Crystal Mines of Love

This is a rarity: a post about LOVE on my blog. It's true. Believe it or not, the word/idea does cross my mind quite often, in various forms. Now, I shall make transparent one of these thoughts.
Today on the MRT, I sat across the train from a young couple. Now, this couple was a bit older than the usual highschool-hold-me-tight-I-hate-my-life couples you often see coming home at night. They were a bit more refined, yet active in their interaction. Thus, it was quite plain to see that this couple was in the early stages of love. Everything about them spoke clearly of their budding obsession: the way they hung on each other's every word, the way the managed to be oblivious yet incredibly acute to your surroundings at the same time, the way they forged excuses to be closer...to touch cheeks (which then granted an excuse to sneak in an all-too-short kiss) as they pointed out something to each other outside the window, even the clothes they wore. It was throbbing in their hearts and painted on their faces. It was refreshing. It was cliche. It was warming. It was nauseating. It was ....well, many of us have been there before.
My recounting of their actions and my musings on their joy is not the point of this discussion. No, it is more about the road my mind eventually waddled down while observing them...the road of thought of this time of relationship development. Now, my thoughts on the subject were fueled by my recent reading material: a short book called Lust, by Simon Blackburn. More specifically, my thoughts found themselves pondering a section of the book that describes the process referred to as "crystallization". It is exactly this stage of love in which this process is in fullest effect. But first, to quote on crystallization:
"'At the salt mines of Salzburg, they threw a leafless wintry bough into one of the abandoned working. Two of three months later they haul it out covered with a shining deposit of crystals. The smallest twig, no bigger than a tom-tit's claw, is studded with a galaxy of scintillating diamonds. The original branch is no longer recognizable. What I have called crystallization is a mental process which draws from everything that happens new proofs of the perfection of the loved one.'(Stendhal)"
This description gives us a lovely metaphor for this process. However, in my opinion, this metaphor leaves a bit t be desired.
First, as Blackburn points out, "...Stendhal's image seems a little overdone...If a partner sings out of tune, the lover does not so much hear it as in tune, as finds it strangely untroubling....They do see each others' cellulite, warts, and squints, but the strange thing is tha they do not mind them and may even find them enchanting." In my case, surely the young man has noticed that the boots she's wearing are a few months too soon, thus making them unpractical and ridiculous, but he probably views them as a charming quirk of her get-up.
Secondly, Stendhal's description of the branch as a "leafless wintry bough" seems a bit off. Using the metaphor as our lens, this image suggests that the relationship is tried and old, a stage at which point this 'crystallization' is no longer in full effect (or perhaps no effect or even the opposite). Anyway, anyone who claims to have been in love knows well of this stage and its consequences. Am I suggesting that these are negative consequences to be entirely avoided? Nay, this is perhaps the most enjoyable sage of love, and who knows if 'falling in love' would even happen without this process.
However, certainly there are some pitfalls to be vaulted in the area. High and clouded expectations lead to great disappointments as the crystals begin to dissolve over time. I dare say it is the duty of both the loved and the lover, the salt mine and the branch, to clarify a more balanced account of character. I would hate to see the lovers across me (whose company I'd grown fond of, or at least amused with, by the end of my metro journey) end up as another Taipei metro statistic, another wear-my-hood-and-hold-me-tighter casualty.

South Coast Lovin'

Well, this past weekend marked my last weekend to be spent in Taiwan. And a good weekend it was, as it was spent in the southern area of Taiwan (notably Kaohsiung and Kenting) with friends. Don't worry, this write-up will be shorter than the one following the east coast weekend. Also, pictures from Sunday have to be transferred to me (my camera wasn't on me so I used someone else's). In brief, here's what took place:

A-wei took Friday off from work, so we left Taipei around 9:30am. We took a bus, the cheapest option. The ride was somewhere around 4-5 hours...which seems like a lot, and yet, it is nothing..considering that we essentially went from one end of the island to the other. Our plans for the day were: " ". That's right, absolutely nothing...my favorite kind of plans. So, upon arriving in Kaohsiung, we grubbed up and headed to the nearest MRT station.
From there, we picked the first stop that looked interesting...not surprisingly, I picked out 'Martial Arts Stadium' as our stop. Fortunately, it turned out to be a good choice. The martial arts stadium itself consisted of a gym that served as the venue for all the martial arts events during the 2009 World Games that were held in Kaohsiung. Apparently, there was a traditional dance competition going on during our stay. We stuck around for a while and watched a couple dancers before becoming both bored (traditional chinese dance is not always very...captivating, in my book) and disgusted (at them all being as flexible as pre-teen asian girls....granted, some of them WERE pre-teen asian girls).
From there, we headed across the street to a 'Teenager Sports Park', which was essentially a pretty nice skate park. We decided it looked like an excellent place to train and just goof off, as we had the whole place to ourselves. So, we did just that. During this time, Jeff (whose chinese name is also A-wei) arrived and met up with us. At said park, we discovered that one of the ramps had an attached pit full of soft foam bricks, for skaters to practice their more dangerous jump maneuvers. Thus, it was a perfect place for us to practice some of our more dangerous maneuvers as well. After a stressful week, it was great to just hang out and drink a few brews with the guys (and yes, flipping repeatedly into a foam pit is my idea of drinking a few beers).
After our bodies had had enough, we met up with Jeff's cousin, and we all went to eat at a great DIY all-you-can-eat barbecue/hotpot place. Yum. After a satisfying (over-indulging) meal, we headed to the cousin's house for the night. In the late hours that followed, there was a good bout of much-more-hilarious-than-it-should-have-been card playing, which consisted of a game similar to Egyptian Rat Race (much slapping was involved). Bed.





A-wei leaping into the pit-o-bricks








Despite our early start, much of the next day was spent just trying to get to Kenting, which is the famous beach town in the southern tip of Taiwan. Basically, we ended up taking a train to take a bus to take another bus to get to Kenting, which took much longer than expected. We didn't arrive in Kenting till around 2:30. From there, we rented scooters from an awesome lady (who also hooked us up at the nearby hostel). After checking out our new digs ('twas a pretty nice room. Clean, two beds, private bath, cost us 1000NT total for the night), it was off to hit the beach. Unfortunately, the clear skies and sun from the morning had been replaced by lots of dark clouds. But, fun was still had. We also checked out a scenic park with a lighthouse. Not surprisingly, most of our time there was spent having fun down along the coast, jumping among the oddly-shaped rocks. That night, we visited a scenic spot, where there are ever-burning natural fires, due to natural gas deposits in the area. We also went to a few spots where the famous Taiwanese movie 'Cape No. 7' was shot and hit the night market before calling it a night. Sleep.





Coastal view in Kenting








We were up early again the next morning, to get back to Kaohsiung. The boys had to get back to Taipei for something that afternoon, and I was supposed to meet Ashlee, a student of mine, in Kaohsiung for some sight-seeing that day. Fortunately, getting back to Kaohsiung proved much easier and less time consuming, as we found some shady taxi service, that cost us about the same amount as getting to Kenting. Back in Kaohsiung, I waved the boys off and was picked up via car by Ashlee, Ashlee's sister (Renee), and Ashlee's sister's fiancee (Stone). As Stone owned a car, they were kind enough to volunteer to drive me around to a few spots in Kaohsiung. We went to a few places that had great scenic overlooks of the city and harbor, a historical place or two, on a ferry to a nearby island, some famous places in the city, and some great places to eat. I definitely filled my tourist quota for the month. Though it wasn't my preferred way of doing things, it was great having people familiar with the area chauffeur me around and introduce me (in great English, I might add) to the sights there. I'm quite grateful for their generosity.
Around 8, we arrived at the station to catch our train back to Taipei. Unfortunately, a lot of trains were more booked than usual, due to election weekend, so we had to wait till the 10 o'clock train. Fortunately, this gave us time to take another lap around the city, seeing the city at nighttime, which was quite beautiful. Then, it was a quick ride (only 1.5 hours!) on the high speed rail back to Taipei, where I was confronted by the reality that I only have one week left in Taiwan. Yikes!







