cclxxxii) Small Hills.

*Looks at Valley Mountains.*

"Meh, we could climb that. No probs."

(O_o)

ccxxx) Painted Skies.

Yah, it's quite nice init.

ccvi) So Close...

...yet so far.

You majestic bastards!

clx) Ooh. Swanky.

One of my classes has three students in it.
This is the room I teach them in.
They don't do things by halves, these people.

lxxxv) Smiles.

If you weren't smiling already, I bet you're smiling now.
Aren't ya?!

vi) Smaller Than You'd Expect.

It was all lies! There were no floating candles, ANYWHERE!!!!! =(

#356: Weapons of Sprouty Destruction.

As the rest of my family found out tonite... brussel sprouts sure is potent stuff.

I might actually be the cause of the sudden meltage of all that snow.

Heathrow should send me a medal or something.

#326: Sweet, Sweet Destruction.

I totally had a Thought of the Day lined up for this post...

Till I started reading this article on io9.com.

Those bastards had to go and list not 5, not 10, not 20, but 30! Thirty! Thirrrrty vids of the most seminal disaster movie shots ever!

You damn right I clicked through every single vid.

Couldn't be helped. They're addictive and I have poor impulse control.

Favourite part was not any of the vids though - it's the sentence "Comet of immense dignity"

*haha*

#306: The Pencils Were For Extra Lethal Spiky-ness.

Found another blast from the past in the attic today...

Goddammit, I was so cool!

#289: Not With A Whisper, But With A Flaming Bang.

One day.
One BMX.
One scooter.
Two protective suits.
Four zippo bottles.
One lighter.
One pool.
Seven jumps.


[Seven images, TBU]

#267: From the Goose's Neck to the East, to a Lotus Flower, to an Orchid, to the North.

5:00am. Kenting. Want to set off now but blinds are down on the front of the hotel?! Wtf! Locked in! Thinking of climbing out the window.

5:08pm. Kenting. Freedom! Taipei, see you at dinnertime.

7:30am. Taidong. Route9 is officially my fav road in the world. Had to ride thru rubble tho. Some sectio ns were utterly destroyed.

9:05am. FongBin Tropic of Cancer marker. I've seen more old ppl on mobility scooters than I've seen cars, bikes and trucks combined.

11:00am. XinCheng. Umm... I'm running about 3hrs ahead of schedule. (O.o)

3:30pm. Taipei. Roadtrip: Done!

(Batteries ran out earlier, but, for completion..) 1:30pm. Yilan. Crap, phone outta batteries. Now, where's my sextant...

This is the route I took, including detours and missed turnings.

#266: From the North to the Sun & Moon, to the South, to an Imperial Goose's Neck.

7:45pm. Taipei. Roadtrip: Start!

10:02pm. Hi Emei Bye Emei.

11:40pm. DongShur. 100km of fresh twisty undulating tarmac all to myself. Shangri-la! Its here!

1:05am. Sun Moon Lake. Route21 you sexy thing, if I had 4 wheels I'd trace your curves even tighter and we'd both be tingly.

4:00am. XinYing. I got lost! In what smelled like redneck country?! At 3am! I've now seen real pitch blackness. Smells like mud+poo.

5:05am. Tainan. Extended pitstop. Pee. Looking outta place coz still in waterproofs from Taipei.

6:05am. Tainan. Breaktime over!

9:05am. PingBu. My god the roads between Tainan and Kaosiung are smelly. Pee and poo. Yet couldnt see any farms?!?

10:30am. Kenting. Made it. My bum hurts.

#248: 4years, 8months and 5days.

Or 1709days.
Otherwise known as 244weeks and a day.
Which could also be 4.68years.

Though effectively that's 1221 weekdays. (Thanks Wolfram Alpha, you scary irreverent data crunching beast you.)

That's how long I will have been with my current company.
Tomorrow will be the first day of my final week with them.

