I want to be dramatic and say things are bleak. They are pretty bleak, but I have access to a bank account, and I make good coffee every morning. God I hate my livejournal and flickr friends who go on about what cool thing they did or what they love, all the while ignoring my brilliantly fabulous life, when what they're doing is mundane as a piece of ...holy shit, the sun just burst out! It's been raining for the past 48 hours and I expected today to be another rainy day, but I just looked over out my window at the brick wall in the alley and that is bright sunny sunshine!

I think I really want to have pizza today. I refuse to stoop so low as to eat Domino or Pizza Hut. There's a boutique pizza place on Shida Road, but it's overrated/priced. I like the local Napoli chain, which is the best imitation West Coast pizza in Taiwan. Best is relative.

I got new glasses yesterday. They came almost a week early, so that was nice. I've had the same frames for over five years. The transition lenses stopped working a long time ago. My new frames are more befitting someone my age, so now people can stop thinking I'm younger than 30. Bastards.

I like my new sleeping schedule. Waking up around midnight has been good, and it has helped get me back to sitting for 45 minutes after waking up, because with the vast expanse of early morning ahead, there's no pressure not to. I go running at around five in the morning. That's been good, too. Daan Park is a little over 2k around, so I've been building up my distance 2k at a time, and I'm up to 6k without much hint of my old knee or back injuries. My mile splits are pretty much where they should be, averaging 7:30.

November 5, 6:35-7:13 a.m. - Da'an Park scenes in the morning.

I think I've mentioned that I found a rehearsal studio right next to what is now my old school that I go to 2 or 3 times a week to practice drums. Even at my new school, I should be able to fit in practicing 2 or 3 times a week.

I've been drinking too much. The bags under my eyes are pretty clear to me, I don't know why no one else notices them. Maybe it's the glasses. I buy a bottle of this cheap 116 proof liquor on Thursday or Friday. I can drink it as fast as I want, and I usually finish it about Monday or Tuesday, but then I can't buy another bottle until Friday. This is a good thing because it forces me to be actually sober, as opposed to functionally sober, for most classes.

And plenty of riding and shooting going on whenever the sun is out. My brother gave me his Nikon N70, and it is such an incredible camera that I'm upset that I've been stuck on my Pentaxes for 10 years. The autofocus, metering, and lens are so much better that I developed one roll so far, and that's all I've been posting on my fotolog. I'm not going to be so impressed by people using fancy cameras from now on. It isn't necessarily the photographer. The camera plays a large part. I don't really think that, but the camera is important.

I'm going to delete this post. Or instead I'll just add some bonus pics:

November 5, 2:11-2:13 p.m. - Bade Rd, Section 2, between Xinsheng and Jianguo, but unfortunately this novelty dinosaur-themed establishment no longer exists.