On the November 2nd, I gave my letter of resignation to my boss. My last working day here will be December 18th. I have been offered a programming position in Taiwan and I'm scheduled to begin working there on January 19th. I'll only have about a week to settle in, because I won't arrive in Taiwan until the 14th. I still have a lot of things to take care of before I make the move. I'm sure when the time does roll around in two months, I still won't be fully prepared. The reality of the move probably won't really hit me until I've been working in Taiwan for a couple of weeks.
When I'm in Taiwan I should probably start updating my blog more often and start uploading more pictures. Maybe I'll revamp some of my blog code to allow me to easily post images in my posts. I still hard-code some html tags in my entries, but in order to post images in my blog I have to upload the images first and then hope I never change the path for my pictures. Which means I also need to write some better code for the way I handle images in general. Start using a database rather than simple directory/file structures. I'm about to have a month of time off, so maybe I can do it all then.
Two nights ago I went to watch 2012 with some of my friends from work. I enjoyed the movie, but it seemed to me that the writers/director had an anti-religion agenda that they were trying to push, and particularly anti-christian. It showed people of all religions praying in desperation and still being destroyed their prayers landing on deaf ears. It showed the catholic statue of Jesus in Rio de Janeiro crumbling, St. Peter's Basilica fell to pieces in the show and the dome rolled over the hundreds of people outside praying. Considering that the director is openly gay and commonly mocks religion, I'm not really surprised. The film would have been better had he left some of those scenes out, and it wouldn't have taken anything away.
Anyway, the movie kind of made me think of my life right now. In some ways it's like my world is ending. I'm leaving my job, my friends, my family, and my country behind. But, as in the movie, I will be starting fresh in Taiwan. At least I'll still have all my old friends, and my family to talk to, even if I am 6000 miles away.
I hope when I move to Taiwan, part of my fresh start will be joining a good church. I haven't been to church in nearly a year now. When I first moved to Houston, I tried some of the local baptist churches. I was just about read to join one, but one Sunday the preacher got up and shouted till he was red in the face about myspace was evil, and it was NOT going to be in that church. Now I don't really care for myspace, but it's stupid to be so against what is essentially a dumb person's personal website. Sure there are evil people who put evil things on myspace. But with that mentality, how can you use the internet at all? How can you even walk out of your home in the morning?? After that I pretty much stopped going to church. Mostly out of pure laziness. I didn't want to go through the hassle of finding another church, so I didn't really even try. I hope that will change when I am in Taiwan. I also hope that it will be easier to go because I'll have Shao-Ling to go with me.
Sorry if I blathered and rambled on too much. I'll leave with this: Just like the movie 2012, moving is not the end of my world, it's a new beginning.
A few weeks ago, the power supply on my desktop computer went out. A capacitor on the inside exploded while I was away. I bought a new power supply to replace the dead one and my computer ran fine until just a few days ago. When I came home on Wednesday, my desktop was dead again. However this time I suspect that it's a motherboard issue, because the system has power for about a second, and then shuts itself off. So I just ordered a laptop that should be here in a week or so. I won't be playing much wow for awhile though. Which also means I won't be updating any addons either. I'll have to reinstall gentoo which will take awhile, and then I have to download and install wow and all it's patches. The laptop will be a nice upgrade though, so it's worth waiting.
I finally started doing the Power 90 program that I ordered months ago. I'm on day 5/90, so we'll see if I can keep up with it. I probably won't, knowing me. I'll try though. It would be nice to lose the gut I've been slowly growing over the past 7 years or so. I'm sure Shao-ling would agree :P
I have my TEFL course this weekend. I can't find an itinerary anywhere though. So I'm assuming it starts at 8 in the morning. But I just don't know. Hopefully, I'm not late. I should go to bed so I can get up in few hours. Goodnight.
Last week I spent all my spare time writing a BLP importer plugin for the GIMP. BLP for those who don't know is Blizzard's texture file format. I was working on my JukeBox WoW addon and I wanted to add a play/stop buttons. But I haven't been able to open up the BLP files with the button templates. So I finally broke down and wrote my own importer. It can read any type of Blizzard BLP image, and allow it to be edited in the GIMP. Saving the file is tricky though. It's a lossy compression scheme, so I'm having a hard time finding a way to export the image. Fortunatly World of Warcraft can load TGA images. So until I can get a working BLP exporter, I can just save my images in the tga format.
