Reading Moby Dick. It's infinitely deep and unreadable. Still, I continue, if only because I sympathize with the main character for being on a three year sea voyage, while I am trying to read a 400 page book written by Hermann Melville.
Also, as I have been explaining to everyone possible, I really didn't understand why people hated going to the dentist until yesterday. Now I do. I had two cavities filled. Two more thursday. SUCK.
People drilling your teeth after work is NOT my idea of a GOOD TIME. But it's dirt cheap.
Also, getting surgery in April. Small surgery, but surgery nonetheless. Contact for details. It's because of the way my last surgery stitches healed.
YOUR CHINESE CHARACTER/ETYMOLOGY OF THE FRIGGIN' DAY:
东西-- Dongxi (Dong - Shee) -- Literally, it means "East West". The story goes that at one time, there were markets on the East and West sides of town. They sold different things. So, if you didn't know what you wanted, but you wanted something from the market, you were said to want SOMETHING from either the east or the west markets. So, it means something.
Also in language learning news, I learned how to say "in bed" in Chinese. You know that joke we always use when opening fortune cookies? Well, I don't think anyone's heard of that here. So I will just randomly interject "in bed" at the end of a statement I don't understand that a friend say, and it invariably gets a laugh. Yes, I've killed jokes before, and I'd do it again if they gave me the chance.
So! Now a more textual update, as I'm officially, consciously back from Indonesia. The general synopsis of this post is the following:
1. I have a motorcycle!
2. Indonesia was eye-opening.
3. Careers are confusing.
Now, in greater length.
1. I have a motorcycle! I took this picture of it yesterday, in the parking garage that's under my apartment. So that means it's a little dark, but you can still see how manly I am now, without my even being in the picture! More photos to follow soon, hopefully with me riding the motorcycle...but don't know when. And, before you ask, yes, the shocks in the front are indeed new! I just replaced them. That was the only thing that really needed changing upon my purchasing the bike. Oh yes, and the engine is 150ccs.
2. So, a disclaimer: I want to present a very balanced view of Indonesia, while at the same time impressing upon everyone that I had a good trip, and that Tina is an awesome travelling partner. Indonesia is a good place to visit as a tourist, if you like that kind of thing--the parts that I visited were well-geared towards making people from other countries feel like they were in another country without giving them the "fish out of water" feeling that so many of us crave when we travel. I was extremely physically comfortable while there, which is what I wanted from a vacation.
All that said, I confess that I didn't go very far off the beaten path. We went to Lombok at the end of the vacation, and that was super interesting to think about and experience on a commercial level. In most places in Indonesia, there are two distinct groups, which seem to be trying to avoid each other--the natives from Indonesia, and the tourists from the Western world (whatever that actually is). This made me feel uncomfortable, because inevitably I was seeing a lot of desire for comfort, culture, and the natural beauty of Indonesia (which is substantial), but to get it, you had to negotiate with a culture which lives in a totally different way and seems to be principally interested in your wallet.
So, in the end, I think the biggest problem I had there was that I felt guilty about being there--as a tourist, pumping money into their economy to see the sights, encouraging Balinese culture to sell out, in a way (I felt). I've never been on a vacation like that. And the constant concern about how much money I was spending for something while I was there was always stressing me out--the question was always, "Am I being ripped off right now?"
To be absolutely clear, Awan and his friends in Lombok were an oasis of good feelings about Indonesia, and I'd really like to hang out more with him (or in that kind of situation) should I go back. Hanging with Awan was really relaxing and fun. Anyway, first trip in Asia!
3. Careers are mightily wily things. I am now trying to figure out what, exactly, one does with one's life when one is tired of only teaching English and wants to either teach or learn about something else well enough to do it as a profession. The most recent development has been research into Technion's Technology Education department, where I'm investigating the possibility of a Masters. Here's the website for the department, should you be interested in doing any Simon-research!
1. Knowing that my cat does not speak English, I accidentally tried to speak Chinese to her today, to tell her to stop licking my arm :). Which is my usual method for trying to communicate with things that do not speak English, these days. Give me enough time, and I'll be attempting to talk to the appliances on a regular basis. Telling the refrigerator to go fill itself up, wot?
2. I drove a motorcycle today! It wasn't smooth, but it's my second time driving around on one, and I was shifting gears all right. Got to work on my starts and turns. But I think by next week, I'll buy the bike I was trying today! It's a cruiser. Green. 150 cc's, a sissy bar, and no saddlebags. YET. Do you smell a road trip with Tina down to Kenting? Cause I sure do. When I get confident, I mean. Give me a few days. Pictures are coming...
3. Ran a half marathon! Feel good about the time. 1 hour, 53 minutes. My legs hurt a lot afterwards, though, cause I didn't train very much at all. Still, better than last year, I think!
4. Next stop, Triathalon. Next stop, Bali. Next stop, rock climbing in Bali. Next stop, making a potato gun.
5. Poem:
1944 JUNE 26
A letter came out of Army Service Forces HQ, on Governors' Island, asking Al Postrel to report to Bonaventure College. It was delivered. He opened the letter. Terror.
