Dad's Birthday Bike Trip

YOU KNEW THIS WAS COMING ~

What better way to celebrate the day of my father's birth than biking around a lot??

Photos?       Of course.       LOTS.





Dad's Super-duper Biketastic Birthdaytrip

Speed of tiger!

Form of Snake!

Speed of Hipppo! (ok, I gotta stop this)

Me and Geoffrey, waiting for the green light.

I CAN'T BELIEVE WE FOUND WATER BUFFALO

Graves. Stylish graves.

Man retrieving his remote-controlled plane.

Nearby:   water buffalo

An odd monument.

We didn't meet Gollum.

CUZ WE WERE TOO FAST.

Perfect weather. Perfect sunburns.

Proof that we live in Taipei (it's the Taipei 101 Building).

Happy Birthday, Dad!!

DRIVEN

Drove. Past tense.

Am tired. Present tense.

Driving requires so much concentration, but I think I did pretty well. I was scheduled to do 3 lessons today and got through 5. Head light settings, wind shield wiping speeds, Park, Neutral, Drive, Second, First, gas, brake, backwards and forwards and turning, judging distance. So many rules to remember for the test! Later, Dad let me drive around the parking lot, practicing tight corners - I can't tell if there's any improvement, because I can't bloody see how close I am to things. But overall, still pretty exciting!!!!


Oh.

These guys.

 The Bloody Beetroots

They're a techno group. Pretty rad. Yes, that's right, RAD. Check them out.

Favorite song:    Mac Mac

Also, they can jump very high.

Got Driving Lessons?

Have YOU registered to take driving lessons TOMORROW??

Who's laughing now, my American friends?

Actually, seeing as I'm almost 20, this isn't terribly impressive; most people I know got their license when they were 16, 17 or 18. But I AM excited :DDDDD

 How I must appear to my American friends.

Only draw back will be having to bike to the driving course every morning, and leave the house by 6:30.

Change of Name?

Just a quick note about the name of this blog - since I'm not going to Northfield/St. Olaf anymore, will I change the name of the blog?

NOPE.


Too much hassle, and you'd all have to remember a different web address, etc etc etc...

I'll just keep it as a precautionary tale.

Comptuer Fixed + Windows 7

Ahoy thar~

Computer has been down for the last 2 or 3 days - tried to fix it, so I gave it to Dad to figure out. Now I have Windows 7??? That apparently was the solution.

Now my computer is faster and prettier.

I've been doing as much biking as I can in the last few days, but during yesterday and this morning we were attacked by viscous rain, so I haven't been out much. I read that cyclists train for at least 7 ~ 10 hours a week - so that might be a goal for me.

I had a minor accident yesterday, walking out of our kitchen. Mom had left the door to the overhead cabinet open and it was just tall enough that I didn't see it.

BANG - onions flew everywhere, I was on the ground. Afterwards, I found that I had ripped out the lower hinge of that cabinet door. That's what you get for messing with "Jay"!

Here's what I looked like after the scrape:

 

 

Anyways, hope this rain lifts up!

Shilin Cultural Fair

Oh yeah, went to a Cultural Fair near my house on Saturday, where my old Select Choir performed. There were other acts too.

Wow, 2 posts in one day?! I just have too much time on my hands.

Taiwanese version of Batman.

These girls are much braver than I.

Not sure what culture this is from.

Justin Lu.

Back in Taipei

Arrived home safely on Saturday morning, Taipei time. It was 25'C. Perfect.

 I told Dad that I wasn't really that THRILLED to go back home. I mean, I wasn't sad, I was just open to the idea of sticking around Seattle for a day or two more, if it was up to me. But now that I'm back, I know I was crazy.

Home is great. Home is beautiful. I've already been on a bike ride to Dan Shui ( ) this morning, but the best thing has to be my bed. Having been sleeping on a couch or on the floor for the past month and a half, I appreciate my bed so much more. I never knew it was so comfortable - and I've been sleeping better than ever. Every morning I jump out of bed, doing backflips, beacuse my bed feels SO FREAKIN AWESOME. Heeeeeellllz yeah.

It feels like this.

So now that I'm back, now what? My driver lisence, for one. I was laughed at (gently) in the States for not having one, even though I was 18, so now it's revenge time - haha, no I'm not that petty. Seriously, though, I realised how important it is to have/ be able to drive in the States, after biking around Seattle for 3 weeks. That, and all previous experiences of driving anything (bikes, golf carts, our SUV, horses) makes me think I'm going to love driving cars.

Now I gotta get me a gator. Saw one on my great-uncle's dairy farm - nearly had a heart attack, it looked like so much fun. I wasn't allowed to steer :(  - but I did ride in it a little.

A Gator looks exactly like this. Chopper included.

Ok, left over pictures of my last day in Seattle. Of course, Dad and I went bike riding.

 

 

My Last Day in LaGrange

Well, the last day in LaGrange, at my grandmother's, has been a whirlwind of activities. Once again, photos tell the best stories.

OH PHOTO DUMMMP ~

EW - oh, that's me, working in the garage on the painting. See the sketches on the bottom right corner? The rag around my shoulders helped moped up the mess of paints, and I wore it like a scarf. I finished putting my portfolio together on Friday night at 2am. I like living on the RAZOR'S EDGE OF LIFE - ARRRR!

Going to visit the art school in Atlanta (SCAD) was a truly humbling experience. I've never been in awe of something so much. I realise how lazy I've been, settling and being satisfied with the second-best. The school was virtually vibrating with the intensity of spirit and mind - perhaps it was the wakeup call I needed. I owe my aunt big time, for convincing me to go.

So cool - reminds me of the Wolf Spirit from the Japanese movie Monoke Hime. A shout out from those who've seen it - Hey- yooo!

Um, ok - this is a SELF PORTRAIT. The kids took a picture of their profiles and then a straight on shot and made these. This makes you understand the 3-Dness of faces a whole different way.

From a series about MAPS - from the illustration department. Just look at the details and choice of color - he got it just right.

I WANT THESE - I can't stress that enough. :D

At the end of the visit, I was overwhelmed by the richness of projects - I guess I have something to shoot for.

Dad thoroughly enjoyed the trip, too - but little did he know that there was surprise waiting for him back at my aunt's.

Happy Birthday! Well, it they were 2 weeks early, but my aunt, uncle and grandmother wanted to celebrate it with him, while he was in Georgia.

Cats were there to welcome us.

You may not be able to tell, but they're trying to look bored.

Dinner was steak (expertly grilled by my uncle - left), potatoes, and salad. Chocolate Kahula cake to follow. I'M SO THANKFUL I'M NOT DIABETIC - it was so good. My lovley aunt is pictured, above, right. Oh, and there's my finished painting in the background - my aunt and uncle were good enough to give it much-needed lighting.

It was about as perfect an end to our time in LaGrange, Georgia as it could get. I always feel a bit sad when I leave LaGrange, because, even though it's quite different from Taipei, it has incomparable people (aunt/uncle/grandmother/cousins) and is a truly peaceful place.

Goodbye, LaGrange - see you some other year!

Kittens and Painting

Well, I'm still in Georgia. Wait, that makes it sound like a bad thing.

On Saturday I'm going to visit an art school - not one that I'm going to apply to, but I'm going just to what an art school is like. However, they require a portfolio. With this as my noble cause, I've started on this:

It isn't done yet, obviously.

On another note: Kittens!!

My aunt recently just sold these kittens that she was taking care of. This reduces the number of cats in her house to 5.