Tumbling through life.

My week has developed into a fantastic tumble of not not knowing which way is up.

Friday night was booked to have a BBQ with Paul (Vancouver) but stuff happened and we didn't get together 'till about 11:30PM. He was going to Thailand on Saturday morning, so we decided to have a goodbye get together (he was going for a whole ten days!!! ...any excuse works, right?). Well, I went to his place with some beer, vodka and orange, he had about 100 cans scattered in his kitchen from various get togethers from days past as well as roommate functions. We drank some beer, got hungry, walked to the 24 hour grocery store for some pizzas, sausages and some chicken curry rice corndog things... don't ever try the corndog things! Even without the chicken PASTE and the rice outer bit and the crappy covering, they were terrible, not even bad, but terrible! Luckily, we had the sense to buy way too much. We watched Cinderella man... wow, what a slow movie! We fried up the food, added cheese to EVERYTHING and ate most of it. I got home at 9am and phoned Jaco to tell him I wouldn't fly today.
I had a BBQ on Saturday, Jaco said he'd come, and he'd drag his beautiful girlfriend over. Well, guys will eat meat and nothing else is fine, but women like the greens. I decided to try to make some Shish-kebabs, I bought some peppers, tiny tomatoes, mushrooms and some sausages. Bought some funky lettuce for a salad, potatoes and steak. I made some wicked kebabs, a great salad with some croutons and cheese, baked the potatoes and some garlic toast. I watched the steaks like a hawk... until I was showing Jaco some stuff on my computer...
I took the steaks off the grill and asked Jaco how he liked his steak. He said it was kind of late to be asking, I told him he should still answer the question. He said medium so I gave him the really well done one and kept the burnt one. Stupid me, leave it for 5 minutes and you get a grill fire. Anyways, I grabbed the other steak from the fridge and threw it on.
Jaco's girlfriend wasn't coming till later, so we chatted for a bit and had a good time. She came and then Rory, a crazy fun guy from flying, called so we invited him over, too. They had some kebabs and some beer and Jaco's girlfriend went home and the boys went to the bar.
Wow, we had fun, I got home at about 4am.
Sunday? I backed up and reinstalled Jaco's computer. Six hours of waiting, I got to see some of his pictures from South Africa (a beautiful place) and some from when he was in the Parachute military in S.A.
Sheri, thank you. I used your talent of incompetence. We didn't know the user name or password for Jaco's internet, so his girlfriend (Taiwanese) called the internet people. They told us we had to go to 7-11 and fax a letter and our phone bill to the company to reset the password. Whenever I get into trouble... I ask myself... "What would Sheri do?" My sister Sheri has this magic ability to get things done, against all policies. So, I called the internet company.

Recorded Chinese answering services are no match for the 'Brother of Sheri', I just kept hitting buttons until I heard the "hold music". I was told this would never work, as they don't speak English. A guy answered the phone and I asked if he spoke English, "Sure I do." So, with that, he told me to go to 7-11 to fax my bill. I decided that I didn't know where a 7-11 was and that "it's so far away." So, out come the verification questions.
"Where are you?"
"In my home."
"Where is your home?"
"In YoChang area."
At this point, Jaco's girlfriend offered to say our address, the illusion of incompetence would then be revealed, can't do.
"Do you know what road?"
"Ummm, it's in Chinese."
"Ok, sir, just a moment."
"What would you like your new password to be?"
Finished. Thank you Sheri, the only girl who can get a phone line hooked up on the same day when there is a 6 week waiting list... "Ummm... hello?... Ummm, my phone is broken... it was working last year in my old place... number? Ummm, I don't know my number.... today? Ummm.... ok, thanks, teehee!"

Monday, I went to bed at 4am, got up at 9am to pick Anna up from the train station. She's a friend of Michelle's, I said I'd help her out. I worked and came home, taught her how to drive a scooter, we went for a walk at the Lion Temple (with the little lake and the hill) and then home. She went to bed at 11:30 and I started my computer. I fell asleep, woke, opened my internet, fell asleep, went to gmail, fell asleep, woke, realized that I typed it wrong, turned off my computer and went to bed, didn't even check my mail.
I was teaching "never" in class and my Jerry said "not never, neever, long e" I told him that English was crazy and thet he was sort of right, just not today. The sentence was, "I have never been to England." I told my students that I actually have never been to England. "Why, teacher?" "I don't know why, have you ever been to England?" "No." was their response. "So, I don't know why I have never been to England, I just haven't."
Jerry stood up, "I know why, teacher."
"Why?"
"Because they don't know how to spell."
This is not exaggerated or made up.

Tuesday, bed by 11:45 and slept 'till 2pm, teachers meeting at 3. Worked, one of my student's gave me a Mother's Day rose... WTF?!?!?! Whatever, it was a nice gesture. After work, dinner at a Thai place and then to bed.

Today... woke up at 6am to a broken air conditioner and a bedroom thermometer at 30C (85F) and sweating. Remember the blinds I took down? The sun was in my room, too. So, I'm STILL up. After punching the air conditioner in the "sweet spot" it seems to have come back. Time to hit Subway for a sandwich and go to work.

So, my week feels like I've been flying through the air in this crazy and fun tumble, never knowing what direction I'm headed. Anna leaves for a greener job market (Taipei, why? I have no idea.) after 2 days in Kaohsiung. Paul is gone for the week, and I think this tumble may straighten out soon.