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lilaznhalfie
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Country: United States
State: Washington
Birthday: 6/8/1983
Gender: Female
Interests: chillin, Friends, my sweetheart
Expertise: still trying to figure this one out...=P
Occupation: Administrative
Industry: Business
Message: message meEmail: email me
Member Since:
4/26/2003
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| Okay, so my days are a little thrown off. I think it's Wednesday for you? It's Thursday for me. So only a few more days left. Here's the next 3 days of our trip: Update # 4We walked around quite a bit. We went to a museum, and I tried to take a bunch of pictures before I was finally caught and had to stop. It was the National Palace Museum, with the jade cabbage. We went through three floors of museum things. We began on the third floor and went into the neolific (sp?) age. It was very neat looking at all the jade pieces and learning a little history about it. I didn't realize that it's as hard as it is. They say teeth are on a hardness scale of 3, diamonds are 10, and the soft chinese jade is 6.5. So that's pretty amazing. I guess the way that they cut and made it into the different shapes was to rub at it until it molded into the shape that they wanted. I tried to take a lot of pictures of the jade weaponry because I thought it was interesting to look at. From Jade it went into bronze, and then we went into an area to look at seals, which is where I got caught taking pictures...and then more pots. We looked at the different dishes that the different dynasties use, and found that many of the dishes that you see in China town, and other asian places happens to have been copied from the Ming & possibly Qing dynasty. There were also a bunch of bowls that made me really think of target with the bright colors, and the thickness or thinness. It was pretty interesting, and made me a little homesick. It also made me think that I really really really wanted to go to Target for some odd reason. We then went into the gift shop where we got to look around quite a bit. I found some neat things to bring back. :) After that we took a few pictures, and then waited for the bus so that we could take it back and try to find somewhere to eat. We rode it for quite awhile, and then got close to the place where we had been for school almost seven years ago. We walked around trying to find something to eat. We ended up eating hotpot at a place that we haven't gone to in about 7 years. It was close to our old school that we attended in Chien Tan/ Shi Lin. It was still in the same place, although not with the same owners. The food was pretty good, and we ended up stuffing ourselves. Then we went out to walk around the market as they said the "night market" had some shops that opened at 2, and most of them opened at 5. We walked around but didn't find too much. We walked around for quite a bit, looking at so many different things. We stopped at a Hang Ten shop, which is kinda similar to our Gap or Old Navy. We tried some coconut juice, and that wasn't very yummy. It only reinforces the idea that maybe I wasn't meant to really like coconut. :( We picked up a few more things. I think I can almost be done with buying stuff for my co-workers. I just need a couple of little things left. I bought a small toy for Arthur and Phillip. I still have to find something for my dad and maybe something else for Arthur and Phillip, but I think it'll be ok. I'm wondering if maybe I'll need to exchange a little bit more money though. Mom gave me $200 to spend, but since I bought a few expensive things for myself, it seems to have gone by a little quicker than I had anticipated. Plus, you spend $3 dollars here, $10 there, and after awhile it tends to add up a little quicker than you thought.  I still have a little under 100 left, but in the last day I've spent most of my 200, so I guess I'll just wait and see how it goes. After we found quite a few things, we decided to come home because it was getting late, and we needed to go out to dinner with my godfather and godbrother. We ended up going to the Hyatt hotel. We didn't catch the big commotion that was going on, but I think that the richest man in Taiwan's daughter was getting married, and people were waiting to get pictures. At dinner there was soo much food. It was pretty good too. I had some raw oysters, and man, I think i'm getting quite used to the taste. We had so much different kinds of food to eat, and we were completely stuffed by the time that we finally got out of there. We decided that the best thing to do would be to walk around for a bit, and so we did. We walked around and tried to settle our stomachs. We ran into a guy, whom we thought was japanese with a mask, and long robe, and he acts like the guy who dresses up as a statue in the US. We threw in some money so that we could take a picture, and he was kind enough to do so. A lot of people seemed a little afraid, which I thought was weird, but oh well... it was safe. After walking for a bit we got tired and decided to come home. It was about a 7-8 block walk, and then we came back and settled in. Update # 5 I had a pretty interesting day. We