Wacky Jacky: Taiwan Desk

2010-02-11T09:12:00.001+08:00

Hiatus?

Highlight the page!

2010-01-11T02:17:00.003+08:00

I love this entry:

I'm breaking my promise here by reproducing without permission (BUT I quote) a friend's blog entry (my friend is an award-winning blogger). I find it thoughtful, relevant, and incisive. Let YT denote my friend. Here's an excerpt from the entry:

There are so many things that we think about throughout the relationship, so much that sometimes they distract you from concentrating on your relationship and the person you love most.

Very often it is the journey and not the destination that matters.

2009-10-16T03:24:00.006+08:00

Finale

This shall my last entry at this blog. I see no reason why I should keep it open and public when the greater world out there maintain "secretive" private blogs elsewhere (open to "invitied" readers only). I am shutting it down for good. Read the silence.

Thank You for your unfailing support, those who are still reading my blog. I started blogging as a happy soul but left it a dejected one. I need a shell where I can hide into, away from human traffic and undue relationships. It is too tiring an ordeal to handle them. I wonder how loneliness is a misery when personal bonds can be so fragile and superficial, threatening to break at every instant of difficulty and chagrin. I am my own littoral. I renounce love. I just want to be left alone in my pile of books. Here I am translating this into action. I marvel at my own determination!

I am now skeptical of all things nice and kind. I would ask if there is any ulterior motive behind a show of humility. This is wrong but I have turned into a recalcitrant kid. I display animosity not only towards social institutions but at everything else as well. Nonetheless I still see hope in the future, hope in the society, and hope in myself.

My youthful days in Taiwan will forever be etched in my memory.
http://wjacky.wordpress.com/

2009-10-16T02:37:00.003+08:00

Lost in the world
Again, I'm somewhere in Asia, where I belong.

Does anyone know how to do password-protected for blogspot?

2009-10-10T19:51:00.004+08:00

Closing down this blog......

because it has now become nothing but a personal diary, one that documents my travels, especially those in Taiwan. If I can abstain from blogging and keep my itchy fingers from clicking onto blogspot for more than a week, I will "close" it down by making it password-protected for the Taiwan posts and delete all other entries. This is my first step to leading a life of seclusion, before I deactivate my MSN account (heard that it has been hacked into and spammed) and the most-hated facebook one as well.

Happy birthday, my fair Republic! If not for you I would still be wearing a pigtail!

2009-10-10T10:50:00.004+08:00

OMG! Freaks!

No wonder I have been feeling so poor recently. The airmails of books keep pouring in, and my savings reserves keep flowing out. I have made too many online purchases of books. I don't mean to contribute to American finances in this manner, but apparently I have been doing so. So much for being a book collector.

2009-10-08T00:51:00.001+08:00

Life

Heaving a sigh, I would say that life is beautiful.

Every breath I take is a gift. I hope I can treasure it.

2009-10-07T00:07:00.002+08:00

无奈

因为害怕失去，所以不敢拥有。
见过鬼还不怕黑？宁可白白渡此生。

2009-10-06T13:46:00.003+08:00

人间有余温

I have to blog about this:

Having done some business at the washroom, I left a library book at one of the cubicles and only realized it after an hour. I returned to the washroom and found nothing there. Just when I thought that all hopes were lost in recovering it, I saw on my library records that it had been returned! (I would have done that too, like if I find a book at a toilet cubicle I would take the book and dump it into the bin located outside the library) Thanks, whoever you are!

2009-10-06T01:11:00.004+08:00

Days of my life

Every morning, I would wake up to my dosage of vintage SBC dramas on TV.

This would be followed by a radio one and my favourite was好好过一生. I just love FM95.8. It is really informative and interesting.

And I particularly love Fridays. My favourite shows of黄金年华之光辉岁月and斗歌竞艺are aired on that day. Oh, and I love to watch 意难忘and爱. I have caught more than 700 episodes of the former. I hope they would both hit a thousand each in time to come. I used to watch阿诚, 台湾霹雳火, and世间路too in the past.

