Hell-O'-Ween

Thank you, Shellee, for your suggestion. I think if I were to be Nuage, I'd have to rent out a very fury costume, which may make me look more like Chewbacca, which won't be good because I don't want to look like him.

In fact, Bill considered being Chewbacca for Halloween, but he quickly got that thought out of his head because, at the end of October, it is still high of 31 degrees Celsius and low of 24 in Taiwan. This short and sudden surge of high temperature after the Moon Festival is locally known as the "Autumn Tiger". By the beginning of November, the temperature will drop significantly, and we'll officially enter the cold and damp winter season.

This "Autumn Tiger" weather is why, while Bill was petting the Chewbacca costume lovingly at the costume shop last night, we came to the conclusion that it wouldn't be much fun if he passed out from dehydration on Halloween night.

It has been particularly difficult for us to decide on a costume this Halloween because we're trying to dress up in "couple" costumes. Our original idea was Chucky and Bride of Chucky (see, she's got green eyes). Unfortunately, Bill couldn't find a wig that would work nor did we see any overalls. After browsing in 5 different costume shops, I couldn't find a white dress that didn't make me look like a Ballerina or a dirty anime character.

In the end, we had to abandon the Chucky idea, and these are some of the ideas we had:

Barney & Betty from the Flintstones.
The Sultan & His Lady
Hit 'n Missed (the knife thrower & his unfortunate victim)
E-male & Attachment
Jack & Sally from Nightmare Before Christmas

Problem was... none of these excited us.

We reserved 2 costumes before the shop closed last night, but we weren't all giggly on the way home. This Halloween hasn't been the same because a lot of the people we did Halloween with before are no longer in Taiwan. Bill hasn't admitted it, but it has been especially hard on Bill because Ben's in China at the moment and won't return until Saturday.

After the costume shop, we ran into Lindsay (the girl pirate in a red-and-white-striped shirt with Waldo, aka Matt, in the 2007 pictures) at City Super. While catching up, she told us that she also felt the same way because most of her friends are gone as well. Then the three of us looked at each other and our eyes and mouths opened up. We quickly exchanged information on the Halloween parties around town and promised to run into each other.

This morning Bill asked, "Do you think our costumes are lame?"
Still waking up, I muttered, "It's all in the attitude, baby. We'll make it work."

I feel better already.

A Little Side note:

I went to the convenience store at the entrance of the lane way to our apartment this afternoon to pay the phone bill. While I was getting money out, the girl behind the counter suddenly shouted, "Halloween's tomorrow..." We both froze in the moment for a bit because of the sheer volume of her voice (I was startled by it and I think she just didn't think it'd come out like that). Embarrassed, she stared at her shoes and mumbled, "I was just wondering what you are going to be this year 'cause you know... when you and your boyfriend came out on Halloween, it was always fun and everyone stared at you and you looked very scary... remember when you were a princess and your throat was slit... "

"When you and your boyfriend came out on Halloween..." She really made us sound like some kind of ghouls or monsters, didn't she?!

"We're probably not going to be very scary this year..." I suddenly felt bad for disappointing her. On the way to work, I kept thinking about the question Bill asked this morning. The costumes we got last night were lame, but I couldn't think of other ways we could've done differently.

Bill called at 4pm. He was on his way to the costume shop. "I'm going to try to find us some other things for our costumes. If I could find them, we'll cancel the reservation and get the deposit back."

I got all excited again.

You'll have to wait for the pics to see what we decide to be this year. Whatever we are, we're gonna be (sing it) A.W.E.S.O.M.E. ~~~~

HELP~~~

We went to look for a costume last night, and we couldn't find any!! I'm starting to freak out here. Which scary character has green eyes (other than the Hulk)?!?!

Gittyup

We're going to get our Halloween costumes after work this evening. I've been excited and giggly ever since I got my green contact lenses. There are numerous parties around town on Friday, and I'm sure we'll have tons of fun as we did in previous years.

Here are some of the pictures from previous years.

2004 Pre-Bill period

My former colleague, Christienne, held a party at her apartment. That was the first party I went to with my co-workers. "Halloween at Christienne's" is known as the Halloween party in the office mainly because it was the only one that got us all together in costumes.
I was Betty Boop... Well, I tried, but my head just wasn't big enough.


















2005 Apparently Bill and I didn't spend Halloween together, and neither of us dressed up that year.

2006
The Mad Doc and Marie Antoinette









2007
Geisha & Elvis
























It's gonna be awesome~~ this year too.

