hypothermia: subnormal temperature of the body due to prolonged exposure to cold.

outside temp: 14 C / 56 F
water temp: 21 C / 69 F
distance: 1000m.
time: a lot faster than normal.

I got in the pool, noting the icy feeling of the water as I stepped off the ladder. Usually this is where I stand at the end of the pool anticipating the rush of blood and whatever else it is that goes from my toes and shoots towards my head, providing an instant wake up. Cold is normal. The rush is normal. Not lingering to feel the complete whoosh of the rush, I dove under and started the first lap. I got halfway across the pool and instead of being cold, I actually couldn't feel anything, which of course was like a false sense of warm. That feeling didn't last long. Swimming with goosebumps for the first 400 meters is normal. Swimming 800 meters with goosebumps and still freezing is not. The 9th lap felt great. The last lap I was praying I wouldn't black out. Or whatever happens when you swim too fast for too long and are freezing your toes off in very cold water for nearly a half hour straight.

Despite the sudden strange feeling of calmness and blurry feeling I got at the last lap, it felt great. In a very wake-upish and "wow, I didn't know I could swim that fast" kind of way.

Whatever people say about the water "feeling warmer if you keep moving" lost its validity. If what people say about the colder the water temp, the higher your oxygen intake...and the more oxygen intake, the smarter you'll be....then I should be a genius by sundown.

result: a high kind of buzz that should last at least through the morning.


reward: free hot shower.

skyless clouds

Sunday afternoon, I hopped the train into Taipei. Train rides always provide some entertaining means of people watching. This time the object of my attention was on a young kid, maybe 3ish, kneeling on the seat, face gazing at the blur of scenery out the window. I loved watching the kid. He was doing exactly what I would have been doing if it were my seat. What made him the most fun to watch was the occasional high-pitched hiccups that escaped his mouth, shaking his shoulders. It never phased him a bit, but cracked me up. His mom was abnormally cool. She talked, sang and played with him the whole trip, instead of constantly shushing him up, worried about what others would think. No, she began a song, then listened- and sang along- as the kid jumped in and completed the tune. It was cute. It made me miss my sister and nephew. I love watching people who interact WITH their children. My sister is amazing at that. I got off the train smiling.

I miss being around kids. A LOT. I even miss inevitably having to be "it" in every game of chase with giggling 3rd graders. Good times. :)


I fixed my skates. :):):) And officially know how to take them apart and do the necessary maintenance measures myself. With an IKEA furniture tool. Thanks to Dad for showing me how to do it when I was a kid. He is always good at showing us how to fix things. Like walls, toilets and cars.

Next week, am hoping to get out to the beach. We'll see. For some reason, I'm really excited about it. And feel sudden motivation to get studying done before then.

putting the guitar back in it's place in the corner..

"Sometimes it feels like a heart is no place to be singing from at all..."

Just really don't have much to say right now. I really, really want to go surfing.

back to the books...

school has started. it is the same, except the class load is a bit over half of what it was last semester, meaning there will be more time to keep up with the work load this time. yesss.

finally, i will have time to study Chinese. and relax. and study some more. i'd consider turning into a library junkie. a moment in the library tinted that mental image when i wasn't able to get a good wireless connection (it's usually REALLY fast). so i had to move to the local town library to check everything that needed checking.

the best guard at the apartment complex mentioned he missed us while we were gone. that made my day. he's got this grandfatherly smile that makes my day every time i drive in and out. our landlord gave us a box of pomelo. in Penghu, i got to drink a kind of beer that had pomelo juice added into it.... it takes beer from good to extra good on a hot summer day. might try mixing some myself.

battery is running low. bummer. guess it's time to quit mooching off the library's free aircon and wireless and go back to the apartment. and grab dinner and a cold drink on the way..

randomness...from the sista

Because I'm lucky . . .

to have been tagged by my sis.

1. What time did you get up this morning? 9:20

2. How do you like your steak? med-well

3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema?

Harry Potter (the newest one)

4. What is your favorite TV show?

don't really like watching tv..

5. If you could live anywhere in the world where would it be? where i live now

6. What did you have for breakfast? oatmeal and bacon

.

7. What is your favorite cuisine? SUSHI!!!! Japanese food.

8. What foods do you dislike? green peppers

9. Favorite Place to Eat? local hole-in-the-wall restautrants

10. Favorite dressing? Ceasar

11.What kind of vehicle do you drive? 100c.c scooter

12. What are your favorite clothes? denim shorts and T-shirt

13. Where would you visit if you had the chance? some beachy place in Asia, Marshall Islands

14. Cup 1/2 empty or 1/2 full? I couldn't give a flip. I have a cup, and that's all that matters.

15. Where would you want to retire? Beach.

16. Favorite time of day? around the time the sun comes up/goes down

17. Where were you born?Houma, LA

18. What is your favorite sport to watch? hockey. hands down.

19. Who do you think will not tag you back? omg, I'm so worrying about that. you have no idea..

20. Person you expect to tag you back first? I'm just waiting in pure anticipation to see who it is.

21. Who are you most curious about their responses to this? my sister. and she already answered. so my curiosity is already satisfied.