Why wait till retirement when I can do all these things now?

2009-10-04T15:51:00.003+08:00

Reflections on blogging

This is a blog first dedicated to Taiwan and then to my ramblings. Given the grim outlook and pessimistic view towards life this blog seems to show, I expect its readership to drop to a tittle, and I would see it in its newfound purpose of an online diary. This blog now allows me to reminisce about both Taiwan and my youth, and serves as a testament to how social realities and interpersonal failures have changed me. Academia and perhaps the teaching profession are my solace. I have no other pinings in life except for short trips and travels to places which I love, most notably Taiwan. Oh, plus the completion of my dissertation before time runs out.

2009-10-03T01:53:00.002+08:00

Where does my heart lie?

Everyone has a dream place in mind. A space to be in if given a choice. Life commitments force us to compromise on it, and before we know it, as we look back in life, we have missed the best moments to be at that place, during our youthful days. Retirement in style is a bad consolation, and one question lingers and bugs: what was my work all about? What for? Hence the saying: Man is born free but everywhere he is in chains. Here comes the biggest tragedy: we have become our own prisoners.

2009-10-01T16:58:00.002+08:00

Hurray

https://exchange.nus.edu.sg/exchange/g0800579/Inbox/FW:%20Newsletter%2042%20(1%20Oct,%202009).EML/Newsletter%2042%20(1%20Oct,%202009).pdf/C58EA28C-18C0-4a97-9AF2-036E93DDAFB3/Newsletter%2042%20(1%20Oct,%202009).pdf?attach=1

还是搞学术最实际，至少书本不会欺骗自己。

世间万物一切皆空，都是虚假的。人言可畏。

2009-09-28T20:28:00.001+08:00

Please support!

Some merit of Facebook, finally:

http://www.facebook.com/GIVE.sg

2009-09-28T11:51:00.006+08:00

Harajuku

2009-09-28T09:55:00.001+08:00

Speechless

Dumb blondes and bimbos.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lj3iNxZ8Dww

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AT2XeT21wEc

They should furnish their homes with maps.

2009-09-28T09:42:00.004+08:00

What a disgrace

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9HmLApZv9aA&feature=related

I learnt many things from this video.

I didn't know that there is a discipline called "Steel". I must have wasted a good number of years in academia.

And I realize that when people say "You know", they don't really know what they are talking about and let alone their audience.

Plus the "Booms" lingo. What's that gonna mean? I have been shocked "loud" and hard as much as the gal is.

South Africa is the most developed nation in Africa by most indexes. It is different from Kenya or Uganda where you can live your safari dream. Stop exoticizing Africa.

Speaking of our ambassador. Sigh.

2009-09-26T13:39:00.006+08:00

Life is......

a pack of wolves and lies. I think many people had lied to me before. The only way I can regain my youth is to retain my sanity by not taking in any more lies. In practice I need to realize my goal to become a hermit in the concrete jungle while exploring all possible avenues to escape from it.

Wacky Jacky in social withdrawal mode. Reactivation in process.

2009-09-26T13:10:00.011+08:00

I hate Facebook

Facebook sucks. It infringes privacy.

And I agree with what some of my friends have observed: if you are really close to the person, you won't drop meaningless comments like "See you soon!" or "See you again!" when you know fully well that the chances of meeting up on mutual consensus are virtually zero unless one decides on an effort to do so. Freaking dumb and superficial. I would rather call or text the person up. Everyone knows how much I love fine conversations over fine meals.

The lack of time is to me an excuse. If you don't have time (to meet up that is), a ghost must have been let loose during the 7th month to do all the tagboards, play all the online games, write all the wall messages, or join all the facebook groups on your behalf.

Jack Neo asks, "Where got ghost?" Facebook lor.

