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LittleBuddhaTW

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Blog Entries posted by LittleBuddhaTW

  1. LittleBuddhaTW
    I don't remember the last sunny day we had here in Taipei. It's been raining pretty much non-stop for a while now, and while it's good (we've had water shortages the past couple of summers), it's not helpful to my mood.
     
    I'm leaning more and more towards moving back to the States this summer. The benefits seem to far outweigh staying here in Taiwan, even if I were to get into the Ph.D. program. For example, foreign professors here don't qualify for pensions, foreigners can't get loans for cars or homes, and the price of housing is even more expensive than in the US (because land is at such a premium here ... Taiwan is the second most densely populated country on Earth).
     
    The drawback to moving back, though, is the logistics (and cost) of getting all of my stuff shipped back to the States, including my cats (who I would never think of giving away -- they go where I go), plus I'd most likely have to live with my parents for a month or two when I first get back, something I haven't done in ten years. I'm not looking forward to that, but I'll need to wait until I have a job before I can have a place of my own, not really because of the money, but so I can live in reasonaby close proximity to where I'll be working. I'm so used to living on my own, that I'm dreading the thought of having to live in my parents' house again ... even though I'm 28, they still tend to treat me like I'm a teenager ... one of the problems of being an only child, I suppose. They know I'm gay and all, so that's not a problem, but they just nag me about really annoying things. Plus, all my friends from high school have moved away, so I'll be lonely for a while, and it'll be kind of hard to start dating or anything while living with my parents and doing the whole job search thing. There are tons of jobs that require Chinese language ability, so I'm not worried about finding work ... I just don't like going on a bunch of interviews, and I'd like to find someone that I'll enjoy and that has a good salary, good benefits (although nothing can beat the nationalized health insurance they have here in Taiwan), and will be exciting. I have a good idea about what I'd really like to do, but that's not something I'm going to share ... hehe
     
    Anyway, I've received the final edit of Chapter 8 from Kitty, so it should be posted on my website on Wedneday evening, then a day or so later on GayAuthors and Nifty. I had forgotten a lot of what I had written in this chapter until I went through the revisions that Kitty sent me, and after re-reading it, I think it's a pretty good chapter. It's not as long as Chapter 7, but it's not short either. So far, the only "short" chapter (as in under 45 KB) is Chapter 11. I'll probably start working on Chapter 13 this week, too.
  2. LittleBuddhaTW
    As Kitty mentioned to me in an e-mail (along with the final edit of Ch. 7), "the natives are getting restless." So I'll be posting Ch. 7 on Wednesday evening (which would be Thursday morning for me, Taiwan time ... hehe) It's the longest chapter so far, and I hope everyone enjoys it. It'll be up on my own web site first, and then probably a day or so later on my GA shared member hosting page.
     
    I'm also working on a (long) short story right now. I'm about halfway finished (I think). I'm already way ahead on chapters of SOOTB, so it won't interfere with that, so y'all don't need to get on the next flight to Taipei and lynch me or anything. I've actually been really surprised at all of the positive feedback I've gotten on the story. I never thought it would get much exposure, let alone receive so many e-mails, PMs, and even a certain someone mention it in his blog TWICE! hehe {hi nick!}
     
    My thesis editor sent back the final two chapters of my thesis today, so now I'm just waiting to get my research proposal back from her, as well as a couple of quotes that I needed her to help me translate into Chinese. It's not a good idea to translate from your first language into your second language, so I only do Chinese to English translation ... otherwise it won't look like a native speaker wrote it, and my thesis has to be totally professional and all. I'm hoping to get it published in book form at some point, maybe later this year ... unfortunately it will be in Chinese, so I doubt any of y'all will be reading it ... *sigh*
     
    I have a stomach ache right now because I ate too much. I should move back to the States for the simple reason that I've put on too much weight since I came to Taiwan ... mostly because of eating so much damn white rice, which is chock full of carbohydrates. I'm not "fat" or anything ... I've always been really thin, but I've definitely put on a few pounds and it shows, mostly in my tummy because I'm lazy when it comes to exercising. But once all of this crap with the Ph.D. entrance exam and stuff is over, I've vowed to lose about 10 lbs., start exercising more (I should really get back into martial arts training ... I don't want all the time I spent into getting a second-degree black belt go to waste), and I *really* need to quit smoking. Ugh!
     
