One of my photos is being used for the government’…
One of my photos is being used for the government’s Invest in Taiwan website banner. Also, the Taiwan Review is doing a section on my pictures in their March issue, which should be interesting. To me, anyway. Hopefully to you, too, since you’re here reading this drivel.
The weather’s been great, warm and sunny, albeit a bit smoggy over the past few days. Last week I attended my company’s year-end party, for which we were bussed down to a slightly downtrodden-looking golf center in Yangmei. The food was ok, and we got to use the sauna, which was nice. It was kind of nice to get out of town, but not really my favorite kind of trip. I don’t know most of those people as I don’t work at the company office, so it was a bit awkward. Next week we have the party of the place where I actually work, which might be more fun as I know more people there.
Speaking of parties, I attended a meeting of the Canadian Society at Bongos on Friday with Dean, if you call “sitting around with the other two non-Canucks watching people play a strange game where you try to flick bits of wood into a spinning hole” attendance. Shirzi, who has seen the light and is now ensconced in Xindian, also made an appearance. Afterwards, in a bid to find a place to go at night since the Taiwan Bear Club closed, I tried to find a another bear club off Linsen called “On/On”, but failed. Next time I’ll bring the actual address, but I suspect it’s either something else, something completely non-bear related, or it’s just gone. I walked around the block taking pictures of neat nighttime alleys. I was in the middle of a pretty narrow, very interesting alley when a window suddenly flew open, and then shut. Five minutes later a policeman on a scooter drove up, looking around. He saw me and my camera. We stared at each other for a moment, and then he flipped his siren and lights on and off quickly. I gave him a look that said, “And?” He left. It was just as well that I’d finished photographing that particular alley, though.
Having failed to find On/On, I steeled myself to go to Fresh instead. There I bumped into another indie moviemaker, from Three Dots Entertainment. We talked briefly, and I went upstairs, avoiding the dance floor, to find that the balcony was still closed. Oh, well.
I took Gendoyun out for a ride on Saturday, out to Wulai and back, passing by the new community just past the water treatment plant, where I got off and walked around looking at the empty lots and newly built houses in between. Every dog in the community was barking at me at some point, and of course the police car followed me for a while until they figured I wasn’t a burglar. It seems like a nice place, but from the way they’re building, i.e., not leaving any land for yards, it won’t stay nice for long.
Saturday night was Muddy Basin Ramblers Rehearsal at the Sandcastle, which, sadly, may move to another location at some point in the near-ish future. On Sunday I met with another Flickr photography, codenamed “Dans photo”, and then I took a bicycle ride along the river. First I bought yet another bicycle seat, which of course cut off all circulation to my nether regions within a few kilometers. I have yet to find a seat that I can stay comfortable on for long distances. I need to go to a guy who has been in the business so long that he can prescribe a seat for you just by looking at your ass, like a good tailor.