Early Bird

My appointment was around 8 this morning. The lights in the hospital lobby were still dim, and the administrative staff was just settling in their work stations when I arrived at 8:09. On the 5th floor, however, all the light were on and 4 nurses were already weaving in and out of curtained rooms transporting charts in the Center for Reproductive Medicine and Infertility. Dr. Motormouth has "special clinic hours" for the busy commuters/office workers from 7:30 to 9:00 every Monday morning. They were expecting 6 patients this morning. I was #2.

From the outside, the Center for Reproductive Medicine and Infertility looks almost like a spa. It's got yellow lighting soft as the color of baby chicks, wood floors and boards on the walls are all in smooth, curvy shapes, and the Latte-colored curtains are soft to the touch. It's got cushy chairs and sofas all around for the patients and husbands. On the magazine rack among the usual Vogue and Baby & Mommy mags, there are other reading materials on automobile and financial management to keep the prospective dads entertained while their wives are in the examine room. I can't remember if it's got instrumental music playing in the background. I wouldn't be surprised if it did. If it did, it must be very effective because I didn't even notice it.

All it needed was scented candles and potpourri.

Everything looks good and is in working condition. My next appointment is at the end of the month, and we'll kick start the insulin treatment then. If everything goes well, I'll be on birth control pills in December to completely shut down my ovary. Then injection starts in January. Egg retrieval and implantation in February.

In the meantime, I continue eating lots of fiber and keep exercising.

Nuage the Terror

We threw out Nuenue's scratch post about a month ago because it was all moldy on the bottom. That scratch post was one of the things I brought home with the then 3-month-old Nuage almost 3 years ago. It was the second thing Nuage loved the most. It was more than a scratch post: it was Nuenue's safe spot whenever he got spooked.


We threw out the scratch post while Nuenue was staying at my mom's, hoping that he wouldn't notice that it was gone. Well, he did. He was so upset that he took it out on Bill's computer chair (Whenever Nuage gets upset, he always chooses Bill's stuff to wreck). At first, Nuage did it only occasionally and for a short while each time. In other words, though he wasn't content with the substitute, he coped. As time went on, however, Nuage learned that playing nice kitty wouldn't get him anywhere and decided to take more drastic action. He'd even time it so both of us could see him in action.

One calm evening last week while Bill and I were watching a show, Nuage went to work on the computer chair. He dug his claws so deep into the fabric that it popped as he pulled out his claws. It also made the back of the computer chair sound like a sheet of plastic wrap. What made it even creepier was the fact that Nuenue's head was turned to the side facing us as he demonstrated what he was capable of. What we knew as the fluff ball who loved nothing more than taking his morning nap in one of the cubicles on the bookshelf suddenly turned into Nuage-the-Terror. He was looking at us with this psycho maniac shine in his eyes while the computer chair groaned in pain. When it was over (and Bill rushed over to examine the damage on the chair), Nuage glided across the living room with the grace and lightness only cats possess and went to the kitchen to munch on some of his kitty cookies as if nothing had happened.

We got the message. The search of a scratch post was on.

It wasn't easy finding a perfect scratch post. First it has to be stable so it doesn't tip over and knock the kitty out cold. Next, it has to be in a size reasonable for apartment living. None of those monstrosities that look like fuzzy refrigerators with big holes. Ideally, it'd have a pad on top so Nuage could pretend he's looking down at his kingdom. Finally, and this is more for the human than the kitty, is that it has to be in the right colors. Oh~~ trust me. In Asia, the colors (and combination) used on products can be very... um... "creative". The only guideline seems to be "as long as it's cute", especially when it comes to products for pets -- a word many people mistaken as a synonym for kids. Bill and I went to 5 different pet stores, picked up and put down countless scratch posts, but we came home empty-handed. Nuage-the-Terror continued expressing his discontent with increased frequency and aggression. More threads were coming out of the back of the computer chair.

We found the perfect one last night -- one that looks like the top of a tree with a hammock, which is made to look like a giant leaf, on the side. However, it is currently out of stock, so we have to wait until the end of the month to get it. We didn't want to disappoint him again, so we got Nuage a temporary replacement. Though it doesn't have a pad on the top like his own one, it's got a fuzzy ball that provides hours of entertainment. He had a great time with it last night.

I know Nuenue doesn't look very excited here, but it's because I made him stand beside it just seconds after he had woken up from his morning nap.


Nuage is his happy fluffy self again... for now.








P.S. Bill just told me that the Martins are doing a "Fruit Loop". I wish we could be there. I love fruit, and Bill needs more fruit. In fact, Bill crowned me Queen of the Fruits just last night. Wait-a-second... that doesn't sound much like a compliment at all.

Apartment Hunting

Yup! We're looking for a new place to live AGAIN.

