Is it safe to sit on old memories? The musty heat binds spells The hint of all possibilities Returned to through dusted smells
The tales all began right here The crossroads of the village meeting Cherished moments soon disappear Disruptions thankfully fleeting
Why did these histories not repeat? They were where legends made One or two remain on this street But nothing else has stayed
Who now will push the swing, Laugh at the falling from the tree? To sit in the light the moon will bring And who will remember me?
Submitted to the above picture at this week’s No Theme Thursday which brought to mind Polvo’s Light of the Moon (hence the penultimate line). The picture makes me nostalgic for my childhood village life, where legends were absolutely made, yet not repeated by the following generations.
A freight train of bodies dumped into the sea A nightmare lost in the fog of history Knock down the bridges, build a wall of bones Shut in with golden fish, the moans Of a madman to the fringes lifts Decrepit and depraved, fives and fifths The swamp city fell under a hurricane Rose and fell in unfolded patterns again
Submitted to Poets and Storytellers United and inspired by 100 Years of Solitude, which I haven’t yet read but based this on a couple of synopses I found. I’m looking forward to reading this one day.
Today I’m feeling:
Tired, despite sleeping early. I had planned to get back to full exercise this morning but needed an extra 30 minutes’ sleep and even that wasn’t enough. I’m coughing more and feeling a little wheezy and consequently, my mood is a little low too.
It’s another event day (Lanna and art) so my morning classes are cancelled and I’m free to read and write. Just my grade 8s in the afternoon and then home.
Tomorrow we’re due to head to Bangkok to surprise Nong Dao for her birthday, though Jimmy sent a message that she has a stomach infection, so we’re not sure if the party they’ve planned will go ahead or not. We have non-refundable tickets, so we’ll travel anyway.
Health:
Physical: 5 Mental: 6
Today I’m grateful for:
A lot of free time again on what is usually my busiest day. I caught up on some reading and did a lot of writing, though was not particularly happy with the output. My brain is still a little uninspired.
The best thing about today was:
Watching my grade 8 class improve after giving them the same speaking exercise but with different partners for three days running.
I felt like they were actually putting what they learned in class into practice for a change. They also seemed to enjoy themselves.
What was out of your control today and how did you handle it?
My cough is a little out of control and I handled it the only way possible, by coughing. Lots of my students are similarly afflicted.
Something I learned today?
This evening, we found out that Nong Dao is in the hospital and her party was cancelled. Oh well, Amy will figure out meeting some other friends and a nice dinner somewhere.
Review your acts, Good and bad.
Grade 9 August told me it was her 15th birthday today, so I ducked into the cafe again to buy her a piece of chocolate cake.
Winds whisper words of desolation Peak pines prosper on the rocky road The rumble and sway, a million miles away From the bustling city I once strode
Pulses of nature, rhythms of the earth Here time slows my heartbeat and breath A rugged embrace on the side of a rock Left to ponder what is life and death?
For sixty-three days and nights Thoughts flow like the mountain streams A clear communion with the infinite A testament to the beauty of solitude’s dreams
A symphony that resonates within Freedom found alone on a mountaintop A journey inward through the sands of time Hold on to each precious drop
For No Theme Thursday I decided on the image above as it reminded me of Jack Kerouac’s short story Alone On A Mountaintop. To try and kickstart my imagination I decided to ask AI (Perplexity) to summarise the story and then turn the summary into a non-rhyming or free verse 20-line poem.
It managed to come up with a poem, that I didn’t closely look at because I could see that it rhymed. On reiterating I wanted it not to rhyme it just came back with the same rhyming scheme! And again.
So I asked it “It seems that you cannot write a poem that doesn’t rhyme. Is that true?” and got this response:
You’re right, I’m having difficulty generating a completely non-rhyming poem based on the summary of Kerouac’s story. As an AI system, I have certain limitations when it comes to creative writing tasks like composing free verse poetry without any rhyming elements. While I can generate rhyming poems and incorporate poetic devices like alliteration, assonance, and consonance, completely avoiding any rhyming words or phrases in a poem is challenging for me. My training data and algorithms are not optimized for that level of creative control over language. Humans are generally better equipped to compose truly free verse poetry that avoids rhyming altogether. Poets draw upon their intuitive understanding of language, emotion, and rhythm to craft poems that flow naturally without falling into rhyming patterns. As an AI assistant, I have room for improvement when it comes to generating non-rhyming poetry. My abilities are limited compared to human poets who can masterfully compose free verse. I appreciate you pushing me to try, as it helps identify areas where I can enhance my creative writing skills. But you make a fair point – I currently cannot reliably write a poem that doesn’t rhyme at all. It’s a limitation I will aim to overcome with further training and development.
