by personal | Jun 20, 2011 | Updates
Tomorrow I might be getting a job with a friend of my mothers who’s husband owns a business which manufacturers software for cars to check their health. I don’t believe it is just software they make, but they also make tools which connect to your car to which you can plug in via USB into your computer to run tests.
I’m not sure exactly what type of job I am being offered, hopefully it is one with good pay. This would also change my future dramatically. My other option to become a citizen of Taiwan would have been to join the Taiwanese army to complete military conscription. I have always wanted to experience joining the military, but my family are really restrictive when it comes to that. They would rather I work and make decent pay and not get involved. I’m also looking out for my future, maybe I will have this job for a long time and I might become something from it. The company operates in Taiwan, the U.S., Japan and several other countries, so this company isn’t small and there are many prospects of further up the ladder jobs within the company. The fact that my mother is near enough best friends with the wife, makes this job quite secure hopefully.
I am just worried it won’t be a job that I am unable to do or a job that I will be good at. I mean if I am good at something I won’t mind doing it and my employer probably won’t fire me if I do it well. Whereas if I am useless at the job, I probably won’t last long. I also have to sort out getting a work permit, which hopefully won’t be too much of a problem and again hopefully they will know the steps and give me the right documents to apply for a permit.
While I am doing this I am still hoping to learn Chinese, albeit sucking at learning Chinese and kind of losing motivation with learning the language. I am just hoping that Chinese won’t be a requirement at this place as I couldn’t save my own life with the language if I needed to.
Though for me the perfect job would be as a model. I don’t particularly think I am good looking, but others say I am good looking and other people I have met so far want to introduce me to other women. Just staring into a camera and earning money would be pretty awesome. But I don’t mind going the corporate way of earning money if the job is good and the pay is at least decent. If the pay was pretty decent, I think I would get my own place in this country and start living life finally as an adult living by myself and just purely secure and self-dependent as opposed to being dependent on my parents. – I guess this is what I am looking for.
As for the Chinese and me being rubbish at it, well I will give it a go, I won’t give up now. I think I just need to practice at home more often rather than go on my computer all the time which is probably the reason others are a head of me. Though I have been practicing. But it just seems when we learn something new in class, everyone is very adaptive to learning and more importantly remembering what was said while I kind of lag behind there. I just need to find something I love doing and something I want to do.
by personal | Jun 18, 2011 | Updates
I made some new friends who contacted me through e-mail when I posted an ad on Tealit.com. 🙂 I got quite a few people contacting me who wanted to either just be friends or to help me learn Chinese. I urgently need help with Chinese. Plus these guys know other people I can made friends with, who I can chill with and just be friends with. The guy I did make friends with took me with his friend to a Japanese restaurant. The food was really nice, except for the the Sashimi and Wusabi. I don’t like spice and it wasn’t just the spice or whatever the taste that was in those raw fish.
The food was great and they were nice people to talk to. They taught me how to say rice, which is said as “fun”. 😛 That will be quite easy to remember. To also say pork meat, you say it as “jewpie”. Haha.
It was fun and hopefully if or when I move onto the campus, I will be able to chill out with him and his friends, since my current “friends” at this university aren’t that active or aren’t that exciting. I don’t know but they don’t ask me if I want to go out or do stuff, so hopefully I’ve found friend who is actively wanting a good friend. (If that makes sense)
I had good fun with them. I have never been on a bike (Motor-bike or Scooter) so this was my first time and I was scared sh*tless. Every turn he made I would scream in fear of falling off or whenever he sped up, it frightened me a little. Okay, if you asked him, he would probably say I was screaming like a little girl. I kind of was, but hey it was my first time and those types of vehicles you need to get used to before you can like it. Or to put it another way, it felt like a roller coaster, it was fun but scary. But after a while you don’t mind it anymore and you overcome that fear.
It was great fun and a good excuse to go out rather than sit in-doors all day.
On another great note, I am also running around the park now, as opposed to the running track. The park is around 4 times the size of the running track, so I am hoping to do well. I could only do 4 runs around the park, where with the running track I can continuously go on running around 17 times without stopping. But the park is more of a challenge, it is much larger and the ground is harder. I’m hoping by the end of next week that I will be able to continuously run around 10 times without stopping. It is a stretch and I would say that is around 15 miles running in total.
