09:49 am greencastle, july 14; 10:49 taipei, july 14

hey, look, before i forget it, a translation of the conversation that just took place:
twin: what are you doing?
me: homework.
twin: why are you turning on your computer?
me: to do homework.
twin: why are you turning on your computer?
me: to do homework.
twin: what are you doing with your computer?
me: i'm doing homework.
twin: why do you have a homework?
me: so i can do my homework.
twin: what are you doing with that camera?
me: homework.
twin: where did you buy the camera?
me: it's not new. i already had it.
twin: where did you buy the camera?
me: it's not new. i already had it.
twin: what are you doing with the camera?
me: homework.
twin: where did you get the camera?
me: it's not new. i already had it.
twin: i have toothpaste.

...but so i got up at like seven today, like i said i (highly disturbingly) had to. well, it was fun, though, and probably worth it. went to the taipei zoo, and left like 20 minutes later than i'd meant to, but it took more than that much time less to get there, so it wasn't a problem. that is, i ended up arriving early anyways. and then...the zoo. bunch o pics. took my mom's camera, so i can upload them. also took a bunch of pictures for the cram school, and i'm going to work on that slideshow probably pretty much as soon as i'm done writing this entry. um...not a lot to say there, then, if i do upload the pictures; after all, you'll be able to see stuff and whatnot. only things of which i don't think i took pictures were the reptiles and amphibians, because they were mostly boring, and some of them weren't even apparent.

then class, at which i arrived like twenty minutes late because the people with whom i was at the zoo were the ones with time-telling devices, and when i told them that i had class at one and had to be back at like 12:30, they thought that i meant to leave at 12:30...which was a problem. well, not really, in the end, but, of course, i worried a whole bunch...

then this afternoon i met up with derek again. no, wait, it's the first time it's been planned. actually, though, other stuff came up with him, and he forgot, but ended up being able to come anyways, after picking up these two girls...you know, as dates for the two of us. ahh...yeah, whatever. fortunately, they didn't go along with it the way he was hoping they would--like americans. they played their asian roles and were all polite and everything, so methinks the two of them hit it off better with me than with derek--and, besides, their english wasn't amazing, so they resorted to a lot of chinese, and one of them wouldn't even speak english; just chinese with me or her friend. so...the four of us had dinner (the older girl paid, the one derek met first; the other girl was her friend. uhh...i'm the youngest of the four of us; derek and the friend [daisy] were both born in '87, and the other girl, whose name i didn't quite catch, was born two years before me.), and the oldest paid for derek, her friend, and me, but i successfully paid her back for my portion. i was happy about that; it's a good sign. but...iunno, derek kept hitting on them, even though he has a girlfriend back in the states, and even tried to hug them when they had to go, but...it was definitely dodged. hah.

anyways...we went to that arcade in ximen again, and derek AAA'd another song--but that was after the girls left. he did pretty well while they were around, but didn't want to try to hard, for fear of sweating unbecomingly. i tried this one game which is like ddr, only more like an eyetoy game, but it was very cool. vertical sensors, and one waves one's arms as if dancing, with five directions--forward, diagonally left and right, and straight to the left and right. i did pretty well, apparently got a "b" ranking, and derek, probably trying to show off, but failing, got a d. meh. (my song was harder, too, methinks.) oh, tried that "keyborad mania" or whatever it's called, the one that i saw on display in beijing earlier this year, and talked about in an earlier post. uhh...it's hard. it's like sightreading--no, wait, it is sightreading, but harder yet, because, rather than the notes, it just has the positions, and the keyboard is extremely small, so i can hit almost two full notes with one finger, if i were so inclined. can't even play the white notes from between the black ones; not enough room. totally wasn't worth my three or four coins. lesse...oh, but playing ddr later with derek definitely rekindled my interest in it, and i realized that it's like 20 times more fun with speed modifiers. *that's* the reason i stopped playing; it was so slow, many songs were boring. now i've got an answer. maybe i'll try to play again. but then, i don't have the game, or pads, or enough interest to save the money and buy either, so, then again, probably not. meh.

