On 2009... and 2010

I should be happier this time of year - usually I am. But this year around, a couple of issues weigh heavy, and I just can't shake it off.

The church teaches that I should do these 3 as year end reflection :
1. give thanks for all the blessings you've had this year
2. say sorry for all the wrongs you've done
3. how else can you provide more, give of more.

So here goes.

Blessings of the year
- travel. I got to do quite a few interesting trips this year : from Jade mountain to diving Palua (twice!), got to see a lot more of Taiwan (from Tainan to far flung islands of Jinmen and Lanyu), the Angkor Wats are just fantastic.
- family. It's heartwarming especially now that my mom is much nicer to me, my brothers are fantastic and Michelle pokes me on FB daily (I love her!)
- work. I should be grateful that job wise, there is much less pressure compared to what I've endured.
- people. It's been an awfully lonely year. I wished there was more I could say in this department, especially with regards to marriage. Sigh. But still for few who stuck around, thank you all.

Wrongs
1. I feel my greatest weakness is people. Re-reading my last year's new year resolutions, I realize I did not make much headway on my relationships with people. Often my arrogance, being so full of myself, I tend to act and then regret. For those whom I have not been nice to, my heartfelt apologies.

2. Discipline. This has totally gone to the dogs.

Looking into 2010, guess the work is pretty much cut out for me. Pretty much the same as my 2009 resolutions, it will remain simplistically 2-fold :
1. love as Jesus commanded us to
2. discipline, discipline, discipline.

And to everyone out there reading this, I wish you a much joy filled christmas and a kicking start to 2010 full of hope!

Third Sunday of Advent - Joy and Gladness

From Sunday's excellent sermon from Fr Cary at the St John Bosco's, Taipei.

Joy is
1. fruit of the Holy Spirit
2. not a passing enthusiasm, it is a gift!
3. endures trial of time. Even in times of suffering, pain and difficulty.
4. generous and contagious. If you are stingy, then your joy is in material things.
5. filled with Hope.
6. filled with thanksgiving. A joyful person is thankful.
7. knowing that one is filled with God's graces. Not a fleeting thing, nor linked to material things, but a grace received from God.

So,
- ask yourself, do I have joy in my heart?
- this Sunday is an invitation to wait joyfully for the Saviour who is coming to save us.
- what do you need to let go/set free to be joyful? Because we are all entitled to joyful lives.

Mendling in other people's affairs..

I hate this.

Almost a year ago, I received a call from a colleague's wife. I was in the gym and naked and reaching for clean clothes in the locker room when I got a phone call. It was long distance. She was distraught and claimed her husband had an affair. My first instinct, woman to woman, plus I was vulnerably naked at that moment, was to reach out to her. Weeks later and many loooong conversations with her, it all started to get really confusing. I realised much belatedly that I should not have gotten involved. And very politely walked away, explaining to her that she should really fix her marriage herself.

The whole business took a lot out of me. I wanted to help, but I realized I may have made things worse. And while I regret, I'm not sure if standing aloof in the first place was the kindness thing to do. My biggest learning at that time was to not meddle in someone's else's marriage. That while I can be a friend, I am not a part of the solution.

Sunday evening I found out that my friend/colleague's boyfriend is someone else's boyfriend as well. Again, I was dismayed, sickened to the core. She was in a relationship that was yo-yo-ing so bad. Some days she was flying on top of the world, some days she would be upset/angry at work. Now he is also in a relationship with a fellow diver? Wtf...

Monday at work she was again not in good mood. He had gone AWOL, again, all night. I tried to gently hint that perhaps he is not ideal for her. Tuesday, she was happy again, they had made up that night. I had wrestled the knowledge and decided she should know the truth. I didn't want to meddle, but she must at the very least know the truth.

Did I do wrong? Should I have kept the knowledge? I didn't want her hurt. Just as I didn't want to see my colleague's wife hurt at first.

One of these days I will learn to keep my big mouth shut, regardless.

Of sharks and turtles

I was a little sick just before leaving for Palau. And there was a passing typhoon, so conditions were not exactly ideal.

Nontheless, it went well. Visibility wasn't as good as my first trip, but I still had a great time.

Every dive, we saw sharks and turtles freely swimming by us. On day 2, manta ray! Visibility was terrible, but we were so happy to see the manta! Even though I couldn't justiably take a good shot of it.

More pictures on my Flickr - http://www.flickr.com/photos/8062670@N07/sets/72157622832887735/

Excellent sermon at Mass

Father Gary gives pretty good sermons. I've taken to bring a small little book to write down his sermons.

Yesterday, 2nd week of Advent, the message was
1. Prepare the way of the Lord
2. Imminent 2nd coming of Christ, the Parousia.
3. Prepare yourself, remove all obstacles.

Those left behind from the Parousia are promised these 3 things
- Salom : prosperity and world peace
- no more unfairness : true justice and equality
- unfailing affection & friendship : no more quarrels, betrayals

Reflections for Advent
1. What are your obstacles? That prevent Jesus from entering your heart?
2. What are your sins - making the road to salvation rough and difficult?
3. What are the crooked ways in my life that needs to be straightened?

Last 5th Sunday of the year

I woke up late this Sunday, it was terrible since I was due to be installed (as in prayed over formally) during Sunday mass! 10.30am mass and I opened my eyes and my alarm clock read 10.30am!!

I got dressed in 10mins and was in church at 11am, just in time for the Eucharist part of mass..

That's when I realised, we're into first week of Advent. Yay!

Someone at work had given me tickets to an exhibition at the Taipei Fine Arts Museum by Cai Guoqiang. Pretty interesting and definitely better quality than the mock art pretentious stuff previously there. But whoa, the guy's violent. And I found it hard to stomach since mass was all about love, peace and joy in Advent.

Went home for a nap before a Chilli's dinner with Garin and Vinny.

Happy Advent to everyone!

Ecclesiastes
Chapter 3:1 to 8
There is an appointed time for everything, and a time for every affair under the heavens.
A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to uproot the plant.
A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to tear down, and a time to build.
A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance.
A time to scatter stones, and a time to gather them; a time to embrace, and a time to be far from embraces.
A time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away.
A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to be silent, and a time to speak.
A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

Palau - here I come!

My 2nd trip to Palau!

This time I have camera!

Can't wait for a break from the depression at work. My supervisor told me that I won't be getting a pay increment nor any bonus and this has affected my motivation at work bad.

Can I please get a good night's sleep?

Saturday night I couldn't sleep well cos my ab muscles were killing me...

Sunday night I was woken up by what I thought was an earthquake - had to confirm later with a co-worker that I didn't just dreamed it. It was actually a 4.9 earthquake, epicenter off Yilan.

Tonight I will sleep like a pig! As soon as I get off this long draggy conference call...

zzz

Never cede a century to a country that censors Google

Great article in the New York Times.

Advice From Grandma
Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times
Thomas L. Friedman

Why not? It has to do with the fact that we are moving into a hyperintegrated world in which all aspects of production — raw materials, design, manufacturing, distribution, fulfillment, financing and branding — have become commodities that can be accessed from anywhere by anyone. But there are still two really important things that can’t be commoditized. Fortunately, America still has one of them: imagination.

What your citizens imagine now matters more than ever because they can act on their own imaginations farther, faster, deeper and cheaper than ever before — as individuals. In such a world, societies that can nurture people with the ability to imagine and spin off new ideas will thrive. The Apple iPod may be made in China, but it was dreamed up in America, and that’s where most of the profits go. America — with its open, free, no-limits, immigrant-friendly society — is still the world’s greatest dream machine.

Who would cede a century in which imagination will have such a high value to an authoritarian society that controls its Internet and jails political prisoners? Remember what Grandma used to say: Never cede a century to a country that censors Google.

