August 24, 2001

Did I ever tell you that I suffered withdrawal on my Taiwan trip?

The day the typhoon struck, I suddenly realized that I left my medication in another city. So there I was, waiting and watching the rain drip down, listening to news reports about this bridge out, this road buried, this tunnel flooded.

I couldn't sleep. I had indistinct nightmares. I thought I was back in America. Friends popped in to annoy me. I woke up in the middle of the night, pissed off.

By the second day, I was dizzy all the time, and irritable. I hated people, they were giving me a headache and I wanted to kill them all.

Of course, instead to returning back home so I could get my pills, my parents took us all out to dinner.

To a giant, crowded buffet.

There were so many kids I wanted to squash. So many people I wanted to stab.

Lucky for me, I kept calm, ignored the dizziness, kept my mouth shut, and when asked, just said, "I'm actually kinda tired. I need to rest."

I went straight to my meds, popped a pill, lay my head down on the pillow, and fell asleep right away.

The next morning, I was fine.

Isn't that scary?