merry christmas!

to each and every single one of you out there...

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

-->> read rest of the post...

christmas lunch

went to jerry's in linkou for lunch earlier today to celebrate christmas

only a few of us, but it was nice

ate some good food, had a few drinks and played some games...



view outside


view inside


the tree



some of the food


some of the beverages






playing one the games... uno

next stop...

camping in miaoli next weekend for new year's eve

-->> read rest of the post...

transformers

you've probably seen the teaser trailers by now

well, here's the final full trailer...



wow!

how awesome was that?!

-->> read rest of the post...

live at the living room

went to the living room on friday night for a couple drinks and see my friend lily and her band

it's been years since i last saw lily

she put on quite a good show

it was a great little venue giving it an intimate mood and feel

afterwards we caught up a bit just chit chatting plus i met a couple new people

it's always good to see old friends and meet new ones

-->> read rest of the post...

j pop

i was walking around the mitsukoshi department store last night

as i walked by one of the shops, the sales lady looks at me and proceeds to greet me in japanese followed by a couple more lines also in japanese

huh?

wtf??

i don't look japanese... do i???

well, it wouldn't be the first time that happened tho'

it must be my small eyes

i've also had people approach me and just start talking in korean

hmm...

yup

i guess it is my small eyes

-->> read rest of the post...

epistle

got an email from a friend

she asked that we help spread the word

so here it is...

"..... all in all, it was a peaceful protest, with TONS of media coverage, police escorts, and many, many onlookers ....."
You may, or may not, remember that exactly one year ago I, along with Zene na delu (my host Serbian organization), participated in a Human Rights Demonstration in Novi Sad, Serbia..... how quickly time lapses....

The power of awareness and importance of remembering are two key things I took away from my experience abroad. With life being hectic as it is, and Christmas rush already upon us, I know I tend to forget that my basic human rights that I enjoy on a daily basis are non existent or often times violated for many others.....

"According to Canadian government statistics, young Indigenous women in Canada are at least five times more likely than all other women to die as a result of violence."

"In northern Uganda , an estimated 30,000 child “night commuters” flee their homes at night and go to urban areas, and to the centre of larger camps for internally displaced persons,in a desperate attempt to escape attacks or abduction by an armed group known as the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA)."

"Mao Hengfeng has been repeatedly arrested and detained for her work as a human rights defender. In 1988, she was reportedly dismissed from her job because she became pregnant with a third child, in contravention of China’s family planning regulations.
Mao Hengfeng appealed her dismissal, and although she was reinstated to her job, her employer disputed the appeal at a higher court. At the time of the appeal hearing, Mao Hengfeng was seven months pregnant with her fourth child and the judge reportedly told her that if she terminated the pregnancy, he would rule in her favour. Mao Hengfeng terminated the pregnancy against her wishes, yet the court still ruled against her."

"2006 marks the 61st anniversary of the end of World War II in the Pacific.Before and during the War, up to 200,000 women and girls were forced to become “comfort women” by the Japanese Imperial Army. The term “comfort women” is a used to describe women and girls who were sexually enslaved in China, Taiwan, Borneo, Philippines, many of the Pacific Islands, Singapore, Malaya, Burma and Indonesia. Women and girls were abducted or deceived and taken to “comfort stations” or confined in places such as garrisons where they were repeatedly raped by Japanese soldiers. Survivors of this sexual slavery are now very elderly and many have died without seeing justice and receiving reparations."

"Colombia's worsening internal armed conflict affects virtually every part of the country and has taken the lives of more than 60,000 people since 1985-currently around 20 people every day. "

..... and well, I could go on forever .....

Thank you for taking the time to read this email.

*Wishing you all happy / safe times during the holidays and always*

-->> read rest of the post...

mind my own

my mind is constantly going at lightning speeds

i've gotta stop

i need to be more selfish and less responsible

some things are out of my control

actually... no

not some

a lot

they are out of my control

and i need not worry about them

i know

but i can't

and it's really pissing me off

i worry too much

i think way too much

i'm stressing or down even over the smallest possible things

i hate that i'm this way

but i can't help it

here i am

pointlessly worried sick about this and that

shit that ain't got nothing to do with me or at least wouldn't affect me if i just left it alone

while the people directly involved don't give a flying fuck and are just cruising along and enjoying their lives

i need to open my mind up

a this rate i'ma have a breakdown or hit depression

i am already very stressed out

not good

i know what i need to do

it ain't easy tho'

i am what i am

i'm constantly reminding myself

mind my own biz

don't worry, be happy

easier said than done

-->> read rest of the post...

doh!

i really wish they had this show here in taiwan

i really miss this show

one of my favs of all time

used to watch it all the time back in the days

even the re-runs

never got sick of them even tho' i've watched the same re-runs a few hundred times

and now they are coming to a theatre near you

the simpsons

-->> read rest of the post...

