BSB Concert

Taipei Arena where the concert was

I have to say that I was a little bit nervous about going to the concert. It could have been crap for one thing.

But it wasn't. I was great. Christa and I had fun and we could tell that they were relaxed (pros you might say) and having fun too. They sang all the songs I wanted to hear and a song each from their solo albums (Howie, Brian, and Nick's were good, but A.J.'s was a mess).

Christa and I paid an absorbent amount of money to sit 17 rows from the stage (we would pay it again). We could see their expressions and details of instruments and clothes. It was wonderful. At one point Brian was frowning and then turned to the audience and smiled and we could see him clearly go from frown to the smile without looking at the big screen. We sighed with happiness because why go to a concert if you can't see the people performing?

Christa and I waiting for the concert to start

Our seats were great because we could turn to the right and look up and have a big screen to look at if we wanted a good picture and there were enough people to hide us taking pictures and videos (you are not allowed to take videos and pictures of BSB for copyright reasons). I got a video of my favorite song ever, Show Me The Meaning of Being Lonely. It is only 25 seconds long because I almost got caught, haha.



The concert opened with a boxing ring appearing on the stage and the boys coming out in boxing robes. They then climbed into the ring and started to sing and dance in a kind of kickboxing style. Christa thought "Crap." I thought "This is so cool!" Luckily for Christa they took off the boxing ring right after the song. haha. Howie did all the talking. When he came out for his solo he asked us if we wanted to hear songs from their solo albums. I wondered what they would do if everyone in the audience said no. I didn't get to find out because people screamed yes. Howie then went on to talk about the other guys and got all their names mixed up, haha. The next song was my Show Me.... and they sitting around drinking and playing poker. Nick asks "Where is Howie?" A.J. replied "Who cares. He doesn't even know our names." Howie came out on stage after that (he was changing his clothes) and said "Hey Rico" to A.J. A.J. said "I'm A.J. That's Nick and that's Brian." Howie replied "Nice to meet you".  I almost rolled onto the floor. (You probably had to be there)

The boys brought back memories of me being a teenager dancing around my room singing along. I was still smiling and singing the next day. What a great concert!



Close up of the giant screen outside the Taipei Arena

The crowd outside.

Our blurry tickets Row 17!

Can you find Christa?

More of the crowd outside.


The concert was sold out!


Inside the arena


People just started coming in. Talk about your nose bleeding. Take a look at the seats all the way up at the top.

The stage from where we were sitting.

There were two of these on each side of the stage. The one on our side was really close to us.

The guy we had to watch because he kept telling everyone to put their cameras away.

Nick on the big screen.

A blurry picture of the boys dancing. I think it looks wild.

Howie D. He is my favorite.

Nick

All the glow sticks during the concert

BSB singing

BSB on the big screen

A.J.

Howie

Brian

A.J.

Brian

Brian and A.J,

Brian and A.J.


BSB dancing

Nick, A.J. and Howie dancing

Blurry picture of them dancing

Howie

Playing poker and singing. Talented aren't they!?

Singing in great suits

Oh by the way

In case you haven't been reading the concert is only 3 days away. YES!!!

Dinosaurs, Sea Creatures, and Dessert Pizza

So today was our day off. A very needed day off.

The girls (Christa, Steph, and Viki) and I decided that the aquarium was a good idea for the day. We spend it looking at fish and such. We get all the way there and it is closed, for good. It wasn't supposed to be good anyway, but still.

We looked in the book and started to figure out what to do next. The planetarium was close so we starting walking. The book said to go right, go left, then left again and we would be there. We could have gone straight and saved ourselves 20 minutes, but oh well. We arrived just in time to see Dinosaurs attack at the IMAX theaters. I felt like I was going to throw up because of all the weird angles. At first we sat close but we all started to feel sick. We moved and it went a little bit better for me. I found I had to focus on the bottom of the screen or my shoes. The show lasted forty minutes and then we got a star show. The guy spoke in Chinese and sounded quite boring (Viki confirmed this).

On our way back to the MRT we stopped by a store selling sea animals such as fish and turtles. The turtles were no bigger my big toe. They were trying to get out of their boxes and one did. He somersaulted into the water. The other one tried but failed many times. Steph wanted to help it, but we let nature take its course. I'm sure he probably got over.

Later Chris, Viki, and I went to Pizza Hut and actually got dessert pizza (it's rare that they have dessert pizza even though they are supposed to).

All in all a good day off. To bad I've got to ruin it by going to school tomorrow.

One Week Left

Countdown: One week until I get to see the Backstreet Boys in concert. I am 17 rows from the stage. Good times.

Update

I forgot to tell old FuHsing teachers that Felicia left during Chinese New Year to move to Hong Kong with her boyfriend (so she won't be here when you come to visit Blondes). Also my day now starts at 8:15 (argh) but ends at 3:30 (yes!!!).

There is a break coming up in April for 4 days and I am thinking about going either to the Philippines or Bali.

I will be putting pictures from Mom's visit soon on the internet after I finish my lesson plans (that may take a while).

Got a new computer: A MacBook Pro. I have a love/hate relationship with it at the moment.

Countdown to the Backstreet Boys Minus One (not the official title) Concert: 13 days. I hope they open with Everybody (Backstreet is Back).

Here are some pictures from my vacation.
Mom and Darlene on the beach in front of the resort
Crab Crossing
Guess who I saw

Happpy Valentine's Day

Take the Quiz

My Favorite Song

This has been my favorite song since I heard it at KTV one night with the girls. Stephanie found the lyrics in Chinese and English.

