sophia’s travel by night

wnt for a drive w/my parents on this saturday (april 21st) afternoon to daxi (saddam beach) found many dead puffer fish on shore makes me quite sad... how short existence is, live well, be happy

(fotos here r provided by eve) i woke up (after just 3.5 hrs of sleep) to go hiking w/a few frnds (9 of us). i was running late, my alarm didn't go off, cuz i set it on my cell and left it in the living room! so, i rushed out, packing only water, ate nothing, didn't kno the weather, so had on shorts n tanktop and a simple thin long sleeves, forgot my hair clip n socks too. very well prepared hike. luckily, some ppl were later than me, so i was able to buy pb sandwich at the 7/11 outside the danshuei mrt station. ate 1/2 of it and saved the rest for the hike. everyone else was so well prepared with the proper clothes and everything! this was a long long hike w/real trails. ppl on the hike: eve, jenny, patricia, howard, anthony, shan, starr, elaina?, me. since it has been raining so much in tpe, it's also very muddy, slippery. so green everywhere. (post fotos later when i hv my computer back) very beautiful but tiring hike. we went in one side of the mountain and came out at ...

it's sat nite, everyone is out and about town in taipei. somewher to go, someone to c, something to do. victor (my brother) & i decided to lay low and watch movies at home. the beauties of technology. CHILDREN OF MEN is a great movie, released sometimes last year, but no one saw it. not many ppl hv even heard of it. it's one to add to the must watch list. a bit depressing yet ther's hope in the end.

baby monkey, sophie rotstein was born last week. i wish i had been nearby to visit her. this and more fotos r taken by henry the head monkey. i miss nyc! i miss my frnds! well, now tht i'm a little heart broken by taipei, it's time for me to go go away again. nyc is next stop for me i believe. time for me to go ther and keep my promise of designing the cookbook too.

just finally got to watch AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH today on the large screen. they're showing it for free everyday at the eslite bookstore's film room. i feel very helpless. how do i do something about it? only the little things i can think of. like bringing my own chopsticks out when i eat out. look at all the coffee cups! the sleeves we throw away. the plastic bags. the paper waste. the food. everything just adds up day by day. this is one person. imagine 6 billion! daunting. it freezes me. i hope, the little tht i can save will somehow help.

the air pressure around me is shifting. some days, i just feel very much alone, even tho i'm surrounded by ppl i love. but i kno i'm not alone. so is this the loneliness that's gripping my heart?

so different shanghai is today than i remember over 10 yrs ago when i visited. so much has changed. practically everything! wnt ther for a short visit, and i was amazed how many frnds hv moved or will b moving ther. crazy glamourous lifestyles ther. i've mixed feeling about this place. i wonder where it's going to. the sleeping dragon that woke up nearly 20 yrs ago, where r u headed? it's scary & exciting. the old and the new all mixed together, growing & expanding ever so steadily & fast. do i c myself here? not sure. so many hv dived into it & embraced it. so many are resisting it's lure.

As usual, i ended up getting lost in taipei driving somewhere. this time, however, my sister was driving, with the aid of GPS, we still manage to get lost for nearly 1/2 hr! the good part of weddings in taiwan is that everything runs behind schedule. so we still had time to visit the bride & groom in their suites getting ready, take some fotos, and head to the ballroom. this is a brand new hotel called Victoria in Neihu area, by the Miramar dept store area. perhaps it's their lack of experience, the dishes all came out with huge delays. this is a very fun wedding tho, lots of friends. mickey & flora have so many friends. very fun ppl they r a very cute couple, i'm so happy for flora & mickey.

looking at this bldg, left over from japanese era. i really love it more than its content. the show called second skin, quite disappointed. but great bldg! red bricks is still the best for taiwan's weather n conditions.

last nite, we ate at the eslite tearoom, 3rd floor. helena is back from LA. just waiting for chris to b here in taipei, n it'd b a girlz' world! missing chris. and maggie, where r u?

anyone think this is done? not sure. but i def need to go over it w/a coating to prevent peeling. this is acrylic afterall. this is the re-start of the next 1, white with gold paint. and the previous layer of work sort of showing thru as background. i want the history of the painting process to show thru.

call it kite surfing, flysurfing or kiteboarding, but it's fun!!!!! well, i was sort of scared about it before i headed south to tainan this past weekend for a 2 day lesson at TKS (taiwan kite surfing). i mean i'm not a strong swimmer, and i barely surf, can do some boogy board, not a very athletic person overall... plus i've seen amazing fotos of what people do on kiteboarding sites. all this made me wonder if i can even begin to imagine doing this sport! they say u don't hv to know how to surf, cuz it's very different sport! it's tru! the instructors at TKS were amazing. they explain the whole thing about the kite, the wind, the gears. and then u learn to fly kites. from the smaller practice sizes (so u can figure out the wind) to flying actual kites. then u learn to fly it in the water (body draggin)... well, that's as far as i got. i've not conquered the kite just yet. plus, i really do think 14 meters kite is a bit large for me (for my wt, i only n...