A little dizzy but happy. After difficulty getting to sleep I enjoyed a deep long rest but the morning light woke me up way before my alarm.
I checked the map and it was going to be a hassle to get into the city to the bookshop so I showered and got going.
Despite needing 4 different trains it didn’t take as long as I was expecting and I’m enjoying my first coffee of the day now.
Today I’m grateful for:
Arwith coming to meet me at the bookshop this morning. I bought books for myself and he for his kids.
We grabbed some great vegetarian lunch at MQuarter but the malls were a bit too upmarket for us to buy gifts.
After that I caught a train to Mo Chit and now braving the bus to the airport. It’s airconned though so not so bad.
The best thing about today was:
Finding some good books at Dasa. More to add to the pile.
Something I learned today?
As with yesterday I learned more about getting around Bangkok. I feel like I used to feel while visiting London, nice to visit but not to live.
Review your acts, and then for vile deeds chide yourself, for good be glad. — Discourses 3.10
I found a small present for Amy at the airport.
It’s actually hard to find things for her as she can just buy whatever she wants (within reason of course) but this time I thought that I should at least bring something back so I found a nice pandan snack at the airport.
I also found a gratitude word search book that I will give to Baipad but first I want to see if there is anything inside that I can use for my grade 8 classes too.
Did you do something difficult or challenging today?
Getting around in Bangkok transit was a bit of a challenge and annoyed me at first but as trains were fairly regular and I considered the cost, it started to feel more comfortable.
I took this picture to remember us old uncles meeting again in Bangkok.
I’ll play a song for you, in this empty room Spill my heart for no one else to hear And when I reach the end of my tune I’ll turn off the lights and disappear
The memory of my words will stay Reverberating around these cold walls And when you wander by one day You will hear the whisper of my calls
“Be careful what you wish for When hope blinds you to the signs Forgetting that less means more Living the curse of interesting times”
A little slow to get going this morning as I turned off my alarm to sleep an extra hour.
Starting to think about getting lessons in order and writing new ones for my new classes. It’s giving me some good background anxiety but I trust myself to be able to pull everything together.
Today I’m grateful for:
Finally being able to book flights to Bangkok and back in May to see Arwith and the bands I’ve been working with.
The best thing about today was:
Eating mala sticks this evening. A simple thing but we haven’t done that for a long while.
It was hot enough, even at 8pm, to sweat when sitting still so eating those spicy sticks didn’t really make much difference!
Something I learned today?
Booking AirAsia flights on the website was giving me trouble but using the app on my phone worked instantly.
Review your acts, and then for vile deeds chide yourself, for good be glad. — Discourses 3.10
Staying in touch with Anchan to try and help her through this time.
Talking with Baipad about dealing with her mental health issues.
Pretty good even though I slept badly due to aching shoulders. I should probably get them checked out as it’s been painful for about six months already.
I got up early so that I could watch the Swans game this morning.
I need to book flights to Bangkok to meet up with Arwith in early May, order a filter for our air purifier and will take Baipad and Butter to practice riding the motorbike again.
In amongst all that I’ll do all the things I usually do too; reading, writing, thinking and planning.
Today I’m grateful for:
My alarm getting me up and into action this morning. I could easily have slept another three hours but glad that I gave myself that extra time to do things.
The best thing about today was:
It’s been a pretty good day all round. It was 41 degrees and the house was like an oven so I spent most of my time in aircon.
I didn’t read or play guitar today but did clear up a backlog of emails.
What was out of your control today and how did you handle it?
When I got back from coffee I prepared everything to watch the AFL but it wasn’t working, which was unusual. I saw one error about location so I downloaded a free VPN and tried some different locations. None of those worked either but they also didn’t have the option to set the server to Australia.
I checked if the Highlights and Mini Matches still worked and they were fine. But even last week’s full match replays were no longer available.
I searched online to see if there might be some information about this and ended up posting on Reddit. Whilst waiting for any response I found another VPN that had an Australian server and finally, I was able to watch the game (which was an unconvincing win).
It looks like someone else had the same problem too so I guess I need to figure out a VPN to watch full games in future. The one I used, TunnelBear, has a 2G data limit and I’m not sure if that is daily, weekly or monthly. I really don’t want to have to pay for a VPN just to watch one match a week.
Something I learned today?
Butter’s mum came and introduced herself to me and when we got back from riding I also met his dad and sister, Cookie! Great names!