Here are the lyrics. They are directly translated from Chinese so the grammer is not correct. You will get the idea though.

Watching you walked away stubbornly and you are not (even) turning your head (to look at me)
Should I chase you back?
It's like this every time that I have to run after you and chase after you (after a fight).
Are you tired yet?
Why does love has to become some kind of a punishment?
Still, if I give it up I would regret (my decision)
If you feel that it doesn't matter
Please let me take back all my love.
Julia, Julia, (please) don't mess things up (again)
Whether it's wrong or right, whether it's yes or no, (please) face it.
Julia, Julia, (please) don't let (our) love wither away.
Whether it is laughter or tears, don't regret it and go and feel the experience.
It's only when you understand that you need to cherish a relationship then our love is perfect.

The song keeps going, but says the same thing over again.

Take a look at the video:

Concert

So guess what? I am going to a concert. Not just any kind of concert, a Backstreet Boys concert! There will only be the four of them, not all five but who cares. I am half excited and half embarassed. I will take pictures if I can.

TV Star

I was told by a couple of my students today that I was on TV Sunday. I have no idea why (the language barrier was quite difficult to get through), but I was on there. I was probably walking by something important with my earphones in not paying any attention.

Photo Album

Here is the link to my photo collection:

http://taiwanpictures.shutterfly.com

Moving

Update on the moving to a new office:

We are now going to be on the third floor with the elementary co-teachers. This should be interesting.

Dorcas, David, Rachel, and Kerry are going to be in the office next door.

I will take pictures once I have settled in. Life just got a bit more insane.

Julia has Fallen Hard for Concrete and Pasta

I am accident prone here. Everyone reading this knows that and now everyone at the Fuhsing/Minquan intersection knows that too. I took a major spill yesterday trying to just walk across the street. I must put the blame on my computer because if it wasn't so heavy I would have caught my balance (maybe). Now my left leg is missing lots of skin and my right leg has more bruises that a football player. But wait, thats not all. Today I burnt one of my fingers almost of my hand at Pasta Frolla (pronounced Frollo because I have no idea why). It is a wonder I can type.

I have less then two weeks until vacation time. I am so excited that I don't have to go to school for three weeks. Bed here I come! Bed here I stay!

The school is finally finished. The new "wing" (as I call it) is done, the construction people are gone, and the noise that gave us all headaches last year has gone with them. I am going to video tape it tomorrow and put it on here so past teachers can take a look at it. It is now handicap accessible (now that I don't need it, knock on wood).

I am working on putting my pictures online. I have decided to use shutterfly. I wanted to use myphotoalbum.com, but they do not allow signups from Taiwan.

I have though put videos on youtube. I am silent in most of them because I don't like my voice.
Here is the site. All you have to do to see more of my videos is to click on "More from: jsterling0". You will be able to see all of them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKPrRyzx-K8

http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?p=r&user=jsterling0&page=1

Happy New Year

Happy New Year!!! Christa, Kris, and Steph waiting for the fireworks Fireworks going off near us Me, my hat, and Taipei 101 Steph and her sparkler Taipei 101, in a wavy fashion

My Future

On Friday I went to a fortune teller. It was very interesting and fun. I learned some interesting things, but I can only tell 2 people. One is Dad (which I told and he laughed, thanks Dad) and the fortune teller. It seems I can only communicate with men (the fortune teller is a man). Doesn't that just suck?!

I will be putting up pictures from the last couple of months soon. I have Tuesday off (Thank God!) so I will put them up that day. Right now I have to figure out how to coordinate fireworks for my bullentin board. Sometimes I think I make things harder than they have to be.

Life is pretty set here. I do laundry, go to school, get sick (right now I have a cold), and download tv shows to watch. Because of my hurt leg and the crutch I had, I am making a dent with the 7-11 people. They are only a little confused by my presence now.

I have been really into the color orange lately. I love wearing my orange converses mom got me last year. They are so confortable. I also just bought the wildest mustard meets an orange color belted purse.

Well that is about it. I have a web camera now so if you want to contact me on skype you can now see and hear me. Good times.

Videos

I thought I would put up some videos of what I have been doing. It is somewhat the trend now to have video diaries, but my voice sounds horrible recorded so the videos are of things I see around.

This video is of the Drum and Dance Music Festival. I was walking by it with Lisa on the way to dinner and decided to stop.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5f1JOY6FVA


Here are some videos made by Geo, one of my co-workers:
www.faythstudios.com/pictures/index.html

click in taiwan 2007

Halloween

Halloween this year was quite nice both at school and at the bars. I had a great time. This year's costume was Puck from A Midsummer Night's Dream. Here are some pictures:

Weekends in my opinion are quite short. This weeekend was spent grading and going out Saturday night for the first time in a long time. The girls and I went to listen to some live music and then went dancing for a bit. It was nice, but I forgot about all the smoke. The next day my eyes were still red.

Nothing much is going on here. I have been sick for a bit, but the medicine is helping. The medicine is also making me a little crazy, but I am almost done with it. I have been thinking about taking a vacation to either Singapore, Malaysia, or Bali. If anyone has any suggests that would be great. Please remember I am not a rough it person.

Here are a couple of pictures from Saturday night.

Christa at the Shannon
Steph and Lisa having a drink at the Shannon