Perhaps I am getting too old for all these. Sigh. If not for the convenience of photo-sharing with my overseas friends, I would have deactivated my account a long time ago.

Happy birthday, Jacky Wu! Sorry to sound mad on this day!

2009-09-23T13:12:00.009+08:00

Think

It doesn't take much to realize that the world isn't perfect at all. Not even rosy to begin with. And we can't seem to change it for the better. For millennia we have been experimenting with faith, knowledge, religion, relationships, and other institutions to cure ourselves and the world at large, and all attempts have failed.

We don't have to think much, or think deeply. Just think.

Cynicism is the accusation of the ignorant. The failure to think, let alone critically, has deprived them of the power to acquire the harsh truth out there. Ills of the world have become so internalized and institutionalized that many of us are oblivious of them.

I need to be insulate myself before my senses are tainted and rendered numb. I just want to feel again, lifting my spirits and flying them up high. Not at the expense of giving myself false hopes and painting naive pictures in my mind though.

2009-09-23T12:25:00.011+08:00

Main campus, University of Tokyo

2009-09-23T11:34:00.005+08:00

Toyo Bunko and surrounding sights

2009-09-22T09:05:00.009+08:00

Todai Library (and canteen)

Notice the lady and the gentleman in the foreground. They were Taiwanese before becoming Japanese citizens for good (although I won't surrender it if I were them!). Spoke to them for more than an hour. Talked about Taiwan, Japan, and just about anything under the sun. Nice interacting with strangers in foreign lands. Good that I have been making friends elsewhere since I am losing many here.

2009-09-19T13:38:00.000+08:00

Hualien, Taiwan

2009-09-17T12:46:00.007+08:00

Shibuya

2009-09-16T02:06:00.002+08:00

OMG

I was reminiscing about Taiwan and read some of my own blog entries written in 2006. Guess what: I realize how much I have aged! I look older and haggard now. Plus I am not as jovial and cheerful as before. Taiwan has held my teenage and childhood hostage!

I am beyond redemption.

Let me wallow in self-pity.

2009-09-16T01:14:00.002+08:00

So unglam

Saw it in one of my NUS emails.

2009-09-16T01:03:00.003+08:00

Katsu curry rice

2009-09-15T17:46:00.014+08:00

A day at Shinjuku

2009-09-14T11:28:00.004+08:00

我爱弱群

台湾对我来说，有一种soft power，也说不准这具体上究竟是什么。

这种软势力，却又兼带韧性，屹立不倒，有点嗲，却有温度。

反攻大陆看似无望，却仍勇敢地生存下来，还成为中华文化的堡垒，保存着近五千年的历史与传统。

无论台湾现在如何，或将会如何，我还是会爱的。这是真爱吗？

2009-09-10T13:12:00.004+08:00

A streak of rainbow to colour my gloomy day

我的天空今天有点灰。

2009-09-10T01:26:00.011+08:00

One night in Shinjuku

2009-09-09T15:24:00.004+08:00

Akihabara

Where anime, cosplay, manga, and electronics abound.

2009-09-08T03:23:00.003+08:00

How True

久住令人贱，频来亲也疏。

2009-09-07T11:27:00.002+08:00

话

一句话的解读，有千千万万种，

何必选择伤害自己的方向呢？

2009-09-06T03:13:00.001+08:00

The trap of intuition

Never trust or tap into it. An obvious example is when a person says "I love you" for the very first time. The statement is usually a product of spontaneity and holds little value for the future. It could be clothes, fragrance, looks, or anything but you as a package. Never mistake a crush for love and reciprocate unnecessarily. Relationships are a more wasteful enterprise than the history discipline.

I just tossed away a letter from SDU without reading its content. I would rather visit China or Vietnam if EVER the need arises.

2009-09-06T01:55:00.001+08:00

Here's your task, Mr. Tham

I had won 2 13-wonders before! In your presence!

2009-09-06T01:50:00.002+08:00

Train interior, Tokyo

Always spick and span, what more can I ask for?

