THE month

December again.
Meaning I am going to start saying a new number when my age is asked for, as finally all my dear friends already added one to their previous age. They, dear they, had fun in Taiwan, celebrating the great month of the year. Ah, December. Ah, I miss those years in Taipei, with them.
At the meantime, one of my new friends, Patria threw her B-day party in Zola. Her birthday is the same day as one of my old friends, Yellow. See? No matter where I am, I always meet someone alike, someone I like, someone who has the same birthday as someone.

Passion does not die as you get older. Passion simply changes.
Personality does not just change. Some aspects of it may fade away, and others may simply get stronger.

I am so in love with Tango or the so-called Argentine Tango, which is getting more and more popular in the United States, and very popular in Germany and France (according to my European friends who are also so in love with Tango.) The more I learn it, the more judgmental I have become. Yes, I love it and enjoy it and hate it when it is ruined by bad dancers or stupid ideas about how to learn it. OK, yes I am judgmental, honestly and frankly.
You go to YouTube.com and search for the key word “Tango”, and you’ll see how beautiful the dance is. One video name kinda caught my attention and immediately made me frown at it. The video was titled “tango lesson”. Oh come on, how can you learn to tango by watching a video? By watching a performance video? By watching a video taken in a tango lesson without verbal instruction and emphases? By watching a video that does not show how leaders lead by their chest?
A guy, whose name I do not want to reveal because he does not read my blog anyway, started learn how to tango several months ago. I like his enthusiasm but I do not like to dance with him. He gives no connection at all and thus hard to follow. I am fine with it because no matter what he is a beginner and I know how hard to be a leader in tango. What I cannot stand is the fact that he is teaching total beginners how to tango. I mean, are you kidding me? This person should take beginner lessons all over again himself.
This kind of things really annoy me. The Chinese saying is 誤人子弟 (Wrong education to others’ children), which is unethical. No wonder why most total beginners do not come back for more advanced lessons or are not triggered for more interest in tango.
There are of course bad followers too as I am learning how to be a leader. Dancing with different followers, I recognize how a bad follower can be. A gal, whose name I do not want to reveal for the same reason, always did something I did not lead her into. I was sure I did not change where my chest was facing, but she followed as turning and crossing her leg and maybe some more fancy stuff. Hush, woman. Listen to me, I am the leader.

I am not in love with politics. I think I will never be. Why? Because the ugly political environment in Taiwan. Ugly because many politics-unrelated issues can be soooo easily politicized. For example, evidence for “I love Taiwan” or against it. If the wife of Mr. President’s son does not have the baby in Taiwan, then it means that Mr. President will have a grandson who possesses double nationalities, or in other words, the grandson of Mr. President will be American. So what, I mean, really so what? It does not mean that this baby is not Taiwanese. It means, really, nothing. Nothing at all. Thousands of graduate students who study abroad also have a family in the country where they are studying. However, some stupid heads say “If she does not come back to Taiwan to have the child, then it means that she does not love Taiwan, meaning that her husband allows her to do that, meaning that her husband does not love Taiwan, meaning that Mr. President does not care whether his grandson is American, meaning that Mr. President does not love Taiwan, either.” Oh my god, what a crime. Poor the little wife is forced to get on the plane with an 8-month pregnant belly, flying home just to prevent her father-in-law from being judged as unpatriotic.
My reaction is WTF. Alright, Mr. President Chen has done something very wrong, and personally if I were in Taiwan during those days of the anti-bian movement, I might have donated my money and effort to ask for his resignation. Nevertheless, you cannot mix one issue with another. Not a single politician does not love Taiwan. All the social activities or movements are act of loving the country. The problem is that many simple behaviors are interpreted as being unpatriotic out of unreasonable reasons.
Well, politics in other countries are not better than Taiwan, either. By law, Americans who were not born in America cannot be the President. Give me a reason for this. The place one was born is so irrelevant.

I like wine and beer, especially when friends are educating me how to differentiate good from bad. But I cannot have much because I cannot digest alcohol. Yeah, this really sucks. It prevents me from having more than half a glass. It also prevents me from being drunk. Being drunk is not my fantasy anyway.
Car accidents are horrible. Judy’s mom got serious injured. Some undergrads in State College got killed.
Recently, several independent car accidents caused by DUI killed people. One case was that a drunk underage undergrad was almost killed by a drunk undergrad driver. The police was looking for the person who provided alcohol to the injured underage.
WTF again for me.
The person who provided alcohol to an 18-year-old adult is going to be punished. As if the 18-year-old had no brain or did not know the fact that he was not allowed to drink by law.
In Psychology experiments, we define a 18-year-old as an adult who can make his/her own decision, and therefore they can come to participate in our experiments without asking for their parents’ permission. In many legal practices, 18-year-olds are totally responsible for themselves.
How come drinking is so restricted? If something is taboo, something will happen even more often or to a more unreasonable degree.
For example, pornography is not legal in Taiwan but everyone that I know in Taiwan has seen it. Yes, me too. Everyone talks about it without a second thought in most casual social settings. Here in the States, porn is legal, but no one talks about it (perhaps Pennsylvania is not very liberal, but a college town usually is considered very liberal. So you can imagine how conservative it can be in most areas of America). Asian culture in general does not encourage sexual things in any contexts, but we are not afraid of talking about it or having intimate physical contacts in a supposed-to-be-sexy situation like dancing tango. Asians and Europeans drink various alcohols in various events, including family, friends, formal, and informal. It is not a taboo, and we are not crazy about getting wasted as being fun. Why do some young Americans set getting drunk as the goal of drinking?
Setting 21-yr-old as the legal age to drink is just amazing and puzzling for me. They waited and waited, and finally they are allowed to drink, and they lose control. They do not know how to appreciate high-quality alcohol or how to appreciate a party by being sober.

“There is not a country that is not partially fucked up.” Marc said. France has problems too. By law, a worker cannot work more than 35 hours a week, and the minimum salary is about 8 euro per hour. No wonder their industry is not able to catch up with many developed countries.
Many policies in different countries have been overdone.
Germany, according to Zabeth, has problems too. A new wave of racism is starting from the young generation. It is like a new version of Nazi that being blonde and blue-eyed is superior to others. Who on earth started this narrow-minded and totally illogical idea? Sophie is worried if Bryan can live in Germany because he looks too Mexican.

Having lived for one more year means that I have known something more and something new, and the result is I have become more and more judgmental. The things that I do feel happy about are things so purely joyful.

I like the air after snowing.
I like the tears when watching a great movie.
I like the sweat after practicing yoga.
I like the laughter when Marc & Zabeth hear my baby voice.
The 26th year of my life is going to pass. Thank you, mama, for giving me such a great life.
Thank you, all my dear friends, for enriching my life.
Thank you, all the annoying incidents around me and around the world, for letting me know myself even better.
Yes, I am judgmental.