Jeff, water, rock











Well, 'twas a good way to spend my last weekend in the country. It was great to see some of the southern coast and cities. Though Kaohsiung is also a very large city, I was surprised at how different it felt from Taipei et al. Anyway, here's to adventure...to hoodies being used as pillow and blanket, to plans being devoid of plans, to unfortunate events building friendships.

East Coast Lovin'

EDIT: Woops, forgot to add a few photos...now there's a photo for each day, give or take. For those on facebook, the rest of the pictures can be viewed in the 'Taiwan Part 三' album

For those who aren't in the know, I have less than a month left during my stay in Taiwan. Thus, I've been stepping up my last-minute travel plans.
This weekend was the long-awaited trip to the beautiful east coast of Taiwan...more specifically, Hualien. Hualien is positioned rather unfortunately, geographically speaking...sandwiched between mountains and the ocean. How awful!
So, the basic plan was thus: Thursday night - arrive in Hualien, spend the night at my couchsurfing host's place. Friday - go exploring, find a spot to train, whatever, until meeting Josh at the train station and sleeping in a hostel for the night. Saturday - meet Yaling at the station, explore Toroko Gorge. Sunday - go the opposite direction of the gorge and visit the coast. see Josh off that night and go to Nanao to spend the night at Regina's (young student of mine) grandparents house. Monday - see the area where Rick (Regina's father) grew up, more beach and mountains, return home to Banciao that night.
Of course, things don't always go as planned, for better or for worse. If the above synopsis was sufficient, please stop here. If more details are desired, read on. Here's what went down:

Obviously, the best way to start any trip is to begin in a sleep-deprived state. Tuesday was a late night, and Wednesday night was spent at Corey's falling asleep late on the floor and then waking up for bagua. After bagua, I returned to the apartment to quickly pack and make some last-minute arrangements with Yaling.
After many complications, I arrived in Hualien (via train) much later than I had hoped for, around 9:30. My gracious host from couchsurfing, Skaya, (who had agreed to host me, in spite of my last-minute request. Not only was I fortunate enough to have a generous, outgoing host/companion my age, she was also an excellent source of knowledge, as she is studying History and Geography in Hualien) picked me up from the station and immediately took me to the night market, to cure my hunger. What a cure it was. I was treated to one of Hualien's famous foods, whose Chinese name I can't remember, but it basically translates to 'coffin'. The type I chose had chicken and cabbage in the middle of a thick slab of butter-battered bread. Delicious. Then, to her favorite bbq place for a healthy dosage of 'things on a stick' for dessert. After seeing a movie, we headed out to her apartment. On the scooter ride there, I noticed a familiar feeling seeping in: I was no longer in the city. I could see the horizon at times, the buildings were not as numerous (nor as ridiculously tall), the air was cleaner, traffic lights weren't necessary every block, and where those...stars I could see many of? It quickly became apparent that this trip was exactly what the doctor ordered.
After a night's sleep on the surprisingly comfortable floor, Friday arrived. Skaya, misinterpreting my flimsy plans as potential boredom, offered to take me to Lake Liyu (SW of Hualien City), to enjoy the area while she was busy. It certainly was an area worth enjoying. There's a path that goes around the lake, with several trails that branch off into the mountains. I meandered along the path, stopping to take advantage of a nice reading spot. As I continued, eventually late-morning drowsiness wore off and early-afternoon ambition kicked in. I arrived at a trail that appeared to go up the mountain, in some fashion. Truth is...yes, yes it did. The trail went up whatever mountain it was, switch-backing at times, straight up at others. About halfway up said mountain, it became apparent that this was more ambitious and time-consuming than I had assumed. I had to get back down to the other side of the lake in time for Skaya's return. However, I was enjoying myself too much to not take on the rest of the challenge. After double-timing it up the rest of the mountain, I was rewarded with an awesome view, sweat-soaked clothes, and a rain cloud hovering (oh so close) over my head. The view was enjoyed, the pictures taken, and the body given a brief rest. However, the looming dark clouds (which I now seemed to be in) and deadline ushered me back into motion...joyous downhill motion! The path (different path, twas a loop) back down the mountain was a bit tricky at times. Everything was a bit rain-slicked, so it was best to avoid the bare wooden tiles and stepping stones. Jogging it made for some precise footwork, but it beat the alternatives. However, during some stretches, the steps were wider as the spaces between the wood/stone steps increased. This allowed me to experience pure joy for the 2nd time this trip. For not the first time in my life (though it hasn't happened nearly often enough), I realized that I have known no greater bliss than running down a beautiful mountain. In those all-too-brief stretches, I knew only pure joy. There was no fear...partly because I have gained enough confidence in my physical precision, and partly because there was no point...even if, assuming the worst case scenario, I somehow managed to cause my own death...I know no better place for my end. Anyway, the mountain climb and descent took about 2 hours total, and I successfully arrived back to my starting point in time for some light rain and Skaya's return. Truth be told, it was the best training I've done in a long time.








Top o' the mountain, Lake Liyu below






Then, it was back to Hualien for a healthy dosage of another famous Hualien food. Refueled, we headed off to Chisingtan Beach, north of Hualien along the coast. Sigh, another beautiful place. Now, this isn't your stereotypical, perfectly sandy, babes-in-bikinis kind of beach. The beach itself is made of rocks. Many, many smooth rocks. The waves of time have washed them over and over, smoothing them to perfection and creating interesting patterns in their surfaces. It IS November, and the weather wasn't stellar, so there were only a few souls in sight. It was damn impressive. Also, the wind was blowing and the waves were surprisingly large. Though the lack of sun minimized the potential of nice colorful photographs, I do love me some mountains peeking through clouds. On a side note, there's no swimming allowed on this beach (as with most of the east coast), as the depth drops very suddenly only a short distance from dry land.
Post-beach, we made a stop at an aboriginal leatherworking shop before heading to Amigo's Hostel, near the train station, where Skaya and I parted ways. I settled in, dried some clothes, and killed some time until Josh arrived, at which time we beef-noodled it and bunkered in for the night. End Friday.
Saturday morning, we fooled around Hualien a bit while waiting for Yaling to arrive. Her train arrived later than we had planned, so we had to make some quick decisions, as we needed to get to the gorge ASAP. It was decided to take the bus to Tianshiang, located in the gorge. There we would book a room in a hostel and explore the area with what little daylight we would have left. So, off we went into the gorge. The bus ride was about an hour and a half of twisting roads, breathtaking beauty, and harrowing close encounters with walls/guardrails/vehicles. Upon arriving in Tiansiang, I think we were all a bit grateful to be on our own two feet again. We did a quick survey of Tiansiang (using our favorite method of wandering aimlessly), which is just a small town/outpost situated in the gorge (but very much still on a hill). It had a handful of small food shops, a convenience store, a police station (?? there were cops there??), 3 hostels, and a visitor center. We decided upon the old Catholic hostel and were given a 4-bed dorm style room with a bathroom. Apparently, the only decent food in this place was at another of the 3 hostels, the Youth Activity Centre...so we ate our dinner there that night and breakfast the following morning. We had no luck finding any short trails to explore before darkness fell. We were discouraged to find one trail closed, the road to the west (which goes beyond Tiansiang, deeper into the gorge) closed, and learned that the hot springs were also closed. So, we just did a bit of playing among the rocks by the river, made plans for the next day, and that was that.
That night was spent lounging around, taking a good shower, etc. Josh and I got involved in playing some cards with another foreigner group (mostly from the states). It was obvious that it wasn't exactly our type of crowd, but we were grateful for a little company and fun. Truth be told, playing 'Asshole' on a picnic table in the middle of nowhere made me think of similar situations with Laura and the boys up at the cabin...I would have preferred that instead, but hey. That night, fortune smiled upon me as the clouds temporarily parted to reveal a twinkling star show. I spent a nice amount of time lying on my back on a bench on the roof, gazing...then, some qigong was the perfect was the perfect nightcap. Once again, pure medicine.




