two ways to school

December 7, 2006 - Heping East Road (和平東路). To go to Shida, there was only one way. Out my front door, turn left. But with the Taida campus so large, and relatively to the rear of my apartment, I can turn right or left. And even then, turning right, there are multiple ways to get to the Chinese Language Center. The quickest and most direct way is also the most boring, so I rarely walk it, and I only ride it when I'm in a rush.

So turning right, I walk down Heping East Road, and there are any number of streets on the next block, between Jianguo and Fuxing South Roads, that I can turn right down to get to class. It depends if I want to go directly to the building, or look for something to eat. More on that later.

The above lomo is from still before elections, as the footbridge is swamped with the candidate banners.


December 12, 2006 - Turning left out my door, there's really only one way to go, and that is to make another left immediately, and that way goes to the campus entrance at the northwest corner, where this building sits. The domed top of the gymnasium (體育館) is the most distinct architectural feature on the Taida campus when viewed from far away. I've never been inside, but as a language student, unlike at Shida, I can sign up and pay for access. But since I run or ride, there's no need.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Cortez the Killer (Neil Young & Crazy Horse)
2. Candyman (Siouxsie & the Banshees)
3. Crooked Teeth (Death Cab for Cutie)
4. One for the Vine (Genesis)
5. Social Studies (David Byrne - "Music for the Knee Plays")
6. Rael (The Who)
7. Hey Now (Talking Heads)
8. Giant (Throwing Muses)
9. Am I Going Insane? (Radio) (Black Sabbath)
10. Winter Rose/Love Awake (Wings)

館書圖大台

December 6, 2006 - I seem to be perennially posting two months behind. I didn't know what "perennially" meant when I just typed it, but I looked it up and it works. I even spelled it right.

Two months ago, I just started at Taida, having decided Shida's Chinese language program was lame得沒話說. Oh, I guess Shida does have its use in practicing grammar (that meant it's lame beyond words). But yeah, Taida is better than Shida in every way except improving my language ability. ...Oh, I just learned the grammar to say that in Chinese, um...台大方面比師大什麼都好, 就是進步我的中文說話. I hope no one who comes to this blog can read Chinese. Whatever I just wrote probably insulted someone's mother.

This lomo is from my discovery of the Taida main library, and yes, Taida's library is even better than Shida's, even though there's not much you can do wrong with a library, and Shida's actually wasn't that bad. Except for the eye-rolling architectural move of putting elevators at opposite ends of the floors. But I guess that's nit-picking. Basically, you go to take the elevators and you're waiting for one and you see the other one arrive first, and you wonder why they couldn't place the elevators in one place.

Here's an external shot of the library (I can't find a lomo of the outside, but I'm sure one must be coming down the line).

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Let's Run (Le Tigre)
2. Violin (Kate Bush)
3. Mimi Tabu (Bakufu Slump)
4. There's a Tear in My Beer (The The)
5. Marching Bands of Manhattan (Death Cab for Cutie)
6. Catch Me Now I'm Falling (The Kinks)
7. The Affiliated (The Dukes of Stratosphear)
8. Church On White (Stephen Malkmus)
9. Sun Hits the Sky (Supergrass)
10. Just for Tonight ("They're Playing Our Song")

Low light, hand-held long exposure, blurry shot

December 2, 2006 - Low light, hand-held long exposure, blurry shot inside the weekend jade market on Jian Guo Road (建國南路). Under the Jian Guo Expressway, during the weekdays, are parking garages. But on the weekends, for a couple of very long blocks, they are turned into a jade market, a flower market, and basically a flea market, although that term is unknown here. Really great to wander through and people watch.


December 6, 2006 - Low light, hand-held long exposure, blurry shot of the Shida night market. There are people in this shot, but the exposure is so long and the light is so low they are just ghostly wisps. I think I was braced against something, so there's a semblance of non-blurriness.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Off He Goes (Pearl Jam)
2. Wabogi Wamimi Lagisaimu (Pacific Island aboriginal)
3. Natural Disasters (Unwound)
4. Typical Situation (Dave Matthews Band)
5. Come Together (live) (Michael Hedges)
6. Ko-Ko (Charlie Parker's Re-Boppers)
7. The Heat (Peter Gabriel - "Birdy")
8. Few and Far Between (10,000 Maniacs)
9. Kuda Lumping (Javanese street musicians)
10. Pale (Kristin Hersh)

two shots with nothing in common

December 1, 2006 - I was like, what the hell was I shooting? It's one of the staircases leading up to the footbridge I like shooting, but so what? But I think it was because they totally re-modeled it, and this was in the final stages when they were completing the stairs. I liked it before when it had a classic worn look of copper green. Now it's white and shiny with lots of glass. The basic frame is the same, though, so OK.

