since coming to taiwan, i always hear people talk about shrimping. “have you gone shrimping? you should totally go shrimping? shrimping is fun!!” every time someone would say anything along the lines of those questions, i always had this mental image of a bunch of people, sitting in a little boat in the middle of the ocean, trying to catch shrimp with little nets while trying really hard not to get bit by mosquitoes.  it was either that, or whatever forrest gump shrimp related scene came into my head first.  ANYWAY, we finally got the chance to go with a good group of friends and had a blast!  oh, and it wasn’t quite like i had imagined it….

on the way to shrimping…sitting in the “privileged” people’s seats

sitting in the trunk of david’s car to get to the shrimping area

place of shrimping

the inside

so basically how it works is…you have a pole, a line and a hook. you put some little shrimp on the hook (how you catch shrimp, using shrimp is beyond me), then when you see the bobble thing move, you yank up as hard as you can to hook the guy and there you have it.  unfortunately, yanking up as hard as you can creates chances for live shrimp to face smacking, like what happened here, when annie caught one.

yea!

eric saw one climbing up our net and decided to go all john locke and use his bare hands

the pictures make it look like we caught a bunch, but i basically took a picture for every one we caught -_-

i don’t know why, but i just couldn’t get near the shrimp.  they were moving all crazy and i’m just a wuss when it comes to that stuff.  as with killing bugs, annie unhooked all the shrimp we caught

nothing better than fishing, friends and beers

she caught the most shrimp out of all of us

altogether, we all caught about 25 shrimp total, which wasn’t that bad.  so what did we do with the shrimp after we caught them?

collected our nets

jam some sticks through them and cover them in sea salt

stick em in the bbq

we wait

turning pink

all done!

mmmmm

mix with some fried foods down the street and we had a nice little meal

aw eric, you look so happy

shrimping wasn’t exactly what i thought it would be but it was still super awesome fun!

i can still dream though

it’s always nice to have friends come visit us from back home.  when they’re here it gives us a little taste of what we miss most about home, which is, of course, our friends.  suzing was here for a little while in between traveling southern asia and it was SO much fun.  anyway, here are some pictures of some things we did while she was here.

before going to spark

doing the calton dance

first time clubbing together i believe

on the dance flo

then we went to CKS memorial

they look so little

so windy

failing at counting the steps

after hearing suzing say “i like those pictures where i’m staring out at stuff”

took her to the roof of our dorm with a great view

took her to play some darts, but first some good old street drinking

hanging out in our very, VERY crowded private room -_-

then moved to a new darts place with a bigger space

late night eats

the last day suzing was here was perhaps one of nicest days i’ve seen in taiwan. it was bright, sunny and not too humid.  we had been waiting for an excuse to go up to the 101 and it seemed like the perfect opportunity.  they had just opened the 91st floor so we hopped on our scooter and went.

such a clear day

up to the 91st floor!

yea!

and this was the last picture i took before my beloved lens broke

the 101 will always be the tallest building in the world to me

legacy in taipei is one of the biggest venues for an indie band to play at, how we got to play there still confuses me! anyway, we played alongside some pretty big acts and the experience was amazing.  thanks to adam chen and vicious circle for everything! i don’t have many pictures from our actual show, but i do have some from our pre-show activities.

getting our hair did!

the only picture i could find from our set, if anyone has anymore, let me know, thanks!

in other news, we’re finally done recording our record! it’s currently being mixed and mastered, and hopefully it’ll be done in the next month or so!

almost forgot about this thing, big picture update after this post.  just needed to get this one out of the way!!

as many of you probably already know, annie’s and my favorite show, LOST, ended last week. there has never been a show that i’ve been so obsessed with. it was more than just a show to me…a lot more than something that i religiously watched every week and got mad at when there was a huge cliffhanger.  it would be an understatement to say that this was my favorite show of all time.  words cannot even begin to describe how much i loved it.  i lived and breathed for this show.  we could talk for hours with friends that were equally as obsessed with the show as we were, hell, we even made new friends because of this show. it was almost like a modern day star wars for me, something that i can be proud to have experienced it when it happened.  don’t get me wrong though, star wars will always be on the top of my list for things that i love geeking out on, except that it had happened a few years before i was born.  LOST was something that i got to experience first hand, on prime time television. never has a show sparked such an emotional chord with me.  during the series finale, i cried….like 3 times.  there, i said it.

