holidays

finally found some time to update my blog...just got back on monday from a 10-day christmas vacation in canada, and this first week back has been hectic and didn't really go as smoothly as i had hoped for. i'll elaborate more on that later, but here's a timeline of our awesome holiday.

dec.23rd we boarded the plane at 7:30 p.m. for our 13-hour, direct flight to toronto. everything was smooth as silk in terms of boarding, immigration, and all the usual pre-flight routines. the flight was comfortable as it wasn't fully booked, and we were one of the lucky ones who had an empty seat beside ours. what a world of difference those extra 15 inches of seat space can make to cramped up limbs. landed safely, got a text from justin (who was chilling with a $12 heineken at the pearsons terminal 3 bar...ouch!) to say he was waiting for us, then on our way to london to spend the night. arrived kind of late but was feeling wired from the trip.to remedy this, melissa poured caesars and ordered domino's just the way i like it. all that gusto within such a few short hours was enough to put us to sleep.

dec.24th - up early thanks to the effects of jet lag, but we took our time with a leisurely breakfast of peameal bacon BLT's (my favourite!) followed by a long overdue shower, starbucks run, and then home to hanover. i have to say, for the first time in a very, very long time, i was excited to go to hanover. we arrived at my mom and dad's to lots of hugs, a few tears, and a very home for the holidays atmosphere. we spent a few hours just talking and catching up, wrapping a few last minute presents, before heading out to elisha's house to spend the night. it was great to see everyone and together we ate, drank and were merry.

dec.25th - woke up at 8:30, hung out with the weishar clan for a bit of brekkie, then i went back into town, got showered up and went to durham to see my grandma campbell. she unfortunately had a stroke about two weeks prior, so she couldn't have a long visit, but she seemed happy that we were there and it felt good to see her again. after that, we headed back to my parents place and awaited elisha so we could open our presents. now, how things used to go in the campbell household was me waking everyone up at a ridiculous time to open presents....this year we didn't open presents up until 1:30! unreal, but it certainly made christmas last a lot longer than it normally does. everyone was spoiled rotten with loot.

around 3:00 p.m., the rest of the family started to arrive and dinner followed suit. we were not disappointed by the table laid before us. i know i keep talking about the food, but man, it had been a while since i had eaten so well and so much. a great day.

dec.26th - boxing day - decided to hit up some of the sales down in london. got some awesome deals and came away with a full work wardrobe. managed to get home around 6:00 p.m., had a quick nap and then had the weishars and a few friends come over for some christmas drinks and snacks. ended up being another late one, but finally called it a night around 3:00.

dec.27th - finally, after 3 full days of feasting and festing, it was time to relax and hopefully eat some salad or something instead of the rich repast i had been gorging myself. didn't do much else but lie around and start to make some plans for NYE. went back out to the weishars and spent the night as the sib-in-laws were planning on leaving the next day for home.

dec.28th - our admin day; time to do some banking, drivers' licenses, etc. not my favourite day by any stretch of the imagination, but always necessary when you're at home.

dec.29th - another glorious day to do nothing...just relax in the afterglow of christmas

dec.30th - see above

dec.31st - our final day in hanover. we started to say our farewells early as elisha's mom had to work...after that, it was elisha's father as he dropped us off at my parent's place. we hung out for the afternoon, drove to london and said our goodbye's as they drove back to hanover. we decided to spend NYE with justin and melissa and their friends and it turned out to be a lot of fun. got to bed around 4:30 a.m. which was a little scary considering we had to be in toronto later that same day, but fun nonetheless.

jan.1st - spent the day lounging and attempting to relax, but in fact becoming increasingly anxious about the long day ahead. eventually, it was time to go and catch the robert q airbus to pearson int'l. said our final goodbye's of the trip and then a few more hours wait before boarding the plane for a grueling, 15-hour flight back to taipei. add the trip time + the fact that we technically left on jan.2nd + losing 12 hours to int'l date line means we got back on jan3rd. painful, but worth it.

that was the trip. great time visit with fam+friends. the first week was a little rough. we were meant to head back to work the day we arrived but decided upon touchdown that wouldn't be happening. returned to work on tuesday and wednesday, but then i got sick on thursday and ended up having to take off at lunch and also friday. not really the productive work week i had in mind, but my body just had enough.

