Taiwanese Takeout and Other Wisdomy Things

*Read all bold  lettering in a dark, menacing voice; it will make for a much more enjoyable experience!* For 43 years, players of all ages, races, and ideologies have come together carrying pencils, characters sheets, pre-rolled dice, dozens  of books, snacks, and various props to the gaming table to play a game, the name of which either will excite you or scare you: Dungeons & Dragons~~~~~!  The game (which we call D&D for short) has flourished over the years, with 5 Editions (and an incredibly well-done recreation of 3.5 called Pathfinder, done by a third-party) and a lot of creative content for players to control and imagine. With dozens of classes--both official and "homebrewed", as we like to call it--races, hundreds of customization options, and endless worlds to explore, the sky is the limit for what you and your fellow gamers can create, giving virtually anyone who comes to the table an opportunity to find something they can enjoy. However, during the 4

Today's world is definitely a strange one. It is one that has broken from tradition, become more dangerous, and has essentially given us an increasingly-larger number of reasons to fear those who aren't like us. From trans to terrorism, the norm today definitely isn't what it used to be--even in the 90's, the era I grew up in.  It wouldn't come as a surprise to anyone that times are changing. What was acceptable even 20 years ago is not today, and likewise, what wasn't acceptable then now is. With the advent of the internet, our opinions on these changing times have never been more polarized. People share ideas, and entrench themselves in the words of what they read on the internet, at church, in school, or in their circles of friendship and family. There is definitely something strange about these conflicts, however... these conflicts in a way create a common ground on all sides--which is that we prefer to see events that favor our beliefs and shun those

Once, I was reading an article about a woman who was asked to quiet her child down. She exploded and claimed she and her child were being harassed. She concluded her tantrum with something that caught my interest: "You don't know me!" I was kind of surprised as to why  this phrase caught my interest. The funny thing is, I did know this woman. She's exactly like every other person who I've heard say, "You don't know me!" It was this article that has since passed into the vast internet ocean of information that made me realize that this woman and virtually every other person out there has an insatiable desire to be unique--rather these people who say or even think this to themselves have a fear of being normal. So this got me thinking... Why  are we afraid to be normal? Does being normal mean that you are a boring person? Does it mean you won't get anywhere in life? Why must we strive to be unique? Interesting questions for sure. I believ

Long story short: It's about me sharing wisdom to help enrich my readers' lives. But the "tl;dr" section isn't nearly as edifying as what's next... HA! Clickbait phrases DO work! I once saw a Facebook page called "Philosophical Takeout", and subscribed to it for a while. It was a decent page, right up until it began doing nothing but post its political agenda--so later on I just left the page. It was a shame, too, because I liked the name and a lot of its prior content before it degraded into the mindless political machine everything seems to be these days. Nonetheless, when the time came to name my blog I decided to... shall we say, liberate the name and make it my own? So why the "Taiwanese" portion? Well, I should start by introducing myself. I am Jake Harris, a white dude who is obviously not remotely Taiwanese. My wife, however, is, and we both currently live in Taiwan with our dog Luma. I love it here. My life has improved te