sophia’s travel by night

it's nearly 1/2 way thru december now. i'm sitting indoors basking in the sun here in portland, but don't let the sunlight n warmth deceive u here, outside is somewhere in the low 30sF. tht's nearly 0 in Celsius, or freezing. i hv been working on the catalog for my family n used it as my excuse not to step out o the condo in past 2 days. its just way too cold to b out ther. well, i'm just being lazy too. once i step outside, it'll take a while b4 i can return home, as i tend to wander thru town at a slow pace. next thing u kno, i'm nowhere near catching up to my deadline. so now tht i'm in the editing mode, i'd like to just take a breather n write a little, catch up on my thoughts, random as it may b. ths morning, i finally got off my ass n step outside n trimmed off the dead tomato plant we've named Roma. on monday, he has officially died, or froze to death. it was sad sight to bear. we've managed to grow ths plant from the first day o farm...

The Best Restaurants of 2009 just published on the portland monthly magazine... Lucky Strike (maybe ths is t/chinese i heard about?) Beast (heard o) Park Kitchen (def a plus) Syun Izakaya (need to chk out) Bunk Sandwiches (heard o) Clyde Common (awesome) Nostrana (great but not awesome) Paley’s Place (?) Laurelhurst Market (heard o) Nong’s Khao Man Gai (gotta try!, love carte food culture)

is it end o oct already? well very close to it, then it's nov, dec/ jan 2010! wow, time just ticks by so quickly n silently. i remember getting on the flt to portland on 12/31/08 from tpe n now it's almost a yr since i hv been here. miss my 12th floor home n vic very much. altho ths new life w/another person is great but i miss my own place too. ok, even tho tpe isn't tht ideal w/mosquitos n humidity, etc. but i did spend the time decorating it n making it my home. and i do feel bad 4 just leaving vic ther on his own in tht space. miss my sis n kids too. sometimes i wish it's all in t/same city so i can visit w/everyone often n yet lead my own life too. anyhoo. ths project is dragging on n on n on. has never been such trouble 4 me b4! "reputable" printer ≠ better printer. they suck! so now tht the pdf font issue is resolved, i hv to resolve my duotone issue! damn. when has anyone met such trouble trying to print ths thing, not i! they can't solve any probl...

wow, is it that time o the yr again? my bday which is in fall, marking the beginning o all the various holidays, halloween, thanksgiving, x'mas, new yr, chinese new yr! i've been really out o touch w/my blog lately, not tht i hvn't got anything to write. just been so busy trying to finish my lunar book project, which is now... nearly 2 full weeks later than originally projected! i'm nearly ther tho. i had thought yesterday, after staying up all nite to finish some last minute corrections, tht i was all done. nope, still a lot o little things. will ths thing never end? i want to start painting already! really! update on the tomato situation. hmmm, not so successful. ther's finally 1 growing, but the weather has turned really wet n cold now. i wonder if the plant will survive. well. i hope i will b able to sort out things soon n start writing more. twittering is just not getting my thoughts n feelings thru.

i kno it's been a while since i really really wrote anything substantial, it has been such a busy summer o traveling n visiting families, n of course, the pile o summer desn work... which i'm really falling behind. hadn't even the chance to really enjoy portland's summer n now it's fall! our time here is limited. ther's a goal to leave town before the heaviest o winter sets in. i'm just hoping i can get thru all these work here so i can paint again. ther's some work i wanna work out here. maybe i should ask larry about renting a spot in his studio to paint in. ok, enough break from my work. will continue to try to get it all done by being the latest 1 week overdue. the thing w/being designer, u get the blame when something's late. cuz u'r the end o the line o things. but i'd say 1 week isn't too bad tho since everything was stalling in t/beginning o summer. got a late start. when ths is all done, i will continue w/part 2 o my travel writi...

I feel very lucky to b able to listen to such beautiful music at the red theatre in Tpe. It made me want to dance.

Growing up fast

So i went back to cafe lili to sign my painting n finally take a foto o it. Here is. I'm liking the size. here r the other artist's paintings from that day.

Vic's new puppy, his name is...puffy

On Twn's high speed rail to Tcg. The sky's so clear 2day, so unusual, must b the rain. Love having ths rail. Makes traveling very convenient.

as i got ready to leave for nyc/ taiwan, i received an email invite calling out to artists to participate in a meaningful event in taipei, while i would b here for. so instead o going on vacation on 9/5th weekend, i decided to participate too. 21 artists painted in the gallery/ cafe of Lili in Tienmu aread from 10am to 8.30pm... w/silent auction going on thru the day n final live auction tht nite. ther were visitors throughout the day stopping by chatting w/us. we got to visit w/ea other and chat about our work n hang out. very fun to b in a community when painting. altho by 6pm, i was soooooooooo exhausted to b painting non-stop since 10 n breathing turpentine fumes tht i was a bit lite headed. i think we made total o 500,000twd for the floor releif aid. awesome! in all the chaos, i didn't get a chance to document the show at all! but the link to Lili cafe has fotos taken by Roma.

after a long delay at the JFK airport, our orig short flt to Narita turned out to b extra long. all tht waiting on the plane w/out taking off killed me. thankfully i had a whole row to myself plus kirk gave me a nice blanket, i was set to sleep. we arrived tokyo shibuya district after another long train ride.... but the ramen at Ichiran, just around the back o our hotel was just totally worth it.