From the hostel






We got a pretty early start the next morning and were greeted by a decent breakfast, more clouds, and more decisions to be made. Since the road to the west was closed, we had one direction to go: east, back towards the entrance. So, we decided to do it our own way (what better way is there?). We would hike the road back to the entrance, partaking in any tempting trails along the way. So, we did just that. The distance was about 18km, plus any additional mileage the trails tacked on. 18km of cliff faces, boiling rapids, rocky turns, close calls with tour buses, and a feeling of pure majestic power that didn't fade one bit. There was some grumbling and some sore legs, but when all was said and done, I think we all agreed that it was the right decision. Having plenty of time to soak all the majestic beauty of the gorge forged many memories for us, and not just pictures. Suffice to say, Toroko Gorge did not disappoint.
However, upon arriving at the entrance/HQ and checking the bus schedule, a big problem arose. I had left my duffel bag (the others had no extra luggage, as I was staying the longest) in Tiansiang, to be retrieved later that day....buuuuuut there were no more buses going to Tiansiang. So, I asked the rangers at the visitor center if there were any other options. My options were laid out as thus: call a taxi (which would cost an arm and a leg) or wait until tomorrow. Well, since most of my stuff was in my duffel (including my laptop, which I was NOT psyched to leave in a hostel unattended overnight (however locked the room might be), I wasn't thrilled about waiting for tomorrow...and also because going from hualien to tiansiang and back would take 3+ hours out of our next day. BUT THEEENNNN, fortune smiled upon me, for not the first time this trip. The nice ranger lady I was talking to offered to take me there in her car, after her shift is over. Wow, great! When's her shift over? In 5 minutes. Uh...ka-ching? So, she drove all of us back up to Tiansiang and back down (which took a depressingly short period of time, given the length of our journey...), all the way to the train station in Hualien (where she lives, so at least that part wasn't too out of the way for her), in time for Josh to catch his train back to Taipei. Plans were changed, as Rick informed us that his parents weren't going to be home, so we were better off staying in Hualien. The remaining two of us checked back in to Amigo's, which is run by a super nice lady and her super nice dog. We rented a scooter (300 NT for 24 hours for a decent scooter) to get around Hualien City and to the coast. This allowed us to hit the night market (where I devoured coffin sandwich) and a nighttime visit (going there blindly was a bit of an adventure in itself...) to Chisingtan. Unfortunately, the clouds were still out in full force.








Gorgeous (hehehe get it?)










Monday arrived with confusion in tow, as I woke up wondering why there was a big white guy getting changed on a bed across from me...right, hostel. We weren't in too much of a hurry, so we slept in for a bit, abused the wifi, and had a little breakfast. Then, we made a more proper visit to Chisingtan. The waves were large, the water warmer than expected, and the clouds dynamic. Excellent. After spending a nice chunk of chill time there, we made a brief stop at a nearby 'ranch' (which was basically a tourist trap consisting of 3 goats and an expensive restaurant). Then, it was back to Hualien for more famous food: mashu (muaji, as the taiwanese call it). We hit a couple more spots and dawdled around a bit...I don't think either one of us was returning to the trenches of Taipei. However, duty and our own beds called. After gathering our stuff and saying our goodbyes to the super nice hostess at Amigo's, we caught the 5:50 out of Hualien.




Chisingtan Beach






And that's that. Someday, I will return. I hope my companions enjoyed it as much as I.

(Not so) Rainy Days

After a chaotic night's sleep, I woke up to a dreary morning. My body ached, my family informed me of my failure to pay parking tickets (which is now resulting in my mother's credit rating being threatened, which is ridiculous, but sorry!), and the weather was miserable. Gray, rainy, and gloomy. Most devastatingly, that meant no outdoor training.
However, in spite of the circumstances, I was determined not to let a good Friday be spent in the dumps. Fortunately, the world threw me a couple bones.

First of all, congyoubing lady (who doesn't actually sell congyoubing, apparently) was still out today. I needed one badly, and she didn't let me down.

Secondly, A-wei has been diligently working on translating some parkour video interviews into Chinese recently. This is important to us because there is little to no parkour material in Chinese, so it is hard for those who train to learn, and those who are ignorant to know. Anyway, today he kicked off a new website to help with the translating project. I spent a good portion of my day helping to get that going and worked on some of the translation work. My chinese is not good enough to do direct translations, so I help translate some of the English material into language that A-wei can more easily understand and translate. The site can be here.


Thirdly, upon checking my email, I learned that I was to receive a free copy of Borderlands, a recently released PC game that I had been anticipating, but couldn't afford to shell out the 50 bucks for. For those who don't know, Borderlands is a FPS/RPG hybrid, built on the simple formula of shooting bad guys and collecting the shiny loot that their corpses drop. Why would I want said game? Chaotic co-op goodness. Mmmm I love me some co-cop. Anyway, a week or so ago I learned that one of my favorite gaming websites, Co-Optimus, was having a Borderlands giveaway contest. As the rules state, you must submit an audio file of your best 'Berserker Scream'. The Berserker is the slightly psychotic, run in fists-blazing melee brawler character in the game, who apparently has an infamous battle cry (scream). Additionally, the rules say "...I don't mean any scream, it needs to be an honest to god "I'm gonna go over there and punch 20 midgets in the face" scream. Anyone can yell, but it takes talent to go berserk." Well, instead of taking a more simple approach, I decided to take their rules very literally aind included that line in my submission (see below). I tried to make my submission fit along the lines of the over-the-top humor already existing in the Borderlands universe, as was displayed by the infamous trailers for the game starring Claptrap. Anyway, apparently it was good enough to win one of two free copies...another thing to look forward to when I return home.

'Berserker Scream'


Hope everyone's day was good, till next time.

Wilde Children Tears

So for Regina's (one of my students, a 13 yr old girl) lessons, I often prepare a short story or fable. This week, I picked one a bit different than the norm for us. I chose Oscar Wilde's The Nightingale and the Rose. As you can see, the language is a bit difficult for a junior high taiwanese student. However, I thought it would be good to expose her to a different writing style than the academic stuff she's used to, and it would be a good change of pace for her not to have to worry so much about exactly knowing every word and just enjoy the read-through. It's a sad story, especially for someone who didn't understand/appreciate the more ironic aspects of it. As such, while reading aloud of the nightingale's painful sacrifice, I could see the tears start to form in her eyes (truth be told, I wasn't exactly dry myself) and slowly drift south. Her turns reading were especially painful, as her slow and deliberate reading added a whole new layer to the sorrowful language. After reading through it, we discussed it briefly...and it became quite clear that, although many of the words and the language was unknown to her, she had a quite clear understanding of the plot and the ideas involved. She went so far as to briefly rant about the shallow views of the girl and how it relates to her environment in her school and culture.
What was astonishing to me was the great example of the power of expression, even when comprehension is limited.

