Voices of Taiwan

Last night, I went down to the Legislative Yuan to see firsthand what was going on with these protests.  I felt that I really needed to see-at least see, and at least once-what was happening in arguably the most politically charged time in Taiwan's history.

It was surreal to say the least.

I skipped out on the entire Occupy movement in Los Angeles 4 years back.  TO be totally honest, I felt no connection to it.  Not necessarily because I felt it didn't affect me or because I didn't support my fellow youth, but simply because I was just...disconnected.  I've always been disconnected.  If we've ever spoken, you'll be hard pressed to find a time when I said anything along the lines of "Hey, you know what?  Politics!"  And also, to be more of a dick, I felt many people were talking as loudly as they were about the Occupy movement because it was in vogue.  It was downtown, where many people my age are already looking to be seen being different by being the same, and this news media whirlwind gave them an excellent chance to do so.  So I never made the effort.

Last night, I went.  To be in the middle of such a widespread protest-thousands of students sleeping and sitting in the streets, compacted into the median lines in a respectful fashion while their contemporaries gave passionate speeches (of which I understood "Hello" and any numbers 1-999)...it felt very alive.  I even talked to two individuals who between them could find the words to get their ideas across to me.  "It's not about trade," they said, "it's about democracy."  I thought it was a very objective way of looking at it.  Of course, it's a little about trade.  "We (this gentleman's theatre troupe) are small fish.  And they want shark to come eat us up."

Well go, little fishies.  Organize and unite.  You've got support.  I'll see you again soon.

Fight the Powah!
-LS^2

The view from afar.

A newspaper article detailing some

of the violence so far.

I don't know what he was saying, but

the street vendors all agreed. 

A sample of the sea of sit-inners and media.

I some instances, police beat protestors.

In others, they were applauded at shift change.

Stilt-walkin' protestors!

Rendol & Ben Shan.

They laid it down for me Democracy-style.

A view from the ground,

where plenty of people were sleeping.

"Taipei is calling!  Taipei is calling!

Not just Taipei!  Everyone!  Fuck!  Fuck!" 

Pretty self-explanatory.

Da'an Quixote

Sup, butts?  Just takin' a quick second to toss some pictures up now that Ryan has shown me how that all works.

I was supposed to go to church this morning with Kin, but she slept through God's sermon and left me to fend for myself on the mean streets of the Gongguan district.  So I bought some eggy ricey cheese meat and walked around wanting to praise His holy name.  So if you're out there, Lord (if), it's not my fuckin' fault I can't read Chinese.  You programmed me on a discount.  Lame.

So I'm'a go to Da'an Park and waltz around.  Not much else you can do with $30 to last the next 20 days.  Am I right, ladies?!

In flash news:

• I work at Forest of Wisdom English Academy.  It's all right.
• I got 2nd place at a Story Slam on Thursday night (docked crucial points for reading from my notebook).
• I drink beer.
• Ocean scented incense is lovely.
• Lolita is a hell of a book.
• Chinese is a hell of a language.
• Cocaine is a hell of a drug.

I love you most, ______.
Thank you.
-LS^2

You see the pandas, Brown Eyes?

Kin, not giving the peace-sign-thing.

I always like to look distressed in photos.

Temporary roommate #1: Cole.

he used to be in significantly worse physical shape.

Temporary roommate #2: Jon.

He likes Nancy.

The climb to our apartment.  While it resembles

a death march, it smells of a bakery.

The votes are in: Lucas is the storiest!

This is Claire.

She. Is. Always. Laughing.

This is essentially what all of Taipei looks like.

This is Yates.  While the li'l fucker wouldn't stay

still long enough for a good picture, I assure: he's adorable.

 Kids on a Slide II: Electric Boogaloo

This video is pretty rad.  This song is pretty "Eh."

Didn't Even Have to Use My AK.

