2 months ago, I had shown you how a traditional market in Taiwan looks like ..  

Follow me grocery shopping in a traditional Chinese market in Taiwan 台灣傳統市場走一回

But it is a common market - nothing new to us locals. This time let me show you the best of the best, from locals’ view, traditional market here. Shi Dong market is located in Tian Mu, a neighborhood located in northern Taipei. Tian Mu is best known as an enclave for Taiwan’s US expatriate community. From the mid 1950s to 1979, when the US broke formal ties with Taiwan, large portions of the US Armed Forces and their families stationed in Taiwan lived here. So this place has the western (American) ambiance since then - food, restaurants, stores, … you can find a western way of life here. So no surprise a lot of foreigners live here. 

See my previous post for Tian Mu ‘s street in Halloween decorations!

台北的天母是過去美軍駐地，因此此處留下許多美國式西方式的元素與生活，餐廳、食物與衣服、酒吧等等，甚至很多在台灣的西方人都選擇住在天母。

However, Shi Dong market is still just a traditional market and what is un-traditional is that it is neat and clean… It is even air-conditioned! People here often regard it as the most modern traditional market in Taiwan … but whether it is most likable it really depends … some people don’t like markets to be too clean, if you know what I mean …  

Still, it is quite nice for me to finally have a chance to check it out (it is not subway friendly). So I share this experience with you here. This time I just show you the first floor. Next time we can go upstairs to check the food court and the delicious meal we had.

不過，我要介紹的天母士東市場，畢竟還是傳統市場，號稱全台最先進的市場，乾淨明亮，甚至有空調。當然，很多人其實喜歡略為髒髒的市場，哈哈！這次我們先看1樓，2樓式美食區，下次再分享好吃的食物。

Let’s go! 

Vegetables and fruits … neatly assorted and displayed. 蔬菜水果，擺放整齊。

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Meat and Fish … raw or cooked … take your pick! see how these stalls are really clean … of course, by Asia standard … 各式海鮮與肉類，生食與熟食，任君挑選。

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Bean products of all kinds … EVEN handmade soybean soaps !! 豆類製品是亞洲市場必備，這裡甚至有豆漿肥皂！

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Florist, grocery stores … anything you might need in your daily life. 四行倉庫!!

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What about coffee!? I need coffee! …. Oh, yeah, here is a cute little cafe that offers good coffee but you don’t get to sit down though … a young man runs it with passion! 市場裡面竟然有個可愛的咖啡小店，賣各式手沖咖啡，是個熱情的年輕人經營的，買累了可以來杯咖啡，只是沒有座位喔！

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Okay, and here is its outlook and entrance… 

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I hope you like this shopping sight seeing and the coffee! See you next time. 分享完畢！下次上樓吃好吃的去！

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 (a pepper signature gift from @papa-pepper!) 

This page is synchronized from the post: ‘A traditional market in a un-traditional way - neat, clean and coffee inside! 有趣的台北天母士東市場’

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We went out for lunch and shopping today and no surprise we saw the entire street full of Halloween decorations and even many parents with their kids in costumes for parties or activities … (by the way, people here in Taiwan don’t really know this holiday well nor do we have this tradition but it has been successfully ‘commercialized’ here… )

At first, it was interesting to see many stores spending time to make their windows echoing this holiday theme…  

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Then passing by bakery … no surprise, well…  halloween bread … okay, kinda cute … 

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After seeing lots of pumpkins and lots of ghosts, I started to feel bored and fed up with all these similar decorations … ENOUGH! Get more creative okay, PEOPLE!!??

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That was before we bumped into this DECORATION of the DAY!! LOL!! 

NOW WE ARE TALKING! WELL DONE!!   (by the way, it is a clothes store)

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HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE!!

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Ethan says BOO! (source)

This page is synchronized from the post: ‘Enough Halloween Stuffs For Me … Except This One!’

