Dear Royal Bank: Fail

So I had some financial woes of late, it’s a long story but essentially something happened to my bank account and I had to rush and put all my money on my credit card.  But then there was no money in my account to make their metered out payments, and it was around Chinese New Year so that means no real money coming in for a month or so to send money home.

Anyway it was a bit of a mess, and when I tried to talk to them about it, all they would do is spout parroted bullshit with out any thought.   That’s assuming they would talk to me at all and not be incredibly rude and condescending.   So I ended up just writing it off, I’d make a payment when I was able to send money home.  Normally that would be in a month, two tops… but because of Chinese New Year it ended up taking 3 months to get enough money together to be worth sending home.

My card got cut off, and no one called me or informed me of what was happening.  The only reason I even found out was because I couldn’t update apps on my ipod, and when I called the bank, everyone I talked to was unbelievable rude.  Like I was some sort of  degenerate who had be accumulating mountains of debt and paying nothing for years, as opposed to I missed two payment I live overseas and I contacted then and let them know in advance.  Assholes.

I got pissed off with the rudeness and  asked to be transferred to someone else with manners.  After much BS I finally got someone who didn’t have their head in their ass, got everything sorted out and then I specifically asked if I was going to be running into any other issues or problems in relation to this situation.  I was assured that I wouldn’t and happily went about my life.

Oh another unforeseen shit fest was, I applied for a loan online but wasn’t able to complete it, it would have paid off my credit card and been at a much lower interest rate.  I needed to be in Canada and walk into a bank to sign the papers, but then all this happened and temporarily screwed my credit rating so I couldn’t get the loan while I was home.. most annoying part?  My credit rating corrected within 2-3 months when I was no longer in the country… annoying.

Then, in August they jack my interest rate.. ASSHOLES.  I pay for a low interest rate card and then they bump my interest up…dicks.  I call, pitch a fit and am again treated like a complete piece of shit.  I progressively get more pissed off, and finally get someone polite who agrees that the bank actually screwed up, but she’s not high enough up to change or fix anything.  She promises to talk to people and call me back.  No call, they have completely failed at communicating with and getting back to me.  GRRR

So I call again, pitch a bit of a fit, and insist on speaking to manager, they have taken another installment of interest at this ridiculous rate and everyone is so rude.  There is no manager on, but this girl takes the whole story down and swears someone will call in 24-48 hours max.  Four days later no god damn call.

Now in this time, it occurs to me that I really should just tell them to stuff it.  I mean if I let the card default, let it go into collections, wait a while then contact collections  I can pay it back at 30-50 cents on the dollar.  So I get to keep my money now, don’t have to borrow money from my friend and i’m kinda debt free now.  BITCHES.  sure it messes up my credit rating, in a country I don’t live in and have no intentions of going back to anytime soon.  Shrug, what do I care?

And if I wasn’t such a god damn goodie two shoes…. that is exactly what I would do.  So lame, I wish I was badder…. but given how badly Visa was behaving  I was ready to be bad.

But.. sigh… this week I called and actually got someone intelligent and polite on the phone, who listened to me rant and actually tried to fix things.  Returned the last interest payment (the interest rate had already been fixed) so they returned all they money they took illegitimately plus some.  When I said wasn’t really enough, I got a genuine apology and he offered me a different card with some points that would give me some merch.

Honestly, it still isn’t enough but I’m damn well taking it, I will pay my visa off.  But I am definitely going to investigate other banks credit cards and what they can do for me.  I’m a good customer, and they don’t seem to get that.

I have paid the thing off, but I’m completely unimpressed.

The Greasy Spoon

So this little spot opened up, in my neighborhood and the name intrigued me.  I”ve been meaning to drop by and give it a try for ages, but it’s so close to home that I usually just head home and make something or I go to sushi or Vietnamese because they are just as close and I KNOW they are good.

Anyway on my way home from work today I thought.. oh what the hell.  So I swung by and had dinner.  The overview?  It was fine, nothing super exciting, but decent.  I guess I’m spoiled by KGB and Forkers, any other burgers seem to be lacking.  Cute little place though.   I might go there to have tea and study or something.  I really like the cute little tables and chairs outside.

I got a cheese mushroom burger, it came with a side of fries, a soup
(or a glass of juice… weird but cool) and a nice little surprise at the end.  Some little creamy poofs.  I think the creamy poofs were the best part, not because the food was disappointing, they were just such a delightful surprise!!

I took it as a wonder full excuse… as you can see 😀  to play with my camera and take a few pictures of the place and the food.  Mostly because I’m 5 and I wanted to play.

So would I recommend going there?  If you’re in the neighborhood, sure thing go check it out.  It’s a cute place and it’s worth giving a try and deciding for yourself.  But is it worth going out of your way to find? No, not really.  There are a lots of places that are easier to get to and equally as good that are probably more convenient to where you happen to be.

But if you find yourself near or at Wangfang hospital, it’s on

Xin Hai Road Section 4, #254   辛亥路4段254號        02 2932-9698

They are open from noon to midnight. 🙂

They don’t appear to have their own web page but here is a [link] to a review and some comments about it on another site in Taiwan.