Woke up feelin' fine, played some solid volleyball and killed it on D in the basketball game (even nailed a poster skyhook) and now I'm havin' a celebratory chocolate milk.  It's a good day.  If you'd like to share in my content demeanor or simply get a swig o' this chocci moo moo, send $1 (USD) to:
 
Happy Dude
742 Evergreen
Springfield

*Update: I have now consumed the majority of the chocolate milk, plenty more than I needed.  There are still a few drinks left, which-naturally-I'm going to finish off, potentially causing my tummy to perplode.*

I'm a week into work at Forest of Wisdom English Academy, a little over 2 weeks into Taiwan as a whole.  Do I love it?  Not especially, not yet.  But I'll learn to get into it a little more in time.  My classes thus far seem to be far better-behaved than my classes in Korea, and their proficiency is much higher as a whole.  The curriculum is far more in depth and the owner holds them to a very high standard.  He also teaches a full load of classes, so he's like Matthew Broderick in Glory, going into battle with his soldiers.  Kudos to Donovan, man.  He also had a childhood love for La Bamba, so that can only mean good things.

I got this dope ass new phone, too.  I still don't know how to use it very well, and it frustrates me when I'm trying to use the fuckin' map ('cause what the hell else will I do?), but it's still pretty rad.  It jiggles when I push it's buttons.

I had an interview for a job I didn't want.  I've been doing that a lot lately, but I use it as job interview practice.  This one was for a real big boy job.  I didn't come to Taiwan to work big boy jobs, however.  Not in the education sector.  No sir.  Fuck that.  Teaching?  That's for suckers and the emotionally lost.  But any job interview that requires me to give and be critiqued on a juggling demo is at least worth the time it takes.

Last night, I attended a little event at a joint called The Red Room.  From what I gathered, it's an apartment that also lends itself out as a performance space.  Sort of a donation based open mic.  So of course I signed up.  I wrote a Choose Your Own Adventure book to read collaboratively with the crowd.  5-minute time limit.  That means each piece has to be roughly 5 minutes or below, right?  Right?!  Well tell the fuckin' MCs that!!!  Doris, I'll tell ya, right off the bat, acts were 7, 8, 9, 10, 10+ minutes.  Four songs?!  You're gonna have the audacity to take the time to do four songs in your 5-minute slot?  Fuck you, you selfish rodent.  If you can't already tell, I was bumped due to time constraints.  I'm a fair dude, Dude, but I was miffed 2.0.  Control your shit.  That goes to the performers and the curators.  Control.  Your.  Shit.  I did, however, get a few tablespoons of free whiskey, so I guess that was okay.  I'll get 'em next time, Tiger.

But enough about me, how are you?  Hm?  Are you getting enough to eat?  Passing all your classes?  How's tee ball going for little Dakota?  Is he 9 already?  Lordy lordy lord, how the time flies.  You tell him he can come over any time and play on my tire swing, okay?  Okay, buh bye.

I went to school with a girl named Miranda Ernst.  We were in Mrs. Loving's 5th grade class together.  The last week of classes, she gave me her softball schedule and invited me to a game.  I had to go to Arizona on business the next day, but I held onto the schedule.  When I arrived back from my Odyssey, I found that I had time to make it to one more game.  However, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I did not go.  I just thought of that today as I transferred subways and thought "I wonder if Miranda remembers that.  I wonder if she noticed I didn't come.  I wonder what she's doing now."  I'll bet she's gorgeous.  I suppose our dark overlord Facebook could put the kibosh on any mystery here, huh?  I also loved Jenny Welcher, but she got too dark for my taste (emotionally, not pigmentally).

I love you, Miranda Ernst,
-LS^2

A general sense of the

chaos I lord over (stock photo).

The actual reception desk at

Forest of Wisdom English Academy

A photo of a beautiful young

woman I found while searching for

the La Bamba soundtrack album cover.

A photo of a beautiful young

man I found while searching for

the La Bamba album cover.

Adaptability

My good friend Jonno has an extremely well-written blog that is known as Jonno's Adaptability Blog.  In it, he has ruminated over many many subjects (from Hipsters to American Politics as Understood Through Madden '04).  He's a good thinker, that Jonno, and he just keeps getting better.  That is because is is--that's right!--adaptable.  And so must we all be, lest we want to die, our Orlando Magoc Shaq jersies over our muffin tops and our browser history full of Napster torrents and MySpace bookmarks.  Adaptability...that's where it's at.

