Amazing Year Day 265: A Place to Read

You would think that one would “focus” when reading a book by the same name. Nonetheless, I’ve been sluggishly plowing my way through this informative collection of essays, or been using it as a way to fall asleep.

When departing Starbucks, I was determined to start and finish an entire chapter, so instead of treking home to the dangers of a comfortable land filled with sleep-inducing blankets, I took my 2nd of two coffees (hey, I had a coupon!) upstairs to the movie cinema. It’s one of the rare lit-up joints in towns after 10:00 p.m. With no desire to crunch through buttery popcorn or stare at a giant screen for hours, I simply sat on a bench, amidst a parade of former and would-be popcorn eating screen watchers, and read my chapter, from start to finish.

This is my new place to read, as it serves just the right amount of distraction for me to focus. Thank you movie theatre lobby, thank you very much!

Amazing Year Day 264: Food of Our Lives

I’ve started a new project: photographing edibles purchased at grocery stores and more “convenient” establishments.

Amazing Year Day 263: Well Done Thai Food

Please reread the title. I’m not referring to Thai cuisine cooked to a bloodless-close-to dry/burnt-extreme-level, I am instead personifying Thai food and showing my appreciation for it.

I’m not so sure how authentic Thai Town’s menu is, but my wife and I have certainly lost our enthusiasm in favor of Kiki Thai’s delicious morsels. However, today a particular pork dish from the former blew us away!

So in honor of Thanksgiving weekend, here are some thanks…

• Thank you to the farmer or factory that raised this pig. (Thanks to the pig’s parents, whether they knew they were producing a pig or not.)
• Thank you to the pig.
• Thank you to the farmer or factory for slaughtering this pig.
• Thank you to the person or company that purchased the meaty remains of this pig.
• Thank you to the cook that prepared the late pig’s flesh.
• Thank you to my blind ignorance to the heinous act of eating meat.
• Thank you to my tastebuds for waking up to the temporary joys of eating dead pig.
• Thank you to my wife for sharing in the joy of eating this dead pig.
• Thank you.
• *** Please note, if our pork dish contained meat from more than a singular pig, then please change the thanks to pigs (plural, as in more than one).

Amazing Year Day 262: Bathroom Technology

Littered with posters, we tend to ignore the walls of subway stations. Once in a while though you find yourself lost in a particular poster. In this case, I was dumbfounded not knowing how to make sense of this marvel of technological “brilliance.” Somehow I don’t feel safer knowing that James Bond won’t be lurking with his myriad of “toys” in the bathroom stall.

What happens when someone decides to take a selfie while on the can? Will it be “detected?”

Amazing Year Day 261: White Friday

What was Black Friday to many sale-seeking shoppers will forever be known to me as White Friday, for on this day I spent the evening surrounded by white people, which are a rare breed on the beautiful island of Taiwan. This sort of thing happens when drink specials and mindless trivia are involved.

Amazing Year Day 260: An Impressive Feast

Never quite the fan of the edible accoutrements of Thanksgiving (American version, not sure what others do on their “Thanksgiving”), I tend to either eat the norm, or try something different. In celebration of the holiday, I opted to forego my typical breakfast or burger order in favor of a quinoa salad. Yes, it’s true. I even ate most (30%) of it. In hindsight, I think I was just trying to impress the pretty lady (my wife, for those keen on stirring up gossip) across from me. It didn’t work. I did impress myself though. #winningwhilelosing

Amazing Year Day 259: 200 Club

Today I bowled the best game of my life, a 202 score. That’s all I have to say about that.

Amazing Year Day 253: Beast Buffet

Dear Wizarding World,

On your most recent production, namely Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindlewald, good show, magically good show! Would have liked more “beasts,” but it was surely enough to fill the old tummy until the next round. Cheers!

PS: I think my wife enjoyed it more than me.

Amazing Year Day 252: Walk & Write

While November’s immensely creative challenge of Picture Book Idea Month (PiBoIdMo) has evolved into January’s StoryStorm. I am honoring the fabled tradition of compiling 30 picture book ideas. While the ideas are flowing, they are manufactured and feel forced. My voice and style was still in hiding. So what better way to think of new ideas than going for a walk?

Researchers from Stanford University conducted experiments confirming that walking improved participants’ ability to think creatively. 

A stroll into Starbucks just before closing, with a coffee in hand I was strolling through the suburban streets. I didn’t intend to generate a fresh picture book idea, I just happened to be on a stroll for the heck of it. And then a dazzler of an idea struck: The Jerk Store. That’s all I can say about that (the picture book).

But the ideas flowed as my steps sauntered.

Amazing Year Day 251: It’s a Dude?

My wife and I were pumped to see Cigarettes After Sex perform in Taipei. I knew something she didn’t. “Wait…. the lead singer is a guy?” Then I remembered going through the same shock as I realized that yes those feminine vocals eminate from a person with male parts, just not the vocal chords. Regardless, it was wonderful to see such a chillaxed band in Taiwan.