I think I'm totally bored with this blog. I am totally bored with my life, but that's old news. I don't know how much longer I can put up with it. Probably only another 30, 40 years. Great.

I'm trying to think up ways to revitalize my interest, but I'm not sure I can be bothered. I'm sick of talking about feelings, when all they do is stay the same.

So what's been news lately:
- I had another bike stolen. This time it was definitely stolen since I did actually lock it. During the last hurricane, I decided I wanted to keep it out of the rain, so I locked it under the Jian Guo freeway a block away. That was the mistake, since there's no one around there overnight, and decent looking bikes with cheap locks are easy pickings.

I wasn't upset at all, not only because I'm feeling less and less attached to personal property, but because the bike only cost me NT$300 (less than US$10). It was in excellent condition, the seller could have gotten a lot more for it, but she was leaving really soon and had to get rid of it fast. It was, however, several sizes too small for me to take it seriously. It also came with a purple cable lock, which I'm sure bike thieves have trouble taking seriously.

- I then bought another bike a few days later for NT$500 (about US$15). This one is also in excellent condition, although it has definitely been ridden more than the previous bike. It's more my size, a tad too big, but so is my Cannondale in the U.S., and came with a more substantial D-lock and, believe it or not, a helmet which I still don't plan to use. This bike I'm taking more seriously, and aside from the D-lock, which is probably deterrent enough, I also got a cable lock for half the price of the bike to lock it to something solid overnight.

August 25, 12:23 p.m.

- That unpleasant and uncharacteristic distraction of Hyun Ae is completely settled, and that whole incident seems silly now. I would never trust her with my heart, and I questioned her loyalty from the start. In the end, she also lost interest in hanging out with me, too. We're back to just being classmates.

- This term is coming to an end soon. I had wanted to fly to New Jersey for a visit, but I was waitlisted on the flight this Sunday, and now I'm thinking it is too late to prepare everything I need to leave school a few days before the term ends. I'm enrolled for another term at this shit school, the Mandarin Training Center at Shida University, and I'm thinking it will be my last term at that (shit) school. I really don't know why it's considered to be so prestigious.

At the end of next term in November, if my Mandarin doesn't feel like it's improving any, I'll probably leave the term early and fly back to the U.S. to visit my family and two new nieces (born a month apart) for several weeks. If I haven't decided to bag this whole idea of learning Mandarin, I'll come back to Taiwan, but transfer to another school in Kaohsiung, where I'll have extended family around me to practice speaking. Sounds like a plan.

Now I'm even more bored with this blog.