If anybody wants a copy of the importer code just send me message :)
Last weekend I went to see my 5-day old nephew Cadence. I can't believe my "little" sister is a mother now! Cadence looked just like a little babydoll. For the most part he was sleeping, but sometimes he would open up his eyes wide and look all around. I really liked holding him, but I'm always a little scared to hold babies because they feel so fragile. He always wanted to sleep with his hands above his head, so his little hands kept getting cold. Jacey put some baby socks on them, but he kept finding ways to pull them off. He is a really cute baby!
We didn't do much this weekend. Just watched the office on DVD and held the baby. I did smoke a cigar with my Dad and Clint. It was the first time I ever smoked anything. I can't say I particularly enjoyed it, but it wasn't too bad. I must not have done it right though because I didn't get a headache or feel sick to my stomach like they did.
Alright that's it for now. Congratulations Jacey and Clint! And I'll see ya'll again in a couple of weeks for JoJo's wedding.
I just got back from Taiwan last Sunday. The week I was there was the Chinese Lunar New Year. We just left the year of Rat, into the year of the Ox. So everywhere I looked I saw cows. The television, convenience stores, in shopping areas, in homes... everywhere. I don't know about China, but people in Taiwan just love the new years celebrations. It's always a lot of fun. This was my third time to visit during Chinese New Year. It was one of my worst vacations because I was sick much of the time, but also the best because I am now engaged.
When I woke up on Friday morning, I knew something was wrong. I had a ticklish feeling all over. I don't really know a better way to describe it. But every time I get that feeling, 12-24 hours later I start to feel really sick. So I was afraid of what the plane trip was going to be like. I left work at around 3PM so I could go home and pack before Chris took me to the airport at 7. I filled one suitcase with my clothes, and the new suit I bought to propose to Shao-ling. The other suitcase was full of things Shao-ling wanted me to order for her and her sister. I planned to leave it and everything inside at her house. Then I went shopping to buy some cat food for Ayla, so that Chris wouldn't have to buy anything. And I also wanted some karaoke CD's because Shao-ling's parents just love it. After I finished shopping, I took a shower, because I wouldn't get another chance for at least 24 hours. After my shower Chris came over to drive me to the airport. At the airport I had some problems with checking in at the continental booth. My confirmation number was from EVA so I had to have somebody manually check me in. I had to wait a couple of hours to leave on the plane, but everything went smoothly, and I arrived in Seattle on time. I slept on the plane, so I don't know if they passed out snacks, and I don't know what movie they were showing.
When I arrived in Seattle I asked somebody where the international terminal was. I had only been to SEATAC one time before so I couldn't remember. They told me it was the satellite terminal, and if I hurried I could take the automatic rail car, but it would only run for a few more minutes. I found the rail car and made it to the gate about an hour and a half before the plane was going to start boarding. I got my EVA ticket at the booth and sat down and tried to sleep. I was starting to get a headache though so I went and got some Tylenol from a store that was still open. By the time I had bought it the plane was just starting to board. So I went and got in my fairly comfortable seat in Elite Class and got ready for take-off.
The flight to Taiwan was pretty boring and I drifted in and out of sleep on the way over. About an hour after we took off they fed us supper, and an hour before we landed they fed us breakfast. I actually really like the food they serve on the airplane. EVA also has new controls for the touch screen on the back of each seat. It had interactive controls to play any of the movies they had available, listen to music, play mini-games, or watch the travel map. It was much fancier than any plane I had been on before. So although the flight was boring, it was much less boring than my previous flights.
After the last meal on the plane I took the last 2 tylenol I had left, because I had a headache, a cough, and I thought I might have a fever. I think it did the job because I started sweating as if my fever broke. If I had not taken it, I may not have been able to enter Taiwan. They have a quarantine booth, that scans the body temperature of everybody walking by. I don't really know what they do there, but I didn't want to risk not being able to enter Taiwan.
The line to get through immigration was very short. There were just 6 people in front of me. I told the immigration officer "Zao an" (Good morning) and he grunted "zao" (mornin'). He stamped my passport and I went down to get my bags. They were some of the first ones off of the conveyor. Then I walked through "nothing to declare" at customs where there was no line just some attendants who smiled and told me "Xin nian quai le!" (Happy New Year). I called Shao-ling and told her where I was at outside and she drove up to me and helped me load my bags. I gave her a hug and quick kiss, and then got in the car. I was really happy to see her again. I had missed her so much!
