The bad news is that my boy has been really sick lately. He’s had a cold and a fever. He’s had no energy; for two days I had to carry him around as he wanted to be held and didn’t want to see anyone other than me. With not feeling well, he also wasn’t sleeping well, and one morning he woke up too early. He wanted to go outside, so I walked around outside carrying him for about an hour. The good news out of all this is the view we saw being out that early in the morning. There were the trees, the fog down in the valley, the mountains in the distance, the clouds over the mountains, and rays from the rising sun shooting up from the mountains. It was beautiful.
Sunday, 11 April 2010
Good from the Bad
The bad news is that my boy has been really sick lately. He’s had a cold and a fever. He’s had no energy; for two days I had to carry him around as he wanted to be held and didn’t want to see anyone other than me. With not feeling well, he also wasn’t sleeping well, and one morning he woke up too early. He wanted to go outside, so I walked around outside carrying him for about an hour. The good news out of all this is the view we saw being out that early in the morning. There were the trees, the fog down in the valley, the mountains in the distance, the clouds over the mountains, and rays from the rising sun shooting up from the mountains. It was beautiful.
Knowing the Owner
I like going to shops where I know the owner.
My wife has decided she would prefer me to go riding at night while our boy is sleeping. I usually go very early in the morning, but apparently if I’m not here when my boy wakes up, he keeps looking around for me. So, to make things easier, I’ll probably be doing most of my riding at night from now on.
For that I need another light on my bike, as it can be pretty dark out there. So I go into a bike shop yesterday, a shop where I know the owner and he knows me. I tell him I need a light, he asks me what for, I tell him for riding at night so it needs to be bright. He shows me one that is very bright, has a lot of functions, but is also very expensive. Then he shows me another one, and finally another. After informing him that I already have one light, that I just need to make things a little brighter, he thinks the third one would be good enough. That one was a quarter of the price of the first one he showed me. Most salespeople would probably try to convince shoppers to buy the most expensive one, but he tells me to buy the cheapest one.
That’s what I like.
My wife has decided she would prefer me to go riding at night while our boy is sleeping. I usually go very early in the morning, but apparently if I’m not here when my boy wakes up, he keeps looking around for me. So, to make things easier, I’ll probably be doing most of my riding at night from now on.
For that I need another light on my bike, as it can be pretty dark out there. So I go into a bike shop yesterday, a shop where I know the owner and he knows me. I tell him I need a light, he asks me what for, I tell him for riding at night so it needs to be bright. He shows me one that is very bright, has a lot of functions, but is also very expensive. Then he shows me another one, and finally another. After informing him that I already have one light, that I just need to make things a little brighter, he thinks the third one would be good enough. That one was a quarter of the price of the first one he showed me. Most salespeople would probably try to convince shoppers to buy the most expensive one, but he tells me to buy the cheapest one.
That’s what I like.
Monday, 1 February 2010
What the Fortune Teller Said
Last week, my wife and I went to see a fortune teller. To those that don't know, fortune telling in Chinese culture is not the same as in Western culture. There are no crystal balls or Tarot cards. It's nothing like, "You're going to meet a dark stranger," or "Something bad is going to happen to you in the next week." Instead, they take your birthday and the time you were born, do some calculations, and tell you what kind of person you are, what kind of job you are suitable for, when would be the best time to get married, have children, move house, start a business, change jobs, etc. Is it true? Who really knows, but in my personal experience it is less ambiguous than crystal balls and horoscopes. And it's something that has been done for thousands of years, so they've had lots of time to research this and make refinements.
So, here is what he said:
I think that's all, but there might have been more that I forget. That's enough for now though.
So, here is what he said:
*It is better for me to be living anywhere but in Canada -- at least for the next ten years. I will do better, be happier, and make more money if I am outside my own country. We were contemplating moving to Canada in the next one or two years, but I guess now those plans are on hold.
*It is best if my wife does not work for the next ten years. (Chinese fortune telling goes in ten year cycles, by the way, that is why there are so many "ten years".) So for the next little while, my wife is stuck being a housewife (or "homemaker, which I believe is the proper term right now). She's not happy about that. She wants to be out working.
*We will have two children (we already have one, in case you didn't know) and the best time to have one is next year. My wife is destined to have two boys, so if this is true, my dreams of having a daughter are gone. Oh well, there's nothing wrong with boys.
*We should be living in an apartment. If we live in a house, it should be in a high place. That's good news to my wife; she would like to move, given the chance. For me, an apartment would be nice -- it'd be cozier, I think -- but one thought keeps occurring to me: In an apartment, where do I keep my bicycles?
*I'm going to get fat, but my wife can't let me get that way. Being fat is bad.
*I'm going to live for a very long time.
*Concerning our two children:
--> The older one is going to pick on the older one, but having a younger brother will be very good for the older one.
--> The older one is not going to want to study but will be quite smart and will make a lot of money.
--> The younger one is going to be a bit of a bookworm.
--> The older one is going to talk to his mother more than to me. He will, however, need to be around me a lot. He just won't say much. Anything important or interesting in his life he will tell his mother; when he needs something, he'll come looking for me.
*He did mention what kind of job I should be doing, but I both forget and didn't quite understand the words used. I think he mentioned something about importing and exporting though. And he did say teaching wasn't exactly the best job for me.
