Taiwan - February 2

Today I went to the hair salon to get my hair straightened! What an ordeal that was!

First they rub a chemical to relax your hair, then wrap your head in saran wrap and put it under a hair steamer. When the hair is sufficiently relaxed, it's then washed and dried. Then small sections are smoothed with a special ceramic flat iron. When all the hair has been smoothed, it's then combed through with a heavy conditioner (that also acts as neutralizer) and left to sit for 30 minutes.

After the hair is conditioned, it's again shampooed, rinsed and dried. After it's been finally styled, the client is allowed to go home, with one caveat: the hair can't be washed for three days and it can't be pulled back or put up for a week.
Tonight was my grandmother's birthday. My uncle hosted a party at a restaurant. There was a lot of great food served! One of my favorite dishes was shrimp in a dollop of butternut squash topped with melted cheese in a seashell. The photo above is of "long life noodles", which is a traditional birthday dish. The photo below is a fancy version of stinky tofu.I'm really fond of the traffic in Taiwan. It's almost like the line on the roads are suggestions only, and when making left turns it's okay to hold up traffic. Scooters can pretty much go anywhere, and parking wherever you can find space seems to be the norm, even if you end up parking on the wrong side of the street!

I'm noticing I'm getting quite a few mosquito bites. That's no fun. I should have brought bug spray.

Being OK About Being Alone

I'm not quite sure where I found this revelation, but there it is.
So many times you hear that the best way to find a good partner is to not only be one, but to feel so comfortable with ourselves that we don't feel the need to spend time with someone else.

It's a tough realization to make. Mostly because it's one of those stupid life lessons that you have to figure out for yourself no matter how many times you've heard it.

I'm an only child. In many ways, I've been alone my entire life. Yet I yearn for one of those special relationships so badly, and when I finally think I've found it, the whole thing comes apart in front of me. Maybe we're incompatible, maybe he's emotionally abusive, maybe he's narcissistic, maybe I'm too immature for a relationship of the caliber I'm looking for.

Sometimes I find my weekends with nothing to do. And I crave human companionship so badly that I call every local friend I know looking for someone to go to coffee with, to have lunch with, anything to get me away from myself. When I can't find a single person who wants to spend time with me, I end up moping in my apartment and dope my 7-up with just enough amaretto to put me to sleep.

Am I so horrible that I can't even stand being around me? How sad!

The longer I'm single the less I want to date, and the less I want to be involved with someone. I feel like I would just end up disappointed with everyone involved. And the more I think about that the more I just want to stay the hell away from everyone and spend more time with me. Yet I can't stand me.

I have a strange relationship with myself.

Changing Faith

Associated Press: Survey: US Religious Landscape in Flux

I was born into no religious affiliation. When I was very young some Mormon (LDS) missionaries visited my mom and she thought it would be good if I went to church once a week.

When I was in college I decided that my personal spiritual views were not in alignment with LDS spirituality and left that church. I could wax poetic on how leaving the LDS religion is not quite the same as just not going anymore.

Later in college I went back to church, and eventually converted to Catholicism. I was a very ardent believer and I felt that there were good things in that religion.

Somewhere between college and my professional life I saw things in Catholicism that I did not agree with. Some doctrinal things, but mostly I did not like the lack of respect Catholicism (and by extension, most die-hard Catholics) has for other religions, and that bothered me deeply. So include me in those ex-Catholics.

I read somewhere recently something that Steven Weinberg said, "with or without religion, good people can behave well and bad people can do evil; but for good people to do evil - that takes religion."

Maybe that's why so many people in the United States are migrating to non-denominational churches, because they're getting sick of the whole, "Religion Flavor A is the only way to salvation, Religion Flavor B is misguided (or, in the case of A = Catholicism and B = Buddhism, Flavor B isn't even a religion, it's a way of life!)" attitude that permeates being attached to a particular religion. If you're non-denominational, it takes a lot of that close-mindedness out and you can say, "this spiritual mindset works for me, but I realize that it may not work for everyone and that's OK" and not feel like you're going against what some priest/pastor/bishop/holy guru has said.

Every once in a great while I feel the urge to go to Mass - I still feel there are great truths in the human condition to be found there, and I believe that the music is moving to me and that there is something beautiful and vital to human existence there. But I know that I don't fit there anymore because my view of the world and what it means to be a good Catholic are in disagreement. And I'd like to think I'm a person of integrity and that I could not, in good conscience, force myself to adhere to a religion that I could not agree with 100%.

Taiwan - February 1

Today I went to the Museum of Natural History with my parents. We saw some interesting exhibits there. I think my favorite exhibit was the "Collection & Research" Gallery, but I also found the "Chinese Science & Technology" and "Chinese Medicine" Exhibits interesting too.

Some of the exhibits are quite interactive, most especially the "Journey of Human Life". I found the aging and medical diagnostic parts of that exhibit most interesting, although they also had an "after death" section with a real Egyptian mummy and sarcophagus! Unfortunately no flash photography was allowed in that section and the light wasn't good enough to take photos. There was a special exhibit on aging and the body at each decade of life. Apparently after 100, all the organs are withered and the body is "ready for death". Kind of morbid and definitely doesn't make me want to die of old age! Another exhibit had an eyeball tracking demonstration; to simulate what it would be like to be immobilized from the neck down. After messing with that I decided I'm much too impatient to live like that!

