Thank you friends and family for cheering me up. I'm feeling a little better. :)
A chance meeting with a program director and yoga helped too.
I just couldn't take any more meat, so I broke down and went to a vegetarian restaurant by myself for lunch yesterday. At that time, I was so miserable and lethargic that I was seriously thinking about taking the next day off. I ordered my noodles and as I was sitting down, Bailing the PD came in and called me from behind and joined me at my table. Bailing is the first PD I met at FTV. Although we don't speak often, he's been encouraging. Realistically encouraging, to be precise.
After some chitchat, I told him that I'm really hanging on by my teeth these days. We talked about the other returnee kids (those that lived/studied/grew up abroad but came back to Taiwan) and how they fared. He told me about the two other girls before me who and are both anchors now, one still here and one at another station. They were also put through reporting first. One made it through and one didn't. The one who didn't pass the test couldn't take the pressure the cameramen gave her, and although she's doing alright as an anchor these days, she's still being protected by management. Protected from me, apparently. But to tell you the truth, she's got the face of an anchor and I don't. I call her the "Maria Bartiromo of FTV." But in any case, she was taken out of reporting after a little while and made an anchor. The other girl made progress in reporting in leaps and bounds, and became a reporter/anchor (which is where I'm at now). Later she made C-list anchor and started anchoring regularly weekday mornings. Then an opening came up in the evening prime time news and she was put there. But after some problems involving company politics, she was replaced and her time slots kept changing, and she eventually left for another station, where she seems to be doing alright these days. However, her performance as an anchor seems to have its limits. Bailing says she looks and sounds more like a young lady rather than an anchor. She has a very kind and childish look with a high-pitched voice.
Then Bailing warned me. He said to think very carefully when the offer to become a full-time anchor comes. He says if you're not professional anchor material, it may be worse to completely get into it, because it's difficult to get out. One, you lose the contacts you've made as a reporter in about two years and two, you face a lot of messy competition to get to the top. So if you lose, what you end up with is a reputation as an anchor who didn't make it and contacts that you've lost. He reminded me that I'm not A-list anchor material. It's true. I don't have the serious anchor look and I don't have the serious newsperson personality. Then I remembered what I was out to do - to accumulate friends, contacts, experience and exposure. There's no way the current management will let anyone shine beneath them - not any team, not any person and certainly not me. This, he says, is why I'm lucky. It's not my turn to shine yet. I'm still in the process of making mistakes and learning from them. He says this is the place for me to make a fool of myself and to lose all the face I can possibly lose.
He is so right. I had forgotten that becoming an anchor was only my short-midterm goal. I had also forgotten that I'm very lucky to have my personal circumstances match the environmental situation. People left and right tell me that I'm being prevented from being the best that I can be, but I realize now that it's not such a bad thing after all. Thanks to them, I'll have an even brighter future. Negative energy is not easy to bear, but what it attracts is positive energy. If I am resilient, I will survive, and I will be great.
Look out, World, I'm back on my feet!
Now, I just need to get my body functioning again.
Friday, 31 August 2007
Rose
This time, it's not from psycho fan. It's from Cloudgate Dance Theatre, in celebration of Reporters' Day. How lovely. :)
No presents from psycho fan this week. There's been no shortage of text messages though. And after surprising me by showing up at my office last week, he stopped by again this week. What's scary is that he knows people at my office, so he has ways of getting in. I need pepper spray!
New friends
Difficult to go out and make friends these days. So instead, I've been chatting with caterpillars that came and made friends with my kumquat tree, Mr K.
This guy's real smart - he's camouflaged himself to look like bird poop. The white spots and shinyness really makes it look "fresh." Bleh.
New item on the wall - horses and dogs cross stitch
Two of my favorite animals.
Bought this from Superman at Nonzero.
Lunch with super women from Japan and Taiwan
Yuri Konno and Oscar Liang
Ms Konno is an accomplished female entrepreneur and 1992 Guinness world record holder for number of golf rounds played (8,5 rounds, 153 holes) in one day.
Oscar Liang is a costume designer for movies, specializing in Chinese dresses.
I had the opportunity to have lunch with them when I was sent to entertain Ms Konno for Dad.
Movie with Wise
Saw Bourne Ultimatum with Wise before he went back to Michigan. Time is so short.
The movie wasn't bad. Lots of action, but very similar to the first and second installments.
Coffee guide
Sure helpful for us coffee dummies. Too bad I can only still "sniff" at them. Caffeine sends me clawing at the walls
New ice-cream sauce flavor - soy sace
I wonder when they'll come up with sesame dressing sauce for ice cream.
From Japundit:
Yamakawa Jozo, a soy sauce brewery based in Gifu prefecture, has been selling a type of Tamari soy sauce specially designed for use on ice cream...
From Japundit:
Yamakawa Jozo, a soy sauce brewery based in Gifu prefecture, has been selling a type of Tamari soy sauce specially designed for use on ice cream...
Thursday, 30 August 2007
Tired and depressed
Tired and depressed, but other than that, things are going OK. I'm lucky to be alive. I need to get my energy back. I've lost my way in the past month, and I think I need to sit down and figure out what to think to get back on track.
Fwoo.
Fwoo.
Thursday, 23 August 2007
Looking forward to September
Both mind and body are tired and weak. Mostly, I think it’s because of this seven day long night shift and ever increasingly busy schedule.