But while our culture of imagination is still vibrant, the other critical factor that still differentiates countries today — and is not a commodity — is good governance, which can harness creativity. And that we may be losing. I am talking about the ability of a society’s leaders to think long term, address their problems with the optimal legislation and attract capable people into government. What I increasingly fear today is that America is only able to produce “suboptimal” responses to its biggest problems — education, debt, financial regulation, health care, energy and environment.

Why? Because at least six things have come together to fracture our public space and paralyze our ability to forge optimal solutions: 1) Money in politics has become so pervasive that lawmakers have to spend most of their time raising it, selling their souls to those who have it or defending themselves from the smallest interest groups with deep pockets that can trump the national interest.

2) The gerrymandering of political districts means politicians of each party can now choose their own voters and never have to appeal to the center.

3) The cable TV culture encourages shouting and segregating people into their own political echo chambers.

4) A permanent presidential campaign leaves little time for governing.

5) The Internet, which, at its best, provides a check on elites and establishments and opens the way for new voices and, which, at its worst provides a home for every extreme view and spawns digital lynch mobs from across the political spectrum that attack anyone who departs from their specific orthodoxy.

6) A U.S. business community that has become so globalized that it only comes to Washington to lobby for its own narrow interests; it rarely speaks out anymore in defense of national issues like health care, education and open markets.

These six factors are pushing our system, which was designed to have divided powers and to force compromises, into the realm of paralysis. To get anything big done now, we have to generate so many compromises — couched in 1,000-plus-page bills — with so many different interest groups that the solutions are totally suboptimal. We just get the sum of all interest groups.

The miniversion of this is California, which, as others have noted, is becoming America’s biggest “failed state.” Californians had hoped they could overcome their dysfunctional system by electing an outsider, a former movie star, Arnold Schwarzenegger. He would slay the system, like the Terminator. But he couldn’t.

Mr. Obama was elected for similar reasons. People had hoped that his unique story, personality and speaking skills could bring the country together, overcome paralysis and deliver nation-building at home. A lot of the disappointment settling in among Obama voters today is prompted by their dawning realization that maybe, like Arnold, he can’t.

China’s leaders, using authoritarian means, still can. They don’t have to always settle for suboptimal. So what do we do?

The standard answer is that we need better leaders. The real answer is that we need better citizens. We need citizens who will convey to their leaders that they are ready to sacrifice, even pay, yes, higher taxes, and will not punish politicians who ask them to do the hard things. Otherwise, folks, we’re in trouble. A great power that can only produce suboptimal responses to its biggest challenges will, in time, fade from being a great power — no matter how much imagination it generates.

Grandma said that, too.

My abs hurt...

Tried this supposedly easy route on Saturday, under the overhang, you stretch out your right hand above the overhang while you're way over on the left side under the overhang, control the swing out, then without a foothole, somehow reach out above and over.

Now my problem was every time I cut loose, the swing out impact due to my big fat butts is so great that it'll pop my left hand. Repeat this a few times of flying out and forcing abs with a big grunt to put feet back on wall to smear a little and then reach up and over...

Tadah - wake up on Sunday with painful abs. It's not even that I did this many times, I tried that fall/stick back/fall/stick back routine perhaps 5 times before quitting...

I will be back. Damn that route, and ow ow my abs sure hurt.

Switchable voltage on a hairdryer

Many years go, I exchange my Esso points for a travel hair-dryer thinking it would please my mom. It didn't. She thought it too small.

So when I moved to Taipei some 2 years ago, I took it along (it was in cold storage anyways). First time I used it here, it was on such low power it was barely spitting out any air. I concluded then, that for a travel model, it doesn't switch voltages and that Philips (the maker of it) sux. Woe to the poor friends who visited and stayed with me and tried to coax it to work...

Now fast forward to last week, I had taken a shower at the rock gym at Wanghua. And the folks there are so nice, they passed me a hair-dryer - similar to what I had but old model. As I was using it, I noticed this knob that says "voltage - 110 / 220" and you can switch between the 2.

A lightbulb went off in my head.

I went home and true enough, I had the same knob but in dark plastic so that it totally obscured itself within the handle *slap forehead*

I pronounce myself : woman with working hair-dryer.

Melancholy

Birthdays never used to bother me, I hated the fuss and always felt that it was just another day to me - big, fat, hairy deal.

And growing another year older never made a difference to me.

Until now.

As I approach the big 4-0.

Suddenly, I'm depressed. I've been depressed since November began.

Thankfully, there are comforting/uplifting videos -

Last Sunday of ordinary time for this year

I attended mass at Holy Family to get an earlier start to the day and was rewarded with a good sermon.

The Jesuit priest talked about this Sunday being the last sunday of ordinary time in the liturgical year and about how to take stock of this year now that we're almost to the end of it. Based on the Ignatian spirituality exercises, he suggests doing this 3 :

1. give thanks for all the blessings you've had this year
2. say sorry for all the wrongs you've done
3. how else can you provide more, give of more.

Very inspiring, I need to give this more thought.

the politics of taiwan

I think most non-Taiwanese people looking into Taiwan's political scene would find themselves being more sympathetic towards the current ruling party - the KMT. For the simple reason, they appear to speak better/sound more intelligent, have better accents (at least not heavily accented Hokkien sounding peasants).

My colleague had a friend who's a DPP activist and well educated. She helped me setup a lunch with him and he explained the DPP's cause and a little of their history. Mostly he explained why Taiwanese are so emotional about the DPP and it's always said that the DPP loves Taiwan more.

For one hour, Harry spoke non-stop, with such intensity I didn't dare argue with him. He presented to me, in that 1 hour, a whole lot more intelligence and compelling reason why the DPP is such a popular party, especially in the south. The KMT's biggest supporters are in the city, and most Taipei.

Most of it is historical baggage I feel. From the KMT's earlier discrimatory preference for the Nationalist army and their family, whom the KMT rulers felt gave up everything they had for the ROC's cause (Republic of China) - the same party founded by Sun Yat Sen. Who is viewed as the founding father of Taiwan.

The DPP however, views Taiwan as home, unlike the KMT who up until recently, viewed Taiwan as its temporary home, all things China are cool, all things Taiwanese are well, temporary and of a lower importance.

And for this reason, most in Taiwan feel that the DPP genuinely loves Taiwan (爱台湾), a very common refrain.

While I think Harry's an idealist and that in reality the KMT no longer harbours any notions of reuniting with China, there's a lot of emotions still. Worse, these emotions are borne of war, up to as recently as the 1950s, communist China was still lobbing bombs towards Taiwan, and people remember, all too vividly.

So now I know why Taiwanese politics is so melodramatic.

Fireworks!

Emily bought a place and she was supposed to collect her keys on Saturday. I went with her and we conducted an OOBE (out of box experience) on the apartment. I know, that's normally what we do, a marketing audit on our notebook PCs at the factory. Ditto apartment, we had a list and went down the list, e.g. check floors, check no scratches and panels are aligned.. yeah, it was really detailed. We were super anal and proudly so.

As you can tell, product managers are very detailed people :)

The whole affair took 2 hours and a cracked floor tile meant that they had to replace it another time, so the apartment is still with the developers.

After that I went to Wanghua gym to climb. I thought I'll be tired after the OOBE, but actually I climbed pretty well. By the time I was done, it was 8pm, time to grab a bite and home right? I offered to watch the gym for a bit while the gym owner (who is a very nice guy and belays me patiently when he really doesn't have to, since everyone comes in pairs but for lonely felicia), so that Ah Jing can go grab dinner. He felt bad and so just packed dinner back, and was back so quick. He told me that the fireworks were about to start, if I wanted to watch it. I was like, eh? Seems like Saturday was Taipei Fireworks Festival Day. Well.. and the display was going to be over the Danshui river, which was, yeah, right by the gym!

