Something I did not know....

....was that Alice Cooper is apparently, a great golfer. I hope he kicks Bobby Euwing's ass.



Stars' smiles hide golf rivalry
By Nick Dermody BBC Wales news website

Stars turn out for celebrity golf Not everyone takes up golf because they need something to do after giving up hard liquor.
But that is what veteran shock rocker Alice Cooper did.
And 25 years of practice have made him a top shot in the American team in this year's celebrity golf tournament at the Celtic Manor Resort in south Wales.
The visitors hope his five handicap will help them to victory after losing to the Europe team in the final shots at the inaugural event last year.
Professional golfer Colin Montgomerie heads the Europe team, which includes veteran celebrity golfer Bruce Forsyth, 78, and Dutch footballing star Ruud Gullit, who has an impressive seven handicap.

The celebrities attended a gala dinner at the event's opening night on Saturday, and some were frank about the rivalry behind the smiles and camaraderie of the amateur fund-raising three-day event.

Singer Ronan Keating was the most blunt about what was really going through the minds of the guests, who signed autographs for the dozens of fans waiting patiently at the hotel entrance.
He said: "We really want to win. We won the cup last year and we want to win again this year. We want to keep it in Europe."
Bruce Forsyth has emerged as the secret weapon on the Europe team. Not least since he scooped the £10,000 diamond pendant for winning the nearest-the-pin contest in Saturday's warm-up session.

Former Dallas star Patrick Duffy is in the American golf team
It is Cooper who is lined up against him. And perhaps with good reason, as he outworks Tiger Woods when it comes to getting in his practice.
He said: "I play more than Tiger plays. I don't play as good as Tiger plays, but I play more.
"I quit drinking 25 years ago, and I took up golf as the substitute. So I told my wife, 'well I drank every day, so I should play golf every day' and somehow that convoluted logic made sense.
"So that's what I do. I live in Arizona and I get up and I'm on a tee at six-thirty every morning."
And underneath the smiles - there was no make-up - the rivalry runs just as deep. He said: "When you need to make that shot - all of a sudden it's real serious."

These four 15 year olds had a successful day's autographing hunting
The competition was just as fierce among the autograph hunters.
Samantha Stribling, 15, from Caerleon, was the most successful of four friends who spent the day watching the golf and then collecting autographs - and kisses on the cheek - from the celebrities.
Samantha had 33 names in her book. She said: "We met all the celebrities. We came last year and had loads of kisses then. "
The fans queued for up to four hours as the stars made a red carpet entrance to their gala dinner.
But the event may be just as tough on the competitors, whether they want a drink or not.

Cindy's Arostic Poem

Thought I'd post this as I thought it was funny and it freaked me out a little at the same time. This is from Cindy, she just started grade one. Very smart, high strung little girl. She's infatuated with her classmate Alan and dedicated her arostic poem to him (minus the lines about candy canes). "I like Alan too much." Oh Cindy, it's the only the beginning.

Few more pictures.

Here's a few more pictures from the party I had last weekend. This weekend was fun too, I just didn't take any pictures of it.



This is April, she's from Sin Jawn's................

.....and Jon Brooks, from Gambo I believe.

Nick doing suggestive things with a bottle of Taiwan draft while Ryan is appalled. Here's a clearer picture of Megan and I so you can see how cute we are.

The Mole Man

Many of you who I knew in Toronto will remember Laura, my fabulous friend and former roomate when I lived on Roxton Road in Little Italy. She's now living in Oxford and has a nice little blog (there's a link on the right, "Laura in Oxford". Anyway, there was link to this great little story, "The Mole Man of Hackney," check it out.

http://society.guardian.co.uk/communities/story/0,,1839538,00.html

Stressed out? Go beat the crap out of someone.

This is an article from the BBC news website. I just wonder if they have staff functions where they hire people to dress up as angry custumers for the staff to beat up and in turn, release their own stress caused from the problems of their daily lives. Very glad they have "psychology students" to help out.


Chinese 'anger bar' is a big hit

Customers can release anger caused by the problems of daily life. A bar in eastern China has come up with a novel way of attracting clients - they are allowed to beat up the staff.

The Rising Sun Anger Release Bar in Nanjing lets customers smash glasses, rant and even hit specially trained workers, state media reported.

The owner, Wu Gong, told China Daily that he was inspired to open the bar by his experiences as a migrant worker.

Most of his customers were women working in the service or entertainment industries, he said.

The bar employs 20 men who have been given protective gear and physical training to prepare them for the job. Clients can ask the men to dress as the character they wish to attack.