AlleyCats, Very Disapointing

I guess I should have gone in it’s hey day, although I have been once before a year or so ago and my impression from that visit was meh too.  Last time it wasn’t particularly exciting but it wasn’t especially disappointing either.  I remember thinking the pizza was nice, but not really worth all the hype and to be frank.. not worth they money it costs.

It was my friend who actually asked me to remove his real name from my blog (insert eyeroll here) birthday (aka Frostfox) and we all went to dinner at Alleycats.  We went to the original store, which when I said I wasn’t so impressed last year everyone said I had to go to.

Well as far as first (or second) impressions go, they failed.  HORRIBLY.  Best pizza in Taipei?  Really I think I would have preferred Napoli, you know the greasy cheap shit that costs a couple of bucks.

I ordered the Napoletana: Fresh Tomato, Goat Cheese, Anchovies, Olives and Spinach.  I swapped out a couple of ingredients.. (anchovies for Italian sausage), and mmm sounds delish right!

Well, the whole experience was a disaster.  I asked them to separate my bill, I even ordered completely separate from the other people at the table.  And at the end they Just threw my stuff in with the bill, not a big deal but an annoying detail.  And before you dance around about how

Rid Yourself of the Beast (part 2)

Aaaaaand … we’re back

So to recap, I went into the pro’s and cons of  shaving and waxing.  On to the others…. chemical, Epilator, lazer, threading

Now Chemical hair remove has always struck me as a little hinkie, I mean you slather some hardcore paint thinner type stuff on your skin wait for it to essentially dissolves your hair and you rinse it off in the shower.   Really? There is always the superfine sandpaper route that again I have to say WTF?? You want me to sand the hair off?  I’ve heard threading can be nice, but I have absolutely  no personal experience in the area so other than I have heard good things I have nothing to add.

On to epilating, technically any form of ripping the hairs out (waxing, tweezing, epilator, etc) is epilating, but it’s more common for people to refer to epilating as using a little epilating machine.  Now back in the day when the things first came out (remember that twisting wire that spun around a twisted metal rod? If you don’t… yes it’s as bad as you’re imagining) they sucked and where the 7th layer of evil.  All skin pinching and torturous, good times.

A couple years back a friend mentioned they had new ones now that didn’t blow ass, and cost less than a single waxing.  Well I’m cheap as hell, so sign me up!

I have to start out with, DO NOT START WITH EPILATORS!  If you have been waxing for a while and are pretty comfi with that then it’s great.  It takes a little longer and is a little more uncomfortable than waxing, but the results are generally the same.  I just watch a little TV, and get my epilate on.   That said I can’t do all the places myself, some hard to reach spots and a few

JAZZ Bush!!!

Remember that movie bring it on?  With the choreographer and his jazz hands?  heh , ok I just spent way too long looking for a clip.. forget it.. if you don’t know.. tough 😛

The point was a while back we were talking about ‘personal grooming’, and how a lot of people especial local here are not big on the same style as westerners.  Heh cryptic enough?

We were talking about crotch fur.  Waxing, trimming etc.  How the one waxer in Taipei tends to do a full porn star job, cleans everything up in whatever way you want.  As her clients all seem to be foreigners, we wondered if she has local clients and what they get done.  Again this sparks the convo (that comes up whenever the whole ‘grooming’ things comes up) about guys needing to trim too (and a lot of western guys do it actually) and then the whole scary lions coming at you in the locker rooms in gyms.

In change rooms here at yoga and the gym, people just cruse around starkers.  With MAD untamed bush!  Seriously, mad.  This last we were chatting about it,  I coined the ultimate term… ready?

Jazz Bush

…. you need to say it with pizazz and do the jazz hands near your crotch, for the full effect that is 😀

Moving along.  Remember that post I made about the shaving vs waxing business?  Well after several months of  ‘experimentation’, I have made some conclusions.

First the different commonly used forms of depilation/epilation (aka hair removal):

shaving, waxing (sugaring), chemical, Epilator, lazer, threading

I have tried all of the above at some time or another (plus quite a number of others.. including this very freaky sandpapering

The Toa of Pooh, and the Te of Piglet

A funny little back story that goes with this post, in university I had a bit of a breakdown. During this time I had to see some doctors (the main one happened to be a moron and asshole.. yay) and I was required to see a therapist via the school. I ended up having weekly sessions with Maria Walsh who was the councilor at the university while I was attending. Maria was awesome, she really helped me see and understand that it was just a ‘bad day’ and I wasn’t a nutter.

Near the end of our sessions (I was leaving the school and was no longer eligible to see her) Maria recommended I read the book the Tao of Pooh. I remember at the time being very adverse to the idea of reading the book. I mean no matter how much I liked her, she was still a therapist… and ‘they just mess with your head and

Dining: Bongo’s In Taipei

So we kicked off the year with some laziness and food, which I mentioned I think in my post yesterday (checking checking.. no I did not.. :P).

Bongo’s

(one of the first of this burger places to open in Taipei) {review}

#3, Alley 5, Lane 74, WenZhou St
(02) 2365-6059
Hours: 11:30 am-10 pm
Cash only. Smoking area outside.

I went for a run yesterday 🙂 and after that just shivered in my room until it was time for dinner. Tracey made reservations for Bongo’s and got us a table outside. She did this because she is a mean heartless cow and hates Melissa and I. LOL.. ok, she did it because usually sitting outside is totally