Sure, I grabbed my camera (for doing OOBE earlier, how convenient) and we climbed to the roof, climbed up the water tower and lying there on it, I got to video most of the display. It was simply magical. Now if only I weren't lonely Felicia, and if only I got to watch it with someone I loved. Sigh...

The prennial complaint - "no time"

It's about time management. We all get the same 24 hours in a day, and don't we all admire those who can make the most out of it?

It's a wimpy way out to just dismiss things with a 'no time' excuse.

If you feel it is important enough, repriortise and make things happen.

Stop wimping out or making excuses for yourself.

Happy All Souls Day!

Exasperation is pouring yoghurt into tea...

I wish the dairy section folks at Amart supermarket by my home will stop putting yoghurt where the milk is supposed to be!

It doesn't help matters that,
1. clearly I can't read the chinese characters too well
2. milk doesn't translate into 牛奶 in Taiwan, they use this word instead, 乳. Argh.
3. there's often a shortage of milk since June of this year. Whenever that happens, to fill the gap where milk is supposed to be, they fill up with yoghurt.
4. Yoghurt and milk are in identical 1.5litre milk cartons. *slap forehead*

Happiness on the other hand, is planning to go for mass on all souls day and actually making it. I hope all souls make it to heaven tonight - hey, it was tough, getting off my ass, overcoming that small voice that wanted to go home, relax until the late night conf call tonight.

And finally, halloween is an American thing. But nontheless, happy halloween!

Disillusioned and uplifted

The opening screen reads 'don't be disappointed when God doesn't give you what you want... for He knows the best time for you to have it'.

Sigh...

Monday I was whinging to Steph,
Tuesday I wrote the entry on my blog that started "In a perfect world," which basically was asking God to fulfill all my prayers/dreams.
Wednesday I was riding the MRT to rockclimbing and the thought hit me that I should surrender my dreams/wish list to God. Like how Abraham was asked to sacrifice what he wanted (his precious son).
Thusrday (today) Steph sent me a comforting prophecy she heard and gave me a Youtube video which touched her. It didn't for me, but it played thru and then I hit the next video and there it was, my answer.

the sufferings of this present time are as nothing...

I was whinging to Steph earlier this morning and then guess what today's first reading is,

Rom 8:18-25

Brothers and sisters:
I consider that the sufferings of this present time are as nothing
compared with the glory to be revealed for us.
For creation awaits with eager expectation
the revelation of the children of God;
for creation was made subject to futility,
not of its own accord but because of the one who subjected it,
in hope that creation itself
would be set free from slavery to corruption
and share in the glorious freedom of the children of God.
We know that all creation is groaning in labor pains even until now;
and not only that, but we ourselves,
who have the firstfruits of the Spirit,
we also groan within ourselves
as we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies.
For in hope we were saved.
Now hope that sees for itself is not hope.
For who hopes for what one sees?
But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait with endurance.

The Pope reaching out to the church of England

I was also a skeptic initially, the new Pope is too old, too austere, surely not in sync with modern times?

But Benedict proved himself different.

From his red Prada shoes to his new style of leading the catholic church.

Telling Anglicans that they are welcome to be catholics? Wow...
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/26/opinion/26douthat.html?_r=1&ref=global-home

At least he is proving to be respected church leader that the church of England lacks today. With the US epicopals allowing gay pastors, and the rest of anglican church leaders remaining silent on that... Surely that is not the Christ way of doing things. But I don't want to judge, I do however, salute Benedict for reaching out with wisdom, decisiveness and love.

In a perfect world...

In a perfect world,

- Grace is cured of cancer, completely.
- Ian has a great job he enjoys and pays well.
- Michelle is expecting a baby girl and they will name her Felicity after her aunt.
- the Elmo is happily attached to a CEO
- Steph and Felicia both find a perfect guy and get married
- Gi and Alex gets married
- Taiwan's politicians stop quibbling over the inconsequential and work for the greater good of Taiwan
- Zi gets a reinforced body where she can never overstrain any body part into injury.

Sigh...

Everybody wants to rule the world..

This is how it feels like working in a multi-national organization sometimes. When you go cross country/culture/continents.. 1 thing remains - the need for power.

Relaxed on a Monday night

Sitting here just before our routine monday night call with our Houston counterparts. Have Enya playing on my computer...

Kinda relaxed. I know, not the right mood for conference calls with Texas. I'll summon up aggression in just a moment - usually I get into the right mood with anger :)

Right now, it's nice. Beautiful blue skies and it's a cool 22degrees out. Nice. Almost too nice to have to be doing something as mundane as work :( I almost wanted to walk up the hill behind the office for a picnic.

Pity I had to miss Saturday morning's Nike Human Race, 10k. It was still raining from a typhoon that was veering away from Taipei. I just didn't feel it was worth it to run with the rain in my face and not enjoying it a bit. Should've been Sunday morning lah.. Sunday weather was excellent.

Time to jump on the call. Sigh.

Inside Steve's Brain

Written by the Wired's editor, it gives a pretty good account of Steve Jobs and Apple. Being in a product development team, it often hits me how different the Apple world is from our Wintel world (Windows and Intel stranglehold on the PC world).

Like this week, we quibbled over a plastic box to hold a stylus pen - how can we further cost down to save us a dollar at risk of looking er.. cheap. Fortunately, the marketing product manager, me, remembered the book I've been reading and so put my foot firmly down. No cheap look, no cost down. We'll take the $ hit. Sigh...

Stark different worlds. Of course our profit margins are also starkly different. We ship millions of notebooks versus iBooks, but their profit margins are also many times what we make.

Enough intelligent reading... my next book is on rockclimbing. Hee hee.. I only really have 2 loves in life - the catholic church and rockclimbing.

Rocking Woes...

No, not rockclimbing, not rock music either, nor rock on, baby!

The notebook I am working on right now has a balance issue. It's a touchscreen NB and if you poked it's screen, it rocks on its haunches. Poke it hard and it might even flip totally over. The engineers have no alternatives other than adding dummy weights to the other end to counter-balance it.

Hello, this is a thin and light, mobility NB - no extra weights just because you screwed up!

Perhaps we should really consider the idea of suction cups instead of front rubber feet. Ala fruit juicer machines.

Or more drastic measures

It's days like this that you sit in geekdom and wonder why are the geeks here all idiots?

Which C-sport - Cycling or Climbing?

I really like this editor from the Rock and Ice magazine. Pity I can't get a subscription into Taiwan and it's not available in the bookstores here (nothing in English here, it sux). But I get their regular emails whenever Andrew writes, it absolutely kills me. Now don't get me wrong, I love both - rockclimbing and cycling my bike. But he puts in such a manner, it's a blast!

No Respect

By Andrew Bisharat

I admired the perfectly crafted cappuccino before me, especially the artful mocha brush strokes through the white foam. The warm Sunday morning sun and dry air made the roast’s aromas and chocolate smack all the more piquant. The patio of an Italian café is a fine place to begin any day in Boulder.

The tranquility of the moment deformed like the foam in my drink when I suddenly found myself surrounded by a gang of extra-large lycra-clad road bikers. The incongruous sight of bulbous, sagging flesh in XXL spandex instantly razed any impression that this was an athletic lot, yet here they were, stretching their old groins, mindlessly chattering and feeding on coffee, juice and croissants, which I assumed would fuel a ride of some insignificant distance.

“Gawd, these people are disgusting,” I said to my friends Sam and Emily. It was an awful thing to say, but they agreed that the jiggling belly fat, pizza-dough man-teats and sausage-and-meatballs spaghetti-crotch — all squashed into a body-condom covered in company logos — was at least a little unappetizing. It was not their fault, per se — no one looks good in lycra, not even me (two obvious exceptions, of course, are Megan Fox and, my favorite, Giada di Laurentiis).