The return address was stamped, WAR DEPARTMENT. How do you return (from) that?
Eyes slowly mouthed the words. Several large, uncomfortable titles, capital letters seemed too large. Certain words stuck out.
SUBJECT: Orders to St. Bonaventure College TO: All Englisted Reservists Concerned
1. ...ORDERS for the Army Specialized Training Reserve Program... 2. Purchase your own ticket...no later than 1900 HOURS...7 JULY 1944...reimbursed at a later date. 3. ...you are directed to REPORT TO THE Train Commander. 4. ...It is to be understood that you are being ORDERED TO COLLEGE. 5. WAR department scholarship...PROVIDE YOURSELF with civilian clothing. 6. ...present this letter as AUTHORITY for reporting.
The letter was awkwardly shaped in his brain. WAR. How do you return (from) that?
So, the story goes that I woke up on Friday, a normal boy in Kaohsiung. I found out that my paternal grandfather, Albert Morton Postrel, was on the verge of passing away in Boca Raton, FL. After having a rather intense morning at work in which I had my last conversation with the man via Skype, I booked a flight back to the United States. Less than 48 hours later I had made lasagna, hosted a promised, T-shirt stenciling party, and found my way to my grandmother's home, where the rest of my family was also gathering. I have now returned to my native Rhode Island, to wreak havoc via blitzkrieg social visits to old friends, and will probably make a visit to New York to do the same there...I'm going to leave from JFK anyway, so why not? I'm once again completing ye olde grande reviewe...got to keep the international Simon networking network healthy.
In the hopes of meditating on my grandfather's passing in the ways that I do, I have acquired a most amazing set of things: about 150 hand written letters written to my grandfather from other people while he was in the army, between 1944 and 1946. They're amazing to read, and I'm going to do something like a collage with them. You'll see when it's done, I promise.
It's strange--I think that hidden in our families are all the stories we love to read or hear about--you just have to look in the right place. There are all these amazing pictures of my grandparents and their friends partying, and doing lude things, and being beautiful, and I find it completely confusing. I learned that my great grandfather worked on science fiction films, and was one of the original distributors of the home video camera for Sony, and had visited Taiwan many times. In addition, he wrote poems and short stories, like my grandmother's brother, and my Aunt. My grandmother paints. I am interested in all of these things to some extent, but most people I know do not do them. Who are the people that I am descended from, and why are we all strangely similar in one way or another? Clearly, family is more complicated than I realize. I think the most painful thing about spending the time with my grandmother, aside from the fact that she was sad, was the fact that I felt as though there was an entire history that had been lost. Looking through the photo albums, I knew that I never could have asked my grandfather enough questions to satisfy my curiosity about who he was and where he was from. This was depressing at the same time as it was a relief. I am always struck with the strange feeling that I do not quite know my family, even the ones I am supposed to be closest to. I wonder if this doesn't have more to do with me than it has to do with them.
I may go to Bali soon! Details at the eleventh hour.
I have the following items to present to you today:
--A large set of phantasmagortastic photos which alert photographer Sophie Goldstein took while we were both hangin' in Taiwan, and going to Taroko gorge n stuff! This is just a few of MANY things you can see when you come and visit me. Yes, those signs with cute characters are posted all around my school. And yes, that is me doing a handstand with a motorcycle helmet on. And YES, for the final time, yes, that is me looking utterly presidential in my English Village stationary store clerk outfit.
--A fascinating article which alert reader Jonna Cohen has sent in. Clearly, there is hope for the world if people
--A link to a trailer for Kick-Ass, a movie I am wicked excited about, though in retrospect it probably will have been embarrassing to admit it. The comic it's based on was too ridiculous not to love, though it was a nightmare in terms of racial and ethnic stereotypes. Oh, the youth of today. I love you.
--Your Chinese character of the FRIGGIN' DAY:
Okay, I may need an etymology check for this one. But I'm going to try and present it in the correct way:
The lines on the left represent fire. The right looks like a bottle for holding liquid. HINT: The bottle contains the fire.
Get it?
ALCOHOL. Pronounced jiu (third tone, that's the dip in the middle).
--The poem I read at the memorial service for my grandfather...people said they liked it, and they wanted to read it again, so here it is (looking for feedback):
DWELLING
As we live,
we collect.
And our shelves, you know the ones,
the ones which we make a museum
of our selves,
those shelves
are stuffed with us.
Here is a series of figurines of fat elves,
a plate that is really more of an art piece,
a small, ornate box we don't keep anything in.
No, we just like
the way it looks.
Oh, and look at this
here is a small painting we liked,
yes, there is something about the way that man
is picking his nose in the background
that made us reach into our hearts
and pull out enough to buy it.
LOOK! Here are a series of tickets to shows we saw
and enjoy recalling
here is a local news clipping, framed, in which we are mentioned in passing
here is the picture of an uncle
in a nightmare of a sweater
waving from a famous place he visited.
Looks like it might have been
Minneapolis? No, it couldn't be, there are no pyramids there.
Anyway, here is a photo album, a clock that was a gift, a rifle from the war which now seems silly, an unfashionable pair of glasses, an urn, a book that is of no interest but has an alluring cover, more newspaper clipplings, and more photographs, yes, always more photographs.