The Motley Mario Crew

Today's boring topic is...yep, you might have guessed it, parkour. More specifically, our parkour crew here in Taipei. One of the great things about training parkour with a group is that everyone brings something different to the table. Both in terms of personality/character and skill sets. Everyone has their own strengths, weakness, specialty, knowledge, etc. This is especially true of a group like ours, where our members are compromised from diverse sources. To exemplify my meaning, I'll give a brief breakdown of our 'core' members. 'Core' being a loose term that has nothing to do with skill level...merely my judgment of how often they train and how committed they are. In no particular order...

Sona "hei ren" - Sona's kind of the granddaddy of parkour in the Taipei area. Of our group, he is the most experienced and most skilled. In spite of his flashy wushu background, his parkour exhibits great technique and power in even the most basic of movements. Skills aside, Sona's greatest contribution to the group is his role of teacher. He is a great source of knowledge (with solid examples to boot) and is always helping others push themselves.

Josh "spiderman" - though relatively new to parkour, having only started training once he discovered this group in Taipei sometime this year, Josh is always a great source of determination and eagerness. It's clear that Josh has always had the parkour spirit in him, as is evident upon witnessing his specialty: climbing stuff. This fool loves to climb trees, lampposts, etc. straight up. Josh also has some of the coolest looking wipeouts ever, from which he always rebounds quickly.

A-wei "bill" - a-wei is another beginner, having only started a month or two ago. However, a-wei has an unstoppable will and seizes every opportunity possible to train. He's learning quickly (as well as getting in shape), and it's becoming clear that he's naturally adept at the 'flow' side of things. He may not know many techniques yet, once he's like a graceful charging rhino, once he sees a line he doesn't stop until he has run his course. A-wei also has some of the coolest sounding wipeouts ever, from which he also always rebounds quickly. If we could combine the visuals of Josh's spills and the audio of A-wei's....it'd be perfect entertainment.

Xiao Cuo "xiao pengyou" - is a walking, talking monkey. he started training with sona maybe a year and a half ago or so, so he is one of the more experienced members. He's also the most committed taiwanese youngster we have in the area, and could do a lot to shape the face of parkour in taiwan. Unfortunately, he's wrapping up his senior year of high school, so time for training does not come often for him these days. When he is there, his presence is highlighted by boundless energy.

Jeffrey " a-wei number 2" - Jeff's a friend of a-wei's that just started training with us recently. He has no previous experience, however learning the movements are coming pretty naturally to him as he is a b-boy (breakdancer). His b-boy background leads to some unique traits in his parkour movements, which we could all learn from...namely, his smooth style and flair, interesting flow and vision, and amazing bodyweight suspension.

Me "mario" - well, you know me, but perhaps you don't really know my journey thus far in parkour. After training on and off for about 2 years privately and with my bro, being in Taipei was the the first opportunity I had to train with a group. Falling in love with it all over again, I've been training seriously since my first week here. I reckon my specialty would be things of an 'agile' nature, particularly movements that involve quick leg/foot work (wall runs, tic-tacs, etc.).

Two short videos have been thrown together recently (a lot of the footage is from a recent trip to danshui), the first by sona and the second by josh. They can be viewed below.


'Oktoberfoon' edited and music by Sona (for the uncultured, the music is mixed from mario)


'Jumping man II' edited and music by Josh

Week In, Week Out

Well, when you stop to think about it, life is good. Or, if you're the other kind of person, when you stop thinking about it, life is good. Of course, it helps if you're in my situation. I've been prodded to write some more mundane, daily life sort of posts. So here's a quick rundown of the highs and lows that have stuck in my brain during the past week or so, just as a kind of snapshot of a typical week I suppose.

Highlights
-I wore pants...AND it wasn't raining when I did. weird.
-realizing (for the not the first time in my life) that friends come from the most unusual sources
-the look on my students face as she proudly told me her english test score
-finding the time to finish a good computer game (Mass Effect)
-while playing said game, remembering why, in my opinion, video games are such a powerful and potent medium
-seeing how far my balance has come
-eating cheap, delicious food (have I ever mentioned that before?)
-the hilarity of Josh and Cat trying to awkwardly flirt with each other in 2/3 English, 1/3 Chinese
-getting my ass kicked (every Saturday) by someone who has some gray hairs
-after getting ass kicked, a relaxing lunch of shui jiao while discussing the intricacies of women
-having lessons cancelled
-finding the time to finally finish a song that had been in my 'To-Finish' queue for too long and being happy with the outcome
-making decisions regarding the future a bit more concrete
-eating cheap, delicious food
-experiencing the energy of another Go Chic show
-a plethora of good games coming out this week

Unfortunately, it's not always sunshine and sugar plums.

The Lows
-no one wanting to sit next me on the MRT (next to that weird foreigner?? last resort only)
-waking up in the morning because I was dreaming that the waffles were ready (just plain cruel)
-trying to remember what hugs are
-having lessons cancelled ( -$$)
-listening to previously-mentioned song the next day on the MRT and realizing that it's pretty awful
-having to make another new hole in my belt (why are things bigger now...)
-realizing my time here is coming to a close
-wanting to make an employee's day a little bit brighter but lacking the communication skills to do so
-a plethora of good games coming out, thus threatening my wallet into further depression

Well, those are the ones that I've managed to skim off the top of my brain.
Till next time...endure, enhance, enjoy.

The Epic Song

So epic, it'll melt your face off.

A bit more of a comic approach to this one. This is a recording of the The PeeBee&Jay's (fictional band) performing their 'The Epic Song' live.

'The Epic Song'

THE KING PENGUIN (Revised)

EDIT: Picture has been revised. Upon several reviews, I wasn't happy with the 'colored-in' look of the poster. More clean and plain now.

So for those whom I haven't mentioned this to...a while ago Corey came across a shirt and generously brought it back for my wardrobe because he thought it was perfect for me. I dare anyone to differ.

As CEO of Pengy Poo Productions (the label all my crappy creative works are produced under, for those who don't know), I felt it necessary to have a proper business picture, and this shirt provided the perfect opportunity.
So, here's the 'King Penguin' holding a Pengy Poo poster (fake).

Zelda Breaks it Down

This week's song is a bit different. I love Zelda games (who doesn't). I love the music from these games (who doesn't). So, like all things I love, I decided to ruin it.
This week's song is 'Trifechno' (Triforce + techno...get it?!?!?!). It's based on Zelda's theme (usually referred to as 'Zelda's Lullaby') from Ocarina of Time. Call it a cover, remix, whatever. This is my first time using some more techno elements (namely, a beat sequencer...though it does switch to analog drums at the end) and also features some old-school NES synths. Till next time, go relive some Zelda.

'Trifechno'

Music Connectivity

It was brought to my attention that the songs I've posted have not been playing reliably. I switched file hosts, and they seem to be working again...let's hope it stays that way. If not, let me know so that I'm aware of the problem.

Hope everyone had a good weekend.

Scott 'n' Scott

Just tossed a new video up on the Tubes of You.
Very short, light, video. The video was a good technical challenge for me...a bit more complicated than usual (won't bore readers with the technical details here) Only took a couple of hours, but the setup, execution, and editing was a bit tricky.
This may be the first in a series of episodes, or it may not...not sure.
Anyway, watch it below or on the tube. Till next time, enjoy.

For the Gain

Back to 'roots', no frills here. Hopefully it captures a fraction of the energy that is generated and consumed by training. Let's get out there yo

'Train'

Risk and Injury

To follow up the video posted previously, here's a bit more on a subject that David talked about. Risk and injury...mostly in relation to parkour.