'Attractive idea'

Passers-by were divided on the idea.
"Pressure in today's society comes from just about anywhere, from family or from work, from your boss or your girlfriend. We get no place to vent anger," said salesman Chen Liang.

"The idea of beating someone decorated as your boss seems attractive."

But another man, Liu Yuanyuan, said violence was not the answer.
"If people really feel angry, they should adjust their lifestyles or seek psychological treatment," he told the daily.

But Mr Wu can meet that need, too. For the most stressed-out cases, counselling is available from psychology students recruited from local universities.

....and yet another friggin' goodbye dinner.....

.....alright, and this was last night. This is my friend Ryan who just moved back from Alberta. We're in some Taiwanese restaurant with harsh lights called "Fish Beer House" or something where, indeed, we consumed fish and beer.

And that's it, everyone has shagged off somewhere else and I have no more goodbye dinners/drinks/meetings/tearfests in the immediate future. Not until the end of the month when my boss leaves, I'm throwing a barbeque for him as I am a glutton for punishment. And barbequed meat. 

The Party That Evolved

This was my patio at the "happy hour" post-work drink thingy that turned into a party on Friday night. See, I didn't want to have a party as I figured everyone would have plans to hit the town, so I just arranged for my coworkers to come over early in the evening for a couple of drinks and then people would go their separate ways.

Little did I know that these people don't make plans. Good thing I didn't have any either. So people remained on the patio until 3:30am. I put that picnic table together myself. Some sturdy, no? 

....and goodbye dinners....

This is Nick (left) and Ryan (right), Nick is Megan's sigificant other and Ryan (Nick's friend from home) just moved here and inheirited their apartment, scooter, furniture and Nick's teaching position. He is the reaper of the spoils. 

More friggin' goodbyes

This is my friend Megan, she lived on the floor above me and her and her boyfriend Nick just moved to Saigon on Saturday. As I have moaned about in earlier posts, there's been an exodus of my friends lately. It sucks.

Favourite words

Was sitting around imbibing with friends a while ago and we started talking about words we like. Below are two of my favourites. I'm going to try to start using them in sentences together.

From the Dictionary of Newfoundland English (there's a link to the right)

badness: n Phr for badness: with mischievous intent; for devilment. 1947 TANNER ii, 712 'Just for badness,' as [the Labrador trapper] says. T 100/2-64 He'll tell that story so true, for badness, that the other feller would believe it. T 325-66 Fellers dressed up and frighten 'em. They used to do that for devilment. It was badness they used to do that for. C 71-28 [She] told me that if I stepped on a beetle we would have rain. Sometimes I would step on one for badness just to see the consequences. 1975 LEYTON 33 [He'd do it] just for devilment that's all, just for badness.

And this was one of my "word of the day" emails last year;

booboisie \boob-wah-ZEE\, noun: A class of people regarded as stupid or foolish.

Until then, he'd dismissed Hollywood as a purveyor of machine-made fodder for the booboisie, but he found, much to his surprise, that the movies weren't nearly as bad as he'd claimed. --Terry Teachout, quoted in "Writing Mencken," by Kathryn Jean Lopez, [1]National Review Online, November 15, 2002

He was primarily a radical freethinker who noisily waged war against the booboisie. --Richard Lingeman, "Disturber of the Peace," [2]Washington Post, November 3, 2002 _________________________________________________________
Booboisie is a blend of boob and bourgeoisie. It was coined by H. L. Mencken (1880-1956), American editor and critic.

References 1. http://www.nationalreview.com/ 2. http://www.washingtonpost.com/

Input needed - waddya like?

I'm currently at my computer adding songs to my MP3 player. I've been listening to a lot of Bloc Party and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah lately. Would like any suggestions as to new music I can check out via the internet or good internet radio stations as the music exposure here in Taiwan is a bit weak. I mean, Air Supply came to Taichung a while ago and apparently they rocked the house, but I still feel limited somehow.

Also looking for input on good books. I just finished reading "The Power and the Glory," by Graham Greene, which was fantastic. Now reading fluffier stuff, "Good In Bed," by Jennifer Weiner, it's about an overweight woman who's exboyfriend writes a column about what it was like to date a "larger" lady. It's good, but it feels like the author watches too much Sex and the City.

Been going through tons of old photo cds trying to make a collection of my favorite Asia pictures. It's tedious. So much shit. So many crappy pics of "this is the hotel room we stayed in," or "this is what we had for lunch." Messy beds and dirty plates. No one ever looks at pictures like this, why take them? Perhaps I'm just not sedimental. Anyway, it's 11:00pm and I'm crapping out. Bed.

Bridget