walked around a whole bunch and got a lot of exercise. We keep walking mostly because there's no other choice. Plus it's so hot, that we sweat a ton, and I wouldn't be surprised if I lose a little water weight because of it. This morning we got up and finally left a little after nine, maybe closer to nine thirty. We called Laura to see if she wanted to come, but I think her feet hurt too much, and she was too tired to come out and meet us. So we just left on our own. We went to a place called Xi Men, which is a suburb of Taipei. We walked around quite a bit. I took a few pictures, and we bought a few things. I think we ended up walking over three hours straight. It was mostly outside malls, which we saw a few things in, but then didn't get much until we hit an alleyway that was more like a night market. We also walked around the same places that we did in the last few days or so. We bought a whole bunch of Chinese style clothing from there. :) We tried looking for more smaller gift type stuff but the problem is that some of it is things that we already have here, and some of it is things that may be a little more pricey than what I was willing to get. So mostly I'm trying to look for cheap things that they have in Taiwan, but not necessarily in America. That's a little difficult as they try to emulate some of our stuff. Like there are tons of chip and dale, my neighbor totoro, mario brothers, pokemon, sanrio, etc kind of stuff. Also, since they can't use the things that they make within the island, such as barbie dolls, and clothes, they will make something similar and then rename it. Like instead of Ken & Barbie, it's Ben & Jenny. Instead of Gap, Banana Republic and Old Navy, I believe they call them Net, G2000 and Hang Ten. Lunch was in a tiny hole in the wall restaurant. They had air conditioning thankfully! We decided to get jia jiang mein, which is like the black bean noodle that my mom makes, although theirs was less sauce, and much much hotter. My mom got a dish that was called liang mein, which is pretty much cold noodles. Each bowl of noodles were the think ones, like phad si-ew. We also ordered a plate of jiaozi, or dumplings, as my mom said we needed to try the dumplings from Taiwan. I guess they're supposed to be slightly different from normal, but to tell you the truth, it seems just like any other one you get from the store. We also picked up a few side dishes of cucumbers and seaweed. All in all, it was a really good meal. So it was kinda neat, and we decided to come back to rest a little around mid-afternoon. We decided that we really needed a break from all the heat and the walking around. Plus I think my mom was really really tired. So we came back. I told her she could sleep and I'd just watch tv, and probably play on email or something. We found out yesterday was the hottest day and today was pretty hot too at about 96 degrees at 2PM! My mom woke up and we decided to head out again. We walked to an area that was a whole metro station away. That was pretty far! We went into a department store, SOGO and it had 12 floors! We rode the escalator up, and then walked around. We bought more food, and then went to another place and another place. We walked around a whole lot. I took some pictures as we went because by golly Taiwan has some of the strangest words on t-shirts and everything else~! Today I found out that they have a brand called "duck wear" which I thought was just a really weird thing. We passed by some of the clothes, which is how I found out that it was a brand name, and not that they were calling people ducks or something. Also, the other day that when we were at a small place I saw a funny but really terrible sign? You know how we have those "baby on board" signs that you can put in the car? Well, they had a baby on board, with a kid pulling his eye downwards and sticking out his tongue, and then they also had one where it said "safe sex on board" and it's got a guy standing and a girl laying down, and they're pressed up together in a highly suggestive way. So after awhile of that, we decided to come home again after about 6~7ish. We saw that Jack had come back. (He was here when we left in the morning, and then gone when we came back in the afternoon. ) We talked with him for a little while. I wanted to take a shower, but we decided to go out and see if we could go to the ye si, or night market. There were some neat things there, and some so-so things there. We only got a little bit of stuff before it started to rain and we decided to come back. After we came back, we settled down to relax, and everyone took a turn at taking a shower. Update # 6 Today we got up kinda late. We went out to the new Sogo, which is a big shopping mall like place in Taiwan. They have several floors, with multiple "shopping areas" or stores on each level, and then two different kind of food court locations. One is like an actual food court, and the other is like the top of Pacific Place, where they have nice restaurants. We stayed down in the food court area and ate lunch at a restaurant where they were pretty famous for their dumplings. I took a picture of the name of the place so that you could see. Also, they have an area where they are actually