I’m just about ensconced in my new abode, and it f…
I’m just about ensconced in my new abode, and it feels great. The Curse of the Stairs, etc. has been lifted, I can walk to work, and I like my view very much. It’s a bit noiser than the old place, smaller and more expensive, but I like it. It feels good, and that’s what living somewhere really comes down to after all. I used to live in this neighborhood back around 1994-5, when I was working for TVBS. I lived on “Jewel Street” after I got out of the army up until I came back from film school in 2000, so it feels familiar. I can see the mountains and a large expanse of sky from my window, as well as the little park downstairs. I’m right on top of the Chunghsiao-Fuhsing MRT interchange as well. Oh Happy Day, Poagao has finally found a place he won’t be bitching about all the time. I’m sure you’re very relieved to hear that. Now I’ll just find something else to bitch about.
The conference was touch-and-go for a while. It’s hard to keep up with what everyone is saying and doing, and I was seated at the head of the table, right next to the chairman, with an unfamiliar laptop computer and an order to record the meeting. Of course, I had plenty of practice doing this at meetings of the Russian Club in high school, having been the Recording Secretary for one year, but doing it for APEC is just a tad more difficult. I did enjoy it when the delegates went at each other, especially when figures were in dispute and face was in danger of being lost. The food at the Grand Hotel wasn’t bad, and free after all. I would do it again, as I could use the overtime.
Tomorrow I have to put in more overtime to make up for my time in the hospital, but that should be the end of it. The room’s still a mess, but it’s becoming pretty livable as I figure out where to put things. I might sell off old books and things. I also need to scout out potential eateries around here, besides the ones I remember that are still around. The combination of cool weather and sunshine the past few days has been quite refreshing. It’s just cold enough for a light jacket at night; the air smells different when it’s cold, fresher and less spoiled by the scents of vendors and scooters. On days like this cooking stands out above all smells, yummy front-of-the-shop cooking smells that is, not exhaust fumes, although you know they’re there. Cookie smells, seasonal smells. November should be known as The Month When You Notice the Smell of Cooking in the Fresh Newly Cool Air instead of National Native American Awareness/Diabetes Month. Funny how Native American Month is the same month as Diabetes Month, enit?