A few of the exhibits had English explanations or commentary but most of them did not. I did notice one audio commentary that was not only in English and Chinese, but in Taiwanese too!

There was also a dinosaur exhibit that I enjoyed; they had an animatronic T-rex and velociraptors, which I thought were a lot of fun.

I'm also thoroughly convinced that if we forced people in the United States to start using the squat toilet it would help our obesity and related health problems.
Tonight I went to a night market which was a lot of fun! I thought most of the vendors were selling a lot of crap though. However, the crowded atmosphere was great and the food was good. I also noticed they were playing a lot of Western music, which I found amusing.(I'll blog later about all the great food!)

CostCo Savings

Even though I'm just feeding myself, I maintain a CostCo membership. Mostly because I know for a fact that I can get contact lens solution cheaper at CostCo than I could buying the stuff at a drugstore. Also, if I'm ambitious, I can consume that 3 quart package of strawberries for $5.00 on my own, although I'd prefer a little help.

I let my membership lapse for a few months because CostCo isn't a place that I visit all too often. So tonight I renewed my membership and unloaded some hard-earned cash on non-perishables I needed (and a couple splurges). How much did I save? [price I paid at CostCo]/[price I found somewhere else or would otherwise normally pay]

DVD - The Brave One (we all know I'm a sucker for movies) -> $18.09/$14.99 ($3.10 loss)
Clorox Automatic Toilet Bowl Cleaner, 6-pack -> $8.99/$21.96 (at $3.66 each) ($12.97 savings)
Tide Ultra High Efficiency Laundry Detergent 170 oz -> $19.49/$35.90 ($10.56 for 50 oz) ($16.41 savings)
Skintimate shave gel, 4 x 9.5 oz cans -> $8.44/$14.99 (Actually found the same package product!) ($6.55 savings)
Dial Clean & Soft Body Wash, 3 x 18 oz bottles -> $7.49/$17.97 ($5.99 for 18 oz bottle) ($10.48 savings)
Opti-Free Replenish Contact Lens Solution, 2 x 14 oz bottles -> $16.22 /$23.51 ($16.79 for 2 x 10 oz bottles) ($7.29 savings)
Centrum Performance Vitamins, 150 ct -> $18.87/$24.98 ($19.99 for 120 ct) ($6.11 savings)
Cascade Advanced Dishwasher Powder, 125 oz -> $7.59/$8.65 ($5.19 for 75 oz - regular stuff) ($1.06 savings)
Ziploc Freezer Bags, Quart-Size, 4 x 54 bags -> $8.89/$39.96 ($3.70 for 20 bags) ($31.07 savings)

My total savings: $88.84!

That means this trip alone more than paid for my membership this year! I am a little bummed about paying extra for the movie, but am pretty happy about saving almost $39.00 overall (after you count the price of a yearly membership).

Black Man vs. White Woman

Black Man vs. White Woman

I think it's much more complex than this. I find Mr. Obama to be less abrasive than Mrs. Clinton, and in many ways, a "softer" candidate. But I also feel that he would do a lot to bridge divides in Congress that Mrs. Clinton and Mr. McCain would be unable to. And *that's* why I think he's the best candidate in the running.

I wouldn't have a problem voting for a female candidate. . . if I liked her. And I don't like Mrs. Clinton.

Heath Ledger Follow Up

The best article I've read on the man since his death:

Analyzing the Double Life of Heath Ledger

My opinion is that he's my generation's James Dean. Feel free to disagree.

Coffee Creamer

One of the things that I thought was cool over in Taiwan (but is suspiciously absent here) is the fact they sell sweetened condensed milk in tubes! It's similar to what I found on this New Zealand grocery site.

Anyway, the Taiwanese don't eat much dairy (I don't even think most of their bubble tea has dairy in it), and at the grocery store I went to there was a tiny section devoted to packages of single-serving packets of sugar (in paper tubes and in packets) and creamer (also known as "coffee whitener", mostly non-dairy). One of the creamers of choice is sweetened condensed milk.

It definitely makes sense to buy it in a tube, even if you were using it for cooking. A dab in coffee is divine.

I'm hitting up all the Asian groceries I can find to see if I can locate this. It's possibly one of the coolest ideas that I just must add to my pantry. And office.

Ugly American

I've been having a couple instances of culture shock recently. Here's an anecdote.

I was relaying a story from my vacation today to someone I know. The story involved my grandmother saying something to me in Chinese that I didn't understand.

The person laughed and said, "so she was like, [unintelligible babble that an average American would think sounded like Chinese]".

I didn't say anything, but was pretty offended. If you don't *know* a language well enough to attempt speaking it, you have no business trying to fill in the blanks with your own made-up shit. It's just rude.

I know this person didn't mean any harm, but I definitely think it was a prime example of Ugly American at work. Yuck.