making the dumplings and you can watch through the glass. It's pretty neat, and a lot of people were watching. The reason why their dumplings are as well known as they are is because inside the dumplings is a little bit of soup mixed in with the dumpling mix, and they are pretty small pieces so you can put them into your mouth whole. :) Man are they good! It's pretty good on their own so that you don't even have to add sauce! Although, I mixed some vinegar and soy sauce together, and that was pretty good for it too. My mom had beef noodle soup, and we shared one of those rice with meat in the middle, three different sets of dumplings, and then I had a bowl of egg and onion soup. It was surprisingly filling! Afterwards we went around Sogo for quite a bit. I wanted to buy a thermos, but they were just too darn expensive! They were like $20-$40 for a small thermos. That's more than what I want to pay for one. Oh, and that's USD, not NT. :( Once we were finished looking around Sogo, we decided to go visit the Longshan Temple area, which was a few MRT rides away. We got off on the stop and boy was it hot! We walked around the temple a little, and took a few pictures of the outside. We saw so many people at the temple burning incense and saying prayers. I also learned about something to do with fortune telling at the temple. It was interesting. There were so many people, so much smoke, and so much food and flowers. Kinda crazy! There were at least three different flower vendors outside the temple, in which you could buy the flower, and then give it as an offering. Lots of people also brought lots of fruit and foods that they could leave there in hopes that their prayers would be answered. We saw our first set of homeless people too. We've never seen any of them before, and they look pretty sad. They were sleeping next to a set of stairs. Extremely thin, and their limbs looked almost like they were bent in awkward ways. Oh, did I mention that even the disabled in Taiwan has jobs? They go around and try to sell flowers, lottery tickets, and other miscellaneous items. Sometimes we feel bad and buy the flowers or something small from them. We try to buy from the disabled rather than the older people. When they're disabled, you can tell....no arms...mis-grown limbs....downs syndrome....that kind of thing. So yea...at least they aren't discarding the people or anything. :) So after the temple, we went to walk around for awhile. We walked up and down streets, even though it was pretty darn hot! My mom was trying to look for shirts that would fit her and my aunt. Some she found, and some she didn't. We went to a bunch of different places, and found out that if you don't see a sign, they'll probably charge you a lot more than what you think it is. We were looking near clothes that said 100 or 300, and then they told us something was over 1000! Can you believe that? I found a pretty nice black and white skirt. So I was pretty happy. :) I'll have to try it out sometime after I get back. I'm too afraid of the mosquitoes here to wear a skirt or shorts! Heck, even pants don't seem safe anymore! :( After we walked around and finally decided that we had enough, we tried to find the MRT, and got a little lost. We then walked around asking people for directions, and we finally found it. We were debating about where to go next, and decided finally to come back and relax. So we've been doing that for awhile. My mom went to take a nap. My godfather is here taking a nap. I'm writing an update, and watching tv. Tonight, Arthur's godmother is going to go out with my mom and I'm going to go out with Laura. We won't stay out too late though. That wouldn't be any good, and plus I'd be too tired otherwise. So I promise we'll be safe. Update 6.5 So it turns out that Laura and I didn't go by ourselves last night. My mom, Arthur's godmother, Laura, Zand (her buddy from the program) and I met up and then ate dinner together, where he then promptly left to hang out with his girlfriend and we walked around a little before we left to come home too. So Laura and Arthur's godmother arrived, and we sat and talked and watched tv for awhile. Did you know that in Taiwan, their loan sharks, and bookies will imprison you for months if you don't pay? And the Taiwanese police don't do anything about it! It's almost like it's legal or something. We decided to take a taxi to meet up with Zand for dinner. Zand is a guy from New Zealand. He has a pretty cool accent. I think you might have liked to meet him. He's semi-tall, bald, and has a mustach. I would have thought it would have been a really terrible combination, but on him it seemed to fit. He was pretty nice. Very polite. He led us to a place to have some teppinyaki (sp?). I had chicken, fish, and shrimp, laura and my mom had beef, fish and shrimp. Arthur's godmother had octopus, fish and shrimp. And Zand had some lamb I think. It was an interesting little restaurant. You sit in a stool next to a large stove like top. They cook it in front of you, and then serve it to you, but leave it in a metal container on top of the stove to keep hot. I had chicken, fish and shrimp. Laura and my mom had beef, fish and shrimp. Arthur's godmother had shrimp, fish and octopus. I think Zand had lamb. We ate, talked a little and then went out. Laura and my mom got crepes. They were only ok. Zand left to meet his girlfriend. We walked around a little before coming home. Once we got home, Laura and I played cards for a bit, then watched Pirates (1) on tv. After it was over, she left, I went to bed. Headed to the south for the next few days... So with that, there's only a few days left that you are missing, and I'll put those on here tomorrow. Hope you enjoy your read. :) | | |