Well, I like the honesty. It could’ve led with this information though!
ChatGPT3.5 was more successful and I used parts of its results to inspire me further but its actual poem was pretty lacklustre.
Fatman report
Today I’m feeling:
Pretty good though a little cloudy in the brain. Not feeling inspired to write yet.
I got back to exercise this morning, not pushing it too much and despite some weakness in my hip, it felt good. I didn’t want to get up and do it, though; I had to force myself up and not attempt to go back to the interesting dream that I was having. When I immediately couldn’t recall it, I decided to force myself up.
Today I’m grateful for:
Another 90-day report quickly sorted at Immigration this morning.
The best thing about today was:
Forcing myself back into my room this afternoon to play some guitar. I need to sort out some other stuff in there too but I don’t really like being in there much these days.
I’m not completely sure why, if I’m honest. It could be an accumulation of many small things such as the wifi not being too stable out there, doubling up the use of aircon whilst there, maybe even feeling overwhelmed with all the stuff that I could actually be doing in there, none of the chairs are that comfortable to sit for long…
What was out of your control today and how did you handle it?
The power went out in our classroom this afternoon and the lazy Thai teacher, Pookie, asked one of my students, who was doing my work, to go and find another teacher to fix it. My student was smart enough to quickly come back, though and say that she couldn’t find the teacher, forcing Pookie to go and sort it out herself.
It happened a couple of times and I was prepared to just let the class go and let them complete the work in their own time before next week.
However, it got sorted, and Pookie finally agreed to run only one of the aircon units, as we had previously been asked to do. She didn’t hang around much longer after that.
Something I learned today?
A day on Earth during the age of dinosaurs was just 23 hours long.
Good after yesterday though still tired. Woke up well before my alarm, with aching shoulders but spent a few minutes preparing my mind to do exercise, which I then went and did and also whilst in my room did some guitar strumming exercises. Let’s kick off the day well!
Today I’m grateful for:
Mei and Hagan offering to get Amy home from the city after I left them in a bar there to come home and finish up some work and write.
Predictably, Amy didn’t want to leave when they did as she wanted to go off dancing at Whiteline. They called me to make sure I was ok with it and once I found out that Amy would probably go back to her Mum’s place, then that’s fine. I wouldn’t anticipate her having any problem getting home to me but Mum’s is much closer.
The best thing about today was:
Hanging out with Mei and Hagan, chatting and catching up since we last met in October in Sydney. We decided that instead of getting pizza at Singha Park we would try a Persian restaurant about ten minutes away and I’m glad we did.
The restaurant is just run by one guy so things were slow but as there was only us and one other table we all relaxed into the food and the afternoon. After a while, we got talking to the guy, Woody, and learned all about his life and travels, and him only being 29 years old. It was an interesting and pleasant few hours there.
Something I learned today?
After discussing China with another WordPress poet I worked out that the 37,000 Chinese that entered the USA across the Mexican border is 0.002% of the Chinese population.
Romans once bathed here Wiping blood from their beat brows Spa after sparring Solsbury Hill looks Down River Avon Valley Somerset steam rose Conscious hearts beating We ran through these stone warrens Love in ancient times Praying at the monastery A different sacking was done
Good though a little nervous in the stomach. I think I have my head around how I’m going to do things in my classes.
I can feel less enthusiasm in the air with everyone this morning as the reality of classes starts to hit.
I have a three-flight climb to my first class too and it was already an English summer 27 degrees at 7 am this morning.
One of the boy students was already smelling off by 9am! And later in the day I saw David in his class of new grade 7s and the whole room stank of rank teenage sweat, like a changing room after five hours of football.
Today I’m grateful for:
Sometimes speaking up and sometimes keeping quiet. I told the school that I didn’t want to teach the new Integrated Program until it was settled in and that I also didn’t want to teach the grade 9s this year and so it came to be.
So when I got new classes scattered around the school and more hours than the other teachers, I didn’t say anything and just accepted it.
My first class today was in a new (to me) building and on arrival I discovered that the internet cable and wifi don’t work which is a bit of a problem for the method that I teach, everything being stored on Google Drive.
I sent a message to Kru Mai that this was going to be a problem for the five classes I have in the building and he quickly scouted out other classrooms that I could use back in our usual building and voila – four out of five of the classes solved!
When I told Kru David about this he mentioned that sometimes it’s good to speak up and ask for some things and not just expect it. He also mentioned that George was not happy that he has to teach the Integrated Program now. He’s had it good for a long time but as soon as something is not to his taste he’s getting antsy.
The best thing about today was:
After my first two classes I managed to get back to House for a coffee refill and sat down to do some writing.