I am hoping to do that everyday. It should increase my fitness level and tone myself up quite a bit. I am also going to be taking up swimming as I want a nice looking body when I visit Kenting, Taiwan. – Which has beaches that look absolutely fantastic and beautiful with (lots of girls) lots of nice blue water and I am also hoping to take up surfing! 🙂
by personal | May 31, 2011 | Opinion
I don't know but I feel a little homesick. I had friends in the UK whereas here I hardly have any. Though I didn't have that many friends in the UK, I have almost none in this country which are around the same age as me. I think I need people my age to talk to. When I went out with my cousin who took me to a barbecue (He is around my age, a year younger) I talked to his friends and him, it felt like home. Once I get into University, I'm hoping I can make friends and go out a lot more with other people and generally socialize a lot more.
It kind of hit home as my friends who I used to work with posted on Facebook saying they missed me along with the rest of the guys. I miss them too. I miss their charm, the fun we had, their character and just the way things were. It was like working with brothers and sisters, we all got a long and sometimes there would be disagreements, but it would be sorted. We would support each other if anything went down and it was generally great talking to those people. I miss that. I don't have that here. I don't really talk much to my family. If my sister was here with me it probably would be different. Though I hardly talked to her when in the UK, though it would be different as she would only have me to talk to. But she would probably feel extremely homesick considering she has a lot more friends than me.
But whatever the case I miss my real friends back at home or my work friends. We had really good times and they were really good people too. I just wish I could have at least hugged them before I left. Anyway's time to move on in life and make new friends. 😮
by personal | May 29, 2011 | Updates
Sad to say I had come across a situation where it was a decision as to whether to help defend someone or not. I don’t want to make this a big issue, but I still had this on my mind. What lengths and at what point am I willing to help someone who is being abused by another person.
So okay, here is how the situation played out:
I’m eating my breakfast in the park. A nice salad bowl and some macaroni with some nice sauce and small amounts of cheese.
Then I see a 2 guys, one who looks around his 70’s and who walks with a walking stick, who is sitting down. The two of them are arguing about something or the other, but I can’t speak Chinese that well nor understand too well. He looks around his 40’s, he is a young bloke in comparison to this other guy however.
Okay. So they are arguing, that’s fine, people argue and usually say sorry later to each other. But the younger guy was walking off and then they started shouting at each other. The younger guy walks back, picks up a bottle full of water and whacks this old man around the head. He hit this guy with this bottle really hard from the way it looked. This older guy fell off his seat, but quickly picked himself up. I can presume that the younger guy started cursing at him, as he was shouting after he did what he did.
Okay, so he only hit him around the head with a bottle. I felt very, very inclined to go do something about it. But the younger guy, kind of walked off and didn’t do anything more. The older guy looked fine and not to hurt by what had just happened.
It wasn’t just me watching, it was a groups around me and groups who were sitting across me who saw it all unfold. Like me they did nothing.
Where I would intervene…
I don’t have a clue what they were arguing about. But if the younger guy kept laying into the older guy, I would have done something. I probably would have hit the younger guy or done something to at least stop him. It looked to me that the younger guy and older guy had friends also sitting in the same area. The friends of the older guy did nothing, but that is probably a no-brainer as they looked the same age as this older guy if not older. But if this younger guy, kept hitting or kept assaulting this older dude, I would have probably laid into the younger guy and pointed him to the exit. I find it unacceptable to hit someone that old who can’t protecting himself. If you are going to hit someone for any reason, then let the terms be even and let that guy at least have a fighting chance. Although I do not like violence, sometimes you have to resort to violence when others choose that option, you do that instinctively when you a) have to defend yourself or b) have to defend others being attacked who have violence inflicted on them. I have this quote on my Facebook information page, which has a part, where you can state your favorite quotes, mine is:
“English philosopher Edmund Burke said, The only thing necessary for the triumph [of evil] is for good men to do nothing.”
