Silence engulfs me

Today, I learnt that I'm selfish and childish.

Not only that, I don't know how to put myself in the shoes of others.

I'm a bad daughter too. I don't know how to share the troubles of my mum.

And I'm a bad employee who can't even put simple things right.

Worse, I'm a terrible friend as well who doesn't show up for gatherings.

Why am I even trying to achieve a dream, when reality itself is falling apart?

Don't ask me why. Don't ask me what happened. Because I can't say.

I have to put on a mask to appear happy and positive, when I wake up tomorrow morning.

No wall will hear of my problems.

Every night feels so long.
Life feels too long.

I'm afraid to close my eyes and force myself to sleep, only to wake up and realise I didn't really fall deep to sleep....

昨天太近 明天太遠
默默聆聽那黑夜

Unconscious Consciousness

This long month of emotional twists and turns has got me more resolved in my goals.

I know even more for sure that I wouldn't be in this job forever.
I would never be satisfied being a worker.

I want to exercise my own beliefs.
I want to create something truly of my own.
And through it all, I want him to be with me.
This will be our future.

I don't strive to be at the top of this ladder.
Simply because I don't like the life of working hours on end alone.

Yes, I still love the vitality and challenges that events bring to me.
I love the feeling of things being within my grasp and the ability for me to make decisions that work without being prematurely curtailed.

Yet, I know I will never be able to let go of music in my life.

For me, my goal is clear.
Now, its just a matter of when.

But in the meanwhile, we have so many issues in life to settle before we can move onto this stage - financial, family, relevant experience.

Everyone wants a job doing design, music, arts, entertainment.
I used to be the same.

People would ask me what I wanted to do when I decided to leave my honors course.
And my answer would be, I don't know but its gotta be related to music.
It sounded stupid to many.
Just as how so many people who give me this same answer now, would sound foolish to me.

Its a complicated industry. Especially in a field dominated by men...
There definitely is the conventional bias.
There are alot of things to put up with, a lot of expectations to meet, alot of shoes to fill and even more things to learn everyday....
when you are at the bottom.

Don't get me wrong. I love the place I'm in.
I enjoy the experience I'm getting.
I love being surrounded by music and the dynamism of it all.
But somehow, there is something else that's beckoning me.

Humans are just so greedy creatures, aren't we?

Its no harm to dream, but its got to be a practical dream.
In this dream, you'll have to accept that passion will feed you more than money will.
You'll find that men are favoured more while girls are expected to not just know what the men know, but also meant to handle all other mundane tasks.
In this dream, you still have to know where you are headed and plan each day otherwise you get phased out by the queue of people trying to find their way in.

So... when will the day come for me to move on?

January 2007

Can it get any more worse as February comes?

Its been a never ending downhill ride for me. Anything that could happen, has happened.

Everything that I don't want to happen, has also happened.

It started with SH's relapse.. the 2nd time I get on an ambulence with a loved one inside. That was over, but everyday I still worry about the same thing happening at any time, any place, without warning.

Then I fell very sick myself... had the most mcs ever in my life. Good rest but left alot of thing unsettled at work and brought abt another chain of mishappenings.

Right after that, pep actually became sick too. She's never been sick all her life. But it was a good thing, she recovered after 2 days.

What else could happen right? Things oughta get better now, but it got worse instead.

War begun. Tables were turned. There was confrontation, there was denial, and now there is deadly cold silence. It will go on like this everyday for the remaining days of my life, unless there can be a miracle really.

And then the unfortunate incidents of what's now happening at work. Everyday I worry because there's really no room for any mistakes. Every little thing that I do, I'm afraid to get shot for it... but this time, it involves a greater complexity. I can only pray and hope that nothing bad happens because of it. If the cat is let out of the bag, I guess there might just be the end of the job for me.

The burden is really growing. Emotionally I'm tired.
I don't like to live my life in worry.
All I want, is to be happy.
But why is life becoming so complicated?

Sometimes, I can't really smile from my heart these days.

The war has begun

we knew it would come to this sooner or later.
how long can anyone feign ignorance?

its not the best feeling in the world.
if we had a choice, we wouldn't have taken that option we did yesterday.
it just had to be done.
without confrontation, there would be no conclusion in our hearts and minds.

doesn't matter what the truth is.
doesn't matter if we really know the facts and details of everything.
what matters is that we know, the heart is cold.

don't you know, money isn't everything?
don't you know, who will be with you at the end of the road?

we aren't that heartless.
but we just grew tired of acting stupid.

one day, i believe, you will know.

and in that time, we will go on leading our own lives.
life is better spent caring for those who really care for you.

don't be greedy. and please don't be so childish either.
appreciate what you have.
the day will come, when you will regret.

2007 - the year of the bad virus

there's a virus circulating in the whole office...

it hit the 1st among us at the dawn of the new year. And she's still sick up till now.

at the moment, the number of sick people has gone up to maybe 6 or more

its not like the regular flu virus because I'm experiencing it myself now...

I've kept myself strong for so long but finally my body still succumbs to it

whatever it is, i hope the virus goes away so that all of us can regain our health again soon.

nobody likes being sick

maybe we should all evacuate the office for a week =P

And I still haven't found, what I'm looking for

How many times have we gone about life striving for something, thought we have achieved that goal, then realise its not actually what we really want in life?

Probably too many to even count...

I have in my own, gone through so many ups and downs, made several sacrifices, wasted quite alot of money in that process, upset my family, made people around me go through emotional rollercoaster rides together with me, just to go in search of that sacred "WHAT I WANT"

I used to know what I wanted. At least I thought I knew.

I was happy when I found it, but now at times, I've become unsure.

Especially after that day of trauma, I realised how fragile life really can be.
You can lose someone you love at the very blink of an eye, without any warning.
One second he's talking to you, the next second, he can be gone.
You wouldn't even have time to regret or say goodbye.

Life is unpredictable, which is why it makes us unpredictable.
And its what makes our goals and decisions change all the time.
We will never really find what we want.

But at this point of time, I have come to realise that all I want is a happy life with him.

This industry I'm in, it can be exciting and enriching
But I'm not really in for the glitz and glamour of it all
I'm not interested in creativity for the purpose of selling
Neither do I have any hunger to climb to the top

I'm still glad that I've had the opportunity that many others can only hope for
I'm thankful to him for believing in my potential when I myself have no confidence whatsover
And I'm eternally grateful for all of them to had the patience to teach me so much

Don't worry, I'm not leaving yet
Opportunities like these don't come by that easily
I will treasure it...