22. Bird watcher? don't you have to sit still for that??

23. Are you a morning person or a night person? Morning all the way.

24. Pets? none.

25. Any new and exciting news that you'd like to share? most ppl don't get the same kick out of the things i call good news that i do...like how I decided I want to meet an eldila.

26. What did you want to be when you were little? cowgirl, detective, CIA agent.

27. What is your best childhood memory? going with Dad to get haircut on Saturday mornings, visiting Alabama with Dad on business trips, P'cola trips

28. Are you a cat or dog person? dogggggg.

29. Are you married? nope.

30. Always wear your seat belt? yep. most of the time...

31. Been in a car accident? no, but I almost ran into my friend's van yesterday. kinda hard to stop a skateboard going down hill when you're sitting on it...

32. Any pet peeves? ha. too many to count. people who don't make effort to find a way to solve the problem before complaining about it.

33. Favorite pizza topping? pepperoni

34. Favorite Flower? i forgot what it's called. but it's really pretty...

35. Favorite ice cream? mint chocolate chip

36. Favorite fast food restaurant? Taco Bell

37. How many times did you fail your driver's test? oh, the thing where I had to make four right turns around the block with the police lady in the car? no, I did not fail that..

39. Which store would you choose to max out your credit card? Target. if they had that here. or surf shop.

40. Do anything spontaneous lately? got a job working at a B&B on a tiny island. and got shaved ice with my housemate last night.

41. Like your job? LOVE it.

42. Broccoli? with cheese

43. What was your favorite vacation? Disneyworld with friends, north cali last summer

44. Last person you went out to dinner with? work people.

45. What are you listening to right now? Chinese movie

46. What is your favorite color? purple

47. How many tattoos do you have? none

48.How many are you tagging for this quiz? mm.....I'm just stressing too much to be able to decide right now....

49. What time did you finish this quiz? 2:34pm

50. Coffee Drinker? duh. I am my own barista at present.

I LOVE...


waking up and going to work every morning.
feeling the sun on my shoulders while I drive.
figruing out how to roll out the pizza dough.
seeing a clear sky of stars at night.
breathing the air at sunset.
wearing a bathing suit everyday.
not having to wash laundry as often because of it ^^
wearing tank top, cut off denim shorts and flip flops to work.
listening to music while I clean the bathrooms.
CLEANed rooms.
listening to people chatting.
watching people enjoy themselves.
laughing. and watching or making others laugh.
making my own lattes.
ice banana.
hanging out with random people.
meeting new people.
meeting hippies.
playing with the dogs.
learning about surfing.
SURFING.
more surfing.
reading books.
realizing sometimes I don't have to think about anything.
falling alseep on the sofa.
lazy afternoons.

my life.

Sailing, sickness and splendor

A recollection of yesterday and the day before...

Day before:

Spent the 9-3pm partof my day on the sailboat. I love my life. I have the coolest jobs this summer. We set out at 9:30am with 6 customers- three women and three kids. Having kids on board was fun. Tony (owner/skipper) let the kids have the wheel most of the time, which they enjoyed. It was still pretty choppy from the typhoon when we started out, which made one of the kids a bit sick.He never puked, just felt sick. I felt it a bit in my stomach, too- usually don't get seasick, but a combination not having slept well the night before and the medicine I'd been taking made my stomach almost start turning. Blah.

I lost my voice- for three days in a row. That was kind of fun in a way. It was the best way to amuse people for three days. And amused they were.

Last night....BBQ with surfer guys & co. Yummmy. And....I made a joke in Chinese. One of the guys has a pair of boardshorts with a design around the waistband that looks like eyes. Giving him a hard time about it is fun- I always tell him it feels like his butt's looking at me. Yesterday he wore a different pair. The swells we had yesterday were already hard to catch, and I'd told him it was probably just harder to catch them since he couldn't see without his shorts. While bbq-ing, he randomly turned and told me, "I took the eye pair of boardshorts home to wash."
"Ah, so tomorrow you'll be able to see clearer."
(that was all in Chinese...but making a joke in a foreign language that you'd make in your mother one is a major accomplishment). He threw back his head and laughed. And I smiled with relief. I still have a sense of humor. And it can still show through. Screw language barriers.

This morning I woke up and felt the same as yesterday- sick. I decided after a week of battling a cold and going 3 days without a voice, I was going to the doctor. Funny thing, I HATE going to the doctor- hence the 5 day procastination. But I went, and the doctor was funny enough to brighten my morning. We chatted while he checked my temperature and sprayed some stuff into my throat and nose. If you're wondering if that feels gross, it does. But it worked. He hooked me up with some meds and off I went.

