My blog's getting no love these past couple of days. Sniff. I was checking my Google analytics page and visitor count's been 0 for the past 5 days. Waaah. Well, I guess I kinda have to blame myself for not updating as much. :D

But, we have been stuck at home for pretty much this past week because of our laziness. Although we did go out to visit the mall near our apartment. Doode, it's tiny. It's like smaller than ... I don't even know what because all the malls I've been to are pretty big. But this place has like two floors and it's a straight line. Wait, it's not even two because the bottom floor is mainly parking lots and a supermarket (which was renovating. gah!).

Yaaaaah. We ended up spending money in the supermarket on some cherry coke and paprika chips. PAPRIKA! I totally forgot about my <3 for paprika until I saw it on the shelf at the market. I used to eat those chips ... often ... when I was in Switzerland. And then I totally forgot about them because they don't seem to exist in Taiwan or the States. Mmm ... they yummies. :)

Back on topic - um. yah. Not that many stores and not that many people. The store with the most people was this cafe where people were just sitting and watching the world go by. I'm getting the feeling that that's what people like to do here. Sit at cafes or bars and watch the world go by.

Yay?

Our apartment here faces the courtyard where there are green slopes, a little fountain, etc. Today while eating dinner, since it's Saturday, there were these four kids rolling around the grass, doing handstands, etc., just having kid-fun. It made me nostalgic of the days when we used to do that, when we didn't have to worry about our clothes getting dirty or bugs flying into our noses and mouths, when it was ok for us to just be kids.

Imagine if we went out and rolled around the grass nowadays. People would probably just shake their heads and think what's wrong with us.

Sigh. I want to go back to being a kid when we didn't have to worry about our future and you know, adult stuff. Gah! I'm just trying to avoid responsibility. :P

[edit]
Saw this video on Bbrother's site and found it fitting for this entry ...



"What has happened to the children who once played freely on the streets?"
"We grew up."
(and it's so hard to put aside our self-consciousness to actually enjoy fun and games from our childhood years in the public sphere.)
[/edit]


On a totally unrelated note, there's this song playing on the internet radio that has the lyrics, "She wants to touch me, she wants to love me, she'll never leave me ... Don't trust a ho, never trust a ho, won't trust a ho ... Shush girl, shut your lips, do the Helen Keller and talk with your hips." ... uh. wtf? o__O Riiiiiight ...

Back in the blogging mood after some self-pitying, PMSing, and a little too much Las Vegas and Gossip Girls. Thank God for streaming TV shows on the internet. Otherwise I wouldn't know how to spend my too much free time.

A couple of days before my parents took off for their Taiwan trip, we went to three cities in Belgium. This was before the trip to Antwerp. Wow, my trip updates are way out of order. Anyway, we went to Ostend (beach!), Bruges (old town), and Waterloo (Napoleon!).

Ostend
I think this would be a nice place if 1) it weren't so cold and windy, and 2) there was blue skies. Due to the lack of blue skies, the sea wasn't very blue either. =(



It was so windy that it was cold (we weren't very prepared), so we just stayed on the boardwalk, kinda far from the water. We had lunch there and had very yummy beer - Subite Morte (Sudden Death, heh). It had a sweet taste and wasn't bitter at all. Kinda like a carbonated drink with a tad bit of alcohol. Mmm. The food was good too. :P

Bruges
Gorgeous town, fantastic architecture, lots of churches. I really do like the old-European style buildings. Pictures will do the talking.

Bruges is kinda Venice-like as they have their own canals around their city. We didn't really visit the whole city, but they have these boat tours that take you around.
interior of one of the churches

Waterloo
Yup, where Napoleon lost. There's a huge hill - Butte du Lion - that you get to climb up to the top (where there's a lion statue!) and look down at the "battle site." There's 225 steps (yup, I counted), and my calves were SO sore the day after that climb. Ugh. So tiring.

View from the top
Where the armies were ...

As usual, more pictures at Flickr ... and my butt hurts now, so I'm going to bed. Good nite!

Not about life, though, sadly. It's actually kinda nerdy. ugh, I'm such a nerd.

Anyway, so I installed Leopard on my dad's iMac without wiping the computer because I figured his comp is pretty empty (in terms of what's in his HD). But then after I installed Leopard, the computer slowed down ... by a lot. I mean, it used to be kind of slow, but with Leopard installed, it was ridiculously laggy and slow (like it'll give me the spinning wheel of death when all I'm doing is streaming Las Vegas. WTF?). So I figured maybe if I re-installed Leopard and wiped the HD, it'd run faster. Don't ask me why I thought that. I just did.

