Tag: email

Innocent Times – 29th April 2024

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 5 Comments

Dreams inspire as the sun descends
Holding hands in innocent times
Where we’re going all depends
On things decided in our primes

Memories inspire as winter ends
When once we had innocent lives
One by one we murdered our friends
And never caught for our crimes

Submitted to No Theme Thursday picture prompt and NaPoMo
24th Nov 2024 – Shared with Word of the Day Challenge – crime

Today I’m feeling:

Pretty good so far.  Setting my alarm for 15 minutes earlier each morning in preparation for my return to work next week.  I have a slight twinge in my left lower back from too much sitting around for the last couple of days and probably aggravated by the tree moving yesterday.  I got back to exercising today too.

Today I’m grateful for:

Our pumpkin!  The pumpkin that both Amy and I took care of to try and get it to a size and maturity that was edible, ended up in our spaghetti dish for lunch and it was great.  Well done everyone!

The best thing about today was:

Cleaning out my inbox.  It accumulates quickly and I don’t get a chance to follow up everything as I would like.  I will need to get on top of this when I start working again next week.  Get my priorities sorted again.

I’ve already started clearing out my YouTube Watch Later list by either watching in full or watching a little and deciding it’s not that important.

What was out of your control today and how did you handle it?

I decided to sort out a hotel room for myself for this coming Sunday in Bangkok.  Nampan sent me a link to one near the venue and through Google Maps it linked to an Agoda booking where it said the cost was just 419 baht.  Nice.  It also said that if I downloaded the Agoda app I would get a 10% discount, so I did.

However, once downloading and going through the same process the total became something like 600 baht!  So I went back to the original Agoda page and went to the checkout and the actual total was about 550 baht in the end!

Well, it’s still cheap enough.  Never trust the price of anything you see online.  Everything is a subtle scam.

Something I learned today?

When I got home from Utopia at around lunchtime (I was there so long cleaning out my inbox) I was happy to find that Amy had ironed all my shirts!  I gave her a big kiss but it was already too hot to hug for long.

Review your acts, and then for vile deeds chide yourself, for good be glad. — Discourses 3.10

Baipad messaged me after a few days of quiet and she mentioned that she was expecting a delivery to her house in the next couple of days but is still stuck out at her grandma’s.

I suggested that she contact a neighbour or her friend Butter to pay and collect it if and when they call, or failing that she could call me and I could sort it out for her.

I’m starting to see that she has not been raised, or pursued herself, with a mind to think about how to get things done.  Perhaps she’s spoiled a bit and I think the issue between her and her mum is that her mum doesn’t see any maturity in Baipad’s behaviour and actions at home, so she continues to treat her as a child that needs taking care of.

I suggested that she show her mum who she is and what she wants in her life and her mum might start treating her differently.

It reminded me of the time I asked Hayden who he was and how much he struggled with that question.  Many of us do.

Did you do something difficult or challenging today?

A couple of days ago I watched a video about a tongue exercise and I’ve been trying to do it once or twice a day.  It’s simply rubbing your tongue between your teeth and lips/cheek in a circular motion, first one way and then the other, 25 times.

It sounds easy, and it’s not really difficult but I soon started to notice how useless my muscles involved in this exercise are, particularly my neck.

I will keep practising and hope that it helps a little with my neck problems.

I took this picture because Tigger was chilling on the terrace in the late afternoon, perhaps waiting for a storm that never came.

A Tropical Wish – 8th February 2024

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 7 Comments

There is no spring here
Where I’m sitting warm
Tropical thunder
Crashes all year round

No icy mornings
I’ve never felt snow
One day I wish to
Wear a winter glove

To feel warm red cheeks
To see words in breath
A thick winter coat
Wet with cold, cold snow

Like two cats in love
We’ll keep ourselves warm
The bud breaks the bark
I’ll watch in wonder

Shared with Tanka Tuesday – Kigo words ‘cats in love’
10th Nov 2024 – Shared with Ragtag Daily Prompt – glove

Today I’m feeling:

A little tired again I think because whatever is giving me a sore throat is just taking a little out of me.  I don’t feel too bad but on the edge and it could go either way. 