2009-09-06T01:41:00.003+08:00

Tautology

If I fail to understand a particular issue or subject, it may be assumed that I have not read extensively enough or condition myself well for it. The problem arises, however, if I conduct more research to know more about it. Instead of calling such a process an intellectual pursuit, it may well gear me or train me to approach the topic from the topic's dominant discursive, making the topic more acceptable to me. Comprehension then becomes a given, without me breaking free from the confines of the topic.

2009-09-06T01:24:00.005+08:00

Kichijoji

2009-09-06T01:21:00.002+08:00

Wouldn't it be nice if the world is Cadbury?

Where I can just eat myself up, gobble the world down my throat, and turn my stomach into a black hole which can digest itself into non-existence. Does non-existence exist?

2009-09-06T01:15:00.004+08:00

Glimpses of the neighbourhood

2009-09-05T02:12:00.002+08:00

Feeling Singapore in Tokyo:

2009-09-05T01:45:00.002+08:00

Kofi Annan coming to LKYSPP?!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090903/en_afp/singaporeeducationuniversitypeopleannan_20090903160557

I'm sure gonna take his module man!

2009-09-01T19:09:00.000+08:00

Hurray!

http://www.fas.nus.edu.sg/chs/_docs/news/Newsletter%2040%20(1%20Sept%202009).pdf

2009-08-31T13:46:00.003+08:00

火大！

台湾风灾如此严重，重建工作如此严峻，竟然还有人要消遣灾民，把他们当政治筹码，真是无耻！台湾大师多的是，何必无中生有，请个喇嘛来搅局？民进党不办正事，只会混淆视听，实在是看不下去了，媒体还追踪到底、奉陪到底，哀哉！

2009-08-31T13:22:00.005+08:00

Freedom

Freedom is ultimately the most important essence of man. The deprivation of freedom is thus the worst form of punishment that can be meted out to discipline a man into submission. Prisons, or the threat of imprisonment, coerce man out of his subjectivity and bind him over law. We exchange socially acceptable behaviour for freedom, never letting loose our innate indecency and allowing it to impede our freedom. We imagine ourselves to be under watchful eyes, on constant scrutiny, and the fear of a forceful takeover of our freedom serves as a deterrent to any perversion of social standards. Dereliction is to be punished at all costs, no matter how mild it is.

Marriage requires the surrender of freedom as a lone individual in exchange for a mutual consensus of commitment into a relationship that is to last till death. It is legally bound and hence accepted by law to warrant legal protection that guards both the parties involved and the human contract. The anathema to marriage, divorce, serves as the only breach that renounces the commitment made at the time of marriage. As a result of the breach, an alimony is to be paid in compensation for failing to deliver the commitment. In this case, the male has to pay the alimony even though the termination of the contract is agreed upon by both parties, and his financial freedom enters another new contract that is, this time round, to last for a lifetime. What a mockery to the sacred mission of procreation.

2009-08-31T02:53:00.005+08:00

Dislikes

I dislike mean people. Even if they are not mean to me, the fact that they are mean to others means that they can be mean to me at their whims one day. I also dislike people with a fiery temper. It signals to me that they fail to keep their emotions in check and simply put, possess very low EQ. Them I refuse to engage much with.

2009-08-31T01:26:00.024+08:00

Ghibli Museum

I love the anime films of Ghibli Studio. I am proud to claim that I have watched every single one of them. Hayao Mayazaki and his long-time collaborator, composer Joe Hisaishi, are always able to reenact familiar experiences of childhood that transcend all boundaries and hence that we can all relate to. I even went for Joe Hisaishi's live concert with the New Japan Philharmonic Dream World Orchestra when I was in Taiwan on exchange. Love it even though I am a complete idiot when it comes to band music.

