Taiwan in Moments

I think it's funny that I've seen relatively major celebrities in person (i.e. Pete Wentz, and on a separate occasion his wife Ashley Simpson) and have a very mild surprise/ interest in their presence, but when I see a guy who blogs about Taiwan's politics in person (David on Formosa) I nerd out and start asking people if I should say hello or not. This happened at the gay pride parade back in October. Yes, I did end up saying hello, I read your blog, I'm a fan. I then saw him again at a screening of a movie about North Korean refugees. I opted for an awkward wave at this point, somehow half-expecting the guy to remember me.

I bring this up because I experienced a similar moment, when just now I was acknowledged by "taiwanews" (the twitter page for the Taipei Times) on twitter for "retweeting" one of their posts. I was shocked to find that taiwanews not only follows me, but also occasionally reads my posts! Sure, they also follow 1,207 other people but still. Acknowledgment. From a newspaper twitter page no less! Oh, there was also that time Jared and I's apartment was featured on The Daily Dish's "The View from Your Window" posts. Now that's internet famous.

In conclusion, and in summary, internet fame is the new actual fame.

Clothing Gems

"Tickle my beaver Stuart"

That was on a shirt. I am not lying. I don't think I can add anything else to this post. Just enjoy.

一點點

There is a model getting her picture taken outside almost directly behind me. While this normally wouldn't be a big deal (girls get beauty shots taken here, Taiwan, all the time) she's advertising for something. What would it be? Why a new computer graphics card of course. Nothing sells more than a cute girl holding computer parts in front of a student center.

Another brief snippet of my life here in Taiwan would be the emails I get from my land-lady/student (I teach her English every Wednesday). I get copious amounts of e-mails from her, which can truly be about ANYTHING. For example, in a recent spat of I emails I received emails with such titles as: "Elephant birth ??????" (Mystery solved, it was indeed a video of an elephant birth) and "bicycle gymnasts" to e-mails with links that bring me videos which are entitled "One heck of a dog trainer!". There is a frequent trend of beautiful landscapes put to classical Chinese music, or my personal favorite (although I'm pretty sure the elephant birth video has taken the cake) a email addressing nothing more than before and after pictures of child stars who are now adults. A pressing story. Anything under the sun because really, why not?