So re-working the timeline, I thought New Years started on February 1. I was wrong, it started on February 3. Which means when my uncle called on the 1st to ask me if I was coming down for New Years, it wasn't an afterthought to which I'd obviously reply in the negative, and did. He thought of me beforehand, which is so unexpected that I might have accepted the invitation.
It also means I wasted two days hunkering down to get through the holiday for nothing. They weren't holidays at all.
Then after the midnight fireworks, a bunch of stuff on the 3rd made me wonder what was so special about the 3rd day of the New Year. It wasn't until the next day that I looked The Truth up online. That was the New Year and accompanying celebrations. And I missed it.
It has left me all out of whack and out of sync and it's all par for the course because it maintained no changes in my life and no contact with anyone and neglected during this most treasured time of year in this culture.
Today, when I thought New Year's stuff would be dying down and shops starting to open up, it's still only Day 3, opening for business is strictly voluntary. Taipei is still dead to the world. Which I really like. I'd love to live in a city with the population the size of Taipei during New Years. My neighbors have all been gone since Wednesday night.
And the weather has been great since the actual New Years Day. I even took out my bike and did a 20-mile sprint along the bikeways, knowing full well that the weather could turn south on a dime and I might not be able to ride again for the next month or two. Then yesterday was still nice, and today was downright sunny, so I did the 20-mile sprint again.
Normally I wouldn't go near the riverside bikeways on a weekend because it's too crowded, but with Taipei's reduced population, it was quite manageable and agreeable. I'll take advantage of it as much as I can, since I don't think a 20-mile sprint needs any recovery days.
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| FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 5:11 p.m. - Xinyi @ Guangfu Rd. |