But there will be a day, when both of us will know...
Its time for us to move on and live a life of our own together
Doing something and creating something that is our own
Something built out of our own beliefs and working to our own expectations

That will be a life that belongs to us

Finale... back home

1st January – It’s a May-Day

Close to 12.30am, I finally squeezed my way out of the massive crowd of people and aimed in the direction of where I had earlier seen a queue for the auto session.

To my confusion, that queue was gone, and instead there were just so many people sitting all around and once again going in many different directions. I felt lost but perhaps there really was an angel looking down on me that day. It kept me safe and it guided me to the right places…

五月天簽名會！！還沒拿號碼牌的，請到聖誕樹下索取！
All of a sudden, I saw someone hold up a loud hailer and began shouting…

It captured the attention of the crowd of people around me, including a group of girls who began exclaiming 聖誕樹！快! It didn’t matter that I didn’t hear the first announcement clearly, because it was this bunch of girls that woke me out of my confused state. Yes, Christmas tree, that’s just where I need to go to! But where is it?

Didn’t take me much effort to find it, because the very same group of girls didn’t take more than 1 sec to react and dash with top speed towards the right (it would be what we call, cheong ah!!). I followed them as quick as I could and spotted the Christmas tree when I turned the bend. It wasn’t easy following them because of the crowd also coming towards us in the opposite direction. I soon lost them but got to the tree eventually.

Under the tree were 2 booths, one to obtain the number tags and the other to purchase albums. Then I caught sight of a familiar face… it was SH’s look alike… hahah.. poor thing, the whole company must be out right now just for this one event.

I eventually got my number tag after following the queue around 2 corners of the small tent and feeling it would be stupid to just follow till the very last person (as it would only get longer and longer), I cut my way into the middle of the queue hahaha (man I would never do that again). Please forgive me, whoever was behind me.

I was number 1865. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw that number. What did this number mean? What did the number tag mean? Was I supposed to find who was before me and sit in queue until my turn? These questions might have sounded stupid to the local fans there, but this was truly a situation we would never experience here. I clutched the tiny piece of paper tightly with all my life, afraid to lose it and face the consequence of ending up behind another 1000 or 2000 fans! (it never left my hands as I roamed around the entire area wondering what to do).

Once again, my angel watching over me helped me catch sight of a couple holding the numbers 1864 and 1863. I decided to stalk them and evaluate if I should try to befriend them. Things won’t go too wrong if I could keep up with them.

They didn’t head towards any queue as I would expect but instead, found their way towards the stage. At that point, I was still wondering if I needed to queue and maybe following them was a wrong choice. Yes, stupid again.. I know =(. But I thought, heck… since the stage is just before me, why don’t I just begin taking some photos of the whole event.

1 am came．“讓我們來歡迎台灣著名ＤＪ黃世杰！” A voice announced through the loud speakers. The crowded cheered as shijie went on stage. What he was talking about at that time, I didn’t really remember. All I could recalI l was him calling for the first 50 and then first 100 to queue at the left side of the stage. That was also the point that I finally understood their queueing system. If you still haven’t got it, it meant that with your number tag, you just have to wait till your number is called in batches and you will have your turn to go up on stage for the auto session.

As shijie welcomed md on stage, everyone’s cameras and phones were raised high up in the air. I did the same too, trying to at least capture a photo for memory-sake but it really didn’t help that the stage was built so low and all I could capture, were people’s heads… They didn’t talk for too long and promptly started with the auto session.

For a good half an hour or so, I really didn’t know what to do or where to go. I didn’t dare to wander too far off, because I wouldn’t be able to hear the progression of the queue. I squatted at the side of the pillar trying to call SH once again.. but still, there wasn’t any signal; I walked around the area surveying others who were seated comfortably but everyone was in groups and it wasn’t nice to invade the space of others; other fans asked me where I got my number tag (that if you remember I was clasping tightly in my hand still) and where to queue; I tried to catch glimpses of md through the mass of heads and people moving around on stage. That was when I told myself…. Enough. I really ought to find somewhere else to sit down and replenish my energy with food and drinks.

I returned in the direction of where I remember the mobile toilet was and found myself in a little park where there weren’t many people sitting. Concluded that it would be a good place for me to eat and drink, as well as make a call back to Singapore yet not attract too much attention to myself.

And as luck would have it, I finally got through to SH at 1.30am. While I was there, I also had a 飯糰 and gave a call to Nic whom I had promised to call, since the mafia were all at QH’s house that night. As time passed, I decided I should make use of the mobile toilet not far away from me and then return to the stage to check out how the queue was progressing.

Now… mobile toilets are usually not interesting topics. But my life just got more interesting simply by queuing for this toilet. It was shaped a lot like a caravan (not those individual cubicles that we are used to here). A queue of guys and gals formed outside the toilet and I was the 3rd in the queue when 2 vehicles loaded with tubes and pumps stopped along the sides of the toilet. This created a flutter among the people in the queue who began to guess if the tubes were meant to pump water into the toilet or worse yet…. It would mean that the waste was about to be pumped out from the toilet!

They weren’t wrong, because both of what they guessed, did happen =_=. Very very ‘swiftly, someone dragged a tube into the toilet and began washing.. water came gushing down the steps and so did tissue paper and all sorts of rubbish. The 2 girls in front of me began to take steps backwards, leaving me in front of the queue instead. That was when, another man very un-swiftly dragged a large grey tube to the front of the queue and opened a latch in which he stuffed the tube into. Let me emphasize that as he dragged these tubes, they were wading around dangerously close to the feet of the people in the queue. You just wouldn’t want to be hit by one of those….

Because within seconds, waste was being pumped out of the toilet. Gosh… you wish they made those tubes less translucent…. I guess I don’t really have to elaborate from there.

At the end of the saga, the 2 vehicles rolled away, leaving the latch where the waste was pumped out of, opened =_=. Then the guardian angel came once again, in the form of a lady who came by to tell the queue of people that the toilet in the government building just opposite us was unlocked and we could use that instead.

………….. you mean, we queued up and had a good lesson on how mobile toilets are cleaned, all for nothing?

This was my new year’s day. Truly interesting and waste… errr, adrenalin pumping haha.

With that over, I made my way back towards the stage area. The queue had only reached 400. Didn’t take long before I was sitting back at the park again, but the morning was getting a little more chilly.

That was when I began to hear shijie’s voice in the distance, talking more than usual. Apparently, it turned out that md had gone on their first break and he was doing what he did best, entertain the crowd.

