31 December 2007

speeding towards the new year.

mum, dad and i departed taichung early this morning for kaohsiong via bullet train. what would normally be a 3 hour train ride was a measly one hour and a very smooth hour at that. once at the kaohsiong station, we hired a driver for the day who proceeded to drive us through the city making little picturesque pitstops at all sorts of landmarks along the way. temples, pagodas, lakes, bridges, tunnels, etc etc. one really cool place we stopped was this tiny marine aquarium that had tons of coral and exotic fish. theodore would have felt like a kid in a candy store. i was able to take a few pictures there, but got yelled at several times by the staff since i'm technically not allowed to, and they started watching me rather closely. took a lot of pictures today with dad's new fantastic nikon digital camera (a christmas present from john), but sadly i will have to wait until i'm back in the states to upload them all.

did some shopping at this huge new mall in the city - found a muji store and stocked up on pens, as well as finally found something i think theodore will like. ate a LOT, especially for dinner. we just spent an hour at a night market and ate at about five different little food stands. i had pig brain and spinal cord for the first time ever. it was neuron-y, corpus collosum-y goodness:

well. it's just about 9pm on new year's eve. we were going to go where there's an outdoor concert and fireworks, but we're all pooped out from ten hours of sightseeing today (10a-8pish).. so i'll probably be asleep when the clock strikes midnight. kind of sad, but i'll be awake for all the american new years' so i'll just celebrate in my head and wish i were in LA or chicago.

{ 9.03p taiwan / 5.03a los angeles }

30 December 2007

culture shock.

after my late night arrival to taichung on friday night, i still couldn't sleep - you know, the whole unfamiliar surroundings and it being daytime in california. saturday was my cousin shiao yu's engagement. amidst several ministers speaking, three dress changes for his fiance, the twelve-course meal, slideshow and romantic music, i became really confused as to whether i was at a wedding or an engagement. i guess the so-called engagement is what the bride pays for, and thus it is mostly her family and friends in attendence, and the wedding is the groom's time to shine. hell, they even exchanged vows that translated to "do you take this woman to be your fiance, blah blah blah.." since i won't be here for the wedding in two weeks, my uncle gave me the wedding favors : a deck of cards, each with a different picture on it of the bride and/or groom, all very done up in different styles of clothing and backgrounds. jo-fucking-der. i think i prefer the american tradition of the engagement being a private ordeal between the two people, and then just a single culminating event as the wedding.

i was finally able to sleep last night, since it'd really been about 48 hours since i'd slept any amount more than dozing off for an hour. this morning mum, my aunt and i went to a street market to shop around for a bit and get some breakfast. then a bunch of the fam drove up into the mountains to this little bbq place where you pick your chicken live out of a pen, and a style of cooking, then slaughter and season them for you to cook over some hot coals. after we finally got back to my aunt's place, mum, dad and i went to the costco which happens to be less than a block away. seriously insane. i mean, it's the same as any costco in the states, same setup, same look, same products (all imported) plus some additional stuff catered to the taiwanese palette. however, if you imagine the busiest you've ever seen a costco in the states, and then multiply the number of people in it by about fifty, then you have what it was like here. you could barely navigate the place without a cart, it was so freaking packed. and there were huuuge lines waiting just to get at the food samples, and the rotisserie chicken and other deli goods. i don't understand. i wanted to get out of there as fast as possible, being claustrophobic and all. obviously, the taiwanese don't believe in the mantra "time is money."

i miss los angeles and chicago terribly. only when i'm eating the delicious taiwanese foods am i happy to be here, and while that's been a lot of the time, there's still a lot of down time in between. tonight it's off to a night market for shopping and more eating. then gaoshiong early tomorrow (via bullet train!) for new year's eve and day.

{ 6.30p taiwan / 2.30a los angeles }

28 December 2007

landing.

some sixteen hours after we boarded our flight to taipei, we have finally landed, gone through customs, fond our bags and boarded a "free go" bus and await departure to taichung. another three hours to go before i'm tucked into some unfamiliar bed at one of my aunt and uncle's.

the flight wasn't bad as far as 14.5 hours flights go. we flew EVA air and their new jets are actually qutie roomy (at least in comparison to my memories..) and each seat had a large touch video screen with on demand movies, tv, music and games. i can't sleep on planes (it is approx 7a in california and 11p here in taiwan, so i've essentially pulled an all-nighter) and spent my time watching a couple movies (i have finally seen breakfast at tiffany's), playing sudoku and reading the book harv got my for christmas.

the bus is on the go now. time to try and get some sleep.

