Sunday
Second weekend in Taipei is in the books.
Friday:
Had a big team lunch to welcome the newbies at the company: the new video editor (me) and the new office manager. Dumplings, pork, fish, and veggies all around! I got several pointers of where to show my old LACC classmate around when he's in town this coming week, coming from Nagoya. That night I went with my colleague and her boyfriend to see standup comedy and had some great chats about favorite comedians with folks. This will definitely be a regular spot for me.
Saturday:
Apartment hunting online all day and then met up with a friend for dinner and night walking around a nearby park, where I saw several birds I hadn't seen since my last Taiwan visit—already Merlin logged, heheh. Made it home on the last subway and caught up on AEW Dynamite with some beers.
Sunday:
More apartment hunting, both in-person viewing and online browsing. There's one apartment that I liked but have some questions about. However, a good sign is that the rental agent who showed it to me used to live in southern California back in the day—having moved around Duarte, Rowland Heights and West Covina! It's not super shocking, but still cool. Mama SGV is always watching me.
After being social on Friday and Saturday nights, I had dinner solo at a Japanese ramen restaurant in Zhongshan, where I'm staying at. I've actually been tired of ramen for the last several years, but the restaurant's decor has had me wanting to check it out. It's decorated total 1960s style, from the posters and music, and has the option of sitting at little tables or at the counter. I took the counter and enjoyed looking at all the retro logos of the old sake/whiskey/misc bottles all lined up. The vibes were right with the light rain outside.
Especially liked that Orion beer on draft, one of the best