finally back in oz! *konks out on bed* ZZzz... um. not quite yet, but soon enough =)
just finished downloading pictures from the past 3 weeks onto my comp. i had wanted to write about what's happened, every little detail for my failing memory's sake but after trawling through all those pictures, i don't know where to start!
all i think imma do for now is gather all my backdated entries and generate a list of links. will be updating this list as i find time to flesh out my topsy turvy break. new additions asterisked. pix will eventually be up at flickr.
1.17.2006
1.09.2006
toilet training
remember that toilet-themed restaurant called Marton that was in the "weird and wonderful" section of the news some time back? no? well you're about to be introduced to the toilet shrine =)
'tis one restaurant that kaohsiung has and taipei doesn't. a rare find indeed...
went to test the waters with my parents before L and YH arrived at the WenHua Zhong Xin branch. small, dingy place. very odd atmosphere. especially when one dines with one's parents at a toilet-themed restaurant and has to eat out of toilet bowls and urinals.. there was this underlying tension throughout the whole meal, challenging any of the 20-odd patrons to whip out cameras and pose as distastefully as one can given the restaurant deco.
the other branch we all eventually went to was much nicer. despite a better ambiance, i was still a bit squeamish. after a while, that curry sloshed over the mound of rice and veggies starts to look a tad foul in a bowl shaped like a squatting toilet. the hotpot nestled comfortably, bubbling happily in its porcelain toilet bowl suddenly sprouts the potential to make tummies do somersaults..
nevertheless, three smiley people walked out as two others went to get the car and those three bowed to the toilet bowl that night...
'tis one restaurant that kaohsiung has and taipei doesn't. a rare find indeed...went to test the waters with my parents before L and YH arrived at the WenHua Zhong Xin branch. small, dingy place. very odd atmosphere. especially when one dines with one's parents at a toilet-themed restaurant and has to eat out of toilet bowls and urinals.. there was this underlying tension throughout the whole meal, challenging any of the 20-odd patrons to whip out cameras and pose as distastefully as one can given the restaurant deco.
the other branch we all eventually went to was much nicer. despite a better ambiance, i was still a bit squeamish. after a while, that curry sloshed over the mound of rice and veggies starts to look a tad foul in a bowl shaped like a squatting toilet. the hotpot nestled comfortably, bubbling happily in its porcelain toilet bowl suddenly sprouts the potential to make tummies do somersaults..
1.08.2006
a whole new world
it's a tad premature to be contemplating anything of this sort, methinks. maybe even extremely premature, but it seems awfully close at the same time. 'tis like some huge mountain rising up from its misty shroud of fog and dancing sunbeams in the distance. you see it. it's huge. it's right ahead of you, yet you know very well that it would take you another week to reach its base, let alone summit.
what is this i ponder about, you ask.
'tis my future, i reply.
it's not my immediate future that i have trouble grappling with.. it's that whole "where do you see yourself in the next decade" business that's blurry. frankly, i didn't expect to see a clear picture but i was hoping to visualize something less like something off monet's canvas by this time. hey, in the eyes of the 11-year-old me, anyone over 20 was eye-poppingly old. i'd be ancient in my own books, fast approaching my quarter-life crisis.
taiwan. australia. states. somewhere else totally different. somewhere i can practice without taking anymore qualification exams. part-time bathroom singer extraordinaire. full time hobbyist. part-time babysitter. full time pediatrician. part-time gamer. full time artist.
so many roads... here's my spin on robert frost's "the road not taken" ~
One and twenty roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel all
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent under the waterfall.
Then took the others, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because some were grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same.
And all that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept them all for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Several roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I watched as the world passed me by,
And pondered each possible difference.
what is this i ponder about, you ask.
'tis my future, i reply.
it's not my immediate future that i have trouble grappling with.. it's that whole "where do you see yourself in the next decade" business that's blurry. frankly, i didn't expect to see a clear picture but i was hoping to visualize something less like something off monet's canvas by this time. hey, in the eyes of the 11-year-old me, anyone over 20 was eye-poppingly old. i'd be ancient in my own books, fast approaching my quarter-life crisis.
taiwan. australia. states. somewhere else totally different. somewhere i can practice without taking anymore qualification exams. part-time bathroom singer extraordinaire. full time hobbyist. part-time babysitter. full time pediatrician. part-time gamer. full time artist.
so many roads... here's my spin on robert frost's "the road not taken" ~
One and twenty roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel all
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent under the waterfall.
Then took the others, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because some were grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same.
And all that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept them all for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Several roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I watched as the world passed me by,
And pondered each possible difference.
1.07.2006
home is where the heart is
one week left before i head back to singapore for a quick stopover (canon powershot s80, here i come!) and then onto oz.
i've been anticipating the worst - flareups with my parents and such. in the ~2 weeks i've been back, i think i lucked out. my dad's copped the brunt of my mom's fury and impatience. me? i just sit there and try to blend into the walls or slink away unnoticed til the storm blows over. sometimes, i don't time it just right and mistake the eye of the storm for prolonged calm. deep breaths, deeeep breaths. walk away. atta girl.
i've been given the royal treatment i think. most of my whims have been catered to... except the one where i want to buy a qipao. hehe. hey, i tried one on and would've gotten it 'cept i thought it a tad extravagent to blow about one grand in aussie dollars on it. gimme my mac mini any day!
this year's visit has made me see my parents in another way.. still parents but in a way, they're also like little kids. "lao lang ginna" they say in taiwanese ~ old folks kiddies is the literal translation. get the gist? =)
new home's looking awesome too. i gripe about the interior decorators all the time though. they don't deliver what they promise. *pissy* life's like that eh..