This is what we're looking for:
1. it must have a balcony (def: a balcony is a place where we can at least put a chair/table out),
2. there must be at least 2 rooms,
3. it's no higher than the 4th floor if no elevator,
4. it has to be on the red/green MRT line because our jobs are both on that line,
5. it has to have the view of either the mountains or the water, and
6. it has to have a decent-sized kitchen.

At first, it seemed almost impossible to find a place that fits all these criteria, but it was actually easier than I'd anticipated. We searched on the Internet for apartments in suburbs on the north and south ends of the city, and in a couple of hours we were able to put together a list of 6 places. One in the north in Hongshulin, one station before Danshui, and all the other ones were in the south in Xindian.

We timed the commute as well. To get to where we work (in Gongguang and Guting), it takes around 40 minutes from the north and 30 minutes from the south on the MRT. It's really not that bad. When I worked in Vancouver, I had to spend half an hour on the bus. Bill used to drive 40 minutes to work in Seattle. If we live outside of the city, we can always read, listen to music, or play Nintendo during the commute.

The apartment in Hongshulin was absolutely AMAZING. It's brand new. It's fully furnished. It has a standing shower and a big bathtub. In the study, there's a big window looking out to the mountains. It's got marble tiles and wood plank floors. It's on the 14th floor, so it's very quiet. It's walking distance from the MRT station. The landlady speaks fluent English and her husband is an actuary from California. In other words, she's not like the typical Taiwanese landlords who often doesn't care about anything else but money.

Bill and I thought about it all day long but we had to make the painful decision because the place is just too small for us.

A couple of the apartments we went to look at in Xindian were also very nice. One of them has a huge window in the kitchen looking out to Bitan (The Green Lake), but the bedroom is a dark Tatami (Japanese straw mat) room the landlord has sectioned off in the corner of the living room.

Bitan suspension bridge

We spent 6 hours going from apartment to apartment yesterday and went home exhausted and defeated. One good thing from all this is that we know there are places out there that have the potential to fit in with what we're looking for.

The search continues...

Journey to a Whole Lot of Flicks – Part 1



It was what everyone was talking about. For the past week or so, the common greeting was replaced with "Have you gotten the tickets yet for the Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival?" Two weeks of movies from all over the world at three major theaters in Taipei. There are only 4,000 ticket packages for sale at US$90. Each package contains 14 vouchers which viewers can exchange for real tickets at designated locations once they've decided which movie they'd like to watch.



Bill and I knew from the beginning that we'd want to watch more than 7 movies, so we asked a colleague of mine to get two packages for us. The idea of watching 14 movies in 2 weeks seems crazy and exciting. We went out with friends Friday night and, as I said earlier, EVERYBODY was talking about what movie they wanted to see and dreading the long wait in line that awaits for us the following day.



Saturday, Oct 11th was the day viewers could exchange vouchers into real tickets. Because of all the hype about the long queue for tickets we heard so much about the night before, Bill and I were ready for what we might have to deal with. Contrary to what our friends told us, we found out online that there were 365 ticket-exchanging locations in the Greater Taipei Area and that we could exchange tickets at FarEastern Mall, which is less than 10 minutes (on the motorcycle) from our house. We were relieved. We decided to go for brunch at Carnegies, select all the movies we wanted to see during brunch, and walk over to the mall to get the tickets.



When we got to the Information Counter at FarEastern Mall, there was a line of... oh... maybe 6 people in front of us. Bill and I happily got in line and took turns making bathroom trips or simply walk around the mall for a bit. 10 minutes passed, we hadn't moved an inch. 20 minutes passed, we hadn't moved an inch. Then we found out that all that waiting was nothing more than a waste of time because we were supposed to go up to the counter and get a number. We got #59, and they were processing #6. The young girls behind the counter asked for my cell phone number and promised to call me when they got to 10 numbers before mine.



Bill had planned to head to the music festival in the mountains in southern Taipei, so he started getting ready as soon as we got home. We thought about rushing out to other ticket-selling locations, but I decided to stay put and wait for the call. What a mistake! I, of all people, should know that the Taiwanese are not known for efficiency and logical thinking skills. What made me believe that the girl at the Information Counter was going to call me, I will never know.



3 hours later, I woke up from a nap and decided to call the Mall and ask them what was going on. The girl on the phone told me that they were processing #43 at the moment and I should get there as soon as I could. I was still kind of spaced out from the nap, I offered my understanding lazily, "I guess it had taken this long because everyone is choosing at least 14 movies, huh?!" The girl replied in an innocent voice, "Agh.... No, not really. There was a long while when none of the number holders came to exchange tickets, so we've opened it to whoever that was on sight at the time. Now a lot of number holders are coming, so I think you should get here a.s.a.p. because you may have to wait in line for a long time."