| Wow...it's been quite awhile since I last updated....I guess I'll start off by saying guess what! I'm in Taiwan.... so here's an update with what's been going on: Update #1 The plane ride was pretty crowded, the seats on EVA are a lot smaller than any other plane that I've ever ridden on. Thankfully the guy who sat next me in the window seat wasn't really big. He was alright too. I think he said his name was Nick, and him and his friends (I think like 9 or so?) were going to go onto Bali. I thought that was pretty neat. Otherwise, the other people on the plane looked like filipinos who were taking their kids to the Philippines, or Taiwanese going home. With all the kids on the plane, I kinda expected it to be a lot worse, but it wasn't bad. A pretty long flight, and all in the dark. I slept for a lot of the time, but it was a few hours here, a few hours there. We arrived a little early, but found out that I didn't have reception, so I couldn't text message you to let you know that we arrived. :( We waited around a bit for Jack and my godfather to come. When we saw Jack, it was a little hard to recognize him because he had cut his hair. He had pretty long hair the last time I saw him. It was like almost down to his shoulders. We had no trouble getting out of the airport otherwise. I took some scenery pictures, and a few pictures of some cars. Taiwan used to have a ton of mercedes, lexus, and other luxury vehicles, but now it looks like they're getting into the Nissan, Toyota, cheap vehicles. I still saw a few audis, and some benzes, but oh well, close enough. I even got a picture of a taxi cab that's a toyota! After we got back to my godfather's place we settled down for a bit, unpacked, watched some TV, and waited for Laura and my mom's friend to arrive. My godfather went out and got some breakfast for us that consists of warm/hot soy milk (plain) and these I'm not sure what you call it. It's pretty good, and if I could find it in the states, I'd buy some. :( So after Laura got here, there was a lot of hugging, and trying to catch up. Then my mom's friend came over, and we went out. She drove us around to look at more landscapes, we went through many tunnels, and we ended up in an area that they do lots of ceramic pots in. I guess they are famous for that. We walked around a lot, looking at all the different things. I went and took tons of pictures. :) We didn't have enough time, otherwise we were going to try to do our own pottery, which would have been really neat. Also, Jeff and I had talked about a chinese desert, where you have a bowl with shaved ice, and then things packed on top of it. (Kinda like halo halo in the philippines, but no liquids are poured in to make it a drink.) We found a place where you could have kept the dishes after you ate it, but we hadn't had lunch yet, so we passed it by. Then we made our way over to check out a few of the museums. We bought a pass that would let us go visit three different museums, and a bus ride that lasted for the whole day. So the first museum we went to, we had looked at a lot of ceramic pots, art work, and other things. I took a few pictures of that so you could see too. We saw a poor dog sitting outside the museum all by himself, and I took a picture of him for Christopher. I figured he'd like that. Oh, and there are so many dogs running around without owners. It's kinda weird. The next place we went to was a very long bus ride, in which I didn't understand most of it, so I kept looking out the window. That may or may not have been the best idea of mine. I got to see how close he drove to mopeds on the road, walls of buildings, posts, other cars, etc. I'm surprised more people don't get hurt, or aren't afraid, although I suppose if I really think about it, then if you were afraid, you wouldn't be able to go anywhere. I must say that people do a darn good job of dodging though. If only some American drivers learned that, then I'm sure we'd have a lot less accidents. The third part of the museum tour involved an area that was dedicated to a man named Li Mei - shu. Since most of the exhibit was in Chinese, it was kinda hard to figure out why he's so important, but he is. Maybe you can look it up on wiki and then let me know. ;) After that, we walked around a bit, and it had started to rain a little harder. I was glad my mom made me bring my jacket. We went around, and saw a temple. I took a few pictures and then we realized we had to run to catch the bus. When we did catch the bus, I was pretty tired, and fell asleep for a bit. When we got back to the car I also fell asleep, and when we arrived, we were back in Taipei, near my godfather's but at Taipei 101, which is now the tallest building in the world (I