So I backed up the data (yay!), wiped the HD and installed Leopard, re-downloaded all the necessary software, and re-installed Office, Photoshop, etc.

After all that hard (but fun!) work, the computer's still slow. And laggy. I mean, it's faster than when I just installed Leopard w/o wiping (although haven't watched Las Vegas yet so don't know if it'll still give me the spinning wheel of death), but it's still slooooooow, especially when I try to run Photoshop.

And then it suddenly hit me .........

There's only 512mb RAM in my dad's iMac!!! Omg!!! =.=

I knew I should've upgraded the RAM when I bought the comp for him, but I didn't think it'd be necessary. Sigh, I need to upgrade the iMac's RAM if I end up in Washington for winter break. This slowness is RIDICULOUS (I'm used to having 2GB RAM).

The end. :)

I've been wanting to do a decent update recently (totally slacked off on my daily beer and daily picture, huh? I have issues), but every time I started to type something, I just couldn't seem to finish it. So I'd just close the window. Until yesterday when I posted that pointless entry about Because of You. But! I really do like that song. It's so .... beat-y. :P

Anyway, so the parents have left for Taiwan for the week (grandpa's funeral *tear*), so my sister and I have been left to fend for ourselves. Well, not really. My mom basically prepared enough food to feed us for a month, so we're pretty set on the food department (this also saves us from having to spend ridiculous amounts of money eating out). Other than that, been doing some housework, mainly laundry. Our drying rack is definitely too small, so we can only pretty much do a load a day.

Need to vacuum, but I think we've put that off till Saturday, the day before they come back (yay procrastination!). I think that's about all we have to do.

Caught a cold recently. The body is not used to this cool weather in August (where's the heat?! the humidity?!). Sigh. It's adapting, I hope so anyway. Rather not constantly get sick and chug down large quantities of water that makes me need to pee every 10 minutes.

Went to Antwerp before the parents left. Had some dim sum, well, had A LOT of dim sum because we ordered a tad bit too much. Left feeling stuffed, but satisfied (yay Chinese food!). Walked around Meir, street with all these different stores (they had Urban Outfitters! So random!) that were probably all over-priced. Couldn't bring ourselves to actually go into a store and be depressed at the amount of money needed to purchase one of those products. Checked out their city hall and church (gotta have one of each in every town here, of course). It was actually really nice, I think having nice weather also helped improve the feel. After our rainy trip to Luxembourg and Germany, cloudy blue skies was heaven.

We took the train to Antwerp just to see what it's like to take the train here. Nubbad, but the train station at Antwerp is fantastic. Too bad the outside was under construction, but the inside was super nice. I'd post pictures, but I'm actually too lazy to get my camera and upload the pics. :P I think that describes my mood for the past couple of days - lazy, lethargic.

I spent all yesterday watching the first season of Gossip Girl. Mmmm, Nate. Yum. :P

Currently obsessed with Ne-Yo's Because of You. I know, I'm like 5 years late, but hey, better late than never, right? :P

I got a problem an' I (don’t know what to do about it)
Even if I did, I don’t know if I would quit but I doubt it. I’m
Taken by the thought of it
And I know this much is true
Baby, you... have become my addiction
I’m so strung out on you
I can barely move
But I like i-it


So then it’s all because of you (All because of you)
So then it’s all because of you (All because of you), hmm
And it’s all because of you (All because of you)
So then it’s all because--
(Never get enough
She’s the sweetest drug)

*dances around* lalalalalaaaa.

Sounds exciting, doesn't it? Three countries being Luxembourg, Germany, and Belgium. In reality, not really. *Sigh* So we decided to go to Luxembourg and stop by a little town in Germany to buy some (relatively) cheap ceramics (Villeroy & Boch - supposed to be brand name in the ceramics world, but I've never heard of it. Then again, I know next to nothing in that world. But doode, those are some expensive ceramics, and we were at an outlet!).

Anyway, the trip to Luxembourg was supposed to take two hours only (relatively close), but the trip there ended up taking 3+ hours because we ran into construction where basically two lanes became one became a shoulder. Yah. Apparently they take advantage of the "summer break" (August) to do some road repair. Ugh! It was pretty much stop and go traffic for an hour. It kinda put a kink in our plans because we wanted to eat Chinese food in Luxembourg, but by the time we got past the construction it was already 1 p.m., so we ate at a rest stop. That was an awkward experience mainly because of communication problems. In general, we've had no problem with English because, well, people here are trilingual (French, Dutch, and English)! Pretty awesome, but not so much today.