Her innocent voice became nails on chalkboard and rage rose from the center of my torso. I jumped off the couch, grabbed my bag, and hopped into a cab. When the cab driver asked me which road I'd like him to take, I replied impatiently, "Whichever way that's the fastest." I text-messaged Bill and told him how angry I was. Bill phoned back and suggested that I should talk about this with their manager and see if they'd compensate us in any way. However, we both knew it was nearly impossible because it is not the Taiwanese way to admit their own mistake and take responsibility for it.

I stormed into the Mall, leaving the revolving doors spinning behind me. Déjà vu! There was a line of about 6 or 7 people, just like earlier in the afternoon. "Not as bad as I imagined," I felt myself calming down and snickered at myself for freaking out so quickly. I even considered dropping the whole thing and just wait in line on the way to the counter.



From their name tags, I saw the girl with the innocent voice, so I reported my arrival to her. Without lifting her eyes, she pointed to her left and said, "Please go to the end of the line and wait like everybody else here." Her nonchalant attitude triggered my muscles to tighten and my lips started shaking. "Excuse me?" I tried very hard to be polite, "do all these people all have numbers before mine?" She looked up and said it matter-of-factly, "Everyone has to wait in line now," and went back to what she was doing.

Journey to a Whole Lot of Flicks – Part 2



That was it. My heart started pounding in my chest, and I was ready to bite her head off (figuratively speaking). I decided then that I would not drop it until she gave me a satisfactory answer.



"If that's the case, what puzzles me is why we were asked to get a number and sent away when we were here in line more than 3 hours ago?" I managed to make it sound like a humble question. A woman in line quietly said, "It's all messed up now. They have no idea what they're doing. I'm #45, and these people in front of me are #52," her eyes met mine as if trying to persuade me, "there's no point arguing with them." I directed my attention back to the girl with the annoyingly innocent voice, "Correct me if I’m wrong. Does this mean that the numbers you gave out earlier today are completely meaningless now?" Then she did it. The girl lowered her eyes and stood in silence.

Her reaction just put m in a situation where I was the one who had “crossed the line” in the Taiwanese way of social conduct. By asking her a question that she could not answer (and her job at the Information Counter is to provide answers to customers), I had embarrassed her in public. Her silence was her way of showing shame to the others, and I was, by not doing what everyone else was doing, was the trouble maker. No one likes trouble makers. I learned that in school long time ago.



Since everyone in line had already accepted their fate and got in line before I showed up and because I just publicly embarrassed a poor girl behind the counter by asking a question, no one was going to back me up even though they all had their rights violated. An uncomfortable awkwardness clouded over us like a wet blanket, and everybody was fidgeting around avoiding eye contact with other people. The girl stood there like a statue with her head bowed to her chest. She knew that, if I had pushed the matter any further, I’d be viewed as a cold-blooded bully and nothing I said would matter anymore.

I, too, knew the rules of the game, so I offered a friendly smile to “the victim” and put on the soothing teacher’s voice I use whenever I have to fail a student, “I understand how difficult it must be for you girls to do your jobs while keeping everyone happy. Perhaps you should suggest to your superiors the reevaluation of the number system for next year.” Then I turned away and walked to the end of the line. With that, I put her right back into the ring.

30 seconds later, the girl came to apologize and offer to help solve my problem (she was trying to do her job now). She said she would ask the people in front of me if they’d mind letting me cut in line. In other words, her way of solving the problem is to create more problems. I watched as she carefully selected her targets –the shortest young couple in line. I turned away so she wouldn’t see me laughing. When I turned back around, I was shocked to learn that the short couple had agreed to let me go in front of them because they were #77. I moved from being the 9^th to the 5^th in line. I thanked the girl and everyone who were now behind me. Armed with the initial success, the girl made sure that the four people in front of me were also standing in order.

Almost immediately, the #77 couple regretted their decision. It just now occurred to them that they might have to give up their spot in line for everyone who came with a smaller number. Just when the couple was arguing about what to do, the girl brought over a woman who was fanning herself with a “62”. #77 was visibly displeased now. The girl begged them to let #62 cut in front of them and promised not to bring anyone else over.

People with numbers who arrived later all had to get to the end of the line. They didn’t question, and everyone in line had an agreement never to let anyone cut in front of them again.

22 tickets to 9 different movies at the 2008 Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival.

We kept 4 vouchers just in case if there are any last-minute movies we want to watch.