Tampon Tax??

If you are uncomfortable with this subject, GOOD. IT NEEDS TO BE SAID. 

Short rant before I return to my mound of homework-- did you now the majority of the USA has a tampon tax? That's right--tampons are considered a "luxury good" and have a tax, because obviously having tampons (and other menstruation products) is a luxury. 

So, just to be clear, women aren't allowed to bleed in public, show pictures of menstrual blood, are told that menstrual blood is disgusting, etc. etc., but the items that will help them hide their blood is given a higher price, because they are a "luxury"? What a double standard.

I do not understand.

Meanwhile, condoms are given out for free to men because sex is also an uncontrollable phenomenon, the tools for which need to be given for free so any negative consequences are avoided. *LEAKING sarcasm*

Someone please help me dismantle the patriarchy. 

READING RAINBOW

HELLO....it's me..... (name that song!!!)

Anyway, it's been a while eh? Work got busy and life got busy. But who am I kidding. I just slightly forgot about this blog. I write in a diary every day so sometimes I forget that this is another medium on which I can share my thoughts.

It's 2016, baby! This year, I actually have a new year's resolution that I am going to try my absolute darndest to keep track of. What is your plan, you say? To read 14 books this year! I love reading; however, I can often be found saying "I should read more" instead of actually putting my money where my mouth is. When I first moved out here for work, I would wake up at 6:30am and get on the stationary bike at the gym and read a book, because it helps me 1. stay awake, and 2. feel like I am killing two birds with one stone by exercising while reading.

This year, Thomas has convinced me to get a GoodReads account, which tracks my reading and recommends books based on what I rate highly. With this app on my phone, it keeps me accountable for what I say I am going to read, as opposed to me just falling off the wagon halfway through the year. I've also tried to choose books that I truly will enjoy, instead of books that society tell me I should read. For instance, I cannot even count the times I have read the first chapter of "Treasure Island" and subsequently falling asleep every time....

I think this resolution to read will be a good one. I am having a good time so far and I even find myself looking forward to sitting down and reading a little bit every evening.

We'll see how the rest of the year goes! Hopefully I can end the year with an awesome list of books I can share with you all!

Picture Post

Family get-together

At some light show

Secretly taking pictures with Mickey because it's not allowed O_o 

Meeting with friends~

Fear?

I'm watching Divergent (sci-fi movie--there are five factions in society that you must fit into, one of which is Dauntless. A part of the training to become a full-fledged Dauntless member is to face your fears in some sort of hallucination) and started thinking (as always). 

Something mentioned in the movie was that most people have 10-15 deep fears (i.e. those that are essentially crippling when confronted). Because it's just a movie, I have no idea if this is true. How many fears does each person have? Is it even possible to quantify them, and can something someone has never had to confront or think about be a fear? Fear, then, would be limitless. 

Obviously, we have fear as a survival instinct and it's an emotion imprinted in our brains. The central fear system is the amygdala, which associates fear with whatever stimuli the individual is taught to fear, like snakes, fire, etc. etc. and also is a sort of shortcut of visual processing, which is why sometimes we freak out at snake-shaped twigs before slow visual processing (which goes all the way to the occipital lobe and is milliseconds slower) kicks in to tell us that it is really just a twig. 

But fear has evolved as society has. Clearly our ancestors didn't fear the stock market or car accidents, since they didn't have those back then. How has fear evolved to include social fears like insecurity, and is it still a survival instinct at this point? I'm not downplaying such fears, because social anxiety, insecurity, and others can be very real, very serious, and very crippling. But are they still for survival, and are increases in diagnoses of mental illnesses just speaking toward a greater understanding of the symptoms, are an actual epidemic to society?

Fear is relative. But to what?

What am I even talking about? Do I make sense? 

RL

Being Active For Once

I actually did stuff yesterday! Rode the bus out to Ximending and met with a friend from college I met in our dance crew. She's from China so her parents were there and I ate dinner with them. Didn't have an appetite but of course Asian families don't care and they kept trying to get me to eat haha

Ximending is a shopping district, now mostly for young people--there's movie theaters, stores with cute stuff, "young people fashion" (although I don't think I would ever wear that stuff), etc. I like to wander around there, although it's becoming more and more commercial. 

Anyway so we wandered around after her parents went back to the hotel, got lost a few times, looked for the bathroom a few times. The most English I've spoken this week, and it's totally the best feeling to not have to think about how to say things :P and she made fun of my lack of Chinese reading ability >.<

Today, I rode a bus (number 235) about 15-20 minutes to a big road and walked back for an hour and a half, just for fun :P 

I'm still jetlagged :P

RL

Jet Lag

Today is day 3 here! Aaand so far I have done nothing but lounge around, sleep, go on the occasional walk around the area, and go to 7-11. Nothing wrong with that...but I should really be going out to do something :P

I am definitely feeling the jet lag this time around :P Taiwan is 13 hours different from home, usually it is 12 hours when there's not daylight savings time. So yes, it is literally halfway around the world. I'm not sure which is worse, an exact 12 hours or 8 hours (like when we went to London)--waking up at 7:00 but feeling tired literally all day, or waking up at 4:00 but sleeping again at 5:00. 

So, TL;DR, I will actually post something when I actually do something fun :P peace.

RL

TAIWAN

"We toured the city by BMW! B for Bus. M for Metro. W for Walking."

Oh my aunt....

So now I'm here in Taiwan! One of the longest travels ever, 30 hours from start to finish. The flights were okay, just long like always. 

As soon as I opened my mouth to talk to the first Taiwanese person here, my Chinese accent changed to that cutesy, nasal Taiwanese accent that is so different from the one I use in America and in Chinese class. Help me.