I studied the rotund roadies, which is not to say that I looked at them, but rather that I analyzed my own feelings about these carefree boomers, their glasses affixed with protruding rearview mirrors and their $8,000 carbon-fiber frame bikes, which I overheard one guy refer to as a “steed.” These people were like everyone else: just looking for an outlet — social and perhaps even physical — to somehow fill a gap in their lives. It’s like the old saying, “Biking: it’s something to do.” I actually don’t know if that is a saying or not, but it should be. Who can blame them for that?

What was most interesting to me was not the padding that makes it look like you’re smuggling a loaf of crap in your pants, but how at ease these people were with it. Lycra is part of the biking community, and it makes them feel comfortable in the same way that European climbers wear manpris. Who cares that no one else shares their aesthetic?

But at what point does exchanging the mores of mainstream society for the queerer set held by your fringe community make others lose respect for you?

One thing I’ve recently realized is that if people respect you, you can get away with a lot. Lose that respect and suddenly, nothing is permissible any longer. For example, one friend is down on his luck. He has joined the “Lost Generation” of young, bright, overly educated 20somethings that is experiencing an astronomic unemployment rate of 18 percent. As such, he’s adopted a “certain moral flexibility,” as he calls it, which permits him to steal food and clothing that are not his. It was no shock that my respect for him diminished, but I was surprised by how this decline directly correlated to how funny I found his already immature humor.

Soon, the roadies were off on their ride, and the café was once again peaceful. Twelve hours earlier, I was on a flight home from the Red River Gorge and had the pleasure of sitting next to an attractive woman. That had always been a dream of mine—every time I get on a plane, I pray that Giada boards the flight and takes the open seat next to me and we spend the rest of the flight making plans to crush juicy tomatoes together—but the hairy human dregs that smell of broiled meat have always been an abrupt and cruel end to my fantasy.

This girl was no Giada, but close. After telling me all about her giant diamond engagement ring and $40,000 wedding, she asked about the “gross” scars on the back of my hands. I explained what gobies were, and what rock climbing was all about.
“Look at your fingers!” she said. “They’re all knobby and swollen.”
“Yeah, if you think my hands are bad, you should see my toes,” I said.
“Ewwwwww!” she said. “Oh, yeah, my fiancé tried rock climbing once. He had to squeeze his feet into these tiny little girly ballet shoes!” She seemed tickled by the memory of her masculine Venezuelan boyfriend doing something so effeminate as rock climbing.

I thought about it and realized that climbers aren’t much less odd-looking than lycra-clad roadies. We’re a bunch of messy-haired and smelly weirdoes with the perpetually scabby, gross hands of a leper. We even wear harnesses that accentuate parts of ourselves that should never be accentuated—no different than bike spandex.

Maybe this is why, like Rodney Dangerfield said, we can’t get no respect.

A good hike

Over the weekend, I went with the HP mountaineering club to Wuling Farm - nestled at the foot of Snow Mountain. I was here last year as well, we had this aborted attempt to climb Snow Mountain - 2nd tallest in Taiwan. No permits were issued that weekend because of a nearby typhoon even though the weather was perfect then. Sigh, beaurocracy... *shrug*

The weather this time around initially didn't bode so well, even as we drove in on Saturday it was heavy mist (didn't help that I was just watching this horror movie called the Mist on HBO).. But it was perfect on Sunday - climbing day.

Had an ex-Houston based colleague who's now working for a Taiwanese software company in town and he wanted to join too. Except he had a meeting til noon on Saturday. So we arranged a separate car (which cost a ridiculously exorbitant cost of 5000nt!), it was a nice Mercedes Benz (a little old though, with a driver that kept getting lost!) and I offered to ride with him since I speak Chinese and also means that I get to sleep in a little and not have to leave with the HP folks at 7am :)

Our driver got us to Wuling Farm by 2.30pm (he was in a rush as he didn't want to drive home alone in the dark and in the mist - chicken shit! and I suspect he feared getting lost as well).

I skipped the shower (hey, I was in the Mercedes Benz for most of the day anyways) and we were all in our sleeping bags in our tents by 9pm. I shared a tent with 2 other women (slim, petite) who snored like men! Both of them! Yes, I caught no sleep all night. Sigh.

Waking up at 4am, we started for Chiyou Mountain 池有山which is one of the 4 biggest mountains in that range. It's also a 百岳, a list of 100 best peaks in Taiwan. Not that I'm bagging peaks, but this makes my 3rd 百岳.

It was perhaps a 7km walk to the foot of Chiyou, and then a 4km hike up, sounds easy? This 4km plus 1km elevation means it's a steep hike. It's also mostly rocky, pebbly path, so it was a slow slog up for me. We took 8hours to get up, and 4.5 hours down. Yeah, we walked for 12.5hours.

Frank was really nice, patient, we walked slow and he was really good about it. And we rested a lot too. Took numerous pictures. I could enjoy nature and the walk up... It was really nice. At a rest spot, we were surrounded by 黃鼠狼 or Chinese mink or weasel. They ran around us, but were too shy to come close when we tried to bait them closer with food.

We had excellent views of Snow Mountain, Daba Mountain and all the beautiful peaks surrounding us - most of the way up, which helped as a distraction when your legs are so tired.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8062670@N07/sets/72157622615968746/

Thank you Jesus. This will be the last hike of the year, I was going to say last tiring activity, but then Blues just MSN asking if I wanted to go Palau, Dec 5 to 12? Hmm...

Waiting on the Lord...

Sigh.. I feel like being in a holding pattern.

"They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint." [Isa 40:30-31].

Faux pas

I like to believe that I've been in Taiwan long enough (2 years and 2 months) and that my language skills have come a long way since...

Then I discovered my reading skills are er.. not quite there as well. Sigh.

Honda had asked me via MSN to look out for a "拉鍊的粉袋"

while in Singapore and to buy it for another person at the rock gym. He mentioned that I have one of those... I somehow read it as a chalk bag with chilli design (Red Chilli has one just like that), but it's er.. actually, a chalk bag with a zipper mouth.

Sigh... So chilli and zipper looks alike to me. I think I just can't read the traditional chinese character too well. In anycase, fortunately for me, I didn't find the chilli design chalk bag.

I found out after I came back and was explaining that the chilli design is past fashion, what's fashionable in Singapore are the Prana branded chalkbags.. blah blah.. but they kept asking about zipper. I'm like, what's with the zipper questions.. and then it dawned on me.

living by the river

Decided in Jun that I wanted to move, to stay by the riverside.

With Taipei being such an urban city - read cities, scooters, cars, buses... too much pollution and noise. I wanted to live close by and yet be by a riverside.

It's actually quite possible considering that the rivers crisscross much of Taipei and that there are a lot of vacant apartments. Just a matter of sieving out what you like and how much you can afford to pay in rent.

I think I started viewing apartments in July and yesterday, Oct 1, I finally saw something I liked. (alright, so I was in Singapore most of Sep), but still, it's been a lot of apartment viewing.

This one I like not because of the apartment, but because of location. It's right by the riverside (I mean beside!) and it's just a 10min taxi ride into office which means it is not in the boondogs. http://rent.591.com.tw/rent-detail-333447.html

Alas, the lady wanted too much in rent and refused to budge.

First weekend back...

It's amazing how the minute I'm back in Taipei, I snap back into the sluggish self I am.