I noticed a pretty young lady studiously working on her iPad in the corner in amongst a lot of people coming and going – probably the busiest I’ve ever seen the cafe. Some days I might be the only customer all the time I’m in there!
Later the lady got up and as she came to the counter, caught my eye and I thought I recognised her so gave a little smile and then when she smiled back I realised that it was Pear, who used to work there. She has changed her style a lot but I could easily recognise her smile.
She was studying hard to pass a university entrance exam as she has taken a five-year gap year! I could sense that she wanted to talk and indeed, she sat down and said that when it comes to English she could read and write easily but doesn’t have much opportunity for speaking.
Actually her listening and understanding is good too and when speaking she can find the words in her head most of the time but it is interrupting her flow. I could feel that she is driving herself to improve so I stopped what I was doing and we chatted until it was time for me to go.
Something I learned today?
I learned bits and pieces about my new class of 41 grade 12 students.
Review your acts, and then for vile deeds chide yourself, for good be glad. — Discourses 3.10
After I finished my classes I sent Pear a piece of text to practice reading for me so I could help her more with her speaking. She replied quickly and I sent a couple more and I will help her when I have free time.
Did you do something difficult or challenging today?
Motivating tired sweaty students at the end of the day was a challenge and I have three days where classes end at 4.30 pm but it’s looking more likely that I will have to end them all at 4 pm most of the time, which is fine by me!
When was the last time I felt misunderstood?
I can clearly remember thinking that I was being misunderstood by Amy about something that we were quarrelling about but I seem to put quarrels out of my mind (whilst subconsciously learning the lesson of the argument!) so that now I’ve forgotten what it was even about!
We are the fantastic freaks Gathering at the capital of forever At the dawn of a new age A human be-in together
We’re on a great freak forward No longer just smart monkeys We’ll purify the planet Of the garbage people junkies
Pandora’s box now opened Enlightenment impending Mindful of the messages These altered states are sending
Inspired by the comic story Storming Heaven in 2000AD Prog 2002 – artwork by Frazer Irving.
Today I’m feeling:
Surprisingly awake even getting up before my alarm.
(Later) Today has just disappeared. It’s 6pm and I haven’t really done much. I miss my routine of work days.
Today I’m grateful for:
Amy’s parents wishing us well for the Thai New Year.
The best thing about today was:
Cutting down all that unread email and not feeling stressed about my lesson planning.
What was out of your control today and how did you handle it?
We tried to drive down through SanKong after lunch but the last of the long weekend water revellers jammed up traffic and after being stuck for about 15 minutes I decided to drive back out the way that we came in.
Something I learned today?
A series of studies in cognitive neuroscience found that our brains are ‘programmed’ to learn more from people we like — and less from those we dislike.
This makes sense but we must also be open to the lessons of those that we don’t like – especially if they treat us badly.
Review your acts, and then for vile deeds chide yourself, for good be glad. — Discourses 3.10
I downloaded some CBT for kids books in the hope that I can find some useful strategies, in particular, for Baipad but for any students (and myself). Could maybe even turn them into lessons.
Time marches on, each golden dawn The love call in lingerie wears thin Beautiful eyes now weep forlorn As the devil burns at Narcissus‘ skin
With the white liontete-a-tete Thalia laughed in comedic grace Ice follies not quite melted yet Double smiles across Merlin’s face
A sovereign, a sentinel of silver smiles Once orange progress or pink pride February gold fades as June defiles The Dutch master‘s lemon beauty died
Submitted to dVerse’s Daffodil prompt. Naturally, my mind wanted to turn around the joys of spring and to already mourn its end before it even begins.
Today I’m feeling:
Grotty. Getting up at 4am for Oh and Aun’s wedding has knocked me sideways. In between things that I need to partake in I lay down and dizzily dozed. Each time getting up gingerly worried about fainting.
Today I’m grateful for:
Being able to grab a four-hour afternoon catch-up sleep. I could’ve gone through until tomorrow if I didn’t have to attend this evenings reception, where I’m sitting now wondering if I have vertigo.
The best thing about today was:
Sleep.
What was out of your control today and how did you handle it?
Not enough sleep and too much sleep! I also didn’t manage to study any Thai today.
I took this picture because I liked the juxtaposition between the two sides. The facade all looking beautiful and behind the scenes the wood and nails holding it in place.Fatman report
It was a missing tooth Some wayward hair A smudge of a nose That almost wasn’t there
It was a crooked smile Dry cracked lips An inch too much Sitting on her hips
It was a minor lisp One leg longer A scarred wrist Now grown stronger
No, she’s not perfect As far as all could see But it’s all those little faults That has attracted me
Today I’m feeling:
Pretty good. I did some chest and arm exercises this morning, trying to avoid straining my shoulder and also hanging for a minute to stretch myself out. Had my first cold morning shower of the year, which was a bit of a challenge but sure woke me up properly.