    Another thing I need to get back into is my Zen Buddhist training. Mentally and spiritually, I really need it. I need to get myself centered and balanced, especially since I'm going to have to be making some really important decisions within the next few months about where my future is going ... either working in academia here in Taiwan or going back to the States to work in the private sector. Two very different paths. As people can probably guess from my nickname, Buddhism has been a particularly influential philosophy in my life, and it's actually going to play a major part in the new short story I'm working on. I'm curious to see if I get the same kind of reaction I've been getting from SOOTB.
     
    Oh, and for anyone who isn't happy, but wants to learn how to be happy (I think very few people are truly "happy" ... I think we just content ourselves with "ordinary unhappiness"), I strongly suggest reading the Dalai Lama's book "The Art of Happiness" ... he knows what it takes to put you on the path to finding true happiness ... one day I'll get around to trying to put what he says into practice ... haha
  3. LittleBuddhaTW
    WOO-HOO! I finally finished the rough draft of my Ph.D. research proposal, and have sent it on to my thesis editor. Now everything (including the last few chapters of my thesis) are in her hands, so now I just have to sit back and wait for her to send me the corrections. I still have to start doing some reading to prepare for the written exam, but that only counts for about 30% of the score for the entrance exam. The other 70% or so is based on your oral exam (discussing your M.A. thesis, research plan, etc. -- all in Chinese, of course). At least I don't have to do any more damn writing! **breathes deep sigh of relief**
     
    I still have a lot of other crap to get together, though, like applications, letters of recommendations, transcripts, four passport-sized photographs, etc. The whole registration and application process is extremely complicated. They should just let you into the program based on being able to jump through all of those hoops. Even if I do get accepted, though (which I'm not too sure about, since I don't really have the same "drive" I had before), I will still consider moving back to the States and going into some other kind of work where I can still make use of my Chinese skills (and NO, I don't plan on working in a Chinese restaurant! ). I've been isolating myself too much here over the past few months, mostly because of trying to get my thesis done, and am really worn out. I'm thinking I need a change ... or at least a long vacation. Any suggestions about how to make my life a little more meaningful? *sigh*
     
    Hopefully now I can spend some more time doing what I really like -- namely, writing. I'm currently working on Ch. 12 of "Someday Out Of the Blue," and I just finished making the corrections on the first edit of Ch. 7 from Kitty, so everything's on schedule for the next update. Ch. 7 is the longest chapter so far, so I think that should please everyone. I just hope any future stories will get as good of a response as my first one.
     
    Also, I'm now officially hosted at GayAuthors in the "Shared Member Hosting" section, so if you get the chance, go check out my page:
     
    http://members.gayauthors.org/littlebuddhatw/index.html
  4. LittleBuddhaTW
    Today was probably the most eventful day I've had in a while ... I went to see my doctor this morning to get a refill on my sleeping pills (I have really bad insomnia sometimes). It's 2:23 AM now and I'm still not ready to sleep, but I have to wake up at 6:30 to get ready for work ... so apparently the medication isn't helping very much.
     
    I also managed to trek over to the supermarket, Carrefour (a French supermarket chain, although it's unfortunately been "Taiwan-ified"). I had to go because my cats needed food, but I also got some of my favorite ice cream, Haagen-Daaz (Strawberry Shortcake ... YUMMY!)
     
    Chapter 6 of "Someday Out Of the Blue" should be posted sometime this week, hopefully by Thursday or Friday (on my web page and Yahoo! Group first, and on Nifty a day or two later).
     
    I've also added a poll to the Yahoo! Group where you can vote on your favorite character from the story so far, so go add your vote, and if you're not already a member, go ahead and join!
     
