Healthier than beer, cheaper than scuba diving, and more exciting than a stamp collection!

My story was exciting. I moved to Taiwan in July 2006, young and alone, naive but curious. I met people from all over the world, learned a new language (sort of, please don't test me on it), and travelled through nine Asian countries. I climbed a volcano, dove to the bottom of the sea, and danced in the sand 'til the sun came up. I rode motorcycles, jeepneys, bemos, tuk-tuks, horse-carts, and donkeys. I saw a whole roasted dog on display in six pieces, and a blobby brain on a meat hook.

Now I'm a fake English teacher in Shanghai, which basically means that I get paid to do a little song and dance on a podium in front of 50 second graders, most of whom hear my carefully prepared routine as "HELLO blah blah. Blah OK? blah blah blah ELEPHANT blah. BLAH!"

When I'm not "teaching" I amble about, trying to figure out what the hell is going on around me, why anyone would want to eat a chicken's anus, and where the heck all the curly hair products are.

So, if you were expecting some National Geographic culturally insightful and universally fascinating revelations here, you may be disappointed. This blog is about NOW. Blog-worthy or not. And, "why?" you might ask. "Why blog the minutia of your daily existence, cantankerous attitudes, and detailed descriptions of nasal functioning, when you had all that great adventurous material in the palm of your hand?"

Well, here it is. I got dressed at 2pm today. It's Tuesday. I just finished Season 1 of Six Feet Under (again), and I'm not going to tell you when I started it. In short, I need a hobby. I'm told beer doesn't count, and firmly believe that people who say they feel great after a vigorous workout are lying to themselves.

So this is it. My BLOG.