Every time we train, we put our bodies at risk. Why? Is it because we are drunk-on-adrenaline youngsters who find it exhilarating? Well, partly, sure. But it is also because the risk is a necessary part of the training. Not to start any debates on technical terms...but in my eyes, parkour is not a sport...the same way that martial arts is not a sport (sport karate, etc. aside). In parkour, we do not train to be better during 'games'. There is no competition, no endgame. We train for real-life situations (not going to get into the 'why' of parkour, only the training 'for what'). If we trained the exact same skills in an indoor, padded, safe gym all the time, we would not be practicing parkour...we would simply be awkward gymnasts. Similar to what David points out in the interview, to practice boxing is not the same as learning how to fight. Thus, it is the same with us. To train for real-life situations (whatever they may be), we must practice in said real life. On rails. Across gaps. On sketchy terrain. On concrete. Training a 10 ft. precision jump on flat ground is NOT the same as training a 10 ft. from between two rooftops. Half of everything is mental.

The second reason is that in parkour, risk is a necessary consequence of challenge and progress. If an artist wants to challenge his skills, he draws something intricate or something he has never drawn before. If a gamer wants a challenge, he'll set the difficulty to 'Hard'. If a philosopher wants a challenge, he'll contemplate the reason why girls are so weird. When failure happens (as it inevitably does from time to time when we challenge ourselves), the artist can crumple up his paper and start anew...the gamer can reload/respawn and try again...the philospher can smoke some pot to clear his head from the confusion. For us (not that we are exclusive in this aspect), failure means falling, breaking, etc. That's just how it goes...this is the price you pay for progress. If you are comfortable with everything you do in parkour, you are doing it wrong. Thus, this fear of injury is not something to dwell on...it can not be something you dwell on.

Obviously, 'fear' is closely related to risk and injury. Fear is the greatest ally and the greatest enemy of any parkour practitioner. Balance on this issue is key. Listening to your fear and understanding it while not letting it control you. Listening to these fears helps prevent injury, helps us understand our strengths and weaknesses, and helps us gain a better insight into who we are and our perceived notions of ourselves vs. the truth. If you can understand the difference between your mind's 'perceived notions' of what you're capable of and what you're actually capable of, then you can control it. Obviously, this control of fear (as with most aspects of parkour) has many benefits in the rest of our lives as well.
Finally, to punctuate this discussion, below is a video of the afeared almighty injury. This was shot at a university in Hsinchu. This particular wallrun is bit tricky as you have to run up and twist your body at the last moment to reach the perpendicular ledge. After a few attempts, Sona and I made it up. However, after training a bit more at that spot, someone wanted to capture said feat on video. I opted out so Sona stepped up to the plate. He was getting tired and probably didn't listen (self-admittedly) to that nagging fact and its accompanying fear enough. Thus, his right arm comes up at a bad angle and smashes into the ledge.



Got himself a nice gushing gash and bruised bone...caused quite a scene in the bathroom.
These are scars we will gladly wear, as each one reminds us of a lesson learned.

From the Man's Mouth

While I was busy (very, I swear) preparing for a lesson, I got an email from Sona pointing me to an interview with David Belle (in short, the main icon and legend of parkour) that's been translated up on Youtube. David Belle's always been a class act, often demonstrating not just technique but philosophy and good will. Here, he goes into topics such as the 'why' of parkour, the risk, some general philosophy (parkour and otherwise), and a few other interesting notes. There's also some pretty slick footage peppered in as well.
Anyway, if you're interested in parkour at all, definitely give this a watch. Otherwise, if you're a bit ignorant on subject, this is a nice little intro video, straight from the horse's mouth.

Another Day Goes, Another Night Flows

Bit of a change of pace from the previous songs.
This song is 'Passage', the tale of RJ the Immortal (fictional character).

Hopefully the vocals sound a bit better on this one, due to an upgrade in hardware and knowledge. However, it's still my voice (albeit echofied this time), so you've been warned...no advancement on that front.
As always, I recommend listening with some headphones or decent speakers. A lot of this electronically-sampled kind of music has a large dynamic range, so if you're just using laptop speakers or some such, you'll miss a lot of the lower end, and the higher end will probably sound pretty tin-tin-tinkly (that's a technical term, totally). Also, when I do the actual mixing, I use my good headphones, so all the levels are balanced for that environment.

'Passage'

Chasing Bags

For my brothers.



'Chasing Bags'

Musical Spelunking

As I mentioned earlier, the most recent and current segment of my journey into creative technologies has been music. Over the past couple weeks, I began learning the ropes of some very basic audio mixing, sequencing, effects, etc. So, here are the two offerings that I managed in these couple weeks...for all to suffer with me. These songs were created with REAPER and various virtual instrument plugins. I'm not going to attempt to throw them into a genre because...well...I'm not sure where they would fall. It's not even really stuff that I would normally listen to.

'Foray: A Friendly Frog's Tale', the first song, is the first test project that actually made it past the 'just fooling around' stage. It's short, upbeat, and uptempo. Hopefully you'll hear why the title is apt.
'Today Is Not', the second song, is my second attempt. This time, a much darker theme and some vocals. Though, for those wishing to hear my elusive singing voice, I hate to disappoint you, but you're out of luck. There's not much in the way of singing, and the vocals are all electronically distorted (partly for educational reasons and partly for the tone of the song).

Just click on the play button until it...plays.

'Foray: A Friendly Frog's Tale'



'Today Is Not'

Development of HL2 Mod: 'Discourse' Announced

This is the official announcement of the development of the upcoming Half-Life 2 mod, Discourse.
This blog post will serve as a way to inform my readers what I've been up to, and as a place to link to from external sites (such as ModDB), for those who want more details on the mod. In addition to a few official news updates on ModDB, I will continue posting on here with tidbits on what I'm working on, thoughts on the development process, etc.

So yes, this game will be a mod based on the Half-Life 2 engine...more specifically, the Episode One version, as I wanted it to be accessible to those who don't own Episode Two. For those who aren't familiar with the term 'mod', wikipedia is your friend: Mod.
So what is 'Discourse'? My vision for the project is such: to create a short, intimate story located in the Half-Life 2 universe...a story that is related to, yet not dependent on the HL2 storyline. In 'Discourse', you will play as Sam, a 17 year old boy, who is now the sole survivor of his family. He lives with two other families in their cramped apartment, contained in their resident cage by their oppressors. I don't want to give away too much of the story line, as it will hopefully be adequately expressed in-game. And because it's based on the HL2 universe and most of the players will be familiar with that already, the general story of these 'rebel' families is already known. This game is meant to dive into that aspect, to show just that sliver of the universe in more detail, to bring the feeling of it to life. As such, this is by no means an epic combat mod. You won't be battling Striders with RPGs for 4 hours on top of a mountain. This is a much more down-to-earth, nitty gritty experience. Much of it will be dialogue-driven, though there will be combat.












Development thus far: the development team currently consists of my beloved laptop and myself. I started working on this mod shortly after arriving in Taiwan. My mission was two-fold: A) since arrving in Taiwan, I've been doing a bit of a tour of creative skills, dabbling a bit in several forms, learning and loving each one. This mod gives me a reason to continue to try out and work on these skills and bring it all into something. B) I've always been interested in game development and modding has always seemed like a great way to start getting my hands a bit dirty. So why Half-Life 2? It's based on HL2 for pretty simple reasons: it comes with Hammer, a fairly easy editor, a solid engine (Source) that is accessible by many people, and I love the game and universe of HL2.
But right, back to the mod's progress...so far, I have done maybe 60% of the level designing (see screenshot above, it's a modified version of a pre-existing hl2 map), with a lot more work on lighting, scripting, etc. to come. I've worked on importing a new weapon into the mod which is nearly finished. The plot, characters, and script is finished, save for a much-needed revision...all of which was completed during trips on the MRT (the subway here). Currently, I am trying to round up a few voice actors to fill the remaining roles. Once the dialogue is all recorded, I can begin scripting the characters' animations (lip-synching, postures, etc.) and plugging the choreographed sequences into the game.

