Kaohsiung, Taiwan

G'dang. Posts getting sparse. I don't want this blog to become abstract and mysterious, or disjuncted and full of pseudo-philosophical ramblings. It's a common case of sitting in front of the keyboard wanting to put something down, and then in the end stepping away from a blank canvas.

The fabric is moth-bitten and threadbare, too many holes to pull something together into what's supposed to be a loose narrative of an ongoing life. The only way to get it back on track is putting the threads back together, bit by bit, and figuring out my reflection in this blog.

But it's like wandering in the rubble of a destroyed home, where do you start?

My oldest brother's one and a half year old daughter is on the verge of talking. She constantly babbles incoherently, but sometimes coherent language comes out, and sometimes it makes sense in context.

There was one time one of them was putting her to bed, and the other was out in the living room with the remote monitor on. Apparently she randomly babbled "God is my friend" and they both heard it clearly! I imagine them running to each other with stunned looks on their faces wondering if each other heard it, realizing they did, and bursting into laughter.

While I was there this past time, we were driving west on Route 4 in my brother and wife's Lexus hybrid, and I forget what we were talking about, but my brother pretended to be her and said something about String Theory being total garbage, and I replied in faux response, "But you have to admit that as a transitory theory, it's a pretty good and viable stepping stone", to which she herself blurted out, "No it's not!"

Dead serious, we all heard it. And burst out laughing.

Kaohsiung street shooting. Pentax ZX-5n, Ilford XP2 Super:

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 5

That's how I found it, I didn't touch a thing.

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 6 - Construction of the KMRT station outside my uncle's building taking form above ground.

Visit to grandparents' grave Lunar New Year 2008

12:12 p.m. - Phoenix and dragon.

1:01 p.m. - Larger graves have a small altars off to the side for offerings, but I don't know what they're for. Protector shrines?

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 7

Aunt and uncle with Audrey's father-in-law in the middle.

FEBRUARY 8, 12:57 a.m. - Ending Lunar New Year dinner with a family snapshot.