The past few days have been fairly eventful as far as pre-internship summer days go. I got stranded at a restaurant for 2 hours because the alley flooded, read a lot (more on that in a couple of days), took my first Japanese class since May, and met up with two old friends. On one such occasion, we bar-hopped in downtown Taipei for sangria, really smoky whiskey, and Taiwan Beer©. On the other occasion, I got the cartilage piercing I’d been talking about for the past three years.
After some online research, I went to Taipei’s famous Tattoo Alley (刺青街) in Ximending (西門町), a bustling, youthful hangout known for its cheap clothing, traditional eats, and historical buildings reminiscent of the city’s commercial beginnings. The shop I chose is called 老頭子, a semi-affectionate, semi-derogatory term for “old man.”
The “old man” made a big fuss about angling the piercing so that it’ll show up well — a valid point, but I was too busy flipping my shit. He ignored me, wiped down my ear with rubbing alcohol, and pretty much just went for it with a large needle. His only instructions were to inhale deeply and quickly when he told me to.
It actually didn’t hurt at all. At the time, anyway. For three days afterward, my ear stung from time to time and there was a ring of dark blood caked around the wound. The “old man” had told me not to touch it, not even for cleaning, against common advice. I ended up still cleaning it with saline solution every night, but otherwise just let it be and prayed to the no-infection gods. It’s day 5 now and there’s no more bleeding, so I guess either he really is a master or the no-infection gods were gracious.
The piercing and earring together cost $680 NT (about $27 US).
In other news, I reorganized my bookshelf. This is a pretty big deal for me, if you couldn’t guess from the contents of this blog.
On the left: old school materials, Chinese books, fantasy and sci-fi, fitting Matt Smith figurines, children’s books, and a shitton of manga (not pictured). On the right: non-fiction (one shelf) and fiction (five shelves). I decided to alphabetize by author last name, which took forever but makes my inner nerd choir sing carols of joy.
The finished view! A few close-ups:
Left of Sundae Puzzle is works from medieval times and prior. Right of Sundae Puzzle is post-medieval literature. The illegible green spine is The Posthumous Memoirs of Bras Cubas. To the right of the Atwood is my prized collection of Penguin UK special edition Austens, the beautiful covers of which can be seen in this insta from December.
One of my favorite corners, partly for the amazing cat (okay, Behemoth) on The Master and Margarita spine, partly for that insane design for The Stranger, partly for the adorable Lewis Carroll drawings, but mostly for my mini Agatha Christie collection by HarperCollins UK.
And here’s a Pinocchio pencil sharpener and a pencil that looks like a tree branch. Because why not.
Inklings 