Oh, the release date I'm shooting for is sometime in December, at the end of my trip.

Well, that's all for now. Continue checking in for the occasional new media, status update, rant, etc. Cheers!

Ghosts and Sunsets

To continue the recent flurry of blog posts, I shall recount the tale of last Thursday. After deciding that I had done enough physical activity in the past four days to last me until the weekend, and that it was time to catch up on some Chinese vocabulary, fate decided that it was not the appropriate day for either. Instead, Yaling suggested that we go 'into the woods.' Realizing that studying can wait (let's be honest, always) and intrigued by what 'going into the woods' involved, I readily agreed. A scooter ride away was Tianshang mountain, which was our apparent destination. We didn't really know where the road leading up to this mountain was located, so we spent a good while zooming around some backroads, which was really quite enjoyable...a stone's throw from the city yet a separate universe of its own.

We eventually found the elusive road, which granted us a nice parking spot. From there, it was a short walk to a rather large temple in the mountains. At the entrance, due to Yaling's apparently too-short-for-temple shorts, we were sprayed down with uh...holy water, or something, and Yaling had to wear a makeshift skirt. Entering the temple area, I marveled at how many people had journeyed here on this day. Then, I remembered that it was during the Ghost Festival, which explained all the fires in Banqiao I had seen. We were just passing through this temple on the way up the mountain, but I stopped to take a picture of the valley from the balcony. Upon turning around, I realized that Yaling had not seen me stop and was nowhere to be seen. Simultaneously, the gong sounded and everyone moved to the benches for the next 'service' (period of group worship...I won't guess at the proper term). As I began searching for the Yaling, a monk, misunderstanding my confusion and despair, guided to me a spot in the middle of one of the benches. Long story short, I found myself in the middle of a Buddhist worship session, 'participating' to some extent. This involved a lot of chanting (reading from the book in front of us...I just flipped the pages at the appropriate times and hummed along) followed by a bout of repetitions of more melodic singing and prostrations. We repeated this cycle about 3 or 4 times. I can't say how long the whole thing was. However, it was quite an experience.



view from the temple








Upon being released, Yaling snatched me back up (having easily spotted the white guy with an indigo shirt), confused as to why I had jumped into the fray. We passed through the temple (walking out the back gate of this temple seriously felt like I was in some asian RPG or something) and started our way up the rest of the mountain. This walk can be best described (well, not sufficiently described at all) by its sounds. I heard so many odd sounds (animals, I assume) during the climb that I can't begin to describe...purely because they were things I had never heard before. After some more beautiful scenery and walking uphill for a moderate length of time (so much for no physical activity), we reached our destination: 承天寺 （Chengtiansi）, which was another temple. This one was much higher up, smaller in size, and of lower key. In contrast to the last one, there was absolutely no one around...even the owner, who we assume was the guy clearing the hillside for some tea planting, had left a note saying, "Gone for a while, help yourself." The 'help yourself' bit referred to the small shop that was located in the temple, which had some drinks, snacks, etc. We gladly helped ourselves (which we, of course, left payment for), especially to the drinks. After finding a chair, a fan, and boiling some water, I basked in one of those perfect moments. A subtle orgy of the senses, if you will. The fan was blowing on my back, the warm glow of the setting sun on my front, the aroma of incense burning in the temple, the taste of noodles sliding down my throat, the image of looking out from the temple at the sun sinking past the treeline into the valley, the utter quietness. Just one of those moments when you feel your very being is slowly melting away into the Ether. I know I will have that mental image for a long time to come.




Inside of 承天寺













Looking out...
overexposed




Alas, we eventually departed, a lazy race to get down the mountain before the sun disappeared. We won that race in the nick of time, arriving at the lower temple right before it closed. We had to sneak Yaling through, as she had no makeshift skirt on this time. After playing the dodge-the-monks for 5 minutes, we safely made it back to the now-deserted winding streets and lonely dogs.

The If-Only Top 10

For those who do not hear have the horrifying experience of knowing me in day-to-day life, it's important to know that I am constantly adding things to an eternally large list of Life Goals, most of which are ridiculous ambitions that will never grace any other list of ordinary successful achievements. Many times, when I add to this list, it is an idea for a band that I dream of participating in (who doesn't). Usually these bands follow some extreme theme or niche. The following list is my Top 10 (oh yes, there are much more than that) of these bands that I would like to see the light of day
In no particular order:

Eggplant Souffle - improv. windmill arms and throat. it is best described in demonstration
Debut Single - well, it's an improv band, so hard to say

Oi Punk - oi-punk with almost completely nonsensical lyrics (but with just enough sense to make you wonder if they're geniuses or just stoned)
Debut Single - "Oi!"

Metal - strictly a cover band, destroying, in metal style, the favorite songs of our pastime. The more deadly serious, the better
Debut Single - "Mary Had a Little Lamb"

Ska - unimaginably upbeat and uptempo ska and some swing
Debut Single - "Pick It the Hell Up!"

CornerTwitch - simplistic and minimalistic music, with lyrics taken straight from Corey's spam inbox, done completely straight
Debut Single - "She'll Babel About Your Tower"

Surf - ranging from surf-punk to the relaxing sounds of tiki, rarely with vocals. Shoes optional.
Debut Single - "Infraromp (cover)"

Hardcore - unforgiving straightedge hardcore. hard, fast, and to the point.
Debut Single - "X's On Your O's"

Nerdcore - nerdcore rap, simple beats and dark synths, rapping about nerd culture, done completely straight.
Debut Single - "Can't Touch D's 20s"

Silent - using 4'33" as an inspiration, this band would simply consist of luring audiences into thinking they were going to receive an epic performance, only to experience songs of complete silence (or, rather, the sounds of the environment all around them)
Debut Single - "Symphonic Ambience No. 35"

Me First and the Gimme Gimmes Cover - band covering songs all done by Me First and the Gimme Gimmes....which yes, would make this a cover band of a cover band. Songs and spirit would be taken for inspiration.
Debut Single - "Hello"

So........who's game? ;)

Updating System...

Yep, I'm still there. For those who were worried, shame on thee. For those who were hopeful for my demise, I blame you none. For those who I have lacked in contact with recently (many), I apologize. You are not forgotten in the least (see previous post). Just been a bit busy lately, and my schedule has not been one appropriate for talking to those in the U.S. I could be here all day, but I much rather actually do something on this glorious stress-free day, so I'll just spew some quick bullets about what I've been up to, in a vain attempt to portray my business (and thus, lack of communication).

-First of all, the 閃靈 concert was amazing. Corey has a more detailed write-up on his blog Here. I'll add some quick notes of my own: I think it was the first time since I've arrived in Taiwan that I didn't feel like a foreigner. Everyone was really cool and were shouting, bumping, laughing right alongside us. I'm sure there was still a bit of a spotlight on us...but then again, part of that might've been due to the fact that we were also going nuts for most of it (we were pretty drenched in sweat by the end). Also, the throwing of Joss paper was an interesting addition to the experience, as it's so symbolic of many things that I'm not entirely familiar or comfortable with....and it makes for an interesting slippery floor to try to stand your ground on during the pits. All in all, I was very impressed with the show, not only with the band, but with the crowd as well. The place was a-buzz with anger, laughter, and love of freedom...all the things that are so relevant for a 閃靈 show.

-People seem to keep coming and going out of my home and life. On the 23rd, Grace and Charlie moved back into their apartment, so Josie came next door to stay in my place until her departure. At this point, Corey left to live in a temporary apartment in Danshui, to be closer to his job (and farther away from us). However, during his second night there, he returned back to the apartment here, due to extreme allergy conditions at the apartment in Danshui. So, for 5 days until Josie left, there were 3 of us here in the apartment. It was a little nuts, but we all survived (and now my apartment looks like an apartment again). So now, Josie is gone, and Corey remains once again.