this entry isn’t intentionally being written to spoil anything about the show.  i simply just want to write about why i love it so much.  to anyone who hasn’t seen the show, or has heard terrible things about it through people who just didn’t take the time to really get into it or just like to publicly bash things they have no idea about, i hope this may convince you to watch it.  i know this type of show isn’t for everybody, but i don’t see why it couldn’t be, i mean, unless you’re some kind of robot.

first things first, i just wanted to admit that i did not start watching LOST when it first aired.  in fact, all of the shows that i have liked, i never really got into until their respective DVD box sets came out. with that being said, i didn’t start watching LOST on live television until season 4.  annie and i were at her mom’s house, just hanging out, probably waiting for food to be cooked.  her sister had left LOST season 1 at the house and annie basically said “omg, you have to watch this.”  we watched the 2 hour pilot episode at her house and i was hooked.  we watched all 3 seasons in about 2 months, some watching sessions lasting a whole day!

at first, the geek in me was totally intrigued by the mystery of what was the island.  there were just so many questions that i had, so many things that we could talk about. there were polar bears, a weird smoke monster, a mysterious hatch and a very unknown history about the island.  my favorite mystery was the four toed statue and of course, the dharma initiative. it seems a lot of people stopped watching the show because they were too boggled at the fact these mysteries were just way out of this world. a polar bear on an island…? WHAAAT? but seriously, who ever said that LOST was based on true events? have you no imagination?  that’s what i think made it so great, it was just SO weird.

anyway, after the first season ended, i noticed that this show was more than just about a weird island.  it was about the people ON the island.  they all had their own background stories and relationships. by season 4, the show had been focusing less on the mysteries of the island and more about the characters.  i felt an emotional connection with almost every character (emphasis on almost).  my favorite plot lines revolved around charlie & claire

and jin & sun

i can’t really talk about them without revealing any spoilers but let’s just say that our new english song, Driveshaft, is about Charlie and Claire, and i am currently writing a part 2 of the song, which will be about jin and sun, in chinese (i know they’re korean, but that’s besides the point). i’m trying really hard not to spoil anything, so i’ll just stop here.

all the characters go through tremendous development throughout the series of the show. i’ve never seen anything like it. when you read articles about the show, reviews, facebook status’s etc.  you’ll find that most people like to talk about the island. the island this, the island that. what’s happening on the island? why aren’t they answering anything about the island? one would probably assume that the show is just about an island and the weird things that happen on this island.  i’m telling you now that this show isn’t just about an island.  the show is about a group of people who have to overcome obstacles together.  the island is just one of those things they have to overcome.  the island is what brings them together.  it has every element of the greatest stories ever told, triumph, defeat, comedy and survival.  sure, some things were left unanswered by the end of the show, but that’s not what really mattered.  one thing i loved was that every event, mystery or theory that was being discussed could be interpreted in any way.  we had the most fun trying to really dig deep into the shows plot to answer the questions ourselves.  i mean, why would the producers want to give out answers? that wouldn’t be any fun. a lot of the answers were presented so vaguely that it would take us weeks to realize it.  this show will really bring out the inner geek.

ok, so i’m just rambling on and on about this and now i’ve realized that i’ve come to a block.  there’s so many things i want to say but i can’t without spoiling anything.  for those who you who haven’t seen it : please don’t listen to anyone who says the show sucks.  check out the first few episodes, and if you’re not into it, then that’s cool, but do try and stick with it because sooner or later, it will suck you in.  don’t let all the mysteries discourage you.  the show is meant to confuse you, so don’t worry, by the end it will all make sense.  a lot of the questions that may come up will be answered in some way or another, it’s all up to your imagination. just don’t expect them to be laid out in front of you. and lastly, jacob loves you.