So I'm taking it in stride that things I thought and things I thought I thought will be challenged and tested and rewarded and questioned over and over again, especially if I continually throw myself at the mercy of a country where I speak 0% of the language and a culture where I'm of the dim-witted minority.  But you know what, Babies?  I'm adaptable.  Ya gotta be.  I gotta be.

Like the job I got.  It's earily like my last job at Little Fox in Korea, but with a few ever important differences:

• Less than half the hours.  I work 19 hours/week.  I make less money, but pound for pound it's pretty all right.  They have to be 19 well spent hours, though.  No phoning it in like many of my contemporaries are (and soon-to-be contemporaries).  Nope.  Dude wants his teachers to care.  Or at least do their job well.  I can do the second part no problem.  It'll just take some work, which-though I'd rather not-I will do.
• No homework.  This is big.  At least 10 hours/week at Little Fox was devoted to grading the homework assignments which were purely a formality.  I hated it as much as the students did, and you can quote me on that, mother fucker.
• Western boss.  Does that wound racist?  Well it aint.  It helps to have a boss who speaks the same native language as you do.  And furthermore, you can operate under some of the same understood points, like how to go about teaching children.  Sure, it's not a given, but the gap between what I think and what he thinks is greatly sutured because of our likened background.
• Fun is encouraged.  That's awesome.

But it's not all great.  I have a boatload of "homework" to study before I'm ready to teach(I guess you never can escape it).  This flew in the face of the easy road I thought I'd be on, but it's only to start.  Soon I'll get good, then get great, then get paid, then repeat that shit ad nauseam until I puke in English.  It's a long bus ride and more work than I figured I'd be putting in, but I'm adaptable.  I can take it.  I'll probably come out studlier for it, too.

And another thing: I never thought I'd be living with roommates here.  I just assumed I'd be living alone again.  My bad.  I just got an apartment today where I'll be living with a chill gentleman named Dave (who gardens), a gorgeous young woman named Marta (who smiles) and another mystery woman named Amanda (who I have yet to meet).  It's a great place, great people, all that, but...I just figured I'd be living alone in Taiwan.  I guess I also thought I'd be making more money.  Overall, this will be a lesson in culture and experience and less of a lucrative endeavor.  I hope I keep liking it.

So be adaptable.  I understand I haven't exactly nailed this point to the wall, but forgive me, I'm listening to Bizarre Ride II The Pharcyde, which doesn't exactly make it easier to concentrate on my words.  So I'll end it there, 'cause Cole (my current roommate) is making dinner, and I wanna keep him company while he does so.

Forgive my scatter mindedness, but I can't concentrate right now.  I just can't.  Too much I am convinced I need to do.

Lucas,
LS^2

PS Sorry for the lack of pictures, but the only instrument of photography I've been carrying around is this loaner iPhone, which doesn't play nice with my computer.  Soon, y'all...

Inner and Outer and Rain

If you want to know what I've been saying for the last few days, please refer to this video...

If you want to know what I've been thinking, however, please refer to this video...

This concludes my State of the Lucas address.  Now I'm going to teach some kids who know how to count to ten how to count to ten...MY WAY!

Regarding Henry,

LS^2

Taiwanon

I can't stop coughing.  In general.  Been goin' on 14 years now.  And if you've ever seen that movie with Sarah Jessica Parker, you know that my star-studded extended family hates it.

I'm in Taiwan, suckas.  If you are too, congratulations, let's have a drink.  If you're not (to which I will assume the majority of you will raise your hands), that's fine too.

So I got here Wednesday night and was picked up by my fabulous mate Ryan (formerly known as Zeus).  I immediately learned that he's all but fluent in Mandarin, a fact that a) makes sense, b) eased my mind considerably.  We came home where I met his beautiful girlfriend Stephanie and together we walked their tri-legged dog Richard through the streets of Taipei-me for my first time, they for their billionth.  It's a trip, man, and I can't read any of it.