I slept relatively early again and got up later, skipping exercise again.  There’s nothing to do at school today as all the kids go off camping and thankfully the high school foreign teachers don’t have to go like the primary teachers do. 

Coffee, writing and reading time and then back home. Hopefully, I can avoid an afternoon nap today though it is tempting me right now.

Today I’m grateful for:

Keeping track of various things over time, with the likes of diaries, emails and archives of things that I’ve kept. 

As I was on the verge of dozing off this afternoon I wondered if it was possible to get access to my old email account, pre-2008?  The idea forced me up and though I soon discovered it was impossible I started rummaging around my old Facebook archive and then even older emails and just reading through a little of those triggered more memories. 

I could even see that I was explaining things in 1998 about something that happened ten years earlier that I have since forgotten!

The best thing about today was:

What I mention above.  It has me excited to dive further into the detritus of my life!

Something I learned today?

A burning ban is due to start on the 15th.  So everyone is getting their burning in now.  It also remains to be seen if anything is actually implemented. 

There was also a newspaper article today which describes the government asking people not to burn so much paper money and incense during Chinese New Year!

Review your acts, and then for vile deeds chide yourself, for good be glad. — Discourses 3.10

I think I have only spoken with two people today.  Amy and Gui.  Not much opportunity for either good or bad. 

I did nod good morning to one of the other teachers when I signed in this morning. 

I gave Tokyo her daily snack for which she is always happy. 

I also replied to an old acquaintance from Sydney who contacted me to say hello and ask for music recommendations.

25 THINGS ABOUT LIFE I WISH I HAD KNOWN 10 YEARS AGO –  14. Learn Every Day. You’ve got to train your brain to stay alert. You don’t have to read a book a day to learn every day. Learn from your mistakes. Learn from the people around you—be open to what they can teach you.

I force a lot of stuff into my brain every day and as I find answering ‘what is something I learned today’ is often difficult it seems like much doesn’t stick. 

It’s going in, adding to my overall persona (input and output) but I often find myself in a conversation where I say ‘Oh, yeah I heard about that’ but don’t have the details; or think to myself ‘I wish I could recall the things I read to keep this discussion going.’ 

At least, I’m aware and know that I still know little about anything at all.  That’s why I ask myself every day, ‘What did I learn?’

When was the last time I felt inspired?

I reckon it was last year when I first heard SpeechOdd.  I really enjoyed their music and wanted to work with them.  By the end of the year the opportunity arrived.

In general, I am inspired every day.  I try to write poetry every day and I’m always on the lookout for things that may drive that inspiration and have found a couple of regular resources to keep me inspired.

Slumber still won’t visit thee – 8th January 2020

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

What is something you would love to learn?

I really want to learn to meditate in an effort to calm my mind. My mind is no longer busy with negative thoughts but quite often with useless thoughts. I just want to calm those down if I can.

I also want to learn to practice the things I have been reading about and put them into action. This is far more difficult than expected and I’m hoping that just by continually being exposed to them that it will rub off on my day-to-day actions.

Gratitude Journal

I am so happy and grateful to be able to manage myself and my time and be adaptable to sudden changes. Today I got given an extra class which could have been annoying but it was perfect as it is for a class I will miss on Friday so having to do the class now means those kids won’t be behind.

From commonplace book

Without knowledge of what I am and why I am here, it is impossible to live.

Levin, Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy, pg 908

To-do list

  • Think, then speak.✅
  • Do something nice for someone.
  • Start putting together exam questions.
  • Help Boyan with ideas for English camp. ✅
  • Practice gratitude about the school. ✅

I caught myself a couple of times and chose to stop talking and let the other person speak. At the meeting yesterday I was pleased that Boyan chose to want me to work with. He’s not an easy person to make an impression on so i felt a little flattered that he felt I was OK enough to work with. He came primed with an idea in the morning and by the end of the day we had it all fleshed out and ready to go.

I spent a good bit of time writing out why I’m grateful for the school. That was tough but I managed to fill a whole (small) page.

