Archive for December, 2009

It’s hard to believe that 2009 is finally coming to a close…likewise, it’s also hard to believe that I’ve been in Taiwan for about a week now.  We’ve been quite busy these past few days since my last update, including a trip to the south cities Tainan and Kaohsiung.

While I’ve been suffering through some health issues (I’m apparently allergic to Taipei…but luckily not the food) it has been a pretty great trip so far.  And now I’m going to go ring in the new year on the rooftop of a building in Taipei with (some of) my family.

Happy 2010, everybody!

It’s still hard to believe that I’m finally here. In Taiwan.

It’s even harder to believe that just a few days ago was Christmas Day (of course, Wordpress is still stuck on Pacific time).  Overall, the weather here is extremely mild, and there is a distinct lack of Christmas decorations. I think I passed by a few lit up trees and people wearing Santa hats to encourage the masses to spend money…but other than that, nothing.

I started off the morning by sleeping in to 10:30am. I thought I would have slept half the day away, or stayed up until 4am twiddling my thumbs. I have to say, I feel very fortunate that my body somehow figured out that it crossed the International date line. Breakfast on the first day consisted of dou jiang (warm soy milk), buns and a rice roll. So ridiculously good.

Then we wandered around the neighborhood and took in some sights.

After watching Gogo get a haircut, we went to the photo studio where I’m getting some pictures done (yikes).  We happened to be around the Chiang Kai-shek memorial, the 228 Peace Park and the President’s hizzouse.

(No drowning allowed!) >: [

(I got yelled at for taking this illegal photo.  Oops.)

And we also came across my mom’s old school…neat!  They had to go to school on Christmas Day.  Sad.

We wandered around some more, and for dinner we picked up a quick dinner.  Four boxes of food was less than $10.

The second day consisted of even more food - we went to Din Tai Fung for lunch…

visited another park, went to church, and I got to meet up Max for some night market shopping at Shi Da Ye Shi.

Fried chicken, stinky tofu, bubble tea milk, this OTHER tea drink with HALF cream (sooooooo ridiculously good) and ice.  YUMMMMM.

Today, we went around some more, first to Wu Fen Pu (the fashion district/cheap clothing area…sadly, I was not successful in my hunt for clothes) then to Taipei 101 area with the tower and mall.

Foodwise, we had amazingly delicious breads for breakfast, gua bao, dou hua and more shopping later.

Whew. Off to the Tainan tomorrow for the LARGEST night market…then back in Taipei again after two days.

Twelve hours and six dollars after taking off, I am here. I am in Japan. And wouldn’t you know it? The second there is wireless around for me the nab, I’m on it like an addict.

I almost forgot why I enjoyed flying so much. I think that this often happens when you do something over and over – when it becomes a habit, you stop thinking about anything else. Suddenly your brain turns off, and the auto pilot takes over. The luster fades away, and the film of the routine blurs everything.

A lot of people have been asking me whether or not I was excited about my Asia trip. In asking such a question, I’m sure that there is a certain expectation that I will simply gush, “SO excited” and then we can continue the conversation about great it is. But the truth is, ‘excited’ wasn’t a word that really described my feelings about this trip.

Careful anticipation, perhaps? When you spend a good portion of your life half-daydreaming about how something will be and suddenly you’re about to face the unfettered truth of reality – it’s like looking over the edge of a cliff. You can imagine every detail of the rush of wind hitting your face, the adrenaline coursing through your veins as the pit of your stomach wretches with a mingling of fear and glory. But it’s simply indescribable when your feet and body hit nothing.

Then again, I embellish. Okay, going to Asia isn’t quite the same as launching yourself over a cliff. It’s hardly scary and it’s definitely something to look forward to. But given that I have spent a good portion of two decades of my life wondering about the mysteries of the country that so many people visited and talked about, I am eager yet slightly nervous about what I will find.

Will I love it? Will I hate it? Will I be lost, or will it be everything that my brain could hardly have conjured up with its limitations?

Basically: I don’t want to overhype it for myself.

I know that a part of me carefully tempers the normal feeling of excitement because I just want to jump in WITHOUT preconceived notions. I want to just rip the blindfold off of my eyes and soak it all in. I don’t want to think about how it could possibly be, when I can actually see what it is.

