No Children

I rode the night train to the east coast cause I was miserable. The whole country was asleep, at home in their warm beds. The train was almost empty. The rain made the also almost empty streets glisten. It sparkled and streaked on the windows. I felt sad. I couldn’t see much, but I didn’t want to. I read “JM Roberts History of the World”. I got in the wrong train and got delayed for an hour at an empty station. I got in the next train and rode all the way to the beach. I showed my woefully underpaid and incorrect ticket to the stationmaster (who was wearing gangster shorts and flip flops) and he stared at me for six seconds and said “welcome come to taiwan” and he waved me through because doing the paperwork to make me pay for my fare in the middle of the night wasn’t worth it. Then I hiked to the spot. Now I’m looking at very many stars. East coast has very many stars.

White Men Can't Eat

AG, my Moroccan neighbor, is moving out. Our landlord took us to eat with her friends and their families at an glamorous upscale restaurant. The foreigners were gently mocked for only being able to eat such tiny portions. The food was top quality, and I was shoveling it into my mouth the entire time (3 hours), because my mandarin is weak and after my apparently impressive personal introduction, I didn't want anyone to know how bad my language abilities actually are.

Aziz and I had a round of beers on the roof last night and I asked him about his impressions of Taiwan.

"It's nothing but eating, all the time," he said, "Only eating. It's very safe from crime, and the people are lovely, but the traffic is like Morocco, especially in the south. But most of all, it's just so much food."

They are all partying downstairs at my landlord's house, eating round two. I'm not going to be able to have anything for at least 12 more hours.

Also, as we chatted last night, I was chopping chili's for a fermented pepper sauce I'm making. I scooped the diced bits into the big honey jar with my left hand, and my hand is still on fire, 12 hours later. It feels like I dipped my hand in fluorosulfuric acid. Actually, I heard that you don't feel that cause it dissolves the nerves or something. Maybe the Gom Jabbar is a better analogy - my hand isn't red or swollen or otherwise visibly affected, but I can feel the skin curling black on that agonized hand, the flesh crisping and dropping away until only charred bones remain. But I won't withdraw my hand.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18scg5TBIok

El amor en los tiempos del coronavirus

Unwilling to go outside until driven there by hunger, I wished for a mask to hide behind. I went to Shida's nightmarket and had soup and stared with hollow eyes at the passing crowds. There is a fruit crepe place there with a friendly owner who made a smiley face on the crepe and wanted me to be happy but I couldn't pull my face up. So I went back home.

What is Well-Planted Will Not Be Uprooted

It was the Lantern Festival. She bowed three times in quick succession, in front of a waist high metal bowl. In the bowl was quiver of long thin wooden sticks, with numbers carved into the bottoms. She asked a silent question, and then withdrew one of the sticks. She noted the number, and retreated to the back wall, were little cubbies were numbered to correspond with the sticks. She took out the paper, and was visibly shaken by what she read. She needed some space. Tears welled up in her eyes and she laughed a nervous, resigned laugh. Noone spoke. The temple wasn't very busy, because of the virus. A few hot tears made their way down her cheek. She looked utterly defeated. Sometimes it's better not to ask, she told me. We walked back out of the temple in silence.

I want to know my fate if I keep up this way

I got a new neighbor. He was a brit, but he's been in Morrocco for a bit. I coached an interview that went well. Too bad I didn't make any money. A few hours til morning. I'll proably skate again one day

Tradition, and heritage, it's dead people's baggage, quit carrying it.

went to redpoint with scaryt. drank a lot of beers. overcast sky. not cold but not hot. people are masking up cuase of the virus. met a texican who is working in hk. discussed things. came home. ollied some stuff. counts as a trick if you drink enough