And he did draw in quite a large crowd haha. Just to share with everyone the gist of what he did and said in that break time…

1. 1,2,3 大家喊，五月天加油！
3,2,1 就要喊，油加天月五! (later when md got back on stage, he tried it with the crowd and masa stood up instantly to ‘k’ him hehe)
2. 買ＣＤ送門票，有沒有這樣做過？有噢! 可是還是要做！
3. 5minutes later… 買ＣＤ送門票，有沒有這樣做過？有噢! 剛才也有說過嘛
4. 誰敢留下來和我看日出？只要還有一個人還在，我一定不會走！．．可是不要害我噢，不要簽完了還故意不走，我也是人，也需要休息好嗎？

I wished I could video the whole thing or stay in front of that stage throughout just to see what else shijie had to say, because it was simply hilarious. When md came back on stage and resumed the auto session, the large crowd which had gathered to watch shijie, then dispersed and so, I went in search of a new place (at a closer proximity than the park) where I could rest yet be able to not miss the announcement for my number.

I soon found a nook in front of a side door of the department store where already a lot of other fans were sitting and leaning against the walls of the building. That nook was fantastic because it was a warm haven away from the cold wind. But still, it didn’t fail to get colder as time passed. Covering my neck with my warm warm scarf and clutching on to a 暖包, I dozed off….
I was asleep yet semi conscious… the number went from 800 to 1,400…
In between, I wanted to give up and return to the hostel, but I couldn’t. I had to do this for SH, for the mafia and for the fans in Singapore who couldn’t make it to this event.
I noticed camera men taking photos of the people sleeping (and probably me too.. yucks..) as well as staff with video cameras in hand…
Ignoring them, I dozed off again… and the next thing I knew… I heard them calling for the numbers 1900 and below to queue at the side of the stage.

It was 430am. I didn’t get up instantly because I was still in a daze, from having suddenly woken up. I was also shivering inside and my teeth were slightly chattering. I got up and tried to warm myself up before I found my way into the queue.

Other fans had already quickly formed a queue, including those 1900 and above. I couldn’t locate the numbers that were close to mine because the queue was moving so fast, so I had to ask a fan whose number was 1889 or so, to let me in front of her. She wasn’t too happy about it but she relented anyway.

Before I went up, I rehearsed in my mind what I should say to them. Because I knew that the time on stage would be very short as compared to what we were used to in Singapore, I was ready to talk as fast as I could and get the essential points across.

Masa was the first in line. Wished him happy new year and as I told him, 辛苦了! He chuckled, saying 不會啦!

Next was Stone, I so wished to congratulate him on his to be born baby but it was too hard to say in that short a time. I looked at him sincerely and wished him happy new year, with plenty of good wishes in my heart.

Then came Monster. The moment he looked up, all the words I had rehearsed, quickly came out from my mouth But at the end of it, after I had shaken his hand and already moved in front of Ming, he suddenly turned to me and said in his most sincere voice ever, to send his regards to SH =)

When Ming looked up, I was at a loss for words because what Monster said, was still ringing in my brain. Quickly, I wished him Happy New Year too (and I’m so sorry I was in a daze!!)

Then came Ashin, and I had intended to tell him the same thing I told Monster but just that this time it came out in a whole different order and I think I was starting to talk nonsense. He simply smiled, listening to me crazily talking like a chipmunk, before he wished me Happy New Year too before I soon found myself in front of the staff who was next to him.

And as though it was automatic, I wanted to reach out to shake her hand (when all she wanted from me was the number tag). She was beaming and so was Ashin (they were probably laughing in their hearts haha), at my blur actions. Feel awkward about it, I grabbed onto my inlay and stepped quickly off stage.

Without thinking much, I continued walking in the direction of the road as though I needed to get out of there immediately after embarrassing myself, argh…
I never looked back towards the stage, nor did I look at the autographs on the inlay. And neither did it occur to me to want to stay behind to catch the first sunrise of 2007 with md. All I wanted to do was get on a cab as fast as I could and return to the hostel.

I walked all the way out to the main road where other people were not waiting, and hopped on a cab almost instantaneously (to the dismay of a couple who was waiting at another intersection).

Back at the hostel, I had a chat with SH and Shir over msn while feasting on a bowl of instant noodles. I looked carefully at the inlay with the autographs that I had spent more than 3 hours waiting for and I thought back about what had happened at the 2 events that I stayed behind for; the reason why I was welcoming 2007 on my own.

As I went to bed at 6am, I lay in disbelief at how fast the actual auto session with them went. I think it was over from Masa to Ashin in about 10 to 15 seconds? It truly makes me appreciate being a fan in Singapore. The opportunities to see them are less, but the distance in less and the feeling is different.

At 9am, I awoke to ready myself for my flight back home. I’m finally about to return home. Goodbye Taipei, and goodbye to the wonderful experience I’ve had in the past 5 days… an experience I’ve never had before.

The last meal I had before I boarded the plane... 便當 + 綠奶茶

I will be back.
Taipei will never be the same again =)

Prelude to the finale

31^st Dec – THE Day

I awoke today realizing that I am finally really on my own (with no more of my sg colleagues around). It was 11am, I had an hour to get ready, made sure I had packed up whatever I needed to, then check out of the hotel.

Hmm… 11am, my boss should be back in Singapore by now. And I would have been too… had I not changed my own return flight. But no more regrets now since I made that fateful call to C (dad’s SQ friend in tpe) to extend my stay by another day.

All I needed to do, was be brave, be independent, be happy and make sure I have enough cash with me till I got on the plane the next day. Plus not get crushed in the much anticipated countdown concert =P.

Before I left Singapore, I contemplated real hard as to whether I should stay on, since my flight had already been pushed back from 30^th to 31^st because of the additional meeting. I couldn’t make myself leave Taipei and miss the countdown which was only hours away. And especially after Shir told me about the auto session that would be taking place as well. If I got onto the flight on the 31^st and came back wondering what it would have been like if I didn’t stay for just one more day, it would have been a new year full of regrets.

I thought hard as to who I could look for in Taipei to attend the events with. Didn’t really know any taiwanese md fans… so the very 1^st one that came to my mind was Linda. Immediately I sent her a mail through ptt and her email as well before I set off that morning for Taipei.

Due to the earthquake, she could only reply me through ptt, of which SH forwarded to me through email instead. Unfortunately, she couldn’t make it to both events that day but from her tone in the mail, I could tell that this was someone I would love to meet some day and just have a nice chat with her. Such a nice person she is =). Hope we have more fate the next time I drop by Taipei.

Resigned to the fact that I was very much at my own defenses now, I did my homework to prepare myself for the big night. I watched the news daily and learnt that the MTR would run on till 3am that day; I checked out an extended MTR map for details on which station would be the best place to take a cab from, to my hostel and of course, I made sure I kept carefully at hand the directions from the city to the hostel.

Checking out of the hotel, I paid a hefty internet and phone bill (not mine though) that cut my cash by more than half. Well.. after I paid, I wondered why I didn’t pay it by card. Anyhow, I just had to draw my money from an atm later that day, otherwise I would probably have to just hibernate my day away.