When we got back to her house that morning, I finally got to take a "shower". And I ate a breakfast hamburger. They call it a "ham bao". We didn't do much on the first day. But I kept feeling sick all day and took several Robitussin pills. But it was New Year's Eve so later that night we ate the special New Year's Eve dinner. But my stomach really felt bad. It felt like burning sensation in my stomach. At the time I thought it was just indigestion. But now I wonder if it was the medicine I took had hurt my stomach. I felt really bad that I couldn't eat much. But every time I swallowed another bite, my stomach complained even more. Shao-ling gave me some awful tasting chinese medicine powder. I guess it was supposed to calm my stomach down, but it didn't seem to work very well. After dinner I took a shower and went to bed.
The next morning I woke up early, and snuck into Shao-ling's room to wake her up with a kiss. She then fixed some coffee for me and we talked for awhile. But about an hour later I started feeling really tired, and got a really bad headache. Shao-ling thought I felt warm so she got me an icepack for my forehead and I laid down on the couch and went back to sleep. I woke up a couple hours later, when Shao-ling's parents came into the room. They told me I should lay in their bed where it was warm. They took my temperature and said I did have a fever. Her dad told me that they were canceling their plans to go the art museum with Shao-ling and I. I spent the rest of the morning asleep in their bed. At lunch time they fixed me some simple rice porridge. And they told Shao-ling to take me to the hospital. She and Shao-chun went with me to get checked out. I had to wait for 5-10 minutes to be seen after we arrived. The doctor spoke English very well, and told me I had the common cold, and gave me 4 types of medicine. One for my fever, one for a runny/stopped nose, one for headache/general body soreness, and one for my cough. I paid about 30 USD and picked up the medicine from the pharmacy window that was 30 feet away from the diagnosis room. All in all it took me 15-20 minutes to get in and out and $30. It would have been cheaper any other day, but on Chinese New Year it's much more expensive. When we got back to her house I went back to bed until evening. I felt better in the evening though.
Shao-ling and I woke up early so we could meet her friend at Taipei Main Metro station. We were going to use a travel agent to visit a national park. I can't remember the name of the park, but it was third in Taiwan I've visited. It was high up in the mountains. I didn't eat anything for breakfast. Just my medicine and some soy milk. My stomach was still really hurting.
The bus ride to the park made me feel woozy. It was a bumpy ride up twisting mountain roads. I managed to make it through the trip. I'm glad I didn't eat anything in the morning though. It would have made it much more unpleasant. When we finally stopped we all got out of the bus and walked up a well-established trail, with steps up and down. But by the time we finally reached the top of the trail I was so exhausted I had to lay down. I felt really dizzy. But as I said, I hadn't eaten anything in the morning, and not very much the day before. We walked back down the trail and got back on the bus.
We drove for awhile then stopped at a restaurant to eat lunch. I was exhausted and very hungry so I was really happy to stop there. I felt stronger after lunch, but I wasn't ready to go up another steep trail 2-hour walk. So I stayed behind while Shao-ling and Chloe went with the tour group. I didn't have anything to do so I just slept and held onto Shao-ling's bag that she left with me. She left her phone with me and told me she would call me with Chloe's phone at around 2PM. At around 2:30 I was a little worried when she hadn't called me. So I tried calling her instead, but the phone wouldn't connect. We were supposed to be leaving at 3PM, but I couldn't get a hold of her. I started getting really worried a few minutes before 3PM when I couldn't call her and I didn't even know which way they had gone. I tried calling her over and over, but could never get a signal. So I got up and started looking around trying to find the path the trail they would have taken. I saw a trail that I thought must have been the one, and a little while later I saw the tour guide coming down. I just followed her around for a couple of minutes. It was the only person I could recognize from the group besides Shao-ling and Chloe. A few minutes later I finally saw them coming down the trail poking around behind everybody else. Shao-ling told me it was a good thing I hadn't gone because she started to feel dizzy too. We got back on the bus and started the trip back down mountains into Taipei. I slept most of the way down the mountain. When we were back on flat land the tour guide put on a video with lots of folk-tales from aboriginal tribes in Taiwan. They were strange but interesting.
We finally arrived back at the metro station, and took the subway and then a bus to get back to her home. Shao-ling was starting to feel really sick by now. I really shouldn't have kissed her while I was sick. She went to bed early, and her sister bought some Robitussin for her.
The next morning I did not wake up Shao-ling, I just let her sleep. It was her turn to stay in bed all day. She woke up a couple of times to eat rice porridge. I spent the day trying to talk to her family. Trying to learn some new Chinese words, and teach them some English too.
