A Cry for Help (Suicide Attempt @ 大蹈程)

Everyday, as long as it's not raining, I commute to work by bicycle. I take this beautiful scenic bicycle route following the Danshui River along the east side of Taipei City. I highly recommend it, riding in the morning makes me feel much more awake when i start the day, and it mellows me out after work in the evening. It's even more beautiful when the sun goes down.

This morning's ride was a bit different than my usual ride though. The weather was great, a bit hot, but nice clear blue skies. . . similar weather to the last time something like this happened. I'm almost at my office, waiting for a traffic light to turn green when an older lady comes up to me and tells me something in Taiwanese and points towards the river. I don't understand Taiwanese so I ask her to speak in Mandarin. Then when she started speaking in Mandarin I realized, my mandarin sucks, i can only understand half of what she's saying. . . but it doesn't matter because when she points again, I finally noticed what she's talking about.

There's a person covered in mud at the ledge holding onto the railing, . Honestly, from a small distance away the person looked like a drunk homeless guy, so I was hesitant to do anything. I was thinking to myself, I was already late for work. Someone else will help that guy. But then I slowly walked closer to the mud covered homeless guy and realized that he was actually a young girl. . . i'm guessing maybe 20 years old. Difficult to tell since her muddy hair was covering her face. Another older guy was also walking towards her and he started trying to talk to her, asking her if she's okay and holding onto her arm so she wouldn't fall/jump in again. She didn't respond, she only started to quietly cry.

I'm not sure what my plan was at that moment but I climbed over the railing and jumped down onto a large flat rock sticking out above the mud. The ledge was probably a little less than one meter above the muddy bank of the river, the only danger of falling would be getting my shoes and pants dirty. I think my plan was to push her so she'd be more safely on the ledge because at that time half her body was hanging off the side. But another older guy followed me over the rail and while standing on the ledge he tried to pull her up but he could only get her halfway up before I helped out and pushed from below. The original older guy then pulled from behind the railing and we got the girl over the railing and back on dry land.

By that time there was 5-6 people surrounding her and someone called the authorities. So I went to the nearest water fountain and tried to clean off the foul smelling mud from my hands. Just so happens to be an small empty bucket next to the fountain so filled it up and put it front of the mud covered girl who still didn't say a word, just quietly crying. And a lady watching the scene told me I was really nice and thoughtful. . . i wanted to reply with "I know!" but instead I thought it'd be better if I just nodded. After that I got on my bike and went to work smelling like smelly river water but feeling pretty good that I helped someone a tiny bit. . . someone that maybe didn't really care for the help but hey, probably better than doing nothing.

Drunk Cockroach

Last night I saw a cockroach drinking from a discarded beer can. I kind of regret not taking a picture of it. It's exactly how you would imagine it would look like. The beer can was tipped sideways on the sidewalk and a big ass cockroach (the nasty kind that flies) had it's head inside the opening. It's butt was angled upwards and moving up and down a bit, it really looked like it was excitedly enjoying beer for the first time. I wonder if cockroaches can get drunk. . .

Anyways, speaking of getting drunk. I got pulled over Saturday night for drunk driving. . . well technically drunk riding as I was on my motor scooter. That was an interesting experience to say the least.

A little background on how the Taipei police catch DUI people. Mostly during weekends but sometimes on weekday, checkpoints are setup randomly at key points around the city, almost always at on ramps to bridges and highways. You have to slow down and let the police take a look at your face and smell for alcohol.

My girlfriend and I were on our way home from a Mexican restaurant/bar. We were supposed to go there and watch the World Cup semi-final match or something like that with some friends. When we found out that the match starts at 4 AM, we said F that and we left. On the way home we passed by two police DUI checkpoints. No problem at either one, police let us pass. I told GF "Wow, crazy amount of cops tonight." When we were at the most 2 minutes away from our destination, unbelievably there was yet another checkpoint. While we were approaching it I jokingly told the girlfriend "Watch, we're gonna get stopped."

