Here’s a timeline in photos. Fascinating, if you ask me.

1948, BeiPing, China, with the Nationalists still in charge.

1965. Soldiers carry placards of Sun Yat Sen.

1966. Shiny new tanks parade in front of the Presidential Building, with President Chiang Kai-Shek looking on.

1970. Marching with the flag.

2006. Fireworks on the river! How fancy!

2007. Coast Guard, lookin’ hot.

2008. Motorcade…I’ve never personally seen a police officer driving anything with two wheels besides a moped.

2009. President Ma YingJiu stresses partnership between Taiwan and China. Double points if you know who’s behind him!

2010. Everything’s getting a bit cheesier.

2011. Schoolgirls take part in the celebrations.

2011. What we’ve been seeing and hearing the past few days.

Tomorrow morning there will be an early flag-raising ceremony before the Presidential building, along with a 100-couple mass wedding, lots of flags, some marching, topless members of the armed forces, and of course fireworks. Some friends are going, but we’re not…choosing to beat the crowds and head to Wulai instead, where the water is emerald green and the hot springs are natural:

Now that’s what I call a day off.

A pleasure is full grown only when it is remembered. You are speaking, Hman, as if the pleasure were one thing and the memory another. It is all one thing. What you call remembering is the last part of the pleasure, as the crah is the last part of a poem. When you and I met, the meeting was over very shortly, it was nothing. Now it is growing something as we remember it. But still we know very little about it.
What it will be when I remember it as I lie down to die, what it makes in me all my days till then – that is the real meeting.
The other is only the beginning of it.

from Out Of The Silent Planet, by CS Lewis

For the first time ever, I am giving something up for Lent. 26 years old and still trying things for the first time – totally cool with that.

It all came from a chance encounter – Rachel, my 知心好友 (heart-knowing friend) came over to our apartment to hang out on a weeknight. Very normal. But when she showed up looking all glitzy and glamorous, we were all wondering….why? She got that “let me tell you” look on her face and proceeded to explain, with gusto, that ”Today is Mardi Gras, and Mardi Gras is all about fulfilling your wishes. I wanted to dress up, and am also craving sweet dumplings…” at which point she produced two packages, “…which we are going to eat tonight.” A toothy grin, toss of her head and air of triumph concluded the speech. Well, thanks Rachel for cluing me in. I was probably in sweatpants, which has become standard winter wear around here.

So, we all sat around the kitchen table and enjoyed sesame and peanut-filled dumplings, taking extreme delight in the oozing out of the filling, and exploding with laughter when a chair buckled and sent Michael reeling for the floor.

Sitting on the couch together later, “studying”, this heart-knowing friend and me, she asked: what to give up for Lent?

“What about chocolate?”

“Chocolate? mmm…maybe. But I could totally live without it. I thought about giving up sugar, but that would make it really really hard to find anything to eat, since I can’t cook at home.”

It has to be something you’re addicted to, something you feel you can’t live without, something essential.

“Have you thought about Facebook?”

…..silence.

I am silent too, waiting with bated breath for her answer. This, THIS, is the one sacred thing we all keep close, the ultimate communicator, the ultimate friendship tool, the ultimate…time waster. Life waster. Excuse for real connections.

“ooohhhhh…” She cringes. “That would be really hard!”

“Ok so that’s it!! The one thing you can’t live without! Yay, you found something!”

She went home and took care of business right away, but it took another full day to take the plunge and cut myself off, something I never imagined would incite such a vicious inner battle as the one I find myself in.

Things I’ve learned:

Instead of telling Michael or anyone in particular, I like to share my news with the FB world first. EMBARRASSING. Who am I married to, anyways? It’s bolstering and confirming to have others agree and enjoy what I have to say. It’s been so frustrating to plop down at the computer, all ready with a perfect one-liner and then realize that the world of one-liners is closed to me. CLOSED. So, it festers inside of me, but I’m not accustomed to taking those partial thoughts and turning them into full-fledged blog posts, so writing something long is also out of the question. Well, until now – I’m desperate…

I am not very good at living with temptation. Instead of accepting it as a gift, as I’ve been told all good Christians do, this temptation has been eating me alive and the more I resist, the bigger and hairier it gets. This makes me grumpy.

I set my own priorities. How come I didn’t have enough time for all those really good things on my to-do list? Hint: it’s not because there weren’t enough hours in the day. Nobody else decided to waste my time; I did that to myself.

Real friendships take real work. There are a ton of people all around me, in this city alone, that are freaking awesome. Laziness keeps me from them. I actually don’t have an excuse.

Worthwhile pursuits are worth it. Reading is great. So is cooking. Hey, writing too! Wow…I feel like a new person after filling my time this way.

Passover is 39 days away. Easter is coming, a day to celebrate the Reason we can endure temptation, the Reason we can pray and be assured that God hears us, the Reason for living. I’ve never been so excited to celebrate before! It’s going to be a great Easter.