My friends and former co-workers Peter Ma and Dave…
My friends and former co-workers Peter Ma and Dave Smith came down to visit me and discuss video stuff the other day. They both have 12-inch G4 Powerbooks and made a show of blatantly sharing files RIGHT IN MY LIVING ROOM. We were having lunch when I got a call from Shirzi, who informed me that he had just been robbed of over a thousand dollars (US) by a group of vicious children, and now he needed my assistance translating as he dealt with the police at the station, which was located in a small place on the road to Wulai.
I took a taxi out and found Shirzi, a lone police officer and a couple of kids sitting with their heads down sitting in the station. I translated the story to the police as well as questions going back and forth for a while, and then the father of one of the kids came over and slapped the kids around a bit. Eventually a bunch of thuggish-looking men strode into the station, all blustery and hard-nosed. It turned out that they were plainclothes officers, and they interrogated the kids in a ruthless fashion for a while, taking pictures of them with signs, etc., before heading off to see if they could find any of the remaining money. I shot a few pictures of my own, and then we were free to go. One of the officers, they guy who was there originally, gave us a ride part of the way down the mountain in his police cruiser, lights and all.
Later that night the police called me and Shirzi to another station to identify the other members of the Vicious Child Gang, so I got to stay up until 1:30am translating stuff for the report. Turns out the stolen money had all been spent in the space of a few days. Although the father offered to repay Shirzi, he doubts he’ll ever see that money again.
The weather’s actually been nice these past few days, gloriously bright mornings with welcome blue skies stretching all the way to the afternoon, when things get cloudy. I took my newly repaired and repainted (read: I bought a can of spray paint) motorcycle for a spin a few days ago and found it running better than ever thanks to NT$9,000 spent at the Bike Farm. I mostly ride it into the countryside these days, as taking the MRT into the city is much more convenient in most cases.
In other news, I got a call from my landlord in Canada, who told me that a realtor would begin showing my apartment to potential buyers on weekends. “But I still have six months on my lease; it’s a bit early to be showing it, isn’t it?” I asked, dismayed at the thought of having to leave this wonderful place.
“If they really want to buy it, I’m sure they won’t mind paying you an extra month’s rent. Who knows, maybe they’ll even rent it back to you.”
Nice, huh? Ok, I know it’s not nice. In fact it’s pretty fucked up.
This, now, is nice. I just got it. You knew it was only a matter of time.
