Happy Chinese New Year everyone!

Sunday was spent going to church where I hobnobed with some old friends. I find it surprising that people I used to be really close to and hang out with are limited to mere hi and “hellos. It’s the distance — after you lose touch with people, it’s inevitable that you’re not as involved in their lives anymore. Is this a sign of things to come when I leave Taipei for good?

After church, my brother and I spent the rest of the morning treating ourselves to Starbucks coffee. And surprise surprise, we spent the day talking about…

Big sigh.

Condoms, anti-contraceptive methods and abortion.

My brother vows that he’s still a virgin (whether I believe it or not is another story), but since he goes to this school full of rich kids, his friends mostly aren’t. I wouldn’t be surprised if all his friends have banged someone before. Anyway, he reveled me with stories of his classmates panicking of getting a girlfriend pregnant or a girl who missed her period and found her highschool boyfriend disappearing.

“Aiyo, aren’t they stupid?!” I moaned. “I’m not for or anti-PMS (pre-marital sex), but if you’re going to do it, at least be safe!”

He then told me of a story of his friend who got scared of getting a girl pregnant.

“Pare, nabuntis ko ata yung babae! Patay!!!” his friend screamed. Translation: Dude, I think I got a girl pregnant.

“Well, do you love her?” my brother asked.

“Ayan pa ang masama, hindi e!” his friend replied panicking. Translation: That’s the worst thing… I don’t!

Guys.

No wonder some of them give guys in general a bad name.

Moving on, we then headed as a family to Gloria Maris afterwards for a sumptuous lunch with relatives. That gained me a couple of pounds, that’s for sure!

Afterwards, my brother, mom and I went to a secret part of town to buy some pirated DVDs and CDs.

Yes, I buy them.

I know some people will kick my ass and give me their self-righteous spiel saying that buying pirated DVDs is ethically wrong and equivalent to stealing from artists, but personally, it’s a choice and I sincerely don’t think it’s wrong.

If these companies don’t charge super high prices for their CDs/DVDs, people will not buy flawed goods from the street. It’s a cycle. They blame piracy for raising their prices, but as a result, they jack up the prices thus promoting users to buy pirated goods. Instead of heeing and hawing, companies should just use their heads and find out other way to discourage piracy because jacking up their prices is not it.

Sooo happy. For a cheap price of P45 (or NT$30) a DVD, got the complete Lost (Season 1 and 2), Desperate Housewives (Season 2), Arrested Development (Season 1 and 2), Numbers, Without a Trace (Season 1 and 2), Scrubs and Nip/Tuck (both Season 1 only since wanna check it out). DVD movies range from P15 (NT$10) for slightly flawed movies to P50 (NT$35) for very clear ones!

Hence, looking forward to watching movies like Pride and Prejudice, Brokeback Mountain and Constant Gardener when I get back! I don’t think I’ll go out that much anymore! 🙂

Once home, we ate dinner again at Causeway Bay in Banawe. It’s a dimsum and noodle shop.

Funny how many Chinese restaurants are no longer distinctively Chinese. Food is still good, but most customers are Filipino.

So what did I do there? Stuffed my face with food again (my mom kept on plopping food on my plate). Geez, starting to worry about how to lose all these weight when I get back.

Anywho, gotta go and see the doctor for a checkup! Till tomorrow!