{ 11.24p taiwan / 7.24a los angeles }

26 December 2007

pinkberry schminkberry.

ah, the last day before i depart for taiwan. the day was spent getting travel supplies and packing. i did spend a one hour stint in old town pasadena just for shits and giggles. it was a beautiful crisp day out and i felt i needed to spend some of it outside my parents house. it was kind of cool also to see all the stands set up on the side of the road in preparation for the rose parade. didn't buy anything while i was there, though i finally tried the infamous pinkberry. my impression? no big deal. same as my reaction to berryline over in boston (which is essentially a pinkberry knockoff). i mean, the froyo is tasty and the fruit is nice, but i've been frequenting 21choices since high school (imagine coldstone creamery, except with frozen yogurt instead of ice cream) and neither pinkberry nor berryline even come remotely close.

after dinner my parents and i went to this little chinese massage parlor nearby where i proceeded to get my neck, shoulder and back pulverized by a little old chinese man. it was so painful that i loved it, and even wish he'd applied more pressure (but he was practically wheezing by the end so it would probably have been rude of me to ask him to exert any more energy). does that make me a masochist? hmm..

anyway, as previously mentioned, i'm off to taiwan tomorrow. my parents and i have a 3pm flight out of LAX and we're supposed to land in taipei sometime friday night, and then we have to make the drive down to taichung since my cousin's engagement is on saturday. i'm kind of dreading this trip, but i'm trying to keep an open mind about it and hopefully it turns out alright.

if i can get my ass up early enough in the morning, i'm going to grab a chicken curry salad tartine at le pain quotidien and coffee from peet's coffee&tea, both of which i have been craving but haven't had the opportunity to go get yet. mm..

25 December 2007

christmas and its eve.

this was probably as low key as it gets, and thank goodness for that. most of the past two days were spent at home, alone, since my parents were at their office (the office was closed on christmas day but they still had work to do). monday morning i spent at the dmv getting my license replaced (since my wallet was stolen back in october) - luckily it wasn't too bad since i had previously made an appointment. when my parents got home from work, my mom and i prepped for christmas eve dinner, hot-pot-style. mike and his girlfriend mary joined us and brought a tasty bottle of wine. apparently, my parents don't exactly have wine glasses so i was finally able to bust out theodore's birthday present to me earlier this year: four riedel stemless wine glasses, or tumblers.

after dinner i went over to jackson's house to catch up for a few hoursand meet his new girlfriend, adabi (sp? i'll have to double check that with him). she's a half-nigerian, half-czech sweetheart and they seem really happy together, so i'm happy for him. despite becoming a marine corps infantryman, jackson is still the same old jackson, though a little more mature and confident.

today i stayed at home, did some work, and went to pasadena and watched the new keira knightley, james mcavoy movie, atonement. surprisingly, after the movie started, i realized that i had actually once read the first part of the book - guess i should go finish it at some point..

and now to list off the christmas presents i acquired this year..
_mom+dad: palm centro, large white salvatore ferragamo purse.
_harvard: first three books of robert jordan's wheel of time series.
_john: amazon.com gift certificate.
_theodore: harman kardon soundsticks (speakers).











a pretty good year, i think. no?

23 December 2007

home is where the heart is.

it's good to be "home", albeit weird. my room is the same room i had in middle school - same desk, same bed, same crap stuffed into the nooks and crannies - with additional crap from my parents and recent years piled on top. this is a result of going to a boarding high school. i have no personal closet space and live out of my suitcase. but in the end, this is where the temperature lingers in the 70s during the winter, where i can jump in my car and drive 80 mph on the freeways, where i have access to peet's coffee&tea, sprinkles, le pain quotidien, urth cafe and toast, where fresh healthy california foods are aplenty, and where the best authentic asian foods i crave are cheap and better than you can find anywhere on the planet outside of asia itself. don't get me wrong, i've been home a little over twenty four hours and i'm already itching to get out, and yet a good part of me is enjoying basking in southern california goodness.

but to get back to the word "home": i could really either say "i have no home" or "i have three homes: philly, chicago, LA." but there is really no place that i feel completely at ease.

philadelphia is simply where i go to school, not a city in which i would truly want to live, but also the only city in which i have my own personal space. many of my closest social ties are there, but they are also in the city for school and over the next couple years will migrate across the country and the globe.

my parents house in arcadia is where i have lived since i was seven, and where i will probably live for a few months after i graduate, but every inch of my being wants nothing more than to get the fuck out of here after about a week. i love the LA area and am relatively familiar with those parts which are important to me, but social ties here are wanting - another result of going to a boarding school and not keeping in touch with anyone from before high school.

chicago is currently fantastic middle ground, or rather, a neutral playing field - a place where i have no obligations, a city that i love with the man that i love - but it is still so newly unfamiliar both socially and geographically that i feel like a constant guest/tourist.

having lived in what-to-call-home limbo for nearly seven years, i can't decide whether i am aching to be able to definitively call someplace "home", or if i am scared shitless of it.

go west, young man.