This reminds me that when I move I'm gonna have to find a new default shot. As for the default shots of the footbridge, I don't think I shot it nearly enough as the project calls for, both the fisheye default shot and the normal camera default shot. *gasp* Did I just imply the fisheye isn't a "normal" camera?! What's normal? Are you normal?! Curse you, curse you all to hell! No, no, little fisheye, you are normal, and I love you just the way you are. (I just saw a movie with a scene like that. I rolled my eyes).


December 2, 2006 - 警察摩托車, police motorscooters, Renai Road (仁愛路). It was cloudy so I held the shutter open for a few seconds, thus the blur. I probably didn't need to hold it open quite so long, it still being daylight. But overcast in Taipei is pretty dark.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Emerald Lies (Marillion)
2. Holiday Gone Well (The Aislers Set)
3. Pacific Theme (Broken Social Scene)
4. Tsumetai Getsuyoubi (Yuko Hara)
5. Dead (The Pixies)
6. Bongo Tango (Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra)
7. Stand Up (Throwing Muses)
8. Chapter 8 - Seashore & Horizon (Cornelius)
9. Hammer to Fall (Queen)
10. Send in the Clowns ("A Little Night Music" - Sondheim)

finding my way back home

December 3, 2006 - Underground pedestrian tunnel, Zhong Shan District (中山區), Taipei, Taiwan. My uncle and I went to the wedding reception by taxi, so I didn't have my bike and had to find my way to a bus line that passed by my building. It was a bit of a trek.


Zhongxiao West Road (忠孝西路). Both of these shots I held the shutter open for quite a few seconds while trying to keep the 2 as steady as possible

iTunes soundtrack:
1. With This Love (Peter Gabriel - "The Last Temptation of Christ")
2. Lovely ("A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum" - Sondheim)
3. Word Play (A Tribe Called Quest)
4. Blue Jean (David Bowie)
5. Ballad of Lemons (Blonde Redhead)
6. Tsuki ni Makeinu (Shiina Ringo)
7. Supper's Ready (live - The Rainbow 1973) (Genesis)
8. Way Out (Yeah Yeah Yeahs)
9. HEART OF GOLD (Sakura)
10. Jupiter's Lament (Smashing Pumpkins)

ever been to a wedding where you really didn't belong? (not your own!)

December 3, 2006 - There's a reason I haven't gone down to Kaohsiung to visit family since I returned from the U.S. in October. Family is wack! I went to the U.S. in October because my uncle and members of his family were also going, and as nice as my uncle has been to me, I thought I could be of assistance to them while they were there.

But there's only so much family one can take before feeling how wack they are! I took it and I haven't visited them since then.

My (eccentric) uncle, however, comes up to Taipei once in a while for business and often invites me to the company dinners. I guess I should have been suspicious when he invited me out on a Sunday night. Turns out I was accompanying him to a wedding reception! It was the wedding of an old classmate's son, so the degrees of separation were pretty far. Awkward is probably the word that best describes it, and only reinforced my feeling of family wackness. I'm trying to come up with an excuse to not visit them for Chinese New Year.


Empty 18 bus going home from the reception. Oy. Low light situations courtesy of the Fisheye 2.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Silent Sorrow in Empty Boats (Genesis)
2. She's A Woman (The Beatles - Anthology)
3. Koi no Memory (Yuko Hara)
4. No Time This Time (The police)
5. 4:37 A.M. (Arabs With Knives & West German Skies) (Roger Waters)
6. Time (live) (Tom Waits)
7. Superstition (live) (Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble)
8. Buena (Morphine)
9. Shaking the Tree (Peter Gabriel w/Yousou N'Dour)
10. I Want It All (Queen)

Fisheye 2 - trial roll

November 30, 2006 - Without much ado, I've already transitioned into Fisheye 2 shots, the past few were taken with the 2, but for outdoor shots, there's no noticeable difference between the original lomo fisheye and the 2.

