i have the worst case of buyers remorse right now. well it's like half buyer's remorse.. but it felt sooooo good to just keep buying.. but i felt silly carrying so many bags, buying so much junk, and didn't even want to walk into my grandma's house for fear that they'd all laugh at me. silly american who went crazy. and hey.. it's not all my fault.. people asked me to buy stuff for them... but like.. who knows what they like. i hope they like it.. they'd better!! cuz i am not getting stuck with it.

cute things will be the death of me for sure. i will probably die suffocating in all the cute little trinkets that i buy. sanrio, disney, no-brand super cute little characters... all of it.. i melt to pieces. i bargained pretty successfully with the vendors (or so i think.. i know they are still scamming me)... but how can i really bargain successfully with bags and bags of stuff in my hands?! they already know i'm a shopaholic! they can see it. just wave some cute thing it front of me and the money the jumps out of my pockets.

i had steamed dumplings and beef noodle soup at the place by my grandma's house today.. yuuuuuuuuummm. the dumplings aren't my favorite just because there are hints of ginger.. but i still like it anyways, that's how good they are. but today i realized that i haven't had beef noodle soup since the last time that i came to taiwan. isn't that crazy? not since december.. and i really only eat it when i come here. so silly.. but i guess it's like if i can't have the "real thing" why bother you know?

i finally went to the taipei 101 observatory deck. :) i had gone to taipei 101 before, but just the mall part was open, not the observatory deck. it reminded me a lot of being in chicago and at sears tower. i knew that beth would really appreciate it, and they even gave you these neato free listening guides (using your license as collateral to make sure you'd return them.. but no fee!) that would tell you about what you were viewing around the city. it was pretty neat. in my perfect world there would be a pressed penny machine.. but taiwan is not that cheesy. but it didn't stop me from buying tons at the gift store. (seeing a trend?.. but wait you already knew this.)

another thing beth would appreciate is the tons of cute fobby things. mispelled words.. i thought they were so annoying when relatives would by my clothes with "SNOOPQY" .. but now it's so charming in its own way. i'm not really talking about fake "pdidas" (adidas) or "emma" (puma) stuff.. but just the very fobby stuff that seems unassuming but is so funny and ridiculous in english. just like when american people walk around with asian stuff... i really hope someone has that tattoo of like "i have a small penis" or something. i dunno.

nicole would appreciate all the hello kitty stuff they have here. in fact those were her parting words to me :P even the fake stuff she might like because it's cheaper. and some stuff is okay to buy because it's not too atrociously fake.

sakura would love all the jeans they have here. i wish i could buy her some, but of course she'd have to try them on. but everytime i pass by a stand/store.. i think of her.

linh would appreciate everything there is to eat here. hahahaha.

tonight is the first night i haven't been tired at 10pm. last night i was sooooo tired and fussy it was ridiculous. i guess i'm getting over the jet lag. but i leave in a few days..and then i will be so messed up it will be bad news.

well.. i'm sure my cousin wants to sleep, and i'm in his room rattling away on the keyboard. night night.. miss you!

"real time" 1:37am - wednesday the 26th.