it is good to be back, but i have to be honest when i say that for one reason or another, it was a lot harder to leave this time than previous visits home. i'm not sure why, but it has spurred me to reevaluate my 'indefinite' timeline here in taiwan. in short, it's time to get focused up and set out what i came here to do. this by no way means that i'm done with taiwan, but that it's time to stop messing around and get serious about crossing a few goals off the list.

speaking of goals, i guess i did make some new year's resolutions for this year, or rather, a new year's mission statement. my theme for last year was 'grow', so this year it's going to be 'improve.' while this might seem pretty generic, it has two advantages; 1) i can apply this principle to everything i do currently in my life ex. diet - improve eating habits by eating organic and 2) it's simple and easy to use without having to come up with elaborate plans as to either keep or implement lofty resolutions. this idea of the mission statement really worked for me last year....i managed to improve my working situation, financial situation, health and eating habits, met some new people and even achieved a few other things unlooked for. this year, i just want to enjoy what i have but improve upon them; professionally+personally.

lately

it's recently become one of my favourite trends to have a full weekend, filled up with different activities. this usually entails heading out on friday nights for some after work drinks to shake off the shackles of the work week. it also usually involves not eating dinner which means getting nice and tipsy before stumbling home at a sensible time. saturday morning is my favourite moment of the week when i wake up around 8:00 a.m. and know that i have the whole day ahead of me to do whatever i want. i start off having a skyping with my parents, doing some housework, going for a run and then grabbing some starbucks all before noon. the rest of the day is spent having a nice lunch, maybe some photos, maybe some shopping and most definitely a nap. saturday nights as of late have been fairly low key....dinner with friends has been a major theme, or maybe chilling at home with beebs. this routine on sunday isn't all that different, but usually just hanging around the house and enjoying some hobbies.
this trend is a far cry from how i used to spent my weekends in taipei. after spending most of the evening in some smoky club and getting home around dawn, i might see the sun again around 3 or 4 in the afternoon. i would just start feeling well enough around 8, just in time to be able to do it all over again. this in turn would mess up my sleep patterns for the rest of the week and felt tired because work was 'getting in the way.' finally, i would be beyond thrilled that the weekend was here just so i could have a repeat of the same weekend again.
while i sometimes get nostalgic for those fun times, because they were fun, i'm well-pleased with the direction my weekends have been taking. they are just a lot more fulfilling this way and i get to do all the stuff i think about doing during the week. i feel more rested, sharper and more productive. i have even got my creative juices flowing once again and have some great ideas for some positive social outings. among my ideas was starting a cooking collective with some friends. one person acts as a host, chooses a theme and then delegates which dishes the other members should bring. we're going to meet about every 3 weeks or so to keep the pressure of a weekly event off. elisha and i hosted first meeting which was a greek theme and it went very well. have the date for the next one set and really looking forward to it. another one of my ideas was actually prompted by a friend who has recently gotten into photography. i've been a bit slack with photos over the last 6 months or so and have decided that it's time to get back on the horse. i realize that it's really just because i don't really have the technical expertise. so, i've decided to invite a few people and form a photography group. we're going to hold loosely-based meetings, choose an abstract theme or basis for the pictures, then go off together and shoot. want to try and keep the group small but hopefully we can get together and really start to learn.
aside from developing some new skills, i've also decided that it's time to develop some professional relationships. so, in the new year i am going to try and launch a group for professional networking here in taipei...the idea is going to be that people can meet, develop some business relationships, or speak with colleagues and contemporaries to grow and develop new skills. might start with a blog or a facebook page featuring a members directory, member/business/service of the month and also host in-person events like a mixer monthly or bi-monthly. i really feel like it would be a great way to meet some different people and also help to get my business off the ground.
so, that's what i've been up to lately and it feels great.

social networking

i think i may have a problem. i think i am addicted to social networking sites and i don't really care that i am. on average, i likely check facebook about 7-10 times per day...now, it's easier for me because i sit in front of a non-firewalled computer for 8 hours on a working day and use fb to take a break from tedious editing, or to vent about tedious co-workers. it's not that i really see this as a problem...modern gadgetry and the internet enable us, nay, encourage us to be plugged in at all times. while some seem to run away from tech, i embrace our new world order. my personal relationships don't suffer as a result of time spent on social networks, in fact they flourish. professionally, i don't have any difficulty meeting deadlines and accomplish more than any other colleague in the office. so what the what then?

