Doggies in Taipei

Even when I was a kid, I loved pointing the camera at cute, furry animals. My mom preferred the standard Asian tourist photos with everyone lined up in front of the point of interest. She didn't understand my obsession with photographing every squirrel, duck, or chipmunk that came into view, especially since I usually showed little interest in the photographs once they were developed (yes, this was way back in the days of film).

Anyway, I seem to have retained that compulsion to photograph animals, as evidenced by my swan, cat, and parrot photos. This post features dogs I've seen on the streets of Taipei.

I love this shot. The dog's eyes seem so expressive. 

Do dogs have eyebrows? This dog seems to be lifting one.

The wall was not particularly high, which probably explains the sign. It reads: "Will suffer diarrhea. Do not feed. Thanks. Sincerely, the Nutritionist."

Have a great weekend!

with love,

linda

Wanhua and Monga

{In which I visit Wanhua District with John and Mavis}

After going to the Flora Expo with John, his friend Mavis arrived and took us to historical 萬華區 (Wanhua District), the oldest district in Taipei.

In Defense of the Good Guy

{In which I rant about the animated movie Sinbad, anti-heroes, and Brad Pitt. Warning: it's a long one.}

A month ago I came across this awesome Disney medley video by Nick Pitera. And then after that I got sucked into the world of animated feature film fan videos on Youtube. Like this Disney Mean Girls trailer. Or this Disney "Love Story" MV. There are also a ton of crossover videos where romances are created between characters from different movies. Those are pretty cool, when done well (the quality of those videos vary, obviously).

They're not always all Disney, either; Anastasia, The Swan Princess, Quest for Camelot, and other animated films from various studios also appear in many of these videos. And after watching all those tantalizing clips I realized there were some movies I hadn't seen in a long time, or even ever, and that was something I should fix! So I did. And it was awesome.

One of the (more-than-I'd-like-to-admit) movies I watched was Dreamwork's Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas, which was the only movie that wasn't a rewatch. While watching it I laughed and yelled at the characters and rolled my eyes and predicted the future and cried my eyes out - you know, normal movie-watching behavior for me.

But there was one thing that pissed me off so much that I needed to blow off some steam. Namely, why-oh-why does the good guy have to finish last?! Argh. Fortunately I have this lovely blog on which to express all my frustrations regarding the film, so that's what this post is about.

Fish

 

Had a buffet dinner with my grandpa, aunt, and uncle in 桃園 when I had a four-day weekend a couple weeks ago; after I was too full to stuff myself any more, I wandered around the hotel lobby and took these photos. (Yes, that was when that lady was certain I had to be a model and asked to introduce me to her son. Unfortunately, we didn't exchange contact information. Oh well.)

Hope you fish fans out there are happy. :P

with love,

linda

Taipei Flora Expo Part II

{In which John and I are interviewed by a Taiwanese reporter}

Continued from Taipei Flora Expo Part I.

The photos above are from the Korean pavilion. For some reason the Taiwanese seem to hold some prejudice against Koreans. While we were there, a reporter and cameraman from Taiwanese TV station 民視 approached us (well, John, actually). Probably because there was no one else in the area.

Taipei Flora Expo Part I

{In which John and I go to the Flora Expo, inadvertently annoy a volunteer, and learn to pose like Taiwanese students}

So like, I was actually not planning on going to the Taipei International Flora Exposition.

I'd seen the ads everywhere since I arrived, but it didn't sound all that interesting to me. I don't like flowers enough to want to stand in lines to look at them (although I wouldn't mind if you want to buy me some! :P). My parents went to the Expo when they were in Taiwan over Thanksgiving break and weren't exactly impressed, so I didn't feel like I was missing out on anything. Plus, I already got a photo with the entrance sign — good enough for me!

Why I Blog

{In which I reflect on the benefits of blogging in hopes that more of my friends will start blogging too}

So ever since that time self-induced stress resulted in an interview with myself, I've been thinking more about why I blog. I mean, blog posts don't materialize spontaneously. It takes a lot of effort, and I strongly dislike energy expenditure (read: lazy). I can totally see why most people who blog give up within the first few months. But fear not! I'm not in any hurry to quit, and you'll see why.

Three Generations

Grandpa, Mommy, and Diane (aka my baby sister). As you can see, they all have these huge, gorgeous eyes. For reasons unknown to me, I failed to inherit that particular bit of genetic material. Ah well. I guess I'll just have to be content with being tall. :P

with love,

linda

Bonus! March Food Post II

{In which there are even more food photos to salivate over — especially those adorable slices of cake!}

On February 25 (yes, the day before the wedding; it was quite a packed weekend) our company had a spring banquet at 饗食天堂. I knew it was a buffet, and my coworker showed me someone's blog entry about the place, which looked very nice, but I wasn't all that excited (typical apathetic Linda).

But once we arrived, my apathy melted away.

The buffet was awesome! The dessert table was right at the entrance and there were so many adorable little cakes, not to mention a chocolate fountain, panna cotta, brownies, jello, pudding, tarts, fresh fruit, etc. — a whole assortment of delightful desserts. I absolutely could not wait... to photograph them! I laughed and exclaimed to my coworkers how pretty everything was as I bounced all over the place with my camera. I don't think my coworkers had ever seen me muster up so much enthusiasm for food (and they probably won't again for quite a long time).

But of course, I wasn't really interested in the food because I wanted to eat it. No, I just thought they were pretty and looked photogenic. Haha.

March Food Post

{In which I showcase my favorite March food photos}

Time for another food post! Wow, the months fly by so quickly.

Fries and shaved ice! The French fries are from the tea shop we went to post-wedding, and the shaved ice from lunch with Phoebe, Brandon, and Dawson.

Poisson d'Avril

魚人節快樂! If you think that says "Happy April Fool's Day" in Chinese, you'd be, well... wrong! Kind of. 

That phrase above is pronounced the same way as 愚人節快樂, which is the correct version. The first one said "Happy Fish Person Day." I feel quite clever for making the connection, since April Fool's is actually April Fish in a lot of other languages, including Italian, German, Danish, etc... the title of this blog post is French. 

So anyway, that's why there's a photo of a fish for today. It's the fish in one of the aquariums at the Taipei Main MRT station. Hard to see how huge the fish is in this photo, but take my word for it, it's pretty big.

In addition to being April Fool's Day today, it also marks the end of my "sucky blog" experiment. The funny thing is that the blog wasn't the issue at all. It turns out that the wedding photos were responsible for my utter lack of motivation for pretty much everything else. Now that they're done, I do feel a lot more motivated to work on blog posts. 

I have a huge pile of ideas and photos for posts that I'm looking forward to sharing with you, but I think it's a good idea not to put so much pressure on myself. So rather than posting 5 times a week, I'm going to aim for 3-4. Even though it'll take longer to blog about everything I'm thinking of (and I'm not exactly super patient), I want more time to work on and edit the posts. It kind of annoys me that that I can't post more regularly, but I've decided it's a price I'm willing to pay for more beauty sleep. :P

Although since I get four-day weekend due to 清明節 (Tomb Sweeping Day, so people can sweep their ancestors' tombs) and 兒童節 (Children's Day, and yes, it is an official holiday, and children get to go to all sorts of places for free), maybe I can catch up on sleep and create a ton of blog posts! (Great, now I'm starting to sound like an optimist.)

Have a great day, all of you, and be nice with your pranks! Hope you survive the day unscathed. :)

with love,

linda