Yes I am. Barely, but yes, still breathing. Actually, I'm just really enjoying being home with family and friends. I just said that because it's basically you who read this and I like to brown nose. No that's not true. I like my family and friends whether or not they give me wonderful food or grab me in my inappropriate places (/me looks at a certain friend with the middle name Jerome and [insert Gary's middle name here]). So maybe I'll update this in the future with more of my personal thoughts. That may or may not be a good thing.
I'll be heading back to Thailand in late January of 2009 for 6-7 more months. I figure since all the airlines will be bankrupt by then I'll have to take a boat though and I'll arrive in late June and also contract scurvy on the slow journey. The sacrifices I pay to do accounting in another country. The 1s and 0s mustn't wait!
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Sunday, July 6, 2008
I'm still alive.....I think
My water bill this month was 30 baht. That's less than $1.00 for an entire month's of city water. My electricity bill should only be around $10-15 a month. Not too shabby. Rent at my three bedroom house is just under $100 a month. Gotta love Thailand! Oh, and I moved into a house now...as you can imagine based on what I just said. This will be my final resting spot, tell visa do us part.
So every time I try to update this I find other things to do. How's that for procrastination. It's a very bad habit. To be honest, not a whole lot has changed and I suspect this will be the norm for quite some time. Despite living in a foreign country, life usually turns to routine. I get up and go to work like everyone else does. Only, I don't get paid for my work. But I also don't really have a boss. And by "don't really" I mean not at all. My former "boss" is leaving for the States permanently. But I like the freedom. I still enjoy what I'm doing which is always a blessing.
I'm living in a house now! It's nice to have a kitchen and my own bathroom and such. I don't have much stuff, but I've grown accustomed to not having much furniture and stuff on the walls. I actually have a few extra desks and things I don't even need. I bought the last owner's furniture. I think they gave me a pretty good deal on it all and I have what I need including a sweet washer AND spinner! Because who needs convenience when you have a sweet centrifuge that you can enrich uranium in. On a side note I'm selling nuclear warheads for $20 or 3 for $40.
Ants are going to be the death of me. In Thailand ants get into everything if you aren't careful. The fridge is safe and my silver food cabinet has special hoof-like things that have anti-ant powder and a water moat. It keeps them away, but if you leave food on the table or counter they'll be in it within a few minutes. When I get back to the States (hopefully in November) I'm sure I'll be puzzled at why people leave food out. My food preservation habits will be thoroughly ingrained at that point. So if I scream and lecture you about those feisty little ants please have grace with me. I've been through ant hell and back. But victory will be mine I tell you!
Also we don't have shower stalls in Thailand. You just run the water on the tile floor. So if I shower at your house be aware that I'm going to get your entire bathroom wet.
So that's about enough don't you think?
So every time I try to update this I find other things to do. How's that for procrastination. It's a very bad habit. To be honest, not a whole lot has changed and I suspect this will be the norm for quite some time. Despite living in a foreign country, life usually turns to routine. I get up and go to work like everyone else does. Only, I don't get paid for my work. But I also don't really have a boss. And by "don't really" I mean not at all. My former "boss" is leaving for the States permanently. But I like the freedom. I still enjoy what I'm doing which is always a blessing.
I'm living in a house now! It's nice to have a kitchen and my own bathroom and such. I don't have much stuff, but I've grown accustomed to not having much furniture and stuff on the walls. I actually have a few extra desks and things I don't even need. I bought the last owner's furniture. I think they gave me a pretty good deal on it all and I have what I need including a sweet washer AND spinner! Because who needs convenience when you have a sweet centrifuge that you can enrich uranium in. On a side note I'm selling nuclear warheads for $20 or 3 for $40.
Ants are going to be the death of me. In Thailand ants get into everything if you aren't careful. The fridge is safe and my silver food cabinet has special hoof-like things that have anti-ant powder and a water moat. It keeps them away, but if you leave food on the table or counter they'll be in it within a few minutes. When I get back to the States (hopefully in November) I'm sure I'll be puzzled at why people leave food out. My food preservation habits will be thoroughly ingrained at that point. So if I scream and lecture you about those feisty little ants please have grace with me. I've been through ant hell and back. But victory will be mine I tell you!
Also we don't have shower stalls in Thailand. You just run the water on the tile floor. So if I shower at your house be aware that I'm going to get your entire bathroom wet.
So that's about enough don't you think?
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Just a quick note......
....that last "informal" post was supposed to be taken lightheartedly. I'm not very serious about any of it. Okay, the disclaimer has now ended.
Sunday, April 6, 2008
Informality
So Phil has inspired me to take this more informal, less politically correct.
