Tuesday, June 28, 2005

That's How It Goes

Here's to you, Louis.. =]

It's hard to try so hard
And get nothing in return
It's hard to be so strong
And let the future prove you wrong

But if you never wanna feel disappointed
You can never have your hopes and dreams

I'm gonna take things as they go
Hold my head up high
Have no regrets, expectations
Gonna give it a try
I'm gonna go on with the flow
Caus oh~ It's alright.

You say it's easy to say but it's hard to do
You say it's what you did before but still ended with the blues
I'm not trying to say that your dreams will all come true in a day or two
You've just got to see it through

Caus if you never wanna feel disappointed
You can never have your hopes and dreams

I'm gonna take things as they go
Hold my head up high
Have no regrets, expectations
Gonna give it a try
I'm gonna go on with the flow
Caus oh~ It's alright.

I'm gonna give my everything
Be the best I can be
Have hopes and dreams and laugh and scream
Not be scared of anything
I'm gonna go on with the flow
And take things as they go
Caus oh~ That's how it goes

That's how it goes
That's how it goes
That's how it goes...

Tuesday, June 21, 2005

Let Me Bathe

Amazing how a volcano that's been asleep for over a thousand years still emits hot water. I had the incredible privilege to bathe in a natural hot spring on the top of a mountain. I still can't believe that the water was naturally hot. I mean hot. I could barely stand the heat in some spots of the spring. It was unbelievable. The spring was in the middle of the mountain, with smoke evaporating from its surface.

We travelled for about an hour to arrive at the bottom of Jing San, at the North of Taiwan. After we were parked, we followed a trail to get to the spring. I looked down at the trail as I hiked up the mountain—wearing flip flops to walk this rocky road wasn't the greatest idea. The rocks were green at first, and suddenly became a rusty red. And before I knew it, we were there.

The spring was just deep enough to lie down in. As a ran my fingers on the bottom of the spring, I felt the smooth mud and grabbed a handful out of the water. We rubbed the silver mud all over our bodies and faces. Crazy how this clay could give you smooth skin in just a few minutes. There you go. We had the world's most expensive spa at our disposal... all, at free of charge.

Right beside this still water hot spring, was a stream of ice cold water. I couldn't bring myself to jump in when my feet were in there, telling me that it was way too cold for the rest of me to stand. But a German girl was there and said: "Once you're in, it's good." I couldn't resist. I sucked up my fear and let my body fall into the stream. The current was so strong that I had to hold on to big rocks to avoid the water from carrying me away with him. And the girl was right. It was good.

The sky was getting dark. The clouds were starting to gather. Soon, it was raining. We reluctantly got out of the water and left before we could no longer see the trail we had to take to get back to civilisation. Good thing we left when we did; on the way down, I could no longer tell what colour the trail was, and my flip flops were teaching me a lesson for making them walk on slippery rocks in the rain.

The way back seemed never ending. But I would never wish that we had left just a little earlier to avoid this challenge. In fact.. maybe I would have liked to stay just a little longer.

Thursday, June 16, 2005

Dalalala..

I love crossing the street over here. As soon as the little green man starts marching and the countdown begins, people step onto the street and rush to the other side. It's so crowded when I cross the street. You have 60 seconds to cross. One whole minute. So I take my time. And people rush past me. It's funnest when we reach the middle of the street, when passengers from both sides of the street meet. It makes me feel at peace. It makes me feel like a movie star starring in one of those movies set in Japan. Like a stranger amongst busy people who could care less that there's somebody new in their country.

It's been raining for.. can't remember the last day it didn't rain. I remember going to the movies and buying an umbrella. It was so nice out. Wearing white pants and flip flops wasn't the smartest idea. But it was so warm. I had to keep reminding myself of what my uncle told me the first time I encountered rain over here: "This isn't the same rain as in Canada. It's acid rain over here." It's acid rain, Sherren, it's acid rain. If I hadn't been repeating that to myself over and over again, I would have thrown out my $4 umbrella and ran under the rain. It was the perfect occasion. It was pouring so hard. It would've felt like the world's biggest warm shower. Mmmmmm.