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在這偶然經過卻忘記離開的街口

是一個在微雨中沉睡的城市夜晚

那時忽然想起妳曾經寫給我的一首詩

有著跟當下一樣的氛圍

那算不上是一首情詩 只是當時我把所有的詩都讀成情詩

多年以後的以後的以後

你已不再寫詩 我也不再讀詩

詩選擇在這街口 跨越時空 找到我塵封的記憶

每個字 每個段落 依然清晰

甚至當時 信紙的質地 那晚的溫度 與我心跳的節奏

多年以後的以後的以後

重讀這首詩

想起當時的青春與激情 

反而像看著孩子成長的父母般微笑

……

這一分鐘的回憶 與一秒鐘的微笑

結束在後面車子的喇叭聲裡

我重新跌落 這城市雨夜當下的節奏裡

此時 電話急促地響起

傳來的竟是 你的聲音

……

「喂，回來前去買鮮奶，被你兒子喝光了啦！」

Note. my own photo taken in a rainy night on the way home.

This page is synchronized from the post: ‘雨夜 － 隨筆詩一首 A Rainy Night - a Chinese poem’

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I found a small bug this morning and it is no big deal. But as it is quite funny, so I will post it to the community. If you click to check the timing of any upvoted comment under any recent post, you will find out that all the timing is “47 years ago“!

See this example. This is where I found it. And I was like… haha! even @papa-pepper is not that old (or is he?). Maybe @andre-ager , as the name suggests? is a prophet!? :-) …. No, it should be just a bug. 

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I got curious so I dig further… 47 years ago… hmm… is it a special code? any hidden information? … I knew this is a crypo-community and nothing is by coincidence! So I googled and found that the year 1969 (yes, 47 years ago) is actually the year when “networks come online“… wow… what an year!! also did you see “late October”?

“Switched on in late October 1969, the ARPAnet is the first large-scale, general-purpose computer network to connect different kinds of computers together. But others come online within weeks or months.”  

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the above texts and pictures from the following site/link

http://www.computerhistory.org/timeline/1969

I am so impressed with what a little bug in the comment section of Steemit can teach me.

Now I don’t know if we should remove it or not … 

update. if you visit steemd.com, you might find this timing appears twice on the left “1969-12-31 23:59:59”. I guess this is like the time zero in this system and it might be the reason behind ‘47 years’.

This page is synchronized from the post: ‘A bug 47 years ago … and it is the time networks come online.’

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Hello everyone! This is Ethan, with a SCARY pumpkin mask, my wizard robe, and my two sidekicks! I hope I am not too SCARY and make you SLEEPLESS!! BOO!!

Ok. Thank you for being scared. I appreciate that. Now let me share how my dad and I spent the weekend afternoon doing these and had fun. My mom bought these two halloween decorations from a store. Mom said she bought them because they have holes inside the shape so I can trace them on the paper and color them afterwards with whatever colors I want.

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Obviously she made the plan for my dad to execute because she left for shopping soon after she gave us these.   So we did and my dad helped me with drawing their eyes, nose and mouth because I am too young to handle the pen well. If I have trouble tracing these holes, I might get really grumpy… “Better not get him angry! He cries really loud and neighbors will hear so clearly.” I guess that’s what my dad thought.

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But I do most coloring… I like coloring… My dad advised the colors to pick. The following are two selected copies for both. How come they look happy instead of scary!? Maybe it is not bad… because I get to be the only SCARY person! BOO!!!!

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That’s it! After we created these art works of mine, we played with these and my mask and chased each other in the living room. Then I felt exhausted and had a really good wizard nap afterwards… BOO!!!

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Oh, Rody my friend and the evil halloween Rody said h… BOO!!! as well…  

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From the Dad: 

Happy halloween in advance everyone! Always find some way to get hands on with your kid - they love it and it is good for spending the baby-sitting time (yeah, I know how tired it is to take care of the little ones. that’s why you need to try different things together so both of you won’t get bored.)