friday was my last day in chicago, so most of it was spent doing laundry, running errands and packing. met up with theodore after his company christmas party and we went to his parents house in schaumburg to give them their presents (the aforementioned coasters), which they loved and watch daniel's basketball game against fremd. sadly, they lost, but what can you do. had dinner with theodore and his parents after the game at the village, then the two of us went and watched national treasure. i was very confused because all the previews before the movie were for animated and heavy vfx films (pixar's wall.e, dreamworks' kung fu panda, blue sky's dr. seuss's horton hears a who!, disney's the chronicles of narnia: prince caspian, etc, etc) and then there was a disney 2D animation short about goofy buying an entertainment system.. i swear i thought we'd walked into the wrong theatre and were about to watch enchanted or something. the movie itself was decent, not great. first half was good but the 2nd half kind of felt like they ran out of money to do what they really wanted so they just resolved it in a quick, dirty, happy way.

saturday morning i caught a flight back to los angeles, with a transfer in las vegas. got delayed and i didn't get into LAX until 6pm. finished reading kite runner while sitting at the airport. this morning i went hiking with mum and dad, then mum took me to see my chinese chiropractor who cracked all my joints and it was fabulous. then we drove to beverly hills to go shopping on rodeo drive. weather was beautiful: sunshine, blue skies, temperature in the 70s. i got a white print dress and small black leather purse from bcbg, then a large white leather salvatore ferragamo purse from saks fifth avenue. and then we waited in line for almost an hour to get some sprinkles cupcakes. then for dinner we went to my all-time favorite dumpling place. fun fucking times. i heart LA.and oh how i've missed driving.. >.<

21 December 2007

chicago happenings.

monday and tuesday were spent in theodore's apartment writing a paper or working on my resume and, of course, catching up on sleep. wednesday afternoon i decided to go to chicago's natural history museum, the field museum. spent several hours in there and loved it. i'm not sure why but i've always loved natural history museums, even if i find them slightly creepy and being in them often gives me goosebumps.

thursday i went downtown and had lunch with theodore at wow bao, then i proceeded to a movie theatre to watch juno, which was absolutely fantastic and so quirky and laughable. it makes me wonder though, what michael cera is like in real life because he is just so damn good at playing the infinitely awkward but still lovable teenage boy (eg, arrested development and superbad).

afterwards, to kill even more time, i stuck around the theatre and watched alvin and the chipmunks. terrible terrible idea. i mean, the movie is good for kids under ten, and there were plenty of those in the theatre (my favorite part, when the chipmunks watch TV and spongebob comes on, the whole frickin' theatre of little kiddes started singing the theme song along with the movie.. another personal solid point for the movie, matthew gray gubler, who plays dr. spender reid on criminal minds, and whom i find absolutely dreamy in that nerdy, skinny, socially awkward way, voiced simon the chipmunk.


on a side note. theodore and my joint christmas present for his parents are coasters for their bar. but not just any coasters. i redesigned this neon light that they really want to say "slowik style" instead of "old style" and he laser cut them into bass wood and mounted some thin cork on the bottom. they look really good, albeit kind of cheesy, but hopefully they like them.

18 December 2007

the dark knight: official trailer.

taken from this blog (which also includes the first 6 min of the film, bootleg style).



it looks amaaaaaaazing!

17 December 2007

winter winter in chicago.

making time was fantastic, especially since we all had the brilliant idea of bring and wearing ear plugs rather than go deaf for the following 48 hours. went to grab cheesesteaks at pat's afterwards with jason, so i didnt get home until after 3a, and i got back up at 6a to do some last minute packing before flying to chicago.

saturday was cold, snowy and windy. theodore and i drove out to elgin to watch daniel's basketball game, went to petco and bought a beautiful anemone (pictured), and spent the rest of the night hanging out and drinking with his roommates in their apartment.

sunday morning, theodore's mom and her friends debbie and linda came over to look at his apartment for the first time, then we drove out to woodfield mall out in schaumburg to do some christmas shopping. got something for my mom from swarovski, as usual, and he got some stuff for his brothers. we also went to aquarium adventure where he bought a blue hippo tang (ie, dori from finding nemo).

14 December 2007

hardship makes the heart grow fonder.

so after another 48 hours of hell trying to get my phone shipped and to my apartment (i really won't elaborate on the details, except that i had a major freakout and major breakdown in the process, among several mini breakdowns), i finally have my centro. oh dear goodness, it is amazing and i adore it. also, it's nice to have a functioning phone again, because verizon canceled my service to my old phone last night and i had hell trying to get things done today without it. oh, lordy lordy. i am a happy child after a week of misery.

in other news, took my last exam of the semester today, computer animation algorithms and techniques. i don't really know how i did, but i came away from it feeling pretty good about it, so.. fingers crossed!!

making time tonight. chicago tomorrow morning. pow!