Since then, it's been a steady schedule of walks, breakfast foods, job hunts and apartment searches.  Just yesterday, I checked out a rad place.  Balcony, running water, the works.  But get this, Herkies: The girl showing it to me went to Iowa!  This may not be terribly noteworthy on it's own, but ladies and gentlemen, I went to Iowa.  She was even at the Jones County Fair when Foreigner played in '06.  Who knows, maybe we waited in line for a funnel cake together.  Statistically, it's almost assured.

Back-and-forward-tracking a little bit, my calves have decided that they will exist henceforth on the brink of failure.  6 weeks ago, the right one decided that it couldn't handle the load I was putting upon it and swiftly turned to an endless loop of minor pain, broken up by bouts of less-minor pain and occasionally unhinging with a power-marathon of far-less-minor pain.  But I've learned to baby it, as a mother would her...baby.  Fast forward to two days ago (wrap your mind around that shit) when I lobbied for (and was granted) a trip to the basketball courts, where I held a not-insignificant height advantage over a fair number of fellow park-goers.  So we're jockin' left and right, my game's a little off, and as I take a juke to the paint, my left calf decided to kill itself right there in front of all the happy Taiwanese lovers and lovelies.  I mean it put a bullet directly against it's brain stem and fired, splattering analogous brain matter all over the top of the key.  Our hero, y'all, was down for the count.  Really fucked my world up.  Made my excruciating way to a job interview, winced in pain the whole way through and hobbled back, a broken man.  In a country where I ostensibly cannot walk or talk.  I got a massage and some acupuncture, neither of which helped.  In case you're phoning your local consulate, demanding to know how to airlift me off of this island, let me assure you that now-two days and 100 bananas later-I am feeling far better.  Do keep the consulate on the line though, and ask how I can get a deal on a smartphone.

I just found my Dad on Skype this morning, and only now does he know that I'm in Taiwan.  I guess news travels slow when you don't care.

Last night was the last Jeomchon Open Mic night in Jeomchon, South Korea.  I helped start it, and it's a shame I wasn't there to see it off.  Jonno and Marize killed it, though, and I'm happy they did.  Love you fuckers.

Food here's oily.  Streets are like battlegrounds for roving gangs of elderly scooteristos.  Mosquitoes will kill us all.  Women are down-to-Earth gorgeous and men have thus far been utterly kind to me.  All in all, these last 4 days have proved promising.  Just gotta get my logistics in order and I can commence Phases 2-4 (of 60+) of my eventual takeover of the Asian continent (Phase 1 was to conquer Korea, which was surprisingly easy).

Stay tuned, Babies, 'cause my assumption is that I'll just keep talking...

Not Repulsive Enough
To the Blood Suckers,
-LS^2

A Dismal Smattering of Pictures...

Jimmy was crushed to see me go.

Hovering over the Japans.  I slept through
roughly 100% of this flight.

 Yeah, you're gonna tell me what to do.

Ryan doing something (as he tends to do).

The microscope Ryan's brother made

and sent to him.  In the background,

Stephanie shows her enthusiasm.

The mural that I now see is clearly
more fun to behold in person.

E'erbody in the club ridin' scooters.

Over and Over and Over and Over Again Now...

It's almost 1pm on Monday, February 24.  In less than 24 hours, I'll be on my way to the airport, and about a day after that, I'll be a resident of Taipei City, Taiwan.  That's for real...

I'm slowly getting my possessions packed, dispersed or spray-glued into my Journal, and next on the agenda is heading to Pavilion's to pick up some Spaghetti-Os for my upcoming temporary host Stephanie.  Past that, I really don't know what the hell to do with myself this afternoon.  My calf just exploded as it has a tendency to do these days, so I'm a Limpy-Lucas until I get it proper stretched out or massaged.

Anyone wanna buy my bike?  My guitar?  My stilts?  My blue suitcase full of framed illustrations, tax information and 4-track cassette tapes?  YES NO CIRCLE ONE.

I can't go hiking, which I really sorta wanted to do.  But maybe I can, which makes me think I only sorta sorta want to do it.  Really, these days it's been hard to tell the difference in those two.

Be good out there, Babies.
-LS^2