09:38 p.m. Tuesday, August 28, 2001

Back in the States

I miss Taiwan... I miss all the food, the bubble milk tea, the people, the city, the instand noodles (with beef packets!), the seven elevens... *sigh*

Well, now I'm in Cleveland, OH starting gradschool at Case Western Reserve University as a Biomedical Engineering student. I've finally realized what a beautiful place Princeton is. Really, no other college can compare. I miss that place... and I miss my friends. They're all either on the East Coast or West Coast. *sigh* I'm still trying to get over jet lag-- I just flew into the country 3 days ago. Dang, I miss Taiwan, and I miss Princeton... *sigh* Oh well... I guess it's time to move on... -_-

12:10 a.m. Thursday, August 23, 2001

*vacation* yay! ^^

I just got back this morning from my trip down to Kending (southern tip of Taiwan). I left Taipei on Monday; it took me only one hour to fly from the north of Taiwan to the city of Kaoshong in the south. (And this country has as many people as Canada?!) Bo Nian (my cousin), Jenni (Jenn's friend), Ya Ting (Bo Nian's friend) and I drove from Kaoshong down to Kending and spent the night there. The ocean was awesome! The beaches were kinda small, but the ocean and the mountains were incredible! There was this one lookout point that totally blew my mind-- you could see miles of coastline with crystal blue water and white surf on one side and grassy mountains and valleys on the other. Other memorable moments: I got knocked down by a tidal wave for the first time one night at the beach near our hotel; My cell phone got drenched and stopped working... luckily it works fine now; I got to spend some quality time meditating on a sun baked rock facing the vast expanse of the Pacific Ocean; I had beef noodles on the second day at "Taiwan Beef" mmmmmm....; And, I got to drive the Lexus for 3 hrs on the way back to Kaoshong. ^^

On the night we got back we ate at this really awesome place (thanks Jenni!) and then went KTVing until it was time to go back and sleep. I had to catch the 8:30 train back to taipei the next morning. -_- On the train back, there was this annoying 5 yr old boy in the seat in front of me who kept screaming the entire trip, saying stuff like "I want to pee" and "I want to drink breasts." No kidding. I guess it doesn't sound as bad in Chinese...? Plus, instead of taking the little boy to the bathroom on the train, his mom had him pee into this plastic jug. Can you believe that?! Ewwww..... >.<

Overall, the trip was fun, although very short (only 2 days). Then again, I was tired and was glad to be back in Taipei (which is still the place to be in Taiwan, imo ^^) back in my air conditioned room and my e-mail access. ^^ Oh yeah, and I did buy a lot of snoopy stuff for my new apartment in the US. woohoo! =P

10:03 p.m. Friday, August 17, 2001

Okay, so last night i went to the "guo2 jia1 yun4 yue4 ting1" (aka taiwan national concert hall) to hear a girl named alyssa park play sonatas by leclair, franck and debussy, a dvorak romance and the tchaikovsky waltz-scherzo. i went mainly to hear the franck since i played it for my mus333 class (piano).

Well, the violin was very expressive (definitely a contrast to midori whom i saw earlier this year and whom i still admire nonetheless). the piano was complacently adequate. the franck was very lyrical and beautifully crafted at certain points, but it all fell apart at the end when unforgivable mistakes were made by both violin and piano, whom each seemed to be playing in a concert hall of their own. at one point they were even off by almost an entire beat. i didn't really pay attention to the other pieces, except for the tchaikovsky which alyssa skillfully slipped into the end of the program; thus, most everyone left the concert awed and amazed. thank you, tchaikovsky.

The only other thing to note is how annoying it was that the audience clapped after each movement of every sonata. someone please print a crash course on classical music in those pamphlets! oh, and also the concert hall is way too big. sure, it looks nice with dozens of chandeliers hanging from five stories above, each within their own sound-absorbing alcoves. but stuff like that just shouldn't be in a good concert hall. but hey, what do i know? i'm just a biomedical engineer. ^^

06:07 a.m. Thursday, August 9, 2001

okay, so i'm not a morning person. my sleeping schedule has been majorly warped recently. i'm NOT posting this early in the morning because i "got up early"... ^^ anyways, i was listening to one of my playlists on my computer yesterday, and suddenly i heard a song that i used to listen to all the time junior year but haven't heard much since then, and suddenly i got this really vivid flashback to junior year... i saw my tiny little single in dod, the carpet, my bed, my desk, my bookshelves, the view outside my window, i even got a bit of that warm, cozy feeling that i had in my room all junior year. dang, it was pretty intense! anyway, imagine... all that becauase of a little snippet from a song... *sigh*

in other news, i got my guestbook on my homepage set up. so far i'm the only one who has signed it. ^^ so, if you're reading this, please go to my homepage and sign my guestbook! thanks ^^ okay, time for me to shower...

08:12 a.m. Tuesday, August 7, 2001

well, after several hours at the computer and a ramen noodle break, i've finally put up my new homepage as well as finished up this s.k.e.t.c.h.e.s page. i'm going to try to get an hour or two of sleep before i have to start preparing for my chinese class. i'll write more later when i'm more awake. nite.

12:04 a.m. Tuesday, August 7, 2001

i just tonight discovered this website/service while surfing the internet (instead of studying chinese like i should have been), and decided to give it a shot. we'll see how far this goes. ^^