It's been a busy week here, but I'll just give a quick update.

I've passed my 3-month probation at work, and that's a good thing. Not that there was ever any doubt, but it was still a hurdle and now the opportunities of getting fired are slimmer. I celebrated by getting myself a landline for my apartment. It was installed today, and I tested it with a dial-up connection to a free ISP. I'll go buy me a simple phone over the weekend, and that will be that. Since then, I've been looking at Skype as an alternative for making long distance calls, and not just for free PC-to-PC chats. They have some very good rates on PC-to-PSTN calls, so I might have to look into that a little more.

Halloween is among us... even here in Asia. In recent years, halloween costumes have made their way to store owners around this country. This morning, my worker's son's kindergarden class came to our company and had a little "sing-a-song" performance all made up in their costumes. He (the son) attends an American-Immersion kindergarden class, so that might be a reason they got to celebrate. But it's becoming a little more common for trick-or-treating, although still not widely followed. Kids can go trick-or-treating under supervision, but they're usually taken along a predetermined and pre-agreed path. In other words, the stores or companies or homes (?) that the kids visit are aware that these kids will be coming. I guess it's still not safe to be knocking at some stranger's door, or having strangers knock at your door.

I am missing an opportunity to be a groomsman in a wedding next year, but we'll make up for it by making me the Best Man at a wedding at the end of this year. The role of a Best Man in Taiwanese weddings appear to be much less demanding than those for western weddings. I don't even have to make a speech! Whew. There's much for me to learn about Taiwanese weddings, but one thing I've learned is that things move along much quicker. It's preferred that the time between engagement to wedding be as short as possible. While weddings in the western world take a good year to prepare for, weddings here should take place within 2 months of engagement. However, they're only half-day events here, and not nearly as stressful. Should be fun.

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Oo Oo! I just got a letter from BT! A Happy Halloween card. Perfect timing because if I got it 1 hr later, I would have received it after Halloween! Thanks BT! But with $5, $10, $5, $10000, $10000, $10, and a "Happy Halloween", my Cash O'Lantern Scratch n' Win was a no winner for me. Guess I'll just keep working hard at this job I have and await the next Scratch n' Win to bring me home to Canada.