The night shift takes away energy because I’m basically jet-lagged for the first 4 days. And because I’m working at night, I don’t have any time to myself to spend with family and friends, the lack of socializing drains my happiness tank. Now my mind is about to explode because of everything that didn’t come out.
This month has been particularly busy and stressful. The first week, I had just returned from Daniel’s wedding in California. Although it was a very happy occasion, we were busy from morning until night, every single day. The day after I got back to Taipei, I was back at work. That weekend was the second wedding reception. During the week, I was shuttling between Danshui and Taipei, partly in order to spend more time with Daniel and Quyen, and partly because the water where I live in Taipei was supposed to be stopped for maintenance work. During week two, I worked six days and spent most of the seventh day with parents and rowdy family friends. Also during week two, my boss made me the scapegoat twice for her own mistakes, causing me to be very angry, and psycho fan sent a gift and too many strange text messages, causing me to be very scared. Week three, I worked four days, had lunch with Dad on the fifth then started on my seven day night shift.
My first day on the night shift, the anchor team leader, Jianguo, asked me to come in to anchor in the morning before my night shift started because he was short-staffed. But when I went in for make-up, I saw that the roster for the day had been completely changed, and I wasn’t on it. The change in roster didn’t bother me, but being first asked to come in to help with anchoring in the morning before going on a 12-hour night shift and then canceling me without telling me made me very, very, very upset. Apparently, Jianguo forgot to notify me of the change, and he apologized. I got over it.
Night one of the seven night shift was when typhoon Sepat was at its worst. I was assigned to report live from Central Weather Bureau, so I went in and had make-up and hair done around 18h00. By 20h20, I was at CWB and a nervous wreck because I’ve never done live typhoon reports from the CWB. At 21h30, I was to go live, and I was 80% ready, as ready as I’ll ever be. Then came the sound test, which the sub control at the TV station links to us via microwave (usually satellite, but we have a microwave transmitter at the CWB) and test my sound volume and video feed. We were 60 seconds away from going live, and the sound test failed. They couldn’t hear me. “Great!” I thought. All that fuss for almost nothing. What I gained out of it was rehearsal experience on CWB typhoon reporting. That was it for the 21h00 segment, and since there is no news at 22h00 on Saturdays and the 23h00 news producer didn’t need me, we packed up and headed back to the station to write and produce the story. When the 23h00 producer saw me, he said “you’re working on that complete story for me, right?” I said “yes,” and he said, “great, thanks.” My cameraman and I worked at breakneck speed to get the story out, and producer ended up not using it. “Great,” I thought, “whatever, at least now I have time for dinner.” It was 23h15 and I was beyond starving. After an energy bar, I fell asleep in my chair until it was time to go home.
Night two went a little better. Aside from being woken up at 9h00 by psycho viewer’s phone call and request to have dinner together, it was alright. In the evening, we went to film our night market feature. It was wet and muggy after the typhoon and running around a night market with filming equipment, interviewing people and filming was quite tiring. At least it was a peaceful night.
Night three, the nightmare began. First, a careless co-worker forgot that I was on the night shift and called at 9h30 to ask me for a colleague’s phone number. I gave it to her and then couldn’t go back to sleep. Then the China Airlines fire in Naha happened and we worked non-stop all night. Later in the evening, when nearly all the other stations were going live from Naha, we still only had video taken earlier during the day from NHK. Nearly all the stations sent a team there, including us, but why weren’t we live? After the night assigner, Jessica, got a phone call from the MD of the news department screaming on the other end, I learned why. Jessica told me that when the MD personally assigned the team to go to Naha and made no mention of ordering satellite transmission, no one dared to ask why or to suggest it. She said the last time a similarly large event happened overseas and someone suggested satellite, the MD rejected, and since the MD was the one who assigned the Naha team and made no mention of it, no one else was about to try again to later have their suggestion rejected. I’ve heard similar stories before. That’s none of my business, but in any case, I tried to piece together whatever I could with new NHK footage and soundbites. There was no Japanese writer on staff that evening, so I had the chance to put my Japanese skills to use. That was the night that I updated two stories a billion times to have it only aired once, or none at all. Then the complete package from our reporter in Naha finally came in via Internet transfer at 01h30, about five hours behind other stations. Roy and I had to stay until 02h00 until all the loose ends were tied up. The only thing I had to eat that night was, again, an energy bar.
Night four, the China Airlines crisis continued. In the afternoon, five hours of my time was wasted at the Ministry of Education. They suggested that they would set up an exclusive interview with the minister for me to explain the latest misinterpretation the media had of what he said on Saturday. It fell through and I headed back to the station at 19h30. In the evening, I continued with the relevant China Airlines reports, the dumb thing being that we were still using NHK footage from their news program from the previous night. Twenty-four hours later, one would think that we would have produced more footage, rather than recycled more of other people’s footage. I kept updating the story, adding new soundbites as they came in hours behind other stations once again. Then the crew from the ill-fated flight returned to Taiwan. A press conference was held at Taoyuan International Airport, and everyone went live. Everyone except for us, once again. I had no idea why, and neither did the MD. So here came another call from the MD, screaming once again. This time, she said she’s writing everyone who’s responsible up. By this time, Jessica was pulling her hair out, and after phone calls to the reporter and SNG team at the airport, we had our answer, and everyone who was threatened to be written up was nearly rabid and foaming at the mouth. The press conference was held in a room where SNG cables could not reach. In this case, one would use a microwave transmitter attached to the camera to send the video feed to the SNG van and the SNG van would relay it back to the station, and this is what everyone except for us did. The problem was, we don’t own any microwave transmitters. Why don’t we own any? Because last October, management didn’t approve the budget to buy them. If this is accurate, I understand why they are upset. If the reporters, assigners and producers are really punished for this, I think there will be a revolt. None of this was really any of my business, and I merely offered an ear for people to vent, but there was so much negative energy and static at the station that night that I felt lightning was about to happen within the building. And later in that night, I found out that my Taiwanese co-anchor for the coming Saturday bailed on me. His reason was that he didn’t want to be anchoring at 07h00 after getting off at 01h00. I can’t imagine that anyone would, but I’m in the same position as he and I didn’t say a word. I had hoped that he would tough it through with me, but I was disappointed. Now I know better what kind of person he is, professionally and personally. But on top of all that, now I have to figure out how the hell I’m going to pull off anchoring an hour of Taiwanese by myself. Oh my goodness. Then after I get through the Taiwanese, I’ll be on the path to a crash landing all the way until I finish at 15h00.
