“Japan, Korea, China and beyond” - so basically you list every country in East Asia *except* Taiwan? Or does Taiwan get subsumed into “beyond” because it doesn’t rate?

It clearly can’t be subsumed into China because it’s not a part of China.

So what gives?

Kinda sick of being ignored over here even though, like, half…

“If designers don’t like you because you’re not thin enough you should buy yourself a dress rather than complaining stylists don’t like you” is basically what that douchehat said.

I’m 35 and I’ve gotten more liberal every year I’ve been alive.

“Some of those puppies are slightly burnt”

I have walked by that house (I used to live in DC). I have always had a boner for that house, and others in the neighborhood.

For the life of me I can’t understand why. They’re not particularly ugly, they’re not sexy, they’re not intimate, they’re not a reproductive part. What on earth is wrong with toes?

I wear sandals (the kind that buckle in leather or fake leather, not flip-flops or anything like that) at work all the time. I don’t work…

I don’t remember what the one in Volantis looked like, but I read in like three different places that it was supposed to be.

The priestess in the market in Volantis WAS Kinvara. Same priestess.

I know I’m in the minority opinion here but The Tree of Life was legitimately crap.

Yeah, but that dress in that photo is weird. I’m not trying to bodyshame her or tell her she can’t wear it or say it’s her fault in any way other than maybe choosing it (and she does have the body for it, whatever “it” is with that weird coral Red Cross thing it’s got going on) but that dress is U.G.L.Y it ain’t got…

to be fair tho that jug is amazing

If I put it out there because I really wanted to go, and the money just came to me, could I then use that money for something worthwhile? Like ‘The Universe’ says ‘here’s that $800 you wanted’ and I can say ‘great, I know I said I wanted to go to Landmark but actually I want to pay my student loan bill’? That’s cool…

You’d be surprised how many people don’t really know how cults operate - they picture them as whackadoos who wear white robes and pick beans in fields or something. They actually don’t know the dynamics of how such groups operate - either you’re wacky or you’re normal. So they see relatively normal, happy looking…

You need to be smart and charismatic at least. I am fairly sure that my former boss, like, read a book on how to be a cult leader, tried it in the workplace and failed (I’m half-joking. Only half). He just wasn’t smart or charismatic enough to attract followers.

In a ‘Tibetan Buddhist’ cult in Taipei, every time a member leaves or says something bad about the group, they are called ‘psychotic and disturbed’. Apparently everyone who stays is ‘sane’ and everyone who leaves is ‘crazy’. Every single one. Every time. No exceptions. All crazy.

I see this is a pattern among such…

4.) If, when you ask questions, you get angry defensive responses, get blamed for asking, get punished for asking, or get nonsensical or empty answers (“I’m not interested in that question, I feel like it puts me in a defensive posture when I have nothing to defend really” is both nonsensical and empty) or platitudes…

My goodness. Reading this reminded me so much of a group I know where I live in Taiwan, and their “guru” (a Taiwanese man who claims to be the reincarnation of an 11th century monk), actually called ‘The Master’ or ‘Master Wang’, sounds a lot like ‘International’. And they recruit young, lonely foreign expat women,…

As a permanent resident of Taiwan, go ahead and ask how Chinese treat Taiwanese even when vacationing in Taiwan itself :(

And China doesn’t even control Taiwan!

Too many actually believe it, though.

Sometimes I meet more thoughtful folks. Over lunar new year we went to Sri Lanka and met a Chinese couple who, learning that we live in Taiwan long-term, asked us what the Taiwanese really think about China as they know the news their own government allows won’t be accurate. I told…

*cry*

And the Taiwanese HATE it because they know they can’t win (right now) but they are absolutely not willing to ever be a part of China.

Also as a permanent resident of Taiwan, thank you for actually caring and raising awareness of the situation Taiwan is in. Too many people forget that a liberal democracy and…