Two seconds later. . . the cop takes a look at my face, same as the two checkpoints before except this time I get asked "How much did I drink tonight?" I responded "Nothing" but I did not say it in complete confidence. I was lying. I think he knew it. I'm such a bad liar.

He tells me to turn off the engine and show him my license and registration. I'm a bit nervous now. He looks at my license/registration and asks me to walk over to the patrol car. He asks me again "How much did I drink tonight?". . . this time I said I had one or two sips of beer. I changed my story, unsurprisingly he doesn't believe me. He takes out the breathalyzer machine. He asks me "Are you sure you only had one or two sips?" trying to pressure me into confessing. I say "Yes, only one or two sips."

Now I'm really nervous. This little machine in front of me will decide if I will forever have a criminal record, if i will be fined a huge sum of money, have my license taken away, and have my motor scooter towed away. As I blow into the breathalyzer I'm thinking "What if it's defective? What if it's been tampered with?" I mean the difference between being fine and going to jail is miniscule, only a small fraction of 1% BAC (Taiwan's limit is 0.055%).

I hear a beep. That means I can stop blowing. I nervously wait for the readout on the small digital display. It feels like forever, but in reality it was probably 3 seconds.

Eventually, it flashed "0.000%"

Hahahahahahaha! Cop loses, I win! I actually only had at the most 1/4th of one beer, almost two whole hours before the breathalyzer. I was only nervous because I have very low tolerance for alcohol, a 12 year old girl could probably out drink me. I look completely wasted when I've had one or two drinks even though I feel fine.

There was a million funny things I could've said to the disappointed cop. But (very typical for me) I couldn't think of a single funny thing to say. We just rode off, relieved, tired, excited and glad that it was over. Definitely an interesting experience.

Role Reversal

While eating dinner one night, I noticed how things are different. I was eating at the dinner table and my mom was in the living room playing Wii and I asked her when she's going to eat dinner. She said "just one more game."

If someone could go back in time and tell the 12 year old version of me that my mom would one day be playing video games (and to the point of not wanting to eat dinner). I'd never in a million years have believed it. Come to think of it, back then my mom probably wouldn't have believed it either.

It's funny because I've stopped playing video games. It's not because I don't have time. It's more that they literally make me sick. Last year I tried playing Halo 2 (maybe 3?) and I got motion sickness after 20 minutes. Recently I tried playing a game called Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (what's with these long ass names? What happened to names like Q-Bert, Dig Dug, Frogger) Anyways, that game also made me sick after about 30 minutes or so of playing. I'm thinking maybe the graphics in these new games are too realistic. The last games I played for longer than 5 minutes were Grand Theft Auto 3 and the original Counter-strike circa 1999.

Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare on the left, Counter-Strike on the right


I guess this is like a forced retirement from gaming. Oh well, there's always doing something productive with my free time. Yeah right!

I'm glad there's still Solitaire and Minesweeper.

Interesting Sign of Economic Recovery

I work in the FPD industry. To call business slow would be a huge understatement. Although, recently it has been picking up. And as a whole the Taiwan economy is picking up as well.

I occasionally ride the Taiwan High Speed Rail (THSR) train. These trains are fast. They top out at 300 km/h and takes about one and a half hour to get from the top of Taiwan to almost the very bottom (Taipei <-> Zuoying). Which roughly the distance between NYC and Washington D.C.

When the THSR service started a few years ago, like everyone else I was like WOW! After every business trip I'd think to myself "I can't believe I'm home already!" Fast forward to now and I've already taken it for granted. The rides feel like forever. Now, I'm complaining how there's no personal video screens, no music, no internet. . .

Reminds me of the video clip below:


Last week while riding the THSR to a customer site I noticed something very special.

The old ladies are back!

Let me explain. You basically only see two types of service people on the trains. Flight attendants which are usually young attractive girls, and garbage collectors which are usually older ladies. When business is slow, as it usually is in a recession, they layoff the garbage collectors and make the flight attendants collect the garbage. Conversely, when business picks up they hire back the old ladies and let the flight attendants do what they do best. . . look pretty and push those overpriced refreshment carts.

So. . .
Young ladies picking up garbage = Taiwan's economy doing bad.

