Saw the winner of the WTC design contest. Great, a bunch of what look like pre-bombed buildings, crater included (your government-funded radicals put it together. Some assembly required).

I suppose this is meant to fool the terrorists?

Terrorist #1: “Hey, those buildings looked bombed already!”

Terrorist #2 “That’s not right.” (checks list) “No, it definitely says Thursday. Damn.”

Terrorist #1: “Well, what do we do, bomb them again?”

Terrorist #2: “Nah, let’s go get ice cream.”

Speaking of very tall buildings, Taipei 101 is getting kinda scary if you ask me. I can see it if I lean out my window. They’re just starting on the last “segment”, and then on top of that they’re going to contrust a spire/antenna that will be about two segments high. At least no-one will be able to say they’re lost in Taipei anymore, ’cause you can see that sucker from any decent-sized street.

今天晚上去聯太極劍. 本來覺得毫無精神, 但是聯完劍以後感覺滿爽快. 明天房東會過來受房租, 同時帶一位修窗戶的工人來看一下, 股個價. 希望可以裝新窗戶, 也很希望新的窗戶隔音效果

Today was the 26th of February. I’ve been measuing time in February 26’s ever since the army, because that was the date I entered service, and every year I ask myself what I’ve done since I got out. It’s been seven years now, and I’m afraid I’m rather behind. Locus is dragging its feet publishing my book for some reason, first missing the book fair, then Chinese New Year, and now February 26th, which I set as a specific date for the book to be out. One of the English-language TV news shows (FTV I think) emailed today wanting to interview me, but I had to tell them I was waiting for news on the book, and even though I’ve emailed Locus, they’ve yet to reply.

I interviewed for another part-time job this morning. As it was another government-related position, they were concerned about my lack of a foreign passport. I tell you, if that happens again, I’m going to start soliciting city councilors or something similarly useless/drastic. The interview was supposed to include an editing/translation test, but all I had to do was look at a piece of Taoist philosophical writings, nod in a knowing fashion and hazard a few guesses as to its meaning. The position is technically “Foreign National Editor/translator”, but hopefully they could get around that, perhaps changing it to “Foreign-language Editor/translator” or something similarly harmless. You’d think someone with a brain would wake up one day and realize that a foreign passport doesn’t automatically guarantee fluent English. That was the only concern, however, as I have more experience and better Chinese than the person I would be replacing. I’m hoping it works out, because it looks like a cool place to work, and I could always use the extra money. I would still have weekends off and some time during the week, and they don’t require a tie.

So I’ve been waiting, waiting for news on the book, waiting for news on both of my jobs, waiting for my landlord to decide if he can fix my windows, waiting for my brain to spit out a decent script idea typed neatly in double-spaced Ariel font. I’m sick of waiting around. And I’ll bet you’re sick of reading about it as well. Well, ok. I’ve got a feeling things are coming together shortly.

Dean’s birthday party is tomorrow, and this means Indian food in what has become an annual tradition just as worldwide gift-giving has become a tradition on mine. Shirzi is also in town; we had lunch with him today. I spent this afternoon working at my almost-job, followed by a nice sword workout. The teacher is working on a new website, which will hopefully feature more content and pictures than the present one.

Yesterday was the last day of the Lantern Festival down at CKS Hall, and I was going down there anyway to see Adaptation on the awful projection screen at The Source. The movie was ok, a lot simpler and less clever than most of the critics had intimated. Nick Cage was impressive. I suppose I should see it at a proper resolution to enjoy it, but as I wasn’t all that impressed with Being John Malkovich, I think I’ll probably come away after this one with a similar feeling of a really good idea done in a mediocre manner.

Sacrilage! You are no doubt crying. This guy puts down such great directors as Spike Jonze and Martin Scorcese when all he can do is Alphadogah? I know, I know. For all of you just tuning in, I’m a hypocritical bastard.

After the movie, Alien and I went over to see the Lanterns, which were nice. Usually they have a big paper representation of the animal on display in the middle of the square, but all we saw was a pair of horns sticking out of a round stage. Either they’re getting more minimalist in their design, or the horns were all that were left after a hungry paper giant had the goat for dinner.