    I've made a little more progress on my research proposal. I need to try to get that, and the translation project that I'm supposed to be working on finished by this weekend. I've been so lazy that I've been putting it off in favor of long naps (several a day) ... I need someone to kick me in the butt and get me into gear!
     

  5. LittleBuddhaTW
    My stomach bug has cleared up for the most part, thankfully. On the down side, the few extra kilograms that I was hoping I would lose from it didn't go away, so I might have to actually start exercising or something ... *GASP*
     
    Ch. 5 of SOOTB is already posted on my website for those who can't wait for Nifty. It will be up on Nifty late Friday night or early Saturday morning, probably.
     
    I'm still fretting about my future. I know I'm not "old" at age 28 (although I certainly have been feeling it lately), but I need to make some decisions. The stress of the Ph.D. exam is driving me crazy, but I'm just so burned out from studying so much over the past three years, that I still can't seem to get myself together to get ready for this one big test. If I don't get into the Ph.D. program, I'll most likely be moving back to the States and get a job as a translator/interpreter or teaching Mandarin ... there's not much else you can do with a M.A. degree in Chinese.
     
    After living here for five years, building a life, accumulating tons of stuff (mostly books), and, of course, my three cats, it would be a pain in the ass to move all the way back to the States. Ugh ...
     
    BTW, the last chapter of "Desert Dropping" was great. I can't wait to read the next chapter of "With Trust" ... the more I read, the more I'm falling in love with Nelson ... although if made to choose, I'd still rather share my bed (among other things) with Rory ... hehe
  6. LittleBuddhaTW

    Ugh!

    By LittleBuddhaTW,

    I've had a horrible stomach bug for the past few days ... I won't go into details, but it hasn't been pleasant. Needless to say, I've spent most of the past several days in bed (or in the bathroom), and haven't gotten anything done. Not that I have the motivation to do anything, but I still need to at least finish what needs to be finished. Hopefully tomorrow I can make a little headway on my Ph.D. research proposal, and finish up with Ch. 9 of SOOTB.
     
    Speaking of which, Ch. 4 should already be up at Nifty now, and is on my website, too. Kitty has already finished editing Ch. 5, so everything is on schedule for the weekly update for next week as well. She's done a really terrific job, and if the story is any good at all, it's probably mostly because of her. As my English writing has started to improve again, though, my Chinese writing is going to hell, because I haven't written anything lately ... it's strange to have writer's block in one language (Chinese) and not the other (English) ... I didn't think it worked like that. Maybe I'll go write an entry in my Chinese-language blog, but I don't really have anything to say other than bitching about my life recently here in Taiwan, and that's not usually a very polite thing to do when you're a guest in a foreign country, and said country's residents are the ones reading your blog ... so I might wait until I'm in a better mood.
     
    Anyway, drop me a line if you're enjoying the story, or if you happen to know of a cute Taiwanese guy I could date ... hehe
     

  7. LittleBuddhaTW
    I saw "Brokeback Mountain" this past Saturday evening, and the movie was early sold out when I reserved my tickets online early that morning. I have to say that it was one of the most moving films I've seen, regardless of the subject matter. Ang Lee is truly a remarkable director. It's amazing to me how realistically he captured the culture, way of life, and sentiment of the American West and cowboy lifestyle, considering that he's Taiwanese. I also admired that he portrayed it as a "love story" as opposed to a "gay movie." The film has already received quite a few Golden Globes (one of which went to Bernie Taupin, Elton John's long-time collaborator, for best song), and I can easily see it walking away with several Oscars. I was surprised at the ending (I'd never read the original shory story), and even cried a bit.
     
    It reminded me a lot about the Mathew Shepard case of severa years ago, and not surprisingly, very few Taiwanese I know have heard about that incident. So, I'm going to try to educate as many people as possible about that. In that respect, despite its conservatism, Taiwan is certainly a more tolerant place than America ... although many people still cannot accept homosexuality here, I have never heard of the kind of "gay bashing" that still goes on in America.
     