i think the only area of social networking that i have the tiniest issue with is that every one of my 308 friends on fb, my 74 friends on myspace, and my 23 twitter followers (still growing) are aware of how much i use fb, twitter, etc.

i decided it was time to reevaluate my 'friends' list and purge those who i haven't spoken to in person, or really communicated with since first adding them to the list. i started to work through the list, trying to be diligent and cutthroat in my decisions. a former co-worker here, a high school friend there, an friend of a friend, someone who passed away and still has a fb account (a little creepy as its been updated recently) i was relentless, hacking and slashing through the list to clear the clutter from my pages. i compiled my list of 'removes' but just as i was about to start deleting them, i started to think about where i knew this person from and memories flashed in my mind. i moved to the next person, but the same happened again and again as i read through the list. if i cut them, this would be final. this would be the last time i contacted them, knew what they were up to, saw what they looked like, and a lot of other things that social networks allow us to do. in essence, i was saying goodbye. was i ready for such a bold move? i think i've reached a point in life that i will never know more people than i do now, sort of a relationship plateau. it's not that i won't meet more people, but you do start to lose people you know as you age (depressing as that is) i know i could always add them again, but how would i explain that?

yeah, sorry, i cut you out of my life but i've changed my mind. please add me again! cheers. ryan

in the end, i didn't have the heart to cut these people out...at some point and time, these people were part of my life. whether it be a reason, a season, or a lifetime i stand by the people i know and if they get to see what i'm up to 7-10 times per day, it's only because i'm actually interested in how and what they are doing as well. overall, the list is pretty selective as i've never been a friend collector (some of my friends have 4,000+ "friends" on their lists) i mean, if i didn't talk to you in high school or when we worked together, do you honestly think i would want to know what you are up to now?

someday i might be able to harden my heart and cut out the riff raff, but today is not that day. for now, i'm just going to enjoy social networking for what it is; a means to creep on everyone i know and shamelessly self-promote every part of my life in excruciating detail. ahhh...sharing is fun.

also known as

every couple out there has some pet name that they call each other. some of these pet names are the generic 'sweetie' or 'honey'. these are g-rated and often said in public, no matter the company. then, there are those pet names which are just between the couple. this can be specific to a person, or possibly a body part. the list of names are many and unique and couldn't possibly be listed here. however, i do have a few names to share with you.
when you've been together with someone as long as i've been with elisha, using the same petname over and over is a little tedious. mine have changed for elisha about as often as i can think of them...sometimes they stick, sometimes they are just a fad.
so here is a compendium of aliases for my beloved...

elisha weishar aka eliska veizer aka faloola aka leeshie loo aka leeloo aka kitten kaboo aka kitten aka papillon aka princess stinkington aka shitska malitska aka jiminy jillickers aka baby bird aka bitch bird aka bossy bird aka b-bird aka beebs aka creamy butters aka....

i'm drawing a blank but i know there have been many, many more. and this isn't a one-sided deal, either...she's come up with her share for me...here are a few i can think of off the top of my head...
hunners, sweeters, shitters (?) furry bear, and...and...that's all i can think of for now. ok, so i'm a little more imaginative with my pet names, but she has come up with some that suit pretty well. anyway, it's all in good fun tho i'm not that crazy about 'shitters'.

halloweeny

just a quick update that monster massive was awesome! had a great time, great music and spent it with some great people in great costumes. everything was...great. my only complaint was that it was over too soon. oh well, will definitely be going back next year for more fun and games.
not much else going on...going out for a quick birthday drink for a friend this evening and then spending the rest of the weekend laying low due to low funds and low energy. thought i was getting paid on monday, but turns out my math still sucks and i figured out the wrong day, so have to wait til wednesday now. not that payday is much of a joyous occassion this time 'round...there's the pesky international flight to pay for amongst a few other things such as local bills...once, just once, i would really like my money to actually be my money. it seems every time it looks as though i'll be getting ahead for the month, something comes up like a trip back to canada, or halloween, or birthdays and there just isn't enough cash to go around. i remember the days when i could go out and blow 10,000NT and not bat an eye but these days are becoming a hazy dream. i hate having the responsibles all the time, but i guess that's part of adulthood.
anyway, didn't want this to become a rant about money, so i'll sign off for now. longer post to follow on the weekend.