2007-10-14

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

2007-10-13

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".]

2007-10-10

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?!

2007-10-08

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?!

2007-10-06

SOS, computer down!

GameSetup.exe
W32.Fujacks.D worm virus.

Norton AntiVirus 2004.
Expired licence.

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

2007-10-05

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. <=)

2007-10-04

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.