Occasional musings

 Last night was one of the rare nights where I woke up in the middle of the night and had trouble falling back to sleep. The reason was lame... I was looking forward to read more comments from my former students on my teacher appreciation related post from earlier today 😖😖😖 I guess what kept me up was the multiple conflicting emotions that is coming at my 3am brain from all directions. There was pride (the bad ego kind) - as the comments start to come and I found myself being a modern teenager being overly concerned about how many more comments I would get. There was concern - as I ponder over how I should respond to each comment from my former student so that they know they are all valued. Last but not least, it was a very full heart, the feeling of accomplishment, the feeling of joy and satisfaction to hear back from the kiddos from my past almost 13 years of teaching that they have been doing well. I guess this last part answers one of my constant lingering faith questions - ...

 Top 3 of 2021 - because Top 10 lists are too mainstream... actually because it will take too long to document them all 3. AIT passport run (January 14th) - Instead of taking a day off to celebrate the wife's birthday, we had to drive down to Kaohsiung to renew my daughter's passport so she doesn't get deported. Moral of the story - always check and set alarms to passport expiry dates. Highlight of the trip - delicious turkey rice at Chia Yi on the way back.   2. Taichung MRT (April 5th) - Word in town was that the MRT was going to run when we arrive in 2015 but with delays, 2 new mayors, new stations and new routes, a major testing failure... we finally got to ride it in 2021! The line loops 1/2 way around the city from the Northeast to the Southwest where the HSR station is. The train line complete the entire loop for the city and we did exactly that. Riding from a nearby station in the Northeast to the last stop in the Southwest then hopping on the regular train, stopp...