I spent most of Sat lying in bed watching my favourite program - Sasake on JetTV. It's one of those telematch games where contestants jump through hoops (literally) and it's really hard! You need to be very strong athletically and a lot of people train all year for it. The muscle fest I really enjoy :)

Then I had dinner with Garin before we caught Inglorious Bastards. Been a long while since the last Tarantino movie and it didn't let me down. It was a blast! Great movie!

Woke up to morning mass on Sunday before climbing too hard - my arms are so sore now.... ow, ow...

Measurements

The Chinese Taipei running association had sent me an email asking me to verify if I indeed wanted my race tshirt size XS. Within the email, they also listed the tshirt size versus the dimensions.

This is for the upcoming Oct 24 Nike Human Run race.

XS would be 80cm, S is 87cm.... My first thought was, yeah, of course I'm still XS. And then I started to doubt myself...

Turning to Emily, I asked, so, would you know if I am 80cm? She looked at me nonchalantly and said, well, we could just measure.

Amazingly, we found a measuring tape (truly the office of geeks, remember we had filter blocks in the pantry on the day the huge lunar eclipse happened?) and stood in a corner of the office and measured myself.

Then, I replied the email to tell that I'd take size S afterall :p

And back to reality...

I had a really good trip back in Singapore this time around. Most of it from the first week of being on holiday in Krabi. For that, I am grateful to Zi, Fong & my uncle - so much fun!

Also this was the last of my miles on SQ too. From here on, it'll be Jetstarasia and budget travels. Sob!

Michelle asked me on Sunday why I like Taiwan. This is the same person who has not yet come to visit me since I moved here 2 years ago. :(

I was wondering to myself why too... In Singapore I get to indulge in my 2 biggest fave activities : RC & RC - rockclimbing and the Roman Catholic church, often on a daily basis. In Taiwan, these 2 activities are curtailed to weekends.

So why do I like Taiwan? Hmm...

Incidentally, I've been thinking of that hamburger place Michelle suggested : http://www.thehandburger.com/. It's in the basement of Raffles City, and it is VERY VERY good. Sigh...

Reality bites

I was just thinking and probably commented to a few friends that I was beginning to like being in Singapore again.

Then reality came along and socked me one in the jaw.

As usual, I met up with my financial advisor as I do whenever I am back. Afterwards, we were just making small talk, about property prices and trends etc and then he commented that Lim Hon now has 2 kids, the second new-born shares his birthday etc...

Even though there are songs about this, and I am well aware, heck, I even joke about it. But to realise that it's reality... at that moment. I felt like Darth Maul sliced in half by Obi-wan's lightsaber. Once I recovered, I was preoccupied with macabre time calculations, how much time does it take to get over someone, get married, have 2 kids...

Truth is, I'm over it, over him. Guess now, that remote tiniest of hope dies too.

Property pricing...

Expensive, expensive, expensive...

I should've returned to buy in Jun or Jul this year. Now it's all gone on a little peak. Will it continue to go up? Are we max-ed out?

All this talk about V-shaped recovery or W-shaped recovery confuses me.

How, how, how?

Oh, and last night I was viewing some apartments. This 1 unit at Symphony Heights, there as a little altar center of the living room. Feels different. I didn't look at it, avoided being too close as well. And I was in the apartment only 10mins max. Didn't like the apartment in any case. Last night I was sleeping and I was awoken to feel afraid - related to that apartment? I was tired, I prayed and fell back asleep. But then something fell in the room, and I was awakened for the second time. I looked around, saw nothing out of place, very sleep-laden, I prayed again and this time crossed myself for good measure, then fell back asleep. This morning while preparing for work, nothing was out of place. Nothing fell to floor. Hmm... and the creepy thing is, being able to attribute it to that apartment.

Sigh.

Perhaps Emily is right afterall. You need to be rich. If I'm rich, I'll be viewing brand-new expensive apartments. Sigh.

Yahoo questions...

All week we've been talking about Yahoo moments. A Yahoo moment is one where either Fong, Zi or Fel would ask a question that nobody would have the answer to. We'll all then yell 'ya-hooo' in unison, and still be none the wiser.

So I'm finally going to list out the questions. Alas my memory is no longer very good and I only can recall these.

1. Why do mosquitoes exist?
Answer - they pollinate flowers (after bees, they are the most prolific pollen distributors). And we all know how bees pollinate because we watched the Bee movie at least twice in 1 week. But that's another story altogether.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosquito

2. What's the difference between the monsoons in Krabi versus Singapore/Malaysia? Why are they different times of the year?
Answer - Krabi is affected by the south west monsoon rains which is now.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monsoon

3. What is SPF and what's the difference with PA?
Answer - PA is the Japanese standard and measures UVA rays. PA +++ is what we were using. Or rather what vain Fong had to apply daily.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunscreen

4. How would a cockatoo cycle? Or an Egyptian, for that matter?

does God hear you?

It all started because Francis mentioned he needs a test-subject for his psychology course. Zi agreed to be it and she was going to talk about bad friends. I have had more than my fair share of bad friends and it all came back to me last night - about Moo, maybe cos I saw her at the climbing wall Tuesday night.

Last night, I was bothered enough to pull this book from my bookshelf titled - When Friendship Hurts. I flipped through it again and started to feel all indignant & huffy again.

Came into office this morning, and was reading this morning's readings. Guess what...

Col 3:12-17
Brothers and sisters:Put on, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved,heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience,bearing with one another and forgiving one another,if one has a grievance against another;as the Lord has forgiven you, so must you also do.And over all these put on love,that is, the bond of perfection.And let the peace of Christ control your hearts,the peace into which you were also called in one Body.And be thankful.Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly,as in all wisdom you teach and admonish one another,singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songswith gratitude in your hearts to God.And whatever you do, in word or in deed,do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus,giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Sigh...

And the psalm of the day was the same song ringing in my head as it was the last song on my MP3 player riding the bus into office. 'Let everything that has breath, praise the Lord!'.

So yeah, I guess the good Lord hears everything... and Amen for that.

Bunnie Edwards

Bunnie was the admin at Houston. I remember when I first transferred to the consumer Notebook team, and had to travel to Houston to meet the extended team there. I had lunch with Bunnie - you'll like her. She's quick to laugh and just has an easy word for everyone. Start to tell a joke and she'll be roaring with laughter before you hit the punchline.

I got into Singapore this week and Monday morning, I had a really bad feeling when I saw an email titled 'Bunnie's update'. Last night, I was trying to call someone in Taiwan to get a conference call going and I saw Bunnie's name on my phone show up.

Sigh...

It was supposed to be removal of a growth on her face, which turned out to be cancer and within 3 weeks of diagnosis, she was gone.

I remember how she was really helpful when I was trying to organize the later canceled marketing summit. We spoke almost every night, working out hotel/food/event arrangements.

I will miss you Bunnie. Play an extra heavenly song on your harp for me as you sit by Jesus.

Ecclesiastes
Chapter 3
There is an appointed time for everything, and a time for every affair under the heavens.
A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to uproot the plant.
A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to tear down, and a time to build.
A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance.
A time to scatter stones, and a time to gather them; a time to embrace, and a time to be far from embraces.
A time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away.
A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to be silent, and a time to speak.
A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

Krabi magic

Thank you Zi & Fong, I had a great week climbing/eating excessively at Railay, Krabi.

As a 3rd trip there, and being much older compared to my earlier trips, I surprised myself by being able to still climb 6b+ routes.

Climbing log :

Day 1 - 123 wall

Make a Way - 6a+

King's Cobra - 5 (top roped this)

We Sad - 6a+

Day 2 - Wee's Present Wall

A man can tell a 1000 lies - 6a

Hello Christine - 6a+

Same same but different - 6b+

Day 3 - Thaiwand Wall

Circus Oz - 6a+

Monkey's Bum - 6b

Day 5 - Eagle Wall

Totem Pole - 6a

Where Eagles don't dare - 6a+

Sea Monkey - 6b+

Speaking out loud - 6b (Fong only)

The climbs in orange colour are classic climbs as highlighted by the climbing guidebook.

