I really like how dramatic it sounds, but it wasn't very serious. A very strong gust of wind seemed to push down the bottom section of the roof. We have been having problems with the roof lately anyway, leaks and what not.

So, I called my kindly neighbor Ebbe to help. We were able to nail it back in place, but then another gust sent it falling down again. So, we gave up and now I have a gaping hole in my bedroom ceiling. I am lucky that it is purely aesthetic.

Then I was trying to secure my tree when I notice that the roof drainage pipe had come lose and water was pouring all over the porch which shouldn't really be a problem because rain was coming from all directions except I was worried about flooding on our porch. So, I spent a few minutes in the thick of things trying to fix that stubborn pipe.

What you can't really tell by the picture is that the wind is blowing so hard that it is somewhat difficult and scary to stand up, not to mention that the rain is cold and pelting me and the water from the drainage pipe is dousing me. I walked away from that extremely wet and cold.

We then started to dry off and open some beers when we heard a loud crash. We rush out onto the porch to discover that our tree had fallen over and some of its smaller branches had broken off.

So, I guess I didn't do a very good job securing it. Poor tree has seen its fair share of abuse; James and I are pretty protective of it. So, when I called him in Tainan 台南 to tell him what happened he seem worried.

After all this excitement I started to get a headache. A combination cold, hunger, & tired headache. So, I laid down to read and fell asleep. Only to be awaken shortly after by a loud crash. Apparently part of the metal divider between our porch and the neighbor's porch was riped from its bolts and crashed to the ground below. There are also scraps of it strewn around the porch, along with the shelf that was sitting in front of it. The picture below shows it still intact, just shortly before its savage removal.

Now I am blessed with the constant sound of the remaining metal banging against the neighbor's caged porch. Music to my weary ears.

All in all this has been a pretty exciting 颱風. I feel pretty grateful that all of the damage has been exclusively superficial. I don't like to imagine what it would have been like to really encounter damage to my house or to completely lose my house.

I would really like to thank my neighbors for helping me and taking pictures of everything. This has really made up for the previous two 颱風。Tomorrow I have a lot of cleaning ahead of me, especially since we are trying to get someone nice to live here after we leave next month.

I am so excited about having a bike. It has been too long since I last rode a bike on a daily basis. I have already been cruising around, narrowly missing buses, motorcycles, and typhoons.

With autumn comes excitement.

This brought familiar memories of warm summer days sitting on my top bunk, laid out on my yellow and white checked quilt reading "Where the Sidewalk Ends" and "Light in the Attic" again and again, until they stuck. Reading them aloud until even other family members committed them to memory and laughed along with me at their playfulness.

This crossword clue has led me down a path of researching some of Mr. Silverstein's work that I am less familiar with like:
"...I love ol' Polly in a porny I keep on going back
Yeah in the very last row I'm singin' low with my coat bouncin' in my lap ooh
I spend each dime I can afford I swear she's gonna win an academy award
I saw Polly in a porny with a pony and the pony seemed a little bored
Ooh oh ride Polly ride slide Polly slide"
Got to love his diversity.

He also has music! This funk folk hybrid that is quite catchy. Especially Freakin' at Freakers Ball I am quite fond of the song "The Man that got No Sign."

It is so nice to revisit him and discover so much more.

Whilst researching the different Offices, I found an interesting article from Slate Magazine.

"Here, in broad strokes, are the chief differences. In the British version, nobody is working, nobody has a happy relationship, everyone looks terrible, and everybody is depressed. In the French version, nobody is working but even the idiots look good, and everybody seems possessed of an intriguing private life. In the German version, actual work is visibly being done, most of the staff is coupled up, and the workers never stop eating and drinking—treating the office like a kitchen with desks." Liesl Schillinger

Before this article, I had no idea there was a French and German version. Luckily, Slate's site gives you the opportunity to watch small clips of the two, but since I don't know French or German I am left guessing as to what they might be saying. It seems pretty easy to fill in the blanks though. The stapler in Jell-O gag turns to stinky cheese in the drawer (is there anything in the cheese?) in the French version. The German version has a similar "Diversity Day" episode where a Hitler name tag makes an appearance instead of the labels of different races in NBC's version.