All of the stands were packing up their wares. We passed by one stall that had brass statues, including a beautiful bronze representation of Poagao, The Poagao, Sun Wu-kong hisself, brandishing a stick and standing on his Flying Cloud Gendoyun. The pricetag said NT$7,700, but Alien said I should see if they’d bargain, it being the last day and the statue being exceptionally heavy.

After a little bargaining I got it for just over NT$1,000. I know, I shouldn’t be spending money on stuff like this, but I like it, and it could also come in handy for bashing in the brains of any potential intruders. We continued on to see a puppet busy mixing roasted chestnuts, and I took a small video that is a strong candidate for the next Sight of the Moment in a few days’ time.

Afterwards we walked over to DV8, where Alien treated me to a Bailey’s sans milk. Two Russian guys sat next to us chatting while Alien and the bartender gossiped. Carl’s subsequent arrival wasn’t the coincidence it seemed as he lives nearby, but it was a welcome break from the combination of Russian and gossip.

Finished up the translation job I’d been working on for the past couple of days. I might be taking on a second job, with welcome added income, starting in March.In fact, recent developments in the work situation have caused me to amend my housing-search plans, which might have to be put on hold while I get everything sorted out as far as income goes. Also, my landlord might try to get another guy to install new windows, if it turns out to be cheap enough. I did go see another place today, mainly just to go for a walk and get out of the house after spending all morning and part of the afternoon trying to get the comments for the Chinese blog working. As I was walking back up Fuxing South Road, I hear the screeching of tires up the street, and when I walked over to see what was going on, I saw that there had been either a most peculiar accident or someone who was simultaneously more ambitious and less adept at parking than most people here.

If you like online comics, go read Same Difference by Derek Dirk Kim. Really well-done stuff. Thanks to Ernie for the link.

有人跟我說我應該

昨天被樓下警衛蘭下來, 問我願不願意跟十樓兩位小姐去參

還沒有找到房子. 我昨天化了一整天去十幾個地方, 沒有一間可以接受, 不是跟一

Room for Rant, Part XXXVIII

I stayed up until 2 a.m. last night combing through almost 300 entries on a Chinese rental website and writing down a sheetful of possibilies. Then I slept for a few hours, until 5:30, when I got up again and took the first MRT train to the West Gate Station to check out the morning audio environment there. At first it seemed fine except for the sound of buses roaring past on Hengyang Road. But then I spotted a group of elderly women carrying a suspicious object. Sure enough, it was a boombox. They set it up in front of the Chungshan Hall and began doing the dance.

Oh, well. I walked over to a nearby stall and had a large breakfast of egg-cake, turnip paste and bean milk. A group of women from Hong Kong sat next to me. Although my Cantonese is very limited, I could make out that they felt that the bean milk was better here than in Hong Kong. I tried to imagine myself back in Hong Kong while listening to their conversation (it does seem like more and more Cantonese can be heard on the streets of this city lately), but it’s impossible because there’s no harbor. To me, no matter where you are in Hong Kong, there’s always the idea if not the sight and/or smell of the harbor lurking around every corner. Taipei has a severe shortage of good harbors in my opinion.

I spent the rest of the day going down my sheet of possibilites and eliminating them one by one. Every single one was crap. Krep. Krrrrrrrrep! I must have walked several miles by the time I was through. All of the possibilities are just about as exhausted as I am, unless I want to live in Shilin or beyond. I inspected the area around Hou Shan Pi MRT and found it barren and industrial with pockets of niceness around the park. I met my friend James on Hsinsheng S. Road at lunch, and he showed me his wonderful $25k/month apartment on Renai across from his museum (he’s the curator there). Hsinsheng S. Road is all messed up due to the construction of the second stage of the MRT system, so there were a couple of cheap places there. Unfortunately, they all involved living with several other people.