Only now that we are looking at it, there is someone
in the photograph whose voice
we can't remember.
Which is a shame, because they spoke
like a box of music.
but never mind, here is an advertisement for a dance
from thirty years ago
that we never went to
because we never left the house together.
The date went so well we just sat on the couch
thinking happily that we might never get tired of kissing.
Though just now, we can't remember the color
of that person's hair, or skin, or eyes
or the nice things they said to us when we were getting sleepy.
They could really have been anyone, now.
We are the silk that sticks so much
together...but gravity is always getting stronger
and so much friction between the memories
of objects
and places
and feelings
and people
they all begin to feel alike.
They melt into each other,
until we only know what we already know.
Memories become generic, unsharp.
If we are lucky,
as we grow, and we always grow
all these things are destroyed in a beautiful storm.
we forget to take our medication and smash them.
the window is broken by someone's God in a wind
or a burglar with a brick, or we trip
and our elbow catches the edge of a long object, like a golf club,
knocking every
thing
to the floor.
We get to start again.
When we remember someone
we look at their shelves.
we wonder who the people in their photographs are,
and why they collected so many little statues of fat elves, they're really even kind of creepy.
And then, maybe,
suddenly, we think we realize
we're next.
After all, this does happen
in a kind of sequential order.
But I warn you that this is
almost certainly not the point.
We may be gone already. We may come back.
We may look at the moon one night and become stuck in between,
neither alive nor bored to death. Think too much about death
and you end
wondering what's happening
to all the food in the refrigerator.
Is it time to buy more already?
If the humous is gone, why are there so many crackers?
Didn't we pay this electric bill last week?
Should I shave?
The answers are yes and no, yes and no, hello and goodbye,
a thousand whats and no why.
I met a foreigner. She said
that in order to meditate,
we need only remember enough to make us happy.
Don't dwell, she said, just get in, get happy
and get out.
That means no fat elves, no books with alluring covers, no favorite paintings.
Sorry it took me so long to get back on the blogging horse. I've been going through a bit of a hectic phase which shall be known as the "a whole heck of a lot going on" period...and it's not that I'm doing any less now, but I've finally accepted the fact that I've just got to make some time and write some things down about what's going on. So, I apologize for not writing, and please don't yell at me any more, it makes my ears hurt.
CHINESE CHARACTER(S) OF THE FRIGGIN DAY:
大拇指
The characters mean "big", "mother", and "finger". Da mou ghe.
Guess what they mean together?
No, not that.
It's your thumb.
In any case, I am currently waiting for my good old friend Sophie Goldstein in the Taipei Train Station! She's teaching in Korea...also keeping a blog...mumble mumble http://sophieandterry.blogspot.com/ competition mumble mumble. She's visiting Taiwan for a week, staying with me for most of it. And we're going to start by going to Taroko Gorge this weekend for two and a half days or so. Lots of hiking, a half bottle of Jack Daniels, some 3-D cat cards, the last 100 pages of a Haruki Murakami novel, and a whole lotta Johnny Cash. Should be awesome times. I'll be sure and show you some pictures when I get back!
Speaking of pictures, I've got some major ones to lay on you, including a few from some rock climbing expeditions. I don't know if I'll be able to do it on the battery left in this laptop while I'm sitting here in the station, but I'll try.
The issues to discuss at present:
1. I gave a speech to a lot of government officials on Thursday at my school, to celebrate the re-opening of the place for the new semester. The governor was supposed to be there, but he wasn't. Anyway, it looks like I'm the new English speaking MC at my school, as this is the second event I
2. Ping pong continues to intensify, as does my enjoyment of it. The principal has begun smack talking me during lunch, telling me that it is "IMPOSSIBLE!" for me to win, and that my Ping pong game is "LOW CLASS!" I don't know what he's trying to accomplish. I hope that he fears me.
3. I am building an object which can only be described as too much fun to build, even if it is illegal. It is powered by hairspray and is made of PVC pipe. It's gonna be a gift. Those of you who know what I'm talking about, well...you know what I'm talking about!
4. Movies: Sherlock Holmes was cute but lacking, Avatar was ripe and beautiful but disturbing. I'd go for Avatar if you have the choice...or better yet, wait for The Road.
5. This weekend I went to Tainan, the country's old capital, to go on a bike ride with a teacher from my school. It was awesome.
6. I went to the thop of the mountain here in Kaohsiung, and it's gorgeous. Going up is like something out of an Indiana Jones movie, and the top is like...well, it's like the top of a jungle-y mountain in Taiwan with a view of the ocean. Very pretty. Anybody who comes here, guess what? You're going up the mountain.
7. I'm running a half-marathon in Tainan on Jan 31, with my friend Mitsuru! Fun times.
8. I'm having a stenciling party this week!
9. Internet in my house will be active as of Tuesday. I'm getting a 10 MB line, which means that things are literally going to be arriving before I send them. It's going to mess up my social life, but damn, I love me some ludicrous speed internet. I think that's when I'm going to upload those pictures, after all....