Night five was tonight, and it felt like night 50. Just when one plane crisis seemed to calm down, another one seemed to begin. At around 21h45, Jessica came running asking me to keep an eye on NHK because TVBS (our greatest local competitor) was reporting on a China Airlines flight bound for Nagoya taking a forced landing at Osaka instead because of fuel shortage. Their information was based on an Asahi news report. Again, no Japanese writer was on staff and I was asked to figure out what happened. After scrambling for information and a telephone interview with the China Airlines spokesman, it turned out that it was a false alarm. What happened was that a previous flight that was landing at Nagoya flew right through a formation of sea gulls that were flying over the runway, causing instant death to about 100 of the birds. In order to clean up the carcasses, the runway had to be closed for 30 minutes, and thus the China Airlines flight and other flights were forced to temporarily land elsewhere in the meantime. The information was only available on Asahi’s website, and for the second time this week, my education in Japan came to the rescue. Before the plane incident, I was writing my night market feature on 南機場, meaning “Southern Airport,” incidentally. Coincidence? Perhaps. Heaven’s will? Maybe. Interesting occurrence nonetheless. The same night, the director of our international desk came to me and asked what I’m doing the following three Sundays. He wanted me to sub for the Japanese writer who’s on maternity break. It feels great to feel needed, but I’m going to die, because I already work more than six days a week. On top of reporting Monday through Friday, I have to anchor this Saturday and both next Saturday and Sunday. He’s not sure what he wants to do yet, and I hope he finds another solution.
To think, I have to host brunch for Dad Friday, then work 12 hours, sleep 2 hours and work another 12 hours and then have dinner with Mom, Dad and Michael three hours later. Maybe instead of sleeping, I should go to the hospital and get an IV drip put in or something. I think I better stop thinking.
What do you do when you’re already really tired and you know that you will be even more tired? Perhaps sleep, eat and exercise properly. I’ll try that.
August has been hell. I hope it ends soon. Once things slow down a little in September, I’m going to start thinking about my health. I don't need cancer just yet.
I think I can sleep better now that these things are off my chest. Good night.
The night shift takes away energy because I’m basically jet-lagged for the first 4 days. And because I’m working at night, I don’t have any time to myself to spend with family and friends, the lack of socializing drains my happiness tank. Now my mind is about to explode because of everything that didn’t come out.
This month has been particularly busy and stressful. The first week, I had just returned from Daniel’s wedding in California. Although it was a very happy occasion, we were busy from morning until night, every single day. The day after I got back to Taipei, I was back at work. That weekend was the second wedding reception. During the week, I was shuttling between Danshui and Taipei, partly in order to spend more time with Daniel and Quyen, and partly because the water where I live in Taipei was supposed to be stopped for maintenance work. During week two, I worked six days and spent most of the seventh day with parents and rowdy family friends. Also during week two, my boss made me the scapegoat twice for her own mistakes, causing me to be very angry, and psycho fan sent a gift and too many strange text messages, causing me to be very scared. Week three, I worked four days, had lunch with Dad on the fifth then started on my seven day night shift.
My first day on the night shift, the anchor team leader, Jianguo, asked me to come in to anchor in the morning before my night shift started because he was short-staffed. But when I went in for make-up, I saw that the roster for the day had been completely changed, and I wasn’t on it. The change in roster didn’t bother me, but being first asked to come in to help with anchoring in the morning before going on a 12-hour night shift and then canceling me without telling me made me very, very, very upset. Apparently, Jianguo forgot to notify me of the change, and he apologized. I got over it.
Night one of the seven night shift was when typhoon Sepat was at its worst. I was assigned to report live from Central Weather Bureau, so I went in and had make-up and hair done around 18h00. By 20h20, I was at CWB and a nervous wreck because I’ve never done live typhoon reports from the CWB. At 21h30, I was to go live, and I was 80% ready, as ready as I’ll ever be. Then came the sound test, which the sub control at the TV station links to us via microwave (usually satellite, but we have a microwave transmitter at the CWB) and test my sound volume and video feed. We were 60 seconds away from going live, and the sound test failed. They couldn’t hear me. “Great!” I thought. All that fuss for almost nothing. What I gained out of it was rehearsal experience on CWB typhoon reporting. That was it for the 21h00 segment, and since there is no news at 22h00 on Saturdays and the 23h00 news producer didn’t need me, we packed up and headed back to the station to write and produce the story. When the 23h00 producer saw me, he said “you’re working on that complete story for me, right?” I said “yes,” and he said, “great, thanks.” My cameraman and I worked at breakneck speed to get the story out, and producer ended up not using it. “Great,” I thought, “whatever, at least now I have time for dinner.” It was 23h15 and I was beyond starving. After an energy bar, I fell asleep in my chair until it was time to go home.