Shao-ling felt well enough in the evening to go watch a movie with me. We wanted to watch a Chinese war movie called "Red Cliff 2". I had already seen the first part from a video she had sent me last year. Shao-chun wanted to come with us. So all three of us went to the theater a block from their house. I think I liked Red Cliff part 2 even more than I liked the first one. Shao-ling and Shao-chun both prefered part one though. I think they were both good.
Shao-ling's Aunts, Uncles, and cousins came over to eat with us. The house was full of people and we had to take turns eating at the table. After I finished eating I went and sat on the couch and had some tea. Her uncle kept trying to speak English to me, but he knows even less than Shao-ling's Dad. It was funny. After everybody finished eating we sat down and watched a movie about a Chinese Ghost Story. It had probably the worst English translation ever made. It was a word for word literal translation. So some even though it had English words most of it didn't make any sense at all. I tried to talk with her cousin some. He can only speak a little English. So our conversation was about half-English half-Chinese, and very labored. I really need to learn Chinese better
Before the movie ended, Shao-ling, Shao-chun, and I all left to go dress shopping. I wanted Shao-ling to wear a dress on our date, because I would be wearing a suit. She tried on several sets of clothes and we finally decided on a cute blue dress that I bought for her. Then we needed to find some shoes to go with it. We found a pair that looked nice but they told us they didn't have it in her size. But they had black shoes, with a red ribbon in the same style. I thought they looked ugly, and I think she did too. So she tried on a few more pairs and we finally decided on a pair we both liked. After shopping we went back to her house and had supper
At noon on Friday we went to see Shao-ling's grandparents who live in Taipei County. I packed my suit for the evening, and Shao-ling wore her dress. We took two cars. Shao-ling's Dad, her sister, her brother, and I were in one car. And Shao-ling's Mom, Aunt, Uncle, and cousins were in another. It took about an hour to arrive. I really wish they wouldn't put me in the front when her Dad is driving. I would rather sit next to Shao-ling, and her Dad's driving scares me even more than Shao-ling's.
We met her Grandparent's at a restaurant and got two large tables. We ate all kinds of food. Most of it was really good! We even had Kung Pao Chicken. I had started wondering if any what we consider chinese food, really was chinese. At least I know kung pao really is. After we finished eating. We went to her grandparents house. We had tea and snacks while watching a little tv. I was told Shao-ling and I were the topic of a couple of conversations. But I couldn't understand any of it. We left late in the afternoon. I changed into my new suit just before we left. But as I was walking down the stairs I slipped. I caught myself but my watch band broke and the back clear plate shattered. I was sad but at least I wasn't hurt.
Shao-ling's Dad dropped Shao-ling and me off near the Ruth's Chris Steakhouse. Shao-ling and I held hands, and walked in the wrong direction. Her family yelled at us as they drove by and said it was the other way. So we turned around and walked too far because we were on the wrong side of the street. We crossed the street and walked back the direction we came until we made it to Ruth's Chris steakhouse (right next to McDonald's). It was a really nice steakhouse. We decided to get the cheapest of the set menu's. Which came with appetizers, soup, steak, side dishes, and desert. For two people it was about $120. It was expensive but it was very good. Except for the "chocolate sin cake". It was basically a lump of dark chocolate. Not really what I would call a cake. I ate all of mine, but Shao-ling only took a couple bites of hers.
After dinner, we got on the bus and got off at the theater near her home. We wanted to watch a romantic movie, but the one we were planning to watch wasn't showing for 2 more hours. So we went to see Yes-man with Jim Carey instead. Shao-ling and I were the first ones into the theatre. So when we got to our seats I "accidentally" dropped my ticket on the ground. I bent down on one to pick it up. But instead looked up at Shao-ling and held her hand. She asked me "What are you doing?? Sit down". I told her "Shao-ling, Wo hao ai ni." (Shao-ling, I love you very much). I started to reach into my jacket pocket. "Ni yuan yi jia gei wo ma?" (Will you marry me?) and I opened up the case to the engagement ring I bought her and showed it to her. She said "OK". "OK?". Then she said "Yes, hao". Then I sat down next to her and put the ring on her finger, and kissed her. We kissed several more times through the movie. I'll have to watch Yes-man again probably. It was pretty funny, but I was a bit distracted. I have a fiancee!
Shao-ling didn't want to wear her engagement ring for fear that such a pretty ring would get stolen. And her mother doesn't wear hers either. I think she was really just scared of what her dad would say if he saw it. She showed her mother though. This was Saturday, and Shao-ling's dad wanted to take us to see the northeast coast.
