I was talking with the doorman downstairs, one of the old guys who is always there behind the desk just inside the door of my building, last night. I just wanted to know when the building was built and whether it had radioactive steel beams in it. He said it was built in 1978 but was put into use in 1980, which was before the radioactive buildings were build(81-82). So I guess it's safe, in that respect, at least. Now if I can find out when our office building was constructed...
Anyway, I learned a lot more about our doorman last night. He said he had held that position for 13 years. He asked me to guess how old he was. I said about 58, deliberately underestimating to be polite. I would have honestly said he looks closer to 70. Turns out he is 86. He showed me a scar on his head. "The Japanese did that, back in the war in the 30's." Then he showed me a really nasty slash on his ankle. "The Chinese communists did that, in the civil war in the 40's," he said. He also said he was a spy, and that they operated behind enemy lines, wearing plainclothes and sustaining heavy casualties. He came to Taiwan in 1949 along with Chiang Kai-shek and studied under CKS's main spy, Dai Li. He wrote out Dai Li's name on a peice of paper with a brush ben in beautiful calligraphy. I commented on his writing, but he pshawed(how long has it been since anyone pshawed me?) and said it was just ordinary writing.
He said he had never married, but he did take pity on a 4-year-old street crippled orphan girl and adopted her. She is now 25 and has two sons of her own. He had pictures of her and her kids, two fat, healthy elementary-school age boys.
It blows my mind what this guy and others of his generation did for his country. Without them, things would be different today. The ROC might not even exist today if it weren't for them. Compare these guys to today's youth. I know I sound like an old codger even though I am only 32, but it seems to me that young people in Taiwan these days are vastly more self-centered now than even a few years ago. I suppose they are just a product of their environment. People say that the recent economic downturn in Taiwan is because the young people don't want to actually do any work and just stay at home and filch off their parents. That, plus the self-fulfilling prophecy of "Oh, the economy's bad, so let's not spend any money on anything and make it worse," reinforce my belief that it won't be long before Taiwan will have no choice, for its own sake, to 'reunify' with the PRC. The only problem with this scenario, of course, is the PRC itself. It's changing, improving dramatically, but will it be fast enough? In any case, Taiwan will need a buffer(the Taiwan Strait should do nicely) and this society, I fear, is in for some sort of revolution. It's either that or become just another third-world nation.
One of my co-workers, my 'mentor' according to our company's system for newcomers, is leaving today. It seems that he has recieved his draft notice and will have to do somewhere between 5 and 22 months' military service in the army. He is about 25, about the same age as I was when I got my draft notice. The army seems a lot easier these days, though, from what I can tell, so boredom will likely be the hardest thing for him to deal with. If China does invade, by the time the army gets involved it will likely already be too late anyway...
Ack! Enough depressing political commentary! It's Friday! Everyone go to the Tavern tonight! etched by at 11:19 AM
Thursday, May 03, 2001
Over the past couple of weeks, the guy in the office opposite my desk has been working on a drawing on his computer. Today I came in and found three posters on his office door. They all involve the FareasTone IF pre-paid mobile phone card mascot, which is an orange-haired girl who looks like the pseudo-singer Coco Lee with a headset. Usually she is clad in an orange miniskirt and blouse, but my co-worker has portrayed this cartoon figure in three disturbingly fetishist poses. The first is her, nude, except for the headset, fondling one of her naked breasts. The next is her lying naked on a bed, and the third, possibly the most disturbing of all, shows her being fondled by the Beast from Disney's Beauty and the Beast.
I know, I sound like a prude, but in many other countries posting this kind of thing on one's office door would be grounds for dismissal and a sexual harrassment lawsuit or two. I would retaliate by photoshopping together a nude portrait of Peoples Hernandez(or better yet, the guy who rides up on the kid's bicycle as Peoples is being led away) from the recent Shaft movie and past it on the side of my cubicle, but that would be too distracting, and besides, something tells me that heterosexual fantasies are still much more socially acceptable than homosexually oriented ones.
Last night I saw "Ronin" for the first time. I wish I had seen it in the theater when it came out, but I think I was still in the army back then....not sure...anyway, excellent car chases. I am a sucker for a good car chase, and these were great. My only problem is that they used the same engine sounds for all the cars. I'm sorry, but a BMW 540i sounds different from an Audi A8. Lazy sound people. I also think that someone other than Robert DeNiro(definitely NOT Tom Cruise) could have done a better job in the lead role. All the other actors were great, but there was something missing in DeNiro's performance. All in all, though, this was the movie that Mission Impossible should have been.
I am going to print out some namecards with my name, my would-be professions and my website URL on them to hand out to people who say they would like to see my work some time. Any suggestions for colors, content? Should I use my legal Chinese name or my original English name? I want to start getting some imput from you guys, now. This means both of you!
It's almost time to get off work. Shitload of work today, and I just wasn't in the mood. The weather has returned to its original, sorry state of cool, cloudy, depressing....you know the drill. It feels like my cold has returned as well...dammit. I need more sleep.
Last night I went out to Fnac, the French store that sounds like someone trying unsuccessfully to sneeze, and looked around. The Sony digital video camera I want to buy is only NT$90,000 there now, which means it is probably even less on Chunghwa road. That's still a large chunk of money, though.