Finally arrived in Luxembourg, but guess what? It was raining. Nonstop. Fun! So we sight-saw the capital city for a little while (thankfully it's a pretty small city) and decided to go to the German town to buy the ceramics. The trip there was relatively uneventful, but that's probably because I had headphones on and was dead asleep (tired mah). We get to the little riverside town and start buying ceramic cups, plates, ice cream bowls, etc. I thought we'd bought a lot, but according to my parents, it's considered little. My dad's colleagues would buy tons and bring them back to Taiwan to give to family and friends. I was thinking, "I wonder if any of my friends know what Villeroy and Boch is." Then again, you guys might, and I'm just an ignorant fool. Teehee. But I like the cups I bought. They're still wrapped up, but once I open them, I take pics!

By that time it was ... 5:30 - 6 p.m., so we decide it's time to head home! Yay! What was supposed to be another two hour trip took another three and a half hours instead. Geebus! Basically we ran into three (or was it four) construction issues along the highway, one of which required us to get off the highway and take the local road to get back on the highway one exit down. Ugh! And since everyone had to do that, you can imagine the traffic jam that caused. By the time we got home it was 9:30, and we were all tired and hungry.

So basically today we maybe spent 4 or 5 hours out of the car. The rest of the time (left at 10 am, got home at 9:30 pm) was spent in the car, with me listening to music and taking really random pictures. Enjoy!

Bathroom costs 50 cents Euro! (around 75 cents USD)
River by the German town where we bought ceramics. I should figure out its name.
I was super bored on the car

I'm just thankful that nobody checks visas in these E.U. countries (phew!) since I'm technically not allowed out of Belgium. Heh!

PS - More ironic-ness:

- Yesterday we went to Leuven and brought an umbrella expecting it to rain (those big golfing kinds), but it ended up not raining.
- Today I brought my sunglasses just in case there would be sun (it tends to come out in the afternoon), but it ended up raining all day long.
- After my dad said it'd be a fast trip home because there shouldn't be any traffic, it took 3.5+ hours to get home.

Sigh.

I think my daily updates is going to become once in a while updates. Lately we've been busy running around trying to get all the administrative stuff done for me (e.g., open bank account, get health insurance, etc.), and things haven't been going too smoothly. Actually, it's been a pretty rough road, what with the program canceling, waiting for 3 hours at City Hall just to be told I have to wait for the cops to visit my apartment once I move in (mid-Sept), and other fantastic events that if I think about further I might break down. It's been tiring, emotionally as well as physically.

Not sure why things are so frustrating. I feel like the administrative people and places here just aren't very efficient. Well, when I first arrived, my dad said that the tempo here is way slower, so we just have to be more patient. But after having lived in the relatively fast paced L.A. and the super-fast paced Taipei, slowing down is easier said than done. I'm constantly comparing my experiences here to back home or even back in L.A., which is probably a bad idea, but I can't help it. And it's frustrating as hell when things just don't go as you expect. Maybe once I've been here for a while I'll be able to get used to it (except seeing my parents and their reactions after being here for a year, it might take a while for me to get used to the way things are done here).

超不順的 忘了出國前要去拜拜. >.<

Sigh. Even the novelty and prettiness of the place is wearing off. Aih~~~~~~~~ (at least the beer is good.)

So it's solved. The program's still going to be opened and so I still have a school to study at. Although it makes me wonder about the quality of the program. They can so 隨隨便便 to close and re-open a program (a program!) ... how good can it be? Sigh. So the plan is to see how the program is this next year and maybe study for GREs at the same time and definitely have fun in Europe! If it's lame and crappy, then eh, transfer. Sigh.

But yah, I'll still be here! Come visit (please)!!

Today was spent mostly at Leuven with the fantastic events that I described in the previous post. It was also raining, and I was annoyed enough that I didn't feel like taking any pictures. But like any of the other days I've been here, we still had beer with our dinner and went out for a walk after dinner (since it's still bright at 8 pm).

Pictures
Want to Chateau Malou for a walk. Yup, it's a castle, but it didn't look like a castle, and it wasn't particularly spectacular, so I refrained from taking a picture of it. But, the pathways surrounding it was ... green. There was also a pond with more water fowls! Also on our way there and back from the apartment, there were plenty of slugs. In Canada, we saw rabbits and ground hogs everywhere we went. In Brussels, we see slugs at night and poo all day round. :P





Neighbor's 2 (of 3) cats. When we first started going out for walks after arriving here, my dad kept telling us about how the first floor tenants had three cats that would actually wander out of the apartment, out of their backyard, and just sit on the steps. But we never saw them! Well, we saw the white one sleep on a chair inside their yard once, but that was it. Anyway, today we finally saw them, and even though my cousin's cats are cuter, these are cute too!! Aww. Once again, I wish I weren't allergic to cats.