The hostel wasn’t too tough to find because I was just there the day before. I opened the door carefully, not wanting to wake anyone who might be sleeping. As I entered, I noticed that all the room doors were closed and thinking that I ought be considerate, since all those who were probably staying there were actually guys and it wouldn’t be good to just open the doors to check if anyone was in. Hence, I tucked my luggage around the dining area and turned on the TV (at a very low volume) and started munching into my 飯糰 ﹠蘋果牛奶 (all the while trying to make as little noise as possible).

Being tired from being lack of sleep for so many days, I dozed off on the sofa (wishing I could just go into the room and lie on one of the comfortable beds there). Not able to have a proper sleep, I thus decided to go out shopping earlier than I had planned.

Well, the funny this was… that night when I returned to the hostel at 7pm to dump out whatever I had bought, I realized that everything in that house was left as it was, since I went out earlier on. Then it dawned on me…. That there wasn’t anyone at all in the house, even when I got there in the morning! Gosh… how stupid could I have been.

Knew my Malaysian colleagues were leaving that day, but just wasn’t sure of the time. And I had innocently assumed that my Taiwan boss who stayed there long term, would be there. But why didn’t I think that it was the holidays? And if you had a couple of days of holidays, plus it being the last day of the year, you would choose to return to your own home? Stupid, stupid, stupid…. So much for being considerate haha.

Rewinding back to the afternoon where I went out shopping, I hopped on a cab towards Taipei main station. Had an interesting talk with the driver =)

Ｄriver: 到台北車站坐火車嗎？

Ｍe: 不是，約了朋友到地下街走走 (lie #1)

Driver: 今天人會很多．走走了晚上看跨年嘛．．

Me: 嗯，對啊，湊熱鬧

Driver: 一個女孩子很危陷噢．．有男朋友嘛？叫你男朋友載你回家

Me: ……..

Driver: 如果是我的女朋友，我一定把她送到家門口．所以一定要叫你男朋友送你噢

Me: ……. (冷笑著)

Driver: 其實我也住內湖，可是我晚上就不開車了，要不然可以給你電話．．跨年後打給我，我可以載你回家．

(就這樣，和他聊多後，我終於認不住，說出了這句話．．)

Me: 其實我不是本地人．．我是新加坡人

Driver: 那你男朋友是在新加坡啊？不好意思．． 那晚上一個人回家要小心

Ｍe: 嗯，會和朋友一起去．．(lie #i-don’t-know-what-by-now)

Later he continues chatting with me about Singapore, about how he’s been here before and he has a friend here by the surname of Ng, who is an engineer working in Jurong.

Very soon, we arrived at my destination.

Ｄriver：下次我到新加坡可以找你噢

Me: 好啊，謝謝你．．

(Biggest lie of the day. I said this feeling so fake about it hahaha.. but what else could I say?)

At that instant, I never hesitated about stepping out of the cab and onward to my shopping trip.

I maneuvered my way around the familiar rows of shops doing my long anticipated shopping but it wasn’t very fruitful. But I had a bowl of pretty good 炸漿面 , passed by a more than familiar ‘face’ or should I say a head covered with a big basket, playing a flute and dressed in a traditional Japanese costume (someone Nic, SH and I have come to know as the basker or basket-busker) before I continued on to 西門町.

The MTR station was really crowded even at this time. Queues to buy tickets were snaking through the station, which made me glad I had the stored value card from my previous trip here. There were station staff dressed in lime green vests and holding starwars-like poles located strategically around the station, to make sure everything was in proper order.

Needless to say, 西門町 was also swarmed with people. The famous food places all had snaking queues as well which totally threw me off the idea of even wanting to eat them. Did some shopping and made the convenience store shopping my last stop so that I could get my bottles of more than excellent 祿奶茶，and some food and drinks that I would need for my battle later that night. Before I hopped onto the cab back to the hostel for the 2^nd time, I decided to buy dinner back to eat in the comfort of the house.

Watched TV and surfed for news on the ongoing countdown as I dug into my 蝦仁庚 (which turned out to be a disappointment). It was slightly past 7pm and the countdown show had already started. I called SH as I was getting a little nervous from the fact that time was ticking away to the event that was the reason why I stayed here alone. And nervous from the fact that the news was reporting on how bad the situation was there, with people fainting and all traffic in the area coming to a standstill.

My dad soon dropped me a sms asking me to remember to bring my medicated oil. That reminded me I had to 武壯 myself. Immediately, I went off to pack my bag, filled it with the essentials, including:

-->medicated oil

-->inhaler

-->scarf

-->mineral water

-->lots of tissue paper (for toilet use)

-->food

-->暖包

-->MD CD

9pm soon came, and I didn’t want to wait any longer, just in case the traffic was really bad or the worse case senario was that I would get lost anywhere. The plan, was to take a cab out to 昆陽 station, where I could hop onto the MTR to 市政府.

As I got out of 市政府 station，I tried to follow the crowd hoping that majority would be heading towards the countdown concert. So, around the bend I turned with a huge group of people, but soon, to my worst fears… everyone started to go in various directions….

Some parked themselves where a huge group of others had already gathered, with a good view of 101, in anticipation of the fireworks. But…. I wasn’t there just for the fireworks. I had to find out where the concert was.

I listened intently to the night air… believing that every large scale concert would be noisy enough to hear at a distance if I was close enough to it.

What a confusing environment it was, people sitting everywhere, walking everywhere, people selling lightsticks, people queuing up for md’s auto session….

I wrecked my brains hard trying to recall the exact spot of 市政府 and from there, it all became a matter of following my instinct. As I walked past the Mitsukoshi dept store, I vaguely heard the sound of music blasting through speakers. With a glimmer of hope, I quickly made my way in that direction and spent a good 10minutes wading through and tip-toeing through (trying not to step) a whole parade square of people sitting down. Gives a new meaning again to the phrase ‘路是人走出來的’ for sure…

To my dismay, it turned out to be small side stage with a band playing. At that moment, I made a critical decision to just walk towards the direction of 101. I just couldn’t accept it if I stayed on in Taipei and it turned out I missed md’s countdown show because I couldn’t find the concert stage hahah. That would have been the ultimate disastrous ending to this adventure.

As I got closer to where I believed 市政府 should be, I couldn’t have been happier to hear music and spot the balloons I had seen on TV just a while earlier at the hostel. My footsteps quickened, hoping to squeeze my way into the crowd quickly so that I wouldn’t miss their performance. At the same time, I hopped I could make it in far enough to have a good view as far as possible. It was 10pm by then.

