Back to School

One of my absolutely-not's when moving to Taiwan was "I am not getting a scooter.  People die on scooters".  I bought a scooter my first week and it became one of my favorite things about living in Taiwan.

I am making a shift in the coming weeks from productive, working member of society to full-time student, and am currently searching for an internship.  I recently got a pretty surprising rejection.  Surprising because I felt so good about the interview.  Everything flowed.  I felt like I represented myself and my skills really well, and most importantly, I felt like they bought it.  However I was not selected.  I have two other possibilities.  One has been crossed  off of my list because the interview was terribly awkward.  I have one more interview tomorrow.  If this one doesn't work out, it is back to the agency database.

I have some absolutely-not's in regards to my internship.  Some things I absolutely do not want to do.  But maybe I will end up settling for one of these positions and find it to be one of my favorite parts of returning to school - a memory as fond as my scooter, Green Peace.

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What I was blogging 2 years ago

I took a drive out of the city yesterday with my family. I put a helmet on my favorite daughter, told the other one to hold on tight, and took off around 2PM. I went up to Art Street to do some shopping. There is a store there that is like a really great thrift store at home. I bought a few things, and decided to keep driving.

Over the ridge, I could see the harbor. It would be a really great view without the haze. Old roads wind down the side of the ridge through the farms. I tried to stick to the main path since I was nearly torn apart by a pack of dogs last time I went exploring.

It's a slightly eerie view of the Harbor.

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Driving

"Ever notice that anyone going slower than you is an idiot, but anyone going faster is a maniac?"

I read this today online, and I think it is true. Driving makes me a completely inconsistent asshole. When I'm driving my scooter, I think people who are walking need to stay out of my way. When I am walking, I think people on scooters need to be more careful and go around me. When I'm in someone's car, I think scooters are just in the way. When I'm on my scooter, I think car drivers are evil bastards. Also, when I'm driving, I think buses are extremely dangerous and erratic, but when I'm riding a bus, I think that all of the single vehicle drivers are really in the way, keeping the bus from getting many more people to their destinations.

Also, sometimes, when its raining...I drive my scooter with no shoes. It sounds crazy, and it probably is, but the warm pavement feels nice on my feet, and I don't have to deal with wet shoes.

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Scooter Dog

Today at a very busy intersection, I saw this dog walking out into traffic, and then I saw a woman on a scooter trying to make it go away (so I thought). While the dog was sniffing around in some grass, the light changed, and the woman on the scooter drove away. When the dog realized she was gone, he took off across the intersection. She slowed down, he hopped onto the scooter, and off they drove.

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Driving in Taichung at Night

This is a video I took riding on Wenxin Road last night. I was riding on the back of my friend Sarah's scooter, and David was riding beside us. Notice how nice it is to work your way up to the front of the red light ahead of all of the cars.

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