Of Hayao Miyazaki's films, I love Spirited Away most. I watched it thrice and have not gotten sick of it. The theme, soundtrack, and plot are simply too hard to resist. I struggled immensely to find the source of imperfection in the film and fortunately, I could not find any. Sequences glide seamlessly and coherently to the next and before I know it, the film ends with a resounding impact that resonates in me for many hours after. And guess what: Jioufen (in Taiwan) was adopted as a model in the film!

The Ghibli Museum features artwork and exhibits of the production of the anime films and shows how animation is created through various techniques and gadgets. I got to watch one free short film with my ticket. Haha. For entry, please buy a ticket at any Lawson convenience store in advance. While stocks last and you won't regret your purchase I promise! It is really worth a trip!

2009-08-30T02:04:00.005+08:00

Bubble economy?

2009-08-30T01:52:00.008+08:00

Disney at night

2009-08-30T01:46:00.003+08:00

It's a small world after all

2009-08-30T01:42:00.003+08:00

Leisure rides

2009-08-30T01:33:00.004+08:00

Carnival!

And Bun's favourite Peter Pan boy!

2009-08-30T01:23:00.004+08:00

Childhood

There is a child in everyone. Visitors who bother to arrive in Disneyland have to love it in some way. We would like to relive our childhood. Or at least revisit it, even if the ultimate constraint of our temporal dimension would disallow us from revising it. Be it a construct or ride, one can experience being a Peter Pan at least for the duration of the trip. For one, I am getting old. Life just passes by like this. How time flies, as the cliche goes.

2009-08-30T01:17:00.004+08:00

Disnep Emporium

2009-08-29T17:48:00.003+08:00

Arrival at Disneyland

2009-08-29T17:38:00.007+08:00

Lunch at a sushi bar

In Japan, sushi on the conveyor belt is cheap. For better quality sushi, patronage at higher-end restaurants is needed. Nonetheless, the sushi is nice! Thanks to my kind host Yong Xun for bringing me to savour the sushi! I enjoyed my every bite!

2009-08-29T17:24:00.009+08:00

Odaiba

An island that is a beautiful product of history.

2009-08-29T17:09:00.004+08:00

The Statue of Liberty

2009-08-29T16:59:00.003+08:00

Fuji TV

The source of my dose of Japanese drama serials and "Music Station" in the past. And it produced my favourite Furuhata Ninzaburo. Handsome right:

2009-08-29T16:54:00.001+08:00

I think this looks nicer than Expo or Suntec

2009-08-29T13:04:00.005+08:00

Travel Plans?

Sometimes friends ask me for my travel itineraries.

Believe it or not, my travel plan is having no plan at all.

I like to wake up in the morning, thinking of what to do in the day ahead. Only then would I take my maps out and chart my way accordingly. I hate scheduled plans. They kill the joy of travelling. I am supposed to relax, not fuss over meticulosity. To some, this is incomprehensible or even stressful. How can we enjoy travelling, leaving things to the unexpected? I can. I love impromptu decisions. I refuse to allow my soul of the past to decide what my body should perform in the present. I think and I act. This is pleasure. This is life.

2009-08-29T01:49:00.008+08:00

Like FINALLY

Getting to see Yuan Ting is like seeing Buddha before my eyes. It's that difficult! Take care in our Republican capital. We shall recover it.

2009-08-28T21:03:00.005+08:00

More of Asakusa (and a park)

2009-08-28T19:43:00.002+08:00

Lift got ghost

There is a weird smell in the air, but everyone says they did not fart. It must be a ghost!

2009-08-28T18:33:00.001+08:00

Here's your task, Mr. Tham

I had won 2 13-wonders before!

2009-08-26T17:49:00.003+08:00

In support of the One China policy

2009-08-24T13:28:00.006+08:00

I had a dream

I was a drama actor during my JC stint. I passed auditions and performed in stage plays.

I sang when I was still schooling and in the army. And yup, you may not believe it but I did win in some singing contests then.

