The Vampires are working together. Now, when one o…
The Vampires are working together. Now, when one of them arrives at the office, she will go around and close all of the blinds, not just those at her own desk. Territorial creatures, vampires. Now they’re tying to kill me with Lisa Ono music. Cruel but effective punishment for my window blind-opening impudence. Fortunately I’ve noticed that one of The Vampires is raising baby prawns in a glass bowl full of water, and Office Turtle is looking a tad peckish.
My friend Bill Baum, formerly of ICRT, who now works at the Voice of America in Washington, DC, said that VOA wants to do a television spot on me. I don’t know whether it would be a good idea to do one now or after I’ve managed to publish the Damn Book. We’ll see. In another, more ironic, piece of news, TVBS Weekly wants to interview me for their magazine. The reason I feel that this is ironic is that I used to work for TVBS as a cameraman, until the company got so huge and bureaucratic I felt I had to leave. So I don’t entirely trust them, but I suppose if I’m careful I suppose it shouldn’t be too bad.
Last night I went to the Tsui Mama office and got a list of apartments in my price range. There was a foreign couple there trying to play the whole “I speak better Chinese than you” rigamarole, but, while I would have enjoyed that game several years ago, I’ve grown tired of the raised voices, the addition of the extra-long “ahhh”s and pseudo-Taiwanese accent, the sudden loud, contrived, useless banter with the waitress while studiously ignoring the offending party. These days I usually just go about my business and don’t pay any attention to the whole spectacle of forced casual competition that occurs whenever foreigners run into other foreigners here.
The more I think about it, in spite of the proximity to Shi-da and Shi-da foreigners (for surely they belong in a class by themselves), the more I appreciate where I live now. I like living on the park. I love the view and the convenience, and moving would be such a bother. I don’t want to spend any more than I do now on rent; in fact I wouldn’t mind spending less, but that would mean looking in places further from downtown. I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to do a little apartment hunting and see what I come up with. In the meantime, however, I have to find someplace for my residency after I move it out of Xiao Bing‘s place.
I’ve added a link to the previous issue to my News page, and am working on another issue. I’ll be doing good to get three or four issues out a year, it seems. I considered asking for submissions, but I would have to be a truly hardcore cynic to believe that an appreciable amount of people have as twisted a sense of humor as is presently squatting in my subconscious.
This fellow describes a phenomenon I have seen lately but not been able to adequately describe. His obvious displeasure at his book being criticized aside, it’s facinating how any attempt to analyze post-9/11 events is often met with accusations of “siding with the enemy”. I’ve tried to hold such discussions with friends of mine who are normally very logical, reasonable people, but if I ever dare wonder as to the cause of the attacks, even without coming to any conclusions or even possibilities, I am immediately assaulted with a barrage of criticism and lables of traitorhood. My problem is, of course, that I’ve always been prone to thinking; ever since childhood my brain has had this unfortunate tendency to analyze things now and then. I should get some treatment for it or something.