fresh air x'mas party

for more info... go to: www.lilyc.com or www.livingroomtaipei.com

-->> read rest of the post...

back from the dead

my parents-in-law's cousin lives in the same building as them

in fact, they live just a floor above

their 90 year old mother is staying with them at the moment

a few days ago, they were out so they left their son to care for her

around dinner time, their son had to go out to do some errands so my parent-in-law's cousin called my mom-in-law asking if she could cook a bowl of noodle for her 90 year old mom while her son was out

no problem

my mom-in-law cooked the noodles, brought it up to her (she has the keys to their place) and then we all went out for dinner at some local restaurant

when we arrived at the restaurant, my mom-in-law got a frantic call from the cousin

when her son arrived at home, the grandmother was sleeping on the sofa

he called for her and tried to wake her up to no avail

she was rushed to the hospital but it seems she had passed away

we were all very upset to hear this, especially my mother-in-law who seems to have been the last person to speak to her when she brought up the noodles for her

it was pretty wild and mind-boggling to know she was just alive under an hour ago sitting there watching tv eat some noodles

we struggled through dinner and planned to go to the hospital right after

as we were leaving the restaurant, my parents-in-law's cousin frantically called again

their 90 year old mother was OK!

alive and kicking!

what happened?

apparently, since the weather got colder that day, she took a few shots of whiskey to warm herself up

she wasn't dead, she was just drunk!

she took one too many shots, got drunk and passed out

so, people...

if you have an elder person at your place, don't leave any alcohol unattended

you just never know

-->> read rest of the post...

be all you can be

my bro-in-law stanley left 3 weeks ago to serve his mandatory military term

he's currently serving in the new recruit center jin liu jie (金六結) located in yilan

on saturday, it was visitation day for family and friends for the new recruits

the visit hours was from 6am to 3pm, and my mom-in-law wanted us to be there at 6am on the dot

can't blame her

stanley is the baby of the family, so i'm sure she really misses him

another reason she wanted to be on time is because when my older bro-in-law justin served his military term a couple years ago, they showed up about 3 hours late and justin was almost in tears

some tears of joy, some tears of sadness because almost all the other recruits' family and friends were there already

but this time, there was no point on being punctual

stanley called the night before to say he's been picked for guard duty from 8am to 9am, so we didn't have to be there so early

well, it would have been nice if my in-laws told me and wifey so we didn't have to get up at 4:30am thinking we still had to be there at 6am

oh well

it wouldn't be first time i'd be operating on 3 hours sleep

so, armed with a big pot of hot pot, some stewed beef, fried noodles and an assorted bag of fruits (guava, oranges, apples...) we head out at 6:30am from xinzhuang

driving to yilan, it used to take about 2 to 3 hours

not now

thanks to the new hsuehshan tunnel it took us less than an hour to reach the military base

it was my first time in a base in taiwan since i was 10 years old when my family were the special guests at some base, which is another story for another time and post

when we drive in, i'm amazed at the size of the base

no, not by how large it was

but by how small it was

holy shit, i've seen local high school bigger than that base

yea, i know it's only a new recruit training ground, which only houses a few hundred for a couple months at a time

but still

holy shit, it was small

and really, looking at our soldiers

if we ever go into war... i'd be fucking worried!

stanley was just starting his guard duty when we checked in so we had to wait an hour

not good

by the time he finished his guard duty, the place was packed so we ended sitting on the floor near the door

so we hung out, ate, talked, walked around, bought some kfc outside the base, ate some more, talked some more and left around 2:45pm

again, we came back through the hsuehshan tunnel which luckily didn't have much traffic so we were home in about an hour

stanley seemed to be enjoying himself in there, mainly because he's pretty outgoing and a big joker so he's getting along great with everyone there

he'll know which branch and base he'll get sent to in a couple weeks and then he'll be home in no time

one year and 2 months to be exact

the term has gone from 3 years to 2 years to 1.5 years to 1.3 years now

i hear they are gonna cut down to just 1 year soon

i hope they would just do away with it completely

personally, i don't think it serves a purpose anymore as it's really laid-back now and it's just a waste of time

plus, if they get rid of it, i don't need to "escape" every 4 months




registration desk


my bro-in-law stanley doing guard duty




new haircut




if you are wondering where's stanley's head in this shot... he's got it tucked away hiding from senior officers because he's talking on a cell phone. they are not allowed to talk on the cell phone.

-->> read rest of the post...

uncle once again

i'm an uncle again

CONGRATS to my cousin may and her husband on the new baby girl

yay!







our family's next generation is build up along nicely

hopefully i can make a contribution soon!

-->> read rest of the post...