Night two went a little better. Aside from being woken up at 9h00 by psycho viewer’s phone call and request to have dinner together, it was alright. In the evening, we went to film our night market feature. It was wet and muggy after the typhoon and running around a night market with filming equipment, interviewing people and filming was quite tiring. At least it was a peaceful night.
Night three, the nightmare began. First, a careless co-worker forgot that I was on the night shift and called at 9h30 to ask me for a colleague’s phone number. I gave it to her and then couldn’t go back to sleep. Then the China Airlines fire in Naha happened and we worked non-stop all night. Later in the evening, when nearly all the other stations were going live from Naha, we still only had video taken earlier during the day from NHK. Nearly all the stations sent a team there, including us, but why weren’t we live? After the night assigner, Jessica, got a phone call from the MD of the news department screaming on the other end, I learned why. Jessica told me that when the MD personally assigned the team to go to Naha and made no mention of ordering satellite transmission, no one dared to ask why or to suggest it. She said the last time a similarly large event happened overseas and someone suggested satellite, the MD rejected, and since the MD was the one who assigned the Naha team and made no mention of it, no one else was about to try again to later have their suggestion rejected. I’ve heard similar stories before. That’s none of my business, but in any case, I tried to piece together whatever I could with new NHK footage and soundbites. There was no Japanese writer on staff that evening, so I had the chance to put my Japanese skills to use. That was the night that I updated two stories a billion times to have it only aired once, or none at all. Then the complete package from our reporter in Naha finally came in via Internet transfer at 01h30, about five hours behind other stations. Roy and I had to stay until 02h00 until all the loose ends were tied up. The only thing I had to eat that night was, again, an energy bar.
Night four, the China Airlines crisis continued. In the afternoon, five hours of my time was wasted at the Ministry of Education. They suggested that they would set up an exclusive interview with the minister for me to explain the latest misinterpretation the media had of what he said on Saturday. It fell through and I headed back to the station at 19h30. In the evening, I continued with the relevant China Airlines reports, the dumb thing being that we were still using NHK footage from their news program from the previous night. Twenty-four hours later, one would think that we would have produced more footage, rather than recycled more of other people’s footage. I kept updating the story, adding new soundbites as they came in hours behind other stations once again. Then the crew from the ill-fated flight returned to Taiwan. A press conference was held at Taoyuan International Airport, and everyone went live. Everyone except for us, once again. I had no idea why, and neither did the MD. So here came another call from the MD, screaming once again. This time, she said she’s writing everyone who’s responsible up. By this time, Jessica was pulling her hair out, and after phone calls to the reporter and SNG team at the airport, we had our answer, and everyone who was threatened to be written up was nearly rabid and foaming at the mouth. The press conference was held in a room where SNG cables could not reach. In this case, one would use a microwave transmitter attached to the camera to send the video feed to the SNG van and the SNG van would relay it back to the station, and this is what everyone except for us did. The problem was, we don’t own any microwave transmitters. Why don’t we own any? Because last October, management didn’t approve the budget to buy them. If this is accurate, I understand why they are upset. If the reporters, assigners and producers are really punished for this, I think there will be a revolt. None of this was really any of my business, and I merely offered an ear for people to vent, but there was so much negative energy and static at the station that night that I felt lightning was about to happen within the building. And later in that night, I found out that my Taiwanese co-anchor for the coming Saturday bailed on me. His reason was that he didn’t want to be anchoring at 07h00 after getting off at 01h00. I can’t imagine that anyone would, but I’m in the same position as he and I didn’t say a word. I had hoped that he would tough it through with me, but I was disappointed. Now I know better what kind of person he is, professionally and personally. But on top of all that, now I have to figure out how the hell I’m going to pull off anchoring an hour of Taiwanese by myself. Oh my goodness. Then after I get through the Taiwanese, I’ll be on the path to a crash landing all the way until I finish at 15h00.
Night five was tonight, and it felt like night 50. Just when one plane crisis seemed to calm down, another one seemed to begin. At around 21h45, Jessica came running asking me to keep an eye on NHK because TVBS (our greatest local competitor) was reporting on a China Airlines flight bound for Nagoya taking a forced landing at Osaka instead because of fuel shortage. Their information was based on an Asahi news report. Again, no Japanese writer was on staff and I was asked to figure out what happened. After scrambling for information and a telephone interview with the China Airlines spokesman, it turned out that it was a false alarm. What happened was that a previous flight that was landing at Nagoya flew right through a formation of sea gulls that were flying over the runway, causing instant death to about 100 of the birds. In order to clean up the carcasses, the runway had to be closed for 30 minutes, and thus the China Airlines flight and other flights were forced to temporarily land elsewhere in the meantime. The information was only available on Asahi’s website, and for the second time this week, my education in Japan came to the rescue. Before the plane incident, I was writing my night market feature on 南機場, meaning “Southern Airport,” incidentally. Coincidence? Perhaps. Heaven’s will? Maybe. Interesting occurrence nonetheless. The same night, the director of our international desk came to me and asked what I’m doing the following three Sundays. He wanted me to sub for the Japanese writer who’s on maternity break. It feels great to feel needed, but I’m going to die, because I already work more than six days a week. On top of reporting Monday through Friday, I have to anchor this Saturday and both next Saturday and Sunday. He’s not sure what he wants to do yet, and I hope he finds another solution.