Old ladies picking up garbage = Taiwan's economy is recovering.

Annoying Commercial

I hate this commercial. Especially the last part, it makes me want to punch her in the face. But sadly, I think it's not her fault. I believe having the voice of a 10 year old girl is considered sexually attractive with young men in Taiwan.

Some background on this commercial. It takes place in an internet cafe. I don't know if any still exist in the States but they are very common in Taiwan. They are usually open 24 hours and are the preferred hangout spot for young men. They typically provide free unlimited soft drinks and the fancier places have free snacks (chips, popcorn, warm bread/butter) and newspapers/magazines. Actually, I'm not sure if they still do this anymore, I haven't frequented an internet cafe in many years. Heck, I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't let people my age in. I'd have to find my college student ID and change the 2000 and add a little tail to the last '0' so it looks like 2009.

Which reminds me, I remember they had police curfew checks at these internet cafes. At 10PM or 11PM policemen would come in and ask to see everyone's ID cards. Anyone under the age of 18 would be shot. . . or fined. . . or politely asked to leave. One of those, i forgot which one. Anyways, this always made me a bit nervous because my online game name is "Ronald McCopKiller". They never usually look at the computer screens though.

Back to the commercial. The product they are selling is an energy drink. Similar to Red Bull. The last part of the commercial, the girl says "Won't let you fall asleep." I know I'm old, because that seems absurd to me. A product that prevents you from falling asleep?!?! Ludicrous I say! Sleep is pretty much the best part of my day.

Here's another similar commercial. Equally annoying.

Interesting Brand Names

Since I moved to Taiwan almost three years ago, I've noticed a few interesting brand names.

There's a brand of water called 多喝水 (duo1 he1 shui3) which literally translates into "Drink More Water." At first I was turned off by it. . . I was like, how dare a bottle of water tell me what to do! I'm an grown adult! I'm not going to drink more water just to spite it! But then I thought, well. . . maybe the bottle of water is looking out for my health. I mean water is better for me than soda or coffee. I'm so confused! What should I do?!?!

I ended up buying a green tea because it's cheaper. I don't know how that works. I mean green tea is just the same exact water but with flavor added. It's like ordering a plain pizza for $20 USD but if you decide to add pepperoni topping it becomes $10 USD. The beverage market is strange.

Anyways, back on topic. . .

I'm not much of a milk drinker so I don't usually pay attention to the milk section when I'm out shopping but this brand stood out. I have so many questions when I see this brand.

Who is Dr. Milker?!?!
Is he/she a medical doctor that spends his free time milking cows?
Or is this someone that got their PhD in milking?
Could you really tell the difference between milk from someone with only a masters degree in milking to someone with a PhD in milking?
Can you really get a PhD in milking?
Can you milk a cat?
I wonder what cat milk tastes like.


Then I think it's probably just some marketing person's idea. . . I'm thinking of starting my own brand of orange juice. . .

I'm gonna be so rich! Nobody steal this idea from me!


Oh yeah and my favorite brand name in Taiwan is. . .

*drumroll*

黑人牙膏 (hei1 ren1 ya2 gao1). This translates to "black person toothpaste."

What's even funnier is there's a cheaper toothpaste called 白人牙膏 (bai2 ren2 ya2 gao1) that translates to "white person toothpaste."


Yes, these are real products. I usually splurge for the black person toothpaste. Only the best for my pearly whites.

24 Days of My Life in Pictures

A few months ago, I wrote a post about a guy that took one picture everyday for 18 years straight to document his life. It inspired me to try it out myself.

It's kind of sad that I only did it for 24 days straight before I lost interest. It's much more difficult than I thought. . . to force yourself to take one picture that will forever represent that day in your life.

Here is 24 days of my life from end of May to mid/end of June 2008 in chronological order:

Anyone remember that bug scene from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom?

Just came back from lunch. While I was out it started raining like crazy. . . like "build a ship and load up thousands of animals" crazy. Fortunately, I had the foresight to bring an umbrella. Unfortunately, umbrellas only protect you from rain when it's falling at a downward angle, which it usually does but today's rain was not so cooperative.

