Live, Love, Feel, Grow

The last time I entered a library was when I was in college in 2000. Since then the thought of a library has not entered my mind until late. Last year while driving around sf, I chanced by the public library and it dawned on me how long it has been since I’ve entered one. An instant craving for a library card filled my head only to be stopped by the lack of parking in sf. Today I sit in the Los Angeles library working from my Accenture laptop. With my library card once again in hand, I think back to the times when the library was my friend growing up…yep, I was and am still a book worm. These days, our libraries are amazing institutions. I got a quick intro to what is available to me and I’m amazed it’s taken me this long to step back into this world. This goes to show the wonderful advent of the internet as well, which probably is one of the main reasons why I haven’t stepped into a library until now.

Where has the time gone…

~ Month of October 2006

There are some who say to know where you are going, it is important to know where you are from. For the first time in my life, I finally had a chance to see where I was from as an adult. My grandma fell ill this month and was diagnosed with late stage cancer. In addition, she underwent surgery to remove a 12cm+ tumor. It’s in these times that we are reminded of how important family is and how frail human life can be. It was a pure chance encounter that I happen to be in Taiwan for my grandma at this time. What was supposed to be a surprise visit from me to the family turned out to be a month long stay to ensure I was there for my family during my grandma’s time of need. This is also the first time since becoming 16 that I came back to Taipei, Taiwan for more than a week. During this time, I got a chance to get to know my family again, learn more of our family history, make new friends from Taipei which helps me further secure my roots to Taiwan, and also take some much needed rest which these past years I haven’t had the chance to really have. Its amazing to me how even though we all have vacation time during Christmas, thanksgiving, holidays here and there…all those days of rest at times seem more tiring than had we not taken them? Well, this month for me has been hectic and stressful in many ways, but also for the first time since leaving college, it was a true rest for my mind and soul.

I look forward to heading out to Australia…Melbourne to be exact for the next few months (6 months to a year?), for my next project. Not only is it a country I have yet to go, but its also closer to Taiwan for me to be closer to my grandma. My only regret is how far it is from my friends/family in the US. While I love globalization and all, it also frustrates me that my friends and family are everywhere. I think back to friends I’ve made in places like Slovakia where all their friends are in one place…and that is truly something I’m envious of. I know that some of my friends say “Well, even if we are all in one place, you aren’t”…ahh, perhaps I’m just selfish then? Or perhaps IF they were all in one place, I’d settle down?  Who knows…that’s one question I’ll most likely not find out anytime soon. Other than work, I hope to start uploading pictures of my travels to my website as well as starting to put a directory of recommendations of restaurants, bars, shopping, etc of the places I’ve been.

Gonna take a breather now…looking quickly up and down this page, I’ve realized I’ve written a lot but also not said enough. Alas, thus is the result of long procrastination. Hopefully I’ll go back and update it later.