Things should get back to normal with Hyun Ae now. I think most of her bike research mission is over and certainly my part of accompanying her to bike shops is. Today we went to Shilin as planned and things seemed pretty normal between us.

Now I can get back to writing about angsty stuff.

I wrote a while back about how it was a mystery whether she had a boyfriend or not, and even though I knew the answer I contributed an argument to two of our classmates why I didn't think she had a boyfriend.

I had noticed that she can be very tactile while talking. I noticed it with me and then I observed it with other guys. My argument was that behavior was not of someone who has a boyfriend. If her boyfriend was there it would be inappropriate for her to be so tactile, and I didn't think it made much of a difference that her boyfriend wasn't there. I don't think she was flirting, I think that's just her style, but it was flirty behavior and not something a boyfriend would be happy about if he were to observe it.

She doesn't mind touch, she doesn't mind arms rubbing against each other while walking and talking, she doesn't mind hands making casual contact. In the past few days our contact has been more than normal, but today it was pretty normal.

However, she knows about possible options for me to leave Taipei, and today she made a very indirect but definite comment that indicated that she doesn't want me to leave Taipei. Hm, inappropriate. Inappropriate of me to attach any significance to that.

Again, in the end, it's just flirting, it's just fancy, any other ideas beyond are absolutely impossible. The dark circles under my eyes are still there, still pronounced. When I see them in the mirror every morning, I remind myself that I'm going to die. We are all going to die. But I'm welcoming it.

1:23-1:24 p.m. - Being dorks. The Japanese guy was new in their class (I had left) and was very cool. He had to put up with us dorks.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Essence (Sakura)
2. The Rhythm Method (live) (Rush)
3. Liquid Diamonds (Tori Amos)
4. Atomic Kid (Versus)
5. Opening Parade, Bali Arts Festival (Indonesian Gamelan & Kecak)
6. Leaning Against the Wall (Evil Tordivel Upbeat Remix) (Kings of Convenience)
7. What Really Goes On (A Tribe Called Quest)
8. Woman Is the Nigger of the World (live) (John Lennon)
9. Conjugate the Verbs (Enon)
10. Mukaiji-Reibo (Goro Yamaguchi - shakuhachi)

WordsCharactersReading time