But here's my confession: nothing beats the joy of hosting. I had emceed school events, ceremonies, and even wedding banquets. I realize that my dream was to become a successful TV compere like Jacky Wu. It seems now, however, that this dream of mine can never be realized. I am getting considerably old, falling prey to my secondary interest of academia.

2009-08-24T11:45:00.001+08:00

秋天别来

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3YfDdFXdy0

好贴切。漫长的夏天快过去了。

2009-08-24T11:07:00.006+08:00

Lifting undue stigma

It puzzles me why AIDS patients are stigmatized by mainstream society. Yet we tend to sympathize with patients of, for instance, heart disease and kidney failure. In the latter case, we see what we want to perceive of them, as mere patients of illnesses. We may be harsher on AIDS patients, with the tendency to believe that they have brought it upon themselves with their promiscuity. Yet again we draw double standards by failing to question how patients of other diseases might have contracted them. We don't ask if patients of heart disease had exercised adequately in the past. We don't ask if those with kidney failure had consumed too much salt in their past diet. Why then should we question the AIDS patients? Moreover, it would be deterministic and myopic to judge AIDS patients simply on moral grounds. What about those who had contracted it from their husband, whose activities outside of home they may be completely oblivious of? What about those who had contracted it from their boyfriend/girlfriend without knowing that their lover is actually a player? There are many other possible causes, but the point that I would like to stress upon is this: AIDS patients can be victims of their circumstances. They deserve dignity and respect worthy of any patient and more importantly, of our kind.

2009-08-24T01:18:00.006+08:00

Asakusa, Tokyo, Japan

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asakusa

My first pit stop in the Land of the Rising Sun.

2009-08-24T01:16:00.002+08:00

Wake up, Puma!

2009-08-23T01:47:00.005+08:00

Hope

Many friends are getting married. Sometimes they would ask when it will be my turn. I usually smile and make no reply.

When you have hope, you have love. I am hopelessly pessimistic of human nature. This is not selective pessimism because I regard myself as just another freaking human being. Having lost faith in my own nature, what more can I ask for? I hereby declare an informal/unofficial vow of celibracy. People say that even if we make mistakes along the way, it is better than never having tried to love and be loved. While it may be true that life always gives us the opportunity to start over after we have learnt from our mistakes, I would rather spend more time hitting the books and travelling ALONE than to engage in experiments that may result in sorrow or misery from the mistakes made. Kudos to my newfound mission in life: don't start anything dumb at all. Life is too precious for that.

2009-08-23T01:29:00.004+08:00

Smile

Does true happiness lie beneath my every smile? Do I use the laughter elicited from my jokes to conceal the cracks of my heart?

2009-08-23T01:20:00.000+08:00

My word to the world

If you know what my sign means.

2009-08-22T03:28:00.003+08:00

What is it?

If we can love someone so much, would it be possible for us to handle the day we are separated? Even if separation is a part of life? Is it possible that we can love someone and never be afraid of losing them? Is it possible that we can live our entire life without loving anyone at all? If I don't know what I am, would I end up hurting everyone around me? Such is loneliness.

2009-08-22T03:09:00.006+08:00

Tianjin

In the past, a city of foreign concessions. Remembering and forgetting national humiliation. Imagined historical tragedy to theorize and foster a sense of nationhood.

2009-08-22T03:03:00.003+08:00

The "High Speed Rail" of China

It is comparable to the one in Taiwan. Wow!

2009-08-22T02:53:00.005+08:00

The Forbidden City

Should be kept forbidden. The tourist volume is destroying it.

Emperor Yongle would be so mad if he knows this.

2009-08-22T02:35:00.007+08:00

Temple of Heaven

Unknown to many, this is my most favourite place in Beijing.

Stasis in motion. Sunyata. Voidness. Transient nature of form.

2009-08-22T02:20:00.004+08:00

古今多少事，都付笑谈中

2009-08-22T02:03:00.006+08:00

An old "Hutong"

This was where Gong Li had her first drama lessons:

2009-08-22T01:48:00.007+08:00

Beijing's "Bird's Nest" and the "Water Cube"

Very impressive indeed.