This page is synchronized from the post: ‘Happy Halloween from my son Ethan and Rody the horse and how we had fun doing ‘’art’’’

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「我要買下這把電鑽。」

就在看到這把電鑽的當下，我的腦中像是浮現神諭一般，這個瘋狂的想法像野火一樣蔓延滋生…

看看它，黃色的機身，搭配深色金屬機件，或許不是高檔的Bosch牌，但簡潔流線看著舒服。尺寸正好，不會太大像是建築工人專用器械，也不會太小像用來賣給學生實習用的平價品。正好適合我。

我看著它，感覺它也正看著我，期待些什麼似的 …

喂！瘋了嗎？我突然回到現實，意識到剛剛那20秒腦中浮現的想法是多麼的荒誕無稽。

「不是身上正沒錢嗎？不是錢要花在刀口上嗎？還買不需要的東西幹嘛？… 而且，電鑽？電鑽！沒有搞錯吧！你是來出差，買他X的電鑽幹什麼!? 你是要在旅館鑽洞嗎!?」我腦中的梁思成（理性），對著剛剛恣意放縱的徐志摩（感性）破口大罵 …

我回過神來，梁思成略占了上風，畢竟我還是個比較務實的人。重新回到現實，回到我是一個今天剛剛飛到上海出差才幾個小時，剛剛吃完午飯買完東西，準備要回旅館的異鄉人的，這一個現實認知裡。

許是夕陽餘暉太美，照在店鋪裡，讓這把電鑽莫名其妙地帶出我心底的徐志摩吧，我心裡這麼自嘲解釋道。於是頭也不回，我繼續朝旅館方向走回去。

不過，一路上走著，我開始琢磨起這個想法，似乎，並不是夕陽太美就可以解釋的。回到房間，我躺到床上，沒有打開電視，瞪著天花板，想抓住那個隱約模糊的想法。到底為什麼，徐志摩要我買那把電鑽啊？…

突然間，一切豁然開朗。

逐漸，我躺在床上不可遏抑地笑著，笑這裡面的瘋狂、勇氣與，或許，一點點的智慧。

正因為沒有領匯，錢可能不太夠，創造了這一次對自己的挑戰，但其實，錢”應該”還是夠的，只是出門在外，變數太多，世事難料，總還是保守以對… 誰知道我會不會看到什麼我不能不吃、不能不買否則會後悔的東西？誰知道我會不會突然須要請某個重要的人吃頓飯？誰知道我去吃飯會不會被敲竹槓？誰知道我到杭州會不會突然發現旅館預訂有誤，附近都客滿，被迫只能住很貴的飯店？

但我心底其實知道，錢應該還是夠的，沒有那麼多的意外的，受影響的只是一種心理上的餘裕，一種隨時想吃什麼就吃，想進咖啡廳就去的隨興。也就是說，其實根本就沒有什麼挑戰，差得遠了。而當你享受著假裝的浪漫（挑戰），你心底真正浪漫的徐志摩就會出來慫恿你，來真的吧！來場真正的，男子漢的挑戰吧！

買把電鑽，正是對於追求真正浪漫的完美解答。

電鑽一把，大概起碼兩三百，甚至四百塊錢以上（後來我才知道價格差異大，但在這種店的很可能沒那麼貴），對於降低身上千來塊錢裡的有效可用金錢，有無比的貢獻。要挑戰，那就來吧。

電鑽一把，跟出差完全八竿子打不著，比起把錢拿去吃大餐，放到某個路邊行乞者盤裡，或是直接把錢丟掉（收起來是沒用的，你心裡知道錢存在），都顯得更有深度一些。當然，深度的前提是，你不能剛好家裡正好需要一把電鑽的，那又遜掉了。

電鑽一把，有重量，有氣勢。拿在手中有重量，你可以直接感受這次挑戰的重要意義。有氣勢，電鑽象徵著人類改變事物的力量，你也可以透過自我意志，挑戰自我的極限。

到此，我完全被徐志摩說服了。躺在床上我想著，明後天就去買下這把電鑽，接受更高難度的挑戰吧！試試看，在上海與杭州過過極簡生活。然後，當一切順利完成後，帶著這把電鑽，飛越台灣海峽，回到家，跟老婆，跟朋友開始吹噓自己破釜沉舟，勇於挑戰自我的精神。

