Phew, it’s been such a bizzy weekend that I don’t even know where to start.

We held our company party at Agora Garden Hotel with the theme of “Tai-Ke” last Friday. It was pretty fun, and didn’t really win the NT$50,000 grand prize (though happy that somebody in our department did), but heck, I was called up on stage not once, but twice, to compete in the “Tai-Mei” competition (WTF?!).

Garbed in my silly (my colleagues say that it’s cute) neon green striped dress, pink feather scarf, black high-heeled boots and a neon blue cap, I looked more like a person with a bad sense of fashion who’s bound for the beach but ultimately got lost.

But heck, they thought it was cute so for my colleagues’ pleasure, I bravely stood up on stage and made a minor fool of myself.

Oh, the things we do for the companies we love!

Afterwards, we did a dance-off as we had hired several of Alexander’s dance instructors to teach us some cool “tai-ke” moves. Now that was fun, especially after seeing some higher-ups gamingly joining in:

The picture ain’t so clear, but you can see all the garbs that we’ve worn that night. For the most part, it’s pretty baduy, but hey, that’s what theme parties are for, right?

Anyway, Friday was fun… but Saturday was even more exciting!

After Chinese classes and then going around Nova in Taipei Main Station to check out PDA phones for my little bro, I suited up in my ultra-sexy cocktail dress that I’ve never really had the chance to wear and jetted towards DOZO for my friend’s MC’s birthday dinner (and his girlfriend Laura’s farewell party).

They were of course, fashionably late, but got the chance to chit-chat with some of Mike’s friends whom I haven’t met yet.

“Hi, undress!” Mike’s friend commanded as I sat.

I shot him a sweet look and coyingly replied, “I will, but only if you said, please…” 🙂

Andres and I had a good laugh about it.

The food was indeed very good and we ordered the huge assorted sushi dish, grilled beef with garlic and mayo, the seafood salad with egg roe was a big hit, calamari, kimchi fried rice, mushroom kebabs and many more.

Oh and of course, who can forget the 4-liter beer?

We were so full afterwards, and happily tipsy.

But the show must go on — at around 10:30 pm, I met up with my colleague JS outside Luxy. The theme of the evening was “black tie” hence the cocktail dress which I otherwise don’t have the chance to wear.

Nonetheless, we took a short detour before going in Luxy — to Friday’s for some snacks and huge daiquiris with JS, TW and two new friends, Lily and Albert, the former of which just got engaged, and the latter who just stepped off the plane a few hours hence.

The convo was good, and the boys thought that the drinks were even better that they ordered some to go! 🙂

And yes, believe it, you can order that big-ass Long Island Iced Tea and Vodka/Cranberry to go at Friday’s:

One of the world’s top 10 DJs was playing that night and the place was PACKED everywhere.

But it was tons of fun and spent most of the time at the Onyx room where the DJ was rocking the place with hip-hop beats and I pleasantly bumped into friends, the double Ds because both of their names starts with a “D.”
Also bumped into a playboy friend of mine, which just shows, how small Taipei is.

Here’s Alb and TW making a fool of themselves just outside the Onyx Room:

At around 4-ish however, Albert got hungry and so we headed over to Fuxing North for some Eastern eats. Man, there were tons of dishes to choose from:

Needless to say, Saturday didn’t dwell well for my long-suffering diet, but heck, I had so much fun, I was still smilingly glowing the next day.

Admittedly, it’s been awhile since I’ve had that much fun clubbing — must be the company I suppose. 😀

Sunday-wise, Top-Climber and I cancelled our regular climbing routine and instead, strolled around the Warner area for some eats and hit the books inside the jam-packed Starbucks.

Indeed, it’s one of the most pleasant afternoon’s I’ve spent in a while, which just goes to shows how comfortable I’ve been by myself for a long long time. A few hours later, I met up with my good friend FL and tried out Cosi-o-Cosi, where my Spanish friends have said has the best tapas in town.

Now, when Americans point out the best tapas in town, you better ignore them. How can they know any better? But if your Spanish friends swear that tapas-wise, Cosi o Cosi is the place to go, you’d better listen!

The food was indeed delish and not bad for the price considering a dish costs around NT$70-150 each. Small but quite resonable as it’s hard to get good tapas in Taipei.