Beer
Today's beer was another Trappiste one (abbey-made), Chimay. It was a brown ale - bitter, but with a slightly different taste than regular American beer. Not as bad, but definitely not on the favorites list. It's not as bitter when you're drinking it while eating food, but on it's own, it's pretty bitter.

Today, I woke up early to go to Leuven to register and enroll in classes and get my student id and maybe register my alien ass at the City Hall. Well, that was the plan. It started off well enough - got to the international office, got my document stamped, and headed over to the registrar's office to get registered. Did a whole mess of pre-registration, and I shoulda known something was up when I couldn't find my program in English in the list that they offered. But a student worker was kind enough to translate my program into Dutch, so I chose that one and thought nothing of it.

Then I wait in line for like an hour because there are tons of other students registering and waiting for a personnel to do their magic (slowly). It's finally my turn, and the lady at the desk spends some time clicking away at her computer. 5 minutes later (it felt like longer), she turns to me and says, "I can't seem to find your program in our list. I have to call the faculty of medicine." Uh, ok. Didn't really think much of it because I mean, I have the acceptance letter right in front of me, what could go wrong, right?

Many things, apparently, many things you never even consider. She can't reach the program director, so she tells me to go find him and figure out what's going on with my program. A hassle, but do-able. So we head over to the Medical side of campus and wander around for a bit trying to find the prof's office (it was like a maze! the hospital is huge, different sections, different floors). He's not in, so we head out for lunch at a Chinese restaurant. Decent food, a tad bit too salty, but I think people here like their foods salty. Dwaddle around for about an hour and head back.

This time we meet the prof, and the most ludicrous thing I've ever experienced follows. Long story short, the Masters in Human Sexuality program started last year with the professors teaching on a voluntary basis. There were two students who enrolled, and they spent half the time in class with volunteer profs (who teach in their free time, of which there isn't much) and the other half self-studying, basically (reading the literature and meeting with profs, irregularly, to discuss). So, you could probably figure that they had quite a long list of complaints, which they tried to tell the vice-dean, the dean, etc. in hopes that this program could get some sort of funding.

Nope. Basically it didn't happen, so they canceled the program. Recently.

Right. Um, bye-bye program? The ridiculous part is that we weren't informed! I mean, fine, cancel the program, but at least let the ones who got in know that the program's not happening before they get on the plane and fly half way around the world, and before they sign a lease for a damn apartment for the next year. But apparently, the international office (who would've been the one to inform us of such a thing) didn't get any notice of this cancellation. They didn't even know the program wasn't happening until I went to them and complained. The lady I spoke to was like, "What?! That can't be!"

Well, it be. So, now I have to wait till tomorrow when we have an appointment with the head of the int'l office to see what my options are. Get on the plane and go back to Taiwan? Get reimbursed for all this money I spent to come here and the apartment I will have to back out of the contract? Get transferred to another program? Guess I'll find out tomorrow.

Bad things come in threes, and I guess this is the third thing. First is the transferring of my parents. Second is my grandfather's passing right when we're on our way here. And now third is the program being canceled.

I feel like 我跟Belgium沒緣 (not meant to be).

It's ironic, isn't it? I fly all the way here just to find out that there's no more program. It's kinda funny, too, in a sick, sick way. But hey, what can I do except to focus on the funny-side of things and wait till tomorrow to see what'll happen?


*Sigh* Funny story, no? EPIC fail.

Two in one! Because I'm too lazy to do two separate entries one after the other. And also a little update on day three here in Brussels.

Life
I think I've gotten more exercise (via walking) these past couple of days than in the past month in Taipei. Considering how the only real exercise I got was walking around Taipei City with friends and clubbing, I guess it's not that hard. Laziness is bad! Heh. Anyway, it's also easy to walk around here because there's so many trails and forests and little towns you can walk to and around. It's a good thing since the plan is to lose some weight (although food-wise ain't helping much - too much good food!) before school starts.

So today we went to a park where the Africa Museum is. It used to be the royal palace, so the grounds surrounding it is fantastic. There's a forest, lots of greenery, lots of lakes, lots of water fowls (ducks, geese, etc.), and lots of people fishing and walking their doggies (so cute!!!).

Pictures

Green.
More Green.
Geese and baby geese!
I still can't get over how late the sun sets here. It's 9:19 right now and it's not completely dark yet. I feel like it should only be 7 p.m. My mom says that earlier in the summer, the sun didn't begin to set till 9, so it was still light out during that time. It's crazy! Definitely will take some getting used to, although I don't think I'll be staying here much during the summers (unless school work is insane or something like that).