    Ang Lee is really an incredible director, and it makes me very proud that he is Taiwanese, and that I am living in his home country. The people here adore him, and he is a national hero to them. There has been nothing but praise for his film here, and none of the controversy and protests that have occured in the States. For Taiwanese, it seems as though they love the film because it was made by Ang Lee, and pretty much ignore the subject matter. The entire audience was dead silent throughout the film, which was a bit unusual for here. A lot of times, when something "awkward" or "uncomfortable" happens, Taiwanese tend to laugh about it, and that's what I figured would be the reaction during several points in the film, but it didn't happen once. I think everyone was truly moved (or was it stunned?) ... after the movie, no one really knew what to say. I still don't really know what to say ... I was very impressed.
  8. LittleBuddhaTW
    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 ...
  9. LittleBuddhaTW

    Stress sucks!

    By LittleBuddhaTW,

    I've finally forced myself to sit down and start writing my research proposal for the Ph.D. program. I'm so burned out from writing, though, so it's hard to sit down and keep on writing even more. My thesis editor has finally gotten her act together (I think) and is working on the final stage of revisions, although I have to re-write a part of my conclusion, which is annoying. It also seems as though competition for getting into the Ph.D. program this year will be more difficult than I had expected (there are only two places available for foreign students per academic year).
     
    Tomorrow (Sunday) I have to attend an academic conference on Chinese literature studies and critique a paper by a grad student from National Central University (in Chung-li, Taiwan ... not that anyone reading this would know where that is ... hehe). I really don't feel like doing it, but it is kind of an honor for a foreigner to be invited to critique a Taiwanese student's research, and something that the other foreigners who are applying to the Ph.D. program haven't done. I've already had some of my research published already, which they haven't ... so, I'm hoping that these things will all help me to get into the program. Otherwise, I'm not sure what I'm going to do ... stay here and look for work, try again next year, or go back to the States and get a job as a translator/interpreter or something like that. **Sigh** Decisions, decisions ... needless to say, this is going to be a very stressful few months.
     
    I'm hoping to have Chapter 3 of "Someday Out of the Blue" posted sometime this weekend. It will be up on my website about 12-24 hours before it's posted to Nifty. I've been writing very fast, but I'm gonna have to slow down now that I really need to get to work on my academic stuff.
     
    Also, I managed to get rid of about 2/3 of that translation job I was given, so it shouldn't cut into my time too much now. My boss wasn't thrilled, but I explained to her that my school work right now was much more important, which it is ... getting into the Ph.D. program is my future ... I just hope I can get serious enough and be as prepared as I need to be.
  10. LittleBuddhaTW

    I hate Tuesdays

    By LittleBuddhaTW,

    I finally got up off my lazy butt yesterday and forced myself to go to the supermarket and get some cleaning done, and today at work I worked a bit on the conclusion for my thesis, which is about halfway finished (the conclusion that is, the main text of the thesis is mostly done, save for a bit of revising and polishing up) ... it always seems, however, that the last little bit is the hardest to write, and although I know what I want to say, and even though it's mostly just re-hashing the main points of my thesis, I just can't seem to force myself to sit down and write it out at one sitting ... which I could do if I really wanted to. On the bright side (or maybe not-so-bright-side), I think I've read pretty much all of the good gay stories online now, so there's really nothing to keep me occupied except for my thesis and starting to prepare for my Ph.D. entrance exam (I swear I'll start preparing one of these days ... my goal is to at least get started by the middle of February ... we'll see if I can actually stick to that). However, being the lazy procrastinator that I am, I'm sure I'll find something else to keep me occupied besides what I should be doing. :wacko:
     
    On a positive note, yesterday I received an invitation to critique a paper on "Li Yu's Garden Life and Eremitic Thought" at an academic conference at the end of this month ... it kind of surprised me that they asked me, a foreigner, to critique a Taiwanese grad student's paper ... I didn't even know that I qualified as an "expert" on Li Yu (a writer/philosopher from the Ming/Qing dynasty period, very well known for his plays and novels), although I did publish a paper on a couple of his homoerotic short stories about a year and a half ago. It should be interesting, though ...
     