Because I do not like the idea of working for 6 hours in soaked pants I decided I would try to wait for the rain to turn from category 5 typhoon level to run-of-the-mill heavy thunderstorm level before I walked back to my office.

While waiting for the rain to stop I played with me cell phone to kill some time. A few minutes pass and then I feel a slight movement on my lower back. I didn't think much of it, I thought it was the wind or something. I continuing playing with my phone. A minute later I feel more movement except now on my upper back. . . now I'm thinking something isn't right. So I start jumping around and feeling the back of my shirt. And then the freakiest feeling in the world happened. . . something was trying to crawl into my hair! I freaked out and bent down and flicked whatever it was off of me. A humongous cockroach landed a few feet from a lady standing near me. I didn't even have to look to know it was humongous because I could feel the mass when I flicked it and it actually made a sound when it hit the ground.

The lady jumped away from the cockroach and then she looked at me and I looked at her for a second. We both had one of those "WTF just happened?" looks on our faces. Well, mine was more of a "Did a cockroach just crawl under my shirt, up my neck, and into my hair?" look. While hers was more like, "Did you just grab a giant cockroach from your hair and throw it at me?" look.

I pretended like I wasn't freaked out and I walked away. While I was walking I felt all over my back and hair to make sure there wasn't anything still on there. I did this for awhile, hard to get that feeling out of your mind. Ugh. . .

I'm thinking the heavy rain floods the crevices/sewers where roaches hide during the day. I'm guessing that's why I had my encounter today. Lesson learned. . .

#1: watch out for cockroaches during heavy downpours.
#2: stuff shirt into pants. . . always.

Watch the scene from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (specifically the shot at the 1:52 mark):

Inspirational Story

I saw this on Digg earlier today, usually i don't post stuff like this but I thought this was really interesting. . .

Some guy named Jamie Livingston decided to take one polaroid picture a day, everyday, to document his life. He did it for 18 years straight from March 31, 1979 to October 27, 1997. . . he died of cancer the next day on October 28, 1997.

Some of his friends decided to make a website where all 6000+ of his pictures can be viewed. Unfortunately it's down due to too much traffic.

Here's a link to a few of the polaroids (a little bit slow to load):
http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/15131
Mostly same pictures minus a few. but much faster loading:
http://www.experienceproject.com/uw.php?e=224637
Here's a link to more background info:
http://onlytheblogknowsbrooklyn.typepad.com/only_the_blog_knows_brook/2008/05/mental-floss-di.html

I've decided to try the same project as Livingston, take one picture a day everyday for as long as possible. . . hopefully skipping the getting cancer and dying part of the project.

Today's pic:

LOL, don't expect much. . . my life is not particularly photogenic, especially on weekdays.

Update 24-Dec-2008:
Results from my own attempt at this project.

Snoopy Sno-cone Machine

Does anyone remember this thing? I was browsing through a blog that I frequent once in awhile, when I saw some hello kitty drink holder. I'm not sure why but it instantly brought up memories of the Snoopy Sno-cone machine my sister and I had when we were little. I vaguely remember the sno-cone ice that came out of it could be made just as easily with a plastic bag and a hammer, and the flavoring liquid it came with was just red sugar water. . . but I think we had a pretty good time with it or else I wouldn't remember it twenty plus years later.

Funny T-shirt

While crossing the street this morning I noticed a girl wearing a T-shirt that said:

Friends are forever
Boys are whatever

Made me think. . . good thing I'm a MAN! trapped in a boy's body.

Torture and T-shirts

How an AIM conversation about an internet advertising company's name switches to talking about torture and then T-shirts.