So I'm in a mildly (meaning severely) sarcastic mode brought on by a shade of loneliness brought on by the severely (did I already use this word?) lacking number of single native English speaking males in Chiang Rai. I mean come on! It's not like I'm all about just hanging out with men....that sounds kind of....well....not right. Being single and surrounded by women is not all that it's cracked up to be. Okay, so that didn't help my case for being straight.
So with that I'll open up with a story from last DTS. I think several factors ignited this memory. Living with women and facebook, which I've now signed up for to play Risk vs. the reason most people join....to meet other people. Seriously, I can't believe women make up only 50 or 51% of the world population. In lance world it's like 75%-85%. Normally I wouldn't be complaining, but well see below.
So during DTS we had these small group times where we'd all share our feelings and deep interpersonal struggles in a group that totaled around TWELVE people. Small, no. Medium, maybe. Large, DING DING. We have a winner. So as you can imagine I wasn't such a big fan. So I was in a mildly (meaning severely) cynical mood. I usually kept on me a small fan which turned into my best friend during hot season. Fan's are glorious. Truly. I have one blowing on me right now.
So yea. Where was I? Please leave a comment to clue me in. So when it came to my turn to "share" I said something shallow, though convincing enough in it's personal-ness-ity to not arouse suspicion. See how cunning I am? I then turned my small glorious blue fan upon the girl sitting next to me. I asked her if she wanted some fan action for something like that. She then started crying and then walked out of the room. Wha? A simple no would have been fine. Was the cool breeze of a glorious blue fan that upsetting? I sat their petrified and feeling like a gigantic jerk.
So this story illustrates the minefield that is living with other semi-young women. So much to worry about. New cultures, other genders, personalities....and....well....ummm...."time of the month". Oh! I know why I thought of this story!!! It was a post I read on Phil's blog and then a reply from his wife. Oh, now it comes to me. So yea, the girl I upset was having her period and was super emotional. I was in an insensitive mood and hammer hit nail or fire hit fuse or whatever the expression is.
BOOM!
We latter hashed it out and I apologized and she said she was having her woman time and also apologized. I would now actually add her to my facebook profile if she had it (more on that latter).
So Aprils Fools Day came and went. I guess non-Westerners don't really know much about this day. They were kind of ticked off and just plain confused. I guess someone rang a bell at midnight and woke everyone up. That was a bit mean I'll admit. Someone also took everyone's right shoe. That made the tightly wound Philippino girl upset. Then the color of our hot water for coffee was blue, red, green. I personally liked this one. I would have made the color yellow though. (On a side note I never drank Mountain Dew in Alaska/up to age 9 because I thought it was pee.) Oh and they moved tables outside and hid someone's motorbike. Anyway, we had a big talk about it. And, no, I didn't do anything for April Fools. Kind of wish I had now though.
Okay, so this begins my first chapter in bizarre cultural practices (or is it practici). So when I talk with someone on a cellphone I go find a quiet/private spot to do so. Not so with Thais. Last night I saw this Thai girl sitting in the middle of an open area on base. Right in the open on the ground. I thought she was crying or something. This isn't the first time I've seen this. So I guess Thais find the nearest vastly open piece of real estate to talk on the phone in plain sight of everyone. Yes, I'm being a bit ethnocentric and mocking them a bit. I'm sure they do that same all the time with us "farungs". I mean...in the middle of a field? Seriously? Wouldn't a bench or a table do better? Hey, hold on a second....I have to take this call. Where can I find a huge lot of land? Soccer field? That'll have to do but I'd prefer a 200-acre wheat field.
Oh and today I was walking and all of a sudden two elephants whizzed by me. Did two giant elephants whizz right by me? By the look of their butts, yes. In all fairness they were in a truck....on a highway. 20 minutes later two more drove by with a few Thai men either sitting on their heads or something like that. By the way, elephant poop is the size of a watermelon. It could crush a small child.
Okay so we need more single men in the mission field or where ever you call where I'm at right now. We need less newly weds. So if you are just married please don't come to Chiang Rai. I rarely see guys who just got married here. The one single guy here is a Thai who doesn't speak much English (so he may have a girlfriend...EDIT yea, he's interested in this 19 year old DTS student...he's around my age of 27....ummmm). You can only hang out with girls for so long before you need to do guy things. I tried to get a game of poker going this weekend and ONE PERSON showed interest out of 35. Now we have a serious problem in Christianity when only 1 in 35 want to play poker. Maybe God will send me to Vegas to do missions work. I bet I could get a game there. It's really hard to get a game of basketball here too. Everyone's too busy or too tired.
Lately, instead of pulling my earbuds out of my ears I've left them in and unplugged the cord, leaving my headphones dangling while I go to the printer or something similar. Is that beautiful efficiency or terrible lazy?