12 December 2007

wtf, sprint?!?!

so, i ordered my palm centro on monday morning. it is now wednesday night, sixty hours later, and it still has not shipped. the "order status" online has been asi_fulfillment since monday night. according to ALL the customer service people i have called, that means the warehouse got the order and is just waiting for UPS to pick it up and give it a tracking number. uhm, did someone drop the package in a corner and forget about it? i don't understand - according to them, everything is fine with my order, it's even been charged to my credit card. i am really effing frustrated right now, which is not a good sign for sprint considering i haven't even started using their service yet. then again, it's not a good sign for me either because i am stuck with them for two years. i'm on the verge of canceling the whole thing because if it's not here by friday, i'm fucked since i leave saturday morning for chicago and i don't get back to philly until mid january. and because life is so ironice, i'm either going to get an email in about five minutes saying it's shipped or it's really lost in a warehouse and not going to get here by friday, or ever.

10 December 2007

a lovely shade of yellow.

so, about a week ago i pulled out my yellow silk bcbg dress that i bought 2 years ago, wore once, then stashed in the back of my closet. when i took it out of it's bag, i discovered huge wine-looking stains all over it. obviously, someone borrowed it without telling me and didn't even get it cleaned (though my summer subletters deny any knowledge). after a week at the dry-cleaners, i finally got it back and they worked magic! that fabulous dress is back to it's original beauty and i couldn't be happier about it. lame i know, but it was expensive and meant a lot to me.


today i ordered the new palm centro (in black) and signed up for 2 years with sprint. i was going to wait until i graduated to get a pda/smartphone, but theodore found special deal with sprint that is unlimited data and texting plus 450 anytime minutes and unlimited nights and weekend for $30/month. a plan like that would normally cost around $70-80/month, so i went to the store and played around with the centro to make sure that i'd like it (which i do) then ordered it online. hopefully it gets here before i leave for chicago..



i worked on my graphic design final portfolio for must of the day then had dinner with honea at the new dumpling house in chinatown. afterwards we met up with hastings and his fiance amy at the trocadero for their monday night movie event, tonight's movie being superbad. it was $3 (which counted toward a drink at the bar) and a lot of fun. i'd forgotten how funny that movie is, and they even had a tasty drink special called the mango mclovin'.

04 December 2007

nightmare-ish.

recently, i have been having some very vivid dreams, some good, mostly bad. the bad have been particularly bad (someone breaking into my apartment and raping me at gun point, for example) and have left me feeling anxious and on edge a lot. upon mentioning my recent flood of dreams to theodore, he said that on the bright side, it was a sign that i'm sleeping better. i have in deed been sleeping better due to a more regular sleep/wake schedule i've sort of enforced on myself. but his comment reminded me of something from my childhood.

ever since i was little, i hated dreams whether they were good or bad. i think it's due to the fact that if i have them (or rather, remember them) they are so vivid to me that i have trouble distinguishing them from reality sometimes. there are a couple nightmares that i had when i was around five or six from which i can still remember every detail. anyway, i used to pray every night before i went to bed (i was raised christian) that i would have no dreams, good or bad (hao mong, hwai mong do bu yao). looking back, i really didn't dream after i started going to elementary school, but that's also about the time that i started having trouble falling asleep / staying asleep, ie, that's about when my insomnia started kicking in.

so i guess it comes down to which i'd rather live with: insomnia or nightmares?

02 December 2007

wanderings.

thursday night i grabbed dinner with cricket and garrett (who was in town for a quick second) at bubble house after seeing that both new deck and white dog were packed, and we were on a tight schedule (since garrett had a recruiting thing to be at). it turned out to be a great choice (i highly recommend the burger there) and a very good time. afterwards, since it was still early, cricket and i bought some cider and watched reruns of america's next top model and south park before heading downtown to irish pub for more drinks and food. there, we were hit on two very drunk, very stupid, very weird guys. we peaced out first chance we got and went to roosevelt's for a bit where, surprisingly, the music was a little better (though not much).

saturday, i left siggraph work hours early to buy a book from the penn bookstore then head to the central free library of philadelphia (over by logan square). it was a beautiful day and i really haven't been in that area much so it was nice, albeit cold. my purpose was to get anthony bourdain's no reservations : around the world on an empty stomach signed for my dear brother. i had to forgo listening to him speak so i could stand in line (otherwise, i would have been in line for at least three hours instead of my quick half hour once he actually started signing).

this morning, i went to domi's place to address funk about and apologize for my mode of departure from the group last semester. it was hard, slightly emotional, a little tense.. but it was good for everyone i think. we'll see how it goes.

ALSO, i can't wait to see theodore's saltwater tank. last time i was there it was just a few live rocks and a damsel. now there are two clownfish (named dumpling and sushi, loves it!), a chocolate chip starfish, two damsels, hermit crabs, snails and the feather duster.