One difference is that with the 2, I can start trying indoor shots because it has a B(ulb) setting that allows the shutter to be held open as long as I want. Unfortunately, there's an art involved, as the longer you hold open a shutter, the greater the chances that the lomo will blur.

This was the first frame in the Fisheye 2. I bought it at Eslite Bookstore near Taipei 101, and loaded it up while having a snack in the Warner Village movie complex (which apparently has a new name, but I can't be bothered).


Not a foodie, I didn't take a picture of the snack, but shortly afterwards I went for shaved ice in the Taipei 101 food court where it occurred to me to shoot it. Again the blur. This is red bean milk (condensed sweet) "snow" ice. I don't know if it's called "snow" ice, but that's the Chinese character in the name, I think. I gather the difference between regular ice and snow ice is that the snow ice is also made of milk, so it has a creamy consistency. Nice.

The big drawback of the Fisheye 2:
The problem of the flimsy lens cap! All the improvements on the 2 are definitely improvements, but the makers took a huge leap backwards with the useless lens cap. I remember thinking the lens cap on Bebe wasn't much of a lens cap, but at least it stayed on. The Fisheye 2 lens cap will fall off if you even think about it. I've resorted to keeping it on using an old ghetto trick: rubber band. The rubber band takes the camera several notches down in class. It's like wearing sneakers with a tuxedo.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Fly on a Windshield/Broadway Melody of 1974 (live) (Genesis)
2. Our Time ("Merrily We Roll Along" - Sondheim)
3. All of My Friends Were There (The Kinks)
4. Another Satellite (BBC Version) (XTC)
5. Exit Music (For A Film) (Radiohead)
6. Roto-Rooter (Bootsy Collins)
7. Misty Morning (Yuko Hara)
8. Kayleigh (live) (Marillion)
9. Tokyo Hymn (Shoukichi Kina & Champloose)
10. Technicolor Girls (Death Cab for Cutie)

The Spirit of Democracy

Maybe you noticed the banners on the bridge in the previous post. They are election banners. Last year was, as you may have guessed, an election year, and candidates plaster the roadsides and bridges with those banners. The pre-election propaganda barrage is just as bad and annoying as in the U.S., especially little trucks hooked up with P.A. speakers driving around, blasting whatever at volume 11. Mailboxes are likewise crammed with election crap. I don't remember if TV commercials were as annoying as in the U.S.

There are two things that are better here. 1) Many candidates have little packets of tissue made with their logo and number on it, and they get passed out and stuffed in mailboxes ad nauseum, however, at least they are practical. And 2)

The banners have the candidates' pictures on them, so if the candidate is cute, sometimes it makes it easy to decide who to vote for. That's how I would do it. The numbers are supposed to make remembering candidates and voting for them easier. If I could vote here, it would be very easy for me to remember to vote for #10. December 1, 2006


December 2, 2006 - Pedestrian bridge over Heping East Road.

New neighborhood

December 3, 2006 - Like I said, I'm moving. Coincidentally, I have shots taken with my as-of-yet-unnamed Lomographic Society Fisheye 2, Roll 1, of the neighborhood I'm moving to, sort of.

This is a small bridge crossing the Jingmei River. Just off camera to the right is also a small bridge but carrying a larger road, Roosevelt Road, a major Taipei thoroughfare. Behind me is Taipei and the entryway to the riverside parks/bikeways, ahead is Hsindian city.

So on the right hand side of this shot are three buildings. My new building is behind the middle building in this shot. I'll be living on the fifth floor, which will be quieter, and there is a rooftop area to check on the weather before going out since my window faces the side of a building.

Note the lime green signage on the wall of the river embankment, and that's the reference for the shot below, where the sign is along the right hand side of the lomo. This is shot from the Roosevelt Road bridge, named after the famous Christopher Roosevelt, inventor of the garbage system in Taiwan whereby small garbage trucks roll down the street playing music, which is the signal for people to bring their trash out, chase down the trucks, and chuck their trash in. OK, I totally made that up, I don't know who Roosevelt Road is named after, but it might be one of the two famous American ones.