i kno i should b working... deadline hell n all, but it's friday! i really wanna just draw... so this is today n last week's new work.

ths is wht i did since friday, during an advanced encaustics workshop here in pdx. jeff gunn is a great teacher. n the new classmates were all very interesting women. it's not quite finished, but these things take time. it's been really hot here, tough to work in a studio w/out a/c nor a proper fan. but i still am loving wht i hv so far. ok, back to work now, on my bread n butter work.

still hv lots o work 2 do b4 michigan trip, so hadn't time 2 really finish writing about the rest o my oz trip. being home in cali didn't help cuz i ended up not doing ANY work. just spent time w/kids n beach. took a break last evening (8pm) 2 visit the rose garden n refill our depleted fridge (tho we did stock up on fruits n veggies from farmer's mkt) o breakfast items. when u work from home, u'd end up just eating whatever is available n nvr bother 2 leave t/house. anyway, here r some amazing roses. the most surprising is the Lagerfeld variety since it's named after, i presume, karl lagerfeld? it starts out lite lavender n as it blooms fades into a very pale shade o white, 8k 4c 7m (i think)? and this deep red, i think black rose isn't far away.

it's been a while since i've done proper yoga. having the right teacher is very important. since i've been in portland ths past 1/2 yr, i've yet to find a space/teacher i find interesting for me. mainly also, vinyasa is the most popular n some ashtanga n hot yoga types. not my cup o tea. but in newport beach, cali, Juris's classes r always so fun n interesting, building strength n flexibility n breath w/out the show-off ppls, etc. of course, in tpe ths last couple o yrs, i've been going to Rob's classes, which may seem basic but u build alignment while gaining strength/ flexibility. in yoga, difficult poses doesn't mean anything if ur balance is off or ur muscles, etc rn't aligned properly. so being home for a visit means i get to refresh on my fav yoga sessions n learn new things. and the sunshine/ beach!

travel plans: sat 6.13-6.22 (pdx-tpe) mon 6.22-6.28 (pdx-melbourne) sun 6.28-7.1 (mel-Hamilton Island) wed 7.1-7.4 (hmi-Sydney) sat 7.4 (syd-PDX) 1. after a week in taipei, i flew to Melbourne via HK arriving 6am, 6/23/09. after we met up at airport, we wnt to Mim's place [Brunswick] which is just north of city center. then we all wnt to chinatown for some chow's. too bad the intended resto was closed, so ended up at Post Mao nearby. it's ok food. i find chinese food in restos tend to b a bit heavy on the oil & salts. still, it was good lunch n time spend w/just mim & nicky. a great discovery today for me is a couple of aussie products. the very popular skin care line, Aesop , their most famous product being the parsley seed stuff, which i ended up buying 1 to use, very nice indeed! the other is Papaw , pronounced [poe poe] according to locals (mim). this ointment, i absolutely adore! it is as great n versatile as mim claims. so i bought a tube n a big tub... tho ...

in memory of michael jackson. we saw him walking in his signature shorter pants everywhere we went in australia.

in this mobile age, being a designer who's always worked freelance on projects, i'm quite used to being 'mobile.' To my family, however, i'm just never "available" because i'm not physically in taiwan most of the time. it is very unfair to state this, because, of all the projects i hv done in the past, most i hv done while traveling around. i'm rarely in the actual office. i was accused of not making myself available. i felt wronged in many ways, cuz i've always been online working with the taiwan office. i finish my project b4 deadline. if ther's delays, it's always been the management who doesn't respond to my emails n such. not being around has always been. but that is a physicality of the old days. ths is mobile tech world. why is it wrong to b traveling. every yr i hv to explain tht's how i've always worked in the past. i flew 14hrs to tpe just for an hour meeting just so i can b here in person, in the physical, just so...

It's nice 2 b hanging out w/my boys again.

here i am, back home with victor in taipei. it's been 1/2 year since i've been away from tpe. our living room has grown very cozy. i like it. i guess i'm jet-lagged cuz it's daytime in pdx n i'm wide awake!!!! good to b back, even if just 1 week. will hv loads to do, including finding my twn id card.... was it stolen? or lost? i kno my mom does hv my tote n silver rings by accident. it's so hard trying to remember what is wher... so good to b back in my room. sooooo good to hang out w/my bro again too! tho i'll only b able to c him for a few days b4 he takes off to osaka. now i just can't b lazy n run all my errands asap! only 1 week til oz!

i've not shown this online yet, have i?

Pasadena, CA was the other city of roses i've lived in yrs ago when i was going to school at art center, but i didn't really fully appreciate flowers then. now, i'm living in portland, OR, another city of roses, after a freezing winter, spring means so much more and the blooms, they'r amazing. well, maybe also, after nearly a yr of floral arrangement class, i've had better appreciation also of flowers n various plants. we visited the japnaese garden and then stopped to look at the rose garden. the last time i was here, nearly 1 month ago. the rose bushes were all just barely starting to grow new leaves! now their blooming, beyond first blooms! wow! so amazing. the colours n varieties! it's crazily beautiful. but we were hungry so didn't stick around too much longer... well n kirk couldn't stop sneezing too. which is ur favorite color?