So almost lastly on this marathon post is my arrival on the facebook scene. I signed up solely to play risk with a (newly) married guy here (who I never see). This brings me to a hugely important personality trait. I'm not compatible with social networking sites. I don't care to make a lot of friends, but I want those I know to be very close. Facebook switches these things around. It puts a higher value on "knowing" many "friends" I'm not so sure what to do. On an unrelated note I just "tagged" Linnea Barton to my nazi bear. If you go to her profile and tagged pictures my nazi bear turns up. The interweb is serious business! I'm such a haxor.
So the nice part is I never knew how many friends I actually had. The downside is I don't really talk to these newfangled "friends". I wish they had a link to "accept as a provisional acquaintance". Maybe I should submit a comment to facebook, eh? So yea, I think I'll just let my new friend requests sit as pending until I come to a policy decision regarding this issue. I shall convene the board.
So I recently added this Thai girl I knew from my DTS. I talked to her enough to "accept" her as a facebook friend. I was also curious to what she was up to. No, not in that way! So then today another Thai girl sent me a friend request. The problem is I don't know who she is. Seriously. I think she could be this one girl I NEVER talked to during DTS. Very bizarre. Why hasn't Jesus come again yet? I mean, did he ever really want humanity to be faced with this type of dilemma? I don't think so.
Okay, so I forgot one last thing. Chances are you've stopped reading at this point and that is okay. If not you win a cookie. So a few weeks back I was visiting a DTS friend who's now working at an AIDS orphanage. There was a cook helping out and I started to ask the (female) cook small-talk kind of questions. I thought she was 21-23 range. So my questions were age appropriate. OOPS! The girl is only 16. I instantly felt like a creepy old man. It wasn't like I was asking if she was single or something, but it just felt weird. But then I didn't just want to instantly stop talking to her because that would look REALLY bad! So I gradually phased out the conversation. Crisis averted. Phewww! Oh the situations we get ourselves into and how we over think them.
So I'm a bit upset that I didn't bring my three homemade t-shirts. Not only do they fit well, one says "Turd Fergusen", "Bootastic Computers. Definitely not gay.", and Dusty Africanized. All in the name of trying not to offend! Maybe I'll have someone ship over these three shirts to me. I miss seeing Turd every 7th or 8th day.
Okay, enough...enough!
So I'm in a mildly (meaning severely) sarcastic mode brought on by a shade of loneliness brought on by the severely (did I already use this word?) lacking number of single native English speaking males in Chiang Rai. I mean come on! It's not like I'm all about just hanging out with men....that sounds kind of....well....not right. Being single and surrounded by women is not all that it's cracked up to be. Okay, so that didn't help my case for being straight.
So with that I'll open up with a story from last DTS. I think several factors ignited this memory. Living with women and facebook, which I've now signed up for to play Risk vs. the reason most people join....to meet other people. Seriously, I can't believe women make up only 50 or 51% of the world population. In lance world it's like 75%-85%. Normally I wouldn't be complaining, but well see below.
So during DTS we had these small group times where we'd all share our feelings and deep interpersonal struggles in a group that totaled around TWELVE people. Small, no. Medium, maybe. Large, DING DING. We have a winner. So as you can imagine I wasn't such a big fan. So I was in a mildly (meaning severely) cynical mood. I usually kept on me a small fan which turned into my best friend during hot season. Fan's are glorious. Truly. I have one blowing on me right now.
So yea. Where was I? Please leave a comment to clue me in. So when it came to my turn to "share" I said something shallow, though convincing enough in it's personal-ness-ity to not arouse suspicion. See how cunning I am? I then turned my small glorious blue fan upon the girl sitting next to me. I asked her if she wanted some fan action for something like that. She then started crying and then walked out of the room. Wha? A simple no would have been fine. Was the cool breeze of a glorious blue fan that upsetting? I sat their petrified and feeling like a gigantic jerk.
So this story illustrates the minefield that is living with other semi-young women. So much to worry about. New cultures, other genders, personalities....and....well....ummm...."time of the month". Oh! I know why I thought of this story!!! It was a post I read on Phil's blog and then a reply from his wife. Oh, now it comes to me. So yea, the girl I upset was having her period and was super emotional. I was in an insensitive mood and hammer hit nail or fire hit fuse or whatever the expression is.
BOOM!
We latter hashed it out and I apologized and she said she was having her woman time and also apologized. I would now actually add her to my facebook profile if she had it (more on that latter).
