Another kick-ass weekend for Raven! 😉

Or in other words, Raven’s ass was so kicked… and she has the black and blues to prove it (sorry for those who are disgusted by these pics)!

But it was still GREAT fun!

What am I talking about?

Last Saturday, yours truly along with 17 other new friends went to the TamKang Farm in Danshui for an afternoon of paintball!
Of course, a few ground rules were laid — no shooting in the head and no taking off goggles in the field. There were around 4 games to be played. And shoot to kill.

The first was to orient us with the mechanism of a paintball war. The second was to get the opponent’s flag. The third was to get one’s own flag and place it on enemy’s territory, and lastly, capturing a house.

The yellow team — my team — lost all four of them! And though my adrenalin pumping and I was at the forefront, I’ve been killed in every…

single…

game.

Okay, so I admit it, I really suck at paintball.

I’m a lover, not a fighter. 😉

Still, it was great fun despite the huge bruises. After an afternoon of fighting, we celebrated our winnings (or loss) with a nice, filling late lunch BBQ.

Afterwards, though we were already exhausted, some friends and I went to the nearby Starbucks for a cup of joe. Anna introduced to us her special NT$140 concoction — steamed milk with two squirts of cinnamon, and one squirt of hazelnut and butterscotch each. Delish! The conversation was great too!

I crashed at a friend’s place for a short nap, fully intending to drop by Citizen Cain for a night of live performances (three bands were supposed to play). However, the nap got out of hand, so we just went to the 24-hour NY Bagels in RenAi Road for a midnight snack before heading home.

Ah, just the perfect Saturday.

Even though every part of my body hurt like crazy right now.

Ow!

====================================

Friday was great too!

There was a wonderful filet mignon/NY strip dinner at our favorite restaurant, Herbs Villa, near Anhe Road, followed by watching my friends, Adam/David T./Mike (aka Minstral) perform at Bliss (formerly known as Chocolates & Love) in HsinYi Road.

Just a suggestion, the filet mignon at Herbs is way better than the NY Strip, so save your dough and order the former instead! It’s also a great date place, so guys… if you want to impress within the budget, Herbs is just the right place to do it!

Though we got a bit lost on the way to Bliss (we were confused with the directions), it was great fun! I liked Adam’s rendition of the covers, and some of his originals were pretty good!

I even met Jim T., one of the owners of Citizen Cain, whom I talked about the possibility of holding a champagne tasting at their bar sometime in May. Very interesting guy. He even tricked me into buying him a drink, even after he gave my drink away!

I was a bit tipsy by the time I got home. But hey, it was just a relaxing day doing what I love with people I like.

Rock on!

====================================

Haha, as for Sunday, it was my best friend’s Mary Anne’s birthday lunch at HsinYi Chili’s. However, I was so pooped after paintball that I went home for a short nap before heading out again for another dinner.

Mary Anne’s fiancée took me aside and talked to me for a good half an hour.

They were concerned, he said. “It’s because your friends care about you that they share with you their concerns. They are not attacking you, and are doing so because they care about your own well-being.”

Again, he said that it’s good to just slow down and not be too damn busy all the time. “It seems that you’re filling up your schedule because you want to escape and that’s not a good way to deal with your issues. Instead, it’s good to reflect at yourself and your past and see where you are going.”

Big sigh.

I told him what I’ve said before — that personally, I deal with my issues in my own way. I don’t really make it a habit to sit down, reflect and think.

Instead, I prefer to discuss it with other people, gather their input and then come up with a partial decision myself.

“I think as I talk. I prefer to discuss my issues instead of reflecting on them,” I explained. “Mary Anne and Karen may think this is a problem because it’s different from how they deal with it so they think there’s something wrong with me. I’d rather think that everybody deals with their issues differently and there’s no right common formula.”

“But maybe you’re talking too much that you don’t really hear what other people are saying,” he replied. “Sometimes, you have to listen what other people are saying.”

Aiyo.

I know my friends mean well, but I’m getting tired of them making mountains out of molehills.

I’d rather treat it as if, “Yes, I’m hearing what you’re saying. Well, reflecting on the past isn’t how I usually deal with things, but I’ll just be more aware on how I behave in the future.”

And they call it as “escaping” because I’m not doing enough reflecting. Therefore, I am shallow (or superficial) because I don’t spend enough time thinking and looking at the decisions that I’ve made and see whether they’re right or not.

I thought I’ve put this issue behind me, but it’s again, coming back from the dead. I really hope this ends soon because it’s driving me up to the wall.

Regardless, it was still a good party. Happy 29th Mary Anne! No matter what, let’s hope we can put this behind us and continue our great friendship!

I’ll talk more next time. This girl is tired!

So excited about this week though, lots of stuff that’s going to happen! Watch out for it! 😀