She’s smart enough to know how to make it work for her. And she’s a fellow alum (MIT FTMFW) so w00t.
Enought Janet, is there a thread for Vicky Lin, host of ICRT weekends show?
I always wondered why a smart well-educated woman, MIT no less, who wanted to become a medical doctor and save lives as a doctor, would give up all
that training and braininess to come to Taiwan and hawk crap products on TV and star in some cool travel shows? Okay, for two years, three years, cool, bit Janet’s been here forever now doing this same same thing, and sure she’s making a good living at it, but she comes from a wealthy family stateside, it’s not like she needs the money. What derailed her from her real life? This TV life in Taiwan is fake. Sure, she has the adoration of thousands of teen fans around the island, is that a life? I wonder if there is something about her that she is running away from. like her family in Texas, or former lovers at MIT, or her own sense of who she is in terms of persoanlity and sexuality. I am sure she is a good person and certainly has a sunny personlity for sure. But there is something missing. Honesty. She’s hiding behind something. Of course,
The llocals cannot see it, they just see glamour girl and glam girl…but no boyfriend, no husband, no kids, she seems like those other TV talents who were were
famous for a while and then disppeared: Chocolate and Jen Locker. Is Janet folling herself, too?
Very likely the dreams of becoming a medical doctor were her parents. As is this money you seem to think she had. And why on earth wouldn’t someone bright who had the chance to return to the old country to become a temporary celebrity take the chance? That sounds like an adventure and a source of lifetime stories. Becoming a doctor sounds like…well, becoming a doctor.
True, and good points. But in fact, she didn’t come to Taiwan to be a celebrity or TV show girl. She came over for a summer, after MIT graduation, and she just
intended to stay a few months and get to know her ancestor’s country better. And she taught some English classes. And one of her students was Small S or BiG S one of
those rich sisters on TV, and they recommnded Janet to their TV agent for Janet to try her hand at some magazine model shoots and she did it just for fun and then one thing led to another and slowly after two years of magazine shoots she got the TV travel show offer and off she went and her agent snagged her all kinds of TV advert work and she’s a star now. And more power to her and she’s great and what she does. I salute her! But just wondering, what SHE thinks of all this, giving up a life as a global trotting medical doctor like Albert Shweizter that was her dream, not to be a hometown doc in Texas but to travel the world with World Vision docs or Doctors Sans Frontiers,instead of this empy TV life? How can she be happy and fulfilled when her main fans are teenage kids who dream of being like her? Yes, the TV career is cool and fun, but compared to what she COULD have been, post MIT, is this the be-all and end-all of her life? She didn’t come her knowing she would do all this. It all fell into her lap and she lapped it up, and again, cool. Kudos to Janet! But what does she really want to be when she grows up and she becomes a has-been in the fickle Taiwan TV business? And she is looking more and more anorexic, and I wonder if she is okay with it all. Is she running away from something back home? Maybe. Maybe she’s running
away from herself? I dunno. But she’s great in the role she plays now. Is she really happy though? Money aint everything. Used to be. Not anymore.
A career hosting a TV travel show sounds more interesting than being a doctor. Perhaps she’s much more fulfilled by this career than one as a doctor. To each his (her in this case) own.
Think for a second if she had chosen the other career path. She’s a doctor. But just think, she could have been a TV star… Is she truly happy as a doctor? Perhaps she’s running away from her true self…
WE are all running away from something. Now if I can only remember what it was I was running away from ? 
Hey she wont do it if she doesnt like it? Maybe shes thinking just one more year, im sure shes not stupid. And shes not gonna be taiwanese and panic at 30 bout a husband (how old is she anyway?) . Shes an MIT grad. They aint dummies.
She has a good job, setup for life, now has an Asian travel show, sounds fine to me. Why is it running away if you come to Taiwan, did her parents run away to the US?
Being a doctor is a typical aspiration of ABCs, but something they usually fall into along a guided path.
Also she studied French in college, not all MIT or ivy leaguers are geniuses or academically minded, George Bush anyone?
Just concerned and curious. She was admitted to Tri City Gen Hospital in Taipei last week for two days, for ‘‘exhaustion’’. Is there anyone in her life to take care of her, make sure she is eating well and not overdoing it? Is she working to hard? IOS she being controlled by anyone? I heard there are six mafia families in Taiwan who run the show biz world. TRUE? is Janet part pf the business? I worry about her, that’s all.
Your concern is commendable but my mom has sent cookies and all will be well. I think as long as she doesn’t date anymore Forumosans she’ll do alright.
Your concern is commendable but my mom has sent cookies and all will be well. I think as long as she doesn’t date anymore Forumosans she’ll do alright.[/quote]
LOL. good mom, yes.
Janet Hsieh:
Thanks to all the doctors, nurses and everybody who have taken care of me over the past two days! 謝謝所有的幫助我的醫生，護士，救護人員，工作人員！很感謝大家都對我這麼好！
This thread is REALLY starting to resemble a tabloid.
[quote=“Cola”]LOL. good mom, yes.