Packing

When I started prepping for my trip, I ran across Eagle Creek's packing system. I've seen their displays in map and travel stores before, but never actually bought anything until my vacation this year.

I already had luggage, which I bought on sale from Luggage Online - I bought three bags from Samsonite's Ultra XLT 3000 series, which is now discontinued. FYI, I purchased the 22", 26", and 29" expandable suitcases. What's great is that they nest inside each other for storage. If I had to do things over again, I probably would not have purchased the 29" suitcase, as it's enormous and there's no way I'd want to lug that anywhere. The only time I've used it is when I moved to L.A. and needed something large enough to live out of for a couple of weeks while my household goods caught up to me. I now believe that I need to buy a carry-on sized bag that could be carried-onto most if not all flights (something that's close to 7"x14"x21"), as the 22" bag tends to be slightly too-big, even when I don't stuff it. I brought the 22" and the 26" bags with me on my trip, and flying over I nested the 22" bag inside the 26" bag, and had enough room for all my clothes, toiletries and presents. The friend who dropped me off at the airport was impressed I packed so light, even though my bag was pretty heavy. Do I really pack all that lightly for a girl? I think extreme adventurers and travelers pack lighter than I do.

Onto Eagle Creek's Pack-it System. I was really impressed with the ingeniousness of their ideas. Their system comprises of three items, their folders, cubes, and sacs.

Eagle Creek's folders are really nifty, you fold your slacks, jeans, skirts and shirts (using their plastic card for the shirts) and place them at the bottom of the folder, top it with the plastic card and then fold the folders' flaps over, keeping everything neat and even compressing the clothes a bit to take up less space. There's a video showing how it's done here. I bought 2 of their 18" folders which was just about right for my trip (although I did bring more clothes home than I brought with me, and I didn't use one of the folders when I packed for my flight over at all), and I think I'll eventually get a 15" folder for shorter trips (and smaller bags!).

Eagle Creek's cubes are a really cool idea to separate underwear, sports wear, t-shirts, etc from the rest of your clothes. Basically, if you don't pack it in a folder, you can pack it in a cube. My dad mentioned that Cabela's has similar packing cubes for cheaper. I would also point out that they only come in black, which offends my girly sensibilities. I bought way too many of the cubes. I used a quarter-sized cube for underwear, which fit over a week's worth perfectly, a half-sized cube for bras and sleepwear, and another half-sized cube for sports wear (I erroneously thought I would be doing a lot of running while I was over there.). The full-sized cube was way too big, I thought, but would probably fit a week's worth of men's undershirts and extra souvenir t-shirts nicely.

I bought an extra-small sac for my camera accessories - extra batteries for my 35 mm, extra memory cards and the charger for my digital camera. If I was really smart I would have bought an extra battery for my digital camera. I think when I finish unpacking I'll use the extra small sac to keep a spare toothbrush and toothpaste in the car, maybe even a travel comb. I also bought a shoe sac for my running shoes, and thought it was a cool idea. Their shoe sac would probably fit ankle-high hiking boots if you were traveling somewhere for outdoors activities.

I bought an Eagle Creek toiletry bag, which I was fairly impressed with and definitely will use on future trips. It has room for everything, provided that it's travel-sized.

I also bought a large Eagle Creek compression sac, which came in handy for storing dirty laundry during my trip and packing extra clothes for the flight back.

Other major items I brought with me were Columbia Sportswear Sierra Madre shell (it's packable and water resistant, along with having a security pocket so I didn't need to wear a money belt to hide my passport) and my trusty Timbuk 2 messenger bag. However, because of the inclement weather that I didn't plan for, the jacket wasn't quite heavy enough for me and I feel a traditional backpack would have worked better than the messenger bag. Live and learn, I guess.

I also feel that if I'm going to be doing any other major traveling I should invest in quick-dry traveling clothes as well as more suitable luggage. Eagle Creek does make a cool adventurer's backpack (even in a women's model!) with an auxiliary backpack that can be removed for day trips, but I'm not sure if I want to be completely locked into one company's products, as fond as I am of their packing system.

I'm back!

No, I did not fall off the face of the planet. :) I was on vacation!

I'll post stories and photos soon.

I was supposed to have a date last night, but we both were sick with a cold (no, not the same cold!). My cold I picked up on vacation, and I'm pleasantly surprised that I have no stuffy nose or much of a fever. I do however have a nasty sore throat, chest congestion, and body aches.

Because of the date cancellation, I'm forced to using the produce I bought before it goes bad. Therefore, I decided to make a mushroom-asparagus omelet. The veggies should help with the cold (at least that's what I tell myself).

I sauteed the entire 8 oz container of sliced mushrooms (because they were starting to look bad) with butter, salt, pepper, and garlic powder. I also microwaved a handful of asparagus stalks, snapped/cut into bite size pieces. I won't use all the mushrooms, and will probably use the leftovers in spaghetti tomorrow (if I'm motivated).

Make the omelet (I used three eggs, a splash of milk, salt and pepper) and after you flip it add the veggies and some cheese on one side and fold the omelet over.

Piece of cake.