Ran out of time for exam questions but have everything else for the semester completed now. I also picked up the grade 6 books and have challenged myself to write a week’s worth of lessons from those (at least). Even if I don’t end up teaching that next semester it is still good to keep planning.

In the morning I got given an extra class which became quite fortunate as it meant I could complete the full week of regular English classes which wouldn’t have happened as planned as I’ll be away on Friday. This potential negative turned out to be very helpful and I handled it well. The students were really happy to see me too which made me feel good.

My general negative thoughts from yesterday have all disappeared today and I have noticed myself being more comfortable around the kids again. In some ways, not being able to hug or touch them has created a little distance which has made me care a little less about them. Maybe by care less, I mean more detached. This is probably a good thing for now.

Today I also wrote a little more to Lachlan and received audio files back from Jochen – it was nice to hear his voice again. I’m not quite sure how I’m going to edit it all yet but I’m looking forward to the challenge.

Just by chance, as I was reading Anna Karenina a perfect passage stuck out to me and became my first entry in my commonplace book (see above).

Tomorrow we have some sort of Buddhist ceremony event and I’m not sure what we are required to do and if it involves doing some sort of ritual thing. I’m undecided about whether to refuse or not. I asked George about this a couple of weeks ago and he said he would just do it – who cares? I read today to copy the actions of people you respect so thinking that that’s what I will do.

I also hope to clear out a bunch of emails that I’ve had sitting around. They are not important but challenges that may take a little time to do – I’ll see if I can print them out and do them that way.

The Chiang Rai Alternative Hour #19 – 4th January 2020

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 1 Comment

Music from R. Stevie Moore, Alamaailman Vasarat, Kustomized, Sun City Girls, The Monkees, Flesh Narc, Beastie Boys, Cheer-Accident, Milk Burp, Different I’s, Logic Circuit, The Skatallites, Rebel Truth, GIRTH, Mahavita, Toy Dolls, The Woolies, Angelic Upstarts, Lost Nation and Bleach.

Gratitude Journal

I am so happy and grateful for our visitors who fill our home with action and variation. It’s nice to be able to share our experiences with other people.

From commonplace book

I’m much more interested in being a hero than a professional.

Billy Childish

To-do list

  • Get out of your own head and talk to people ½
  • Compliment people ½
  • Do something nice for someone
  • Upload TCRAH ✅
  • Write to Kieran and Chrissie ✅
  • Write blog about making friends

A busy and productive day – time ran away too quickly.

Mam and her family enjoyed breakfast and within an hour we had students.

I feel more confident today and have mostly pushed the negative from yesterday out of my mind. This was helped a lot by getting down my thoughts when writing to Kieran and Chrissie.

I was happy to receive a reply from Jochen. Well-considered and thoughtful ideas to my questions particularly about children. I look forward to composing a reply. He has also agreed to do some recorded responses for the podcast which provides me with the challenge to prepare and execute that.

I didn’t manage to do all the things on my list today, perhaps overreaching. I need to take into account that recording a new podcast can take up to three hours.

My self-control was only minimally tested today when Amy wanted to go to a local shop to buy some clothes for the funeral tomorrow. I was fine with this, to be honest – it was necessary. I do feel a little that I am sick at the moment though but mostly just dizziness and not affecting my mood.

We have a 5 am wake-up tomorrow and I hope I can get some extra sleep on the drive to Chiang Mai. I’m somewhat prepared with things to listen to on my phone and things to read. I don’t anticipate any other free time tomorrow.

Something I could have done better with today would have been to help Amy more with things around the house. I’m very lucky that she cooks and cleans for me all the time. It gives me lots of free time and I often feel somewhat selfish for that.

html – 21st February 1999

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

Email with TLJ:

S: Hey – what editor are you viewing it in – is it a problem with all editors or just some?

TLJ: i’m not sure – i guess all. I can’t tell if it works or not because you can’t preview the template file until it’s actually on the server – I’m not sure why this is though. I know that in macromedia Dreamweaver, it displayed one of the #include statements as a comment (it’s inside comment brackets), but not the other statement which was in the same file.

S: So – it’s behaviour is unpredictable? Sounds a little bit odd.

TLJ: Anyway, i have technet here, so i can look up more about it.