like i said, pix will be uploaded once i reach oz. [edit: already uploaded!] lotsa reorganizing, lotsa reordering to do in all aspects of my life. hopefully, i won't be aimlessly babbling as i am now once i hit ozzie shores.
welcome home, welcome home =)
i've been anticipating the worst - flareups with my parents and such. in the ~2 weeks i've been back, i think i lucked out. my dad's copped the brunt of my mom's fury and impatience. me? i just sit there and try to blend into the walls or slink away unnoticed til the storm blows over. sometimes, i don't time it just right and mistake the eye of the storm for prolonged calm. deep breaths, deeeep breaths. walk away. atta girl.i've been given the royal treatment i think. most of my whims have been catered to... except the one where i want to buy a qipao. hehe. hey, i tried one on and would've gotten it 'cept i thought it a tad extravagent to blow about one grand in aussie dollars on it. gimme my mac mini any day!
this year's visit has made me see my parents in another way.. still parents but in a way, they're also like little kids. "lao lang ginna" they say in taiwanese ~ old folks kiddies is the literal translation. get the gist? =)new home's looking awesome too. i gripe about the interior decorators all the time though. they don't deliver what they promise. *pissy* life's like that eh..
welcome home, welcome home =)
1.04.2006
backdating
one driver.
two grandparents.
three hour roadtrip, prolly to stop for lunch and head back home.
four years apart, my cousins and i.
five of us in the car... what will we all talk about? *scrunches up forehead and makes a million creases*
oh dear..
my cousin and i hadn't really talked or spent much time together. 'twas nice to be able to reconnect over dinner with him last night. he was back for a courtesy trip to visit our grandparents and would leave tomorrow morning. today was the day a-gong and a-ma (that's what we call our grandparents) would take us out on one of a-gong's legendary "day trips" - ones that would consist of driving at least a few hours to a certain remote destination so he can show us an orchard or a building, stop and have lunch for an hour before driving back home.
what worried us was not the unknown destination, but what we'd talk about in the car. my cousin's smattering of taiwanese, heavily tainted with a filipino twist plus my limited knowledge of unorthodox mandarin and taiwanese would prove any conversation a challenge.
at the end of the day, things weren't as bad as we thought. we managed to keep a-gong occupied with random comments and questions throughout the day whilst also keeping ourselves occupied with my cousin's movies on his lifedrive *grins* we didn't do a lot of reminiscing, but we sure made up for lost time with all the yakking we did today. comfy comfy! i'm working on my list of relatives i truly feel comfy around... one more cousin added to the list today =) many more to go...
photos will be up once go back to the dorms in another week or two ~
[edit] all in a day's journey to southern taiwan, visiting the aborigines with my cousin G and my gramps with thanks to A for driving!
two grandparents.
three hour roadtrip, prolly to stop for lunch and head back home.
four years apart, my cousins and i.
five of us in the car... what will we all talk about? *scrunches up forehead and makes a million creases*
oh dear..
my cousin and i hadn't really talked or spent much time together. 'twas nice to be able to reconnect over dinner with him last night. he was back for a courtesy trip to visit our grandparents and would leave tomorrow morning. today was the day a-gong and a-ma (that's what we call our grandparents) would take us out on one of a-gong's legendary "day trips" - ones that would consist of driving at least a few hours to a certain remote destination so he can show us an orchard or a building, stop and have lunch for an hour before driving back home.
what worried us was not the unknown destination, but what we'd talk about in the car. my cousin's smattering of taiwanese, heavily tainted with a filipino twist plus my limited knowledge of unorthodox mandarin and taiwanese would prove any conversation a challenge.
at the end of the day, things weren't as bad as we thought. we managed to keep a-gong occupied with random comments and questions throughout the day whilst also keeping ourselves occupied with my cousin's movies on his lifedrive *grins* we didn't do a lot of reminiscing, but we sure made up for lost time with all the yakking we did today. comfy comfy! i'm working on my list of relatives i truly feel comfy around... one more cousin added to the list today =) many more to go...
[edit] all in a day's journey to southern taiwan, visiting the aborigines with my cousin G and my gramps with thanks to A for driving!
it's only the 4th day and i'm already playing catch-up
couldn't hold off the blogging addict within me, so here are a few backdated entries from when i was computer-less. new year's wishes to everyone, but the proper entry's sitting snugly in my powershot memory disk. uploading pix when i get back to australia ~
1.01.2006
12.31.2005
he said, she said
she's never had a boyfriend before, he said.
don't don't don't don't don't hurt her, she said.
he knew better than to do that.
a few weeks, a few months pass..
i need to tell you something, he told her.
a thousand thoughts flew threw her mind.
i crossed the line. she was the one i crossed it with, he said.
a niggly feeling grew into hurt, a heavy feeling refused to stop crushing her heart.
don't don't don't don't don't hurt her, she said.
he knew better than to do that.
a few weeks, a few months pass..
i need to tell you something, he told her.
a thousand thoughts flew threw her mind.
i crossed the line. she was the one i crossed it with, he said.
a niggly feeling grew into hurt, a heavy feeling refused to stop crushing her heart.
12.25.2005
tee & kay
christmas greetings to you! my prezzie this year is...tee and kay. jap kids. tee is 6 and kay is 8. tee is 32kg and kay is 25kg. uber cute. more of their visit later ~ all be revealed once i hit ozzie shores =)
(yes, they really look like that. really!)
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