"Deep Thoughts" and shots of Sun Moon lake in Nantou (central-northwestern mountainous region of Taiwan) where I attended an editing seminar.

Hello all (all???-where do these bass-ackward assumptions of mine come from? As of yet I know of only one person who has seen this blog...!)

Oh well, as a personally interesting (in an introspective kind of way) and somewhat therapeutic endeavor I shall continue with my entries tonight. My last one was on Sept. 21st. and to keep in form, it is 2:00am and I am suffering from another bout of insideous insomnia (no alliteration intended). The good news is I don't have to be up at 6:00am-4 hours later-tomorrow.

Before I talk briefly about the photos that were taken during a recent trip down to Nantou to attend an editors conference, I'll recount in diary form a very 'stunted' timeline of a few of my daily routines.

My life is BUSY but productive-"productive" being the operative word here in that I define it in terms of the progress I am or am not making to improve myself to be more (among other things) eclectic through exposure to different people and new experiences.

Weekly, (not Thursdays!) I am up at 6:00am after which time I slowly lumber (more like lerch!) down to Sun-Yat-Sen Memorial Hall (some say the father of "Chinese democracy"-NOT the Guns 'N' Roses version) to engage in a group Tai-chi session with between 30-100 other early risers, all hopeing to reap the mental, physical and spiritual (existential too!) benefits of the time honored tradition. Without being egotistical, I am proud of myself for having stuck to this routine since February of this year. It has certainly done wonders for me, especially in a meditative sense. So much easier now to contend with lifes pressures in a soothing, balanced way, which indeed makes coming to terms with lifes compromises that much easier.

After my hour and a half session of Tai-chi, I then grab some breakfast (more about eating in another entry) and head back home to get ready and head out to my office, which is quite close to where I live via the MRT (Taipei's subway/sky-train/tube etc...)

Three days a week after work ("work"-more about that later too) I attend a bjj-Brazilian Jiu-jitsu group class and open mat sparring session at Evolution Combat in Taipei, which takes me through to early evening, at which time I usually go out with whatever 'gym buddies' are present and grab some dinner before heading home. Depending on how I feel physically, I usually go for a late night swim in the pool at the complex where I live before I turn in.

That's all for now from the 'diary perspectives'.

As you can see I have 4 photos of Taiwan's Sun Moon lake. It is a beautiful shimmery torquise colored lake that is a vacation spot growing in popularity. To bolster the tourist industry on Taiwan the gov. and private industry created a truly majestic 5-star resort along the lakeshore, which, so I've been told is nothing short of spectacular. The Taiwanese gov. has rather recently (too recently!) began a green campaign for the island, most notably in a commercial sense is the contstruction of 'green' hotels, bed and breakfasts, and resorts in various areas of the island, including the islands Penghu, Kinmen and Green island.

The beautifully reflective shot, with the varying gradients of color and texture was taken at dawn.

Always live in the moment...

Until later...

Xiao long-bao!

Din Tai-Feng, literally 3 minutes away from my office and the absolute "bane of my culinary existence" in that I frequent the place WAY TOO MUCH!

Seriously though, it has become something of an institution in Taipei for Taiwanese, as well as a popular tourist destination for foreigners. It is most known for, among other local delicacies, the best Xiao long-bao on the island! Xiao long-bao-(small handmade wonton size dumplings filled with various mixtures of spices, meats,vegetables and/or seafood etc). Originally Xiao long-bao were specialty foods brought to Taiwan by immigrating Guomindang (Nationalist Party) soldiers coming here from the mid-to late 1940's on, to re-group and fortify materiel and personnel in the hopes of re-staging an offensive (obviously this didn't pan out) against the communists on the mainland.

In fact, the immediate area around my office offers an abundant variety of 'fusion foods'-tasty new creations created from the traditional chinese dishes immigrants brought with them, local original native recipes, and traditional dishes from Holland and the Netherlands to name a few. A very eclectic food culture to say the least.

Shi-Fan Waterfalls.

'FLORA'! and fauna that is.

Great area with an abundance of hot spring's as well.

Continuous waterfall discoveries...

Nei-Dong Waterfalls, so much beautiful scenery, flaura and fauna along Taiwans un-touched east coast.

After all this time, another "late night/early morning-I can't get to sleep express myself entry"...

Well, here's to the official second entry of my blog from here in Nankan County, Taoyuan Province R.O.C. started way back when-and it does seem so long ago-in April of this year.
I am in another one of my "Tea in the Sahara...with you..." lucidly lyrical, melancholy nostalgic Sting'ish moods again in this early hour of the morning. Indeed it is sometimes in these early hours, whether in a dream-state or awake, that wild somewhat intrusive scary feelings seem to stealthily rise to the surface... Yes, I just can't get to sleep. This is also surely in part because of my long day of searching, analyzing and just sifting through endless amounts of reading material consisting of extremely amorphous language pertaining to laws and matching patterns of reasoning that they "justify"... Although I know my level of mental endurance continues to improve, it is still VERY dry stuff and I feel safe in assuming that after 6 hours of immersion, anyone would be more than ready to pack it in... well, maybe not a former teacher of mine Jeff Chivers, who is now in Harvard Law School as we speak!
I have found of course that writing does in fact offer a soothing kind of meditative relaxation, that allows me more easily to transcend the mental rigors of the day, and fall into that at times ellusive lucidity of mind that is present just before falling asleep.
I'll thus leave it at that with the hopes of engaging in some much needed un-interupted slumber.
Good night to all, until next time.

Official beginning of my blog!

Well, it's now 4:11am and I am writing my first blog entry here in Nankan Taoyuan in Taiwan.
I just can't get to sleep and in keeping with the times I decided to finally make strides into becoming more a part of the digital world, (mainly I gave into alot of badgering by a select few to do this) and I am thankful for it of course.
So here I am! Up on a blog! I am tired and will go to sleep (I hope!)
From now on I will begin to write and post pics and such as things progress...
Until later.