A Quarter of a Century
Twenty-five years.
Damn. It’s been a quarter of a century since I began writing this blog on April 22, 2001. I was living in a shared apartment on Hsin-sheng South Road then, recently returned from New York City, where I’d studied filmmaking. Back then I was riding my 135cc racing motorcycle over the railway bridges to and from my job at Ogilvy & Mather, describing the antics of the infamous Whiny Woman and letting my turtles run amok in the office as I pondered getting more into filmmaking, music and photography.
I know I don’t post in here nearly as frequently as I once did, especially in those early days. But come on: This has got to be one of the longer-running blogs out there at this point, all the way back from the golden age when it seemed everyone had a blog, and downright retro in its design (but, thanks to my friend Xander, relatively up to date underneath it all). I know only a handful of people read this thing in any case, but I count it as a win if I’ve managed to entertain and/or inform y’all of anything over the decades.
I doubt that 2001-era me would expect that, in 2026 I would pursuing a master’s degree, have nearly paid off a cool little apartment at the foot of the mountains, been part of six albums with a local jug band that got three Grammy nominations and a Golden Melody award, have had my photography exhibited all over the world, done several workshops, or even have been teaching photography for over a decade, including a university course. I think that young man would be pleased to know those things waited for him in the future, as well as getting a couple of books published and the movie done. Of course it hasn’t been a bed of roses; there have been not-so-great times as well, inevitably, but, well…I’m still here, still grateful for all the opportunities I’ve had thus far, as well as all the cool folks I’ve met along the way.
This thesis is currently taking up all my time, but perhaps, with luck, I will soon have graduated and can spend a bit more time doing other things, as well as writing about them here, something I feel is becoming rarer and more precious these days when it seems that more and more of the internet is being buried under soulless, vapid, engagement-bait-laden text and imagery churned out by AI.
In any case, thank you all for sticking around; see you next time.
