I guess it’s been about a year since my last entry. Not that I didn’t want to write a few entries in the interim months. Something had broken on the site, and when I found out, I just didn’t have the time nor the willpower to fix it. But now that I’m on my extended winter break, which by the way is 7 weeks long, I figured I had time to kill. And kill time I did. What you now see is the result: Death of Time = revival of this blog.

In the process of refamiliarizing myself with the blog layout, I discovered that a number of the links on my blogroll led to dead or long-abandoned blogs. It seems to me that this cessation of blogging is a widespread phenomenon among college graduates, reflecting, perhaps, on the lack of free time in post-collegiate society.

Or maybe, people are just finding better ways to waste time and I’m not in the know.

Ok…I’m actually only 23 still…but my dad just told me that according to the way Taiwanese people count age, I’m supposed to be 25 this year. I’m kind of sceptical of the Taiwanese age counting system though. Everyone begins life with one year to the count. So once you pop out, you’re already one year old. Apparently, it also doesn’t really matter what day and month of the year your date of birth is; everybody moves on to the next age once the year changes.

But yeah. Even just toying with the thought that I’m 25 in Taiwanese years feels odd. That kind of freaks me out just thinking about it. I’m glad that I’m really only 23. I don’t know if I’m ready to be two years older. In fact, sometimes I get weirded out looking in the mirror and realizing I’m actually an adult now. Yeah. I know. Weird.

So…I figured now since my first term has ended…and since I’ve stopped my weekly emails regarding my time in the training…I need another outlet to write about life…ergo…this entry…which should be the first of many during this term break…and did I mention it’s 7 weeks long? Yea. I just had to bold that.

Now…you might be wondering…why is the title of this post “Stuffed Dead Pig Intestines”? At least this would be something I would wonder if I was reading this blog. Well, to satisfy your curiousity and mine (if I wasn’t the one writing this blog), the logical answer is that one of the things I learned how to do yesterday was to stuff sausages. And of course, “Stuffed Dead Pig Intestines” engenders much more of a reaction than mere “Sausages.”

On the one hand, the making of sausages is an interesting technique; on the other hand, it seems somewhat obscene to be stuffing peices of ground dead pig into the ground dead pig’s own intestines. But in the end…all that really matters is that these sausages will taste pretty darn good. Yup. These are the kind of things you pick up on the side when all you do in Taiwan is act as your parent’s shadows.

So I’m a trainee in the Full Time Training now. Now, many of you may expect you to begin posting my training experiences on this site. But, sorry to disappoint you, that won’t be the case. I’m already writing an weekly emails on that topic, so it would be too redudant for me to write the same thing twice. Thus, if you really want to know what’s going on, you can ask me to include you on the mailing list.

Instead, I will use this blog for the next two years to just document and record some of my random thoughts. I don’t have any right now to use as an example, but I’ll come up with some things eventually. I think.

Oh. I jus came up with something. The other day, I revisited my old high school. And when I saw the restrooms, I was reminded of something I did approximately during my senior year in HS. One day after school, when most people had left (I forgot why I was still waiting around), I saw a gimp pigeon. I knew it was a gimp pigeon b/c when I tried chasing it, it just did a kind of retarded jump/hop/flop (from now on, juhlop). So for no reason whatsoever, I just decided to chase it into the girl’s restroom. I opened the door ajar and borrowed one of those sheep-dog herding methods to make the gimp pigeon juhlop into the restroom. Then I closed the door and went home.

Now here’s the funny thing. The next day, while we were in the middle of class (I think 2nd or 3rd period), all of a sudden, we hear this girl screaming her head off. I guess she met the gimp pigeon in one of the stalls. Apparently it was juhloping around.

The End.

So I was with Cando, Debby, and Brian yesterday at the Concord mall, and we were heading towards H&M, b/c they had some type of sale thing going. Along the way, I notice one of the stores is Victoria’s Secret, which is a pretty common sight in most malls. And the thought comes to me, it would be really funny to open new retail stores directly across from every Victoria’s Secret in every mall and call it Victor’s Secret. Maybe the tagline will be, “A new type of store, for a new type of man.”

