earth, dropping off the face of

(Title stolen from a wonderful girl who referenced said subject.)

[Ryan enters, looking happy and laid back. He has a laid-back attitude about him, but still seems to always have something on his mind. Looks around, notices cobwebs and dusts, and seems to be expecting something to happen. When it doesn't, he lets the air out and sits down in a rather comfortable-looking chair.]

Yeah, OK. It's been a while. I've got a veritable tonnage of material, but have had virtually no net access over the past few weeks since my computer crashed and I lost my key to the school. I've almost fixed both problems, and am coming into a windfall of time. The Philippines, visitors, scuba diving, South Korea (with accompanying wonderful host), girlfriend, kung fu, books... If you're looking for a good read, check out Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norell. Wow. I never want to put it down and resent anything that makes me.

See you soon.

the speed of progress, or taiwan: the year-round make-work project

Last weekend (Saturday), I went by a bank around the corner from my place with the girl, whom shall now be known as C. I commented to C that the bank had been shut down, as it was gutted inside - something not at all uncommon here in Taiwan. Your might dine at your favourite eatery one day and go to lunch there the next and find it closed with workmen tossing pieces of wall out the second storey window (I kid you not). I expected that it would become some kind of store within the next couple of weeks. Lo and behold, come Monday morning (well, my Monday morning, which usually occurs at around noon), the bank was opened for business, fully renovated.

This is the speed of business here. I have seen shops close down, be completely gutted and remodeled, and open up again within three weeks or so. I think it's because a) there is so little extra space that it's a shame to waste an empty shop, and b) the weather is always congenial to construction. You cannot go anywhere in the larger cities without seeing something being built or torn down.

It's interesting to see things always changing, but in truth, it is also a constant eyesore. CONSTANT. I can't speak for other cities, and there is a Mass Rail Transit (MRT) system under construction here (hooray for non-polluting transportation!), but there is always road construction occuring here. Some pipe being pulled up, some drain being de-drained or re-drained or something of the sort, re-paving, re-painting, and so on. All year round. They have been digging up all the little roads and alleys around my apartment building for the past month. There's a new building being constructed a few blocks away - I can hear the machines rumbling and stones and rubble being shifted like the hubris of one age being built on another.

Here's a nicely-written article on architecture in Kaohsiung.

addendum to gutted

As a case in point to how fast a business can disappear, there was a ricebox (a rice box is a take-away lunch box that contains rice. You also fill it up with a selection of various vegetables, meats, and other unknown goodies at an outdoor buffet) place just down the street from me. Open 24 hours, it seemed fairly busy most of the time. My brother said it was a good place (I hadn't been myself). Sunday night? Business as usual. Monday morning? The place was closed down and the interior was being scavenged. This morning? The place is gutted, and the back wall is knocked out. Taiwan time. It'll knock you on your ass before you even realize it's moved.

a funny thing happened on the way to the end of the week

1. I had a dream about script writing. I assume it was because I was supposed to write a script this weekend for the Xtreme Theatre (I no longer am). I was a little stressed, but this particular dream took my mind off the stress completely. How? Well, I think I've found the best way for relieving stressful thoughts - ORGIES! Or dreams of them. Even better, dreams about orgies where you're doing the thing that stresses you out during, uh, rest stops, and in fact, you get two done. And then we all went Christmas caroling. The end.

2. Introducing participles as adjectives to my students today. Be careful of where you point, I guess is the lesson I'm trying to pass on.

Me: ...OK, good. So science is interesting. It makes me feel... [points to board, unaware of exactly where I'm pointing]
Student: ...Married!
Me: I..oh..yeah..ok. I guess that is where I pointed. Um. Good.

3. Maybe you had to be there, but I had to point out my friend K's comic genius. (Now this guy kills at the script-writing orgies, I'm sure.)

J: Oops, careful, I'm carrying a ladle.
K: That's no ladle, that's my knife!

K likes me because I laugh and laugh and laugh at his jokes. They're all this good.