2009-08-17T18:00:00.001+08:00

Loser

Everyone is born to succeed. No one is born to fail.

Then why am I such an abject failure?

2009-08-17T17:29:00.001+08:00

Updates on Taiwan

AFP - Monday, August 17

CHISHAN, Taiwan (AFP) - - Soldiers searched typhoon-devastated areas for survivors and bodies Monday as more than 1,600 people waited to be airlifted to safety nine days after Typhoon Morakot struck Taiwan.

The official death toll rose to 126, but President Ma Ying-jeou has warned that the number could climb to more than 500, with hundreds feared buried beneath the rubble in the southern village of Hsiaolin.

About 40,000 troops began a new phase of the rescue operation shifting their focus from evacuations to searching remote areas for survivors and bodies, said Transport Minister Mao Chih-kuo, who is coordinating the emergency response.

A total of 1,638 people were waiting to be airlifted from 44 severely damaged villages, Mao told a news conference Sunday night.

It could take up to six months to rebuild roads and bridges in typhoon-hit areas, making it hard for people to live in some remote villages in the meantime, he added.

And those refusing to leave such areas may have to be removed by force, he said.

"One could hardly imagine the cost if those people continue to stay on the mountains and all of their daily needs have to be airlifted," he said.

The typhoon has turned into a political storm for Taiwan's president who acknowledged widespread public anger over the weekend by apologising to survivors for failing to recognise the scale of the crisis in time.

"I will take full responsibility whatever the blame is. After all, I'm the president of this country," Ma told CNN on Sunday.

As aid from around the world poured in, a five-member European Union delegation was expected to arrive on Monday to determine how the EU can best help the island, the foreign ministry said.

A United States military C-130 transport aircraft carrying relief supplies landed Sunday, marking the first US military activity in Taiwan since 1979, when Washington shifted its diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing.

The US was also sending two heavy-lift military helicopters to Taiwan to help in evacuation efforts, Mao said.

China has also offered large helicopters used during last year's earthquake in China, but Taipei has said it did not need the aircraft, the Taiwan News reported.

Typhoon Morakot slammed into Taiwan on August 8, dumping more than three metres (120 inches) of rain that unleashed floods and mudslides which tore through houses and buildings, ripped up roads and smashed bridges.

It was the worst-ever typhoon to strike Taiwan, the president said on Friday, saying the scale of the damage was more severe than a 1959 typhoon that killed 667 people and left around 1,000 missing.

Meanwhile, a 6.7-magnitude quake jolted the ocean floor off Taiwan's east coast at 8:06 am (0006 GMT) and was felt in the south where rescue operations were underway, but there were no immediate reports of damage, the Central Weather Bureau said.

2009-08-17T15:15:00.004+08:00

Brace up, Taiwan!

I have full faith in the resilience of the Taiwanese people. They had weathered Chinese bombardments, numerous financial recessions, political turmoil, and countless earthquakes and typhoons. Yet they still stand, proudly as a people, emanating a wealth of warmth that has touched me so much. Each of them stand, as an epitome of culture, civility, and humility. The typhoon and its damages may be devastating, but the Taiwanese people shall recover from it stronger than they already are. In this I believe. Never fear!

2009-08-17T15:12:00.001+08:00

Taipei Representative Office in Singapore accepts donations for Typhoon Morakot disaster relief

Post Date：2009/8/14

In support of the response to Typhoon Morakot disaster, Taipei Representative Office in Singapore accepts donations through the following ways:1. Cash or cheque: please make cheque payable to “Taipei Representative Office in Singapore” with donor’s name, mailing address and contact phone number, this office will send back a receipt.2. Money remittance: please remit money to “Mega International Commercial Bank; Account No: 007-09-087816; Account Name: Ministry of The Interior Donation Account; Swift Code: ICBCTWTP007.3. Online-donation:please come to the website of the Ministry of the Interior http://www.moi.gov.tw/donate_creditcard2.aspx for registration.This money, provided by you, will be used to provide immediate assistance to households affected by Typhoon Morakot. We greatly appreciate your donations.

