Mystery Guest

Yesterday Hiyoshi, Lisa, and I went to see Jet Li's new movie, "Fearless" - great flick! I was a little disappointed that there were no English subtitles, because I just can't read Chinese fast enough to catch the Chinese subs, and I could only get part of it by listening. I'll for sure be buying the DVD of this one, should they release it with English subs. It was great to see one of my favorite Asian stars back in his own element instead of churning out crappy Hollywood films. I know Jet said this was his last martial arts movie, but I'm hoping that he changes his mind, because he's just so damned good.

After the movie the three of us wandered around Ximen Ding, where we bought blue hair dye in spray form for Hiyoshi. He'd been blathering on about wanting blue hair, but he was too chicken to buy permanent dye, so we talked him into the spray can stuff ;) And dang, you know the boy looks pretty good with blue hair! I'll keep working on him to see if I can get him to make the plunge to real dye, because I think it will look mahvelous.

So, we're sitting in a shop eating some dessert when my phone rings, displaying a number I didn't recognize, a local home telephone. I answered, and a woman began talking to me in Chinese. I assumed it was Jill, calling me back (I'd missed her call while in the movie and had left a voice mail on her cell phone). As we chatted the usual "what are you doing, do you have plans for this evening, how about tomorrow?" I kept thinking, "This doesn't sound like Jill....is it Mabel talking a little strangely?" Then she asked me where I lived. Well, my friends know where I live, so I was a little confused. "Uh, you know where I live." "You don't know who this is, do you?" "Well....I thought it was Jill - or Mabel." "Wah! How soon you forget me!" At this point I'm completely stunned - "JUSTINA??? What, you're in TAIWAN???" Sure enough, it was her, calling from her grandmother's house in Taipei. What a total shock, because the little stinker didn't tell me she was coming, not even a hint. We made plans to meet up at 6:00, which meant I had to call Aaron and tell him I wouldn't be joining him and his family for dinner (made me feel rotten, but hey, my friend from the US was here, how could I not visit with her?), and for the next hour and a half I drove Hiyoshi and Lisa nuts by singing, "Justina's here, Justina's here!" as we walked along.

The second surprise came when we showed up at the MRT station to meet Justina and I saw that her hubby, Chuck, was also there. She hadn't told me he'd come, too, and they frequently go visiting family solo. Wah, such a great Chinese New Year present for me! We picked up some beef noodle soup and some xiao long bao, along with some Taiwan beer, and went to my place to eat, chat, and watch part of the latest Wu Bai DVD. They're leaving today, so three hours last night was all I got, but it was so nice to see them again. I made Justina swear that next time she'd give me advance notice so I could give her a shopping list, ha.

Today is another day of out of the house early and hanging out with Hiyoshi, Lisa, and some other friends. I'll be back to write about the gambling with pistachios another time - stay tuned.