To think, I have to host brunch for Dad Friday, then work 12 hours, sleep 2 hours and work another 12 hours and then have dinner with Mom, Dad and Michael three hours later. Maybe instead of sleeping, I should go to the hospital and get an IV drip put in or something. I think I better stop thinking.
What do you do when you’re already really tired and you know that you will be even more tired? Perhaps sleep, eat and exercise properly. I’ll try that.
August has been hell. I hope it ends soon. Once things slow down a little in September, I’m going to start thinking about my health. I don't need cancer just yet.
I think I can sleep better now that these things are off my chest. Good night.
Water me when I tilt
Neat concept, except it doesn't quite seem useful if you change the water in the vase every day anyway (like you're supposed to)
Tuesday, 21 August 2007
China airlines accident
A China Airlines flight out of Taipei and bound for 那覇 Naha, Japan burst into planes shortly after landing yesterday. I worked on this piece of news all afternoon and all night. I only wrote one story and updated 2, actually. But the two stories that I updated kept me busy for six straight hair pulling hours. I must have updated the updates five or six times. Aside from new images coming in from NHK and from our reporter who flew over there this afternoon, there were a lot of communication problems and I had to rewrite and rewrite and rewrite. Compared to my colleague who's still in Naha, I think I had a more stressful time writing the story than she had getting the source for the story. I'm just glad the day is over. And I'm very glad that aside from a heart attack and other panic-related problems, no one was reported to be hurt.
On another note, I was really amazed at how quickly NHK worked to cover the event and to come up with a half-hour special program by 21h00, just eight hours after the event occurred. They had great-looking models and computer graphics completed in time, and got an ex-pilot for ANA and a Tokyo University professor to comment and analyze what had happened. I was absolutely amazed. This type of production capability is what I must aim for.
And just for fun, all of our stories wrote around the word "explosion." We were forbidden to use the word. If you've ever watched China Airlines' in-flight news, you may know why. ;)
Kumquat tree
Meet Mr K, my kumquat tree. All the kumquats are gone, and recently, the caterpillars have left as well and gone on to become butterflies. A little lonely, but perhaps now Mr K's leaves can finally grow in peace.
Monday, 20 August 2007
騙吃騙喝
今天晚上去南機場夜市拍夜市專題，騙吃騙喝
不過，好辛苦喔
颱風剛剛走，不過畢竟還是夏天，所以又熱，又悶
細拍了兩家，到來來水餃拍大白菜手工水餃還有管麵的素蒸臭豆腐以及素麻油"基"麵
另外還拍了一些剉冰，炸雞，黑輪，滷味，果汁
當然沒有全部吃，只有幾顆水餃和一碗意仁湯
說是騙吃騙喝，不過其實也是幫店家免費打廣告，但是也得把新聞做出來
所以還是沒有免費的午餐啦，也可以說天下最貴的午餐也就是免費的午餐
如果沒聽過，南機場在日治時代是個機場(北機場則是現在的松山機場)，後來變成眷村，夜市就是從那時開始的
目前新聞排在九月四日晚上八點那一節播出，有空可以看一下喔
不過，好辛苦喔
颱風剛剛走，不過畢竟還是夏天，所以又熱，又悶
細拍了兩家，到來來水餃拍大白菜手工水餃還有管麵的素蒸臭豆腐以及素麻油"基"麵
另外還拍了一些剉冰，炸雞，黑輪，滷味，果汁
當然沒有全部吃，只有幾顆水餃和一碗意仁湯
說是騙吃騙喝，不過其實也是幫店家免費打廣告，但是也得把新聞做出來
所以還是沒有免費的午餐啦，也可以說天下最貴的午餐也就是免費的午餐
如果沒聽過，南機場在日治時代是個機場(北機場則是現在的松山機場)，後來變成眷村，夜市就是從那時開始的
目前新聞排在九月四日晚上八點那一節播出，有空可以看一下喔
Double Rainbow in Taiwan!
We stumbled upon Double Rainbow at the new Sogo department store in Taipei last last weekend. Double Rainbow was my favorite ice cream growing up. It's from San Francisco. My favorite flavors were blueberry and lychee nut and mint. Blueberry and lychee nut are really hard to find everywhere else, so when Double Rainbow disappeared from our neighborhood, I was really really sad.
Mom warned Dad that he could only have one scoop before she went into City Super (supermarket), and I took a picture of my ice cream (which was the same as Dad's) with Dad in the background and said, "Dad, you're busted. I'm sending this to Mom." To which he replied, "the only thing your picture proves is that YOU had two scoops." Um. Never mind. Two was indeed too much. But if you look at my hiatus from Double Rainbow over the past almost 10 years, that's that not that much. But I did learn my lesson. The ice cream was too sweet, especially the blueberry. Next time, I'm sticking to lychee nut.
Mom warned Dad that he could only have one scoop before she went into City Super (supermarket), and I took a picture of my ice cream (which was the same as Dad's) with Dad in the background and said, "Dad, you're busted. I'm sending this to Mom." To which he replied, "the only thing your picture proves is that YOU had two scoops." Um. Never mind. Two was indeed too much. But if you look at my hiatus from Double Rainbow over the past almost 10 years, that's that not that much. But I did learn my lesson. The ice cream was too sweet, especially the blueberry. Next time, I'm sticking to lychee nut.