Other than the excellent climbing, the companionship was really nice. I really enjoyed all the easy bantering and laughter.

Evidence of the really good holiday :

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8062670@N07/sets/72157622177621203/

Reminder - how to lead our lives

In the excitement of being home and being with old friends again... a timely reminder.

Col 3:1-11

Brothers and sisters:If you were raised with Christ, seek what is above,where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.Think of what is above, not of what is on earth.For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.When Christ your life appears,then you too will appear with him in glory.

Put to death, then, the parts of you that are earthly:immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire,and the greed that is idolatry.Because of these the wrath of God is coming upon the disobedient.By these you too once conducted yourselves, when you lived in that way.But now you must put them all away:anger, fury, malice, slander,and obscene language out of your mouths.

Stop lying to one another,since you have taken off the old self with its practicesand have put on the new self,which is being renewed, for knowledge,in the image of its creator.Here there is not Greek and Jew,circumcision and uncircumcision,barbarian, Scythian, slave, free;but Christ is all and in all.

On being poor...

I feel poor. I wanted to buy my mom a watch - perhaps Christmas or her birthday next year. Mentioned this in passing to Emily and she dragged me to the Taipei 101 to look at Rolexes.

That's when I started feeling poor. The classic Rolex Oyster Perpetual DateJust looks great and it's also greatly out of my league. Try 230,000nt. Ouch!

Sorry mom, one day I will be able to buy that for you. That day unfortunately isn't going to be today.

Then I came home and ate more of my cheesesticks and I feel fine again.

Floods in Taiwan

The last 14 days or so.. I lie awake at nights watching the disaster scene replied on our tv channels over and over again.

The full extent of the floods are really quite horrible. 2 entire villages were washed away by the mudslides. In the worse of the 2 : Xiaoling village, some 400 people out of 1000+ were buried alive. They still lie there, under 4 storeys of mud. Soldiers are digging - initially by hand, now by bulldozers in a recovery process of pure pain, dragged out pain to the surviving familes and even the rescue workers - mostly 20year old conscripts.

Everyone in Taiwan's hurting from this. The Taiwan president and his government has faced widespread criticism on being slow and ambivalent about its efforts.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/24/world/asia/24taiwan.html?ref=asia

Initially I was thinking we can't fault the government since in Taipei, the typhoon effects were mild. In fact, Saturday, the day Xiaoling village was wiped-out, I had gone out to climb at my usual climbing gym because it wasn't even raining. Taiwan has basically gone on a witchhunt, demanding the resignation of the president (for being slow and cold about his reaction), premier (for going for a haircut & then dinner on Saturday evening - even though he had on Saturday morning gone to the affected area), secretary-general of the cabinet (for eating a Father's day dinner at a 5-star hotel). Saturday 8 Aug, was celebrated by Taiwan as Father's Day (88 sounds like Papa).

My colleagues later explained to me that if you were a public servant, your salary comes from the people. More is expected of you.

I suppose that makes sense.

Please send your prayers to Taiwan, it's leadership for wisdom and speedy recovery of the affected areas. That the survivors are re-settled and their future taken care of by the government or by any necessary aid agency.

Wet and shaken

And the earth shoke again. I was shaken awake again this morning by another earthquake at 8.05am 6.5magnitude. And just a moment ago, another one.

It's a very unnerving experience when you're sleeping and you get shaken awake - not sure if you're dreaming or it's for real and you should get up, get dressed and run for safety.

Emily & I are convinced it's linked to the recent eclipse. Not good omen. Hmm...

I spent last weekend splashing about in a stream off Yilan. It's called 溯溪 or river tracing. You literally walk up a stream to the source - a big waterfall, then turn around and in parts, slide downstream.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8062670@N07/sets/72157622064718634/

The company we used this time around was pretty professional - Cloud9.

Luca, our Italian colleague who spends most of his time eating/drinking and picking up cute nubile Taiwanese women, was totally out of his league. Most of the time... except when he tried to pick up one of our instructors - she's this really totally cool person. Awesome in the water. Glad he was around to provide the laughs cos after a while, when you're wet and cold and tired.. watching Luca makes you laugh.

We thought this event would be cancelled initially - because the terrible floods we have in central/southern parts of Taiwan. But it continued. On day 2, the 2nd stream, the initial part involved crossing this muddy river with fast-moving waters - it really looks like a scene on TV, and us roped up trying to cross it. Made us all feel guilty and sad. May God bless the recovery/continued rescue process, give us all strength/wisdom in the rebuilding process and most of all, bless the souls of those who lost their lives. Amen.

Floods in central/southern Taiwan

It has been pretty horrific and the pictures continue... It's day 7 since the typhoon hit us last Friday, but on TV we're still getting pleas for help from villages in the mountains.

HP has a website for donations to help these villagers but the aid agency they chose, er.. nobody around me has heard of it. Not good... Hmmm...

President Ma has been really slow to react to the crisis. Move quicker, declare a state of emergency if you have to! Accept assistance from other countries! Do something quicker. I cannot even start to imagine not having a hot meal for 7 days, not to mention what these villagers must be enduring and for the for last 7 days.

Whole villages have been swept away, thousands are missing.

While Taiwan has typhoon recovery experience - it is afterall a very mountainous country and typhoons are a yearly occurrence. However, the scale of this typhoon has been something Taiwan has not seen in the last 50 years. It's simply not able to do enough, quickly enough.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/13/world/asia/13taiwan.html?_r=1&ref=global-home

Majulah Singapura!

Majulah Singapura!

For a long time I had not sung our national anthem. It felt somehow natural that we sang it as 1 people again at the Howard Hotel over lunch.

The Singapore Trade Commission (that's what they call all embassies in Taiwan since everyone recognises PRC as China), had organised a national day party for all Singaporeans here.

They served chilli crab and satay, it felt nice to be able to mill around and speak Singlish loudly without anyone saying 'so Singaporeans don't speak good english...'.

As a special touch, I turned on my computer and went to google and they've gone patriotic as well...

工欲善其事 必先利其器

Emily taught me this over dinner just now...
工欲善其事 必先利其器

She told me if I could repeat this just once in my lifetime, I would impress everyone. I think if I did this in Singapore, everyone would go, eh, lu gong simi?

We left office leisurely (except the part where we had to run in/out of taxis cos of the rain and wind), because... TOMORROW'S HOLIDAY! YAY!

Thank you typhoon Morakot! It's heading directly for Taipei - eye of the storm aimed directly Taipei. Packing 144km/h winds, it's enough for all of Taiwan to declare a typhoon holiday - so everyone in Taiwan gets Friday off! Cool! For the first time we were actually wanting this typhoon to hit Taiwan, it's been a pretty dry season and the water levels in Shimen reservoir which feeds most of Taipei has been dangerously low. We were going to face water rationing measures when this typhoon appeared as a God sent.

Storm!

Thanks to the kind people who forwarded me this news.

They named a hurricane after me.

Ha! I always knew I would make a big influence on people's lives.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32284375/ns/weather/

The unbearable ease of taxis

Year 1 of arrival into Taipei summer of 2007 - that year, I walked to work daily even in the worst of the summer heat.

Summer of 2008, I started taking taxis to work most days in summer, too hot to walk, too uncomfortable to start sweating so early in the day.

Summer of 2009, I started to call for a taxi. So when I step out of my lift lobby, I jump right into the waiting taxi. Save the 1min walk out to the street.

Transformation to being more and more Taiwanese.