Me: Eyeblaster is the worst name ever
Friend: yeah I know.
Me: when i think of it, i have a bunch of different thoughts. . . all of them bad
Friend: hahaha
Me: it's like a some kind of medieval torture device
Friend: POW right in the eye
Me: give him 10 minutes on the Eyeblaster. . . he'll tell us where the secret base is.
Friend: hehe
Me: isn't there some kind of controversy right now?
Me: with wakeboarding or something?
Me: oops, i mean waterboarding
Friend: its a type of torture
Me: that's funny. . . waterboarding sounds like fun
Friend: it does right?
Me: the weather's great, let's go waterboarding!
Friend: like a cousin of boogie boarding
Friend: They should make a T-shirt like that
Me: haha
Me: i want to get some T-shirts
Friend: Oh yeah.. me too.. the gawker shop is having a sale!

slw11648

I started using a new instant messenger program recently that combines all the different networks (AIM, MSN, Y!, gTalk, etc) into one. It's called Pidgin, it works pretty well. I recommend it.

Having all your friends under one program is nice but it creates a huge list that's quite cumbersome. So, I decided to do a little housecleaning. Deleting all the people i didn't recognize and that haven't gone online in a really long time. . . until I came up to a "slw11648." It sounded so familiar, yet i couldn't remember. i kept on thinking for awhile. Who is this slw11648?!?!

Then I thought, maybe it's my boss from almost 10 years ago, back when i was working part time as a web designer. His first name starts with an 's' and his last name starts with a 'w', maybe the 'l' in "slw" is his middle name and the 11648 is birthdate.

I googled his name and first thing that came up was a short article that said SW had passed away less than a month ago (Dec-07) due to complications from leukemia. It also talked about the small company he founded and some it's products that i had a small part in building.

He was a good boss, funny guy, he helped me get my first real job out of college when i used him as a reference. I have some great memories from working with him.

RIP SW
1948-2007

I don't like this. . . i'm old.

I just got an invite for my high school's 10 year reunion. I wasn't really ready for it. . . kinda snuck up on me. I remember briefly talking about this with one of my friends last year but it's been completely off my radar until now.

I wonder how all my classmates are. I wonder what they'll look like. I wonder who got married, if anyone has children yet. I wonder how successful they are. The more cynical side of me wonders who got fat, who's losing their hair, who aged so much you need to look twice to recognize him/her and. . . if anyone died yet (i guess that would be my morbid side).

Unfortunately, I won't be able to find out any of the above. . . atleast not with my own eyes as I won't be able to attend. Not worth the time/money to fly back to US. Oh well, i'll just have to wait for the pictures from the classmates that i still keep in contact with.

I feel old though. I wonder what 18 year old me in 1996 would think of me now in the present 2006. I think 1996 me would be disappointed. :( Now I feel old and depressed. This blogging thing is great!

A bit random but here's a picture I drew last month with my 3 year old niece. It's kinda funny if you're familiar with the characters of Dora the Explorer. Atleast my niece thought it was funny. She chose the colors of the rainbow, that's why it looks a bit "unconventional"

Guess what fat girl eating noodles?!?! Wo hen yo kong!

I'm not really sure why but for the past few years I've thought about running a marathon. I remember making a pact with my friend a year or two ago that we'd both do the NY Marathon that year. That if one of us didn't run we'd have to pay the other a certain amount of money $100 or something. . . i guess that was supposed to be the motivating factor. It's pretty obvious nothing happened of that. There was no monetary penalty if neither of us did it.

I've decided I'm gonna give it another go. I have no excuses this time. I live right next to a waterfront park that stretches for miles and miles in both directions. The weather this time of year is very good, especially at night and I'm in pretty good shape right now.

Actually, i think the real reason why I'm doing this is because of the annoying TV commercial for the marathon that's shown 100 times a day. You can see it here(might be useful if you understand Mandarin). I'm so easily influenced by TV ads. :( Guess what fat girl eating noodles?!?! Wo hen yo kong!

Some stats:
The distance for the marathon is 26 miles (42 kilometers).
The record is 2 hours 12 minutes , that's an average speed of 5 minute 5 sec. a mile. I can't even do that for one mile! :(
Last year supposedly 100,000 people participated in the Taipei Marathon making it the world's biggest marathon.

So far, yesterday I ran 8 miles (13 km). I have only 10 week before the marathon (Dec 17). I got a long way to go before I'm ready to run 26 miles. I'm not sure I have enough time, in a few weeks I'll have a better idea if this is even possible for me.