I drove customers most of the morning, hence missing surf time, except for a brief 20min session. I didn't mind too much. There's always tomorrow. But I got to see Greg's surfboard workshop- where he turns old/broken boards into recycled vintage-styled boards. Awesome stuff.


That's it for the day...til something else exciting happens. :P

typical rainy day

Typhoon has passed, and the rain finally let up! The typhoon was much bigger than normal....this time big enough to put Taiwan's weather on CNN. Central Taiwan is still submerged in water, silt and tradegy. It will pass, but for those stuck in central/southern parts it's not going so great- the damage this time was much worse.

Yesterday was the most laid back day. I woke up feeling pretty sick, but dragged myself out of bed just in time to get the boss's phone call. "Are you ready?"
"Yes." Three minutes later, my teeth were brushed and I was dressed and running out to the van. It was the boss's birthday. I reminded her of that when I jumped in and wished her a happy birthday (yes, she actually forgot). I love that about her. She's so not self-absorbed. And she has every right to be, being probably one of the smartest business entrepreneurs I know.

By the time we got to the B&B, only two customers were left- the other American family that stayed the weekend had finally gotten a really early flight out. We cleaned up after and fed the dogs, I made breakfast and headed straight for the couch. The obvious need for a bit more sleep manifested itself in what turned out to be a two-hour nap. After waking up, I headed up to help Da Fei with cleaning the rooms. He sent me back downstairs to rest, assuring me that there wasn't much to be done, and he was taking care of it. I appreciated that because I really felt sucky. So I went back down to my spot on the couch. Other than making breakfast for the young, good-looking couple (with an awesome dog) and lunch from McD's, nothing much happened. Surfers came to check out the surf, but left after deciding it was still to dangerous to go out.

Birthday time. I mentioned it was the boss's birthday. After getting hair done with my roommate, we met the boss and her boyfriend for some KTV. We picked up drinks then headed off to sing for a couple of hours. Emma- the girl I work with- convinced me to play a drinking game with her. I kept getting the hand motions confused with paper-scissors-stone, so needless to say, I lost a lot. We had fun.

Now I'm sitting at the counter in the cafe at the B&B and drinking a hot latte I made. Since only two customers are left and all the others have cancelled, it'll be a laid back day. I don't mind.

Am thinking about killing time by making apple pie.

hangloose. B)

personality...can I have 2?

another question in my head...

I was talking with my roommate. We both agreed that no matter how well you might speak a 2nd or 3rd language, it seems as though you lack personality in it. Like your real personality just doesn't show through in a foreign language like it does in your first.

sooo.....next thing on my list of to-do's: develop my Chinese personality.

I hate the way I sound in Chinese, and the way I come across. There's no reason I can't learn to express myself in a way that will reflect who I am. Why should I hide behind the "Oh, I'm just a foreigner, no one will understand or see me the right way anyway" feeling? Sheesh. What have I been thinking?

I think I just forgot to be myself. So here's to getting off my lazy linguistic butt and make effort into putting the same zing into the Chinese part of my brain. Let it catch up a bit with the English side. Maybe they won't ever be on the same level.....but who knows? Worth a try.

ok....gotta run out the door. Gettin' off work 2 hrs early!

when in Rome?

A conversation with my boss's boyfriend yesterday brought to the front of my brain some ideas that have been haunting my thoughts lately. A man had come into the B&B- an older man that has lived here for quite a while, and has been somewhat pretty successful in whatever he's turned his hand at. A few differences in communication styles (his is very Western) and personality differences have cause some friction in dealing with people, hence a dislike of him by a few people that I know. My friend's opionion on the matter (and the person) was that the person- like many foreigners here- tend to see themselves and their perspectives as being smarter, better advanced logically, and superior to the local people. An observation which is no less than accurate. I see it a lot in foreigners here. I've seen it in myself.

My best guess at one reason for this is that since we don't really completely understand the atmostphere or culture we're immersed in (much less the language), we tend to only understand our way of seeing things, and in the light of not fully understanding the Taiwanese way of thinking, just assume that their opinions are lesser develped than ours.

Funny thing is, they think the way we think is simple and childlike. We think the same about them. Actually, I think it's because both sides miss out on understanding at least part of the other's thinking, and since we don't mentally cover all that the other has thought over, we simply think they don't think at all. It's foolish really.

You know why I think most foreigners are afraid to adapt to local thinking when they travel abroad? I think they're just afraid they will lose part of their own identity and personality should they adapt to something they are not familiar with. Or they're simply not willing to look at things through someone else's perspective.

