Surealism No 3

I find myself in the gloam, peering to the fading light. Despondency and decrepidation strikes the soul, still bruised and tender at last renewal. Spring has come but the air has chilled. Summer sun bakes a lonely shell. Hidden games will lay ahead, and falter all unseeing participants. The will is strong only when the soul is strong. Where does the soul feed? My words serve a purpose. They purge my sickness so I can breathe. To carry on these waves of disparity between day and night. Suspended between keys.

Surrealism No 2

I'm helping a new colleague from LA move into his new apartment. On the day, the landlord was still moving out with her young daughter and elderly mother. As conversation ensues and chatter flows, I find myself translating between my colleague who speaks not a word of Mandarin and the elderly mother who has a rapid-fire tongue and an obvious love of talking the way some older people tend to do.

She is fiendishly unstoppable, increasingly looking and speaking directly to my colleague in Mandarin rendering me useless. Occassionally I throw a few English words over her shoulder at him and he smiles and nods in understandingly at her. He mumbles a reply in English when there is a gap which I translate into Mandarin. She beams and is encouraged. Her conversation escalates. The flow of Mandarin ramp up and even Taiwanese is brought forth. But perhaps a little hassled at my inability to either keep up or talk over her, she throws in a couple of English words for good measure.

Without missing a beat I turn and begin translating English into Mandarin. I wear the translator's hat very well. Then I realise I am speaking Mandarin to a dumbfounded white man who's been in Taiwan for less than a week.

One word. Beleagured.

Surrealism

Sitting at home alone with my laptop. Home that's newly moved into. Single occupancy. It's a whole new world. The newly installed internet connection and digital tv are god-sends... Internet connection to keep me in touch with the outside world but even more astonishingly I can watch live AFL coverage and ABC News on the Australian Network channel. It's like I'm back home. Honest. Then I go to work and I'm looking out for a bus with a Chinese name on it instead of a number, and I grab breakfast of soy milk and congee from a breakfast stand near work... During the entire day I am speaking rapidly in Mandarin to my Taiwanese colleagues, but then I turn around and am repeating everything again to our North American colleagues in English. When I converse with them, I return to Toronto... I go home, watch a Taiwanese news broadcast and it's irritatingly obvious I'm not anywhere in North America but staunchly Taiwan... switch over and suddenly I'm back in Australia again, or the UK, if I turn to BBC...

Finally We Meet, Mr Tiesto

Tiesto is coming to town! Tiesto is coming to town!

Here is an opportunity to throw away pretenses of aging, don the true spirit of youth and re-enter the dance arena for a night of music and euphoria.

Tiesto is on his world tour and will be in Taipei on Sunday April 13th, tacked on after his gigs in Korea on Friday 11th and Japan on Saturday 12th.

I'm a little worried the man will be worn out from his hectic schedule. Will he be able to bring it to the table on Sunday? I am making the effort for his arrival. Despite my recent disaster at Carnegie's, the pull of Tiesto is greater than leaving the lax muscles in my rapidly out of shape body lax. I've been wanting to see him live for many years, and the cruelest part is that he's played several New Year's EveS in Sydney at the best parties when I was still living there yet it was never to be. Until now. On a Sunday night on some small island's city, and not even in the city centre but some venue off on the city fringe, on the rather dull side of town (incidentally 10 mins from my place and 5 mins from my work). Will he be motivated to give it his all?

A Revelation

I am older than most of my colleagues. I am fairly sure of that. I'm not 100% sure, but I am fairly confident. Those who are older than me I could probably count on one hand. Maybe two. But I wouldn't need my feet.

I actually had a girl, all of age 25, tell me she's worried she's starting her career late.

We can't all be child geniuses.

Everyone Should Do It At Least Once In Their Lives

I've been told I haven't blogged with any pictures for a while. Apologies.

To rectify such hideous oversight, I hereby enclose forthwith... PICTURES! A short yet conscise photo-essay of a recent outing to 台灣電力公司第二核能達電廠, Taiwan Power Company's Nuclear Facilities No.2's Visitor Centre. We were on the way to some other tourist destination on the North Coast, but seeing everyone else had the same idea and choked up the roads, we decided to abandon it halfway and pulled into this place. It was on the way home and it was free.

Here I am posing with a giant, round, spinning thingy that sat at the front of the Visitor Centre. We presumed it was of significance to the whole nuclear power production line somehow or other. Hence the confused expression.



Inside the Visitor Centre it was classic 1970s. We even watched a little educational film in the entrance foyer about how nuclear power is produced. The host of the film was a robotics arm moving about next to the screen, talking to a cartoon professor whose face would appear in the screen.

Here is a schematic of the nuclear fission plant. Press a button and a light would glow indicating the section you've selected.

What a lovely mannequin in a yellow raincoat with matching orange gloves. Good to see the nuclear industry is also fashion conscious. But it's obviously very delicate. Note the railing that prevents you from reaching over and touching its fine textures.

Mum and Dad were very taken by one of the displays. Warning: Learning in Progress. Do Not Approach.

Besides the little introduction film in the foyer, we were also guided to the theatrette by some uniformed guides at the Centre. Uniforms are very big in Taiwan. I'm sorry I don't have a picture of them. But just imagine a lot of polyester and really safe black shoes. But back to the theatrette. It wasn't any old theatrette, it was in 3D!!! I shit you not, we got given 3D glasses as we went in. Man those effects came straight from 1976.

Edumicated! We came out happy we'd learnt something. Were there subliminal messages spliced into the psychedelic 3D film we'd watched a minute ago?

A rockin' family Sunday for the memoirs.

Contentment and Where We Find It

It's two and a half weeks into a journey that will hopefully, last a lifetime. No I didn't get married, though some could say it's a marriage. Right now I'm devoted to my work and spending a lot of overtime there. It's definitely the honeymoon period right now seeing it's the first month and all. I'm willing to put in the hours. Willing to place it as top priority. There's currently no balance. I am head over heels.