Twenty Zero 4 - A year in Re-View

Best Moment
1. Watching a Taiwanese documentary with Louise that had no spoken English and only Chinese subtitles and being able to walk out with only a few questions, but, on the whole. understanding the film.

2. Driving my scooter over 400k in one day. Adrian and I decided to head to the East coast through the mountains. Once there we decided to follow the coast-line North and go around back to our city. 10.5 hours and 2 sore butt-cheeks later . . . I made it. The most ironic part about the trip was that before we began the 7 hour leg of our journey, Adrian figured the 3 hour drive down the East coast would be too far.

Worst Moment
I guess it's a good thing that I am having a hard time filling this space. If anything comes to mind I'll let you know.

Favourite CD released in '04

American Idiot by Green Day

Most surprising CD

Astronaut by Duran Duran

Most disappointing CD
There is a slew of them. I would have to say that 2004 has been the worst year in music in a long time. I slowed down my buying of CDs, mostly for financial reasons, but also because there really wasn't anything out there that made me stand up. So I can't really name one specific album since there are, oh, so many out there.



Favourite TV Show
Desperate Housewives. Seriously a great show. Smart, quirky and intelligent. And of course, Teri Hatcher.

Started watching Arrested Development lately. That's a great show too.

Happiest TV Moment
Finding out that Sex in the City is finally over. I used to love the show until I watched the SNL spoof. Ruined it for me completely.

Favourite Meal
My mom's Japanese Chicken Wings while in Canada. so good they were requested again by my siblings and Louise.

Favourite food/drink discovery
An old favorite, but I would have to say the box of "After Eight" dinner mints that Adrian and I found in costco.

Best Movie
I'm gonna get on the band wagon and go with "The Incredibles." Seriously, I can't find anything wrong with that movie.

Best Film
I would have to say that Collateral was one of the most beautifully made movies that I have seen in a long time. I don't know what it was exactly, but the way Michael Mann used the music and the city lights just made me fall in love with the movie.

Worst Movie
Ocean's 12. Saw it on New Year's Eve. What a waste of time and money. Please don't bother seeing it. It was worse than Matrix II, Star Wars Episode II and Titanic rolled into one. I would rather have a marathon of those movies dubbed into Russin with Malay subtitles played at full volume, than watch Ocean's 12 again.

Most surprising movie
"Super-Size Me." Thanks to this movie I don't know when I will eat fast food again.

Twenty Zero 5 - A year in Pre-View

What's in store for me this year:

- More teaching at a high school with a system that drives me nuts, but each year they promise will get better.

- Some students at the high school who will make me feel it is all worth while.

- More Sundays of wondering what the hell I am gonna do until it's time to go to sleep.

- More Sundays where I wish the day would never end because the light in the forest is stunning.

- Nights spent in bed wondering what I am doing here.

- Nights spent in bed wondering how I am going to leave here.

- Classes that go too fast.

- Classes that go on and on and on and never seem to end and no one wants to talk and it would be so much better if time would just move a little faster but oh god it doesn't and I can tell my students can feel me drowning at the front of my room but they just won't talk why won't they talk this is a conversation class don't they see the irony they ask how to improve their english and then they won't talk arrrgggghhh

- More days of looking at food vendors and wondering what thay weird mass of meat is.

- More hungry days where the food smells delicious but there is no English and no picture to look at, so I move on to the vendor with the mass of mystery meat and get that because I know how to say "Wo Yiao Zigga" (I want this).

- There will countless moments in traffic that make my stomach jump into my throat and I will wonder how the hell that other guy was allowed behind the wheel of that mercedes.

- I hope that there will be countless moments in the mountains where I am the only vehicle on the road and that the sun won't set for a few more hours.

- This year also marks "my last year in Taiwan." I intend to send in my application to the U of c education department in the coming weeks and will return to Canada in the summer to get ready to go back to school.

- I will hopefully finish Gravity's Rainbow. This is a book that I have unsuccessfully tried to read every year since 1997. It's just too damn confusing. My record is page 120. Maybe this year I can motor on through, but I doubt it.

- I am looking forward to better music and movies. 2004 was a crap year for both. With a few fav. bands in the studio it should be a good year, if they don't crap out like most artists did on their 2004 releases.