It’s a brilliant day out today, thanks to the litt…
It’s a brilliant day out today, thanks to the little pocket of time after a typhoon cleans up all the pollution and before all the scooters, ghost-money and garbage burners re-pollute everything. The sun is hot during the day, but everything is clear, and the sunsets are unusually vivid.
My good friend Boogie finally left Taiwan a few days ago. He called me up the night before, as I was doing Lady X music with Darrell, to tell me he was leaving the island for the US early the next morning. Boogie and I studied Chinese together in college, lived in the same dorm, and were even in a small jazz band for a while. We came to Taiwan together, on the same flight in fact. We both played bit parts in Mah-jong (along with a much younger and long-haired Maoman). You may have seen Boogie on TV here in Taiwan, since he’s acted in some commercials and shows. His wife, Amanda, has become a US citizen and has lived in the states for several years now. Boogie’s been making noises about leaving for several years now, and now he’s finally done it.
I walked down near the train station to the YMCA, which will always be the ground zero of my Taiwan experience. After Boogie and I got off the Delta flight from the land of college, fast food and R.E.M., we took a bus downtown. I was only focused on hauling my suitcase up and down pedestrian bridges until we got to the Y. Then I put my stuff down, looked out the 5th-floor window at the crowds and flashing neon, and I realized where I was.
But that was a long time ago. The area’s changed a lot, with the addition of the huge new train station, the MRT stations, and lots of older buildings torn down. Even the Y itself has been rennovated, with the old reception area moved up to the front and a new restaurant installed in the front, but every time I pass by there I remember that hot June night when Boogie and I first arrived here.