Losing Father Renckens

Mom told me about Father Rencken's passing last week. To the end, he was praying to be healed and discharged from hospital because he wanted to finish planning some trip. And that is Fr Renckens - Mr Efficiency to a fault.

This morning's reading about Jesus feeling sad on hearing the news about John the Baptist's death.. made me think about Father Renckens.

I remember the first time I met him was at my Pa's wake. Pa had just passed away, we were still in shock, I recall seeing this very tall man with a strange accent show up day 1 of Pa's wake. I remember he stayed with us until Pa's body arrived from the embalmers. Not long after, mom took all 3 of us to Blessed Sacrament church where Fr Reckens was parish priest, and signed us up for cathecism classes. It took a further half year before I understood Fr Rencken's accent completely ;)

I realize he was always there. Cathecism classes, baptism, confirmation and much later, theology classes. I can still see him (in my mind) walking his dog on a long raffia string. Incidentally, his dog doesn't have have the most pleasant of dispositions, he barks and then bites you.

I will miss you Father Renckens. Blessed Sacrament will not feel the same without you around.

Singapore also lost Father Tom O'Neil from St Ignatius church. 2 priests overnight, I would imagine our priest to congregation ratio must take a big hit.

Let's keep their souls in prayers.

http://www.catholicnews.sg/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3063:father-renckens-a-father-tom-oneill-called-home-to-the-lord&catid=184:information

Presidential Palace of Taiwan from the inside

After Sunday mass today, I visited the Taiwan Presidential Palace and the nearby Taipei Guest House, 台北賓館 - which wasn't planned. The taxi had dropped by right in front of it, since security does not allow cars nearer to the Presidential Palace. The security guards by the road, suggested I see it. Since I was being tourist for the day, why not.... Built in 1899 it was the official home of the Japanese governor of Taiwan during Japanese rule. Just a nice classy house with a lot of chandeliers, used today by the Taiwanese heads of states and their guests.

Now, I've seen the Presidential Palace ttp://www.president.gov.tw/en/ from afar, and also on TV, but it's my first time inside it. Security was real strict, guards every couple of meters and most of the rooms are blocked off, understandably. But still a big eye opener. Pity the President wasn't home...

More pix - http://www.flickr.com/photos/8062670@N07/sets/72157621928661704/

My 3rd and last stop - the Smiling Kingdom exhibition at the National History Museum. There was a 2nd part to the terracotta warriors of Xi-An, China. Some 70 years later, in the tombs of Emperors Wen & Jing, more terracotta warriors were found. Since these Han dynasty emperors ruled in a time of peace, unlike the Qin Emperor and his terracotta warriors, the terracotta warriors were different. They had peaceful, even smiling faces, they were nude with movable arms and parts and even er.. genitals. They were men, women and even eunuchs. They are known as the Terracotta Warriors of Han Yang Ling.

3 museums on a Sunday afternoon in the 38degrees of summer heat made me sleepy. Time for bed.

Excellent cake shop in Taipei... to die for cheese cake!

Ah Liang whom I climb with, brought us to this fabulous cake shop. His friend who learnt the craft in France, has his own shop in Minsheng East road. It's called Gouter or good day in English.

http://www.paul-cake.com/

Ah Liang spoils us, he ordered a LOT of cakes. Then very subtly walked away while Rae and I stuffed our faces. In much reciprocated good manners, we half-ed each cake, and gestured to everyone, share with me please. In reality, everyone else ate very little.. er.. so er..

And Ah Liang even bought us a pack of multi-layered cakes slices each to go.
I just ate 2 slices for dessert. Absolutely fabulous. Although my personal favourite is the cheese cake sticks. Those are to die for...
I will be back.

funny incident

Conversation between me and Luca (our Italian colleague)...

Luca - "hey, u gotta try this website"

Me - launching my MS IE, "what's the URL", as I start to type in 'www.'

Luca - "no, no, no whoa whoa."

Home trips

Alas I will still be on Taiwan soil to sing the majulah Singapura! There's a party held at the Howard Hotel by the Singapore Trade Commission - they're called that cos technically no country other than a handful of countries maintain an embassy or consultate here. Recognizing communistic PRC instead - bah! Money talks, and the world's too pragmatic.

I digress. I will get to sing majulah Singapura with fellow Singaporeans since Aug 9 falls conveniently on a Sunday this year.

And then, I get to go home to truly be amidst my fellow countrymen (minus the extra 2 million real China PRC types, that I do not personally like so much). The last of my SQ miles used for this purpose - Aug 28 to Sep 22. Yep, almost 3 weeks, well, technically 2 weeks. First week Sep will see my leading every single (well, I aim high) 6a, 6b and 6b+ climb in Krabi. Ok, ok, throw in a few 6cs for the added challenge.

I fear I am growing zenophobic in my old age.

So prepare the lion dance and the orchid garlands - I land Aug 28 10pm into Terminal 3. And don't forget to tell the New Paper (they're about as gossipy as the media here in Taiwan).

Just in case the cost cutting measures get to you as well and the lion dance troupe is too extravagant, I will be back in Singapore again not long after.

I booked my first Jetstarasia trip home for Dec 18 to Jan 3. Not flying home via SQ is a big step down. Boo hoo.. I'll survive I hope - stuff myself silly before boarding the 4 hour flight of fasting.

China’s President Congratulates Taiwan Leader on Election as Chairman of Party

China’s President Congratulates Taiwan Leader on Election as Chairman of Party -- from today's New York Times.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/28/world/asia/28taiwan.html?ref=todayspaper

Ma is now chairman of his KMT party.

I still don't quite get the irony of the KMT being warmer and more reconciliatory to communist China versus the Taiwan opposition DPP party.

The KMT fought a losing war to Mao Zedong's communist army hence fleeing to Taiwan.

The DPP which was setup in 1986 seeks an independent Taiwan. But they bear no war wounds or emotional baggage that comes with fighting each other to the death right?

Ironic.

In any case, with me being in Taipei for now, the KMT wins for us a peace with China. And peace is always a good thing.

Lesson 101 - do pharmacies exist in Taipei?

Because there's a lot of Chinese medicine/Chinese medicine clinics/Chinese medicine pharmacies, feels like 90% of all medical related clinics are Chinese medicine, not the normal western doctors.

I had somehow assumed there are no regular pharmacies in Taipei. I know it doesn't sound logical, somehow...

I've been getting my stash of the usual stuff like sinus pills or motion sickness pills every trip back to Singapore.

Until last week.. I was due to climb Jade Mountain and needed to find a pharmacy to sell my Diamox or any anti-AMS (acute mountain sickness). My last trip up a big mountain many years ago, I fell quite tragically sick with AMS.

I trotted into Watsons since they had a pharmacy counter. They said I had to go to a 藥局. So I went back to work the next day and innocently asked Rae 'what's a 藥局?' She said it's everywhere, and that there must be a few nearby my place. So I took a walk and yeah, found 2 near my place. Got my anti AMS pills, climbed my big mountain successfully.

Here's 2 popular franchise pharmacies, you should be able to find one nearby your home. Yes Pharmacy is the one right by my place. Phamacists here are pretty helpful and yes they do carry the brandname drugs I wanted specifically.

Yes Pharmacy 躍獅連鎖藥局
TingTing Pharmacy 丁丁連鎖藥局

I even made a 2nd trip back to the pharmacy to get some rash cream - yeah, still suffering from eczema.

So guess what, pharmacies do exist in Taipei.

And yes, you're right, I do need to improve my Chinese....

Solar eclipse - and I saw it!

I've never actually seen one nor cared very much. But this time it's most visible in North Asia - hey, I'm in Taiwan.

I couldn't sleep last night, eventually falling asleep at 4.30am. Slept badly and woke up at 8.30am only because there's an AMD meeting at 10am.