Beer


Actually had this beer, Orval, last night after dinner. Mmm yah, alcoholic much? Hah! But anyway, it was bitter, like WAY bitter. Bitter-er than the American beers, but equally untasty. Don't think I'll be having this one any time soon again. Oh right, it's actually an ale, not beer (not sure what the difference is), and it's actually made in an abbey. Yup, an abbey named Orval (heh). And apparently there's an abbey around where we live that makes their own beer too. Interesting!

\


Had another beer tonight with our dinner but I'm too lazy to upload the pictures. I'll just talk about it for now, so I don't forget what it tastes like. It's called Hoegaarden (*snickers*), and it's a "white" beer. Not bitter at all (always a plus!), and has a different taste to it that you don't get with regular beers. When I first drank it, I was thinking it tasted of some kind of spice, but I got laughed at by my sister and dad. However! My dad has a beer book of all the beers here in Belgium, and when I read about this specific beer, they did add spices when brewing the beer. I was right!! Anyway, totally recommend this beer to those who dislike bitter beer as much as I do. Wouldn't mind drinking this one again.

Aside from being known for it's chocolates and waffles, Belgium's also known for it's beer! I also dislike beer, well, the kinds that you can get at 7-11 in Taiwan (Heineken, Corona, etc.). But, I have to at least try the numerous beers they produce in Belgium while I'm here, right? So it's going to be a beer a day. We went to the supermarket this morning and bought ourselves a whole selection.


No drinking from the bunch today, but we did go to a restaurant for lunch where we had some, and it was yum (beer for lunch! *gasp*!). Name's Rodenbach (I haven't heard of any of the beers here, man. But then again, I wasn't really that into beer before, I guess.) It didn't taste like regular American beer - it was kind of sour, but with a tad bit of fruity taste to it. It's hard to describe, but it went down well, and I liked it way more than the regular beers. It was also kept on ice (you know, in those ice buckets traditionally reserved for champagne or white wine, but in this case it was for beers!), so it tasted just as good an hour later.


Will be keeping a record of the beers we've tried and try to figure out which ones are my favorites. I wonder if I'll become beer-spoiled and end up not being able to drink any of the beers in Taiwan after I leave. :P Well, not like I can really drink them now anyway. ^^

The streets of Brussels, well, the area we're currently staying in, looks like it's right out of a BBC tv series. Quaint buildings with small cars parked in front of them and small little streets. It feels like I've stepped into a scene from one of those TV shows, and it's going to take me some time to get used to it. So not used to this slow-paced, quiet lifestyle. Used to the hustle and bustle of city life. Who knows, maybe Leuven will be different, but for now, especially during days-off (they had no work today, so except for some restaurants, everything else was closed! and there weren't that many people around!), it'll take some getting used to - the emptiness and quietness. And the greenness! IT'S SO GREEN!!! (My incredulousness shows how long I've been living in the city - too long)

Our apartment complex - it's nice, quiet, and spacious.

Dog peeing area! but there was no designated poo area, so there were quite a few (read: a whole crap load) of gold mines along the pathways.

The architecture here is so different from Taipei and L.A. It's so ... not cohesive. I mean, you'll have a modern building across from an old-school-styled building. And all the houses or apartment buildings are different colors. It gives it a different feel, like everyone is unique in their own way. It's so interesting!

Generally what the streets here look like.

More pictures at Flickr.

First day here and I've eaten Chinese food for both lunch and dinner. It's nice how ubiquitous Chinese food is. However, the prices aren't so nice. Everything here's so expensive! I still can't get over how a DS Lite at the Frankfurt airport costs around 9000nt while the one that we got in Taipei was only 4000-some nt. Such a big difference, it's kinda scary.

Also. First day here and I've drunken alkie on a relatively empty stomach. Ha! I am not an alcoholic. We just had a dinner gathering where red wine was involved. Although, the red wine was indeed quite yum. And the food yum too. Too bad I was jetlagged, and the alkie only made me sleepier. *sigh*

I think I've wasted enough time. 11 pm should be a decent time to go sleep. Hopefully I don't wake up at like 8 am or something.

I made it! Safe and sound I have arrived in this very green city. It's so green! I haven't seen this much green since .... well, since I visited my parents in Ottawa. It's crazy green here! Haha, ok, I'm done. I'll take pictures when we go out for a walk, but for now, let's just say it's VERY green.

So it hasn't really hit me yet that I'm not going back to Taiwan for a year. Wait, I take that back. It's been hitting me. I can't believe I'ma be here by myself! Sigh. It's always funny how life ends up being ... or working out. But eh, I'm over it (for now).