Janet Hsieh:
Thanks to all the doctors, nurses and everybody who have taken care of me over the past two days! 謝謝所有的幫助我的醫生，護士，救護人員，工作人員！很感謝大家都對我這麼好！[/quote]
Are you one of her teen fans? 
[quote=“Cola”]I always wondered [color=#FF0000]why a smart well-educated woman, MIT no less, who wanted to become a medical doctor and save lives as a doctor[/color], would give up all that training and braininess to [color=#FF0000]come to Taiwan and hawk crap products on TV[/color] and star in some cool travel shows? [color=#FF0000]Okay, for two years, three years[/color], cool, bit Janet’s been here forever now doing this same same thing, and sure she’s making a good living at it, but she comes from a wealthy family stateside, it’s not like she needs the money. [color=#FF0000]What derailed her from her real life?[/color] This TV life in Taiwan is fake. Sure, she has the adoration of thousands of teen fans around the island, is that a life? I wonder if there is something about her that she is running away from. like her family in Texas, or former lovers at MIT, or her own sense of who she is in terms of persoanlity and sexuality. I am sure she is a good person and certainly has a sunny personlity for sure. But there is something missing. Honesty. She’s hiding behind something. Of course,
The llocals cannot see it, they just see glamour girl and glam girl…but no boyfriend, no husband, no kids, she seems like those other TV talents who were were
famous for a while and then disppeared: Chocolate and Jen Locker. Is Janet folling herself, too?[/quote]
[strike]I’ve tried three times to respond to this retarded post, and thrice I’ve been denied. So now I’ just go with…
Jou ma se POES![/strike]
Edit: Ok, I’m going to try again by editing. Hope it doesn’t lock me out again when I try to submit.
Right…re the highlighted bits. If that were slightly rephrased it could mirror almost any foreigner in Taiwan. Sure, we’re not all medical doctors, but why do lawyers, engineers etc come to Taiwan and teach English (I know more than a few) and get “stuck” here?
Why do any of us turn into long termers instead of going back after a year or two to a “real life”?
The question isn’t why Janet or any of us decide to stay here long term. The question is, “What is it about this little island that pulls people in?” Why do any of us elect to stay at all?
After slamming her for making the wrong choices, now you are concerned about her health. Maybe she’s just been enjoying herself a bit. As for mafia families in Taiwan’s show biz world … WTF? Maybe you should get and about a bit more yourself, and have a bit of fun in Taiwan:whistle:
And we’re all going to die of SARS, right, Cola. 
Haven’t seen you on Forumosa for a while.
[quote=“Cola”]I always wondered [color=#FF0000]why a smart well-educated woman, MIT no less, who wanted to become a medical doctor and save lives as a doctor[/color], would give up all that training and braininess to [color=#FF0000]come to Taiwan and hawk crap products on TV[/color] and star in some cool travel shows? [color=#FF0000]Okay, for two years, three years[/color], cool, bit Janet’s been here forever now doing this same same thing, and sure she’s making a good living at it, but she comes from a wealthy family stateside, it’s not like she needs the money. [color=#FF0000]What derailed her from her real life?[/color] This TV life in Taiwan is fake. Sure, she has the adoration of thousands of teen fans around the island, is that a life? I wonder if there is something about her that she is running away from. like her family in Texas, or former lovers at MIT, or her own sense of who she is in terms of persoanlity and sexuality. I am sure she is a good person and certainly has a sunny personlity for sure. But there is something missing. Honesty. She’s hiding behind something. Of course,
The llocals cannot see it, they just see glamour girl and glam girl…but no boyfriend, no husband, no kids, she seems like those other TV talents who were were
famous for a while and then disppeared: Chocolate and Jen Locker. Is Janet folling herself, too?[/quote]
It does sound like this post could describe just about anyone in Taiwan. My impression of all this is that there are certain people who have certain impressions of what people should and shouldn’t do with their lives, and they wish to impose that on other people. If you are asking out of genuine curiosity then cool, but you come across as implying that there is something wrong with her because she doesn’t see life the way you do.
Regarding being in hospital for exhaustion, well that really doesn’t tell us anything at all. In my opinion if someone has worked themselves to exhaustion, they either have some serious mental/psychological issues, or more likely, they love what they do, so they are able to push their body to the limits to the point of exhaustion.
When I first saw this thread, (I think it wasn’t long after joining forumosa), I detested Janet for her perkiness. But life changes and - over time and after reading the hatred directed towards her - I started to wonder why people were so spectacularly harsh with her. Now, I wish her the best with any of her enterprises. While there is a need for hardcore journalism, there is also a place for super-enthusiastic presenters. I cant believe the Janet Hsieh thread is still going so strong. Give the poor woman a break.
Although some of these posts could be interpreted as someone having a genuine interest in sociology, they do come off as criticism. If the posts are out of genuine interest in sociology the posts could be worded a bit more carefully.
I was surprised to see her being interviewed on that late night talk show on TVBS. They usually interview dignitaries and bigwigs, and there she was trying to squeeze out words in her retroflex-less Mandarin. 