Is for good men to do nothing… I feel sad that I kind of didn’t act. But I made sure I was close by afterwards, if the younger guy started up stuff again on the old guy. The younger guy just sat down very near to the old guy and they just didn’t speak to each other. I’m not sure if they were relatives or what, but whatever the case, I would have protected the old man, if the younger guy started assaulting him again. I would have done something. That says a lot as there were groups around witnessing what was going on as well and they just started in amazement.
If you are reading this, what would your reaction be? Keep in mind you are in a country, where you can’t understand what people are saying.
by personal | May 27, 2011 | Updates
Man did I sweat like a mad man today, for the 2nd day I ran in 30 degree weather and the weather in Taiwan is very humid, which makes it harder to breath sort of as the air is thicker and much warmer. Or at least it feels thicker but it is definitely warmer and especially when you are heating up with running in that sort of weather, breathing in hot/warm air doesn't help in keeping you going.
I guess I'll just go later on to the running track when its a little less heated. I had some nice spaghetti with a few vegetables mixed in with it that I bought from Family Mart and a large bottle of water. 😀
I did my 4 laps around the running track and 20 sit-ups and I actually did 20 press-ups in the morning too. (Though I was supposed to do that 8 hours ago, not in the morning.)
I also found some great tips on losing weight on Yahoo Answers! (Yeah not the best source for information, but if the content is good then…):
1. If what you are eating has less than 1 carb, count it as 1 carb just to be sure.
2. Totally avoid caffeine at least for the first two weeks on the program.
Me: If there is one thing I've done, I have totally avoided any type of caffeine. I've just drunk water and I have sinned a little by taking a sip of some lemonade. But never that much. But water is my main drink now. I remember I used to drink cola in England all the time. That was when I was in fact in shape. But I never really slimmed down. If I had stopped, I probably would have been even fitter than I used to be.
3. Drink a MINIMUM of 8 glasses of plain water or seltzer daily.
Me: As said, I've been drinking water all the time. I constantly drink it. I don't drink too much, but I do drink quite a bit. Especially in weather where it is as hot as it now. Water is a must.
4. Don't weigh yourself more than once a week
Me: I guess I understand this. You don't want to be too disappointed if you lose more weight in one day than the other. So its best to just leave it on a weekly basis. Then you realize you have actually lost more weight than you thought.
5. Take starting measurements as well as weight – sometimes you'll lose inches before pounds
Me: I have been weighing myself and I've lost around 18 pounds, I've already lost 3 pounds, so just 15-16 to go. That would according to a BMI calculator put me at 23.7 BMI, normal weight would be from 18.5–24.9. So in regards to being in shape, that would be well within the boundaries.
6. Avoid any type of "low carb" sweetener for the first two weeks
7. Don't compare your loss to someone else's – this is a YMMV thing (your milage may vary)
Me: I guess I like to do this all the time. Compare myself with others an state why I'm not losing that much weight or why I can't run as far as some people on the running track. But my motivation was the fact that I was a few years ago, quite active in running and I used to be like that. So I know I can get it back and will. That is my motivation I've found.
8. Stalls are common around the third week so don't panic.
Me: The only time I have failed on my diet is when I ate 5 pizzas. But I made sure I ran it all off. I went running round the track 8 times and around the park 7 times. In that day I ran a total of 12 times around the track and drank plenty of water.
9. If you follow your plan to the T and don't lose, consider Candida as a possibility and avoid vinegar, cheese, mushrooms and any other fermented food
Me: Can't say I eat any of that. Though I sometimes will eat cheese in a nice sandwich, but I don't think if you eat a little bit of it, it will keep you of course in losing weight. I just believe if you keep the balance between eating food you require to exercise you require to lose weight then that is where the balance strikes.
10. Have bloodwork done before starting so you have a comparison.
Me: Not sure why this is even a suggestion. If you want to lose weight good, but I think it is over the top to go in for "blood work" just to lose some weight. Perhaps if you are losing a lot then I can see the need. I'm trying to lose around 1 stone. If I do that, then I'll be in-line and in-weight according to my BMI. It can be done.
Whatever the case I am slowly losing weight. That is the best way after reading a lot of comments and just researching on the net. Hopefully I can make it and feel proud to post my newly shaped body of the future.
