trip

i'm leaving for taiwan in less than 12 hours!

my plan is to take notes on where i went, how i got there, what was fun, what i ate. also documented with pictures. it will be a series of posts when i get back.

...unless i get lazy.

we the living

this is why i want to be a doctor:

"Comrade Commissar, you see, I love him. And he is sick. You know what sickness is? It's something strange that happens in your body and then you can't stop it. And then he dies. And now his life--it depends on some words and a piece of paper--and it's so simple when you just look at it as it is--it's only something made by us, ourselves, and perhaps we're right, and perhaps we're wrong, but the chance we're taking on it is frightful, isn't it? They won't send him to a sanatorium because they didn't write his name on a piece of paper with many other names and call it a membership in a Trade Union. It's only ink, you know, and paper, and something we think. You can write it and tear it up, and write it again. But the other--that which happens in one's body--you can't stop that. You don't ask questions about that. Comrade Commissar, I know they are important, those things, money, and the Unions, and those papers, and all. And if one has to sacrifice and suffer for them, I don't mind. I don't mind if I have to work every hour of the day. I don't mind if my dress is old--like this--don't look at my dress, Comrade Commissar, I know it's ugly, but I don't mind. Perhaps, I haven't always understood you, and all those things, but I can be obedient and learn. Only--only when it comes to life itself, Comrade Commissar, then we have to be serious, don't we? We can't let those things take life. One signature of your hand--and he can go to a sanatorium, and he doesn't have to die. Comrade Commissar, if we just think of things, calmly and simply--as they are--do you know what death is? Do you know that death is--nothing at all, not at all, never again, never, no matter what we do? Don't you see why he can't die? I love him. We all have to suffer. We all have things we want, which are taken away from us. It's all right. But--because we are living beings--there's something in each of us, something like the very heart of life condensed--and that should not be touched. You understand, don't you? Well, he is that to me, and you can't take him from me, because you can't let me stand here, and look at you, and talk, and breathe, and move, and then tell me you'll take him--we're not insane, both of us, are we, Comrade Commissar?"

Ayn Rand, We the Living, Part ONE, Chapter XVI

facebook

i'm thinking about deactivating my facebook (can that be done?).

new project

i have been working on my jclub presentation the last two days, so even though i finished sweet relationship this weekend, i haven't found a new drama to watch yet. finally i finished the ppt tonight, and now i have also decided on my new project: bump off lover. actually i have been meaning to watch this for quite some time. but when i first wanted to, i couldn't find the episodes. tonight i realized that trusty mysoju.com has just finished posting all the episodes!

i know there are horror dramas, which i can't imagine being scared for like 14 episodes on end...would i just live in fear for 2 weeks? anyway, i'm not sure if this drama is actually supposed to be scary, but it'll definitely be a change from the normal romantic comedy idol dramas i like so much. i'll probably start watching tomorrow night.

tonight i was browsing dramawiki. they have a page for listing tw 2006 dramas, a page for 2007 dramas, and a page for 2008 dramas. so i was looking to see what dramas i haven't seen that are worth watching. this is how i decided to watch bump off lover. there is also a page for upcoming tw dramas. turns out, there is an upcoming drama called 劍道．愛("jian dao. ai" or "kendo. love"). there isn't a synopsis page yet, but all i can say is...THEY TOTALLY COPIED ME! i wrote a drama called 跆拳道﹐ 愛到 ("tai quan dao, ai dao" or "taekwondo, love came"). check out my drama!

tasty snacks

when my mom came back from a vacation to taiwan recently, she brought my brother and i each a tiny pack of japanese snacks. she said they were from our cousin. all she knew was that they were really expensive, but didn't know exactly how much they cost. at the time i scoffed. what's the point of such expensive snacks? last night i was hungry so i ate mine.



THEY WERE REALLY GOOD! here i have scanned in the front and back of the package so you can see what i ate (and how big the package was; that's a 6" ruler). click on the image so you can see it bigger and the crackers better! on the back is a little picture of each kind of cracker you can find in the mix. there were a few of each of the smaller ones and only 1 or 2 of each of the larger ones. each cracker was as delicate, as tasty, and as carefully made as the pictures suggest. each type of cracker had its own, unique, and tasty flavor. i only wish i could read the little descriptions on the back.

on the packaging i found a website, but i couldn't find this specific snack pack in its list of products. on top it says "welcome to *something something something something* kingdom". one of the houses on the right is a link to is history. bottom center is a link to it's "store". at the castle's door is like a "quote of the day" or something. top right is some old guy's house or something. anyway, that's all i can make out from the chinese characters they use without having to pull out a dictionary. it's a pretty cute site though. makes the snacks even tastier!

spending money

i'm going to taiwan!

i've seriously spent like no money since starting my job one and a half years ago. now, i'm finally planning a vacation! here's what i spent in the last week:

00847.76 plane ticket to taipei (mar27-apr17)
00249.99 sony cybershot dsc-h3 (black)
00039.99 sony np-bg1 lithium-ion rechargeable battery pack
00014.99 lowepro rezo 50 camera pouch
-0025.00 best buy gift card from coupon for buying camera!
---------
$1127.73

another sweet relationship update

i just finished sweet relationship.

here are some final thoughts:

first, i take what i said about megan lai back. her character becomes progressively annoying. i still like her as an auxiliary actress though.

second, it seems like every drama always likes to throw in a new character during the last quarter of the show. the character is not really a main character because he/she is not in most of the drama, but he/she has a lot of air time during at least a few episodes. many dramas follow this general storyline: first quarter only the audience knows the two lead characters are meant to be, in the second quarter one lead falls for the other, at the end of the third quarter the other lead finally starts to show hints of reciprocating, at which point this random last quarter character comes in to drag the drama through the last quarter and into the last episode. sweet relationship is no exception. the last quarter character is played by gu xuan chun, a japanese guy whose chinese is really hard to understand and who is really gross and who eats especially gross. i think his character is actually supposed to be attractive, i just find him incredibly gross, especially in this drama. he was in both the rose and they kiss again, so i guess qu you ning really likes him.

third, qu you ning really likes to have cute chubby little boys in this dramas!

fourth, still not a huge patty hou fan, but again, i loved vic's acting in this.

fifth, the storyline wasn't that exciting, but the drama was very well made. many really good and/or really cute scenes.

finally, the dramas always have previews for the next episode at the end of each episode. i always hate watching the previews because they give entirely too much away. yet, i still watch them because i can't stand not watching every second of the videos; it would feel incomplete; what if i missed something? however, even with the extensive previewing, the ending (of the last episode) was sufficiently surprising (well not surprising, but not in the preview) and cute/not a complete let down.