    So, now, I just REALLY need to get myself together and finish this goddamn thesis ... I've been working on it for like 1 1/2 years now ... if I actually get into the Ph.D. program, I don't know how I'm going to actually write my dissertation ... writing a M.A. thesis is hard enough ... and I keep getting distracted by these damn stories ... **sigh** I guess it's my way of living the kind of romantic life I wish I had vicariously through the characters ... pretty pathetic, huh?
  11. LittleBuddhaTW

    Chinese New Year

    By LittleBuddhaTW,

    Another Chinese New Year has come and gone ... it's now the Year of the Dog. I'm not much into Chinese astrology, so I have no idea if it's supposed to be an auspicious year or not ... I just know that it's been cold, rainy, and the locals have been shooting off firecrackers for the past twenty-four hours non-stop. Chinese New Year is always really boring for me ... everything shuts down and everyone goes to spend a week with their families. Being that I have no family in Taiwan, it's always just me and my cats. My first Taiwanese boyfriend, however, took me to his grandparents' house in Taichung (in central Taiwan) for my first Chinese New Year here, and that was pretty good ... lots of food and everyone was friendly ... but I've never really been into "family time," so I prefer being by myself.
     
    I still need to get cracking on the conclusion for my thesis. It only needs to be about five pages long, and I could probably crank it out in about two days if I put my mind to it, but I've been lazy (as usual) and have spent the last couple weeks sleeping, watching tv, reading stories online, and sleeping some more. Speaking of stories, however, I read a couple really good ones by Vance Lister. They could use a bit of editing and cleaning up, but the stories are really good, and very very moving:
     
    http://www.nifty.org/nifty/gay/highschool/shane
    http://www.nifty.org/nifty/gay/highschool/tyler
     
    That's about all I can think of to write for now ... I wish my life was a bit more exciting than it is so I'd actually have something interesting to write about. I certainly had an eventful life in high school and college ... I guess my life peaked too soon ... hehe
     
    l8r
  12. LittleBuddhaTW
    I've had even more free time than usual over the past couple of weeks (and I had *tons* of free time before that!), but now that I have even more free time, the lazier and lazier I've become. I mean ... I *should* be finishing my thesis, but I just don't feel inspired. There are also a couple of other projects that I'm interested in, but I don't want to get caught up in any of those until my thesis is finished ... kind of like a Catch-22, I suppose.
     
    Anyway, one of the projects I want to work on is a paper (in Chinese) for the academic journal Chung-wai Literature. I'd like to write a summary/book review of a really great book that came out last year called The New Gay Teenager (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2005). It's a really fascinating look at the "new gay culture" among teenagers in America, how they define/categorize themselves, and in general how American society has changed ... and in terms of gay youth and homosexual studies in general, things have changed *a lot* since I was in high school (9 years ago seems sooo long! hehe) Anyway, it's a really excellent book that I recommend to anyone, and it presents a fairly new theory called "personal trajectory," which is a bit different from the old "Social Constructionism" and "Essentialism" theories that were the main focus of gay studies only a decade ago.
     
    I guess I just need to find some sort of focus or inspiration ... or find my center again. I've even run out of new stories to read online, so I really have no idea what to do with myself. I KNOW I should just finish up with the last half a chapter and conclusion of my thesis ... if I really dedicated myself, I could finish it up within a week ... but after writing so much already over the past year, I just don't have the energy to do it. And to top that off, once that's finished, I have to start preparing for the entrance exam for the Ph.D. program, which will cover the history of Chinese literature ... and there's over 2,500 years of that to cover ... so, it's not going to be that easy. I also have to give an oral defense of my thesis twice, once for my M.A. degree exam, and again for the Ph.D. program entrance exam. That shouldn't be too bad, because I like to debate ... the only thing I'm worried about is getting some 80-year old homophobic professor on the committee who will shoot down my research just because it's "gay" ... oh well ... I think my research is solid, so I shouldn't worry.
     