然後，這把電鑽可以刻上字：「購於上海零陵路XX號，幾年幾月幾日，見證一段不平凡的日子」。再把它當作傳家之寶，等到我快斷氣之際，把兒子叫到身邊說：「兒啊，人生就是要勇於挑戰自我，即使在最困難的時候，都不能放棄希望，知道嗎？」之類的勵志遺言，然後從枕頭下拿出那把陳舊的電鑽，手一鬆，把電鑽掉到他手裡。這樣，他應該會很有出息吧？

我躺在床上想得興奮，對於要買這把電鑽有無比期待。不過，不急，在上海還有幾天。所以，接下來幾天我就忙著該做的事。直到隔天要到杭州去的那一晚，再次經過那間店鋪，電鑽還在，但，我卻猶豫了。「還是等從杭州回來再買吧，現在買了，帶著它到杭州去又帶回來，行李太重了」我這樣說服了自己。

杭州之行一切順利。住宿只收現金，但也只要200出頭。基本上，在那裡吃飯都有人招待，也就只有花錢買水跟地鐵票什麼的，沒怎麼花錢。再回到上海，隔兩天就要回家了。一如所料，錢還算夠，沒到警戒範圍。再次想到買電鑽的事，卻已經激情不再。「挑戰都快結束了才買，那，還叫挑戰嗎？買了不是反而減損了電鑽所代表的深刻意涵了嗎？那怎麼還能買呢？」…  嗯… 言之成理。

所以，沒買。跟它無緣。

其實，我總是這樣，想得多，做到的少，思想的巨人，行動的侏儒。回台之後，其實有點後悔沒有衝動地買下來，如果早買的話，這時候我就可以拍張電鑽本尊的照片放這兒，也用不著去挑免費照片來用了。

或許也好，畢竟，電鑽還在我心裡，這不是都還寫成短篇故事了嗎？只是，恐怕不能當傳家之寶了，只能告訴兒子：「去Steemit找把拔2016年寫的短篇故事仔細看看，看完記得再告訴你的孩子！」但，明察秋毫的兒子可能會說，「明明就是把拔你意志不堅的故事啊，哪裡有什麼自我挑戰啊？」好吧，兒子，現在沒能給你正面激勵，只好給你負面警示了。

感性與理性，並不是一種相對的概念，很多人可能認為惟有理性能成事，感性或許是一種人類演化殘留的不必要情緒。我以為，不是的。證諸人類歷史，看似理性推動了進步，其實那是因為感性是看不見的，感性驅動了人類的堅強意志力，在不可能之處勇於挑戰，才形成了人類的不斷進步，理性只是實踐的必然性質而已。感性的背後，其實，是具有社會理性的。

那把電鑽，之為一種工具，具有絕對的理性特質。

然而，在那樣的情境下，想買下那把電鑽的想法，卻是，無比的感性。

你的心裡，也有一把電鑽嗎？

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後記：

以徐志摩來代表感性，是今天寫的時候突發的想法，很順地就寫完了。剛好看到徐志摩的一些名言句子，有兩句很適合提一下。與讀者們分享。

[電鑽對我說：]

「我是個平常的電鑽，我不能盼望在人海中值得你一轉眼的注意。」

— 徐志摩 《愛的靈感》 （註：原文中的人改為電讚）

[我要對電鑽說：]

「我將於茫茫人海中訪我唯一靈魂之伴侶；得之，我幸；不得，我命。」

— 徐志摩 《致梁啟超》（註：梁啟超是梁思成之父）

首篇： 短篇故事：一把電鑽 (上) An Electrical Drill – Part 1

次篇： 短篇故事：一把電鑽 (中) An Electrical Drill – Part 2

末篇： 短篇故事：一把電鑽 (下) [完結篇] An Electrical Drill – Part 3 (Final Episode)

Note. 1. 此短篇故事根據我的真實經歷略改寫。電鑽，這篇終於說個夠了… :) 2. My first Chinese-only short story. Actually my first ever story on Steemit. I am sorry that you cannot read Chinese, because it is a great story. Maybe I will write an English version. 3. Image credit: pixabay.

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