Spicy!
A beautiful assortment of chili peppers often used in Sichuan cuisine. Food that I can't take, unfortunately. I took this picture at a press conference kicking off the food show two weeks ago.
Making a difficult job even more difficult
We were assigned to stand by outside the education minister's residence. These assignments come once in a while, and I hate them because it's rude and the only response we usually get is a dirty look from the minister as he steps into his car and drives away.
杜正勝 (Du Zhengsheng), the minister of education, is a very difficult person to get a statement from. He appears to dislike media, and to a certain extent, most reporters that cover him dislike covering him, partly because almost all of the time, he won't stop to give anyone a statement, leaving everyone to chase after him and causing a mess of cameramen, reporters and microphones to collide like they do in a rugby scrum when he finally ducks into a building or a car. The other day, he violently pushed a microphone in front of him away and shoved a cameraman, sending the cameraman slamming against a wall. The following day, he held a press conference to explain his actions. He said, "If I hurt the cameraman in any way, I apologize. But I have to let you know, microphones are ridden with bacteria." Perhaps he meant that he was sorry and that he really hates dirty microphones shoved in his face. But the way he explained himself, it sounded to everyone like he shoved the cameraman because microphones are dirty. Of course, the media had a field day with this, and legislators from both camps and even the president had something to say about it. It reminds me of that time when he tried to cover President Chen's misuse of an idiom (罄竹難書). He seems to have a knack with portraying himself as a very eccentric academic and a heavily misunderstood public servant.
As a public servant, he has a responsibility to answer the questions related to issues that his ministry is responsible for, but his response to not responding is that he will not encourage the media to show up and expect an answer from him without scheduling an appointment at the ministry in advance. Common practice when one doesn't want to answer questions at a particular time is to stop, face the reporters and cameras and say, "I have no comment at this time," and then turn around and leave. Funny how he is able to be a minister and not able to say "no comment." Well, no assigner wants to play his game, so we get assigned to show up at his public appearances to push him to say something, and he usually doesn't. So when they are really desperate, the send us to his house at the crack of dawn. Putting a camera over the top of the walls to capture images of the inside is really unethical, but that's what some assigners expect these days. In situations like this, I'd much rather stand on the other side of the street, talk to an imaginary friend and pretend that I'm a patient who's just escaped from the looney bin, than hold a microphone and do what all the other reporters are doing. Sigh.
An uncomfortable but good idea
I wonder if the Taiwanese will ever accept a concept like this and put needle disposal bins in public bathrooms like they did here at the San Francisco International Airport.
Next target
