你好！我十月搬台灣住。

[MarkShot]

No, it's not another Chinese spammer.  It's me MarkShot (from before there was an Internet).

Someone sent me an invitation to join up.  So, I just did.

Subject says:  Hello!  I am relocating to Taiwan in October.

You may recall that I was giving away my games last year for a relocation to New Mexico.  So, we decided to just go a little further like 13,000 miles to China.

I've been very busy.  Hardly any time for games.  Busy with relocation.  I already speak Cantonese and I am now busy brushing up on my Mandarin and working for the first time on becoming literate in Chinese.

Take care, all.

BTW, "that who won WII" activation question was discriminatory.  How do you expect to sign up younger wargamers when you ask such challenging questions.  Definitely a case of reverse age discrimination.  :)

[Staggerwing]

Hey Mark! Good to hear from you. They do have the Internet in Taiwan so please don't be a stranger when you get settled in over there. ;)

[Herman Hum]

Good to see you busy.  We'll play an ROC v. PRC scenario next time in your honour.

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

Keep an eye out for those new "stamina" pills.

[MarkShot]

Herman,

I hope you'll do something to balance the scenario.  Like consider it an ROC win if Taiwan manages to hold out for two weeks!  :)

[son_of_montfort]

MARKSHOT!

Occasionally I would ask myself, "I wonder if MarkShot is ok." Since I didn't know, I could never answer myself.  ;)

Glad to see you again!

[LongBlade]

Cantonese? Then your Mandarin shouldn't be too bad. Best of luck on the move!

[MarkShot]

If I want to sound like I just got off the plane from Hong Kong!

Here is the amazing thing.  In two weeks, I have gone from total illiteracy to writing Chinese emails back and forth with my wife's friends and family members.  Now, I am not using Google Translate, but taking advantage of Cantonese I know already and with PC based technology tools I am bridging the gap of illiteracy.  But while I am doing this, I am actually beginning to recognize a lot of written characters and vastly speed up my Chinese keyboard input and becoming literate.  I would have never thought this possible.

[MarkShot]

Professor SoM,

As a "latte drinking" intellectual aren't you sorry you weren't in Marseilles to witness France's swing left?  :)

[LongBlade]

Good for you, Mark. I've always wanted to learn Cantonese but never had the need. I heard with 13 tones it's far more complex than Mandarin, and that if you can master Cantonese, Mandarin is simple in comparison.

I spent a few weeks in Hong Kong years ago, and my Cantonese is restricted to a few phrases all of which are dirty, most of which are double entendres that draw dirty looks (in a bad way) when I visit Chinese restaurants in the US...

[Bison]

Welcome aboard Mark!

[MarkShot]

The truth is that you can get by in Chinese without tones.  If I say or hear one word, it would be unclear.  But things are always clear in context, since there is always a lot of redundancy in human languages.

If I say to you, "I have two blue book."  Yes, it sounds a little awkward, since I failed to form the plural properly.  But still you fully understood what I said.  Chinese can be handled just like that if you cannot manage tones.  Of course, you'll have an accent.

My mother-in-law says my Cantonese sounds like those White actors you always see on Hong Kong soap operas portraying evil British Opium dealers.  :)  On the other hand, she is always happy to talk to me.

[Bison]

Tiawan?  Wow.  I think I would suffer from serious culture shock from the sure number of people.

[MarkShot]

We were originally going to Macau which has one of the highest population densities in Asia.  Also, the area Macau we had selected was one of the most congested sections.

But reason prevailed.  Taiwan's cost of living is 1/3 to 1/2 of Macau.  And Taiwan has a very good National Health care system (includes dental); less than $100 USD/month for two people.  (I am sick of the situation in the USA.  Paying for health insurance and health care is going to bankrupt us, and not having health insurance will bankrupt us.)  Now, I can stop worrying if this will ever get fixed and I can put this huge chunk of money towards living a better life!

Also, I worked for the military in Taiwan over thirty years ago.  I went weeks without any real English dialogue.  There was only one real English language bookstore in Taipei.  But the World is now a very different place, the USA and it's culture is now just click away.

[MarkShot]

Well.  I got to run.  I just wanted to say it was great to run into all of you again!

I still love wargames.  I've squeezed a few games of CMBB/CMAK when I get a chance.  An occasional game of chess on my iPad when I find the time.  I still prefer the sense of noise, confusion, and battle to the mechanical precision of chess.  But I am always amazed endlessly deep chess is, and I know it is one AI that I will never be able to wipe the floor with.  Every war gamer needs such an electronic friend to get through those hours from dusk to dawn.   :)

PS:  Many you will recall for three years I was a stock trading nut with 1830-PC.  BTW, I did the stock trading thing for real for a good part of 2011.  But that's a story for another post.