The Long Awaited Taiwan Photos


... Selected out of 644 photos, painfully cross-processed 3 times, resized and hosted. 230+ photos in this post.

You better enjoy this, or else.

All pictures taken by me with my crappy camera, except for the ones that I am in.


T3





























Touched down in Taipei




In the hotel room

First night at Xi Men Ding


Apparently this "Lao Tian Lu" is famous for their braised poultry.





The next morning we took a train to (insert name here). (Sorry lah, I forgot.)







Zhu Zi Hu. Eventful ride on the taxi after the train ride. Mom got out and vomitted halfway, and I got out and vommited 5 mins before we reached. Dad offered to walk me the rest of the way while Mom and Cudas continued with the hell-in-a-cab ride.

The cool air hit my face 3 seconds before I splurged my gastric juices onto the poor weeds at the side of the road. Feeling better, Dad and I walked the rest of the way in. We turned around a corner and my jaws dropped.





Quite a far cry from the narrow mountain roads we were travelling on for an hour.



This is Zhu Zi Hu (Bamboo Lake. Used to be bamboo plantation here but don't know what happened after that.)








Cudas calls these Calla Lilies, but I think they're Water Hyacinths. Anyways, it was the Calla Lily/Water Hyacinth season and the places was brimming with flowers.







Heaven..







I'm in Heaven..







And my heart beats so that I can hardly speak~






And I seem to find the happiness I seek,





When were out together dancing cheek to cheek~












My first ever macro photo, which sparked off the hundreds of macros to come.




























Does it even look like it's from Taiwan?

















Pretending to be a Calla Lily/Water Hyacinth farmer (and giving the face)








No I'm not grabbing my crotch










Cudas being Cudas







I like this photo a lot









































































End of Zhu Zi Hu trip. I think my photography skills just got better.

The rest of the photos are slightly miscellenous because I can't for the life of me remember the names of the places we were at. But if you're interested, drop me a message and I'll find out (from my mom) for you.






Shihlin pet street, piglet


Sugar-glider. Noisy little fellas, they are.




Find the Jazzyme.




















"San Da" club. San Da literally meaning anyhow beat.





Taking the train to... somewhere.

















"Rui Fang"














































































This was found on a wall. At first sight it looks like a cartoonish bull, but when you look closer, it looks like a spartan going for the kill.





















































































































End Taiwan trip photos overload.

I'm Impressed


Well, Mom walked up to me one day and complimented me on naming my new RVF Boreas.

She actually knew that Boreas, in her terms, meant 北风之神, or God of the Nothern Winds. Greek god actually, from the same era as Zeus.

I ran a search for that name online and it wasn't written anywhere in simple terms what it meant and definately no chinese translation for it.

Well done, Mom!

Which is much more than I can say for some other people. Hmph.

Whatever


Yeah you heard me.

What-ever.

Congrats April and Yuffie!


On both your successful hdb ballotings and Yuffie's and Yida's new car!

Yay!

Seriously, I admire you guys' bravery in taking this step towards your happiness.

I guess that I'm just not ready for this commitment yet, because I don't have as much faith in my relationship as you both do. Sometimes I think of trying to salvage stuff I feel is going wrong, but then I turn around and ask myself, why bother? And somewhere down the road when start I regretting not salvaging it because it's become permenant (aka taken for granted) I slap myself in the face and distract myself with an alternate life.

Even if I had to get a house with him right now it wouldn't be because I wanted to start a home with him, it'd be because I needed to get my animals out of my mom's hair.

We're just too different for it to ever work.

There goes the romance and the magic that is love. Woooooo.

I'm sorry I turned this congratulations into a sob story about myself. Urgh.

I'm so depressed.

Question


Should I or should I not pay money for Flickr?

Are the photos ok in the format that I post them in or do you, as readers, prefer if I didn't load everything here, just a brief few with links to Flickr for the rest of the photos?

$24.95/year for unlimited space and sets and video uploads. Worth it?

Goodbye For Now


His name was Dante.



Dante Desire Mito Tan.

Why the long name, you ask?


First ladies' outing organised by me

Dante came from the author of the epic poem which took us through hell, purgatory and paradise, the Divine Comedy (or more commonly known as Dante's Inferno). If you haven't already read it, dammit why haven't you?


Sky fixing my clutch cable.

Desire was because it has always been my life long desire to ride, and I took my first ever ride outside the circuits on Dante, even before prac 6 (sshhh). I've always longed for something sleek, something sexy, something without kickstart, something that would bring me to places and share my joys and experience new faces with me.


Italian meetup at KKFC

Mito was kind of obvious. He was a Cagiva Mito. That should explain it.


Cagiva outing organised by Richard

Tan is my surname. Seeing as he was my baby it was only normal that he should follow my surname.


Wandering around with the Aprilians

Dante was with me for my ups and the downs,


Kenny & Jasmine & Jasmine & Kenny



Dante also gave me some of my bestest friends, whom I am very grateful for because some of them stood by me through thick and thin, and who is nearly always there when I needed someone to disturb online, to talk to to make me feel wanted or simply just to argue with.


Jasmine + Roger + Anthony's birthday celebration


WLNY Autumn meetup 2007


1st WLNY steamboat session


Bro Vik, the black fucker reading this now


Uncle Lexie!





Throughout the ups and downs, the ins and outs, whether or not I was good to him, Dante was always there for me. Many a time I've relied on him to bring me to the dam alone when I was down.

Yes there were the depressing times when his piston jammed and I had him laid up for 3 months, but he still came out of it well and healthy.

He was 9 years old.

He's gone to his new home where he had a new coat of spray paint.

It's never going to be the same without him.

And yet...









Hello, Boreas

How NOT to say "I'm sorry"avoiding the wrong ways of apologising

Compiled by Audrey Lee

An insincere apology is like adding salt to an open wound. Never give an excuse when offering an apology otherwise the relationship will sour even more. If it cannot be done whole-heartedly, it would be better not to apologise at all.

An example of an excuse would be: "I'm sorry I'm late. There was too much work to do." This really means that the other person is less important than your work, and that her time spent waiting anxiously is of little consequence. The better way would be to call in advance the moment you know you will be late for an appointment.

Another example would be: " I'm sorry you feel offended." This really is saying that it is the other person's fault for being hypersensitive. It in effect shifts the blame rather than accepting the responsibility of the fault.

The best way to say "I'm sorry"

Be sincere and specific about the offence. State clearly what was done that was disrespectful or inconsiderate. Then show gratitude and appreciation for the other person's sacrifice - their time, effort, caring. Appreciation can be done by demonstrating that you spared some time to carefully select a gift that she values. Gift giving is a powerful language of love ( read the excellent book on The 5 Languages of Love by Dr Gary Chapman)

Apologising is also therapeutic for your own soul. It allows you to forgive yourself for your own shortcomings. Sincere apologies build character and show that a person has the strength to admit mistakes, learn from these mistakes and progress on. Keeping a baggage of wrongs only weighs ourselves down, and robs us of the joys of laughter that comes from purity. Look at the way children laugh uninhibitedly and you will understand.

It seems...


That he is never present at some of the most crucial moments or occasions.

That we are drawing further apart.

And this time...

I will not pursue.

I have my own share of unsung unhappiness.

Someone come talk to me. There's an opening on my right side and I need someone to fill it.

It seems.. So much more but it is not.