The sunglasses I'm may "borrow" from Michael next. They look better on me anyway. This picture was taken at Daniel and Quyen's wedding banquet.
Meet Wiggles
Say hello to Daniel and Quyen's weasel. I mean ferret. Her name is Wiggles, but I call her Smiggles. It was my first time seeing her in person when I went back to the Bay Area this time, and she smelled like...well, a weasel I suppose. So smelly Wiggles became "Smiggles." Then Smiggles later became Sgriggles after turning grey from diving into the (cold) ash in the fireplace. Hee hee.
How fat genes got embedded into Americans' DNA
Thank goodness we don't have all these flavors around here.
(Taken at a Safeway in California)
(Taken at a Safeway in California)
Friday, 17 August 2007
Multi-dimentional image revolution
Photosynth demo
http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/129
Very cool stuff.
http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/129
Very cool stuff.
地瓜男 #2
好一陣子沒看到地瓜男，也沒接到他的簡訊了
不過最近又來了另一位，地瓜男#2
他也是我一位受訪者，大概兩個月前在建成小學校日本老校友返校的時候認識的
他爸爸是以前校友會的會長，不過已經過世了，他自己五十多歲，小孩年齡跟我差不多，太太也是記者
在採訪現場覺得人滿熱心的，後來還介紹人給我認識
一兩次在外頭碰面後，發覺這個人有點奇怪，一天到晚打電話傳簡訊給我
簡訊的內容以及他的文筆，不輸地瓜男喔！
昨天可能特別有空，傳了特別多，和大家分享 ;)
13h15:
雙魚座陽光女孩 往日容光煥發，今日我見猶憐。是否讓同是水象星座的巨蟹陰柔男，幫妳解鬱悶，開開心，如何？ 妳應是撘八月二日清晨班機回台，過於疲倦。我雖觀看四日下午主播時段，但未經妳容許，不敢冒然啟動援手動作。認識妳日子雖短，但感恩的情懷，予日日增。但見隔週情況明朗，我往日燕趙男兒性情，一霎時被點燃了。雖數十年未輕齒求人，事後有點鼻青臉腫，但我不以為意。有機會的話，帶我去療傷，好嗎？為了要恢復妳容容之貌，我再所不遲地，該為妳做幾批援軍，不知成效如何，我只能期待再見歡顏。 切記有需要，馬上連絡。把我叫林先生、叔叔、或者是大哥哥，我都不已為意。 妳還滑船嗎？一條陽光大道正在妳前面，等待妳奔跑其上。 祝心常愉快 時露笑容 從大佑
19h46:
翁小姐 恭喜您，晚間新聞上了太平乳鴿等三則。要慶祝嗎？我請客。星辰酒窖或者太平乳鴿？妳同意嗎？我從六月一日起，已停吃牛肉二个多月。妳不會怪我，援手太慢吧！如果有一点，請容恕反應慢。我會再連絡。從大佑
20h31:
翁郁容小星星 妳可以再多二樣選擇，我十多年前買的瑪瑙串或者是妳這輩子尚未見的暖玉掌心大一塊。可單選或複選。 從瘦皮猴大佑
20h46:
小星星 剛傳錯幾个字，是琥珀串而非瑪瑙串。兩種都是保護妳在六月十五夜於宜蘭的事，是避邪。妳知容容是飛揚的意思吧！從大佑
前一陣子來的:
郁容 我叔昭發現郁一字，竟然是這麼好，也可用在許多地方。茲恭記如下 紛郁郁其難詳。郁郁乎文哉。郁郁菲菲，眾香發越。敘溫郁則寒谷成暄。蜜房郁毓被其阜。雲霞紛郁。光扈扈而煬燿，紛郁郁而暢美。 因您之名，所學甚多。 藕蕩筆邊理釣筩，苧蘿西去五湖東，筆床茶灶太從容，況有短牆銀杏雨，更兼高閣玉蘭風，畫眉閒了畫芙蓉。 騷屑西風、弄晚寒，翠袖倚玉闌，霞綃裏處、櫻脣微綻、媚媚紅殷，故宮事往憑誰問、無恙是朱顏，玉墀爭采、玉釵爭插、至正年閒。 容恕我，容止差。雖容身於山林，但心卻若容膝，不能伸展。但希望能施予援手。我雖動了喜歡的心，自想也應可以節制。但就是壓抑不住，如脫韁野馬的心。真是越剪、剪不斷，越理越亂，不知如何是好？但見明月高掛，我的心好似飛到加州。我又瘦了一輪。 祝星空裡的月兒 伴您安睡 台北大佑
父親節前兩天還傳來說我一定沒時間買禮物給爸爸，他願意幫我準備
結果他真的拿東西到公司來了，當時我在外頭採訪，如果遇到他真的不曉得怎麼辦
那個東西還在我桌底，有人需要嗎？
我看我以後下班時小心一點好了...
不過最近又來了另一位，地瓜男#2
他也是我一位受訪者，大概兩個月前在建成小學校日本老校友返校的時候認識的
他爸爸是以前校友會的會長，不過已經過世了，他自己五十多歲，小孩年齡跟我差不多，太太也是記者
在採訪現場覺得人滿熱心的，後來還介紹人給我認識
一兩次在外頭碰面後，發覺這個人有點奇怪，一天到晚打電話傳簡訊給我
簡訊的內容以及他的文筆，不輸地瓜男喔！
昨天可能特別有空，傳了特別多，和大家分享 ;)
13h15:
雙魚座陽光女孩 往日容光煥發，今日我見猶憐。是否讓同是水象星座的巨蟹陰柔男，幫妳解鬱悶，開開心，如何？ 妳應是撘八月二日清晨班機回台，過於疲倦。我雖觀看四日下午主播時段，但未經妳容許，不敢冒然啟動援手動作。認識妳日子雖短，但感恩的情懷，予日日增。但見隔週情況明朗，我往日燕趙男兒性情，一霎時被點燃了。雖數十年未輕齒求人，事後有點鼻青臉腫，但我不以為意。有機會的話，帶我去療傷，好嗎？為了要恢復妳容容之貌，我再所不遲地，該為妳做幾批援軍，不知成效如何，我只能期待再見歡顏。 切記有需要，馬上連絡。把我叫林先生、叔叔、或者是大哥哥，我都不已為意。 妳還滑船嗎？一條陽光大道正在妳前面，等待妳奔跑其上。 祝心常愉快 時露笑容 從大佑
19h46:
翁小姐 恭喜您，晚間新聞上了太平乳鴿等三則。要慶祝嗎？我請客。星辰酒窖或者太平乳鴿？妳同意嗎？我從六月一日起，已停吃牛肉二个多月。妳不會怪我，援手太慢吧！如果有一点，請容恕反應慢。我會再連絡。從大佑
20h31:
翁郁容小星星 妳可以再多二樣選擇，我十多年前買的瑪瑙串或者是妳這輩子尚未見的暖玉掌心大一塊。可單選或複選。 從瘦皮猴大佑
20h46:
小星星 剛傳錯幾个字，是琥珀串而非瑪瑙串。兩種都是保護妳在六月十五夜於宜蘭的事，是避邪。妳知容容是飛揚的意思吧！從大佑
前一陣子來的:
郁容 我叔昭發現郁一字，竟然是這麼好，也可用在許多地方。茲恭記如下 紛郁郁其難詳。郁郁乎文哉。郁郁菲菲，眾香發越。敘溫郁則寒谷成暄。蜜房郁毓被其阜。雲霞紛郁。光扈扈而煬燿，紛郁郁而暢美。 因您之名，所學甚多。 藕蕩筆邊理釣筩，苧蘿西去五湖東，筆床茶灶太從容，況有短牆銀杏雨，更兼高閣玉蘭風，畫眉閒了畫芙蓉。 騷屑西風、弄晚寒，翠袖倚玉闌，霞綃裏處、櫻脣微綻、媚媚紅殷，故宮事往憑誰問、無恙是朱顏，玉墀爭采、玉釵爭插、至正年閒。 容恕我，容止差。雖容身於山林，但心卻若容膝，不能伸展。但希望能施予援手。我雖動了喜歡的心，自想也應可以節制。但就是壓抑不住，如脫韁野馬的心。真是越剪、剪不斷，越理越亂，不知如何是好？但見明月高掛，我的心好似飛到加州。我又瘦了一輪。 祝星空裡的月兒 伴您安睡 台北大佑
父親節前兩天還傳來說我一定沒時間買禮物給爸爸，他願意幫我準備
結果他真的拿東西到公司來了，當時我在外頭採訪，如果遇到他真的不曉得怎麼辦
那個東西還在我桌底，有人需要嗎？
我看我以後下班時小心一點好了...