Now from here, if I had a high-tech zoom gadget like on Discovery Channel documentaries, I'd guide the viewer to the left hand side of the bridge, and noting the pink tall buildings on the right for reference, that's where the below lomo was shot.


Actually, this was the first shot of this series, as I rode up this road to cross the bridge into Hsindian. The entry to the riverside bikeway is to the right, but unseen in this shot. This old guy was walking his bike up a small incline, and I think he was sort of in my way, so I did what I usually do when people are in my way and took a lomo of him. One of these days I'll learn to be civil and just hit him or tell him to get the hell out of my way. I spent six months in a monastery, but I think I'm cured now.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Lords of the Backstage (Marillion)
2. Tune the Rainbow (Maaya Sakamoto - "RahXephon")
3. Chinsagu no Hana (Ryuichi Sakamoto)
4. Sea Girl (Versus)
5. For You Blue (The Beatles - Anthology)
6. Wake Up (Skip Holiday)
7. Don't Give Up (live) (Peter Gabriel)
8. Mofo (U2)
9. Taiwan Made (Wu Bai & China Blue)
10. Buzzcity Talking (XTC)

景美溪

November 19, 2006 - What pleasant shot of the Jingmei River. I think I'm going to like living so close to it. Oh, have I mentioned I'll be moving soon?

iTunes soundtrack:
1. In Your Eyes (live) (Peter Gabriel)
2. Don't Start (Too Late) (Black Sabbath)
3. Trem Two (live) (Mission of Burma)
4. Vena Cava (50 Foot Wave)
5. Stoicism (Shiina Ringo)
6. Going Down (Ani DiFranco)
7. Nashi (The Boom)
8. One Note Samba/Recado Bossa Nova (Leroy Holmes - ultralounge)
9. It Depends on What You Pay ("The Fantasticks")
10. Syeeda's Song Flute (alt take) (John Coltrane)

Kinda reverse view

November 19, 2006 - Jingmei River (景美溪). After riding up to Zhinan Temple, the sun came out quite pleasantly. Casually making my way back home, still in morning hours, I paused for a while on this footbridge across the river. This is section of the riverside bikeways/parks is completed. See how nice and pleasant it looks. Cross over to the other side of the bridge...


This is a section still under construction. When it's done, it will also look quite pleasant and passable. Incidentally, I'm going to be moving soon, and it won't be too far from here! So I'm looking forward to the completion of this riverside bikeway and exploring the southern parts of Taipei.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. 92 Degrees (Siouxsie and the Banshees)
2. Sometime in June (Julie Plug)
3. CT Catholic (Rainer Maria)
4. Talk About the Passion (R.E.M.)
5. What a Day That Was (Talking Heads)
6. F*cking Up (live) (Pearl Jam)
7. Land of Canaan (Indigo Girls)
8. The Size of Our Love (Sleater-Kinney)
9. Asylum (live) (Supertramp)
10. Just for the Record (Marillion)

Reverse View

November 19, 2006 - Yo, yo, yo, wazzup, holmes! Lez do summa dat reverse image thaaang, yo'm say'n. Man, that was bad. Anyway, Zhinan (指南) Temple (Taoist) in the southern mountains of Taipei. Looking up the stairs...

...and looking down:

This is facing north. You can sort of see Taipei through the haze.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Low Budget (The Kinks)
2. Freddie Freeloader (Miles Davis)
3. You and Me (Archers of Loaf)
4. Cello Suite, No. 1, I. Prelude (J.S. Bach)
5. Connection (Elastica)
6. Stay Up Late (Talking Heads)
7. Starting of the World ("Haibane Renmei")
8. The Plan (live) (Built to Spill)
9. Positive Negative (Modest Mouse)
10. Asbestos (Suede)

olev

November 18, 2006 - Here's my deep artistic statement about love, and how I think people've got the concept all backwards. This is outside of the Taipei 101 building, not exactly an original piece. I hope I'm not the only one shooting it from this side, but it seems everyone tends to shoot it from the other side.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Family Business (Fish)
2. Status Quo (Throwing Muses)
3. Golden Years (David Bowie)
4. Silent Anticipations (Michael Hedges)
5. If You Hate Your Friends, You're Not Alone (Pretty Girls Make Graves)
6. Jealous (Versus)
7. Red (Belly)
8. Side By Side By Side/What Would We Do Without You? ("Company" - Sondheim)
9. Bush Killa (Hellraiser Mix) (Paris)
10. You Get What You Give (New Radicals)

it stabs at the sky

November 18, 2006 - So this is a continuation of the Cemetery Ride, the end of it, really. That ride took me up the mountains along the southeast of Taipei, and went down a long road (研究院) to the far eastern edge of Taipei, which started looking a bit rural. The end of that road was off my map, so I had to guess my way to 忠孝東路, which took me back here.

