MJ Klein gets "Ript"

Ript is a free scrapbook program which I discovered literally about an hour ago. Wanting to test it out, I dragged some images from Taiwan megablogger Michael Klein's site, The NHBushman, rotated them, shrunk some, enlarged others, and before I knew it I had a Quintessential NHBushman on my hands. Everything's in there: the Nikon fetish, the guitar, the food, the Dutch oven, etcetera, but couldn't squeeze in the Thai rum, or karaoke! I had so much fun I might do someone else next time, so watch out... Have a go yourself if you feel so inkleined (geddit?!).

Open letter to Fingarse

I am not writing to you to complain about your overpriced, mediocre food, nor do I wish to inquire as to why that sour-faced woman who works there never smiles or makes eye contact with customers. No, what I wish to vent about is your policy on incorrectly priced grocery items. If a customer has bought some items, has left the store and returns later on, it is a damn cheek to ask that customer to pay an additional 5 Taiwan dollars when you discover that you have screwed up with the price labels. It's not the 5 dollars, it's the f*cking cheek of it.

Banquet was a blast

You either love weiyas (year-end banquet) or you hate them. I think they're a blast. Yes they can be tacky and tedious at times but the food is usually pretty good and well, to be honest, it gets me out of the house. I also get to meet some of my wife's colleagues. Not that they say very much beyond "Your kids are so cute" and the like. I hate small talk anyway. Another factor was the noise. The performance was pretty damn loud the whole time and I have no idea how the people sitting at the table next to the speakers were able to stand the racket.



The entertainment this year started off with a contortionist in a glittery yellow constume folding herself inside a narrow tube, followed by a short performance by one of those "bian lian" {face change) artists, which I thought was quite cool, having only ever seen it on YouTube before. The poor guy only got a smattering of polite applause though. Then we had songs from the band - sax, violin and a keyboard. The singer/emcee, a skinny hag in a sparkly red and black dress, hammed it up for the audience and was generally awful but well received. Her various jokes were punctuated by quirky sounds from the keyboard - think "ba da bum" done on the drums.

Next up were the belly dancers. I have to say they did a fine job - well, two of them - the third did seem like she was new to the art of navel wiggling. The emcee then invited three class clown-types from the audience onto the stage to learn how to belly dance. That was a yawn but predictably it went down well with abalone munchers. Then we were into the home straight: the raffle (Kelly won 1600 NT!), a few more songs, a fruit platter, and a half dozen "cold" jokes for good measure.

I didn't take my camera this time because it's pretty much unusable. This photo was taken at the company weiya three years ago which was held in the very same room as this year's banquet.

One for the anti-Ma club

One for the anti-Ma club
Originally uploaded by Naruwan

This shot was just asking to be taken. Happy CNY everyone.