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last night.
written: 7:55 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 13, 2008

Finally, some great news from Taiwan. If the presidency goes to the KMT in March, hopefully Taiwan's economy would stop floundering and I would stop hearing stories about how people are freezing to death or starving to death or have to queue up to grab free leftover food from secondary school canteens whenever my dad watches the Taiwanese news. I'm not sure what it'd do for Taiwanese independence (more likely than not, nothing), but at least there would be hope that all the nonsense moves Chen has been making, such as renovating the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall (and renaming it), renaming the airport formerly known as Chiang Kai-shek International Airport, and making snide comments about the late Chiang Ching-kuo who kick started Taiwanese democracy, would finally stop.

Still, as much as I think Chen is a bumbling fool and the entire pan-Green coalition/DPP gang is made up of a bunch of gangsters who can't speak Mandarin properly, I must say that I'm quite sad that I'd probably die without seeing Taiwan get the independence that it in fact has, and deserves. So many things about China piss me off, and on top of that list is its Taiwan policy which I'd never understand.

Oh well, no use flogging a dead horse. I have this slight worry that I'd be agitated enough in Chinese class this semester to get into badly-argued arguments with the Chinese lecturer about the whole Taiwan thing. I flipped through the course material and saw Taiwan listed as one of China's provinces and that was quite enough to set me off. But I can't speak Chinese effectively at all so that's really not a good idea. I'll just stick to keeping my mouth shut.

Anyway. Yesterday's driving trip was a bit of a disaster. I happily decided to overtake some slow-moving car along Upper Bukit Timah Road leading to Bukit Timah at the very last second, so that when I was trying to change back to the left lane (otherwise I would've been headed for, like, Clementi), I crossed the double white line. That was the second time it happened; the first time I did that, I overtook two cars. And I was alone. But last night, Marcus was in the car and I probably scared him to death. First I almost sped through a red light 'cause I didn't see it turn green; then I almost didn't stop to give way at a give way line and narrowly managed to stop at the last minute, which was very fortunate because there were cars rushing in my direction; and going up the scary-ass Mount Sophia Cathay car park was a whole new frontier in itself. It was narrow and very slanted and I almost died. I was freaking out. It's never a good thing when the driver freaks out and it doesn't exactly inspire confidence in her passenger.

That's why I don't like driving people around!!! It's utterly horrendous and stressful. If I had been in a better mood yesterday I might have taken the bus instead but I really wasn't in a public transport mood.

Oh and I found myself driving from the Caltex at Bukit Timah all the way to the road leading to Turf City without my headlights on at 12 midnight. And I wasn't even the one that realised it; Marcus was all, "Did you turn on your headlights?" No wonder it was so dark.

I am an utter embarrassment! No more driving my friends around.

We were ten minutes late for Eastern Promises so I had no idea what was happening, and basically I had no idea what the movie was about. And the latter wasn't due to the missed ten minutes at all; I caught up with the story rather quickly. But I still don't get it. I don't get the point. It wasn't cohesive at all, when it ended I was very very surprised because it felt like we were only halfway into the plot, and Viggo Mortensen was totally naked for the entire fight scene in the bathroom and I didn't watch a second of it because it was damn bloody violent and I was scared. WAH LAU SO WASTED! And you know what? I thought the scene was over so I opened my eyes again, just to watch Viggo stab a knife into his assailant's eye. That was the part I wanted to avoid to watch and I ended up seeing it anyway.

But oh, I have to say this: Viggo Mortensen is so delicious. The homo-eroticism between him and the other guy was...electrifying. OMG! The movie was well worth watching for Viggo alone, even though the whole thing was pretty much a blur to me. And there was really only one outright violent scene (barring this scene where this dude had his throat slashed and blood suddenly started gushing out).

Marcus is going to make me watch a horror movie because I was freaking out at the bathroom scene which I think he found amusing (my freaking out, not the violence). But I will die before I watch a horror show...oh wait, M. Night Shyamalan has a new film coming out which I must watch! Oh but it's not a paranormal thriller but some science fiction thingy. I can totally do thrillers, just not ghosts! Although The Village freaked me out.

Okay, I'm a total chicken, but I prefer to say that I have a very vivid imagination which is why horror movies haunt me at night. And they really haunt me at night, to the extent that I can't sleep and can't shower without feeling damn scared. And that's an extremely unpleasant sensation. So, no horror movies. I don't care if it's free; I'm not watching a horror movie. Ever. Period.

So, conclusion from last night: I much prefer to be driven than to drive. Whoever I decide to date or wants to date me better have a licence and constant access to the car, or else life is going to be very bloody difficult. I could drive once in a while, of course; it's just not going to be very frequent because I don't enjoy the feeling of having someone else's life in my two bare hands. It's damn scary. And I would much rather avoid it. So there.

In other news, I still don't feel like starting school because going to school by yourself and not seeing friendly faces around is a very sad, lonely activity. At least I'd have the car tomorrow night, so that I can cut out of there as soon as possible. And the daily night classes thing really isn't a very palatable thought at all.

All the same, the bright side is, at least I think I will like my modules this semester, and that I have no exams (except Chinese). Should be fine. I just wish my friends were still around.

Edited to add:

I just saw this.

"Despite not governing Taiwan, the ruling Communist Party appoints its own officials to China's parliament to represent Taiwan, to enforce its claim the island is just a wayward province and should rightfully be run from Beijing."

The utter ridiculousness of appointing officials to represent Taiwan in China's parliament only underscores, repeatedly, all the differences between China and Taiwan, and accordingly, all the reasons why Taiwan is not, and will never be, a part of China.

before sunrise // before sunset

Previously:
- - Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2017
I'm moving. - Sunday, Jul. 11, 2010
In all honesty - Tuesday, Jul. 06, 2010
What I want for my birthday... - Sunday, Jul. 04, 2010
On Roger's behalf. - Friday, Jul. 02, 2010