S: Good idea?

TLJ: Went for morning tea after all – instigated by me!

S: You’ll be manager soon then?

TLJ: What are your plans for this week? I guess you can’t really go out that much. Any good bands coming up?

S: No – not much. Don’t know of any bands but i still won’t have much cash for a while -but that will teach me to go a little easier on spending too. Maybe we could have some quiet film nights? what are your plans this week?

TLJ: J_ said shakespeare by the beach was on – one was on on the same night that symphony in the park was on, and they usually play more than once, so i think we’ve probably missed it. I haven’t read anything about it.

S: It would be real cool to go see it. We’ll have to keep our eyes peeled. You heard anymore about next weekend yet? I’m taking HJ to Chatswood during the day as there are some CNY celebrations going on.

TLJ: What a big coincidence. Was just looking at nine to five mag to see if there was anything at the beach. It had an article on shakespeare in love and a list of the shakespeare stuff happening in sydney. It says call balmoral beach’s Shakespeare by the Sea on 9557 3065, but i wouldn’t be surprised if it’s all over. What a shit if we’ve missed it. We haven’t payed enough attention. Can you check it out babes?? Thanks, tlj.

S: Friday – Merry Wives of Windsor
Saturday and Sunday – Merchant of Venice
8pm Balmoral Beach
these are the last shows of the year. – you wanna go? Donation – rec $10 minimum.

TLJ: M_, L_ and i will hopefully see it. And i’ve got this friends free in feb deal – pay for one ticket, and your friend gets in free for a ticket worth the same amount – so i want to see it sometime this week or next weekend. I’d better get in touch with them.

S: Yeah – I hope you go. What about some quiet nights in with me?

Tired – 20th February 1999

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

Email with TLJ:

TLJ: i’m soo tired today.

S: Me too – I can’t believe I got up this morning or that I got into work so early. I killed a big ugly cockie this morning too – it was disgusting!

TLJ: I even dozed off on the train which i haven’t done in a while. Anyway, just finished my salad roll – yum, and i brought some fruit salad along – but i want to eat it all now. I’m hoping we go to morning tea even thought the two main morning tea people aren’t here to round us all up.

S: I’ve got a whole pack of Tim Tams on my desk – looks like I’ll be getting PHAT today!

TLJ: I’ve been asked to look up why the #include statement that we put in our code isn’t being read by browsers. They want me to replace it with standard code. What this #include statement does, and what we are trying to do, is automatically call this file (which adds the border and title) onto the page. This is so if the border or title changes, you don’t have to change all he code in many pages, just the file. Get what i mean?

S: Erm…..I’m looking on TechNet for you today so expect some emails…..

TLJ: Anyway, had fun last night.

S: Me too – it was great to hang out and do such a nice thing with you….I really appreciate the effort you went to yesterday as well. You are very special.

TLJ: Came home and N_, S_ and J_ had gone to see Shakespeare in Love (N_ and J_ have seen it already).

S: You should go to see it with your friends – school friends maybe. (Or go with Y_!)

TLJ: I don’t feel like working.

S: Haha! Everyday is like this I reckon!

TLJ: Email me, tlj

S: Sweety? – Love ya!

Peaches – 19th February 1999

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

Email with TLJ:

S: How was lunch? Are you tennising tonight? How are you getting home?

TLJ:Yes i’m tennising tonight – don’t know how i’m getting home – got any ideas??

S: Well, I know how you can get home from the station……

TLJ: Just got an email from Y_ – the CCA touch footy team urgently need players tonight at 8:30 – but i’m playing tennis so i don’t think i’ll be there on time.

S: Sports Girl!

TLJ: R_’s having a bbq for M_ on fri night for her b’day – i’d really like to see them both again (haven’t seen them in ages), but the circus is on that night – what do i do??????????????

S: Go the Birthday party and give me the ticket for the circus…

TLJ: and i have to spend more money on a bday present for her.

S: whether you go or not?

TLJ: my wrists are sore

S: Hmm….mine too.

TLJ: Love ya babes!