This was a time when I switched my sleeping schedule so that I could be up all night, so I was leaving for rides pretty early. So here at the end of my ride was even before Eslite bookstore, which I'm standing next to, was open. That's some pretty bright sunshine coming from the east.


And this building needs no introduction. There needs to be a moratorium on pictures of this building.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Caught a Lite Sneeze (Tori Amos)
2. Groovin' High (Dizzie Gillespie & His Orchestra)
3. Les Promesses (Autour de Lucie)
4. America (She Can't Say No) (Throwing Muses)
5. Given To Fly (live) (Pearl Jam)
6. Shooting Star (Versus)
7. Cheyenne Anthem (Kansas)
8. Inasena Locomotion (Southern All-Stars)
9. Piano Concerto No. 1, III. Rondo, vivace (Chopin)
10. In Search of Peter Pan (Kate Bush)

Flower show, 3 of last 3

November 19, 2006 - Crowded Sunday in the park and I went guerrila shooting in the park, very quick, no thinking, just get an idea and shoot. Ugh, those flower pot sculptures! Creepy!


Northeast quadrant of Daan Park, lifting Bebe high, and Taipei 101 in the background.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Heart-Shaped Box (Nirvana)
2. The Visitor (The Black Heart Procession)
3. Try Counting Sheep (Black Sheep)
4. Life & Soul (The Sundays)
5. Merry-Go-Round (Versus)
6. Why Don't We Do It In the Road? (The Beatles - Anthology)
7. The First Time (U2)
8. I Took a Trip on a Gemini Spaceship (David Bowie)
9. Crazy Baldhead (Bob Marley & the Wailers)
10. Script for a Jester's Tear (Marillion)

Flower show, 2 of last 3

November 19, 2006 - Cloudy Sunday. The Flower Show in Daan Park succeeded in bringing even more people to the park on Sundays. Quite lively. Even the dogs were having fun. I was watching those two dogs for a while, the little one was harassing the big one for some reason. The big one was trying to get away and the little one kept on being a pest.


This thing is on the right hand side of the lomo above. Facing west because that's Taipei 101 in the distant background. With the fisheye, you get people in the shot and you don't even look like you're pointing at them. Nice!

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Planet (The Sugarcubes)
2. This Plum is Too Ripe ("The Fantasticks")
3. Japaneggae (Southern All-Stars)
4. Die Young Stay Pretty (Blondie)
5. The Colors of My Life, part 1 ("Barnum")
6. Hellbound (The Breeders)
7. Flute Concerto in A Minor (Vivaldi)
8. Hot Pink, Distorted (50 Foot Wave)
9. Tolerance (10,000 Maniacs)
10. The First Explosion (Ichiko Hashimoto - "RahXephon")

Flower show, 1 of last 3

November 9, 2006 - The flower show in Daan Park was all temporary. It was so extensive that I couldn't imagine that some of the exhibits weren't permanent installations in the park, but after November ended, it was all gone, including some of the art pieces that were there before and removed to make room for the flower show.

Here on a rare sunny afternoon before going to class, I shot this flower crab. I'm telling you, some installations were seriously 'what the hell?'

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Not For You (Pearl Jam)
2. He Knows You Know (Marillion)
3. Shower Song (Versus)
4. Blank (Smashing Pumpkins)
5. Big Star (Anzen Chitai)
6. You Must Meet My Wife ("A Little Night Music" - Sondheim)
7. Happy Day (Talking Heads)
8. ...In That Quiet Earth (Genesis)
9. Sha La La (Southern All-Stars)
10. Full of Grace (Sarah McLachlan)

and two far

November 18, 2006 - Just a little farther up the road from the previous shots, in fact, even though you can't see them because they're teensy weensy tiny, they're probably in this shot, maybe. All this is cemetery in the fore and midground. Taipei and Taipei 101 are in the background. I'm told those three tall structures are related to the cemeteries and might be separated by denomination! Muslim, Christian, and . . . other?


