January - the month of movies

Sun Jan 6th
Went to Yingge and Sansia with Emily today. We walked down the historical street and looked in a million different shops. I managed to buy only a pair of shoes (for the equivalent of $8 and they’re really comfy) and a mug for myself. We also went to Ju Shi Miao temple. It was amazing. I took a billion pics.
Last night was Jackie’s birthday party. We started the evening at a ridiculously expensive restaurant. The food was fabulous, but the Entrees started at about $25 each. After the restaurant, we went to a bar called People’s for drinks. It was a really interesting place. The atmosphere was cool and they made the coolest drinks. Stuff I’d never heard of, but they all looked amazing. The prices were about average, but thanks to the cost of dinner I didn’t have much left to spend so I left after one. It was a huge drink and took me about an hour to drink (and I still didn’t finish it) but I still left after 1.

Thurs Jan 10th
So... It’s been a while. I have been an absolute harpy at school this week. And it doesn’t seem to matter how much I yell and scream, my kids still love me. It’s weird. None of them even stay upset that long. And even when I’m the one that upset them, they still come to me for comfort. I don’t get it.
Monday night I subbed for Jackie. I felt like hell, but the extra money will be nice once pay day comes. Her classes were both good. No trouble at all. And she left me the most detailed lesson plans I’ve seen. It was a pleasure to sub for her.
Tuesday night, K and I went for dinner at Global Mall. After food, we went to see Alvin and the Chipmunks. It was SO cute. I mean it was super cheezy but I defy you to look at those cute little chipmunk faces and not go "aawwwwwww". Also there was singing, so I was happy.
Yesterday was Jackie’s actual birthday, so we spent some time with her. In the afternoon, before Jackie finished work, I went to the doctor to get my wrist checked out. It was still swollen, bruised and sore after my fall down the stairs 2 weeks ago. So we did the x-ray thing and there’s nothing wrong with the bones. I’ve now been diagnosed with tendonitis by doctors on 2 different continents. This one was my left wrist, though. So he gave me some topical pain reliever (aka A5-35) and that’s that.
Once K and I met up with Jackie, we wandered through Taipei. Then we took her to Kafee Amadeus for the best hot chocolate ever. Of course, since the café is right next to the bookstore we all decided to do a little browsing. And I might have done a little buying. I figured since there are books in my Christmas package, the best way to ensure that it comes is to buy more books. However, my plan was flawed and nothing came. But the book I bought was really good. I just finished it.
I was supposed to have my first tennis lesson tonight. Emily signed us up. But it ended up being this huge comedy of errors. First we got lost on the way there. Then we found the place, but the coach wasn’t there. So Em calls the coach and he’s at a different court. So he tries to give us directions. After we drive around a little more (seeing none of the landmarks that he told us to look for), Em calls him back. She gets shuffled around to about 4 different people, before she realizes that they think we’re in Gaoshung, not Taipei. The reason we didn’t discover this sooner is that every town in Taipei has a Chang Kai Chek boulevard, or road, or street. It’s kinda like "Queen Street" at home. So after all of this hulabaloo, there wasn’t even a coach in the area available for our lesson. We thought about just practicing on our own, but after an hour of driving around in circles, neither of us felt much like playing.
Now I’m just waiting for Stardust to finish streaming so I can watch it before bed.

Sat Jan 12th
It's about 3am and I am awake. I took an antihistimine for my allergies and decided to have a nap at about 7. I woke up from my 8 hour 'nap' about 20 minutes ago. I tried to watch Stardust, but it was a really bad copy so I gave up about 15 minutes in. Now I’m trying to watch Hot Fuzz. I’m hoping to grab a little nap before "morning" so I don’t throw my schedule completely out of whack.
I watched a few eps of Buffy and then just drifted in and out of sleep until Mom called. I don’t know if it was the antihistamines or just my messed up head, but I had some seriously weird dreams.
I spent most of my day doing laundry and watching Buffy. This evening I met Katy and Adrienne for dinner and a movie. We saw The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. It was stunning. The whole piece was beautiful and the acting was fabulous. It is totally my pick for at least 5 Oscar nominations. Also, I may be in love with Casey Affleck (even if his character did have a weird man crush on Brad Pitt).