Moving into the enormous crowd of people proved much easier than I imagined it to be. After all, the logic is simple… just go with the flow. Within less than 15 minutes, step by step, avoiding a pool of water where everyone was precariously walking at the edge of, I found my way to the left side of the stage (let me state that it was really far away from the stage. You can judge from the photo below =)) but I positioned myself where I could catch glimpses of the stage, yet be able to view the 2 huge side screens without a problem.

Satisfied with where I was, I didn’t want to move in much further to save myself the trouble of getting out for the auto session after the performance, I began the quiet wait for md to appear on stage.

11pm finally came, my toes were beginning to hurt from being in situ (couldn’t make much movement in that large crowd), but md still didn’t appear. They were apparently stuck in the jam of vehicles and people outside the venue. We later learnt that they stopped at a distance outside and ran for 10minutes, the rest of the way in.

11.30pm… md’s video appeared on screen. The prelude to WAES played aloud to the screaming crowd who were really mostly there to catch md’s performance. Then they came on stage and I desperately tried to call SH, so that I could let him have a chance to listen live. I called, and I called…. Network busy… dead dial tone… and I called.. still nothing. WAES was already almost halfway through.. I decided to give up on calling and start recording instead. Darn! How could I forget to record?

Because the concert was meant to be like a live recording for TV, there were breaks in between songs for commercials and it kinda spoilt the whole continuity and feel of a good band performance. Before they could finish their last song, md had to stop their performance because it was time to prepare the audience for the countdown to 2007.

Local politicians appeared on stage, the crowd cheered for the new mayor and everyone said and waved their hellos to the mayors of other counties who were being networked for a all-taiwan countdown. md was on stage as well ready to countdown with everyone, but what the heck, couldn't really see them anyway haha.

But as this happened, you could see that a lot of the crowd was also started to point their cameras and phones towards 101 on our right hand side, measuring the best way to frame the to-come fireworks display.

Not wanting to lose out, I did the same too and as the clocked ticked away.. it finally came to the last 20seconds when all the lights on 101 blacked out and the crowd screeched knowing it was a sign of the magnificent fireworks to come. 10.. 9..8… the floors of 101 lighted up one by one towards the top floor… and at the count of 0, fireworks of all sorts and vibrant colours shot into the night sky.

I held my phone tightly, hoping to get the best video I could of this once in a lifetime fireworks display that I would never see live again (but stupidly on the plane the next day, I deleted this video….. yes, stupid). But while the fireworks were really beautiful and hypnotizing to a certain extent, it felt a little scary watching such a tall building being engulfed in smoke. It made me quiver a little at that thought, but I prayed that the world would never have to face such destruction again =).

When the last fireworks exploded into the night sky, nobody knew if there was going to be more because it seemed as though everyone still had their cameras pointing towards 101, afraid to miss any possible later fireworks that would surprise us at any time. However, truly… there would be no more haha.

Quickly, I tried to call back to Singapore once again. SH, Nic, Ms Bear… I couldn’t reach anyone at all. As I waited for md to return on stage, I dialed non stop but to no avail.

Soon, the building to our left began its own fireworks display, but compared to the big brother, it didn’t really capture the attention of the crowd. To the sound of these fireworks, md was reintroduced on stage.

As they sang LSC, their last song of the show, the crowd began around me began to move. 2 lines of people formed, trying to make their way out of the venue. One line came from in front of me and the other line to my right. I was literally squashed and trying hard not to be pushed onto the people behind me who were close to the water’s edge just behind all of us.

Still I fought hard to finish listening to LSC and for md to leave the stage before I succumbed to the flow of people moving outwards.

Welcome to 2007 I thought. I'm still in one piece!! =)

No one I could call or wish Happy New Year, no hugs to welcome the new year, but I just had the adventure of my life. Regret? No =)

Next mission, to conquer the auto session =)

Taipei, the land where anything can happen

29^th Dec 2006 – Show Day

Awoke early today once again to make modifications to my stuff. Ms Bear still wasn’t back by then. So I thought I’ll ask uncle Z out for lunch together before we set off for the venue.

Had a nice simple yet delicious雞腿飯 at the foodcourt neartby and when we stepped out into the open, it was already drizzling very lightly. Stupidly, that day, I rushed out of my room without my pass. Which made me end up walking back again to the hotel to get the pass and return by foot to the venue.


The final rehearsal didn’t last for very long, but I still had many new modifications left undone, plus there were changes to the MMO (this meant I had to re-burn the CD I burnt for Uncle Z just yesterday). The bad news was, the rest of the songs were in my macbook, that was still sleeping in the comfort of my hotel room. Thus, I made a final trip back (by foot again) to the hotel to burn the new CD, before I went for a quick dinner on my own and then back before the standby time at the venue, to make any final last minute changes.

After all the walking around, I was in a state of burn out. The standby waiting time started to draw more of my remaining energy away from me as well. By the time, I got on stage, I think I was in a sort of trance.

Throughout the show, I was literally lagging. My mind told me I had to work faster but still there was a lapse between my brain and my hands. It was frustrating to know the problem but not have the ability to curb it. As the time passed by, my back was aching and my legs too (despite the fact that I was sitting down).

I felt bad sitting there, for not fulfilling my duty to the best that I can. I felt guilty for letting them down. Even though no one can really tell, but to the 2 of them, I just have to say that I’m very sorry. If not for their ability to cover up well, I guess I would have screwed up quite a bit.

When the show ended, I still felt awfully guilty and tried my best to hide from the 2 of them. The probably don’t blame me, but I do blame myself for not being able to focus. What’s more, this would probably be the last show I’ll be doing for this tour. And it so happens to be in a place that I’ve always wanted to work in.

What a disappointment I’ve been.

We all headed for the dinner together but I stuck with KL and the guys. Grabbed only a little to eat and then made my way out with KW and uncle Z (not really wanting to mingle). Not wanting to sleep early once again, KW and I thought we should try our luck at 士林 one more time, since it was Friday and shops didn’t close that early.

At around 1am, we arrived together with D and MM at 士林 and boy were we glad to see shops open. There wasn’t much to shop for… or should I say, even if there was, I didn’t have much mood to shop. In my totally blue state, I was practically just following KW around as she shopped. Think she was wondering why I was so busy sms-ing on my phone as well and not really looking around at the feast of things around us (yeah.. and I think my phone bill this month is gonna be horrible =_=).

By 2am, the illegal stalls that flanked the middle of the road began to deconstruct themselves and wade their way dangerously through the crowd of people. Let me get this clear… they did expect people to get out of their way or suffer the dire consequences of getting crushed by a push cart.

With such a scene going on, and the fact that it was winter.. meaning there was nothing much we could buy there, the 4 of us decided to end the shopping trip.