    But besides all of this academic crap, I just really need to get a more interesting life. I had SO much fun in high school and college, tons of friends, was always going out and having fun ... and now everything is so different. It was a bit better when I was working and had stuff to do, but now I only work 6-9 hours/week (I have a scholarship so I don't need the money), so I just sit around ... and I don't know very many intellectually stimulating people ... and Taiwanese boys can just be *weird* sometimes ... so I just need to figure out what I want to do with myself now ... **sigh**
  13. LittleBuddhaTW
    Well, it's already 9:00 AM on New Year's Day here in Taipei ... a few more hours until it's New Year's back in the States. It was a blissfully uneventful New Year's Eve spent watching TV, napping, and laying around doing nothing, except for spending a couple hours yesterday afternoon with my classmate/thesis editor discussing my thesis over coffee. I've got six chapters to revise (some more than others), and still have to finish the last half of my final chapter ... If I can just get my lazy butt in gear, I should (hopefully) be able to get some work done today (after a few cups of coffee at least) and tomorrow.
     
    The next big holiday will be Chinese New Year, in about a month or so, which means a week off from work and school, and another party at my friend Bret's house (my American professor friend who teaches Chinese history here in Taiwan). By that time, hopefully my thesis will be done and I'll be busy preparing for the written portion of the entrance exam for the Ph.D. program.
     
    The New Year celebrations sounded pretty tame last night, which was surprising. The Taiwanese (especially those in Taipei) love noise, and I was surprised that I didn't have my ear drums shattered. They had municipal elections a few weeks ago, and that has to have been one of the most annoying events I've ever had to live through ... little blue trucks driving through the neighborhoods 24/7 with speakers blaring election messages, bullhorns, foghorns, firecrackers, rallies, parades ... all at all hours of the day and night constantly for a few weeks. They get into their elections here like nothing I've ever seen. The last presidential election wasn't even as bad ... the next one is coming up in 2008 ... at least it'll give my poor ears a rest for a couple years. But ... I still have to be woken up occasionally at 4 a.m. by firecrackers and parades for weddings and ceremonies at the local Taoist temples (WHY do they have to do that at 4 in the friggin' morning?!?! ), and wading through the thick black-grey smoke from the "ghost money" that they burn for their relatives and the various "gods" twice a month which only adds to the already horrible level of pollution in Taipei. I can't wait until I get my Ph.D. and can get a job as a professor at a nice, quiet university in the countryside in southern Taiwan ... **sigh**
     
    I also started reading the story "Laika" last night. So far, I really like it. I'm also writhing in anticipation for Ch. 23 of "Desert Dropping". Another one that I've enjoyed is "My New Brother" by Graeme ... I like things that are unique, and it's written from the perspective of a str8 boy who is trying to come to terms with some of his friends turning out to be gay.
     
    That's it for now! Happy New Year to everyone!
  14. LittleBuddhaTW
    Well, this is my first time writing a blog in English ... I have another blog in Chinese, but unless you can read Chinese, that probably wouldn't be very interesting to most people.
     
    Today has been a pretty uneventful day ... just three hours of work in the morning, and now I'm home for the weekend. I need to get my M.A. thesis finished, and hope I can make a good bit of progress on the last chapter this weekend. I'm meeting tomorrow afternoon with one of my older classmates to help me make revisions (Chinese isn't my native language, so gimme a break ... I occasionally make grammatical and usage mistakes! hehe) After that I'll just veg out and/or work on my thesis ... no plans for the New Year either.
     
    Because of my thesis writing (and my own laziness/malaise), I haven't been dating for the past few months. I've dated four Taiwanese boys in the past five years that I've been here, but I'm kind of tired of that right now ... even though I'm supposedly an "expert" on Chinese culture and can speak the language fluently, there are still a lot of cultural differences to overcome ... two of the biggest obstacles are how important "family" and "kinship" ties are to Taiwanese/Chinese (I've never been big on the concept of "family") ... and the maturity level of younger Taiwanese guys is much much lower than their counterparts in the West. I guess I'm an "intellectual," and most younger gay guys here only care about clothes, clubbing, and the latest cell phone designs ... kind of hard to find someone who is both "deep" and attractive. But then again, would it be much better in the States?
     
