New Light

Saturday, after Mom's K-school graduation, we went to Danshui's Fisherman's Wharf for dinner. I was very reluctant to go, but we needed to celebrate and I changed out of my suit that I wore for graduation and into something more appropriate and marched into the car without any complaints.

Dad had been raving on and on about how unexpectedly good the food at a particular restaurant is. They do have a pretty good setting. There are seats on the sidewalk, window seats on the inside that looked out onto the mouth of the Danshui River and live music all night long.

I was starving and was still miserable, but expecting little, the quality of the food pleasantly surprised me. It's not something you would expect to have in a tourist area. We ordered a pizza margarita to share and I had a seafood risotto. Parents shared a Belgium beer. The pizza and risotto were quite good; perhaps better than that you'd find in an average restaurant.

Amy and Takeki showed up a little later. They helped out at the graduation banquet and needed a break from working and suits. I seem to surround myself with people like this. The two guys I really liked when I was in Japan were like this. Of course, I never got to see them, but I had a terrible crush on them. Dangerous.

While waiting for Amy and Takeki, though, Dad gave me a direction and some ideas about work. He suggested me to cover political stories, which I thought I would never do, unless pushed into it and unless I had been in Taiwan long enough to know what is going on.

What he said made a lot of sense (as he usually does). Taiwan's democracy is relatively young. Put in a kosher way, there are many inefficiencies. Legislators throw chairs, hold up disrupting placards, boycott speakers for no apparent reason. There is lots to report and lots to analyze. There are reasons why reporters don't do much analysis work, but according to Dad, there is a real opportunity to shine. Management at the network would like it, the foreign community would like it and foreign media would like it as well. If I can make it relevant to the public, they would like it as well, perhaps. So a light bulb went off over my head and hope began trickling in again.

Well, we'll see how things go. It will be a race against time, though. I have a feeling that the lady upstairs will pull one of the associate producers out sooner or later. I'd rather be the one pulled out and put into the reporting staff and move forward. I started a translator, moved on to be an associate producer, and it's time to do something else. I want to be a journalist. I've been wearing the necklace my grandfather who encouraged me to be a journalist gave me. I will be come a journalist.