then we checked out an internet cafe, and i found this awesome new cs map by the name of "bloodstrike." it's like a mix between prospeedball's setup and mentality, but in an arena more like one of the iceworlds. no free guns, of course, though, and buy zones at spawn. so...i jump onto the lan server with a keyboard whose "ctrl" button takes a full two seconds to rise after depression, an "a" key which is almost as bad, and a slightly unresponsive shift key. oh, man...that was a huge problem at first. and it was a problem that the host of the server kicked it down about five rounds after i got there. and it was a problem that they kick under-eighteen out at ten. *sigh*...so i finished with a mere 9-2 kill-to-death ratio, roughly. well...maybe next time. it was cool, though.

talked some more ddr. so that guy, kevin...imagine max unlimited. now, make the speed 1.5. now, flip it, so the bar (apparently what the arrow things that one actually hits, not the scrolling ones) is at the bottom--oni mode, that is, when you get three AA's and unlock a fourth song at the arcades. now, rush through the song, put kevin by the screen, and look at the AAA on it. oh, man. okay, another time, take away oni mode and put it on stealth--where the arrows are invisble. wait, this deserves a paragraph of its own.

kevin beat max unlimited without seeing the arrows. and got an AAA.

then he did it backwards, also stealth.

i saw pictures.

yeah, that's right.

okay, enough...whatever. geekiness, gamer-/nerd-dom. but...tomorrow morning, i'm going out with john and friends--oh, man, i totally forgot to tell everybody how many people there were. well...john, his younger brother, his younger sister, three of his younger sister's classmates, john's friend, his friend's younger sister, john's mom, and, finally, me. ten, total, unless i made a mistake or was redundant or omissive; but i think i got that right. ate at good old...mickey d's. ah...it was pretty good. i decided to get something that i can't get in the states--i think it was a teriyaki beef and onion...thing sandwiched between two rice patties. it was pretty good. fries were less greasy and salty, which would be a good thing, but i don't really care for them anyways. oh, and apparently taiwanese mcdonalds' make some kind of shake thing, with ice cream and the soda of your choice. and, like, ice cream with mango (and probably other fruits, too). oh, right, then after that lunch, the ten of us went to an arcade briefly, where i schooled in foosball (despite really, really sticky...pieces, whatever you want to call the poles with the guys on them) and did well enough at air hockey.

hrm...what else? oh, got another way cool gift. hrm...if anna's reading this, skip the rest of this paragraph, will you? or just go ahead and spoil the surprise--i'm sure it's great, and i'm sure that it's pretty likely that you're reading this blog (at all) thoroughly enough to catch this. but...so they had these penguin-shaped flip flops at one of the taipei zoo gift stores, and they have beaks, color, and everything--including, that is, on the strap, the words, "C.I.A kinky foot prints" sic. they were too good to pass up. well...they may to go somebody else, but i think anna (garst, that is, to be sure) should enjoy them.

just thought i'd share that one. oh, talked to natalie hollies earlier today, too. like, one of the people from back in those good old latin poetry days (hah.). online, of course. she plays ddr, is a swimmer, and is really cool (for reasons besides those two qualifiers, of course). told her all abour derek and kevin...it was great. some time next year, we're having a latin poetry/swimmer get-together thing, with her, maddison (who was at about my level, maybe a little lower when it came to full comprehension, and, therefore, tests, but definitely more willing to bs lines that she didn't do, meaning that she took it a lot easier and slept a lot more than me...), and me. we'll play ddr. we'll remenisce over those old latin poetry times. we'll complain a lot, no doubt, by then, because the school year will have started...and we'll probably talk swimming. it'll be a blast of a ball.

ah, so, as i'd been saying a bit ago, the ten (or so) of us, john's crowd and i, are heading out again tomorrow, to the chiang kai-shek (or however it's spelled in english) memorial building for some fun. at...nine. gotta be back to my apartment at around noonish. heading out shortly thereafter for the nearest airport, where imma catch a flight to the south of taiwan--and there i'll stay until sunday afternoon, or so. then...i'll be doing something for dinner, but i'm not sure what yet; if all goes according to my mom's and ruining my plan, i'll be eating with my...grand-aunt, i suppose, kinda works. but...i still wanna go check out another night market with mindy, monday some time (not when i'm having class) i should be heading out with john again, and tuesday i should be hanging out with derek. wednesday, of course, i'm on my way back. my approximate plans for the remainder of the time. very approximate...

well, i'm off to see about takig care of stuff, so's i can get to sleep with enough time to catch a few winks before another dawn hits me. huh...yeah, whatever.

oh, yeah, so john's server, which i've been using, is too full for me to upload the next batch of pictures...so i'll just hold on to them.