Today I’m grateful for:
Nong Ploy for saying that she wishes I was still her teacher because she enjoys writing in English the most, which is something I like to have the students practice. And then have them read from what they’ve written.
The best thing about today was:
The winding down and relaxing feeling of the end of the semester.
I was trying to put myself in my student’s shoes about how they must feel each day, being amongst their friends at school all day and then going home to their families each evening. They obviously enjoy being at school and being with their friends but suffer the having to study part of that.
I was trying to remember what it was like for me at their age. Usually, I was excited to get out of school because when I got home I was usually out again after eating dinner and having even more fun with my friends.
The situation here feels different both because of the family set-up in many homes and the availability of mobile phones and internet. It makes for an experience that I only understand as an adult, not as a growing child.
Something I learned today?
“OpenAI’s latest model takes text prompts and turns them into ‘complex scenes with multiple characters, specific types of motion,’ and more, the company said.
The text-to-video model allows users to create photorealistic videos up to a minute long – all based on prompts they’ve written.”
As AI improves, and it seems to be doing so quickly, this could go either way. Folks could create and post anything that conforms to their narratives.
For example, the BBC could post footage of concentration camps in Xinjiang, where they keep insisting they exist. People could easily believe it, especially when it is reinforced with pictures and videos.
However, I also want to look on the positive side that due to this new capability journalists will be forced to detail, verify, check and double-check and be held legally accountable for what they publish. It’s optimistic but that is the way it must go.
Review your acts, and then for vile deeds chide yourself, for good be glad. — Discourses 3.10
At the morning flag ceremony KanomBang was crying heavily as her beloved dog had died. She was inconsolable so I just put my arm around her and gently patted her arm. Other students were still laughing and playing and I’m not sure what they were saying but Nomsen gave her some sympathy and support too. She was ok by the afternoon and showed me a picture of her dog and told me it had been hit by a motorbike which is a common occurrence here unfortunately.
I called and messaged Khaofang as her jumper was in the classroom where she lost it the day before yesterday. When she came to collect it she was very appreciative.
What was peaceful about today?
It’s difficult to find peace when you are surrounded by thousands of students. So perhaps the first hour of the day, having just woken up and quietly brushing my teeth before going to exercise, feeding the cats and then hopping into the shower, all the while the sky slowly lightening into the morning bloom. Then I eat some breakfast whilst reading a little and the sun finally appears over the mountains and it’s time for the peace to end.
At the end of the day, post-shower and into bed. Amy on her side, me on mine and Cap swapping between us, Amy quietly scrolls through Facebook and I read books and comics until we both give in to the joy of sleep.
25 THINGS ABOUT LIFE I WISH I HAD KNOWN 10 YEARS AGO – 18. Give Without Expecting Something in Return. Don’t keep score. You will become a bitter person if you do that. Give solely for the joy of giving. If you get something in return, great, if you don’t, great.
I may not give out too much but I expect and want little from anyone else.
Over the last few years, I have started giving out gifts as random acts of kindness and my only hope would be that the receiver will pass on the kindness to someone else.
Whether they do or not is out of my control.
What was my Ween discovery timeline?
I had read about Ween often in Flipside and was curious when their first album God Ween Satan came out so I picked up a copy. It started off well and punky with You Fucked Up but I was unprepared for everything else that came on the rest of the album. Slowly it worked its wackiness on me and I enjoyed its eclecticism over time.
So when the second LP, The Pod, came out I was looking for more of the same and it didn’t deliver for me. This seemed like weird droning moaning music and so I gave up on them, even selling both discs.
I occasionally heard them on the radio when I was living in Australia with their ‘hit’s Push The Little Daisies and Voodoo Lady but didn’t think on much further about them.
Around 2010 sometime, my friend in Melbourne, James McGauren had met and fallen in love with a Swedish girl and was making the move there and he decided to sell off a big chunk of his music collection. He had all the Ween albums.
Fuck it, I thought, I’ll give these guys a go again and picked up the whole catalogue for cheap. Slowly I worked my way through each album and fell in love with them all. I scoured the internet to find quality live shows and all their demo recordings and ended up with about 50 discs worth of Ween to enjoy.
Listening back to The Pod these days, I can understand why I didn’t enjoy it at the time but now I rate it as a favourite.
I never saw them live but have their live DVD and whilst I appreciate their entertainment abilities I prefer the quirkiness of their records.
I took this picture because this old man was looking relaxed when I got home.Fatman report
1994ever 