茶碗蒸

Another Year. Another Dream.

Hahahaha does that sound like some kind of advertisement or what!? (I think I got it from the Beijing Olympics motto "One World, One Dream" lol) Ok ok I know I'm easily amused... but it's the New Years again and the first article of the year should begin on a positive note XD.

2008 ended with a rather interesting counting down event in my house on the 31st, where I (like so many other years) watched the various counting down concerts around Taiwan on TV. It was weird to find that not so many concerts around Taiwan were broadcasted on TV this year though... only five that I could find (台北, 台中市, 台中縣, 嘉義, 高雄). And even after counting the famous Kouhaku singing competition in Japan there were only six channels that I had to switch between which made things alot easier for me ==+ (I remember the regret I felt last year when I had to switch between nine channels or so to constantly check for appearances of my favourite stars that I missed quite a few - the consequences of being greedy I suppose *sigh*). Hence I'm quite happy to announce I actually managed to watch most of the stars who I most wanted to see - A-mei and 五月天 and 范逸臣 and 蔡旻佑(for Miya of course) and Moriyama Naotarou and SMAP and Hirihara Ayaka.... my thumb suffered greatly though (remote control wasn't quite fast enough).

A-mei was amazing as usual - how could she continuously sing for 50min and still remain energetic? Plus her voice never faltered and stayed extremely rich and powerful... it was incredible seeing how quickly her enthusiasm swept through the crowds and heated up the atmosphere!! XD To have found Evan Yo was quite a surprise for me though... I nearly missed him cos he was on at the same time as A-mei (but on a different channel)! Miya his hair looks way cuter now cos the emo blue is gone and he's redyed it to brown XDD His singing was pretty good I have to say (although my mum suspected he was lipsyncing? Haha) As for Jenn... even though I didn't see Farenheit I read online that they were performng in Beijing...(too good for us aye??? T_T) Also I was really excited to see Moriyama Naotarou (森山直太朗)too!! I love his voice and I remember being extremely disappointed not seeing him in the Kouhaku Singing Competition last year... perhaps it was because of him that the white team won yet again?? XD I'm sure sis would have loved to see Kimura Takuya's (木村拓哉) smile when the winning team was announced.

So the night went well - I satisfied myself by eating two packets of chips and half a bag of chicken claws (very very good) - and the year began with a superb firework display on Taipei 101!! Lots of people said it wasn't as good as last year's but, in fact, I thought it was way better... there were so many more variations and colour plus the angle of the sparks were definitely better.... are those people blind??? Or just blind to beauty?? (Gosh I'm mean) Just because there were less variations in colour doesn't mean it's not as good!! ==

Then on the 1st my mum and I kind-of promised a couple of friends to watch the sunrise on the beach at 6am.... but we failed to turn up. No NOT because we couldn't get up (I actually set my alarm at 5:30am and woke up my mum... very impressed with myself==+) But the weather at the time didn't look promising -  very grey and heavy clouds. So instead we got up at 8:30am and went sort-of tramping with the usual party of friends - but really it was more like rock-climbing... a bit dangerous in fact, because of the damp slippery rock surfaces after the drizzle in the morning and the rise in water level of the streams. Quite a few in the team got wet - apparently the most classic of the day was 東翰's slow and graceful double dip (while holding onto a rope and crossing a stream) which I failed to witness... although I found his description of "像燙青菜一樣" (like cooking vegies - ok translated into English doesn't quite sound as funny - or maybe I just suck at translating?) really hilarious XD Nothing less from someone who dances - very few people can dip into the water so gracefully hahaha. The waterfall which was our destination turned out to be quite good though - but of course by then no one was quite in the mood to exclaim over its beauty.

And then today! An extremely enjoyable outing with an old friend Mary and her parents XD We drove right up to her dad's old home and a field of oranges owned by her grandfather. I have to admit I wasn't very good at picking the right oranges though - so I gave up after only picking one == And we even went for a little walk up to see a waterfall nearby (saw many bouquets of flowers and baskets of fruits placed just near the waterfall... but we were too scared to ask what they were for OO) and drove out to the further campus of Taitung University and had a look around (very empty and deserted was all I could say ==||| Lots of weeds) Mary's parents are such nice people!! Thank you for taking us around ever since I was little - I'll always remember the first time I went with you to Mary's grandmother's house on the mountains and got laughed at by the natives... good times!! XD And thank you so much for the lovely bag of oranges!! There's just something different about food that you know is definitely organic ^^

Afterwards I was also fortunate (?) enough to experience Mary's scooter driving skills (sweat) and finally had the opportunity to visit Taitung Girls High (東女)!! Very exciting... since I've only ever driven by its entrance and peeked at the statue thingie inside == After a brief tour by a recent graduate next to me I was impressed by the various beauties in the corners of the school and the layout which made everything easy to access - my favourites were definitely the ponds though - and the stone stools and tables - it would be lovely to have tea there (Bahaha man I sound like an oldie). And then a fantastic dinner at 芝加哥主題式餐廳 (I think that's what it's called?? My memory is failing me OO)... I feel sorry for the confused waiter at the counter when we fought violently over who was to pay for dinner - haha sorry whoever it was who witnessed our rare unlady-like side. Then over to Starbucks for a nice cup of Green Tea Latte and a steamy hot chocolate muffin.....absolute heaven. Thank you for such a splendid day!!! There's nothing better than spending the day with a good friend and rambling on about random things XDD

So there goes my New Year holidays so far!! 2009 has obviously had a joyful start - may this happiness remain for the rest of the year. As for new hopes for 2009........ hope happiness arrives at everyone's doorstep, hope everyone remains healthy and strong, hope no one shall feel any sort of pain or loneliness, hope those who are searching for love will have their needs fulfilled, hope those who are troubled by the recent economic crisis will soon regain their fortune, hope I'll survive my first year of pharmacy (please please please....), hope I'll actually get to know more Asians.... hmmm, am I too greedy?? Oh well... Lets return to the advertisement theme - May All Your Wishes Come True (a bit of Disney is always good eh) 祝大家幸福!! 新年快樂 - Happy New Year!!