    Anyway, I've rambled on enough for today... hopefully I'll be able to keep this up (writing a blog, that is) ... we'll see how it goes! Maybe one day I'll even get up the nerve to write a story of my own ... hehe
  15. LittleBuddhaTW
    I'm really glad we've got a long weekend coming up. This past week has been crazy busy, and one of my project managers has been on vacation all week, so I've had to pick up about half of her workload, in addition to my own. To make matters worse, on Wednesday, our whole network went down, and I was stuck at the office until after 9 PM supervising our IT guy as he troubleshooted the issue. We finally figured out that it was a problem with the firewall. It's never pleasant when our network goes down, because it affects our internet connection, internal network, phones ... everything. Basically, we can't do any work, and since we're a transactional business, the work piles up FAST.
     
    Our Chief Operating Officer and I have come to realize that we really need more manpower to handle the volume and complexity of work we've been receiving. Unfortunately, convincing our Ownership to bring on new employees is like pulling teeth from an angry wolverine. We're shooting for a hire in the next 60 days or so, so hopefully it will happen. I've started interviewing prospects, and yesterday interviewed probably the hottest guy I've ever met. We all like him a lot and would love to bring him on immediately ... it's now up to Ownership to decide if we can pull the trigger. I currently manage a team of 7 employees (plus hundreds of sub-contractors), but the new guy would be my own personal assistant, therefore working VERY closely with me ... *sigh* And did I mention that he's REALLY hot??? I mean really, really, really HOT ...
     
    Anywho, Chapter 5 of WISYA is now posted. As usual, Sharon did a wonderful editing job! Please stop by the discussion forum and let me know your thoughts. Feedback is what keeps me inspired to write, so please don't be shy ... *nudge nudge*
  16. LittleBuddhaTW
    I just finished watching the last of the semi-finals in the Little League World Series tournament. I was really pulling for the Florida and Maryland teams, but they both got defeated by Louisiana, and Louisiana will now be going to the U.S. championship game on Saturday, facing the team from Hawaii. The Louisiana team is very impressive, and their ace pitcher reminds me a lot of Grady, mainly in that he throws over 80 mph. That's very impressive for a 12 year old kid, and is the equivalent of 100-104 mph at the Major League level. When I was that age, I could throw around 70 mph, and that's still really hard, so 80 mph is just unbelievable.
     
    I've watched more of the tournament than I did last year, because the Detroit Tigers have been sucking so bad, and there's no other good sports to watch until college football starts a week from Saturday. I can't wait for that, when Coach Urban Meyer unleashes Tim Tebow on the SEC. It'll be a very interesting season, and I think Florida has a chance at the national championship, if they can get past Georgia.
     
    Anyway, on to more important things ... I just sent Chapter 5 of WISYA to Sharon for editing. It ended up being longer than I'd originally planned, because I wanted to get all of the LLWS stuff wrapped up in this chapter. Starting with Chapter 6, we'll get to find out what happens next in Grady's life, who he meets, and how he deals with his growing awareness of how he's different from the other boys. There should be a few interesting twists and turns along the way -- some adversity, some new friends, and some continuing relationships ... It should be ready to post by the end of next week, so please keep checking back ...
  18. LittleBuddhaTW
    The Detroit Tigers are on a winning streak again ... well, it's only two games so far, but it sure beats how crappy they were doing the past couple weeks. AND, it looks as though Gary Sheffield will be back in the line-up tonight. Now, all they need to do is get Joel "Zoom-Zoom" Zumaya off the DL (aiming for Aug. 21st, baby!) and get Kenny Rogers back in shape, and we've got a good shot at the World Series again. Woo-hoo!
     