Before I came back home I stopped back at the West Gate Station, and sure enough, a group of older women, another group I’m pretty sure, was doing impressionist dancing to Buddha’s Top Hit “Nanwuahmitofo”. That tears it; tomorrow I’m going to call the landlord and cancel. As much as it would have been nice to live in that area, I’m moving to get away from noise, not get it at a cheaper rate (at the moment, 1:30 a.m., they’re raising giant signs with cranes and affixing them to various structures outside my building). James said I would eventually find something if I just keep at it, and he’s probably right. I had set the 27th as my deadline, but it doesn’t really matter. There are other, more important things to think (and rant) about.

Dean, Mark, Tall Paul, Rowan, Alien and I met up to discuss film projects, but we didn’t get much discussion done. We did end up spending a lot of money, though, so I guess that’s something. It seems everyone is plagued with doubt over their various projects, and nobody’s doing anything at the moment, which is a shame. We all need to get cracking in that respect, me most of all. Tall Paul’s getting ready to begin production of his next film, and I need to go over the locations with him so we can set up all the shots. It will be a good opportunity to use my new camera and get more used to it as well.

In other news, I’ve updated the links page by culling some sites that weren’t being updated, and adding some new ones I’ve found out about recently. I’ve also changed the sight and sound files. The sight is, of course, me at breakfast this morning, and believe me when I say that I am usually a sight at breakfast. The sound is Wu Bai’s “Rushing”, a twangy, westerny song sung in Taiwanese to let you know that it is not, in fact, the theme for a new brand of canned coffee.

Warning! Those who find my whinging about housing-related stuff: you might want to hit the back button on your browser.

So I’ve been looking at places, each seemingly smaller than the last. I saw the converted storeroom/office annex off the stairwell on Fuxing South Road, its balcony enclosed in tin-foil. I saw the large, old-fashioned two-room cave so close to the Chihshan MRT station there was a breeze every time the train roared by. I saw the long hallway-like dungeon on Yanping of course. None of these really work for me, but I have the bad habit of thinking a lot more highly of any place I haven’t seen before than is prudent. I proved this theory with the stairwell place I had actually considered before going back to see it on my own.

Then I went to a newish building in the old city I had seen rental notices up on before. Two or three rooms were for rent, and one was a corner room with a nice view of a square. Another square! you say, no doubt recoiling in horror. But TC, haven’t you learned your lesson about squares?

You’d think so. I’m planning to go over early tomorrow morning to see if the aforementioned square is full of old women practicing Yuanjiwu to the Qing Dynasty’s Greatest Hits over a loudspeaker. Downstairs from my present location this happens every day, so if they do it there, it will probably be going on there too. I’ve been there in the evenings and it seems pretty quiet for the most part. The rent is 3,000 cheaper, but the place comes unfurnished and is no larger than where I am now. In Typical Poagao Style, I told the landlord I wanted to move in and would sign a contract tomorrow, a meeting which I’ve since delayed until Friday evening.

Today I spent walking around the Shilin area. There I found some ok if smallish apartments in another newish building. These rooms come furnished, and the building provides coin laundry services. The downside, in addition to the size, is that the stretch of road between the building and Jiantan Station is often jam-packed with revellers and tourists due to the nearby night market. I do like the area, though, and I will probably do some more looking up there tomorrow, especially if I find the square full of annoying dancing women, in which case I will cancel the contract-signing appointment immediately. I’ll most likely spend tonight trolling the various Taiwanese real estate sites looking for something new I haven’t noticed before. I’ve come to hate looking for new places, and I also hate the fact that for the past six months I haven’t been able to find a decent, reasonable place to live without some fatal flaw. I don’t know why I rush myself, or why any place that’s not immediately familiar seems much nicer than it is on subsequent inspections. Those are all questions for my therapist, or would be if I was willing to pay someone to tell me I’m not really that big an idiot.

I also know that, no matter what I do or what kind of place I eventually find, something much better and cheaper will make itself known before the ink on the contract is dry. It’s just the nature of the market with a dash of Murphy’s Law thrown in for good measure. In any case, I’m off to comb the real estate websites.

今天看到好多房子, 沒有一間是完美的, 但是有找到一些比我現在住的地方還要便宜和安靜. 大小都差不多, 而且我發現郊外的房價不見的比市中心低多少. 想要大地方, 恐怕要去淡水惑新店找.

用雙腳找了一整天好累. 明天一樣要去找房子,