I've started a Yahoo group for anyone who wants to receive notification of new chapter postings and/or discuss "Someday Out Of the Blue" (and my other stories when I get around to them ... hehe):

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/littlebuddhatw_stories

The academic conference yesterday was ... interesting. When I went up to the table at the front and sat down where the "discussers" (people who critique the presenters' papers) sit, everyone in the room just stared at me ... obviously shocked that a "foreigner" was there to critique a paper in CHINESE by a Taiwanese grad student. I was obviously a little nervous speaking Chinese in front of so many people, but it went well, and the presenter accepted and agreed with all of my criticisms, which hopefully will help her, since the paper she presented is a portion of her M.A. thesis. The main problems I found with her paper had to do with research methodology, which is something they don't teach here. Taiwanese are VERY good at taking tests, but when it comes to doing independent research, creative thinking, etc., they can't do it ... the education system here (heavily influenced by Confucianism) not only doesn't teach that kind of thing, but they actually discourage it. Apparently, having your own thoughts, questioning authority, and things like that are a no-no ... it's better to have 24 million little robots who all think the same ... and with that kind of attitude, how do they expect to have a successful democracy here?

I've got three days off in a row now. Tuesday is a national holiday here, "228 Peace Day," to commemorate the "February 28th Incident," when, apparently, the Nationalist government (transplanted from mainland China after they lost the civil war to the Communists) massacred thousands of protesting Taiwanese (who are ethnically Chinese, but are now having an identity crisis ... it's complicated). Anyway, I really need to spend these three days making some ground on my research proposal, because I have to finish before my thesis editor leaves for Japan in April, so she can help me make corrections.

By the way, if you read this, go immediately to your nearest CD store (or Amazon.com) and buy Elton John's latest CD, "Peachtree Road" ... you just have to, no arguing ... thank you ...