So Aprils Fools Day came and went. I guess non-Westerners don't really know much about this day. They were kind of ticked off and just plain confused. I guess someone rang a bell at midnight and woke everyone up. That was a bit mean I'll admit. Someone also took everyone's right shoe. That made the tightly wound Philippino girl upset. Then the color of our hot water for coffee was blue, red, green. I personally liked this one. I would have made the color yellow though. (On a side note I never drank Mountain Dew in Alaska/up to age 9 because I thought it was pee.) Oh and they moved tables outside and hid someone's motorbike. Anyway, we had a big talk about it. And, no, I didn't do anything for April Fools. Kind of wish I had now though.
Okay, so this begins my first chapter in bizarre cultural practices (or is it practici). So when I talk with someone on a cellphone I go find a quiet/private spot to do so. Not so with Thais. Last night I saw this Thai girl sitting in the middle of an open area on base. Right in the open on the ground. I thought she was crying or something. This isn't the first time I've seen this. So I guess Thais find the nearest vastly open piece of real estate to talk on the phone in plain sight of everyone. Yes, I'm being a bit ethnocentric and mocking them a bit. I'm sure they do that same all the time with us "farungs". I mean...in the middle of a field? Seriously? Wouldn't a bench or a table do better? Hey, hold on a second....I have to take this call. Where can I find a huge lot of land? Soccer field? That'll have to do but I'd prefer a 200-acre wheat field.
Oh and today I was walking and all of a sudden two elephants whizzed by me. Did two giant elephants whizz right by me? By the look of their butts, yes. In all fairness they were in a truck....on a highway. 20 minutes later two more drove by with a few Thai men either sitting on their heads or something like that. By the way, elephant poop is the size of a watermelon. It could crush a small child.
Okay so we need more single men in the mission field or where ever you call where I'm at right now. We need less newly weds. So if you are just married please don't come to Chiang Rai. I rarely see guys who just got married here. The one single guy here is a Thai who doesn't speak much English (so he may have a girlfriend...EDIT yea, he's interested in this 19 year old DTS student...he's around my age of 27....ummmm). You can only hang out with girls for so long before you need to do guy things. I tried to get a game of poker going this weekend and ONE PERSON showed interest out of 35. Now we have a serious problem in Christianity when only 1 in 35 want to play poker. Maybe God will send me to Vegas to do missions work. I bet I could get a game there. It's really hard to get a game of basketball here too. Everyone's too busy or too tired.
Lately, instead of pulling my earbuds out of my ears I've left them in and unplugged the cord, leaving my headphones dangling while I go to the printer or something similar. Is that beautiful efficiency or terrible lazy?
 |
So almost lastly on this marathon post is my arrival on the facebook scene. I signed up solely to play risk with a (newly) married guy here (who I never see). This brings me to a hugely important personality trait. I'm not compatible with social networking sites. I don't care to make a lot of friends, but I want those I know to be very close. Facebook switches these things around. It puts a higher value on "knowing" many "friends" I'm not so sure what to do. On an unrelated note I just "tagged" Linnea Barton to my nazi bear. If you go to her profile and tagged pictures my nazi bear turns up. The interweb is serious business! I'm such a haxor.
So the nice part is I never knew how many friends I actually had. The downside is I don't really talk to these newfangled "friends". I wish they had a link to "accept as a provisional acquaintance". Maybe I should submit a comment to facebook, eh? So yea, I think I'll just let my new friend requests sit as pending until I come to a policy decision regarding this issue. I shall convene the board.
So I recently added this Thai girl I knew from my DTS. I talked to her enough to "accept" her as a facebook friend. I was also curious to what she was up to. No, not in that way! So then today another Thai girl sent me a friend request. The problem is I don't know who she is. Seriously. I think she could be this one girl I NEVER talked to during DTS. Very bizarre. Why hasn't Jesus come again yet? I mean, did he ever really want humanity to be faced with this type of dilemma? I don't think so.
Okay, so I forgot one last thing. Chances are you've stopped reading at this point and that is okay. If not you win a cookie. So a few weeks back I was visiting a DTS friend who's now working at an AIDS orphanage. There was a cook helping out and I started to ask the (female) cook small-talk kind of questions. I thought she was 21-23 range. So my questions were age appropriate. OOPS! The girl is only 16. I instantly felt like a creepy old man. It wasn't like I was asking if she was single or something, but it just felt weird. But then I didn't just want to instantly stop talking to her because that would look REALLY bad! So I gradually phased out the conversation. Crisis averted. Phewww! Oh the situations we get ourselves into and how we over think them.
So I'm a bit upset that I didn't bring my three homemade t-shirts. Not only do they fit well, one says "Turd Fergusen", "Bootastic Computers. Definitely not gay.", and Dusty Africanized. All in the name of trying not to offend! Maybe I'll have someone ship over these three shirts to me. I miss seeing Turd every 7th or 8th day.
Okay, enough...enough!
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
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