saturday feels no different

i guess when you're in vacation mode (which i need to exit), every day feels the same to you.

i started off the day wondering why i slept so much the day before. i think that even though i can still do what i used to do to avoid jet lag, i'm now getting old, so my body still needs that rest, and it all caught up friday night.

immediately after waking up, my friend, who we'll call ShadowBoxer, sent over paperwork for my new company. so i spent some time reading, signing, and sending them back. the wonders of technology-- being able to do all this across 12 time zones.

i then trekked to the city in search of the next great beef noodle. this time i went to a place, lao zhang's, which was voted best noodle soup in taipei, back in 2006. here's an article. it was pretty good. better than pretty much anywhere in the us. their beef is very well braised, and the soup is infused with a subtle flavor. the noodles are just the right amount of al dente. but not as good as the one i had last august. why? i found their food to have a lot less flavor, and i love my flavors. i also think that the recipe has been changed to accomodate modern tastes, as all their side dishes taste watered down, vs. the traditional flavors. nevertheless, it was good. for NT$180 (< US$6), it's cheaper than almost anywhere in the states, but it's a pretty expensive bowl for taiwan, given the cost of living.

after lunch, i went shopping for some stuff i needed. i now have a power extension cord, the kind that gives you 6 outlets, and an additional ethernet cord. i know, geeky, but i needed them, and i didn't bring them from the states. one thing i learned though-- taiwan uses 110v as well, so no power converter needed.

at night, i went and got another stinky tofu. i love that stuff. and then headed to a milonga. it's such a small world. the first woman i danced with, it turns out that she also attended penn, and studied computational biology (i worked at the center for computational biology). just last month at oxygen milonga i met someone else who also attended penn and studied theoretic linguistics (i studied computational linguistics). and for those wondering, computational biology and computational linguistics are related. ask me another time if you're interested. anyway, it's a small world, that's my saturday.

a side note. why does everyone keep bringing up the topic of marriage in conjunction with my trip to taiwan? my parents have asking for a while. my brother kept going at it last week in vegas. and now, my friends are doing the same. my friend TheOptometrist says "I'm excited for you to venture out and find yourself a wifey! hahahhaha". my friend SpanishPediatrician says "Maybe you'll come back with a wife? :-)" gah!