I've gotten used to seeing bugs crawling around in the apartment. Don't get me wrong. I still jump and squeal at the mere sight of them.. I just don't freak out too much anymore. Like yesterday, there was a little creature in the bathroom. So I just refrained from taking a leak and a shower until I third time I came back, and there was no more trace of him. It was well past midnight at that point. But at least I could take my shower in peace.

I love being able to get breakfast for only a little over $1. Steamed bun and tea, I'm good to go. On the other hand though, coffee is mad expensive over here. They don't even understand what a regular, plain cup of coffee is. When I order a coffee, they tell me: "We have many different selections here, miss. Would you like sugar and milk? Hot or cold?" Uuh.. just a regular coffee please. A black one. With cream and sugar in little packs for me to add myself, please. And that costs me $3.60! A small coffee. That doesn't really even taste really good. Three dollars and sixty whole cents. Scandalous. I guess being able to get lunch—a good one—for less than $4 makes up for it.

Friday, June 10, 2005

Hiya There

Hey dudes, how's it goin?

I'm currently an intern at MTV. Cool, eh? I thought so too.. at first. It's now been three days that I've been sitting in front of this not-the-fastest-nor-the-newest-but-still-works-well-enough-for-an-intern computer, doing absolutely nothing. Well not nothing, exactly. I've already emailed every single person that still cares for my existence, fixed the booboos of my class schedule for the next two semesters, checked out every single prof I'm gonna have on ratemyprofessors.ca, read Jason Mraz's online journals (damn he's a good writter), organized my emails into folders (ALL OF THEM! And that's a whole lot!)... shall I go on? I guess you can say I've accomplish quite much.. but none of it has anything to do with MTV. Let's see... today I documented some news clippings and called somebody to asked them to send us motorola phone and an email.... all that must've been done within an hour. Barely. And then I got to go to a temple and look around. And then my supervisor treated me to lunch. So that wasn't too boring. But still. Nothing to do with MTV.

So I flew 24 hours all the way to Taiwan to do this internship. And I've now become the sitting-on-your-bum-all-day-expert. Honestly, I'm a professional. If you ever need somebody to sit there and do nothing, you know who to call! I promise you'll get your money's worth. 100% satisfaction.

I'm not bitter. Really. Just a little bored. Okay. A lot bored. So I'm trying to keep my mind working by writing. Fine. Rambling. Still gets it working though. The mind, that is. Don't wanna go back to Montreal a vegetable, now.

It's pretty ugly out there today. It's for sure gonna rain. Or maybe it's already raining. Wouldn't wanna be outside anyway. Plus my cousin isn't home yet. So I wouldn't be much more productive at home in any case. But that's not true. At least I could strum on my guitar and attempt to write a song. Or practice the one I just wrote the other day.. in the office, mind you, out of boredom. Actually, you know it--it's the one below! Actually, the first sentence I wrote, "Everybody's older now" came to me when I was at the hospital visiting my grandma. The rest took some time to come to me.

Funny how inspiration finds you. I wonder how the next one will decide to pay me a visit. Maybe we'll meet for coffee... Or it'll guest star in my dreams tonight.

Oh yay, they finally gave me a job. Off I go! I'm guessing this'll at least look half decent on the resume..~

Cheers!!

Thursday, June 09, 2005

Wiser Now

There's a place in my heart I feel never changed
And yet you look at me like we have never been
You call my name I hear your voice it's still the same
I turn around to look at you your stranger face

But I look into your eyes
I remember you told lies
Tears hide behind my eyes
Too bad true love never dies

Everybody's older now
Turn down the lights and I still feel the same
Everybody's wiser now
Just one look one smile I understand
There's no need to talk about it
To fight to cry or make you never forget
Caus everybody's older now
Everybody's older now

I came accross some butterflies the other day
When I heard our song and walked past our favourite cafe
It's funny you should come my way just yesterday
You seemed a little taller but you smelled the same

I'm here I can feel you feel the same
I know we can start this up all over again
Can we be two grown ups now
And still laugh just like a child
Can we hear our hearts and let them lead the way

I look into your eyes
I remember your sweet good nights
Tears hide behind my eyes
Thank God true love never dies