Hopping onto a cab, we dropped D off at誠品, then MM and I alighted at the hotel, while KW continued on to her friend’s home.

You would think that the story ends when I return to the hotel. Hahah but no…. MM and I turned back onto the streets towards the supermarket (where I bought lots of beverages and stuff for the guys who placed their orders with me before I left for Taipei), before returning to the hotel once again.

Shortly after I reached the room, Ms Bear came back with our Malaysian colleagues XM, ZS and JW. And like me, they bought cup noodles as well ^___^. We are all hungry people…

So 4 bottles of mineral water, 5 bowls of noodles of various flavours, and beverages of all sorts later, the 3 of them left to return to the hostel, leaving behind a whole bunch of straws on the bed haha. Just some basic info on straws in Taipei, when you buy anything at a convenience store, they don’t provide you with a plastic bag, but they do make sure you get a straw with every drink that you purchase. Save the environment? Irony? Or are the straws made of biodegradable plastic?

Ms Bear rushed to finish her work through the night (realize, she’s not sleeping again! You gotta teach me this skill…. haha), as I went to bed at close to 6, to prepare myself for the meeting I had to attend the next day.

30^th Dec 2006 – Its just me and him

Ms Bear woke me up at 11.20am to tell me she got me breakfast (so sweet of her). There were 2 飯糰, 蘋果牛奶, and even暖包 because she knew I was going to battle it out alone at the autograph session on the 31^st.

But.. at a cost =P because she started hinting to me that I should send her off. The hint was that she needed help with her heavy luggage (but gotta clarify for her, its filled with a lot of other stuff that doesn’t belong to her… although quite a bit of beverages belong to her haha).

I changed out of my ‘sleeping attire’ of course, but because her transport was already waiting, I didn’t have much time to bother about my messy hair. So here I went once again with my messy state, a blaring contrast against the posh lobby of well dressed people.

After I waved goodbye to Ms Bear, I started to miss her but it didn’t make me forget the unpresentable state I was in. Quickly, I slid my way towards the elevator and into my room. That was when I truly realized…. that everyone else had also left Taipei. All except…. My boss.

With just the 2 of us left, it was only polite of me to ask him what time he intended to set off for the meeting and if he wanted to lunch together. With his cracky sleepy voice, he asked me what I hadn’t eaten so far in Taipei. In my mind, I wondered truly… what hadn’t I eaten? Haven’t I already eaten too much?

He suggested 滷肉飯, I simply told him I tried it before but couldn’t remember the name of the shop.

How about拉麵?

I’ve eaten that in Singapore, but he insisted that it tastes different there,

so yeah, I said, why not?

But it was not long after we agreed that he called me again to say, we would be having Shabu Shabu, and a free meal as well because someone owed him a treat. That person must be really pounding her chest to have to end up treating 2 people instead haha.

I must say though…. That its truly the best Shabu Shabu I’ve ever had. Even though it’s the first time I’m eating Shabu Shabu… but still, its truly the best steamboat-like thingie I’ve ever had!! Erm… I was too lost in it to remember to take a photo =P. But if I go with any of you to Taipei in future, I promise I’ll take you guys there.

Thanking the sweet lady who gave me a treat without really knowing who I was, but just a free-loader following my boss out to lunch, we set off for the office for our meeting at 3pm.

The meeting went on till past 7pm and we only managed to cover just one topic. From the moment I sat down, I was already starting to feel the effects of the past 3 nights of poor sleep. How hard I fought to stay awake, not just because it was rude to fall asleep in front of 2 bosses, it was a meeting that was giving me very important lessons I wouldn’t be able to gain if I wasn’t in Taipei that day, sitting in that meeting room.

There was a problem with my bladder that day too, because I was just scooting off to toilet every now and then. But it probably did help in waking me up at certain intervals heheh. Close to the end of the meeting however… I knew my eyes were already half closed, but I guess they could by then, forgive me for feeling that tired.

When the meeting ended, I asked for them to provide me clear directions that I could advise any taxi driver if I were to take a cab from the city to our hostel. As my boss also wanted to go by the hostel to pick things up, my Taipei boss gave both of us a lift there and along the way, both of them eagerly ‘debated’ as to who knew the best way to the hostel (men…), and pointed out all the landmarks I had to look for. I felt as though I had 2 fathers at that point in time… But then again, those were really very important and clear directions that helped me go back and forth from the hostel on my own the next day =)

The living room of the 4 room apartment

Handing me his keys, my boss and I then decided to go for dinner together before his next meeting (not involving me), at 9pm. We went to somewhere near his next meeting place, in search of a restaurant he had been to before, to eat… I can’t remember what. And I can’t remember it, because, we never found it. Time was running out, so we quickly made a choice to have Tepanyaki, of which he also claims that Tepanyaki in Taipei tastes different. Hmm….

It didn’t taste that bad, but I gobbled down the hot food really fast, because he ate too fast! Guess he must have been terribly hungry... and it was also because I lost time in between, running out to the convenience store to buy newspapers for him. After stuffing and downing all the not too bad Tepanyaki, we stepped out only to end up sitting down for 燒仙草.

It really did seem to please him to let me try food that I’ve never tried before, because once I made it known to him I didn’t really know what燒仙草 was, he never looked in any other direction except the stall vendor. I added 湯圓 and some other jelly thing to mine, while he added around 4 ingredients to his (how can someone who eats so fast and be such a good eater, be this thin? Heaven is unfair!).

Gotta mention too, that this was the most slow moving stall vendor we have ever met. There we were in front of her feeling completely ignored, while waiting for her to finish packing in complete slow motion, for another customer. Then along came another stall vendor who started talking to her and both of them ignored us for a good 2 minutes before nodding her head to indicate she’ll take our order =_=

Nonetheless, the燒仙草 was excellent! If you are wondering what燒仙草 is, its just hot chin chow, not really in jelly form, but thick soup. There can’t possibly be another dessert better than this, especially in winter. I was so full by the time I tried to finish my entire bowl of燒仙草+湯圓+Jelly (how can you let good food to waste right?).

Done with dinner and dessert, we parted to go shopping on our own and the last time I saw him in Taipei, was on msn later that night/morning haha. But I didn’t send him any message of course =P

I didn’t shop around for too long. I simply targeted a CD store that I didn’t have time to step into up till now, got the mayday album that I would need for the next day (plus the pass that WY needed because she’ll be attending the concert on the 6^th… =(… how I wish I could stay on till the 6^th to catch the concert too).

Back to the hotel I went, to make use of the remaining internet time I had and pack my bag in preparation for my move from hotel to hostel when I awake.