Although I haven't really watched the German and French versions and I cannot attest to the claims that Schillinger makes in this regard, I do find myself agreeing with her views on the British and American versions. I can enjoy the American version much easier than the British version because I understand the jokes. It is instantly funny, where as the British version takes some time and possibly research for me to understand half the humor involved. I am ususally left feeling frustrated because I know that it is really funny, but I'm an outsider who probably misses more jokes than I understand. But, I really like to watch the BBC version none-the-less because it makes me think about the little nuances about my culture and hell, I might learn something about the Brits.

Now, I am interested in finding out more and possibly watching some of these other "versions" floating around out there in the world. Even if I don't understand the humor.

In southern Morocco at least.

And they only climb the Argan variety of tree because they are stocky trees with twisted trunks and limbs enabling the goats to climb them (albeit with some difficulty). These trees are interesting in their own right, but I want to focus on the goats.

Beware non-goat creatures because these trees come with sharp thorns which the goats will endure for the pleasure of tree climbing and apparently the goats are after the sweet sweet fruit and the water-laden leaves of the tree.
There is much to say about the fantastic-ness of these goats, but I will leave that to others because i am paraphrasing much of what they said anyhow.

To learn more about these goats and southern Morocco click here

and here

and to find out more about how the goat might be adding to the possibility of endangering the tree click here

We met at a Chinese restaraunt where we ate a massive meal....beijing duck, duck soup, boiled yam leaves, spicy tofu, chinese beef, spicy sour beansprouts, scallion pancakes, pineapple shrimp (with sprinkles and mayonaise), taiwan beer, and mooncakes....
it was amazing and we hardly made a dent in the food....my favorites were the spicy sour beansprouts and beijing duck...
my least favorite was the pineapple shrimp....not a big fan of shrimp...let alone with mayonaise and sprinkles.

Our landlord is in his eighties and has lived a colorful and amazing life....part of which he was in a Beijing opera, in the KMT army where he nearly missed the Nanjing Massacre during the Japanese Occupation by weeks...he was visiting a friend when the Japanese rolled into Nanjing...also upon escaping China for Taiwan, him and some of his army buddies missed the fleeing convoy and had to commendere a fishing boat at gun point to make it out of the country without harm, and he was also a school principal....

During the course of our meal he asked us, through a "translator" (the guy who's apartment we are moving into), who dictates fashion? He was saying that he sees all these young people dressing in different fashions that change all the time and that in order to pay for all the changing fashion a person must only think about making money....thus you aren't thinking about your culture or your family...and how this can affect the culture of a civilization...either for the worse or the betterment...in this case he was saying that this next generation of youth coming up will be dangerous because they will only think of money and how to get more...and might be more inclined to use "bad" ways to get money to pay for all their fashion.....
unfortunately i cannot recreate the profound train of thought he took us on...and none of us young people at the table could answer his questions...we all laughed and shrugged our shoulders helplessly as if we didn't even know where to begin...
so i thought that i would pose this question here...in the hopes that others could comment on the idea of fashion and how it affects youth or culture...and what happens when it becomes consuming..
any ideas?

so...date night...

james met me at the MRT station with plastic flowers....a lasting momento

and then we went to a restaraunt called "cherry" where you order a set meal....
(this is where i would normally post the photos from our meal, but unfortunately the camera currently won't upload pictures to my computer....so use your imagination please....)

i ordered seafood pasta, with lemon black tea, lemon cheesecake, parisian onion soup, unlimited ice cream, bread, and a ceasar salad....all for 290 nt (roughly less than 10 usd)

james ordered cheesy seafood rice, lemon ice, tiramasu, parisian onion soup, seasonal fruit salad, unlimited ice cream, and bread....

we then went to Peace Park (a park in downtown Taipei to commemerate a massacre that happened years ago on 2/28. there we drank mini sized bottles of gallo red wine...and watched the toads, bats, and crazies at the park.

it was rather enjoyable and something we haven't really done since we have moved here....

on a completely unrelated note...i have been really digging the mad decent worldwide radio podcast...
really entertaining.

that is all for now....

tonight we ate a steak, spaghetti and egg dinner. basically, you have spaghetti noodles and a black pepper sauce, a grilled steak on top with a fried egg on the side. they serve the meal sizzling on a skillet platter and in order to protect your skin and clothes from splashage people hold up their napkin in front of themselves. interactive dining at its best.

tonight's dinner also came with juice/tea/soda, salad, taiwanese ice dessert and a corn chowder cup of soup covered in phyllo dough. way too much food for this belly. i ended giving most of my steak and phyllo covering to james for him to eat.

until next time...