I forget if I mentioned this ride was a climb. This is even farther down the road, but not after much more climbing. It wasn't too serious of a hill. This area was no longer Muslim. I liked the palms.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Pick It Up, Lay It In the Cut (Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings)
2. End of the Night (The Doors)
3. Come Talk to Me (Peter Gabriel)
4. Tsuru no Sugomori (Katsuya Yokoyama)
5. Hey Jack Keruouac (10,000 Maniacs)
6. Ambulance (Blur)
7. Force Ten (Rush)
8. It Takes All Kinds (Aimee Mann)
9. Layla (Derek & the Dominos)
10. Bonnie & Slyde (Bela Fleck & the Flecktones)

Muslim cemetery - two close up

November 18, 2006 - I went on a ride described in this person's blog. It was great, I don't know how I would have found this ride otherwise. It was ideal because the beginning of the ride is pretty close to where I live. And I like climbing, so I'm glad it was a ride up into the hills of southeast Taipei.

He isn't kidding when he names the ride "Graveyard". The road winds through lots of cemetery land. The first one being the Muslim cemetery. It was a little surprising to see Arabic writing on cemeteries in Taiwan, and mind you, it's not just a small segregated exotic branch cemetery like the Chinese cemetery in Colma, south of San Francisco. There are more dead Muslims in Taiwan than I thought there were Muslims! It was pretty big.


This was a pretty grand monument, but I was too lazy to poke around to see if I could find out what it was. Obviously Muslim because of the dome structure in there. I wonder if it has anything to do with Bai Chongxi mentioned in the blog entry, "Bai Chongxi, the famous Republican Muslim general from Guangxi".

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Summer Madness (Princess Princess)
2. Hard As Love (Marillion)
3. Five Bucks in My Pocket (June of 44)
4. Finishing the Hat ("Sunday in the Park with George" - Sondheim)
5. He Said (Edie Brickell & New Bohemians)
6. Have I Got a Girl for You ("Company" - Sondheim)
7. The Spell You're Under (Versus)
8. John, I'm Only Dancing (David Bowie)
9. Spirit of Radio (Rush)
10. Fly Me to the Moon ("Neon Genesis Evangelion")

south

November 11, 2006 - Raised footbridge at the intersection of XinHai Road and XingLong Road in the Wenshan District, south Taipei. I had to ride through a tunnel to get to this area. Fun! (not)


Travelling south on XinHai Road takes you through two tunnels. This is the entrance of the second tunnel. I remember this day as one of the days that Taipei treated me like a bitch. I was out on a ride. When I got here, I noticed these paths along the tunnel entrance and decided to do a little exploring on foot. It turned out to be hiking paths, and that was pleasant enough, except that it started raining, and it was pouring by the time I found my way back to my bike. I abandoned the day's ride and left my bike and took the bus home. I came back the next day to retrieve my bike and continue the ride. I rode through this tunnel, and turned west, crossing the Xindian River, with the idea of going to the Museum of World Religions in Yonghe City, which is where I was hit by a car. No big deal, but getting hit by a stupid driver is never pleasant.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. The Rhythm of Life ("Sweet Charity")
2. No Aloha (The Breeders)
3. Seagulls Screaming Kiss Her, Kisser (XTC)
4. Somebody to Love (Queen)
5. Never Ending Math Equation (Modest Mouse)
6. I Love Paris (Ella Fitzgerald)
7. Truth Hits Everybody (live) (The Police)
8. The Lap of Luxury/Now Wash Your Hands (Marillion)
9. Baby I Love Your Way (live) (Peter Frampton)
10. War (Edwin Starr)

more classmates...

November 17, 2006 - The previous lomo of my classmates was a sneak shot, but I'm not super tight with these people, and to just sneak a shot is a bit rude, so out of courtesy I showed them Bebe and let them shoot. Koike took this one of Kyoko, whose English was decent, and a helluv annoying American guy. What is it about annoying Americans coming here and embarassing the rest of us? He was a loser idiot. Yankee go home! But the Taiwanese love the Yankees because one of their pitchers is a Yankee. I wear my Mets hat here, but that's probably too subtle a signal that I'm American (any Taiwanese here wearing a New York hat would be wearing a Yankee hat, so wearing a Mets hat should tell people I'm not Taiwanese. too subtle).