But yah, the first thing we hear after we landed was bad news. :( Terrible way to start things here, but it wasn't that surprising, I guess. Me grandpa passed away *tear*, so the 'rents are going back to Taiwan next week leaving my sister and I here. What shall we be doing? Guess we'll see. It's still so sad to hear and to think that we won't be able to attend his funeral.

Meh, the flight was ok. It went faster than I thought it would since I managed to sleep during most of the flight to Frankfurt. I think it helped that it was midnight when we left, so our bodies were tired enough to fall asleep. The transfer went pretty well too, since we got there on time and didn't have to rush. We actually got there early enough that our flight wasn't on the departure list yet, so we didn't know which gate to go to for check-in. The flight itself to Brussels was short, but super noisy. There was a baby who non-stopped cried the entire way. Nearly made me wanna smack my head into the seat in front of me. Thank goodness the flight was short.

Anyway, lotsa mixed feelings right now. Sigh. But I think I just need to get used to it here and truly realize that I'm going to be on my own again, soon enough. Life, oh life.

Come visit me!!!!!

So I just had possibly the most awkward clubbing experience ever. Ever. I don't want to relive it by typing everything down, but just as a reminder to myself in the future if I ever go clubbing again:

1) Don't go sober, especially when on the MRT because that's when you really notice people are staring at you. Also, don't go sober because everything is more annoying - the jostling, stepping on you, inability to make conversation - aih.

2) Go with sister and friends; don't go with sister's awkward friend or meet some random person there. Right.

3) If going to Luxy, go on Thursday night. Any other night, less alcohol, more people.

4) Should really try out some other venue (besides Room 18 and Luxy); maybe like Primo (still haven't gotten around to it yet) or Plush (which we always say we should go to but never do).

5) TRUST your instincts. If the night starts out weird, awkward, not fun, then take it as a sign. Cancel plans, immediately.

Reminders, reminders. And if I EVER want to meet up with a random guy I met at a club the week before, tell me NO. Remind me of this night. I must remember this awkwardness. Must learn from my mistake!!!!

Although, I did get a hug at the end, so it was all good. :P Yes, I am a flower idiot, and yes, he is way cute.

The End.

Blah, was too tired last night to upload any pictures. It's only day three and I've already missed one. Hah! I am so lazy. So bad!!! But alas, I shall make up for it with two pictures today! Pictures were actually taken two days ago, but because I packed away my cable to upload pics to the comp, they will have to do. :)

Nike. Sleeping. Cute!

Statue at my aunt's house. He's rising out of the wood!

Favorite past time of my family - mahjong. Today was no exception, and I was pretty bored, so ..... I took pics. :) Here's one.

So ever since I got my new camera, I've been carrying it around with me and taking pictures of whatever I think is ... cool. Mostly it's been of my aunt's dog, Nike, but also some street/random pictures of scenes that I come across. Anyway, so I've decided to try and do a picture a day (which means one entry a day! woo!). We'll start with today (click for larger, but way blurrier picture):



We were at Ximenting, waiting for The Dark Knight to start (yes, I finally watched it! And the Joker totally freaked me out!), and we saw this guy performing with fire. It was interesting, and he was good. I wish I got his name, but eh, I got a ton of pictures, most of which didn't turn out well because he moves a lot, and it's hard to capture movement well (at least for me). And that is why, his face is a blur. Sigh. Fail! Also because most of the time his back was to us, so I couldn't really get a good picture. However, I did get a picture WITH him, and that picture is on facebook. :)

Here's a video -

I feel like whenever something happens to my friends, good or bad, it makes me start introspecting. I think it's because I take things with me for a little while (until I forget it ... =.=). I wonder to myself, what could I have said to make the person feel better (if it was bad news), or am I being a good enough friend?

I kinda lost one friend once upon a time because I wasn't really there for her when she needed me, mainly because I didn't think she needed me (stupid). Now I'm scared of making the same mistake, and I keep thinking about the conversations I just had with friends, especially when it wasn't a happy conversation.

(For my friends and family, I suck at consoling and here's an apology in advance. Especially when it comes to my family and friends, I lose my head easily. I panic, I don't know what to do, what to say. I just want the pain and sadness to go away for you guys, but I don't know how to go about it. Just sitting there and saying "uh huh" seems so heartless. But then, offering advice seems pointless and could be potentially damaging. So I do my best, in whatever way I know best. Anyway, just a heads up?)

And that leads me to think about other things in life. And it doesn't help when you just had a conversation with your dad about your future (or lack of one). Why is it so hard for me to have a dream? Or to figure out what you want to do? It seems so easy for everyone else - get married, have kids, be a doctor, a designer, a lawyer. Why can't I find an occupation that suits me?