2009-08-17T15:02:00.009+08:00

天佑台湾

2009-08-17T14:54:00.000+08:00

Singapore: first to assist

SINGAPORE: The Singapore Government has expressed its condolences and sympathy to the victims of Typhoon Morakot and their families, and contributed US$200,000 (about NT$6.58 million) for humanitarian assistance. The Singapore Trade Office in Taipei says this will be sent to Taiwan through the Singapore Red Cross Society. In addition, S$50,000 (about NT$1.14 million) worth of food and medical supplies to assist with relief efforts was delivered to Taiwan by a Republic of Singapore Air Force C-130 transport aircraft on Thursday. - CNA/de

2009-08-17T14:40:00.003+08:00

My dear Taiwanese friends

2009-08-17T14:28:00.006+08:00

Snippets

2009-08-17T14:09:00.006+08:00

清境，清静

2009-08-17T12:01:00.001+08:00

I may be a pig...

... but please don't lower me to your level and defeat me with your stupidity. I have nothing against anyone, just against stupidity.

2009-08-17T11:39:00.004+08:00

悠闲，可遇不可求

2009-08-16T12:18:00.004+08:00

触景伤情

好奇怪，同一件事物，换了时空，就恍如隔世，什么都不同了。

这是人生，习惯就好。多烂都要走下去，无奈。

2009-08-16T03:47:00.009+08:00

阿里山

如今却物是人非、满目疮痍。

想帮忙都不知如何下手，好无奈。

曾有过的欢笑竟成了感叹、遗憾。

默默祈祷，一切安好。

2009-07-14T01:36:00.005+08:00

Taboo

An individual who has violated a taboo becomes himself taboo because he has the dangerous property of tempting others to follow his example. He arouses envy; why should he be allowed to do what is prohibited to others? He is therefore really contagious, in so far as every example incites to imitation, and therefore he himself must be avoided. Thus resist first your own temptation!

2009-07-12T19:11:00.000+08:00

从北京到东京

As usual, I'm sick and tired.

2009-06-27T17:35:00.008+08:00

从台北到北京

We lament the loss of Michael Jackson, but it is only after his death that we begin to grieve and hail him as the "King of Pop". We did hail so for a while in the 80's and 90's, until he was scandalized and we started calling him Wacko Jacko instead.

On a separate note, my appraisal of Jacky Wu is "成功的主持，失败的歌手". He started out as a singer but succeeded only in hosting. He is now an accomplished compere, but this comes at the price of forgoing and deviating from his earlier dream to be a successful singer and more significantly, his image as well. He is known by skeptics and anti-fans as a clown and flirt. Few would recognize him as a comedian in his own right (come on, if he is all so polite, serious, or uptight, how can we expect his programmes to be funny?). We tend to forget the amount of fun and entertainment that we have derived from his variety shows. I think we should at least credit him for having spotted and groomed Jay Chou, whose music we all enjoy. Jacky Wu's very last album will be out in July. This sounds like a more fortunate end (a self-induced/terminated one that is) to his lustrous and illustrious career.

Why must we take things for granted? Why not treasure instead of mourn? Fans who don't voice out their support until their idol is gone are not true fans at all. They are just 事后孔明！

One scandal erases all contributions of the artiste. The society suffers from a low tolerance for mistakes, which it makes spectacles of. The society is also deviod of basic civility and humility. Failure of capitalism, education, parental guidance, or religion?

It is so paradoxical that death yields nothing but the remembrance of the had-lived.

Convenience versus Going-the-extra-mile. That's the difference.

I'm leaving all these man. Had enough of such nonsense. Bye!