that’s still not bad 
You know, there are quite a few other oddballs whom I happen to know frequent this forum FREQUENTLY and if I didn’t know they frequently frequented, I’d describe them here too, but whatever!
I know. God I feel sorry for everyone else.
Allow me to clarify something important. Being a loser and being weird are two very different things. They often go together (which needs no explanation), but not always.
I know plenty of people whose logical processes and ways of relating to people are perfectly normal, but who are just too lazy to achieve respectable lives for themselves. They’re losers, but they’re not weird. On the contrary, these types of people are remarkably common in some places! Think Jeff Bridges’ character in The Big Lebowski.
By the same token there are also plenty of people who are successful by any definition, but decidedly abnormal. A lot of these types find ways to make their quirks work to their advantage. But that doesn’t mean they’re any easier for other people to understand or relate to. Think Andy Kaufman.
A friend of mine once said there are only three ways to earn an “eccentricity license”:
- Hold a doctorate level degree in anything, and a job that uses it.
- Be filthy, filthy rich.
- Be a musician with a loyal following, no matter how small or local.
Unfortunately, in the eyes of most people:
poor + eccentric = impractical
uneducated + eccentric = boorish
talentless + eccentric = annoying
poor + uneducated + talentless + eccentric = certifiably CRAZY.
If your sense of humor is mean-spirited enough, here’s a link for ya:
losers.org
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They spelt loosers wrong! What idiots.
Fluffy told me I’m weird.
All interesting people are “weird”. “Normal” people are BORING.
Though I only lived in the Formosa II for a few days on my arrival in Taiwan - my sponsor later moved me to swankier digs at the Taipei Teachers Hostel near the AIT Culture Center - I managed to meet the oddest foreigner of my Taiwan experience there. I’m guessing many of you who have spent some time at the Formosa know of Fat John - as we called him. Apparently from Michigan originally but resident in South Korea and then Taiwan (mostly at the Formosa II) for the better part of a decade, Fat John’s life alternates between teaching English in Taipei and whoring in Bangkok which he talks about incessantly to any and all unfortunate enough to be sitting in the Formosa living room when he is present. He is also an armchair Marxist and claimed to bring poems on the subject to the Vietnamese Rep Office in Taipei for review
He’s essentially correct. Try reading Alastair Pennycooksome time.
And so is mod lang correct.
To me, weirdos are far more interesting than normal people.
I tend to gravitate toward them. And vice versa.
That doesn’t ruin a good argument… 
I can sleep now. I just read all 9 pages and didn’t find my name listed once.
I think I saw him last night while riding by Wanhua.
I’ve never talked to him so he may not be weird, but there’s a guy I see walking around the Shida area who looks like a dead ringer for that character Waingrow in the movie Heat.
And Taiwan will be a duller place when you leave.
It certainly can be great fun watching someone have a nervous breakdown…
Ah! Mike’s the guy who works in the Subway by Roxy. Nice as hell…his wife runs the store and he helps out at night. He’s been in Taiwan forever and actually works in a law firm that represents the presidential office.
Steve is the other white guy who works at the Carrefour Subway in Taichung. Good guy, throws a baseball hard as hell. He’s been in Taiwan for a long time, too.
I should have applied for work at Starbucks…that would have been great. I got to know the gals at the 'Chung’s Zhong Gang Rd store and they let me make my own drinks…
I also worked with another David in Taichung…sweaty, bald, fat, chain smoker. Took a little TOO much joy in teaching his students. There were always rumors, but never any evidence…
Hope this is taken lightly and does not mark me as a jerk in the eyes of Forumosans…
Anyway, wondered if any of you have stories about the oddest/creepiest/“dark”-est foreigner you’ve seen in taiwan.
I nominate 2:
-
In Kaoshiung this one New Zealander guy walked around speaking like Flipper (the dolphin) and would freeze (like, gone!) for several minutes at at time. Then, suddently snap back into reality and start squeaking again!!! Apparently, he would rent hotel rooms and have all-weekend long drug binges and he’d fried his mind…
-
There’s this big scary looking guy always around Minchuen & Jilin roads who has psycho eyes and bozo the clown hair. He must be 350 pounds and he just stares, and stares…Once in awhile I see him laughing to himself. some kid’s English teacher?
If it is the guy I’m thinking of, he is thankfully back home under the care of his parents. Sad, sad case.
Wow!
I think I remember John from the hostel back in summer 2000. Was he writing a book? This big, morose, sweaty guy was nice enough, actually, and quite smart.
He was undeniably odd though. He used to amble off at night to do “classes” with women. He bragged in a non-egotistical way about it. In fact, it was weird bragging because it wasn’t so much a “i’m the man” but more like an awkward uncomfortable dirty thing he had no problem telling all about.
AND, I think I WORK WITH the woman mentioned in an earlier post trying to get a black guy to come home with her and her husband. Can you describe them a little???!?!?[/quote]
I posted this in the other weird foreigner thread. There’s a guy I see around the Shida area that looks just like the character Waingrow from Heat. Not that he’s particularly odd looking I just think it’s kind of funny. I love Heat!