Trying To Get Back To Normal

Where in the World is D?

Saying Hello, Ni Hao, Whazz Up and other random thoughts.

I love to write. I write both as a form of expression and as therapy. But good writing takes time and is a discipline. I sometimes have the time, but lack the discipline.

I’m out of practice because of my self imposed silence, at least for good expressive writing. I’ve have written for therapy over the past months. Much of it has not made it the blog and likely never will. Some things are a bit too personal for such a public place. Yeah, yeah, I know I promised some months back to share openly the good and the bad of my experience. You’ll still the ……. Mmm painful, for lack of a better term at the moment, but the blog just got too sad.

Fact is, while I do have moments of great sadness, loneliness the occasional feeling of regret. I also have moments of fun and laughter too. I want to go back to those quirky observations I made before. They were more fun. Let us begin….

First thing that has been on my mind on a daily basis is the men’s locker room at the gym. Men please, for my sake if not yours, put on a towel!! And definitely put on a towel if you are going to relax in the area with the newspapers. It think it pretty cool the gym offers that area. But not so cool wonder if I sit in this chair, has some dudes naked ass and other parts been hanging out, pardon the expression, in the same chair recently. I don’t care if you just took a shower, it’s just not cool, OK?!

Second, I offer my side of a recent conversation. But one I have more often than you know.

“No, I don’t him.”

“Yes, they are a foreign.”

“Really, I don’t care.”

“No, if he wants to know me, he’ll come over.”
“No I have nothing against him.”

“He is probably like me. If he wanted to be with another foreigner, he would go to a place where a lot foreigners hangout. Not a bar full of Taiwan people.”

Last night at C’est La Vie, I had, what can only, be described as a very awkward greeting between myself and a guy named John. For the record, for all my Taiwan friends, not all foreigners know each other or want to know each other. It’s OK. Really, it is.

John and I are both American. And we were both clearly uncomfortable with this forced meeting. He was white and had a pretty strong urban east coast accent. I am Black and from the Midwest. Odds are the only thing we have in common is English and being a foreigner in Taiwan. Chances are, that we may have indeed spoken to each other during the course of the evening. C’est la Vie is not that big. But it a little like being on the playground in 1st grade and being forced to play with the new kid.

My first instinct was “What the hell is he doing in MY joint?!” Yeah, I said “MY”. I started going to C’est la Vie when the first opened. I got squatters rights! John speaks more Chinese and communication is easier for him, but ME they love. I’m more than a customer their. I’m a friend. A few weeks ago, on Halloween, they let me be a guest bartender. It really forced my Chinese in a different way. It was fun. So I think it’s fair to say C’est la Vie is MY place.

That'll do it for now.

Good Luck

戴格智