I really should have been editing the film last ni…
I really should have been editing the film last night, but Tall Paul was filming the last scene in his Dignity production with Dean, so I went along. We took the electric train that stops at most of the little stations along the way. Although air travel is mask-free these days, they still require masks on trains. Most of the people on the train had masks on, with the exception of a fellow sitting across from us who seemed to think that a mouthful of “Hi-chew” gum excused him from having to wear one.
A huge cruise ship was docked at Keelung harbor when we exited the train station. It was the Superstar Gemini, bigger and nicer than the ship we took a couple of years back on the infamous “Cruise to Nowhere”. We caught a cab out to Ocean University, where Paul was waiting at the gate. It was just after sunset, but you could still see the outline of Turtle Island out past the sea wall. The Dignity scene wasn’t all that dignified, actually, as it required Dean to recite some Hamlet while dressed in rather interesting garb in front of a faux stage. He did a good job, though, especially on the William Shatner version. We stopped when the aluminum foil we were using as barn doors for the lights started falling off. We struck camp and took all the equipment back to Paul’s office in the area of the university where, judging by the smell, they study the effects of burning insects with lasers. There we took a look at the impressive credit sequence as well as some of the initial editing. Very nice, I must say.
Afterwards we took a cab back downtown to meet Paul’s wife Jane for dinner at a Teppanyaki place. It was located on the corner of an intersection, and was so small that some of the raw vegatables had to be stored in the bathroom/kitchen area in the back. We had barely begun to eat when a family came in and sat down next to us, and I was distracted from the conversation due to the wild flailing arms and spittle of the little boy perhaps four years of age sitting next to me. He looked exactly like a miniature taxi driver, complete with surliness as well as an eerily familiar spiky hairstyle.
After dinner, which was good, Paul and Jane took us on a tour of Keelung, or at least the Miaokou Night Market across the river. The river sported interesting bridges with pedestrian paths that soared about ten feet higher than the actual roadway, put there for the view I supposed as I watched a romantic couple’s attempts at kissing thwarted by the masks they were wearing.
The night market was nice. It’s a pretty ordinary night market, but due to the day and SARS, it wasn’t too crowded even though the weather was nice. We stopped by a temple, the Zhengji temple I think, and then made our way back to the waterfront, where the Superstar Gemini was heading out to sea on her next cruise, perhaps to Okinawa, perhaps to Southeast Asia, or even just to diddle around before coming back into port the next afternoon.
We passed an impressively decrepit building along the harbor right next to the elevated highway. Jane said it was so haunted they couldn’t tear it down, and were waiting for gravity, an earthquake, typhoon, or a combination of all three to do the job for them. The harbor area has improved a lot lately, with new pedestrian walks and an eatery complex. Now they just need to do something about the smell. I’ve heard that Kaohsiung has made great strides in the respect, but I haven’t been down there in a long time so I can’t say if it’s true.
The ride back was uneventful, but I was glad that the train station connects directly to the MRT system because I was too tired by that point to walk very far. When I got home I still couldn’t go to bed until I had sent at least part of the promotion materials to the Lady X Series Executive Producers.
Today did not start off well; Getting up was hard to do, and when I finally managed it was with a sore back, possibly due to the train seats last night and/or a lack of exercise lately due to various reasons. Today’s my last full day of work for a while, at least until I find another second job, but I could use the extra time for editing, etc.