Through all the experiences I've heard from my fellow teachers over the years on how they feel about the company, both positive and negative; I gotta say - they've treated me well in my time with them.
Of course there were times when it coulda been better, but there were many more times when it coulda been a lot lot worse.

From the newbie teacher way back then to this jaded bastard writing this now, I really cannot complain about the path I've taken. Thanks guys. =)


Looking back on my old blog 1709days ago reveals musings on boobs and miniskirts shortly after I settled into Japan.

Haven't grown that much then. Good!

#247: Lightbulb Moment.

Huh, I may have hit upon a way to take all my experiences in the past five years, and monetising it...

So how does one go about making a business plan?

#240: Stamina.

Did a 16hr bike trip today, covered upwards of 500km - essentially tracing the entire north eastern coastline of Taiwan.

Didn't plan on it, just kinda how the route panned out. Beautiful stuff.

Seems like a backbreaking trip. But like any seemingly arduous endeavour, it's all a matter of keeping the brain occupied so that it doesn't notice that the body getting pretty battered, choked and burned.

In my case I was concentrating on not flying off the cliff edges, avoiding drag-racing artic lorries and watching out for overtaking cars on the wrong side of the road, coming in the opposite direction.

It was a fantastic day! (^^)

#188: Think Big.

In my life so far, I've met a few people whom I'd consider 'successful', whether financially, socially, spiritually or just plain attitude-ly. More than anything else, what separates these people from the rest is scope.

That is - they never seem to be limited in their visions of their relative areas of perceived success. They just seem to think bigger than everyone else. Why aim for sky when you can go way, waaaaay beyond?

The sky is merely what you can see. There's a lot more stuff behind that big bluey thingy.

There are those who would reject an idea or a concept for the most worthless of reasons, like pride and principle. Even laziness would be a more valid reasoning. Even worse would actual complete lack of consideration at all, these are the people who need to stay away from me.

Think bigger, what's there to be scared of? Fear is just adrenaline fuel. Rowr.

#170: Move Dammit!

My mind and my body very rarely agree with each other. I really have to kick it's arse sometimes. One of the things I like about hiking is that even my body recognises the fact that when you're miles away from any kinda civilisation, the only thing you can do is take it one step at a time... and you'll always get to your destination eventually.

#149: Challenge America.

Part of the reason why the Great Roadtrip of Japan was so fun was how it became about something so much more than two mates caning around in a convertible. It became about touching all those near-mythical places we'd dreamed about as we were growing up. After all, how many people can say that they've visited 90% of the actual courses used in Initial D?

I'm thinking that my American Roadtrip is also gonna need some kinda extra purpose. Something for me to pursue as I meander my way along. A photo project, a treasure hunt, a bodycount? My own personal cannonball run...

Hmmm... suggestions, welcome...(.")

#139: That Tentative Plan.

In September I will officially stop being an English teacher in Taiwan, after which I will take a few days/weeks to hammer a lap around the island, maybe two.

Then back home to drop off the past 3yrs of accumulated trinkets.

Sometime in October/November I intend to make it to America, and drive across it. Not quite sure how I'm gonna go about that. But I'm gonna do it.

Then back home for Christmas.

I intend to be in South America by the second month of 2011.

I know I've missed something out...

#116: Middle Of Nowhere

One of the main things I like about hiking as an unfit person, is the test of mental perseverance it invokes. A healthy person will storm through the hike with no problems, probably enjoying the sights along the way.

The hike holds a different meaning for the unfit fellow. When puffing and wheezing through a dense jungle, miles away from any kinda civilisation - the unfit person knows there is no way a car could come down this track to fetch him. Helicopter extraction is just wishful thinking. The other hikers are long gone.

Therefore the mental process required becomes very simple: The only way he will be able to see regular humanity again, is to finish the hike. From that, he accepts that every step will take him closer to the finish line. If he has any form higher intelligence, he will know bitching and complaining are wastes of energy and will not improve his situation. Instead, he will learn patience, perserverance and most importantly - the importance of rhythm.

Very important. Life is all about rhythm.

Never do a major hike without musical backup. ;)