Koike. I really liked her for some reason, even though she didn't speak English.


And Kyoko took this one. My hand is wrapped because I had a fractured wrist from getting hit by an idiot Taiwanese motorist. It was very slow speed, so I got away with just a fracture from the fall. My bike was completely undamaged. There's something to say about cheap mountain bikes that are built like tanks on two wheels.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Heart-Shaped Box (live) (Nirvana)
2. Sister (Steve Vai)
3. Stay Hungry (Talking Heads)
4. Close...But (Echobelly)
5. Suberidai (live) (Shiina Ringo)
6. Welcome to the Machine (Pink Floyd)
7. Alleluia & Fugue (Hovhaness)
8. Jesus He Knows Me (live) (Genesis)
9. Hachimitsu (Spitz)
10. Nirujarini (Shoukichi Kina & Champloose)

going down

November 9, 2006 - No more my school. This is the main gate of the Shida Annex Campus, with the main library on the left and the language school behind it. Can't say I miss anything about it. The Shida Mandarin Training Center classrooms are mostly on the 8th and 9th floors, and the elevator situation trying to go up or down between classes was a nightmare, contributing to my daily hostility. So much so that I opted to take the stairs.

People trying to go down the elevators during these times got smart and would hop on the elevators going up. Sure you have to go up several floors before going down, but you save time because if you wait for the down elevator, all of them (4) would always be full. And slow going it was, because all the down buttons have already been pushed so you stop at every floor anyway.


November 17, 2006 - And here we are inside my previous classroom on the 8th floor. Those are two of my Japanese classmates. I liked them well enough, this was our second semester in a class together. This was after our teacher had left for vacation for the semester. She informed us less than a week before she left that she was going on vacation. It was head shakingly lame. I mean, how does a teacher get approval for that anyway?

She goes to the administration and tells them she's going on vacation for the last week and a half. The administration says, "What about your students? Won't this disrupt their education? They are, after all, paying students, and to force them to adjust to a new teacher at the end of the semester isn't really fair."

"That's OK, I'll tell the substitute at the last minute so she won't be able to prepare anything. The students will at least be happy they won't have any more tests or a final exam."

"Aren't tests a good thing that forces students to review the material and gain competent knowledge of it?"

"Those glazy-eyed slackers?! I have nightmares about those hollow, vacant stares. They don't say anything in class, I end up speaking almost the whole time! They're so slow I end up having to complete most of their sentences for them!"

"Very well, off you go!"

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Love Struck Baby (live) (Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble)
2. A.B.C. (The Jackson Five)
3. Priere de "Bon Augure" (Monks of the Gyuto Monastery)
4. Up the Hill Backwards (David Bowie)
5. Bleed (Echobelly)
6. The Body Electric (Rush)
7. Floors (Rainer Maria)
8. Symphony No. 5, IV. Allegro (Beethoven)
9. Winter (David Byrne - "Music for the Knee Plays")
10. You Can Always Count On Me ("City of Angels")

Daan Park footbridge default shot

November 8, 2006 - And to start a New Year with my fisheye lomo default shot. Wherever I live, I try to find a default shot. A scene I take over and over until I have a collection of shots of the scene at different times. My official default shot is actually from on the footbridge, but I ended up taking this scene so often waiting for the light to change going to school, it has now become my fisheye lomo default shot, even though my new school is in the opposite direction. Happy New Years to all. Have a safe one.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Shangri-La (Versus - (Kinks cover))
2. I Remember the Sun (XTC)
3. Suite for Flute and Jazz Piano Trio, No. 2, I. Espiegle (Claude Bolling)
4. Pandora's Box (Throwing Muses)
5. No Surprises (Radiohead)
6. Photobooth (Death Cab for Cutie)
7. Mother (The Police)
8. Seaside Go Go (Anzen Chitai)
9. Battered Old Bird (Elvis Costello & the Attractions)
10. Hit the Road Jack (Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra)