Jennifer Garner should be in North Vancouver just about now filming the movie "Elektra". Ian Mckellen and Alan Cumming (poor man) should also be around filming "Eighteen".

Much can be learnt about bin lang (the betel nut), and this educational page tells its story. This Taipei Times article is also rather insightful on the bin lang business. To find one's roots, one must look to the nut.

How to make a Kevin

Ingredients:
3 parts friendliness
1 part courage
5 parts ego

Method:
Stir together in a glass tumbler with a salted rim. Add curiosity to taste! Do not overindulge!

Name:

Kind
Exhausting
Valiant
Innocent
Neat

Name:

I'm not sure whether I should be happy with these results, but this goes to show you what name generators can get from my name.

Back and glad to be.

I visited an uncle I had never seen with my mom and all of his kids were there with their kids. A total of six grandchildren (5 boys, 1 girl), ages ranging from 1.5 - 11 years of age running around and making a racket. In Canada, I am never around kids and I was never sure whether I would know how to play with them. Turns out, it's not a problem for me at all. It was also the first time I was ever called "叔叔" ("uncle"), which was a joy. Even the 1.5 year old was able to make out the words.

I bought a CD a couple of days ago. 2 for 1 at $198nt ($8 CAD for 2 CDs, which I split with my cousin). It was a Norah Jones CD with some songs I hadn't heard before, not being too familiar with her songs anyway. When I got home, I noticed a few of the songs sounded a little... different. I compared them to the MP3s I had and there were, in fact, different. Norah didn't sound as raspy as she normally does, and it didn't quite make sense that she'd sing Eric Clapton's Tears in Heaven nor one of Diana Krall's songs. Turns out, there are a lot of CDs released here and sold in legit CD stores not sung by the original artists. Burn.

There's a strange feeling in the air. Much has happened, and much more on its way. Something wicked this way comes.

">> Last call for flight 5 to San Francisco. <<"
"Well, I guess this is it."

Why do people in movies always get on planes at the last call? Why can't they get to the gate earlier? And what airport lets guests right into the gate? Don't they have to go through security checks? At YVR, passengers leave their loved ones some 60 minutes before boarding. How inaccurate...

The best part of this trip has been that I've been able to see relatives I haven't seen in almost to 20 years, and some I haven't met at all. In the past year, I've come to appreciate my relatives more and more, and have been trying to put in additional effort to keep in contact with them. I may not have done as much as I'd like to, but one step at a time, I guess. It's particularly special to meet those older relatives that were integral in my parents' up-bringing, when times were much tougher. Most of the relatives I've seen in Canada have been fairly well off, but there are others in Taiwan that are still enduring hard times - so it's been a humbling experience. I hope that I'll have the opportunity to see these aunts, uncles, and cousins much more in the future.

I had an invitation to go to the Computex information technology (trade)show, held June 1 - June 5. This particular show is the second largest in the world of its kind, surpassed only by a show in Las Vegas. I went on Thursday, and was able to meet up with my highschool friend EC whom I hadn't seen since 1st or 2nd year. The show spanned four halls within the Taipei World Trade Center and Taipei International Convention Center. Each hall is filled with company booths from all the big names to all the small companies trying to make a name for themselves. The June 1 - June 4 days are for Buyers, whereas June 5 was open to the general public (with the purchase of a ticket, naturally). I was fairly rushed for time, but managed to take pictures of the larger booths, and those with showgirls. It's funny how shameless the technologists can be when it comes to taking pictures of models. On the other hand, I joined the club and got models to pose for pictures as well... what do I care, no one there will ever see me again. I spent most of my time in Hall 1, which had smaller companies, and made the mistake of going to Hall 2 via the inter-Hall shuttle bus. Walking from Hall 1 to Hall 2 takes roughly 6-8 mins. Taking the bus took roughly twice that amount of time as it stopped at Halls 4 and 3 in between, and took its time through the ridiculously congested traffic surrounding the TWTC and TICC. Nevertheless, I thought it was a great experience taking part in the event, if only for about 1.5 hrs. Besides, it was free.

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Scooter are amphibious. They share the road with cars, and the sidewalk with pedestrians.
Likewise, I'm amphibious. I can be a Taiwanese when I want to, or a Canadian when it's advantageous to be.