Cold Snap March 2, 2006
Posted by AkumAPRIME in : Life , 2 comments
frozEn, originally uploaded by AkumAPRIME.
A sudden cold snap has hit and it’s damn cold here. Recently I’ve been embroiled in a fight with a company to return a cell phone/pda combo that they refuse to take back, despite the fact that they said they would, etc… I’ll update you on the details of that battle as they come.
Ok, For those of you who did NOT Download Loose Change, HERE is a link to a streamed version, super easy to watch. PLEASE WATCH IT. TELL FRIENDS, FAMILY. Let me know what you think.
Ilan: Home away from home February 23, 2006
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I traveled back to Ilan, my favorite city in Taiwan. Things haven’t changed much after 6 months. Still quiet and rainy. Beautiful birds scan the rice paddies for prey. Frogs croaking.
I got to see some friends I hadn’t seen in quite some time, including my host family, who was nice enough to let me stay with them. I put all the pics up already, so check it out.
There’s some festival in a month or so. It gives me a good excuse to head back!
Sadly a new highway has opened up between Ilan and Taipei, allowing a shorter and easier route between the two. I say sadly because I enjoy Ilan’s quiet and small population, which becomes threatened with this gateway open to the Hordes of Taipei.
A strange day. February 19, 2006
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This picture was taken in the park that is near my house. I took this picture this morning, right before my day got Weird.
As I left that park, an old man and his grand daughter (5 or 6 years old) see me. He hands me the badminton racket that the girl was holding, causing her to start to cry. I can’t say no to playing, so we hit for a bit, and the longer we go, the more the little girl starts to cry… poor kid. I hand the racket back, and the noise and tears subside.
Later that day, in the subway, a police man approaches me and says, ” Sir, I need your support.”
I am immediately concerned. First of all, it’s a policeman, which makes me wary. Secondly, what does he mean support? Who did I have to kill.
” Support you how?”
” You can’t chew gum in here.”
/sigh
” Oh sorry, I Always forget that.” I throw my gum away.
Now the weird part. He says, ” Sir, you are better than all the Taiwanese. You really are.”
😕 Huh? My friend and I assumed this to mean that when he asks the natives to throw their gum away, they give him attitude. He wasn’t being sarcastic; you could tell from his genuine tone.
Later that night, as I walked my friend to the bus stop, a man approached me. He got invasively close to me, one hand palm up, towards me, and the other hidden dangerously in his pocket. He said something to me in Chinese. I was immediately tense. I moved back; he responded by moving in. I looked to my friend. His hand still out, I took it, wary of the hidden hand.
” What’d he say?”
” He asks if you’re American.”
” Meigwo, doy.” American, yes.
More incomprehensible Chinese. The more I look at his face, the more I come to realize there’s something wrong with him. I look toward my friend, who has moved away from this guy.
” He asks you to say goodbye (ZaiJien).”
I do. More Chinese.
” He asks you to call him brother (deedee).”
Since I now believe him mentally retarded, I say, ” Zai Jien Deedee.” Good bye brother. He doesn’t get the clue. More Chinese and a strange look on my friends face. I am able to pick the words KuhAi out. I laugh a bit because I can’t see how that word will fit in.
” He asks if he is cute(Kuh Ai).”
Again, ” Zai Jien Deedee.”
At this point I’d humored him enough, and while I was sure he was simply being friendly in a strange way, that hidden hand gave me a healthy dose of fear. I put one hand on his shoulder and pushed him softly in the direction he had come from, past me. He resisted. I pushed harder and he moved away from me. I stepped past him and soon the bus came. I sent my friend on her way, made sure he didn’t get on with her, and that he didn’t follow me. A bit paranoid perhaps, but smart I think.
A strange day indeed. Oh, that reminds me. THIS GAME is strange, but Damn fun and creative. But what else could we expect from the genius that brought us Tontie?
Getting my ass kicked
Posted by AkumAPRIME in : OCTGN , add a commentI love the tournament despite my massively losing record. I love the Highlander format. It’s unique and it’s hard for people to deck copy. The only real heart crusher was in my match against Darkfoxx. I had him 20 to 1. I was just about to kill him. I could’ve played Island Sanctuary and been safe/conservative. I would’ve won. Instead I got aggressive/sloppy. He killed me in the next round with 4 forests, Kamahl and plenty of Mana…
I wanted to kick myself. I just have to take it as a lesson. At any rate, the tourney is moving along. Participation is decent if not Optimal, but this bodes well for OCTGN’s Next Official tourney.
Broken Flowers: A
Posted by AkumAPRIME in : Movies , 1 comment so farGreat movie. I love Bill Murray. He does well in this film playing, in my opinion, an accidental ladies man. Though the film could’ve cut out some parts that were just him sitting there (I don’t think these added very much) the film was great. Winston was hilarious, and the misadventures of our hero were fun. The final point is a little… Zen/useless/nonsense IMO, but getting to the point was fun.
