Yesterday was a brilliant example of getting nothi…
Yesterday was a brilliant example of getting nothing whatsoever done at all. I did go vote, however, and the guy I voted for did end up getting elected. I know this not from the TV coverage but from the fact that he’s has an election office near me and I heard the fireworks. As in the last presidential election, the People’s First Party did a good job of making sure that the KMT lost it’s majority to the DPP in the legislature, although if you count the fact that the only difference between the PFP and the KMT is that of personality rather than politics. I’m not sure if the goal of politics should be giving people what they ostensibly want or what they will realize they want once they have it, but splitting the vote only ends up with a minority of the people deciding things for the majority. I called up Harry yesterday morning. He was in Sanchung, on his way to vote over there. I asked him who he was going to vote for, but he wouldn’t say it over the phone. “You know full well that Sanchung is a bastion of DPP supporters. If I tell you who I’m going to vote for someone will hear and beat me up!” he told me. I guess it doesn’t matter, since I knew full well he was going to vote for the other, non-DPP guy, Wang Chien-hsuen. Wang, not surprisingly, didn’t win.
It’s funny how so many people don’t realize that the DPP ‘majority’ is actually a minority when compared the opposition. Foreigners in Taiwan tend to be extremely pro-DPP anyway, so I don’t expect that particular realization to be too popular. I’m learning to just keep my mouth shut concerning politics when in the company of foreigners, most of whom haven’t been here all that long, because if I say anything negative about the DPP at all they’re all over me about being reactionary and fascist, how Taiwan should declare independence, etc. *yawns* I’ll vote my conscience, have my say in that fashion, and let that be it.
I wasted the entire afternoon yesterday. Don’t ask me how; I just did. The weather was wonderful, and I felt distracted. I hate having to spend the week working on trivial, meaningless drivel I don’t want to do, and then when the weekend comes, wanting to have a weekend rather than work on the work I want to do, if that makes any sense at all.
Last night Harry, Yong-gen and I rode up to the hot springs and soaked out under the stars. Yong-gen has entered a body-building competition scheduled for next weekend, so he was at the gym all day, so we had met at the Shih-pai MRT station not long before midnight. There were lots of people there, and watching the steam rising off of the water and glistening bodies, wafting across the bamboo walls and off into the surrounding forest was quite relaxing in spite of the loud, somewhat raucous nature of most of the bathers’ conversations. It would have felt a lot better, however, if I had actually accomplished something that day. I shouldn’t even bother trying to enjoy myself before I’ve got all of my shit taken care of; it just doesn’t work. I feel guilty that I didn’t make any progress at all on any front. I need to get ready to break this cycle, if it’s not too late already.
Harry and Yong-gen are going to another hot springs, the one I really liked from before, this afternoon, but I’m meeting up with the actors at Grandma Nitti’s to go through the play again. No parts have been assigned so far, but I am not too optimistic that I’ll get one. Which is fine, of course; as I have plenty of other stuff to keep me busy already. At the very least it’s a lovely afternoon for a stroll. I can’t believe it’s December already.
