The Big Stage
Taipei puts on one hell of a New Year’s Eve party. A large portion of the core downtown is blocked off to make room for a monster sized stage. All of the biggest names in music and the big screen take a turn at entertaining the massive crowds.
The entire regional supply of spotlights and lasers, and some seriously heavy bass, guide you to the epicenter from miles away
And to top it all off, there is a fireworks show using one of the world’s tallest buildings as a launch platform
10… 9… 8… Taipei 1… 0… 1…
Of course crowd surfing and joining the mosh pit aren’t the best way for a woman 6 month’s pregnant to pass New Year’s Eve, so we spent most of the night indoors with friends, playing cards, and talking about our plans for the new year
We are pretty boring in this regard. We already have everything we want, and none of those are things. Our wants are simple, and aside from avoiding mosh pits, mostly out of our control. We just hope for a healthy baby
In any case, there are a few fun goals to take on this year:
- Learn to change a diaper (an useful skill)
- Summit Jade Mountain, the tallest peak in Taiwan (3,952 meters)
- Swim across Sun Moon Lake in Taiwan
- Grow blog traffic 5x (because writing is more fun when people read it)
With 10 children and numerous grandchildren between them, my Mom and Grandma are some of the best diaper changers on the planet. They should be able to teach us the necessary skills when they visit in May
I understand there are 3 things that a person needs to do in order to be considered “real Taiwanese.” The first is to ride a bike around Taiwan. The other 2 are climb Jade Mountain and swim across Sun Moon Lake. Winnie hasn’t done any of these things, but I think she is grandmothered in
I will probably tackle Sun Moon Lake at a big festival/event in August, and Jade Mountain in the early fall. If anybody wants to join, send me a message. It should be fun
We started Go Curry Cracker! a little over 2 years ago, and it has been growing continuously ever since. I thought it would be nice to set a goal for growth this year, since we are in a fixed location until GCCjr is ready to hit the road. I have many great posts in the pipeline. If you like what you read here on GCC, your help would be greatly appreciated!
Maybe post an article you like on Reddit, or share with your Facebook friends or Twitter followers. Tell your brother-in-law who writes for the NY Times that we’d love to share our story. Or even just share your thoughts in the comments from time to time. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
With your help, we should be able to accomplish all of these goals this year, an accomplishment worthy of its own fireworks
Enjoy the show!
Boom!
Wow!
Whoa!
Happy New Year!
What New Year’s Resolutions have you made for 2015?
Oh, wow, that is one of the most amazing fireworks I have ever seen. Good luck with your goals for 2015. I have been reading your blog for over a year. With the quality posts and the planned increase in the quantity of posts, you should have no problem achieving your goal.
When my son was still in diapers, he used to pee right after we opened his diaper and shot a water fountain all over the place . So we always kept a paper cup handy. The moment we opened his diaper, we put the cup on top of the water fountain base. You may consider keeping a couple of paper cups on GCCjr’s diaper change table. :)
Taipei does put on a good fireworks show, no doubt
Considering our diaper change table is also our dining counter, that’s probably a good idea :)
Haha! Just don’t mistakenly drink it. :) Though it may not necessarily be bad for one’s health according to this article: http://www.ministryoftofu.com/2011/03/boy-urine-soaked-eggs-listed-as-local-specialty-intangible-cultural-heritage/
yum
Diapers are easy. The other stuff might be a little harder. :)
My resolutions are pretty boring. Don’t get arrested. Have fun all year. Keep up a diversity of activities to make sure my brain and muscles don’t atrophy.
What kind of fun can you have without being at risk of getting arrested?
I never said I wouldn’t face the risk of getting arrested, just that I don’t want to get arrested. Nothing wrong with a little lawbreakin’, just don’t get caught (learned that in law school lol).
The only thing I learned in my law classes was always sue the guy with the deepest pockets :)
I think you know what Mr. and Mrs. Bob’s key resolution is now. ;) Another one of our resolutions is to continue living within our means.
Those were some great fireworks, good thing the building looks like it’s still standing.
Both of you have so many exciting things coming in 2015. Keep us posted with pictures and updates.
You should be able to hit that goal no problem since “within your means” is about $237k/year :)
We would love to join you on the swim! But first let me read about a) the distance and b) how cold the water is. I hate cold water! Oh, and we would have to get to Taiwan, but being in Japan, maybe it would be possible. If not, we are happy to keep reading. Thanks for sharing and inspiring. Karen and Chris
Hi Karen & Chris
The distance is about 3k. It isn’t a race exactly, instead they call it a Swimming Carnival. Each participant is required to carry a buoy, and many wear costumes or decorate floats
I’m not sure about the water temp, but from photos most people are not wearing wet suits. Air temp is 28C around August/September so the water temp is likely comfortable
I think this year the event is Sept 15, with max 27k participants.
Here is the official registration info from last year:
http://pulifourswim.com/files/4.pdf
Should be fun :)
Jeremy
Hi GCC,
I have read your site off and on over the past several months ( or maybe the past year – time flies). Did you ever post an article that discussed how you and your wife accumulated your nest egg? I think that would be really interesting for me. I realize your story might be something like – “I saved 80% of paycheck in 401K for 12 years”, but I think there could still be some more.
Best Regards,
Dividend Growth Investor
Hi DGI, have you read this one yet?
https://gocurrycracker.com/10-years-and-a-day/
I’ve been thinking of doing other posts with more detail, so if you have any ideas or questions let me know!
Jeremy
I stumbled across your blog a few months ago, and have been reading it more and more actively (you’re in my favorites now). I started with MMM and although i like many of his points, I find him a bit too extreme. From what I glean from reading here, you live a much more mainstream approachable lifestyle, and I appreciate that. Its more in line with a lifestyle I could see for myse!f and my wife once we hit FI. Keep up the great work, I look forward to seeing what comes next.
By mainstream approachable lifestyle, do you mean we eat more than only ketchup? haha
We really couldn’t be happier with our lifestyle. It is great to hear that you can relate
Feel free to fire away with any questions/ideas/requests, happy to help out
Jeremy
Haha, no. Mostly that you actually know what the word restaurant means, hired a housekeeper when it was needed, etc. Many other ER/FI bloggers have burned those words from their vocabulary. I think it’s important to wisely spend your money, but to make personal choices on what is important at a given time.
As far as requests…have you covered how you funded the first few years of retirement? I loved your never pay taxes again article, and would like to see how that works just entering retirement.
Not only do we know what the word restaurant means, we ate at 3 different restaurants yesterday
I sent you an email in regards to your question. I’ll probably write a blog post about our cash flow management