Welcome to nilbus.com - I'm a programmer, web developer, linux sysadmin, and all around geek. :-) I'm LDS, speak fluent mandarin chinese, and am currently vacationing in Taiwan. I love to dance, sing, drive a stick, and read, among many other things. I am enthusiastic, patient, efficient, adventurous, and easygoing. Here is a small window into my world.
KTV in Taiwan
May 27, 2008 10:37PM
Wow, if there's anything that Taiwan has that America is really missing out on, it's KTV. It's karaoke, except instead of singing to a huge crowd of people, you go with your friends and get your own private room. It's so popular here, one of the most common things people go out to do to for fun.
My friends took me to a place called 錢櫃 Cash Box. It was so fancy, almost like a 5 star hotel! The service was so professional. They took us up to the second floor and then through a winding hall to the back of the building where the attendant showed us our room. It was a small room, nicely decorated, with a large table in the center. Black sofas lined the walls, probably with enough room for about 10 people to sit. There was a large widescreen TV at the front of the room and a computer for queueing songs in front of the sofa on the left.
I love singing, and this was no exception. Thanks to Rock Band, I've gotten enough practice with karaoke to be somewhat decent at it. We queued up songs in both English and Chinese and took turns signing. They knew some of the English songs and sang with me, and some of the Chinese songs were slow enough that I could read the subtitles fast enough to sing along. It was so much fun! We sang for four and a half hours before we finally went home.
The friends that took me were probably the best company that I could have possibly had. I went with Grace馬偉恩 and her friend 高鈴雅. I knew Grace from my mission and had met her friend 鈴雅 the day before when we played games together after church. She also went on a mission like I did. Somehow 鈴雅 and I really clicked, and we had a lot of fun together. I like her a lot, but unfortunately she lives in JiaYi. That's two hours away from my house in Kaohsiung, so I won't be able to see her much.
The last song 鈴雅 and I sang together, and it was so much fun! We got so into it. I totally love that song's lyrics and have since memorized them. 曹格 - Superman The video is pretty weird, so most of you non-chinese speakers probably won't understand how I could possibly like it so much. haha :P Anyway, that was a blast - the KTV places will definitely be seeing a lot of me.
My friends took me to a place called 錢櫃 Cash Box. It was so fancy, almost like a 5 star hotel! The service was so professional. They took us up to the second floor and then through a winding hall to the back of the building where the attendant showed us our room. It was a small room, nicely decorated, with a large table in the center. Black sofas lined the walls, probably with enough room for about 10 people to sit. There was a large widescreen TV at the front of the room and a computer for queueing songs in front of the sofa on the left.
I love singing, and this was no exception. Thanks to Rock Band, I've gotten enough practice with karaoke to be somewhat decent at it. We queued up songs in both English and Chinese and took turns signing. They knew some of the English songs and sang with me, and some of the Chinese songs were slow enough that I could read the subtitles fast enough to sing along. It was so much fun! We sang for four and a half hours before we finally went home.
The friends that took me were probably the best company that I could have possibly had. I went with Grace馬偉恩 and her friend 高鈴雅. I knew Grace from my mission and had met her friend 鈴雅 the day before when we played games together after church. She also went on a mission like I did. Somehow 鈴雅 and I really clicked, and we had a lot of fun together. I like her a lot, but unfortunately she lives in JiaYi. That's two hours away from my house in Kaohsiung, so I won't be able to see her much.
The last song 鈴雅 and I sang together, and it was so much fun! We got so into it. I totally love that song's lyrics and have since memorized them. 曹格 - Superman The video is pretty weird, so most of you non-chinese speakers probably won't understand how I could possibly like it so much. haha :P Anyway, that was a blast - the KTV places will definitely be seeing a lot of me.
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Everything fried rice
May 26, 2008 1:18AM
I'm in Taiwan for the summer. :-) I'm thinking about working here after I graduate, so I wanted to come and check things out first to make sure that's what I really want to do.
