Been another 8 months.
Back in October I was suddenly informed that I had to go Taiwan to run a BCP program with my paisen. It was a welcome surprise.
I made that trip this week, and came back to Singapore two days ago. Slept the whole of yesterday ago, and am doing a day shift now in operation room as I am writing this.
It's been a very long time since I went overseas. 2 June 2016 was when I returned to Singapore from Japan. I have another work trip to Toulouse, France, coming up in February. After that I have a vacation to Japan with two friends in March. That's a lot of overseas after 7.5 years of no overseas.
I felt like a dead person for the last few years, but I feel like some life is finally coming back into me.
Let me write down the more impressionable things that happened in this trip.
Right off the bat I'm going to sidetrack. My colleagues have been truly nice to me. With this kind of environment, even if the work isn't all that fulfilling, I find myself feeling content. Hard to believe that this job came out of a desperado move when I was completely driven into a corner. It certainly helps that I have a powerful weapon to use to make people respect me now, but that alone will not suffice when it comes to interpersonal relationships. It's so unexpectedly because I'm in an environment where no one fall into my usual interest groups, yet I'm getting along better than in my previous company where almost everyone were supposed to be in similar interest groups. How ironic.
Most of my colleagues are older than me, and they are typical normies. They keep encouraging/teasing me about finding a girl, but I made it clear that I'm never going to change my mind. I'm chill, so I turn that into an opportunity for jokes. The impression they have of me is probably "that rich otaku bachelor", which is just what I would like to be thought of.
I have been lying to everyone, but I hope that can stop soon.
Now, on to the Taiwan trip proper.
<Taxi ride>
When we got off the airport, we promptly called a taxi to take us to the hotel. We chatted with the driver the whole way, and it felt so odd to be chatting with someone who can speak proper mandarin. Also I got the chance to go full strength again. How many years have it been since I last got to speak mandarin properly? Probably since when I had a Chinese girlfriend. I continued to be tested for the rest of the trip, and it felt refreshing. I do regret giving the driver false information about Singapore though. Told him that Singapore public housing costs like ... S$5-6 million bucks. I added another zero in my mental calculation. I sure hope he forgets that soon.
<Incredible room>
The hotel room was truly luxurious. The rooms I have stayed at for my own vacations were nothing close to it. It had a washing machine that also has a dryer function. A huge bathroom with a television in front of it. I could also play music while having a bath. There's a bar fridge with a can of coke, sprite, and poccari sweat that's replenished daily. A massage chair that had a chest, waist, and butt massage routine on various intensities. The bed is a king-sized bed, and my backache disappeared after one night of sleep.
I watched some variety shows while taking a bath. And boy, did I take baths. One of my favourite things ever, and I haven't done it since coming back from Japan in 2016 June. I took one or two every day out of the 6 days I was there. One of the variety shows had Lin Xiang, which I knew beforehand as she appeared on Weekly Playboy's cover earlier this year. This reminds me, I used to have a big crush on a Taiwanese girl called Nono Gu. I have oshihened another 3 times or so since then.
<Nia figurine>
I changed just 3000 NTD initially, but at the urging of my colleagues, I got another 3000 NTD. That's about 250 SGD. I thought it would be impossible to spend that in just 5 days. A colleague volunteered to buy whatever leftover I have, so I had nothing to lose.
I visited the otaku heaven, Taipei City Mall, on a friend's recommendation. There was just this one thing in the whole wide world that I wanted; a figurine of Nia from Xenoblade Chronicles 2. I went with zero expectations. After all, it's out of stock in Japanese online stores, why would any shops in Taiwan have it? I strolled around leisurely, saw some artbooks of my recent favourite games (Octopath Traveler, Xenoblade Chronicles, Final Fantasy XVI), and contemplated buying them, but chose not to when I realised that they were heavily marked up.
Then I walked into this shop, and Nia was right there by the entrance, with two small figurines stacked on top of her. I picked her up, and dropped the figurines above. I asked the shopkeeper who was right beside me if they accepted credit card, and got a no. I spent the next 30 minutes trying to figure out how to withdraw cash from the ATM right beside the shop. Finally I went to another ATM a short walk away and managed to withdraw immediately. Doh. I got 5000 NTD, which was a fair bit more than what I needed. In retrospect that was the right call, as I returned to Singapore with just 370 NTD.
It cost 7000 NTD (S$300), which was more than I brought for the entire trip. But it was absolutely worth it, considering that it was barely above the original price + shipping. What a pleasant surprise. My Xenoblade collection is complete once again. Next up is Mio, and probably Eunie after that. Gotta react quickly to those.
<Paisen's son>
I met Paisen's family at the hotel lobby on day 1, and was a little caught off-guard at Paisen's wife's appearance. I don't know what I was expecting, but she was a lot thicker than I would have imagined. I ought to remember that most people get fat when they hit their 30s or 40s. I'm a rare exception, as someone who kept on losing weight the more I age. I am 44 kg now, and even my new kouhai at work who is a girl was shocked to learn that. She's a girl slightly shorter than me, and she's 47 kg. I suppose most girls around my height and age are around 5X-6X kg.
It gives me strong conviction to be "that rich bachelor" forever. I don't think I can bear to watch someone go fat or change drastically in some other way, and keep on loving them. I like perfection, and gradols can provide that for me.
I went to Shilin Night Market with Paisen's family. And the night got pretty awkward when they started scolding their kid for being picky with food. Another thing that will keep me from ever having a family. I will never be a good father. I can't even take care of myself.
Somehow, over the next few days, the boy grew very attached to me. He held my hands on the way home from Ximending. It felt so weird. There's 28 years of gap between the two of us, so I could absolutely be his dad. Not even a young dad at that. That feeling, it's the first time I ever experienced it. Could it be fatherly instinct? My paisen took a photo of us holding hands from behind and sent it to me. I wonder what he thought of that. I think we also got closer thanks to this trip. That's a good thing, for co-workers to bond with each other.
On the fourth day, the boy recorded a video and said "he loves Uncle Me" and something else I couldn't remember. That was quite surprising too. The last time anyone said they loved me was a very long time ago.
As a nihilist, who has nothing to live for but video games, these moments breathed some life into my zombie heart. Another unexpected outcome from a work trip. I'm sure my figurative heart will flatline again soon enough, but having it beat for a short while felt comforting.
<Work>
I can't talk too much about work, but I will say that I'm surprised that they are in almost the exact same situation as us. Team comprises of almost all newbies. In fact I am more senior than most of them. They fed us up real good. McDonalds, local food nearby, and a famous xiaolongbao place near the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, which was just opposite the street from their HQ.
<Food>
I was able to claim for all my food and drinks for the entire trip, so I went ham. I ate two meals at once several times, and managed to gain 2 kg at the end of the trip. Although I'm certain I would lose that weight in a week or so as I have already gone back to my previous meal regime. I actually haven't eaten as much as I would like to, as I was pretty much full all the time. Unfortunately, Taiwanese food isn't as good as Japanese food, so I wasn't able to make myself truly remove my limiters. In the end I only utilised about 1/3 of my daily claim limit. A big pity.
<Japanese students>
I saw a whole horde of Japanese highschoolers when I visited Jiufen. Their youth energy was like radiation to me. I have become a bitter old man at a tender age of 34. Still, I wish to regain some of that energy if possible. I hope by next year this time I would come a step closer to it. When the last of my big life worries are behind me, perhaps I can become a cheerful young man again.
Jiufen itself was beautiful, but I'm just not accustomed to solo travelling. Or rather, I am unable to enjoy it.
And that's about it. Next entry probably will be about France.