As for what I was thinking earlier – the plane ride was everything I needed it to be. Time to sit and read a book (which, I am proud to say I finished) time to sleep when I want, and time to write. It’s as though time itself has stopped for a moment as I crossed the International Date Line. This pure freedom – within its own limits of course – comes very rarely these days.

Of course, not everything is peaches and cream. There are constant reminders that this little cabin of frozen time recirculates air. Darn you, random woman, for your liberal application of a perfume that continues to attack my olfactory system. I feel like my head was shoved in the bubble containing nothing but old woman smell, mingled together with a sickly sweet chocolate scent as another fellow passenger munches on a remaining packet of M&Ms. At least it wasn’t a fart. Those just tend to take forever to die in the recycled air.

At any rate, so far the Japan airport has been pretty nice. Quiet, with the exception of a few noises in the back from the store selling chocolates, snacks and other goodies. As I await for my next flight to Taipei, I already can’t wait to start exploring Japan.

Despite all my thoughts and anticipation for Asia, one thing is for sure: jokes about being in the future are still funny to me. But maybe that’s the impending jet lag setting in.

I promised myself that I would write more once NaNoWriMo was over.  Then again, I tend to promise a lot of things to myself.  If I managed to fulfill any of the promises that I actually make, I would be fluent in Mandarin and Japanese by now and have a puppy.  Ah, well.  Anyway, I started thinking lately about a lot of things.

And by a lot of things I mean…two things.

One thing that has been on my mind lately is how different this holiday feels compared to the other ones that I’ve had in the past 25 years of my life.  I’m not going home to Dallas this year to spend a few blissful days at home with family and friends.  I didn’t have a tree in my apartment, I didn’t go super crazy with Christmas shopping and cards all over the place.  In fact, there wasn’t much holiday going on this December other than my insistence that I listen to Christmas music whenever I had the chance in the car.

Another thought I had was about my blog.  Since I’ve been perusing around lately at other blogs from friends and 20-something year olds such as myself, I started to wonder why I didn’t blog as much anymore.  Sure, I could attribute it to how much I’ve been working lately.  Other times, it’s because I just don’t have anything interesting to share.  But then, I remembered how I used to write all the time in my old “blog.”  My incessant ramblings of my college life came to me easily, and I had no qualms about sharing it with the little digital slice of my world…those few friends and family that felt like reading my thoughts.

All of a sudden, in the working world, blogging didn’t seem to be so easy anymore.  I admit that I’m sometimes envious of those people who have their wordpress blogs and can say whatever they want.  I sort of miss that bit of freedom.  But now, much like any other public forum, a lot more care goes into my posts.  (I wish I could say a lot more care goes into the grammatical structure of my posts as well, but c’mon…who am I kidding here?)

So now, here I am.  Pondering about my holiday season, and wondering why I even bother to blog anymore.  After all, as publications such as Wired and online influencers have said before — blogging is sooooooo passe.

I think there are a few fundamental reasons why people blog:

1. To inform - these are the people that actually know their stuff, and want to share it with other people.  Whether its sharing news, giving tips, or providing insight, I find a lot of these blogs are quite niche.  Given that I can’t claim true expertise on…well…much, a niche blog just doesn’t feel right to me.

2. To share - These are the free floating blogs around the Internet that I sometimes envy.  You know the ones I’m talking about.  They seem to blather on about the little things in life, and yet they do so in such a manner that people are INTERESTED in what they have to write about.  Babies, I find, are an endless source of entertaining information for a lot of people.

3. To entertain - I think this goes without much explanation.

4. To feed their own self-aggrandizing agenda - Well…yeah.

Of course, I know that this isn’t a comprehensive list.  But since I only have a limited time on this free Wi-Fi in the airport (props, Google!) I thought I’d throw out some of those general buckets.

So why do I blog?  Well, in a way, it’s a little bit of 1 to 4.  I like entertaining my reader(s), I like sharing news, and I can’t help but share my bit of personal news for all to read.  Why?  I don’t know.  I think some people would say that it’s because I enjoy writing, and others would point to the fact that I’m a bit of an attention whore.  At any rate, a bit of a revelation hit me while I was daydreaming on the MUNI recently.