believe.) They were closed, so we couldn't go to the top, but we walked around so we could go to the food court, and look at a few of the shops. We got some food, and it was pretty good. Laura and I had udon, my mom had some cold noodles, and her friend has some other kind of soup noodles. We then walked around for a little bit. Laura said there was a very expensive store called Jason's Market, that sells American & British things, but sometimes charges an arm and a leg for it. Like $5 can of soup. Afterwards, it was almost 8, so we decided to come home. I was starting to get tired again, and it was funny because we had trouble getting out of the parking garage! I guess that they have a prepaid card that pays for the bus, the subway, underground parking and more! So when you get in, you scan your card, and your car. When you leave, you must use the same card. So if it doesn't have enough money, you'll have to charge it back up. So we had to do that before we could leave. That was the end of the day! Update # 2 We got up early, and met up with Laura, and went into a suburb, and walked around. I saw lots of neat things, and we bought a few items. Not so much gifts, but cheap things for ourselves. We also saw a famous road known for book selling. I took a few pictures which I will show later. I've also already filled up an entire 256MB sandisk. I'm currently working on my 2 GB sandisk now. :P Hope you like looking at tons of pictures. :P Other than walking around a lot, buying a few things, and then returning home, yesterday was pretty uneventful except for the minor mishap with the internet not working. We then met up with my mom's friend at about 9. Coincidentally, she is Arthur's godmother. (as in my brother, yes.) We picked up another one of my mom's friends and headed out. We traveled along the north eastern part. I took a bunch of nice landscape pictures. There's also a ton of temples, and shabby looking places in the north and east. Since it has a view, you would think they would be nicer and more expensive, but it's not because you need a car if you live in that area, otherwise you're too far away from everything. So I took a bunch of pictures of the places in the north. Also, I noticed that there are a lot of cemetaries in the north and east. It's funny cuz the English translation is "night clubs". We tried to go visit the Golden Museum, which I guess displays a lot of gold mines or something like that, but they started renovations, so we missed our chance. I got a sunburn from walking and standing in the sun all day for that. We stopped by a temple, and I took a few pictures because I guess there are three people who helped one of the guys who was in the Han Dynasty, and then they were made into deities. Arthur's godmother and my mom's other friend took a long time at the temple to do their prayers with the incense. I think they may have gone through at least two different rituals. We then traveled some more, and omg! Arthur's godmother was awesome at driving today. Even though she drives slow, she manuevered hills that I'd be so afraid to do. You know that winding road in California that is so famous? Today was waaaaayyyyy worse. The turns were so sharp, and the roads so narrow! But it was navigated slowly and safely, and obviously we made it back ok. I would have taken pictures, but the road is hidden by the trees and bushes, so I couldn't get a good picture. We stopped and had more chua bing. There were two hot ones, and two cold ones that were eaten. They were pretty good. We then continued driving, continued taking pictures. Oh, one place we thought about stopping to look at wanted to charge us 100NT or about $3.33 a person to park for just a min. So we said no way, and turned around. It was pretty lame. Afterwards, we decided to go to the hot springs. We got a private room, and had to wash up before we got in, much like going to a public swimming area. The water wasn't so hot to begin with, but it sure got hotter, and it's constantly circulating. I'm not worried about much about that place though because my mom and her two friends were all nurses, and one of them is even a head nurse now. So I think i'm pretty safe. Also, we saw a warthog at the place. I didn't get a very good picture because my dad's camera sucks at quick shutter, but oh well. Not quite as big as I would have thought. Oh, and I did not take a picture of the room we went into. I forgot my camera and didn't know my mom brought hers. After the hot springs, it was starting to rain a bit. We decided to take the tunnel back. I guess this was a pretty big thing. They just recently created the tunnel. It goes through many mountains, thereby cutting travel time by a lot. Without the tunnel, you're looking at around 3 hours of travel time, and with the tunnel you're looking at like 25 minutes. The speed limit is 80KM, and the slowest is 50KM, but there are signs that say 70KM. There's no passing in the tunnels, and no big trucks allowed. I'm sure these things help a lot with the safety, but man~! That tunnel was soo long! We then arrived home, and I sat playing games on the computer, and my mom watched tv until Jack came in, and he helped me fix the computer, and that wraps up my day. I