S: It’s me it’s me it’s Shaun

Re: FW: Dreamweaver – 18th February 1999

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

Email with TLJ:

TLJ: wanted you to get this right away – accidentally sent it to kabuki a/c. Sorry.

S: Yep – sounds cool. I think Troy and Bronwyn might come up on Sunday morning

TLJ: WHY are they coming Sunday morning??

S: to look at the video equipment, teach me some HTML and to spin some disks – oh and to make some picnic food? I don’t know if it will be morning or not – haven’t figured anything out yet. so we could all head down from here whenever you want – maybe we could ALL make stuff for a picnic?

TLJ: Well, i can’t cook, or make sandwiches or anything – can I come round to your place Sunday morning then, we could go shopping and make pasta salad or something – hang on, Sunday morning’s when troy and bronwyn may be coming round, so you’ll have to go shopping and cook the night before, and unfortunately, i will be at dinner with yuri. Sorry.

S: No – we could do all that and more – and now you’ve committed to it that is what we are going to do!

TLJ: I’m really shitty today, cause S_ let me choose between a dress and skirt from Thailand, and i chose this silly skirt instead of the groovy dress and N_ got the really cool dress – plus she got the nicer sarong. I don’t know what came over me, so i’m really pissed off at myself.

S: You’ll wear each others clothes anyway – what does it matter. I’m sorry you chose the wrong one though. You ALWAYS do that!!!!

TLJ: i’m really sorry about your car – you’re pretty silly – how bad was the damage?????????????

S: Probably a couple a hundred bucks – I dunno. It’s not major or anything but I should get it fixed when I get it serviced next which should be in about eight weeks or so.

TLJ: And how cool if you go to houston texas – i really hope you get to go – it’s full of racist rednecks – S_ went there for work 5 years ago.

S: I was waiting for you to say that I would fit right in there! But I’m glad you didn’t.
Thanks again for a great night last night – I had a lot of fun sweety. Hey, you know how I said I was up all Sunday night with stomach problems – well, I actually was up last night with stomach problems – must have been all that food swilling in with that Coke!
Love ya babes Shaun

TLJ: I’m really upset right now – C_ “misplaced” her camera with my film in it – it’s my film from the farewell party – i took all these photos with the really cool people on tour. It’s got all my personal photos on it, so i’m really shitty.

S: Why has she got it??? why didn’t you get it off her before???? Baabbbeeee…..

TLJ: anyway, right now looking at Home Site – i think i like it better than dreamweaver (the help is better for a start), but its interface is much more cluttered. I haven’t started using it yet though.

S: Cool – did Bronwyn give you any help on ones to try out? Are you going to get credit for your work?

TLJ: mail me, i’m bored. Coming for lunch with me?

S: I’ll be there in spirit…..if that’s any good to ya!?

TLJ: Forgot to tell you – think i figured out what went wrong with the exclude filters – It’s the way you define the filters – like whether you have one exclude filter for excluding files AND IP addresses, or 2 – 1 to exclude files, one to exclude IP addresses. Having a filter with several elements (all files) works as AND, while defining separate filters with one element works as OR. But if you define different elements in the exclude, this only excludes say the defined files from the defined IP addresses – rather than all the files and all the IP addresses. It’s extremely confusing.
I also solved the mapping probs by using UNCs.

TLJ: Also just remembered – we’ve got a trial evacuation – 9-10am – cool huh?
Walking to work today – i guess you heard about the siege at the greek embassy – anyway, there were heaps of fire engines, ambulances and police cars – they’ve blocked off castlereagh street i think. There was a bit of a crowd there – i was wondering what was going on. I heard there was a protest at the greek embassy – i thought it was in england!!!!

S: You are right about my money situation you know – thanks for talking about it last night. If I can get these bills out of the way which probably won’t be until April then I’ll start putting some extra by. You gotta remind of this when I say let’s go out and do such and such! we’ll go and do cheap things

TLJ: I did not say anything about not spending money on me! I said stop spending money on crap things you don’t need like food and comics. Where’d you get the idea I was talking about us?????????????????????? I think i’d better have another talk to you…………………

S: Yes – I think I need a good talking to! Come and sort me out sweety!
you can go do expensive things with yr other boyfriends! So – how about a movie night at my place?