But it's made me wonder, after seeing so many situations of local-foreigner miscommunication, why do we (foreigner) insist on doing things our own way? Whose country are we in? And what makes our own way of doing things superior? They have their own way of funtioning here, and IT WORKS. Why not just do things their way? What do you lose except pride? That's basically an overrated perspective of yourself, and not worth holding onto anyway- is it? What would happen if you would just let it go and let yourself change?

I'm really curious...if you let yourself, how much would you really change? Would you actually lose your own self and identity, or merely stumble upon other perspectives or abilities you didn't know you had? Granted, a very good grip on t he language would be necessary to accomplish that change- so would an undying willingness to see things outside yourself. But would you be able to relate and funtion within the culture without losing who you really are? Would it save you that much frustration if you could distinguish between your conscience and that irritatingly ever-interrupting complaininy voice that tells you you are superior? And tell that voice to shut up and channel the negative energy towards developing a better understanding of your surroundings?

People that can go through and handle this kind of change are few and far between. But they're really cool people (at least the ones I've met). They are- for the most part- very selfless, yet seem to have never lost the essence of the self they have about themselves (personality, etc).

Just thoughts. However, the more I learn about this, the more I feel my own senses clearing and sense becomes sense again. People help- listening helps more than anything.

Funny how much a 5 minute conversation in the car can make you think.

Job....the guy in the Bible

I was listening to an audiobook on my way back and forth to work. The author is discussing the life of Job. Most of his emphasis is on the fact Job didn't really do anything to bring on all his problems on himself, but that God let them happen. His "friends" kept making reasons for all the strangeness in his life (sound familiar?) and well....you know the story. Lots of the reasoning assumed by the friends-and nagging wife- tended to be centered around Job and what he'd done, or not done.

Why is it in life that we are always searching for a reason? Like everything that happens to us in life has a reason or problem that must be found out or solved. Or both. And if neither happens, the underlying reason lies within ourselves.

But what if it doesn't? How can we assume that EVERYTHING in life has to do with US? Life doesn't evolve around us...there's not but a minute amount of things we can do to actually affect life around us. But we can't do much to effect it's revolvation around....the sun. Not us. The sun. The friggin' earth doens't even spin around us. Nor can we change its path.

Yes, we bring things on ourselves. We CAN and DO have a vast and lasting effect on what's thrown in our way in life. And on the people in it. And when things happen, we think through it for many reasons- find out what caused it, learn from it what we can in order to avoid its reoccurrance, etc. Good reasons.

My question is...why must there always be an answer? Does there HAVE to be a reason? We search desperately for them...but what if there doesn't have to be one? And does it always do good to find it if there is one? You figure it out, then what? Like with Job, there was no reason. His faith was being tested. Why? Nobody really knows, besides the fact that Satan just felt like testing it. But what good would it have done for Job to have found that out? If I were him, I think to have found that all out after all that had happened to him, I would throw my head back and laugh. Cause Satan just couldn't believe that someone would love God or have that much faith in Him? Was he bored or something? Did he really not get the fact that God IS that good? and that He is worth it? Hadn't he also served in God's presence once?

Maybe there isn't always an answer, maybe you don't always need one. To find reasoning, and know how and where to look for it is a good habit by far. But worrying and dwelling on things might not get you to where you think you want to be in life. That's my rant for the day.

Question...
Is where you're going in life really where you want to end up??

livin' in Penghu-surf update

Yesterday's waves were awesome. Some offshore storms or such were pumping in some nice swells, and we had a blast taking advantage of them. The waves themselves didn't have much power, some tended to fizzle out. But the shape overall was nice....size was perfect. It provided a perfect condition to put to practice all the guys' advice and suggestions I've been getting since I got here. I even turned LEFT. Yup, that would be a big accomplishment...especially since I never thought I could do it. And brave attempts at it had proved that assumption to be somewhat true. But whatever. I did it anyway...and it was a good turn. ;) Am almost able to walk back and forth on the board. I've gotten the right turn down ok....and can ride the wave down the side (versus just riding it forward toward the beach). I caught one...and turned and found myself surfing the rest of the line of the wave. And then kept going. I'd expected the wave to fizzle out and fall right off my board. But kept going and going til at last the last end of its crest turned over to break. Then it was gone. But that was by far the best wave of the day. Besides the left turn.

Afterwards I headed off with the guys n girls to get lunch in the city. There was no work to be done at the B & B, so I hopped A Wei's bike (tis a real motorcycle- and a very 帥 bike) and sped off. Weather was hot, but beautiful...clear blue sky and sun bright enough to blind one for a week.
After lunch everyone came back and found places in the air-conditioned cafe and slept. The guys had hogged the couch, so I lined a few chairs up and fell almost sound asleep in front of the a/c. We watched a surf movie until 阿泉 and I had to make an airport run. That was pretty much the extent of work for the day. I went to dinner with Yi-Ma and Vicky then headed home to shower and fall asleep way before bed time. Twas a perfect kind of summer day.