Now the store idea by itself isn’t that unique. However, while I was sitting on a bench in the changing room waiting for Cando and Debs to finish trying out items, I remarked to Brian, “I wonder if it’s kind of awkward for the women inside to know that two guys are just chillin’ right outside the changing stall doors.” Then all of a sudden, my mind did a mental somersault, and reversed the situation. What if I was in the changing stall and there were a row of girls just sitting right outside? Then somewhere in the distance, someone flipped on a switch and the lightbulb turned on. What if…what if the women would sit there and comment on any man after they try on a new peice of clothing…thumbs up or thumbs down?

But I have to attend my Lord’s Table (Sunday morning church meeting) now…so…

To be continued…

I’m eating a salad right now…out of a pot. Yes. Salad in a pot. And not a small pot, mind you, but a pot 9.25 inches in diameter. I know. Your first reaction is: typical Jon insanity. But, behind the madness is good, solid rationality. Salad in a pot is what happens when you order an Intermezzo salad. They put so much in that to-go box that lettuce literally flys out when you open it. A normal bowl could never contain this salad. In fact, a LARGE normal bowl wouldn’t do the job either. Thus, a pot.

It’s all perfectly reasonable once you hear the underlying story. As if with most things. Problem is, hardly anyone makes the effort to discover the underlying story. Most people are too busy or they are too much biased by their preconceived notions. Sometimes though, it might behoove one to take the time to stop and go beyond what is on the surface. But don’t read too much into things either. This time, it’s simply a salad in a pot.

At the beginning of the summer, I had a number of projects on my mind that I wanted to finish before I left for the FTTA. I wanted to implement a new blogsite, finish reading the Old Testament, read all the books on the “Suggested Reading” list for the FTTA, and create a digital story/scrapbook. But now with only one month left, I realized the only thing I have any results to show for is this blog, and even then, it’s not fully finished; there’s still a number of design elements I want to incorporate.

Instead, I end up squandering most of my time on computer games or watching movies. But then, after a full day of work, I really don’t feel up to anything that requires mental exertion. The addiction of computer games after a long day comes from the fact that you can just sit down and mindlessly click on the screen, and vegetate. The same goes for movies. Passive entertainment. The opium of the masses. Yes…bring on the opium.

Except…that’s a really sad way to live. Lord, grant me, according to the riches of Your glory, to be strengthened with power through Your Spirit into my inner man. Operate in me the willing and the working, that I would cooperate to remain in touch with You, to have a habitual fellowship with You, and to be under Your constant infusion by walking according to the spirit.

I don’t know. Maybe it’s my computer or cookies or something. But the pictures hardly ever load up properly when I login. And facebook isn’t much fun without the pictures.

Yes. I do rant.

The other day, I was sitting on the MUNI in SF, and the bus had passed its stop and well was on its way, when I see a man running heavily in what I thought was a futile attempt to catch the bus. To my amazement, the bus driver pulls the bus over to the side, even with cars parked alongside the curb, and lets the huffing man on. Of course the man was very grateful.

Actually, I shouldn’t be so surprised. Many times when I’m on the MUNI, I find that the drivers take the time to make sure everyone gets on the bus. When they see someone running in the distance, they stop and wait for them instead of driving off as soon as the light turns green. Also, MUNI operators aren’t as anal as AC Transit drivers in checking to see you have the right bus fare. It makes me think that the MUNI operators really care for the people of their community.

And then you have the AC Transit drivers. So many times, even when you’re merely a feet away from the closing bus doors, the bus goes roaring off as you stare dumbfounded before trudging off to walk the rest of the way to class. Sometimes, if people are really lucky, the bus driver gives them a middle finger salute too before leaving them in the dust.

This got my mind running down a list of questions trying to analyze the possible reasons behind the difference in the two bus systems. Does AC Transit recruit lower caliber drivers? Are MUNI operators better connected with the community they serve than in the East Bay? Perhaps MUNI drivers are paid higher wages than the AC Transit drivers, and so are much happier? Or maybe it’s due to the demographics they serve; perhaps AC Transit drivers are so sick of obnoxious college students trying to sneak on without the right sticker that they have become jaded? I wonder…

I just polished off half a whole cantelope all by myself. I ate it the dig-with-a-spoon-into-the-cantelope-bowl style. I thought I’d share that with the rest of the world.

Now my stomach feels like it can look like half a cantelope.