TLJ: I really think you should just keep a track of where your money is going – and whether all that spending is necessary – and maybe limit your spending on certain things each fortnight. You can spend less some weeks, and make up for it other weeks – and eventually things will even out, and you can save more or less some weeks, but it will average out and you will have saved a set amount of money – then you can spend some on unexpected occurences (like my birthday………………………..).

S: I would take all your advice seriously if you were in control of your own finances!
No, actually I will restrict myself on certain things for a while……

TLJ: I’ll help you babes, ok?

S: Yeah – thanks my friend! How’s you day? I’m busy today – it’s not fair!

Look! – 17th February 1999

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

Email with TLJ:

TLJ: Thanks for the html stuff babes.

S: Hosemobile weren’t playing last night in the end! Drum fucked up the dates.
TLJ: So when are they playing – sat and sun? and with the same bands??? same venues??

S: They’re playing tonight at the Iron Duke and Sunday at the Globe. I’ll probably go to the Globe on Sunday. Not sure who’s supporting – it just says Special Guests.
Luckily we found out before going. The girl Craig is practicing with, Bronwyn, was there and her boyfriend Troy. They’ve only been here since Jan 4th – from Virginia, USA.

TLJ: What does the girl do? is she the guitarist/singer – have you heard her? is she good?

S: She plays guitar – it’s just guitar and drums -no bass – sounds interesting. Not sure if she sings – maybe. We could ask them tomorrow.

TLJ: Yuri rang – his birthday dinner is 20th Feb (i hope we haven’t planned anything that day).

S: Are you taking the 19th off?

TLJ: Started to read Kabuki last night but I’d better start from the beginning – so you’ll have to lend me them ok?

S: Did it look good? I’ll lend you them for sure – you know that babes. I know you’ll look after them.

TLJ: Oh, and Laura gets back this morning – so i’m planning on meeting Mich after work – I was supposed to go to see “Shakespeare in love” with school friends, but if laura’s coming over for dinner tonight (her parents are coming), then i’ll skip the movie and see if mich wants to come home with me and laura, mich and I can catch up.

Sound like a good plan?? Sounds like a great plan. I’ll be catching up on some ZZ’s tonight. Hey – I saw fireworks at Darling Harbour last night – was near chinatown – was kinda difficult to see – I was driving past – but may have been to do with CNY.

TLJ: So i probably won’t see you tonight – i thought you may be going to that gig but i guess not.

S: I’ll miss you babes – I wanna pour more water over you!

TLJ: mail me

S: No – oh all right!

TLJ: There was this real dickhead, sleazy guy on the train who thought he was sooo cool, and he was trying to chat up this girl and her friends whom I think he met yesterday (well, that’s what i figured from my eavesdropping – it wasn’t really eavesdropping though, he was speaking so loud, i’m sure he wanted everyone to hear him). He wanted to go out with one of them, but he already knew one of them. He was sooo pathetic – got to tell you all about it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

S: Chinese New Year Celebrations sounds like next weekend – I’m not sure. I’ll go down on Saturday anyway. I’m stuffing myself with last nights dinner – it’s delicious – gets better after a day in the fridge! I’m so tired – i can’t wait to go to physio and have a nap!
Love you angel breath

S: I got here at 7.10 and there’s no parking spots and I swiped a barrier and dented my car!!!!
And just as I was writing that – my boss comes and asaks what I’m doing around March 7th for a week – I’m thinking oh shit what’s all this??? Anyway BMC who make the product I work with are offering to pay for me to go and get some training in Houston Texas!!!!!
Oh man………

S: I can’t get that song Crossbone Style out of my head…..AAARRRGGGHHHHH
“I have seen some unbelievable things……”
Man -I’m shitty about my car……but stoked about Houston! You got any money…….?

TLJ: Don’t have any money – but you still got to do some Duty Free shopping ok? Oh yeah – should I get myself a camera? I guess i’ll miss you. Not too many asian girls in houston though. will you cope?? Tracs

S: I’ll miss you like crazy baby!!!! Can you come with me???? I’ll be calling you…..