Or it's more like I kinda know what I want to do, but I don't know how to go about achieving it because my past few years of education hasn't been in that direction. And I don't feel like I'm good enough to do it.

I feel like I know how to do a lot of basic things, but I'm not good at any one specific thing; good enough to make a living off of it.

I want to draw, but I can't draw realistic things. I'm limited in what I can actually produce.

I want to do graphic design, but I don't know jack about it.

I want to learn to tattoo, but where can I actually learn the skills required? And would I be good at it? (And I don't think my parents would actually let me do it.)

I want to be a photographer! But the pictures I take are just 普通 (normal), nothing special.

Ugh. So now what? Sigh.

我想式式看用中文來寫篇文章。不知道要花多少時間才寫得完一段。哎。。。中文打得有夠慢！

在台灣的時間只剩不到一個禮拜了 時間過的還真快啊 兩個月前還在工作呢 那時還不知道我的人生要往哪一個方向走 well, 現在也還是不知道啦 不過至少有個one step forward的感覺。。。

forward到哪。。。這還是不太確定啦！

Damn, that took like 15 minutes to type. Can't get my thoughts out fast enough. I think if I ever want to write in Chinese, I'm going to have to jot all my ideas down first in English, so I don't forget anything.

So, I've been thinking (hah!). Every time I'm about to leave a place to move to another place, there's the feeling of excitement and anticipation. Inevitably, though, when I first arrive at the new place, there's a sense of dislike, discomfort because I'm no longer in familiar surroundings with friends or family around. It takes me months, years to adjust and get back to the comfortableness that makes me like a place. (The only place I can adjust to in days is Taiwan because I've always got my family here even if I don't have friends.) I think that's the most important part of me getting comfortable in a country - making friends. Not acquaintances or people you say hi to every so often, but real friends.

I feel like it used to be easier to make friends. Back when there was less inhibition, less thought of a need to please. I'm not sure if that's what it was, but it's just gotten a lot harder for me to meet new people. I personally dislike socializing because I don't know what to talk about, what to say, I'm afraid what they'll think of me, am I being annoying? Should I ask this question? Is it too personal? Yah, this is what goes on in my mind. And it's frustrating because then I just clam up and don't want to say anything. Why take the risk? But that's not the way to make friends. I know it. But, I can't turn these self-doubts off, and that gets in the way of friend-making. And affects my ability to adjust.

Why do I do this to myself? I could just stay in one place and not move around. But then I get this itch, this thought that it could be better elsewhere if I just gave it a try. The grass is always greener on the other side, huh?

I need to learn to settle down in one place. I can't keep moving around. I think I'm just too afraid of committing. I believe I have commitment issues. I seriously need to stop thinking that things will be better in other places because although going to new places is always a good experience, I don't think I can afford to keep moving around ... I have too much junk.

用中文來做個ending吧。又要當學生了 有點害怕可是又有點興奮！希望這次出國能讓我知道我以後要做什麼。不能在這樣沒方向的亂走了。不能在碰碰撞撞的過我的人生了。

i went to luxy and met this beat box dfoode

AND I REALLI NEED TO PEE.

the end.



.... And the next day after I've sobered up ....

So yes, we went clubbing last night (last time! I swear!) and boy was it empty. I guess no one wants to go clubbing on a Thursday, which is weird because back in the States Thursdays were the party nights. Anyway, it was good for us, even though a tad awkward in the beginning. But after you loosen up a bit with some alcohol in your system, the floor is yours! You can totally dance and not worry about whacking into people, except your own friends of course. :P So fun! And also, because there's so little people on Thursday night, I guess they try to get more people to go by offering 6 free drinks. SIX. That's the most I've ever seen. Dang, if I'd known this earlier, I'd totally go more often on a Thursday (provided I'm not working). Next summer, HEH HEH HEH.

Anyway, so although it was empty, it was kinda eventful too. After dancing for a few minutues (like 20), these two chicks approached Felicia and told her they were PRs for Luxy and wanted to offer us free drinks. So we went to the bar with them and realized it was a scam (kinda)! It was this guy who wanted to buy us drinks, but I think he just really wanted to hit on Jenny. But Jenny was kinda already unsteady on her feet (low alkie tolerance), so somehow we managed to get away. Phew! But that was kinda sketchy. After we got away, we noticed that the two girls had brought another girl over. Ehhhh. Weird.

So then we danced danced danced some more and the Luxy girls came on to dance and tried to get us to go up, but we declined. Then these Asian rappers from NY (or one of them was, forgot where the other two are from) started rapping. 'Twas interesting.