Cookie will start grade 7 at my school next month though I won’t be teaching her.
Review your acts, and then for vile deeds chide yourself, for good be glad. — Discourses 3.10
More encouragement for Butter and Baipad with motorbike riding.
Butter has pretty much got it already and Baipad improved a little more today too. I think that gave her a mini confidence boost.
I can see from her actions that whatever bullying she suffered when she was younger has really knocked her self-confidence. She is still vulnerable to other people who could easily bully and manipulate her.
I also sent another 100 baht to Anchan.
When was the last time I tried something new?
Although I can’t pinpoint it I believe that I try something new every day. The journey through our minutes is diverted off course consistently. Even the Trumans Show fell apart eventually and Groundhog Day was never actually the same.
But something deliberately new? So something interesting? Not just a new restaurant, a new book, a new poem, a new song to listen to?
How about a new country, a new house, a new job, a new hobby?
Read anything here, there is nothing new and something new on every page.
Write about a time when you laughed uncontrollably.
Back in 1989 (I think) I was thrilled to be outside of England for the first time in my life and playing shows with my friends in Belgium and Holland. I soon bonded with our Dutch host Mark and we would drink, get high and laugh a lot much like any other early twenty-year-olds would.
At this one of our shows, which was an amazingly fun night where Mike, from the New York band Shaved Pigs (who had hung on a bit longer after their tour had finished the week previous) joined us on saxophone for our epic jam tune, there was a radio interview at the end of the evening.
Thoroughly happy and drunk, Mark, who was the interviewer, asked me to recite a couple of poems that I had written that he had seen before.
I think I read The Day The Apples Turned To Poison but hassled for more I was requested to read She Lost Her Virginity To A Worm. The anticipation in the room for this short poem was too much and I couldn’t even get to the end of it as Mark and I were in fits of giggles.
A fascinating radio listen? I doubt very much!
I took this picture because His Majesty was looking regal, watching over the dining room this morning. I’m so glad that he is feeling better this week.
Here the shadow falls, down into the fog Eyes dead at the singing of the bells Broke by the vicious cards dealt Crawling through the sawdust of these hells
Burying bodies, ten-a-penny Stuffed men once filled with straw All now quiet and meaningless Wondering what it was all for
This is the way the world ends Not with a bang but a whimper It never would have come to this If we’d just kept things simpler
Submitted to Shay’s Word Garden – inspired (and borrowed) from T.S.Eliot’s The Hollow Men
Today I’m feeling:
Good, getting better throughout the day. I started off a little dizzy until my meds kicked in.
Both my classes were simple and the kids seem invested in a little reading and understanding. I didn’t push them but the way I structured the reading and questions definitely caught out some of the students who would generally just copy their work.
Today I’m grateful for:
Parthiban in Singapore for paying back his share for the HighVoltage/SpeechOdd 12”, straight back into our Aussie bank account, which will keep Amy happy for a little while!
The best thing about today was:
Being inspired to write a couple of poems during my break between classes. That two hours flew by today as I caught up some reading, thinking about prompts and ideas.
What was out of your control today and how did you handle it?
In my first class we ran out of time for the last group to read because they were all struggling to understand the questions that I was asking them.
I was surprised at how quickly the time disappeared. Oh well, at least I caught about 85% of the class today.
Something I learned today?
Arwith’s band Piri Reis is supporting Converge in Bangkok in May. He’s going to try and line up a weekend show in Chiang Mai if possible too.
Either way I’d like to catch up with him if he’s here somewhere during a weekend.
What things do I like to collect?
I’ve answered this or a similar question before, answering with music, books, comics but it got me thinking a bit more about how technology has transformed collecting in many ways.
With almost everything available somewhere somehow as a digital file collecting physical items is becoming more of a rich person’s privilege.
Collecting things digitally doesn’t mean much to me but from seeing what some of the younger folks are experimenting with online in games they seem to place value in those things.
I was intrigued whilst watching an online race over three hundred kilometres on a barren planet in one of the sci-fi games where folks collect and trade minerals.
I can understand the appeal of these types of games and there may have been a time I might of dreamed of delving into them but I still have some part of me that clings to the physical.
Unlike those players though I cannot place any value in something that only exists as bits and bytes.
Praewa took this picture because she stole my phone (again). Her face is finally starting to mature as she has had a cute childish face since I’ve known her and it has only recently started changing. She still hasn’t grown taller though which I often tease her about but she could still grow a few more inches yet.
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