-Tutoring is going pretty well. I'm finally at the point where I feel I have the right amount of students...enough to support me, but not so many as to become a real job. To be honest, it has many perks that I am enjoying. Yes, if I didn't need money, I wouldn't be doing it....and I knew that because I had to do it, it would bring many great experiences. So far, it has not disappointed. The variety of my students is a big part of it (from age 8 to...30+).
Really, if I didn't have to plan and prepare lessons, I wouldn't mind it at all...but man do I hate that part.

-Training-wise, I couldn't be happier. My bagua lessons with Marcus continue to go well. Unfortunately, I haven't had the opportunity for much practice in that lately, but I am confident that passion will overcome. In addition to Bagua, an incredibly nice chap, Austin, has hooked me up with a Tai chi class as well. Our teacher is only 21 years old, but he is already a master...both in competition and in knowledge. His ability to generate power from seemingly nowhere is absolutely amazing (he is a fraction of my stature). Best yet, the class costs me nothing (save the MRT fare to Jiangzicui, which is close). The only downside is that he does not speak English, so Austin usually translates what I don't understand from watching. Fortunately, our teacher is not teaching us any forms, but focusing on the fundamentals...how to generate power through our legs, proper structure, etc. This will really help me with bagua et al.
On the flight side of the arts, parkour continues to be another highlight of my week. We've been getting a pretty good attendance rate recently. On that note, we have a big meet-up in DaHu park this Sunday, with our group and a few others in the Taipei area whom we normally don't ever see.
Anyway, really happy to have these opportunities, definitely growing from it...especially physically, obviously.

-Creative exploration: I've been continuing my er....'tour', for lack of a better word, of my creative interests. A little photoshop, a bit of texturing, some creative writing and scripting, a bit of drawing, some music dabbling, etc. While most of this doesn't get past the dabbling stage, definitely educational and enjoyable. Some of these skills will culminate in the completion of my current big project, a hl2 mod I'm working on (announcement for that will come later). Just all these things that I would love to learn that I wish I had/have more time for.

Anyway, that's for all now. For those on Facebook, an album has posted of some pictures thus far. I'll try to do that every month, since I don't post many pics on here.
Be in touch, and I'll try to do the same.
Peace

To Loved Ones

If you're reading this, I'm thinking of you.

An Alien in an Alien World

Many people have asked about it's like to be a living as a foreigner in a very strange and alien environment. Those who have traveled to foreign countries know first-hand the handicap you automatically receive as a foreigner. When in Asia, double this. In half, because being white, well....it makes you stick out like a sore (more like a very albino and malnourished) thumb. The other half belongs to the fact that they are not as accustomed to foreigners here as in most countries in Europe, etc.

So what's it like? Well, I was thinking about it the other day on the MRT...and the conclusion somewhat surprised me. Obviously, at first, it's a bit difficult to settle in and grow accustomed to being the 'outsider', with no one to talk to, being stared at all the time, etc. However, after about a week, it started to feel pretty comfortable on that issue. Partly, I think it helps that I was already an alien in my home land. Not to say that I was completely socially unacceptable and excommunicated from those around me...just to say, let's face it, I couldn't relate (on a significant scale) with the average citizen around me, so I kind of have always done my own thing. At home, this has led to a lack of caring for how those around me perceive me, and to laugh it off if that perception happens to be negative. They can laugh at me as they please, I bear no ill-will. These accumulated skills and outlooks have been infinitely useful here in Taiwan. Constantly being judged, it's best to simply play the cards that you have in your hand and not worry about whether or not you're following suit. If you don't know the rules of the game, ask.
I also feel surprisingly at home (relative to how I felt at my actual home) here. Yes, I can not understand 90% of the conversation that takes place around me. So what? At home, I ignored 90% of the conversation anyway and another 5% I wish I had. It's almost comforting to know that I am not expected or required to know everything that is going on around me...I am allowed to have some freedom of learning, to kind of regain that stage of childhood when we can take experiences as they come and apply our own perceptions to them.

Of course, actually dealing with people face-to-face, where I am forced to engage in conversation is a whole 'nother issue, one that I will not engage in at this time.
Till next time, cheers.

What You've Missed

Short answer: not much.
Long answer: read on. Obviously, I haven't posted in a while. Contrary to popular belief, it is not because I have stopped breathing. Sorry to those I may have disappointed with the revelation. I blame my absence on three main excuses: the arrival of two loved ones, a typhoon was in town, and the laptop was out of commission.

On the first point...Josie arrived in Taipei on Sunday the 2nd, at around midnight, at which time I was dragged out of my room by her, Frank (Grace's brother) and his wife, to go to a foot massage place in Taipei. Despite the overwhelming confusion and exhaustion, the massage felt amazing on my post-parkour feet. Having Josie here was great, confusing, overwhelming, etc. It was quite odd to go from having no familiar faces to having the most familiar face of all so close to me (right next door). Inspite of the difficulties she is facing here, I think she is glad that she came, and I know it will be a great experience. She will be here until near the end of August.
A mere five days later, Corey also arrived in town. So, in one week, my daily interactions changed greatly. Corey's currently living here in the apartment, where we have the privilege of sharing a (thankfully large) bed (wink wink, nudge nudge). Not only is Corey's friendship and companionship welcome, he is a great resource, obviously much more adept to this thing than I.

On the second point...a typhoon blew through Taiwan this past weekend. So, I have already had an earthquake and a typhoon in my first month, both of which are commonplace. The bulk of the typhoon hit Taiwan for about 3 days, though we are now in a nice string of rainy days and minor flooding...not sure if that's related or not. Southern Taiwan got hit the hardest, with some deaths/casualties and many missing persons, mostly due to the resulting mudslides. Edit: last figure I have seen shows deaths at 500, rescue missions still ongoing. Here in Taipei County, we are relatively safe and dry, thanks to the wall of mountains between us and the east coast (from which the typhoons come). However, it was enough for the government to declare a 'Typhoon Day' (think of a snow day, except for everyone) in Taipei, which was actually kind of cool...people are not required to show up for work/school. Some vendors braved the weather and showed up any, and some stores were still open, but most commercial activity ground to a halt. Many people take this opportunity to go out to a movie, etc.

On the third point...since my arrival in Taiwan, the bottom of the LCD screen on my laptop has been acting up. A hardware problem that resulted in the affected area displaying odd, pixelated purpley lines. Unfortunately, as time progressed, it slowly begin to creep higher up my screen. So, after an adventure (walking around somewhat lost for 3 hours with Yaling, not her fault) around Banciao, I deposited my lappy at the ASUS service center for repair, which they said would take 1-3 days. But, that was right before the typhoon struck, so I expected a delay. I (braving the situation of walking into that place alone with no appropriate Chinese phrases up my sleeve) picked it up about 5 days later, quite painlessly. All in all, very impressed and pleased with the ASUS service here.

Well, I guess that's all for now, I guess I hit most of the major points. I am going a bit crazy...it has been far too long since any strenuous physical activity (especially parkour...I really felt like I was making good progress every session, and I don't want to lose that)...rain, rain, go away. Tomorrow will be my last lesson with one of my tutor students, she will be leaving for America next week...tis a bit sad.
Stay tuned for more frequent updates in the future, got a few planned once I get around to it.
Hope all is well with you, my good reader.

