blugh

Oh, how I love a crappy sounding Taiwanese band blasting What is God was one of us from the basketball court below. Seriously, the singer sounds like she is in a crappy karaoke bar. Awesome.

More typhoon....

So, this is the third day of the typhoon. I've been inside for two and a half days...

Check out this report:

Typhoon SINLAKU

The biggest issue remains the extended period of rainfall due to the storm's very slow speed. The storm is now forecast to not be past Taiwan until early Tuesday 9/16.

The eye of the storm did finally make landfall - three times: 1:50am Ilan, 10am at Keelung & 6pm at Danshuei / Sanshzi. This means that the eye of storm came to the main island and then left and then returned in a looping pattern. Not unusual for a single loop - but three is quite unprecedented. Meteorologists couldn't recall it happening before.

Urban areas with the highest rainfall as of Sunday 9/14 10pm:

Ilan - 509mm
Taipei - 332mm
Kellung - 325mm

I live in Danshuei. It has been crazy here. The rain is ridiculous. If you open the balcony door, you are instantly soaking wet.

They say we are supposed to have work tomorrow, but the typhoon is still right over us. Seriously, the eye of the storm was above us four hours ago and it is only moving at 5km an hour. Worse, it is just looping over us. The whole place is flooded. There is a concrete patio in front of our apartment. It is currently a pond.

So, we have another typhoon, as pictured here to the left.

This one has a phunny story along with it. You see, I ran to the roof to snap a photo of the large ominous heaving wet storm before it actually fully blew in and I am forced to retreat to my apartment for a day or two (as I have done now). I ran out to one of the terraces on the roof and snapped a picture. As I did, I heard the door behind me slam shut. I America, this would not be a problem, but over here, they don't quite have the same fire codes and you can't open the door once closed... ooooooops. So here I am, stuck on the roof of my apartment with a typhoon inbound. It started to drizzle a little after the door shut, so I called my roommate, Alliya... no answer. Blast! I knew she was at work, but I don't have the number for my other roomate Phil. So I sat and sulked in my wet misery for a little while. After perhaps two minutes, the wind picked up a bit and the rain pelted just a little bit harder, so I called Alliya again. No answer. The wind started to howl by the time I put my phone in my pocket. Shortly after, the wind blew so hard, it neraly knocked me off my feet. I managed to grab onto a pipe before that happened. Since I was 24 floors up and without a parachute or so much as a pillow on the ground below me, I opened up a cool little emergency call bax, which I was avoiding using. As soon as I opened it, it let loose a horrible wail. Loud and ear piercing. Through the shriek, I heard, "Wei?" I means hello. I shouted, "I'm on the roof," in English, lacking the Chinese skills for an exactly pronounced, “I'm on the roof and don't wanna die.” "Wei?" as though he hadn't heard me. Ugh... the wail must be messing with it. I tried to call Alliya again, no answer. I wedged myself in between a wall and tile partition that held some of the piping. Wet and being tugged by the wind, I figured this was typical of my luck... or idiocy... you choose which. N-E-way, I resorted to tapping on the door constantly, in the pure chance that someone going home to the one occupied apartment on this floor would hear it. Tap-tap-tap.... tap-tap-tap. It was fun. I picked up the phone and called Alliya again. She answers. "Help! I'm an idiot and I locked myself on the roof as idiots do. I need Phil's number." "I need to hang up to get it," I made out. "Okay." A minute later, she called me back. She is saying something. I can't hear it over the wind, but I heard 'okay?' Then, she hung up... maybe Phil is going to come up? I dunno. I continue my tapping. A minute later I heard a tapping on the other. I bang on the door. Sweet... bloody sweet. The door opens. It is two maintenance guys... the wailing box must have sent them up. They chuckle at me for awhile and point at the sign, which I am now guessing means, "Don't go outside or you may die from a typhoon. Or, If Darwin doesn't like you, come through this door." They laughed at me for a bit. I shrugged. What-evs... I'm not being pummeled by a freaking storm anymore, I'm happy. I take the elevator down to my apartment. Phil isn't there. I suppose he went to the roof to look for me. I walk out into the hall. The elevator doors open. Phil and the maintainence guys are in it... chuckles, I am going to call them. Anyway. I am still wet from it, but it is a pretty funny story. By the way, here is the picture I got. This is before the rains and such.