We got that attitude! – 12th April 2020

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

I am so happy and grateful for our beautiful long grass on our driveway. It’s very beautiful and makes me feel at home.

The life which we received was given to us not that we might just admire it, but that we should ever look for new truth hidden from us.

John Milton

To-do list

  • Record TCRAH ✅
  • Find other recordings on Soulseek ✅
  • Finish lesson plan ✅

I didn’t get to write last night as I was savouring watching The Night Of and wanted to finish it.

Anyway, over these two days, I did the 3 challenges and I’m slowly preparing myself for more. No real insights or deep thoughts – just soldiering on. I did do an entry for the Stoa Journal about what you would think if yesterday was the last day of your life – that was quite thought-provoking. I find doing the entries quite challenging and would to contemplate them more deeply. Maybe I will if I blog them sometime in the future.

I’m feeling like I’m more committed to completing the 1994ever writings and hoping to keep up with coinciding with the dates this year.

We start out loudly and go in circles, all things converging, we find an end to each day – 11th April 2020

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

High in the North in a land called Svithjod there is a mountain. It is a hundred miles long and a hundred miles high and once every thousand years a little bird comes to this mountain to sharpen its beak. When the mountain has thus been worn away a single day of eternity will have passed

Hendrik Willem Van Loon, The Story of Mankind

That little bird is our lives. Dwarfed by the magnificence of time.

We are small and insignificant. Not individual, not a group, nor a race. Not a society, a species or a thought from God. We are nothing.

The dinosaurs, the mammoths, the pharaohs, the sultans and kings, the inventors, the thinkers and philosophers, the builders, the masters and slaves, the writers, the historians, the celebrities, the murderers, the saints and the despots. You and me. Nothing.

What will you do with this information?

Our floating houses on molten granite
Our liquid planet, it is a home for us all
I’m firmly planted, my earth is solid
I feel a presence but there is nothing at all
I wanted something, down here is something
It’s really something but there is nothing at all

‘Slowly Melting’ by Nomeansno

The Chiang Rai Alternative Hour #34

Music from Tipographica, Keukhot, Chui Wan, 400 Blows, Lifter Puller, Mazaj, Geronimo, Unknown, Pell Mell, Opal, Child Bite and Debile Menthol.

Gratitude Journal

I am so happy and grateful for the space we have in our house and garden. We can move furniture around and reinvent ourselves, change our views.

To-do list

  • Talk to George ✅
  • Record TCRAH
  • One more lesson plan
  • Record more 1994ever for blog ✅
  • Write a short blog post ✅

Almost didn’t make it out to my room but somehow managed to motivate myself. I am slowly completing things, whether it is sorting out bits and pieces from my past, things I’d intended to do for a long time, reading books, watching movies and TV series, sorting out my CDs etc. So at least I have a sense of achievement.

I’m reminded of when I was about 10 or 11 years old and used to ‘race’ my Matchbox car collection and keep tables of which was fastest and kept all sorts of statistics about them. I was already organising my mind, putting things in order, sleeping everything straight.

I can pinpoint other instances of this at various times during my youth actually. Looking through old diaries has triggered some deep recollections which is interesting. I’m testing myself to see what else is hidden away in there.

We got that attitude! – 6th April 2020

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

I am so happy and grateful for my Gloomy Bear mug which I’ve had for many years now. It reminds me of my past and my happy history.

To-do list

  • Must finish that lesson in the morning. ✅
  • Don’t watch TV until the afternoon.
  • Sort more CDs. ½

(It’s Friday now!) Finally, I have a little return of motivation.

Yesterday was our 10th wedding anniversary and we had a nice time at home, having spent time preparing a nice environment, as if we were out somewhere more fancy than our dining room. Amy did most of it with me working under direction. She has a good eye for design and detail. 10 years – mostly happy and content. Any rough rides smoothed over by our caring natures.

I finally finished another lesson plan, sorted some CDs and did one or two other things in my room. Tomorrow I’m thinking of playing some video games but wondering how much of a time suck that will be. If it’s a time suck that brings happiness then it’s not a big deal.

In the morning I also want to talk with George and see what his thoughts are on teaching online. I’m not sure how it will work when we have to encourage speaking. I’ve been writing my plans for students to work in pairs. How can that work? I’m curious about the possibilities though. It could be good in the way of learning new methods and developing ideas around the technology.

The Chiang Rai Alternative Hour #32 and #33 – 4th April 2020

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

Music from Girolamo Ugolini, Dragibus, Giant Sand, The Majic Ship, Bellini, Psychedelic Furs, The Sugar Shoppe, Sax Ruins, Beefeater, The Show Business Giants, The Hoax, Lindsay Cooper, The Afterglow, Amaxonas, Delroy Wilson, Dag Nasty, David Bowie, Christian Fitness, Beekeeper, Jackie Wilson and Negazione.

Music from Here and Now, Bob Drake, Orthrelm, Per Purpose, 20 Minute Loop, Shinki Chen, Tuxedomoon, Smog, POX, Cheetah Chrome Motherfuckers, The Move, The Who, Unsane, Samla Mammas Manna, Unwound, Bob Dylan and Retox.

Gratitude Journal

I am so happy and grateful for these cushions where I rest my head on these lazy days.