Sunday 6 November 2005

Time Flies

Yesterday, I saw some very familiar-looking footage on our news channel. A few cuts later, I realized that it was a story I already did some time ago. There was some overlap in the dishes and how the reporter did her stand-up wearing the Xinjiang style hat and eating the rice dish with her hands almost made it look like a copy of my story. I didn't know how to feel about it, but for sure, it feels good to be able to say for the very first time, "I did it first." Ho ho!

My cold is getting better. I can talk again, but I still sound and feel under the weather. One nice thing about this nasty cold is that I was referred a new doctor, and I really like him. Him, an ear nose throat doctor, and his wife, a dermatologist, have a clinic right by the TV station. He reminds me of my favorite ENT doctor in Japan, Kikuchi-sensei. Now I won't hesitate (as much) to see a doctor.

Speaking of hesitating, I should stop hesitating to see friends too. If only I had more time... Actually, if I had more time, I think I would end up just working more. Shame on me. Perhaps if my working hours were more normal, I would have a more normal life. I've never known normal, so we'll see how that goes.

On my day off today, I went to work. (shame on me again) I reported on the restaurant at the Fisherman's Wharf where I dined with my parents and a couple of friends a few weeks ago. It's that place where the food is unexpectedly good for a restaurant in a tourist area. Afterwards, we stopped by Breeze Plaza (微風廣場) to get some footage of the Blues festival for our ending credits.

My cameraman was in a bad mood today and I accidentally lit his fuse, so all the way back to the station, through the horrendous weekend traffic, he talked nonstop about various managers at the office. It was almost unbearable, but at least now I have some ideas on how to deal with those managers if I ever need to in the future.

The poor guy had been shooting since 7h00 this morning and had to leave for a wedding, so my story will have to wait until after Monday to get cut. After I finished cutting the credits footage myself, I went to talk to the new lifestyle assigner for some advice. She used to be the northern outlying areas assigner, but I had never spoken to her before and was expecting another mean and impatient monster. Surprisingly, she was extremely nice and helpful. Now I have some ideas and ways to find more ideas.

It took until 21h00 at night for something happy to finally happen, but it was worth the wait. It feels so nice to find someone you think you can trust.

After giving away the food and dessert from the shoot to some of the newsroom staff, I took a taxi to my Uncle Cody's, where my parents and some of their friends were. I left my car in Danshui and needed a ride home. I used to spend a lot of time at Uncle Cody's and didn't realize that and also how long I haven't been there until I saw his daughter tonight. She was barely walking the last time I was there, and she was running around today! Also, she had gotten so big that I almost thought she was someone else's child. Time flies! I think that's a reminder for me to not let it just slip by.

Who is free for lunch next week?


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