Be No.24 - A stromatolite, the most ancient fossil form, exhibited in the museum and a broken circuit board of a roller door of our apartment complex (2024)

Sensibility: Seeing a stromatolite in person at the museum gave me an inexplicable rush of excitement. But I think if I hadn't read through a paleontology book with my son beforehand, I probably would have thought: isn't this just a rock with some patterns on it?

Rationality: A roller door does three things: roll all the way up, close all the way down, stop. That's it. And yet the circuit board controlling it is already complex enough that I can't make sense of it. The world is much the same way.

Be No.23 - The vines on the wall of the Coal Mine Museum and the circuit board of a power amplifier exhibited in the Science Education Center (2023)

Sensibility: That rainy weekend, I took my son to the Pingxi Coal Mine Museum to ride the small train. The damp air of the mine shaft still seems to linger at the tip of my nose. It should be a happy memory, yet it carries a faint, inexplicable melancholy I can't quite explain. Maybe the answer is sealed somewhere in the memory itself — but no one has the access rights to retrieve it.

Rationality: I'm a sentimental person. As far as I can remember, I've never sold any of my effects pedals, amplifiers, or instruments. But thinking back now, quite a few things were left behind in my university club room and never retrieved — including an electric bass.

Be No.22 - A tree near my parent’s home and a part of the circuit board of a broken bathroom air dryer in my house (2023)

Sensibility: When I was young, the street in front of our house would transform into a night market every weekend, and the whole family would go together. At some point the night market stopped appearing, though I can't remember when. But going to the night market has stayed with me as one of my happiest childhood memories.

Rationality: This bathroom ventilation unit ran for over a decade before it broke down. What surprised me was that the new one my landlord bought was exactly the same size — it fit right in without any additional work. I don't know if keeping the same dimensions all these years was foresight, some kind of stubbornness, or simply that no one could be bothered to redesign it.

Be No.21 - The moss on a rock in a brook and the circuit board of a pinball machine (2023)

Sensibility: I went to the riverside with friends from the band scene. My wife — my girlfriend at the time — was very bothered by the fact that I ended up playing in the water in just my underwear in front of other girls. She just didn't let me know until much later.

Rationality: I loved playing pinball as a kid and would secretly use the change left over from buying bread to play. My mom always knew, but never called me out on it. Every now and then she'd deliberately ask why I'd been gone so long, and I'd say: traffic jam.

Be No.20 - Leaves on the ground during a hiking and a part of the circuit board of a broken bathroom air dryer (2021)

Sensibility: I took my son, not yet three years old, into a hiking trail we found at random. We walked a very long way — quite a bit of it with me carrying him — but I was genuinely happy that he could walk as far as he did on his own.

Rationality: My landlord is much older than me and very capable when it comes to home repairs. So is my father. People from that generation seemed to handle most things themselves. Our generation tends to either rely on our dads or call in a professional.

Be No.19 - The shell of a turtle kept by a restaurant and the circuit board of my wife’s hard disk (2021)

Sensibility: There's a small pond by the entrance of the restaurant with a few turtles. If a child gets restless, they can come watch the turtles and stay there for a long time. I'm curious whether the owner did this because of that benefit, or whether they never thought about it that much at all.

Rationality: Old hard drives are a troublesome thing. Even after all the data has been moved out, you still can't bring yourself to throw them away. So every time we move, that bundle of old hardware and cables just keeps getting bigger. Neither of us has learned to let go.

Be No.18 - The exterior green wall of a construction site and the circuit board of my son’s toy (2021)

Sensibility: Whenever my son passes a construction site, he's fascinated by the heavy machinery inside and can stare at it for a long time. Explaining everything to him has taught me quite a lot — though I wonder how much of it he'll actually remember.

Rationality: Every time my son gets in the car, he starts playing with this toy that makes sounds of various vehicles, and he quickly learned to recognize them all. But does learning these things earlier in life actually help a child? I suppose it probably does.

Be No.17 - Stones of the sea dike and a circuit board of a power amplifier exhibited in the museum (2021)

Sensibility: Yunlin's Kouhu is a place dotted with fish farms everywhere. But years of over-pumping groundwater have caused land subsidence, allowing seawater to flood in. I had only ever heard about this in school. It wasn't until I stood there and saw a roadside grave nearly submerged by water that it finally felt real.

Rationality: In university, I found a boost circuit diagram online and built my own effects pedal, even writing "Turtle Boost" on the plastic casing. But I was really just following the diagram — when it was done, I still had no idea how electronic circuits actually worked.

Be No.16 - A dry honeycomb in a dorayaki store and a circuit board of a tape radio exhibited in the museum (2021)

Sensibility: I grew up near the mountains, and once, a red paper wasp built a nest outside my bedroom window. Not knowing that red paper wasps are gentle, unlike hornets, I quickly got rid of it. I hope it found a new home.

Rationality: Compared to dinosaur fossils hundreds of millions of years old, a tape radio can become a museum exhibit after just a few decades. I wonder if the radio itself would laugh or cry at that.

Be No.15 - Sand bubbles made by the crabs on the beach and the inside of a recorder exhibited in the museum (2021)

Sensibility: Taking my son to the beach, he pointed at something on the rocks and asked what it was. I looked it up and found out they were barnacles. If I hadn't had a child, I probably would have gone my whole life without ever knowing what a barnacle is.

Rationality: When I was young, my sister bought a lot of Ranma ½ cassette tapes, and I listened along with her. For a few of my favorite songs, I would even "translate" the Japanese pronunciation into Mandarin phonetics so I could sing along. Young people today have probably never seen a cassette tape.

Be No.14 - Expired raw rice and a circuit board artwork exhibited in the museum (2021)

Sensibility: My wife makes sure our son eats well and never lets him eat anything expired — not even by a day. So whenever something goes past its date, I say: "Oh yes, something good for me!" Though now that everything expired gets eaten up anyway, I wonder if this is teaching our son not to appreciate food.

Rationality: Despite studying engineering in university, I never really learned electronics or circuit theory properly — I was still at the level of memorizing formulas to solve exam problems. Time can't be turned back, and I don't know if I'll ever have the chance to start over. But then again, not knowing it doesn't seem to have mattered much.

Be No.13 - A paddy field we met during a round-island trip and the networking cables in our office (2021)

Sensibility: During our round-island trip, we stayed at a lovely villa in Miaoli, nestled within a family's rural estate. On our last night, the neighbors were barbecuing outside and warmly invited us to join them. It became the most memorable experience of the entire trip.

Rationality: The server room is the coldest spot in the entire office — I have to put on a jacket just to step inside. But for one colleague who can't stand the heat and has quite the temper, it's the perfect escape. Which, in turn, is a relief for everyone who has to work directly with him.