopper, about a group of 4 tattoo artists. Each episode shows various customers who come into their Miami shop during the week with their requests and ideas.

As expected, many of the tattoos have a personal significance, and it's interesting to hear their stories and the artist's design. Each artist has a specialty, be it portraits, or Japanese style tattoos, and the results are really quite impressive. Very fascinating.

Some of the tattoos I've seen:

• A father, whose 2-year-old daughter has Tay-Sachs disease, got her portrait done on his chest.
  
• A model got a mermaid across the lower back, in memory of her sailor father (who passed away when she was 21).
  
• Two brothers got a Polish eagle together (one on the calf, one on the shoulder) to symbolise their heritage.
  
• A breast cancer survivor had an Alphonse Mucha work done on her arm to celebrate her victory.
  
• Well-known chopper builder Billy Lane (often on The Great Biker Build-Off)! got the traditional "Mom" tattoo on the back of his hand. Now when she sees it, she'll be torn between his tribute to her... and her dislike for the ink.

We get see what goes around in the shop, the tattoo artists' distinct personalities, the team dynamics, and some insight into each of their personal lives.

Great show, but airs after midnight in Taiwan, Tuesday through Saturday.... I am SO so tired.

Drive often?

I must say, I am rather surprised at how many poor drivers there are in Taiwan. I expect that bad traffic conditions would actually hone your driving skills, but that's not what I observe here.

It's amazing how many drivers don't know their own cars. I'm not talking about people who drive once a month, borrowing their parents' car. I'm referring to people who drive every day, some commuting over half an hour to/from work.

The actual driving part is already bad enough, but in comparison, the parking skills - horRENdous. Especially parallel parking. Even with the help of rear bumper radar sensors! One might argue that spaces are smaller in Taiwan, but the starting position and approach angle are wrong altogether. And I've seen equally unimpressive attempts at parallel parking with ample working space.

Sometimes it makes me want to pull the driver out from behind the wheel and park the car myself. Unfortunately, courtesy forces me to suppress my impatience and groan silently to myself. ("Groan silently" - oxymoron?)