POTENTIAL SPOILER!!! YOU’VE BEEN WARNED
The moral of the story is captured in a piece of philosophical wisdom Don gives to someone. “Well, the past is gone, I know that. The future isn’t here yet, whatever it’s going to be. So, all there is, is this. The present. That’s it.” This is the one reason I can semi forgive those long pauses, because I think they were meant to express this idea.
REAL SPOILER!!! YOU’VE REALLY BEEN WARNED
To be clear: So the first GF wrote the letter in order to shake his life up, because she thought he should change?
Do you think that his life changed after he got the letter? Let me know!
Rainy and C C Cold February 18, 2006
Posted by AkumAPRIME in : Life , 1 comment so far
Taipei is rainy and cold… and overpopulated. I am not Nearly as happy here as I was in Tainan. It’s more expensive too. But to look on the brightside, it has great public transportation and… it had a video game convention today… and… hmmmmm… there are a Lot of people here… wait that’s a bad thing… but all these people also mean a large variety in experiences, items, etc.
Well regardless of the Cons, it’s Nice to be in a Real city. LA is too spread out to be a Real city. So the experience of pollution and overpopulation is new, and I like new things.
The storm should end within the next 2 days. There is a park near where I live. I’m going to eat and search for it, as I have only vague directions to it. But there are supposedly pullup bars there, which I need to find!
Rainy Night, or, Death and Life February 17, 2006
Posted by AkumAPRIME in : Life , 2 commentsI’m going to try and paint a picture for you.
Last night I stepped onto the subway car. There were about 20 Taiwanese men and women, and one foreigner, a white male. The man had long hair and sideburns, was overweight. He immediately reminded me of my neighbor. He was sitting and had his hand on his face in a notably strange manner.
I stepped past him, moving him out of my view. In the subway here, I can use the reflections in the windows to “look” behind me.
2 minutes pass and I hear a strangled gurgling sound and spastic motion. I use the reflection in the window to my right to see the 3 women behind me turn and grimace. I turn to see the foreigner having a seizure.
I move to his front and several other men all grab him down. A woman passes to another man to wipe the drool that is quickly accumulating. The man is non-responsive and my mind runs through options. Do I shove a wallet in his mouth so he doesn’t swallow his own tongue? I read that once. He has no medical wristlet. He has a bag. I check it for ID and/or medication. I worry that other passengers might think I’m robbing him.
The man is still seizing, Bad. “I think we’re going to need to stop the train.” But what does that mean to non-English speakers? I pantomimed, said other things. The message got across, and something was intercommed to the next station.
At the next stop, a man came in. I don’t think he was a doctor, but he did put on gloves. It was striking how much authority he quickly assumed simply by putting on latex gloves.
The seizure becomes noticeably weaker. I ask the man his name. I use my finger to see if his eyes follow. I snap my fingers. No response. I ask “Have you ever had a seizure before buddy?” A raspy and slurred, “No,” escapes his mouth before he is hauled up and out of the car.
I hope that guy is OK. I’m sure he is alive,
but it’s possible he has some permanent damage.
The rest of the night it rained. It’s still raining now.
Derailed: C February 15, 2006
Posted by AkumAPRIME in : Movies , add a commentEvery once in while you watch a movie that is not striking in any direction. Derailed was one of these. The acting was not award worthy and the characters were written to be critically stupid. The story was decent with a twist I didn’t see until too late (though my friend saw it). The main character was written to be such a weakling, I couldn’t identify with him. But of course the story line drives him to become billy bad ass towards the end, at which point you become less frustrated by his cowardice… Anyway, decent, but not amazing, or even that good.
My itty bitty bed February 13, 2006
Posted by AkumAPRIME in : Life , add a comment
I’m in Taipei, in what looks to be my Headquarters for the next 4 months. I will live here, study here, and use it as my base of operations when I ship out. It’s tiny, but it’s home 🙂 I’ll get pics of the outside for you tomorrow!
The trip to Taipei was an uneventful 4 hour bus trip. The weather is colder and rainier up north, but… not bad.
Lantern Festival
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Lantern festival is a traditional chinese holiday that marks the end of the 2 week long chinese new year. It occurs during the full moon in the middle of a lunar month.
It seems to be a great excuse for people to have a huge celebration, eat food and see fireworks. There were a Ton of lanterns there, many created by convicts as a form of repentance.
There are a Lot of pics (click the one up above for more) showing the Huge throng of people and all the art. I have video that I am editting and I’ll be posting soon. Also, notice I have a Calendar link up to the right.
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