Is finally going to travel...

Hey all,
So I've been here for 6 months or so. It really feels longer than that. Hm, weird. Anyways, when I first got here the timing was pretty perfect. I had about a month of work and then my first vacation hit (we went to Bali, Indonesia). Since then, I haven't traveled anywhere! Not even around Taiwan itself and and it's not that big. It's maybe half the size of California...maybe! Sad, I know. But my work hours are intense and long! That mixed with my Chinese classes I just haven't had enough to time to get away from the city much -- okay, at all.

But now, I'm getting away for a short trip down to the middle part of the island to Taizhong. It should be fun. Maybe (hopefully) this will jump start my "Taiwan traveling engine".

So, I've kind of exhausted my books...any recommendations???

Classics...

An interesting phenomenon has occurred. Since I've been in Taiwan my appetite for reading has increased. Ever since I graduated from college I've developed a ravenous hunger for literature spanning many genres. But here, that hunger has burgeoned! I think it stems from the amount of hours I work in relation to the amount of free time I have...of the latter, I have very little. Given that, it's easy to just dip into a book when you have a few down minutes during lunch or trying to sleep.

I've always wanted to read some of literary classics and here I found the opportunity. I decided to start with Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas. Wow! What a great book. I wasn't even done and Dumas was catapulted to the top of my Favorite Authors list. After I finished Count I wanted -- nay, craved -- to read some of his other works, most notably The Three Musketeers. Ah-mazing! I've never read an author that such wonderful prose and action to truly capture the reader into the pages of the story. After reading Musketeers I determined that this book in it's entirety would make an EXCELLENT MOVIE!!! Something to think about...

a Nativity Story

Here in Taipei there isn't much Christmas spirit. Yes, Starbucks has the red holiday cups that are world-wide, and shopping malls here are decked out with decorations. But that's not the spirit of Christmas. I'd say it's more the commercial side of this time of year. Amid all that though, my church put on a Christmas Nativity Pageant. It only runs for one weekend -- this weekend.

The pageant has been put on for almost 7 years now and it's growing strong. When I first heard that we were doing the pageant, my thought was "Really? Who's going to come see that??" Well, tonight was our first two performances and each one was a packed house! Even more impressive since it's all outside at a park in the chilly air and blowing wind!

The Pageant is complete with Christmas carols tied into the narrated story and acted Nativity Story. I thought this would be great fun to sing in the choir...unfortunately that wasn't the case. Somehow the powers-that-be at church found out that I got my degree in Theatre and promptly put me in charge of directing the pageant! Short of a few hitches here and there, oh, and the fact that my Tech Crew doesn't speak English, we all pulled off a great show! Now, one more day...

Jay Chou

Before my computer died on me I left off saying that I was on my way to a concert here in Taipei. I went and it was awesome! The artist was Jay Chou (his English name). This guy was amazing! He's basically pop because that what sells over here, but the guy is incredibly talented. He can play almost any instrument. He was classically trained on the piano and incorporates a lot of that in to his music.

On top of that he acts and directs. He recently directed and starred in a movie called "Secret". Great. Great story, great music, great characters, and there's a twist I didn't see coming and it blew me away! I'm really impressed by this guy.

Only one mark against him. He's horrible to listen to if trying to hear the words...he's a mumbler. Like, the worst mumbler I've ever heard! Still, good show.

Where have you been?!?!

So many Sundays ago I was getting ready for church. I woke up, put on some music via my computer, and left the room to shower. After a short time I came back. Everything was the same as it was before. Except one thing's different. My computer is no longer playing music. Specifically, it's playing music but stopping every three seconds and "thinking" good and hard for another 10 seconds. Oh, and now there's a grinding sound coming from "under the hood".

Long story short, in the length of time it took to shower, my hard-drive died. Totally bit it. So sad. Even more sad...I hadn't backed up some of my latest important works and everything on the old hard-drive...lost. Music, pictures, files, you name it, it's gone.

It took two weeks -- maybe a little longer, I stopped counting -- to get it fixed. Now it's back and I'm obviously here blogging again. There is a blessing to all this. Prior to this moment, my computer was on 24-7, I was constantly connected, checking e-mail, news, music, people all....the....time. Not having a computer for two weeks has been a good opportunity to realize that it's good to disconnect at the end of the day. Just shut things down, read a book, journal, do whatever. That's it for now.

Talk to you all later.