Alone but never lonely

Because people who care for me are thinking of me, and just a phone call a way.

Because I know I’ve got friends there that I can contact in times of need. Just that I don’t wish to drag them along in things that they probably wouldn’t be interested in.

Because being just one person, makes moving around and well.. cutting queues much easier hahah.

These were thoughts that came across my mind, as I spent my last day in Taipei on my own.

I really seldom do travel blogs by days but I really gotta blog this whole thing out in sequence, simply because I want to remember it forever. Its been a trip that that has been such an experience, of ups and downs, of the familiar and totally foreign.

Just a note, I will be keeping certain names and events confidential and vague. If anyone wants to know more, just ask me out la hahha.

Warning…… this could take you forever to read! But if you are bored, I hope it will help entertain you till you get off work =P.

27^th Dec 2006 – The aftermath of the earthquake

Close to 1pm, the plane landed at CKS airport.

Our luggage came out quickly, as they were all marked with priority tags (thanks to my boss who grabbed the bunch of priority tags for everyone, from my dad before the luggages were checked in).

At that point, the luggage seemed less important than the urgency of trying to connect to a telco network, so that each and everyone of us there could contact someone back home, that we have already landed safely.

We soon learnt that an earthquake hit the south of Taiwan just yesterday and this could have affected the phone lines. Nonetheless, we (I) kept on trying.. from walking out of the arrival hall, on the bus all the way to the hotel. I couldn’t help thinking that SH and my mum would be worried sick.

The bus quickly maneuvered its way around the familiar streets of Taipei, and came to a halt at an even more than familiar hotel, now with a new name.

It loves new names so much, that its even given me a new name haha. Check this out…

We were allocated our rooms (I had one to myself) and I quickly took down the rest of the guys’ room numbers (a usual routine so that I could always find the people I needed to). At that point, as I handed the 2 pandan cakes I brought over from Singapore to XX, I learnt that the meeting which we had initially scheduled at 5pm, would be changed to 7pm.

Shit. Just when I can’t get to Ms Bear through the phone, and I had already pre-arranged with JL to bring us to Mr J for dinner at 7pm for Ms Bear’s burpday celebration.

I rushed to the room to use the phone and tried dialing overseas to SH and even Ms Bear’s s’pore mobile number. Then I desperately turned on my laptop, hoping to catch some wireless network that could log me onto msn. But none could work. All I got were dead tones. And all the while, my mobile phone couldn’t log onto any network either. It was by then, 3pm. My mum must be worried bad.

Giving up, I went to meet Uncle Z at the lobby, for lunch with the other guys. There, he decided to call our Taipei office to see if anyone had the local number of anybody who could possibly be with Ms Bear at that time. We finally reached her of course, and to learn that she was also trying very hard to contact us. Only at times like these, do we realize the importance of phones and working phone lines.

We quickly came to a decision to make use of that time before 7pm to go for dinner at Mr J. and I’ll rush back for the meeting. JL too, agreed to come pick us up at the hotel at 530.

In the end, we didn’t have lunch but Uncle Z but I headed out to buy a local sim card for me, only to learn that convenience stores don’t carry them. What’s more, there wasn’t a shop selling phones anywhere near this area. That was when Uncle Z felt we should just go to the office to see if we could use their phone to call back home.

Good idea I thought, since JL was at the office and Ms Bear was at the company hostel, plus I’ve never been to the office before. And it turned out much nearer that I’ve always imagined it to be.

There, I got a sim card from the accountant hehe, and a tour round the office, as well as introductions to the colleagues whom I’ve never before met… and another surprise to meet a name I’ve heard of before and get a free yet very nicely autographed album from him.

Anyway, at the office, all forms of connection (phone / email) between Taipei and Singapore were also cut. All except for the amazing and formidable msn haha. Who would have thought… It was at that point, that I searched my list and found QH online and asked her to converse my message to SH.

As we waited at office for Ms Bear, we got a call from Dave that he’ll be going along with us for dinner as well. And gosh did the entourage grow bigger haha. It took quite some time before they arrived, and I was quickly running short of time before my meeting.

So JL decided we should set off first with Ms Bear and along the way, he called to place orders haha.. a very clever and efficient idea I must say. Because by the time we got there, we could eat immediately. I finished my share in less than 20mins and that was where the rest of them arrived.

In total, we had 1 Taiwanese, 3 Singaporeans and 7 Malaysians. But I took my leave after we took a bday photo with Ms Bear to remember by. Uncle Z being the great person he is, offered to return to the hotel with me even though he wasn’t involved in the meeting.

I was early in fact, because my boss, J and PP hadn’t arrived yet. The meeting well, was more of them talking and me trying my best to take down all their off-the-top-of-their-head-talk as fast as I could, without losing too much of their intentions (otherwise I would be dead meat). It was done swiftly under 2 hours. And as they headed off to the venue, I very politely declined my boss’ offer for me to go along with them hahaha.

Waited quite long for Ms Bear to return from office, so we could go out to the night market and I gave up after a while, to end up walking out onto the streets of Taipei myself, for the first time.

There was just one place I really wanted to go and I did go walk those empty streets once again. Not sure what for because its always quite pointless going there but yet, there are so many things that are irrational anyway.

As I scoured through the exciting convenience stores one after another, I got a call from Ms Bear that she had already reached the hotel. She had moved in with me to my room. Although it was already midnight, we still decided to go out to Tong Hua night market just for the heck of it, and because she was feeling quite down that day (which if you remember me mentioning, it was her birthday).

Over a bowl of 愛玉 and some very very good 鹽酥雞, we talked and talked.. then we ended up as 2 very blue people roaming the streets of Taipei in the wee hours of the morning. Yet, we didn’t want to return to the hotel to sleep.

Instead, we headed down to 誠品just to buy a book each and then went on another tour of convenience stores around our hotel area, before we decided to call it a day. It was 3.30am by then. The bad part was, I hadn’t even started to make changes to the work that I needed to do haha.

^ The pile of poo-h at a watsons

^ I think the words on the board speaks for itself hehe

(The 2 dogs that were sleeping happily outside a 7-11 and never moved an inch even as we entered the store. Notice the dog near the entrance? The opening of the door is actually where its head is hahah. If you're afraid of dogs, you can look for another convenience store...)

Pushed on with my work till about 5am when I gave up and felt I should wake up earlier to continue. It was really tough trying to type Chinese or use a pc application on a macbook.

Erm, I forgot to mention, that during the times when we were in the hotel, our favourite channel would be starworld, where all sorts of cheesy old hk movies would be aired. And yea… they are cheesy, corny, layered with lousy background music and a little *cough* ‘A’. But let me clarify, just in case you start wondering why these 2 girls are so weird… these shows are good to watch because you don’t have to invest that much energy into it when you turn your eyes to watch every now and then.