I'm in a pretty rural area today, 興化部, just outside of JiaYi. Just got back from lunch. I walked a long way down the road looking for food, and found this place that makes a bunch of traditional Taiwanese food. I looked at the menu and ordered an "everything" fried rice, and some interesting looking greens that the cook said were some gourd's stems and leaves. They tasted great! I love getting the everything rice, because it's different most everywhere I go. This time it had shrimp, shreds of beef and pork, other stuff I didn't recognize, and chicken hearts. :) yum. I think that sometimes they just throw in whatever they have extra of that day - an adventure every time!
I've also been dreaming a lot since I've gotten here! So I've started a dream blog: http://nilbus-dreams.blogspot.com Feel free to check it out. :)
I'm in a pretty rural area today, 興化部, just outside of JiaYi. Just got back from lunch. I walked a long way down the road looking for food, and found this place that makes a bunch of traditional Taiwanese food. I looked at the menu and ordered an "everything" fried rice, and some interesting looking greens that the cook said were some gourd's stems and leaves. They tasted great! I love getting the everything rice, because it's different most everywhere I go. This time it had shrimp, shreds of beef and pork, other stuff I didn't recognize, and chicken hearts. :) yum. I think that sometimes they just throw in whatever they have extra of that day - an adventure every time!
I've also been dreaming a lot since I've gotten here! So I've started a dream blog: http://nilbus-dreams.blogspot.com Feel free to check it out. :)
Stuck in an elevator
March 24, 2008 11:34AM
This morning I got stuck in an elevator. The door closed and it just wouldn't move or open again. Of course, no cell phone signal. So I hit the call button in the elevator, which called the elevator company, but I could barely hear her. She couldn't hear me and hung up. It wouldn't call again. So I sat down and rang the bell on and off hoping someone would come. I sat for around 5 minutes, and an old lady finally came with her groceries and pushed the button, opening the door. She wanted to go up, so I told her I would stay outide to open the door for her if she got stuck, but she didn't understand and was afraid to go up alone. So she stepped out of the elevator. I took her place in the elevator and told her to press the button to open the door if I got stuck again and rang the bell. Then she promptly walked into the elevator. :-( I tried helping her understand what I wanted to do again, but she didn't get it. Finally another guy came in the building. He understood what I was trying to say, so I went in the elevator and tried to go up again. It didn't even respond this time. So I went and reported it, and we walked the old lady up the stairs.
A delicious treat
Saving the Temple
February 4, 2008 9:56AM
Josh Peterson and I saved the temple the other night. There was a dance on friday night, and I had sat down on the side to rest after dancing for a while. It felt great to rest for a few minutes. Then a slow song came on and I sad a crazy strong feeling come to me all the sudden that said, "I want to dance with Alicia right now." So I did. I stood up and walked straight across the dance floor to where I knew she was sitting. I took her by the hand and said, "let's dance."
Little did I know, her ex-fiancee Josh Peterson also wanted to dance with her for that song. Josh told the rest of the story a few days later in his testimony meeting in Cary, which I heard through friends who were there. He went on about how "Ed stole my girl!" and narrated how he felt bummed out and went outside in the parking lot to cool off or something. The dance was at the chapel right adjacent to the temple, which had been getting egged recently by some pranksters. The kids who had been doing it were right there with their eggs, and Josh caught them red handed.
I saw the cops pulling in that night as I left the dance that night and wondered, "why are the police here?" Little did I know that it was because of me.
Little did I know, her ex-fiancee Josh Peterson also wanted to dance with her for that song. Josh told the rest of the story a few days later in his testimony meeting in Cary, which I heard through friends who were there. He went on about how "Ed stole my girl!" and narrated how he felt bummed out and went outside in the parking lot to cool off or something. The dance was at the chapel right adjacent to the temple, which had been getting egged recently by some pranksters. The kids who had been doing it were right there with their eggs, and Josh caught them red handed.
I saw the cops pulling in that night as I left the dance that night and wondered, "why are the police here?" Little did I know that it was because of me.
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