Dinner with new world friends

Dinner at Aoba with Terry, Hsingya and Stephen last Tuesday.

Wines are categorized sometimes as "new world" and "old world." My friends can also be categorized as such, too. "Old world" friends are those that I met before going to graduate school. And "new world" friends are those that I met in Japan and those I that I met after working in Taipei.

Hsingya, I met through Takeki, who is Amy's friend. She insists I met her through my omiai (matchmaking) match, who would be Takeki. As far as I know, there was no omiai, unless they've evolved so much to be so discreet that people being matchmade don't even know it.

Stephen is Terry's childhood friend.

Terry, I met while looking for a job in the financial industry. I was about to graduate from Waseda at that time. He was a recruiter for a staffing firm, and thank goodness he did a lousy job and didn't find me a job, because otherwise I wouldn't be having the adventure I'm having now in media and in Taipei. Thanks, Terry!

It was very interesting meeting Terry again. When we were in Tokyo, although we are both Taiwanese by culture, we spoke English, for I grew up in the US and he grew up in Australia. But this time in Taiwan, we spoke in Mandarin and Taiwanese, and it felt really funny. I couldn't speak either of these fluently two years ago. Amazing how one learns so quickly when put in the right environment.

He's a charming boy, but not for me.

Binfu has disappeared off the face of the earth. What a gentleman. When is he going to put an end to this?