Bitching About Everything in Taichung

4-2-13 11:36am Tues. (*2)

This is now the rainy season in Taichung coming after the Lantern Festival. (It rained in Taipei all winter.) Every day this week there has either been rain or the threat of it. I brought my rain suit in my backpack to work but didn’t have to use it. I put the back fender on the bicycle but got a little splashed when an asshole on a motorcycle sped past me in a puddle at the bottom of the railroad underpass.

After HSBC called in the morning to ‘approve’ our mortgage, we went to lunch. After lunch, unsure of the system here, I asked Leona if it was okay, now that we were sure of the mortgage, to call Mr. Hung and discuss the pinball machine and jukebox. Leona doesn’t want to have any part of it. “We don’t have that cash,” she said. “There are more important things to do.” She missed my point. Since all the talk of having a mortgage we wanted approved, ‘no problem’ according to everyone from the real estate agency to HSBC itself, I wanted to know if it was real or still talk. It was real to Leona. She just didn’t think I should get a pinball machine and juke box, especially for six grand, even if it would be an early 6oth birthday present. It’s a good thing I decided to put off negotiating with Mr. Hung until after we get back from Japan.

It is 68 degrees now in Taichung, going up to 83 degrees with heavy rain expected in the evening. In Osaka, it is now 46 going up t0 59, with rain there, too. We will be there in a couple of days. We’ll have to bring our coats and sweaters and scarves and gloves.

 The weather would have been nicer if we went to Tai-dong for the Tomb Sweeping Day vacation this time of year and save Kyoto for a warmer day but, alas, Leona was pre-occupied with the house and neglected to call her friend at the resort just as she forgot to register me for the Matsu Bike Marathon, or go with me to the pinball place in Daya. The worst thing about this condo business is Leona’s distraction from doing nice things for me. She was much nicer to me when she wasn’t concerned with this condo. She’s been distracted since the week before she left for Brooklyn and I’ve felt neglected and in her way. She couldn’t even be bothered inviting some friends or family over for our Passover Seder Saturday night. Last night I was so frustrated I said to forget about the fucking condo and just go on renting. Things were nicer around here when we were just renting.