Thurs Jan 17th
This has been one crazy week.
Sunday Katherine, Keiko and I were going to go on the Gondola up the mountain. But it was so busy that we couldn’t even see the end of the line up, so we decided to go to the zoo instead. It was drizzley and gross weather-wise, but that meant that weren’t too many people there. It was actually a really fun day. Then I was supposed to have a tennis lesson, but we had to cancel because of the rain.
Monday was your basic day at school. We had Casa Della Pasta for lunch and the kids were fine. Monday night I watched I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, which was surprisingly good.
Tuesday morning we didn’t work. There’s this huge drama with the H classes. The afternoon was fine. My kids were glad to see me. In the evening I watched a Bond movie with Sam and then exposed him to Leeches (the movie, not the animal). After Sam left, I watched a movie called Juno. It was really good.
Yesterday was my half day. I talked to Mom in the morning about this whole Canada Post disaster. Hopefully they’re doing something. Classes were the same old, same old. In the afternoon, K and I went to the gondola. It was another grey day, so there was very little line. It made me SO sick. Stupid motion sickness. I didn’t even see anything, cuz every time I looked down I got sick. So I saw a lot of tree tops, which was fine, but after 20 minutes, it gets a little old. At the top, though, we found this really cute little tea shop where we spent the entire afternoon.
We met Jackie once we left the mountain. The three of us went for dinner at the Rice Café. I love that place. I always order the same thing, but it’s delicious. Came home and did the e-mail/ facebook thing, then went to bed.
This morning, the apartment phone woke me up at 7:30, but it was the post office (I think). I understood just enough Chinese to know that he was checking the address, so I think at least 1 of my packages has arrived. I’m so excited. Now I’m off to work.

Sat. Jan 19th
Everything arrived!!! My Christmas presents were at the school by the time I got there. Then the other 2 care packages came after lunch. Everything is fantastic. I was in such a good mood that day. I have been stuffing myself with candy and cookies. I took a lot of mom’s candies to school to share and everyone loved them. That night I watched John Tucker Must Die (thanks Jamie) with Diana. It’s such a fun movie.
Yesterday, my good mood was tested greatly by the little hellions that I teach. It’s a good thing they’re so cute, or I would probably be doing time for homicide. For the last class of the day, though, I decided to let them make constructive noise. I brought a bunch of percussion instruments down to my class. They loved it. After work I went for dinner and then drinks with Katherine and Sam. I thought Jackie was going to meet me at the Brass Monkey when she finished work, but she bailed cuz she had to work today. So when Katherine went home after a couple drinks, Sam and I watched a movie at his place with his roommates.
Today I finished the first of the books that Daddy sent me for Christmas. It was amazing. I couldn’t put it down. I read almost 6 hundred pages in 48 hours. I’m just going to spend a leisurely day, possibly do some laundry, before a tennis lesson tonight. Then I might be going out with Jackie and some others. We’ll see.

Tues Jan 22
So Saturday night, we did make it to the bar. Once there we watched The Chelsea game on the big screen. They managed to beat Birmingham 1-0, in spite of me cheering for the wrong team for 20 minutes. But really, Chelsea’s supposed to wear blue and white. How was I supposed to know that Birmingham would be in those colours and Chelsea would be wearing gross neon yellow uniforms? But regardless, the Brass Monkey has some super mixed drinks. I had one that tasted like a strawberry milkshake (but was slightly more potent).
Sunday, we were supposed to go to a movie, but I started reading another of my new books and couldn’t put it down. I finally did get a text from Jackie, but they were going to the movie at 10, which is too late for me anyway. So I just read until I had to force myself to stop (I think I may have a problem). I finally finished the book after work yesterday (over 600 pages in a little over 24 hours). But first I watched a movie with Corrie. Jet Li and Jason Statham make an interesting team. Even though the movie was crap, those two were enjoyable to watch.
I also found out yesterday that my boss is quitting. Probably within the next couple of days. I have a feeling it’s gonna suck. The person they’re looking at as her replacement is someone at school already, but she’s useless. Literally useless. I’m pretty sure you can’t run the business end of a school when the most common phrases you use are "really?" "Um...." and "hm." For real. In English and Chinese. If this happens, we are so boned.

Wed. Jan 23
Apparently yesterday was my boss’ last day. And it does look like her replacement will be "the incompetent one". It’s so ridiculous. The entire situation is stupid.
Today’s the half day. The kids were all good during morning classes. For this afternoon, I had wanted to go skating, but no one else who is free wanted to go. I may be spending some time later with Jackie and/or Katy, though, so that’s ok.

Fri Jan 25th
K and Jackie were both into dinner on Wed. So we went to NY Bagel. It was decent. We spent a really long time just sitting around, making conversation. Then we went to this amazing ice cream place call Cold Stone Creamery. It was super good. You can pick your ice cream flavour and the stuff you want inside and then they mix it all together. We sat and chatted there for quite a while too.
Work is ridiculous right now. The preschool is currently being run by the incompetent one. But she never makes a decision on her own. With all the drama, we’ve had the director for all preschools at the school and she keeps deferring to her. For everything. We are all SO fed up. The kids are fantastic. All of this upheaval is affecting them too, but they don’t really understand what’s going on, so they’ve been more lovey than ever.
Last night I went to dinner and a movie with K and Adrienne. We saw August Rush. It was aurally spectacular, though the story was a bit thin on the ground. Well worth watching, for the music and, surprisingly, all of the performances. Robin Williams and Freddy Highmore are amazing and the others hold their own.
Tonight, Sam needed to drink after dealing with the incompetent one about vacation time that he had already had approved. He and I went with Katherine to dinner. We went to the Brass Monkey. Good food, good drinks and good fun was had by all. After dinner we went to see Sweeney Todd. It was far more graphic than I was expecting and the story was... not as idealistic as I like. But it was visually stunning (of course, it’s Tim Burton) and the music was phenomenal (of course, it’s Stephen Soundheim). Johnny Depp was so fantastic; he just keeps outdoing himself. And apparently, I’m a film critic now.