Off to bed I went, 24 hours after I first woke up for my flight.

28^th Dec 2006 – Rehearsal Day

Awoke at 10am to start on my modifications and kept going till around 12, when Ms Bear decided she will go out to buy 關山便當 for me, when I only mentioned it to her yesterday how good it is. It was really very sweet of her to take a cab out just to buy it.

Before she returned, my boss called me to look for Uncle Z and asked me where the CD for the rehearsal was, as ‘jio leng’ was gonna be there soon. The CD was with me, but Uncle Z of course wasn’t. He wanted me to bring the CD to the venue and try to contact Uncle Z to go over immediately. At that point, I was still in my ‘sleeping clothes’ and my hair in a more than messy state. Couldn’t imagine going out and walking over to the venue like this, so I arranged with Uncle Z who was out for lunch to meet me back at the hotel lobby before he headed towards the venue.

Passed the CD and I rushed back to my room as fast as I could, to hide my messiness which was really a bad match against any other person in that hotel lobby haha.

After I ate the delicious便當 Ms Bear brought back, I made my way out myself to the venue with 2 heavy laptops (mine and ms bear’s) because I wasn’t sure if my wonderful mac would work on the projector.

Took me some time to find the entrance but eventually I did. Couldn’t believe I’m back that this place once again and it somehow looked different from this new perspective.

(The stage)

And as expected, I soon learnt that there was no adaptor that would match my macbook and the projector. I walked back to the department store next to the hotel, at the advice of G who said there was an apple store there.

Just as I wanted to step out, I realized it was raining. Wanted to borrow an umbrella from the guard there, but strangely… he had none (he even tried looking behind the drink dispenser machine =_=). So, in the end, I braved the rain and went in search for an adaptor.

Unfortunately, the search was fruitless. I returned to the venue and switched from my macbook over to Ms Bear’s 小白 instead. As I was doing so, I very stupidly got my little finger caught in between seat and steel of the chair I was sitting on. It hurt real bad~~ and blood started to ooze out. I even got blood dripped onto poor 小白.

Guess that was the beginning of a spate of ‘accidents’ where I would hurt myself and an omen of a bad show for me. To fast forward a bit, I hurt my other fingers twice where I never realized, and once when I was lying in bed trying to cover myself tightly with the sheets. Then I also banged my hips against the hostel table when I first stepped in. How more stupid could I get? But I believe the pain cannot be compared to my boss banging his head as he got into the taxi hahah =P (ok, I shall not be evil since he did treat me well there)

(More yummy 便當 for dinner!!)

The rest of the rehearsal went on as it usually would, only that this time... it lasted till almost midnight. I was really quite burnt out by then. Yet, as we stepped out of the venue, we didn’t want to just go back to the hotel for an early night’s sleep. Afterall, this is Taipei... where night markets abound!

So Uncle Z, me and Ms Bear, decided to go to 師大 night market for makan. Soon after we reached, Ms Bear’s Singapore friend as well as KW and her Taiwanese friend joined us as well, to have the very delicious 滷味 but very very bad and sweet tea that we needed to order, so as to meet a minimum spending when you dined in.

There, while eating the滷味 I was craving for so badly, we had a nice chat with KW’s friend and we also gave YZ a call to surprise him with a Happy Birthday song while he was out having a massage.

2 plates of 滷味 and 2 unfinished pots of lousy tea later, the rest of師大 night market was already 90% closed. That was when KW’s friend told us his friends were at 士林 ktv-ing away and made us foolishly hope that it shops would still be opened there. It wouldn’t be any harm because he was going to drive us there anyway heheh.

By the time we got there, it didn’t appear very promising. Nonetheless, we went to the KTV first because Uncle Z wanted to use the toilet there. When we came down, KW’s friend’s friend was already there. They introduced him as T, and so did he himself. Earlier on, KW’s friend had said he was in the same company as T, but I didn’t know that he would be at the KTV.

As I shook his hand, I was trying hard to connect this name to the face that I had always linked this name to. Ok, that sounded complicated… what I meant, was, he looked different from how I imagined him to be. I hope I didn’t look too puzzled haha =P.

Anyway, T got a kick out of figuring out we were Singaporeans and exclaimed how he could differentiate between Taiwanese, Singaporeans and Malaysians. The rest of that meeting, I don’t really remember, except for the fact that they were all going to watch the show tomorrow.

We bid goodbye and went roaming the empty streets of士林 before we really decided it was quite stupid, walking around aimlessly. By the way, it’s the first time I’m walking in士林 with everything closed hahaha, how strange it felt.

While KW and her friend left for 誠品, Uncle Z took me to look for YZ and D-ge who were on their way home after their massage session. They also very very kindly offered to buy porridge for the both of us. Really good for a cold night like this =)

We arrived at their hostel just a few minutes after they had arrived and we dug into the piping hot porridge. This porridge is really different from our regular porridge.. I just don’t know how to describe it. Mine had fish and squid in it, the rice wasn’t very mashed up (more like teochew porridge) and there was egg flower in it as well. It tasted pretty good except for the fact that the bowl was huge and my stomach was already bloated from eating the滷味 just about an hour ago. Sorry I don’t have a photo of it haha.

Done with the eating, D-ge then picked up the guitar and starting playing and singing his favourite songs. *whisper* I believe he knows just these songs and he keeps practicing them haha. But no matter what, he still plays the acoustic guitar better than me (I suck…). They try to push the guitar to me, but I push it off by saying I got my finger injured and I’m only used to electric guitars hahah (yes, lame excuses... but they do work you know).

I mean, how can I play the guitar when there are 2 experts plus one novice who is much better than me there? So most of time, I was just watching Uncle Z and YZ teach D-ge.

Let me also mention that it was already 4am by now. And without any regard for time, Uncle Z thought it was a good idea to help YZ move the TV from the living room, to his room. I almost fainted haha…. And as G remarked the next day ‘你跟錯人了!’.

All these night owls… testing TV connections, moving TV sets and finding modly rotting stuff in the room, plus Uncle Z drinking coffee at 4am in the morning. It was unbelievable. And I always thought me sleeping this late was bad hahah. These people, just don’t take care of their health…. erm, actually me too =P

Finally at around 530am, they were done and we caught a cab back to the hotel. Ms Bear was still awake with her friend in the room. As I went to shower, I was quite surprised that she was intending to go out with her friend. OMG, another incredible night-morning owl hahah. 一晚還有一晚晚….

By 630am, I conceded defeat and was already snoozing away, while Ms Bear was still somewhere out where… (I began to wonder if that house of night owls we left, was already sleeping too)