Edit: updated to show more current death toll

Life, Reorganized

So I spent lots of time in the apartment yesterday, being productive toward various goals. Among those, was the cleaning and reorganization of my workspace, both physical and virtual. Rearranged some of the computer stuff, cables, moved the tv closer to act as secondary monitor, reconfigured desktop/toolbar, picked new wallpapers, etc.
The following is the fruit of my efforts:
































The laptop desktop (now primary monitor) is now clutter-free. No more icons or crappy toolbar/quick launch. Rocketdock runs along the bottom, with Launchy being used to launch most applications. The tv (secondary monitor) displays most full-applications and the hidden windows toolbar when I need it. Its speakers are also much better than my laptop's, so all the sound goes through there now as well. I would just like to point out that my foolish father laughed at me when I packed an HDMI cable...muahaha. Anyway, it's working out alot better for me now.

Hair Liberation Front and the Loss of 15 Lbs.

To the inevitable tide of 'Why's....I needed a haircut, this seemed like the cheapest solution.

That, and it was something that I had to do at least once in my life. It is amazing.

No Idea

Those of you back home have no idea what you're missing out on, here in Taiwan:

Some commercials help me understand the culture and media structure better. Some of them, like this one, well.....I have no idea, but this one makes me titter and giggle everytime.

Adventures, the Nemesis of Dentures

A couple of adventures in the past couple days.

The curse of yum: I ate my first dragonfruit! One morning I stumbled upon a fruit stand very close to my apartment. I browsed the wares, selected a few mostly unknown objects, and gladly paid the small fee for such prizes. The next morning, I woke up and was experiencing some digestive troubles. Around noon, I decided I was quite hungry and needed breakfast, in spite of the continuing mild discomfort. I selected the most interesting object of the bunch

(which was, unknown to me at the time, the dragonfruit). Upon peeling the husk and digging in, I decided to look online and see if I could determine what this fruit was, as it was pretty good. After some googling, I found some images that matched what I held in my hand...so, I had found dragonfruit, a treat I had heard of from Corey. I continued to peruse it's wikipedia page as I obliterated the mildly sweet pulp. Nearing completion of my meal, I reached the end of the wikipedia page and saw (like a scene out of a juvenile movie), to my horror that it "...has natural laxative properties and for many people may cause gastro-intestinal discomfort and diarrhea." Great. Like throwing water on a grease fire. Needless to say, it was a fun afternoon.

Fight for that discount: My first haggling experience. Yesterday, Yaling accompanied me to help with the process of buying a refrigerator. We headed to a lane by Guting Station that is full of places selling, buying, and repairing secondhand appliances. Perfect! So, we stalked up and down this lane, questioning each vendor on what mini-fridges they have available, price, shipping possibilities, etc. Eventually we settled on a place that a good-sized fridge for only 200NT more than a very mini-indeed fridge. They could ship it for 500, but he recommended that we take a taxi with it instead, which would only cost us 200. Thus, the haggling began. Yaling, bless her soul, is (self-admittedly) not the most imposing person, but she did her best to play the game of we-want-it-but-not-that-much, while I played the part of the tight-ass, tight-wallet foreign guy. It was rather odd...at home, Corey had me used to (well, attempting to, on my part) conspiring/insulting in public via Chinese...and in Taiwan, I have to keep reminding myself to do the opposite with my cohorts. Anyway, eventually he agreed to lower the price about 100NT, pay for 100 of the cab, and give me a 3-month warranty. Now, I can actually have cold water, milk, etc.

Milk map: Today, I decided to raid the nearest grocery store to stock the new-old fridge. I shot off an inquiry to Yaling, who told me closest grocery store was by her house...which meant far enough to be out of my familiar neighborhood and but not so far as to be an easy MRT trip. Fortunately, Yaling was nice enough of to gift me with a quality map:

After jotting down an even more abbreviated version onto a more portable medium, I journeyed forth...after stopping for some tongyoubing and hongdou cakes, of course. Anyway, the journey itself went off without a hitch. I only had enough money in my wallet for milk and cereal (my main objective..thanks alot mom/sister for making me miss it)...which was probably a good thing, as hauling back loads of groceries will prove more difficult.

That's all for now, hope your days are proving to be even more exciting (gosh, how).

A Week In Review

Well, today marks the beginning of my second week here in Taiwan. Since I'm a bit inept at this whole blog thing, I reckon this would be a good excuse to make another post on here. So, here's a little recap of my first week, via random blurbs of thought:

-It's hot here, did I mention that? Fortunately I am gifted with an AC, which I try to use only sparingly. The whole sweat-yer-nuts-off-before-you-make-it-past-the-front-door thing does have its perks though...should make getting and staying in shape alot easier.

-I experienced my first earthquake here, the very first night I was here. Boy, that was confusing...especially in my barely-conscious state.

-People here are, on the whole, quite friendly. They are usually more than willing to help my clueless self out, when prompted.

-In Taiwan, people work hard. Long hours, strong work ethic, tons of studying, etc. On the other hand, they play even harder. Come nighttime, everyone is out having a good time. The salarymen sleeping on the MRT are replaced by friends, families, laughing and enjoying. There's a different emphasis on nightlife here...it's not so much, 'Sweet, another workday down the drain..let's see where I can get a quiet meal and hit a bar or a hookup at a club'. To be sure, that exists here...but there's typically alot more than that.

-Smells. Many of my first impressions/memories of Taiwan are personified by smells. As soon as you step outside, you are surrounded by them. At times, it is quite overwhelming for one not accustomed to it. For the most part, it is a very good thing...alot of it is due to the enormous amounts of food being served everywhere, right in front of you. Sometimes, it's not quite so good...there is a certain foul smell that I keep encountering around Taiwan, and I haven't been able to put my finger on exactly what it is yet.

-Through the power of the internet(and what a power it is), I managed to find a small parkour group in the Taipei area. I've trained with them twice so far, seems like a good group.

-I received my first bit of Baguazhang (internal chinese MA) training this weekend. My teacher is an ex-pat, so language isn't a problem. It was pretty amazing, to finally be able to dig into what I've only read/watched for so long.

-Karaoke is a very odd and private affair here...I felt almost perverted. Still fun though.

-Did I mention there are alot of scooters?

-Speaking of scooters, I saw someone use a turn signal the other day. I was shocked, I didn't realize they made those in Taiwan. But seriously, the traffic here is somewhat-organized chaos. I don't know how it works, but it does.

-The food has to be one of the biggest pluses to living here. There is food everywhere. There's a pretty large amount of diversity, most of it is fresh/cooked right in front of you, and it's cheap!

-That being said, 7-11 is my hero. I have gotten meals from there on several occasions already...which is even more cheap, and still not bad. But it is much easier for me because I walk in, pick out what looks good, and take it up to the counter. I try to branch out to local food places (I'll admit to hitting McD's on my first morning as well) and street vendors, but it's just difficult because I don't know what they're selling, the name for it, how to order it, etc. When I am successful in such endeavors, it is often very satisfying.

-Friends are a pretty excellent invention. Yaling has been a big help to me already. Showing me around to a few places, many questions, helping me buy stuff, etc. I am already very indebted to her. Corey has also been a constant source of answers to general questions and language issues. I'm glad that I get to be here for a while before he arrives, but it will be a great boon when he is here. Josie is also visiting for a few weeks in August...and although she is even more clueless than I, I'm sure she will have a good time and it will be nice to see her. Other than that, my web 0f friends will probably be pretty diverse...from parkour, other expats, who knows.

-I'll admit to slacking terribly in the photo department. It's just that I usually am focusing on settling in, rather than being a tourist, so A) I haven't been to many exciting photogenic places and B) finding food/store/location, etc. is usually more important than taking a photo of it. It'll get better, I promise. Till then, enjoy the precious few below.

From apartment balcony, sunrise

Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall

Park by CKS (above) we were monkeying around in

Shot looking out from Taipei Normal University, where we trained at a spot for a bit