Tues. Jan 29th
I am the most boring person on the planet. Saturday I read a book. Literally, that’s all I did. It took me about 11 hours to read 700 pages and I forgot to eat, but it was worth it. Luckily, my tennis lesson was cancelled due to rain, so I didn’t have any interruptions.
Sunday I took K and Jackie and Ty to the cake buffet. Seriously, all you can drink tea and all you can eat cake! We had a good time. From there we went to the fine art museum. We didn’t get there until 5 and the museum closes at 5:30, but we got in for free and we got to see the special exhibit on Japanese models. Like, small (or not so small), build it and paint it yourself models. There were some Sailor Moon ones, as well as Dragonball Z and about 20 different Godzillas. It was pretty cool. It was perfect for me too, because half an hour’s about all I can take of stuff like that.
Work is still.... in upheaval. One of the mothers said that if the incompetent one is still the director by March, she’s pulling her kid out of the school. So of course this caused another big bru-ha-ha. Meanwhile, we’re all still just doing our jobs and refusing to go on field trips.
In my free time, I’ve been watching millions of movies. Most of them are crap and I’m glad I didn’t bother to even rent them. But, the Death and Life of Bobby Z was pretty good. I also watched 2 horror movies yesterday and the protagonists in each died at the end. It was not a good day for happy endings. Today I’ve watched The Invasion with Nicole Kidman. It was decent.
Chinese New Year is next week and we all get time off together. It’ll be nice just to be away from all of the drama. I’m also trying to arrange a trip to go Scuba Diving for a couple of days, so I can get my certification. I’m really excited. I hope I can make it work.

Thurs Jan 31
Today has been odd. School was fine. The incompetent one is still swanning about like she owns the place, but we found out that she hasn’t officially gotten the position yet. So there’s still hope. Other than that, the kids were insane. It’s been raining for about 3 weeks straight, so they’re a little stir crazy. I even let them run around (during PE) for half an hour and after, they were still rambunctious enough to make me want to kill them. It wasn’t just my kids, either. They were all like that.
At lunch, I came home for a break and to start my laundry. After I started the first load, I made some tea and I spilled tea on my laptop. I mopped it up as best as I could, but my space bar is still sticking. Stupid, delicious tea.
After work, I finally got fed up with the draft coming in around my AC, so I decided to tape up the gaps. Of course, it was so dusty that the tape wouldn’t stick, so I had to clean it. And once I started cleaning, I just kept right on going. My room hasn’t been this clean, or organized in ages.
I made dinner here and watched Stardust while I ate. It was better than I remember the book being. That’s right, I said it. I like the movie more than the book. It was splendid.
I always finish my laundry at the laundromat (jeans don’t air dry well in cool, damp weather), so that’s where I went after the movie. When I got home from drying my clothes, the
power was out. At first I just thought the elevator was broken, so I had to cart my laundry up the stairs. But then I got into the apartment and the lights wouldn’t come on. I’m so glad that I use the alarm on my cell phone (which I just charged last night). Also, I could not have picked a better time to go on a cleaning binge. I wasn’t even worried about tripping over stuff when I walked into my room.
And now, with the battery on this infernal (and well loved) machine dying, I’m going to do the only thing one can when faced with complete darkness and nothing to do. I’m going to bed. Alone. But at least I have my cow to cuddle.

Fri. Feb 1st
So of course our power came back on just as I was drifting off to sleep last night. And I had forgotten to switch my light switch back to off, which means that I ended up with the overhead light glaring right in my eyes. It was fine, though. I shut it off and got a good night's sleep.
We found out today that the incompetent one is officially the director and manager of the school. But we'll see how long it lasts because none of the teaching staff (foreign or Chinese) is happy. They also tried to make us sign an addendum to our contracts today, giving them the rights to fine us for leaving early (more so than it already says in our original contracts). I haven't decided yet if I'm going to sign. I think probably not.
So tonight ended up being another Brass Monkey Night. K, Sam and I all needed to unwind. We had a great time. Afterwards, K and I walked up to 101 and then caught the MRT home.