Is it wrong to love bagels and cream cheese this much?

While the amount of Western influence here makes me sad, I really could have kissed my co-worker who went to Costco - yes, they have Costco here - and brought me back raviolis, bagels, cream cheese and a hunk of mozzarella cheese. I feel like such a American whore when I do things like that - eat at McDonald's, PizzaHut, Dominoes, Starbucks, and now we can add, 3rd person shopping at Costco. I have eaten at all of these places, and the comfort of eating there is frightening. The food isn't great, of course, but it's easy and familiar and no one has exchange looks of "I have no clue as to what you are referring to" and I can safely answer yes to all of the questions. But back to the bagels - wonderful, gloriousness.
Taipei is clearly far too big and far too international to force me to have any sort of cultural experience here. I will have to seek it out, and who knows what that really looks like or means. The next generation of Taiwanese seems to enjoy hanging out at McDonald's (McCafe's, and open 24-hours. It's a much more pleasant environment when late night employees don't have to deal with drunk assholes or the fear of armed robbery) *Gasp*

Enough about that...

Feeding the Love. This is a more entertaining idea (says me) started (though probably not invented) by heels - the Ron Paul huggin', cunt of woman she is. She did a lovely post where she said tear-jerkingly nice things about people I love and people she loves as well, so I would like to jump on the wagon. I'm a big fan of love notes. As a person with an obtuse sense of humor and an often malfunctioning brain to mouth filter, I find it's really, really, really, really important to remind people that I truly love and adore them because the ones closest to me often catch the brunt of my wrath. I can't sit down and list everyone I love at one time. It's too overwhelming and exhausting and I start gushing tears. It ain't pretty, so instead of feeding the love as requested, I'm rationing the love. One per post. Requests are welcome. And, well, where to start seems pretty easy...

Dani - I have known you for a really long time. I really love how I can look back and see what twits we were at different times. I think I beat you on length of twit stage, but you are right, you did start out as my best friend's older sister, and then my older brother's friend. I think I can pin point the beginning of my awe and appreciation of the tenacity of how your beliefs and humor mix and mingle when my brother and I went to visit John, You, Emmy, and Spence down at the house near the high school. I think I nearly peed my pants looking at the Mormon brochure you defiled and left on your door as repellent for boys in bicycle helmets, white button-up shirts, and ties. You are hilarious, smart, witty, nurturing, loyal, and still as fierce as ever. These will always be qualities that will be as often adored as misunderstood. You are a gorgeous, rare human being. I am thankful that I know you and your family.