It appeared dark as I was leaving the house, so I grabbed an umbrella - thinking it's rain. I stopped for a latte at Ikari as usual, then decided to walk to work since it was kinda cloudy. Cloudy is wrong - I remembered the eclipse only when people were staring at the sun and pointing...

Tried to snap a pix of the sun with my cellphone - no luck. Staring at it hurts the eyes. So my office is truly geek-dom. I walked in and say, hey guys, eclipse outside. They coolly tell me to go the pantry where there're filters to see the full eclipse.

Picture taken by a colleague from our pantry window.

And tadah - the whole annular solar eclipse. Just a cresent light ring around the darkened sun at 9.50am. Truly amazing. God is great! What a spectacular sight!

Dream fulfilled - bagging tallest peaks of Taiwan

2 dreams carried over from last year - (1) visit 蘭嶼 Orchid Island, off Taitung & (2) climb 玉山Jade Mountain.

Last weekend, I visited Orchid Island. And now dream no. 2 fulfilled.

Almost didn't get to do this, a typhoon had blown in and Fri, the day before we were to leave, it was officially off - Jade Mountain national park was closed. I had dinner with my colleagues Friday night & ironically in the taxi going home after dinner, Emily pointed out the taxi driver's name - it was 王玉山or King Jade Mountain. Hmm...

9am on Sat morning, Honda called me to tell to get my stuff, the park's open and the trip's back on! Without applying leave (no time), I only had time to drop by the drugstore to get some anti-mountain sickness pills, and presto, we're off.

Sat it was road trip all the way to Nantou, and we stayed at the base lodge. I went right to bed, no shower. Sun morning, we rose early and started the long 5 hour walk up to the high camp 排雲山莊. Mon 2.30am we made our summit bid, first the main peak, then the eastern peak. By Mon 2.15pm, I was back at the base lodge where our bus was waiting.

I'm really thrilled that I got to summit Jade Mountain - in the process bagging the 2 tallest peaks in Northeast Asia, the main peak (3952m) and east peak (3940m). Taiwan being so mountainous, lists its 100 best peaks as 百岳.

My pix - http://www.flickr.com/photos/8062670@N07/sets/72157621764305588/

Now here's the funny part to the hike. I'm actually the youngest member of the team. Amazingly everyone else is in their 50s, 60s. Heck, Sandie who's perhaps 50+, brought her brother, now he's 70. And at every rest stop, they wait for... ME. Yes! Taiwanese people are really strong! A common refrain when I show up at each rest spot is, oh she's here, followed by, oh she's now lying flat again (她又躺平了). I was soooo beat.

My legs were so sore, 1st morning back, I contemplated jumping down my spilt level studio because my 39-yr-old legs are absolutely jello.

Last night no. 18 from 宫廷Massage just outside of Tunghua night market did her magic. I highly recommend this place if you need an excellent massage in Taipei. :)

Thank you God for dreams fulfilled.

Funny advertisement

You gotta give it to Taiwan - they're very creative. I love this ad. Cracks me up everytime.

A dream fulfilled - Orchid Island

This trip has been in the planning since mid of last year, canceled repeated due to typhoons. This time around, there is so little confidence that it'll happen and when it finally did, even I was surprised.

No excuses, but I was so sure it'll get canceled that I didn't pack til the day itself. I forgot my camera (brought the dive housing though) *slap forehead*, and I forgot clean tshirts. Well done, Felicia (kick myself).

The island is very beautiful.
The hotel is very sucky.
Our fellow guests are very loud, especially at 5am in the morning.
The diving was ok - similar to Green Island.
There are a lot of sea snakes in the waters off Orchid Island - we see at least 3 snakes per dive.

Still, I had great fun.

Take the photos off the Ah Guang :
http://www.flickr.com/photos/aniceday0101/sets/72157621290037189/

MJ's memorial service

On another conference call this Wed evening.

So here I am sitting here, watching TV, playing Zuma on Facebook, replying the occasional email and trying to listen to what the folks are saying on the call, yeah, all at the same time.

What am I really doing? Watching MJ's memorial service on TV mostly. They actually had MJ's casket at the memorial. And I was thinking, who is that Asian woman singer, she can sing! Googling reveals everyone asking the same question - she's some backup singer who used to work for MJ? Anyways... she did a great job singing We are the World.

That song brings back memories, think I sang it at some school dance with my class. Or rather I believe I lip-synced to it.

Yawn!

Diving 东北角 Taiwan's North Eastern Coastline

东北角 is the nearest dive spot for Taipei residents. It's a quick 45min getaway. Ironically, it is the same place for outdoor rockclimbing.

I had been to the exact same spot, almost 2 years ago, Nov 07, the area by Hemei primary school. Except I was there to rockclimb and the school was the entrance to the crag. We dive right off the carpark in front of the school. In summer, it was a frenzy of activity. Divers, snorkelers, people frolic-ing/cooling off the summer heat... and the occasionally rockclimber walking by. I yelled hello to a fellow climber I recognized.

Got my 2nd chance to practise my photography skills. There was very little currents, but visibility wasn't too great. 1st dive was ok, then it got progressive worse as the tide came in. Still, this place was pretty amazing - harlequin shrimps, a flamboyant cuttlefish changing colours in its attempt to free itself (we surrounded it all angles with our cameras ;0 ) and a peculiar winged fish that looks like a bat - is it a dragonfish? Need to ask the dive guide... Also I kept seeing tentacles from crevices that'd move if you approached. Tried to prod it and it retracted totally into the crevice, at that point, I was convinced : octopus! But Ah Guang says no, it's related to the sea cucumbers which incidentally moves and also has tentacles. Dang... wanted to pull the critter out of its hiding place, but was afraid I'd mis-member it, so er, be a good safe diver.

Key takeaways :
1. 东北角is pretty good diving
2. I still don't get this dive and shoot picture thing
3. My camera distracted me so much that I was down to 0 on air and didn't realize it! Ah Guang grabbed my gauge and pointed it with much consternation. Then he gave me his buddy air. Yeah, my first time using someone else's backup air.

My pictures. Of noteworthy mention, harleqin shrimp, flamboyant cuttlefish especially.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8062670@N07/sets/72157620992814002/

Neihu or Muzha?

I've started looking at apartments. Hoping to move to live by the riverside. The good thing is there're lots of apartments by riversides since there're lots of rivers/streams. I like Neihu neighbourhood but the apartments there cost more. Muzha is nestled against mountains and has less foreigners ie not so neat and orderly, but there're new developments that cost less for more.

Today I viewed 5 apartments over lunch. 3 in Neihu - they were all too small or were icky. 2 in Muzha - both were nice, 1 is a little over my budget, will see how the negotiations go. But in any case living in Muzha means no MRT, traveling via public buses or taxis. Nothing that screams 'rent me!' for now.

Taipei at a total standstill midday

The entire north Taiwan including Taipei grinding to a total standstill at midday?

We practiced an air-raid alert today. The sirens went off and between 1.30 to 2pm, all cars were not allowed to drive on roads, no human traffic along the roads. On the streets, life grounded to a total stop.

I had no clue, as is the general rule here, everything's in Chinese, those not so proficient in Chinese tend to miss too much.

I had gone to the gym over lunch. Then stopped by 7-11, bought a healthy salad lunch and was happily walking back to the office when I got stopped by policemen. They invited me to the police station and ignored my whines 'i have a meeting at 2pm'.. HP was just across the street and they insist I cannot 'just run back to the office' and that I had to 'cooperate with all of Taiwan'. Fine. Here's how close I got back to the office pictorially...

So I pulled out my salad lunch and ate it in a police station. :)

Back slightly late into the 2pm meeting. But this is really good. That Taiwan takes national defence very seriously.