Transparent concrete lamp
ABC's in Taiwan
The other day, a coworker called me asking how to spell a word in English. I don't remember exactly what it was, but it involved a "d" in it. For the sake of discussion, let's say that word was "fade."
Coworker (C): hi, sorry, Michella, how do you spell "fade"?
Michella (M): oh no problem, it's f-a-d-e.
C: es? efu? efu? es?
M: no no, it's f, not s.
C: what? s?
M: no, EFU
apparently, "f" is hard for them to pick up and to say, so you have to give them an "efu" instead of an "f"
C: oh oh ok, thanks. efu-a-d, d? t? which one?
M: d, like dog
C: what d? di as in pig?
M: no, not p, it's d as in dog
C: oh, I get it, it's d as in pig
M: no no no
as this point, my cameraman behind me tapped me on the shoulder and told me she got it and to say yes and hang up
He explained to me that in high school in Taiwan, they say d as in pig, because pig in Taiwanese is pronounced "di" 豬. Once I got it, I was laughing so hard our driver almost had to pull over.
So here in Taiwan, we say "d" as in "pig."
Coworker (C): hi, sorry, Michella, how do you spell "fade"?
Michella (M): oh no problem, it's f-a-d-e.
C: es? efu? efu? es?
M: no no, it's f, not s.
C: what? s?
M: no, EFU
apparently, "f" is hard for them to pick up and to say, so you have to give them an "efu" instead of an "f"
C: oh oh ok, thanks. efu-a-d, d? t? which one?
M: d, like dog
C: what d? di as in pig?
M: no, not p, it's d as in dog
C: oh, I get it, it's d as in pig
M: no no no
as this point, my cameraman behind me tapped me on the shoulder and told me she got it and to say yes and hang up
He explained to me that in high school in Taiwan, they say d as in pig, because pig in Taiwanese is pronounced "di" 豬. Once I got it, I was laughing so hard our driver almost had to pull over.
So here in Taiwan, we say "d" as in "pig."
滷肉飯
We did a piece on 滷肉飯 (minced pork stew over rice) at 龍緣滷肉飯 (Longyuan Luroufan) near the 建成 (Jiancheng) roundabout in Taipei.
It's been the same guy making the stew for over 50 years. Quite amazing. They've survived military rule, the White Terror, etc. even though the roundabout which it was in before didn't.
Too bad the assignment came out of nowhere and we already took lunch!
It's been the same guy making the stew for over 50 years. Quite amazing. They've survived military rule, the White Terror, etc. even though the roundabout which it was in before didn't.
Too bad the assignment came out of nowhere and we already took lunch!
Inakaya
One of my favorite places in Roppongi. Went with Grandpa, Mama and Aaron in May.
The first time I was there, it was Uncle Cody who brought me, and I was still going to graduate school in Tokyo. He said, "your grandfather brought me here when I was going to school here. Now it's my turn to bring you, while you're in school at Waseda." How touching. :)
This is called 炉端焼き (robata yaki). Here at 田舎屋, fresh produce, meats and fish are placed between us and three master grillers who work kneeled behind a grill. Quite special. In the farmhouse tradition, (lower grade) お酒 (sake) here is often drank from a wooden box. At the end of dinner, they'll let you make your own お餅 (rice cake, which is more like rice gum) by smashing glutinous rice inside a big, wooden mortar and pestle. Add in every single server repeating every single order by every single person, the place is very, very lively, and filled with the aromas of grilled food.
A great place for locals and visitors alike, but make sure to bring extra money. ;)
The first time I was there, it was Uncle Cody who brought me, and I was still going to graduate school in Tokyo. He said, "your grandfather brought me here when I was going to school here. Now it's my turn to bring you, while you're in school at Waseda." How touching. :)
This is called 炉端焼き (robata yaki). Here at 田舎屋, fresh produce, meats and fish are placed between us and three master grillers who work kneeled behind a grill. Quite special. In the farmhouse tradition, (lower grade) お酒 (sake) here is often drank from a wooden box. At the end of dinner, they'll let you make your own お餅 (rice cake, which is more like rice gum) by smashing glutinous rice inside a big, wooden mortar and pestle. Add in every single server repeating every single order by every single person, the place is very, very lively, and filled with the aromas of grilled food.
A great place for locals and visitors alike, but make sure to bring extra money. ;)
Ratatouille
I saw it with Ann last week. If you love food and animation, this is the movie to see! I especially appreciated how they depicted "tastiness" in images. You'll know what I mean when you see the movie.
Rex, Alex and Sean with Janet
These are all cameramen that I work with at FTV. They just couldn't pass the chance up to take a picture with Janet Hsieh, the host of Fun Taiwan and also a fellow Taiwanese-American and rower. Perhaps she should try a different color next time, though.
神田薮そば
Oh so delicious and healthy.
Soba sushi
Tofu skin roll
Anago soba
KJ murdering his soba
Blurry view of the century-old soba shop
Soba sushi
Tofu skin roll
Anago soba
KJ murdering his soba
Blurry view of the century-old soba shop
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