I think that's all, but there might have been more that I forget. That's enough for now though.
Monday, 30 November 2009
Listen to the Question!
Why don't people -- especially students -- listen to the questions they are asked?
Where were you yesterday? Today is Monday. Well that's right, but where were you yesterday? I'm wearing blue pants. Very good, but WHERE WERE YOU YESTERDAY?
How many people are there in your family? My family is at the supermarket.
It won't take me long to get more examples like this.
Wednesday, 25 November 2009
Posting Comments
Apparently people have been having problems posting comments on here. (Maybe that is why in all the time this blog has been up, I have not received one single comment.) A setting had been changed somehow. I changed that setting back so everything should be okay now; everyone should be able to post a comment on here. So somebody please say something! Please?
Monday, 17 August 2009
A Morning in Taipei
I had to go all the way to Taipei this morning to renew my passport. All in all, one morning (I was back at home at one in the afternoon) to go to Taipei and back is pretty good. But that doesn't mean I'm happy about that.
It's a long way to go just to renew a passport. I wonder if the people who make these rules (such as one has to submit one's passport renewal application in person) thought about the fact that people have lives and other things they have to do. My main problems with the whole thing are in three areas: logistics, time, and money.
Logistics:
--> I need to find time to go. It's a long trip and can't be done on one's lunch break. I therefore have to find a time Monday to Friday when I'm not working.
--> I have a wife and son at home. While I'm working, my wife has to look after our son by herself; asking her to do that when I'm not working is a little unfair. When I'm working, I miss my son; when I'm not working, I would like to spend time with him.
--> To get to Taipei, I have to go to the train station, take a train, take a taxi to the Canadian Trade Office, wait there, do my business there, take a taxi back to the train station in Taipei, take the train again, then go home. That's a lot of work for one passport.
Time:
--> Home to train station: 40 minutes
--> Wait for train: 30 minutes
--> Train to Taipei: 90 minutes
--> Total time in taxi in Taipei (both to and from): 30 minutes
--> Time in Canadian Trade Office: 30 minutes
--> Train to Chiayi: 90 minutes
--> Train station to home: 50 minutes {going through the city at lunch takes longer than bright and early in the morning)
The problem isn't so much the time spent travelling to and from the stations or the time spent on the trains. The problem is that I spent three times as long just on the train than I spent in Taipei. I spent three times as long just sitting on the train going to Taipei than I spent in the Canadian Trade Office doing my business.
Money: (Canadian dollars in brackets)
--> Gas for motorcycle: unknown, but it can't have been too much
--> train tickets: NTD$1830 ($55.00)
--> coffee and sandwich for breakfast: $51 ($1.53)
--> taxi: $300 ($9.00)
--> passport fee: $2800{$84.00)
--> stamps so they can mail me my nee passport: $60 ($1.80)
--> fee to park motorcycle at train station: $50 ($1.50)
TOTAL: $5091 ($152.73)
Just for one passport.
The good news is that the woman at the Trade Office who handled my application was really nice and friendly. Too often people doing that kind of job can be anal and a little rude.
It's a long way to go just to renew a passport. I wonder if the people who make these rules (such as one has to submit one's passport renewal application in person) thought about the fact that people have lives and other things they have to do. My main problems with the whole thing are in three areas: logistics, time, and money.
Logistics:
--> I need to find time to go. It's a long trip and can't be done on one's lunch break. I therefore have to find a time Monday to Friday when I'm not working.
--> I have a wife and son at home. While I'm working, my wife has to look after our son by herself; asking her to do that when I'm not working is a little unfair. When I'm working, I miss my son; when I'm not working, I would like to spend time with him.
--> To get to Taipei, I have to go to the train station, take a train, take a taxi to the Canadian Trade Office, wait there, do my business there, take a taxi back to the train station in Taipei, take the train again, then go home. That's a lot of work for one passport.
Time:
--> Home to train station: 40 minutes
--> Wait for train: 30 minutes
--> Train to Taipei: 90 minutes
--> Total time in taxi in Taipei (both to and from): 30 minutes
--> Time in Canadian Trade Office: 30 minutes
--> Train to Chiayi: 90 minutes
--> Train station to home: 50 minutes {going through the city at lunch takes longer than bright and early in the morning)
The problem isn't so much the time spent travelling to and from the stations or the time spent on the trains. The problem is that I spent three times as long just on the train than I spent in Taipei. I spent three times as long just sitting on the train going to Taipei than I spent in the Canadian Trade Office doing my business.
Money: (Canadian dollars in brackets)
--> Gas for motorcycle: unknown, but it can't have been too much
--> train tickets: NTD$1830 ($55.00)
--> coffee and sandwich for breakfast: $51 ($1.53)
--> taxi: $300 ($9.00)
--> passport fee: $2800{$84.00)
--> stamps so they can mail me my nee passport: $60 ($1.80)
--> fee to park motorcycle at train station: $50 ($1.50)
TOTAL: $5091 ($152.73)
Just for one passport.
The good news is that the woman at the Trade Office who handled my application was really nice and friendly. Too often people doing that kind of job can be anal and a little rude.
Monday, 10 August 2009
The Worst Typhoon
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