Then there was a surprise visit by the cops. It was interesting when the lights went up. You could see the peoples! And some guys were chatting it up with the cops. Haha. It's always fun to have a surprise visit by the cops, especially on a Thursday night when no one's ... really ... there ........ But yah, because of the visit, we got free beers from the bartender. Yay nice bartender.

Then we danced some more and realized it was getting late so then we left and went to Seven to get some fluids and instant noodle for Felicia. We were sitting outside Seven eating when one of the guys who was hanging outside started talking to us. He purported to be a promoter for Luxy, but we were kinda skeptical after the little wooha that happened inside. Although, as an after thought, it could be true because he seemed to know a lot of people in that area and was telling us about upcoming events (MIMS anybody? He'll be at Luxy on the 23rd I think. This is why I'm hot. I'm hot coz I'm fly, you ain't coz you're not!)

Anyway, then this guy comes along, and Mr. Luxy Promoter (I don't think we got his name) introduced him as one of Taiwan's best beatboxers. He did a little demo, and he was pretty good, I think. Ah, the memory's all muddled. I just remember thinking it was good. Mr. Luxy Promoter and friends left, leaving the poor guy to eat his sushi(?) alone. And I was like, hmmm, I wanna take a picture with him (coz he cute yo!). And we did, after my sister's like, 先生! 可以跟你照相嗎? (叫的還真老啊) So yes, there are pictures. But not on my camera as I did not bring it, so Felicia, don't forget to upload them!

So after picture taking (in which I look totally drunk and round and UGH - not good), us gaggle of girls (heh) just chatted with him. Turns out he's our age, had a girlfriend who was 32 (how did we get on that topic? Well, when h3e was trying to figure out our ages, we were like, ehhhh, we're kinda old, and he said we couldn't be older than his ex who was 32 .... and we were like, you'd be totally right!) ... I feel like we gleaned more information from him, but now I can't remember. And then I got his msn! hah, I wish I were as daring and bold when sober ... SIGH.

BUT. While I was getting his msn, these two (three?) foreigners who we'd saw at the club approached us and tried to hit on my sister. My sister went into Seven to throw away trash and one of them (the German) went in and wouldn't let her come back out! He was standing super close to her, too. Thankfully Felicia saw and was like, YOUR SISTER! and rushed in and saved the day. Phew, thanks Felish! But those two guys were weird. They thought we were trying to get guys because we went clubbing, even though we seriously just went to the club to dance. Why is that so hard to believe? Eh, sketchtastic man. Sketch.

So then we basically got outta there. The nice beatboxer doode (name's Lada) offered to give us a ride home, but we were like, eh, we live in different places far away. So nice though! Then I came home and passed out and woke up hungover like no other. I am never mixing alcohols again. Just sticking to hard liquor or beer, but not both. It's a bad idea ... I didn't even drink that much but I felt like serious POOPOO today. Sigh.

Anyway, the question now is, should I add Mr. Beatboxer doode to MSN? Now that I'm sober, it would just seem kinda weird to add him. I mean, what would I say? Or should I just add and not message him?

Watcha guys think?!

While typing the title, I nearly typed new thongs ... =.= But ick, I don't wear thongs. They're like permanent wedgies. How does that even feel remotely comfortable?

Moving on. So departure time is fast approaching. Have to buy all the things I think I need or don't need, but want in these next few days, and also eat tons and tons of food. I can't believe it's nearly time to leave! Ahhh!

So what've I bought?

- Skirts, plenty of skirts. This is mainly for Taiwan, though, because it's just so hot here I can no longer stand to wear pants.

- Jeans - for Belgium because my mom says it's not that hot there, so less chances to wear skirts.

- Shoes. Besides the pumps and sandals I bought last time, I also got a Converse (thanks Picker!) and these cute heels that are really cute. I love shoes!

- Digicam - I really wanted a DSLR, but realized there's really no point in me getting it now because 1) I can't bear to drop that kind of money, 2) it'd be another thing I have to worry about getting stolen while in Belgium, and 3) not sure if I'll actually get the chance to use it much. So I went to the Electronics exhibition and bought myself a Fujifilm FinePix F100fd. It's pretty. And it's nice. It's also one of the better ones, according to the reviews my cousin read. So, I'm prepared to take tons of pics while in Belgium and maybe Europe in general if I get to travel around.


- New battery for the MBP because this one is dead. It lasts maybe 5 minutes.

Can you tell I've spent a lot of money? Yup, I certainly can.

Last thing: Plug! Check it out!

Last last thing: I've started drawing again. On sticker. I'm thinking of going around and sticking them in random places and taking pictures. So we'll see how that goes. Going to have to do it at night, though. Hah!