recent randomness

i said i would update and i am a man of my word. hallowe'en has come and gone but did not pass us by here in taiwan. celebrated with the kids by having dressup days (had to wear my costume on 3 seperate occasions) trick or treating, and a haunted house to boot. had an easy week of teaching as seasonal celebrations entail a plethora of pointless busywork. after the week of hallowe'en activities @ work, it was time for a more adult-type of hallowe'en party. held @ the indian on ba de lu, we all got into the spirit. it must've been the only party in town as every foreigner in the city had to have been there. it was a good vibe and a good venue. that whole night was good in fact until i had my last beer. soon after consuming said beer, i suddenly felt very strange, like very spaced out. i don't remember a lot after that except leesh putting me in a taxi. the next morning, i felt fine but leesh said she was really worried. apparently, she kept asking me questions and i couldn't even answer her, just smile dumbly. conclusion? well, i know what you're thinking...you just drank too much you dumbass, but no. i really didn't have that much, certainly not enough to feel like that. i think what happened was i picked up someone else's drink which had been spiked with a little extra buzz and that was too much for me. word to wise, always keep you eye on the prize.

after hallowe'en festivities were put to bed the next thing on the to-do list was resigning our lease. i had tried to contact our landlady a month in advance to setup a date to do it on, avoiding any last minute hassles. after leaving 3 phone messages in her inbox with no replies, the ball was in her court. so, the date quickly approached and still no call. finally, after work on the 31st, i receive the long-awaited call. she starts off by laying into me. "why haven't you called me?" she screams. "today is the last day of the lease and we should have done this today! we have to do this tomorrow or else you will have to move out!"

"whoa, whoa, whoa." i retort. "where were you when i left you 3, count 'em, 3 phone messages, in english and in chinese i might add, a month ago? so, i guess tomorrow will be fine as we seem to have no choice in the matter seeing as how you've decided to leave it to the 11th hour. otherwise, i guess we will have to move out and then you will have to give us our $50,000NT deposit back."

Silence.

"no, no, no. i'll see you tomorrow @ 12:30 @ the lawyers office. see you then."

"fine. see you then." bullies, all bark and no bite.

we arrive on time the next day, but not without switching things around @ work to make it there at said time. papers were ready to be signed. same deal as before, with one minor difference. it being a 10-month guarantee instead of a year, in accordance with our plan to leave here after next august. signed on the dotted line, got our free notepads and that was that.

people have been asking what our plans are a lot lately, especially for chinese new year, if we're planning to make the trip to canada or not. well, we have reserved the seats on the plane but i daresay we are leaning more towards not coming. the reasons are twofold. number one is the cost. by the time it's all said and done, the little trip across the pond will cost us each approx. $2000 CDN. in an effort to save money, it's not good financial sense to take such an expensive holiday. reason#2 is that last year, although enjoyable, was also more tiring than relaxing. rushing around, trying to spend some q.t. with everyone was challenging to say the least. don't get me wrong, we would really like to see everyone but because we can only take holidays @ certain times of the year, it pays to relax during these times. i think we are a pass this time around. alternative plans to go to thailand, or one or the smaller taiwanese islands are more in the keeping of this year's theme. the jury is still out, so stay tuned for further developments.

other news on holidays is my personal favourite time of year, christmas, is just around the corner so in the spirit of the season, here are some ideas so you can cross me off your shopping list nice and early.
1-ipod nano, 4 GB
2-flannel pajamas
3-winter jacket, navy, pullover with a 45 degree angle zip
4-a pony
5-socks, underwear (you can never have to much)
6-duvet
7-new pillows, CK 700-count sheets
8-two new, front teeth
9-world peace
10-a hawaiian island, and not one of the crappy ones
i guess i haven't put too much thought into it this year, but it's a start.

special shoutouts go to randy mcculloch who celebrated his 28th on oct.30th...sounds like you guys had a party...gus yeates, on nov.3rd also celebrating his birthday...we've some celebrating to do yet, so let's get it done ASAP...and last but not least, the up and coming birthday of sebastian brun on november 15th...many happy returns and how do you want to celebrate? the sky's the limit, up to $1500NT. whoops, one more before i forget to record it for posterity...my future, millionaire entrepreneur, daniel frederick payley akermalm on nov.16th...keep on building that empire dano so one day i can quit this gig and sponge off you for the rest of my days...lol...for real.