FL and I ordered a pizza to share as well, but Alleycats’ is tastier so if you go, go for the tapas and skip on the Italian — ironic as Cosi o Cosi’s a famous Italian joint in Taipei.

Here’s the pic of the NT$70 potato tortilla which FL and I shared:

As well as the beef estofado

And the so-so pizza:

The bill came off at around NT$500 a head, a tad pricey for the food, but worth it for the experience. Haha, better do a fave restaurant entry soon… there’s tons of places that I’ve been and love and would be nice to share.

Overall, it’s been a FANTASTIC weekend and I totally enjoyed every bit of it. I liked the part where there were parties to hop around in, and the times where I get to spend time alone. Indeed, it’s a really good balance of spending time with people you care about, and the best person in the world — yourself.

My only regret however was that there wasn’t enough time to do it all — had to miss 1) David Foster’s cool live performance in the Living Room (damn, and so looking forward to it too!), and 2) My friend’s KW’s piano recital in Tienmu, both around the same time on Saturday night.

Hopefully David would perform once again as I’ve seen him perform before and he’s pretty good. With the band, I swear, it would have to be even better! It’s just that birthdays take precedence so hopefully, just can catch their next performances in the near future.

Anyway, after this weekend, I’d bound to start dieting (FW exclaimed today, “Wow, you gained weight! 🙁) very VERY soon. So the diet starts tomorrow then!

So not looking forward to it… but trust me, all that last bit of food and drinks I consumed this week were totally worth it. 🙂

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When I got home, my Taiwanese roommate told me that her mom was worried about Taiwan and feared that it’s going to become like the Philippines as a lot of Taiwanese are moving towards Mainland China to do business.

“She’s afraid that Taiwanese would be like Filipinos who usually work as menial maids in other countries,” she shared.

Hmmm… I think the Pinoy race has just been insulted by yet again, one of the most common yet ignorant assumptions of Filipinos.

True, the Philippines was a bustling cosmopolitan in the past, far exceeding Taiwan and most Asian countries in term of progress and achievement. Ironically, this was before it became a true democracy and was under the rule of Marcos and his predecessors.

However, I can’t help but feel a bit hurt when my roommate unconsciously communicated the message that her mom prays to god that she hopes Taiwan will never be LIKE THE PHILIPPINES.

She makes it seem like a curse.

“I think your mom has to widen her perspective a bit further,” I said. “Instead of worrying about how not to be like the Philippines, Taiwan should instead prepare itself with the inevitable (people and businesses migrating to China) and think of ways on not to keep people and businesses in which is a futile exercise, but instead try to find ways to actually make the most out of the situation and even generate more profit for the economy.“

It’s the fear of China that makes people here so closed-minded. Hence, the government has enacted a lot of policies and regulations which discourage investors from further investing in Taiwan. And even Taiwanese companies are thinking of ways to escape the rigidity and silliness of some policies and seek to do business in places which are more conducive to growth and profit.

“It’s true that majority of the Filipinos are poor,” I admitted. “But instead of worrying about the country as a whole and fearing the inevitable, maybe it’s better for your mom to concentrate about how to make the most out of the situation.”

“”Heck despite the poverty permeating the Philippine society,” I continued, “There are still people who are really wealthy. The problem lies in where you lie in the end — opportunities are there only if you look for it.”

Frankly, I believe it’s this fear that keeps Taiwanese people so closed-minded and more apt to become “like the Philippines.”

My take on this — if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em.

Unfortunately, I don’t think Taiwanese people share the same sentiment as I do. Most just have the sentiment that the world revolves around Taiwan…

That’s one of the reasons why there’s not a lot of global news/features in the local media.

So funny, in Taiwan, there news feed is full of reports about local politics, rejected lover suicides, who’s dating who in the celebrity and political world, examples of those with bad filial piety. Since when did I hear a report about the Iraq war or Afghanistan aired constantly in the news?

Sheesh, no wonder a lot of people just live in a bubble.

Anyway, am not here to talk about Taiwan, which I have no right to as am not really a citizen of it. Instead, I’d end my pretty long post with this funny picture, which I found to be strangely ironic:

Try to figure out the joke behind this picture. 🙂

*smiles*

Anyway, gotta sleep. BIG day tomorrow.

Take care everyone. Hugs and kisses!