It was really pretty that day. We took some pictures of interesting rock formations next to the ocean, and of the mountains in the area. We then went to a city built next to the coast on the side of a mountain called Jiufen. It was the second time I had seen it before. Her dad was born there. I don't really like the city too much. It's way too crowded to enjoy, and the steep steps up and down wear me out. Shao-ling's Dad also wanted to visit the local Buddhist monk at the temple again. He knew the monk from his childhood.
Shao-ling drove us back to Taipei. I feel much more comfortable when she drives. But Taiwan traffic is still a nightmare. She dropped her Mom and Dad off while we went to eat a Japanese restaurant. Shao-ling said it was my birthday supper, because the cake she ordered never arrived for me. Two of her friends also showed up. The food was very good, but one of the waiters looked like a cross-dresser, which bothered me. I started getting really tired during supper.
I was ready to go to bed when we left. But Shao-chun's friend wanted to meet us for some tea. So went to a tea-house and they all chatted. I tried to talk to her friend Cindy some, but I was really tired. I had a hard time keeping my eyes open. Her friend gave me a gift of some "cookies" (crackers). It was sweet of her. After tea, we went back to Shao-ling's house and I went to bed.
I left Taipei in the afternoon. But before I went to the airport I made Shao-ling put on her engagement ring and show her dad. He looked very surprised. And asked me if my parents knew about it. I said yes. He asked if they were fine with it. And I told him yes. Then he carried my bag down the stairs and put it in the back of the car, and told me goodbye. Shao-ling drove, and Shao-chun rode in the back when we went to the airport. At the airport I checked my bags and got my ticket. Then we took some more pictures. Shao-ling and I talked some about when we would get married. She told me her mom told her 2009 is an unlucky year for marriages so we should wait until at least 2010. So it will probably be in July of 2010. But we still have to set an official date. I will start looking for jobs in Taiwan, and focus harder on learning Mandarin. I kissed Shao-ling goodbye and told my future sister-in-law goodbye.
I went back through immigration. The line was a little longer maybe 20 people in front of me, but it moved quickly. The officials stamped the departure stamp in my passport, and I went to my gate. While I was waiting I decided I wanted to buy a PSP for the flight home. When I tried to buy it I gave the lady all the Taiwan money I had left and my Bank of America check card. She tried running the card through several times but it didn't work. So I gave her my paypal debit card instead. It didn't work either. I called up my bank but they had not registered any declined transactions so I tried one more time with my check card. But it still didn't work. So I just gave up disappointed, and went back to my gate.
The flight to LAX was nice. Nobody was seating next to me in economy class. I watched a couple of chinese movies, and I watched "My best friend's girl". The fed us supper, and breakfast. After the 11-hour flight we landed at LAX. I spent about half an hour waiting in line to get through immigration. There were at least 100 people in each of the 30 or so lines. Then I had to wait another half hour to get my bags. Then I spent an hour in the customs line. When I lined up I couldn't see where the end was. It twisted a curved around the baggage carousels in the huge room. Hundreds of people were in front of me. But the lines were moving fairly quickly. Maybe 5 seconds per person. I rechecked my bag, and made my way over to the domestic terminals. From my last experience at LAX I knew where to go and to avoid strangers at all costs. As I walked out of the international terminal, somebody started yelling at me "Sir, sir!". He was trying to sound important like he worked at the airport. But all the helpful vultures outside the airport want is your money. Beware if you ever go to LAX... I pretended not to hear the person and avoided any eye contact. I quickly made my way to continental's terminal, and stood in line yet again to get through security. I finally sat down at my gate, and sent a text message to everybody, who needed to know I was back in the US. I bought a new shirt and deodorant, because the hours I spent in line wearing my jacket made me really sweaty, and stinky.
After an hour of waiting I finally boarded the plane. I sat next to an obnoxious black couple from Houston. So I pretended to sleep most of the way. This flight did not have any movies but they did serve a hot sandwich. After 3 hours I was in Houston and in Chris's car. He drove me back home, and I went to bed so I could get up for work in the morning.
So this vacation was interesting to say the least. Hopefully I will remember to upload some pictures this time. I wish I had more time to spend in Taiwan. But I only get two weeks vacation for the year. Soon I may get to spend much more time in Taiwan with my fiancee. I just hope the demand for an English-speaking engineer is high in Taiwan. Wish me luck everybody.