    I got my plane and hotel reservations today for my trip to San Francisco at the end of October/early November, and I'm really looking forward to meeting DK, Trebs and whoever else shows up. Since the owners of our company are totally cheap, I figured I'd have to share a room with my boss, but I'm getting my own room, which will make it a little easier to come staggering in drunk at 2 AM ...
     
    One last thing ... it is DAMN HOT around here ... it might even be worse than in Taiwan. The air-conditioning in my apartment is weak, and so is the A/C in my office. Plus, I'm in a corner office (because I'm special like that!), so I've got windows on two sides, which gets the office heated up really fast.
     
    Anyway, I hope some of you will be able to come out to San Fran to say hi ... there's a discussion going on in the "Lounge" forum for anyone who is interested. And did I mention I'll have a hotel room all to myself ..........
  19. LittleBuddhaTW
    I'm $10 richer today ... I'm a big Detroit Tigers fan, and my boss is a big Atlanta Braves fan. Anyway, Detroit starting pitcher Kenny Rogers was on the DL all year so far, and made his comeback start last night against Atlanta. My boss and I had $10 riding on the game, and Kenny Rogers totally SMOKED the Braves last night. WOO-HOO! Even though I grew up in Maryland, I spent the first six years of my life in Detroit, and have loved the Tigers since I knew what baseball was. My dad always tried to get me to like the Baltimore Orioles after we moved here, but I resented moving to Maryland, so I've always stubbornly supported the Tigers. The past couple years that they've actually been winning have been great.
     
    Work has been really busy, and we got a couple big projects last week. I'm also working on two large software localization projects (translation of software ... much more involved than simple document translation) that will hopefully be kicking off in the beginning of July, one for $30,000 and the other for over $100,000. I'm not doing the translating myself, I'm just the one who's securing and managing the deals. If they work out, hopefully that will mean a nice big bonus at the end of the year.
     
    We got a new employee at work a couple weeks ago. He's pretty darn hot ... unfortunately, he's very "Christian" and has a girlfriend, but we'll see about that ... We're all planning a weekend trip to Kings Dominion (amusement park) in August. We'll drive down early on a Saturday morning, go to the park all day, spend the night at a hotel, and go to the adjacent water park the next day. I've been working so much lately, it'll be nice to have a little mini-vacation.
     
    I usually do extra translation work on the evenings and weekends. This is the first weekend in months that I haven't had any extra work to do. The extra money is great, but I've been getting burned out, so I guess I need a little rest.
     
    Finally, I've gotten totally addicted to the ABC Family show "Kyle XY." If y'all haven't seen it, you HAVE TO! It's really awesome, and the actor who plays Kyle is H-O-T (Matt Dallas).
  20. LittleBuddhaTW
    It's been really warm here the past few days ... I swear, I hate the weather in Taiwan! Just last week, I had to wear layers of clothes just to keep barely warm, since they don't have heating here (and I won't get one of those space heaters 'cause I don't trust my cats around them). The past two days, though, have been really warm. I've had to open the windows, which hasn't really helped much (plus they're letting in a lot of mosquitoes) ... I've contemplated turning on the air-conditioner, but that just doesn't seem right in friggin' January ... plus, I like to save on my energy bill during the winter, since in the summer I have to have both air conditioners going almost constantly and ending up paying a lot on my utilities (and summers here are from like April until November).
     
    I finished the rough draft of the last chapter of my thesis. I've still got some revising to do, as well as the conclusion, but I feel like the hardest part is over. So, I've been totally vegging out so far this weekend and don't feel bad about it for once. I've even started writing my first ever story. I've already finished the first chapter, but I'm gonna wait until I've finished a few more before I start posting it at Nifty, in case I end up getting back-logged or something ... I hate it when I have to wait longer than usual for a new chapter of a story I'm reading, so I want to make sure that if/when I post it, people won't have to wait too long. I don't think I'm a very good writer ... I'm pretty confident in my research abilities, and I can write academic stuff pretty well, but fiction is something I've never really tried. Tentatively it's called "Someday Out of the Blue."
     
    Over and out!
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