I was pondering both thoughts earlier about the holidays and blogging.  And I realized that there are a lot of reasons to blog, but this holiday season, maybe I should spread a little cheer through the things I write.  Sure, maybe nobody will read my post.  And overall, I’m sure nobody really reads my blog anyway.  But if I’m able to share just one warm fuzzy happy thought for the season, then that’s all the reason in the world to keep writing.  I’m happy knowing that somehow, I’m able to make someone smile.

Of course, I hope you reader(s) out there enjoy my upcoming posts about my trip to Asia.  Woo hoo!

Oh, but, as I was saying: a friend of mine (hi Weber) sent me this link from Reddit today, and I felt like it was perfect for this post.  Happy reading, everybody.  May you all be blessed with happiness and joy this season with your loved ones.

************

I was day tripping to Vancouver from Seattle and stopped in for lunch at a little cafe. From my window I saw a young teenage girl out in the cold, squatted down in a closed up businesses doorway, holding a small bundle in her arms. She was panhandling, people were mostly walking by ignoring her. She looked just broken.

I finished up my meal and went outside, went through my wallet and thought I’d give her $5 for some food. I got up to her and she was sobbing, she looked like she was 14-15. And that bundle in her arms was a baby wrapped up. I felt like I just got punched in the chest. She looked up putting on a game face and asked for any change, I asked her if she’s like some lunch. Right next door was a small quick-Trip type grocery store, I got a can of formula for the baby (very young, maybe 2-3 months old.), and took her back to the cafe though I’d just eaten. She was very thankful, got a burger and just inhaled it. Got her some pie and ice cream. She opened up and we talked. She was 15, got pregnant, parents were angry and she was fighting with them. She ran away. She’s been gone almost 1 full year.

I asked her if she’s like to go home and she got silent. I coaxed her, she said her parents wouldn’t want her back. I coaxed further, she admitted she stole 5k in cash from her Dad. Turns out 5k doesn’t last long at all and the streets are tough on a 15 year old. Very tough. She did want to go back, but she was afraid no one wanted her back after what she did.

We talked more, I wanted her to use my phone to call home but she wouldn’t. I told her I’d call and see if her folks wanted to talk to her, she hesitated and gave bad excuses but eventually agreed. She dialed the number and I took the phone, her Mom picked up and I said hello. Awkwardly introduced myself and said her daughter would like to speak to her, silence, and I heard crying. Gave the phone to the girl and she was just quiet listening to her Mom cry, and then said hello. And she cried. They talked, she gave the phone back to me, I talked to her Mom some more.

I drove her down to the bus station and bought her a bus ticket home. Gave her $100 cash for incidentals, and some formula, diapers, wipes, snacks for the road.

Got to the bus, and she just cried saying thank you over and over. I gave her a kiss on the forehead and a hug, kissed her baby, and she got on the bus.

I get a chistmas card every year from her. She’s 21 now and in college.

Her name is Makayla and her baby was Joe.

I’ve never really told anyone about this. I just feel good knowing I did something good in this world. Maybe it’ll make up for the things I’ve f-ed up.

*************

To read more, go here.

It’s pretty hard to believe that the month of November arrived and wrapped up - all in the blink of an eye.  Of course, true to my previous word, November was exceptionally busy because of NaNoWriMo.  I’m pleased to report that I did, in fact, pump out 50,000+ words.  Whether the sentences and words made any sense…well, that’s a whole other story (pun slightly unintended).

Other than completing the first rough draft of my very first novel (and I use that term loosely), a lot of other exciting things have been happening.  I decided to take on a new position with a new agency in a whole new city, meaning a whole new route to work.  One friend move to Los Angeles (sadly) and another found a new job in Michigan (congrats!!).  And, in just a matter of weeks, I’ll be going across the world to ASIA for my first trip to Taipei and Tokyo.  It still hasn’t truly hit me yet how many things I’ll have to get done in the next….

WEEK AND A HALF!?!?!?

Excuse me while I go mentally panic right about now.  

Yikes.