think i'm going to try to write Alice and see if she's in Taiwan. I totally forgot, but I think it'd be neat to try to see her if possible! Update # 3 We got up and out the door by 9AM. Went out with Arthur's godmother and that other friend again. We went up to see Yang Ming Mountain. It's very pretty and kind of reminds me of our Mount Rainier in the fact that there are so many different places to go and see. Although I know there's a camping area, I'm not quite so sure where it is. It seems a lot of people go to visit, and there's a mountain top that is kinda shaped in an "M" and so they call it the Macdonald's mountain, the butt mountain, and one other name that I can't remember right now. I bought some postcards, and I'm thinking about sending them out, but I don't really know as they'll probably get there after I get home. :P After we went to that mountain and drove around for quite awhile, we drove farther away from the city into smaller areas. (I can't remember all the names, but I know I took some pictures with the names, so I'll have to show them later. The pictures are pretty nice. The cities are kinda interesting. Little shops everywhere.) We got lost along the way a few times and had to ask for directions, but I got to get some neat stamps of the different places. The stamps kinda look like the pennies that we have in america, but they are stamps here. Also, we found an interesting looking plant that closes up when pressure is put into the middle, kinda like a venus fly trap, but not exactly. My mom and I had a lot of fun playing with it. We also went to a place called Yielan which has rock formations that have been worn down into certain shapes. I took a bunch of pictures there. Arthur's godmother and I also climbed up to a really high spot in order to take lots of pictures. But man...so hot...so sweaty...soo dirty. I definately felt like I needed a shower after that. We then took a few more pictures, my mom got bit by a few more mosquitoes, and then we went back into the car, where we cooled off, and dried up, and then went on to Tamshui (Dan shui) and walked around a bit. We visited this big white bridge, which was kinda neat. It was very pretty, but that's where I saw a lot of the couples, which made me miss madbomber. We sat down for awhile, and they just talked. I just kinda stared out into space, and then we decided to go back. The ladies then felt like they were hungry, even though we weren't, and kept asking us every 5 min if we were, and after the third time I was like ok, they better quit it or else. So then I tried to fall asleep but my mom told me not to, and i was like whatever, and did it anyways. We then ended up in Taipei, and looked around for a bit because they were hungry, and then didn't get anything. I talked to Laura on the phone, which calmed me down, and then we ended up at home. Updates 4, 5, & 6 will come tomorrow. | | |
| Hey guys,
I realize it's been like forever since I last updated, but I always hope that I'll get emailed if anyone really wants to know what's going on.
I do have something that I'd like some help with. My family and friends are trying to do the MS Walk this year. We would really appreciate any help with fundraising that we can get. Every little donation helps, and it's benefiting a great cause. Many people are diagnosed with MS, without even knowing that they had it until it was too late. Unfortunately, it's not curable, and only infinitely able to be prolonged if you get it early. This is almost impossible as they can't diagnose you as truly having it until the symptoms have worsened, and it's too late to make it almost appear as if it goes away.
My aunt was diagnosed with this disease before I was born, and I never got to meet her as she passed away only after a few years of being diagnosed. I am trying to help my teammates raise money, so please find it in your hearts to help out for a good cause.
http://main.nationalmssociety.org/site/TR?px=3133737&pg=personal&fr_id=1240&s_tafId =1401
Thank you! I really appreciate all your help and support!
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| Work is going good. Mom just came home from China. That's been pretty
neat. Lucky her is going on a cruise this next week. Wish I could go
too. Unfortunately I don't have enough vacation saved up yet. :(
Still looking for a condo. Haven't found one that is cheap enough or in
the right area unfortunately. However, if someone has a suggestion, I'm
all down for hearing about it. 
Nothing much else going on. More free time now that taxes are done.
Internet sucks, but hope everyone else is doing well. Talk to you more later.
Also, Stella, I hope you enjoy your mini-vacation in Seattle!
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| I know that I'm about due an update, but it'll be awhile until the next
one. Tax season will end after April 17th, and hopefully by then, I
will have dealt with all my other issues.
And for those who don't know, I will be hard to get ahold of because my
grandpa died this past Saturday. He was 81, and was suffering lung
cancer. We are happy that he is in a better place now.
That's all I have to update for now. Thank you.
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