Anyway, afterwards, I was so tired I didn't feel like walking to Friday's for a Chicken wrap like I usually do, so I went next door to the Hard Rock cafe. DAMN, it was bad. You walk down a wide stairway, down a long corridor, past a coat check and souvenier store, and then reach a little empty room. That's it. That's the restaurant. Nobody is around. The waiters are lazy and the food is bad. I asked for a root beer and got a sasparilla. My club sandwich cost NT$350. It sucked. The waiter misinterpreted my "Can I have the check, please?" for "Please feel free to ignore me for the next half hour." Needless to say, I won't be going back there, ever. It used to be a decent place before they moved to next to the Asiaworld hotel. I should have gone to Dan Ryans. It was just a western-food night, and I didn't feel like Chinese food, which I have every day, usually. In any case, don't bother with the Hard Rock Cafe in Taipei. If you want that sort of thing, you'd be better off going to the Planet Hollywood at the Warner Village Cinema complex near City Hall.
Ah, I need some more sleep, methinks... etched by at 6:09 PM
Monday, April 30, 2001
Ooooh. Here I am at the office. I didn't sleep last night. I got online after last night's entry and chatted until 7:30. I have no idea why. Probably because it was someone I don't usually see online, but DAMN! I feel exhausted. It was a fun weekend, I have to admit, but today at work I only feel half-way here. It's a good thing that nobody noticed I was late this morning and also that my workload is pretty light, so far, that it. Still, somehow, I feel like I'm back in Taiwan, after a long absence. I can't explain it; maybe it has something to do with the arrival of summer, maybe the degree to which I am associating with my Taiwanese friends as opposed to hanging out with foreigners a lot, maybe something happened in my subconscious that I don't realize; but, for the past few days I have just felt really happy, and life has seemed fresher and more like it used to be than normal. Weather, however, does tend to have a large influence on my attitude, so that is probably the biggest factor. It could, I suppose, be the upcoming tenth anniversary of my graduation from college. I am not going to the reunion, as it is too far, but the timing might have something to do with it as well...
There's a guy I used to know who just started working in our office today. I knew him because I saw the newcomer notice with his information and picture on the company email. He didn't recognize me, though. It has been something like 7 years since I saw him last, and then we only saw each other a couple of times. I guess I've changed, as has he, and the fact that I went to the beach yesterday and got about 3 shades darker didn't help jog his memory. It's okay, though.
It started out as a nice day, but now it looks like the traditional summer afternoon storm clouds are rolling in, possibly preventing my return home on my motorcycle this afternoon. I just want to get home, take a shower and go to sleep, that's all.
Is anyone reading this at all? There are so many of these out there, no doubt many or most more interesting than mine, but sometimes I still wonder. I read other people's stuff: Mindcrime, Ratbastard, Moose, even Ben Brown occasionally.
My friend Clar should get one of these. And Joan, too. Lots of people should get one of these, but not everyone. Only people I am interested in knowing more about. Ah, I'm a selfish bastard, I know. But I'm a happy, tired selfish bastard, today anyway.
Today was interesting. I got up in the morning and it was summer outside. I really like Taiwan a lot more in the summer...it reminds me of summers past and all of the things I have done in the summer....just a nice, fresh spring-ish feeling. Summer reminds me how I came to feel the way I do about Taiwan, for just as Taipei really only comes into its own at night, Taiwan is really only its quintessential self in the summer months.
I called my friend Harry and we arranged to meet outside the Tamshui MRT station and then he would take me on his scooter to Shalun Beach. As I was riding the smooth, fast and convenient transit train out, I recalled my first trip out to Shalun beach, around 12 years ago. My friends from college and I took an ancient, shaking bus from downtown Taipei out. It seemed to take forever, and then we rented bicycles to ride from Tamshui to Shalun. That also took forever, but it was great fun, and there was a whole welcome center and lots of people and little food stands out there.
Things have sure changed out there. They are building a road around the old forest area, which was being swallowed by the dunes anyway, and the beach center has long since been closed down. It's like a completely different place now than it was. We ended up just walking around, gawking at the remaining landmarks, old army bunkers that used to be deep in the forest, now at the edge of the beach and buried in sand, old buildings, etc. It's almost as if a way of life was dissapearing. Who knows what will happen when the road is open.
We forced open a gate at one of the old abandoned buildings and went up to the roof to sunbath. There were a couple of other guys up there, and we chatted a bit. Then we went down to the beach to swim. It felt so good, a true harbinger of Summer, to be floating in the ocean again, even though I have to say the beach at Fulong is much nicer, golden sand, cleaner air and water, etc. I hear that the beach at Daxi is even nicer; I will have to try that one out someday.
I had to leave at 4pm, though, to make to a former co-worker's farewell party in Tienmou. That was a lot of fun as well...for me, the perfect kind of get-together, just a small group of good friends, good music, barbeque, drinks, a nice balcony with a view north of Yangmingshan and south of Taipei, and pleasantly warm twilight weather. Unfortunately, our host inadvertantly put his knee through a plate-glass door, so we ended up taking him to the Veteran's Hospital for stitches. I got in about 1:30am this morning, and now it is almost 4am. Ack, I have to get up and go to work in the morning! Tomorrow will probably seem so normal compared to today, for today has been a really interesting day. I should have more days like today. etched by at 3:39 AM
