Tag: Kamboom

Scientists Baffled – 11th April 2024

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 1 Comment

A girl with x-ray vision
A complex cityscape sketcher
A guy who doesn’t feel the cold
A contortionist rubber-boy stretcher

Everything can be explained
But that will never get clicks
Scientists baffled is the headline
From the bag of dirty media tricks

Inspired by yet another justified Brian Dunning rant at Skeptoid
17th May 2024 – Shared with Word of the Day Challenge – Headline

Today I’m feeling:

A bit agitated, deflated and flat today.  Also, despite a drop in temperature (though not very significant) my body feels hotter than usual.

I got an hour or so of planning done this morning and perhaps having to do all this preparation is playing on my mind a little too.

I should also mention that last week I started taking a couple of multivitamins, a couple of resveratol and a couple of creatine supplements.

I am still cynical about their effectiveness in general but consider that I may be lacking certain things in my diet as I have been eating less for the last year or two.

So I’m not sure if it is because of the supplements or because it’s holiday time but I do feel like I have more energy and also feel less sleepy and tired.  I guess I’ll find out more about their effectiveness when I get back into the swing of school again.

Today I’m grateful for:

The odd job man, recommended by Amy’s friend Hangie, who was as good as his word and came on time, replaced our roof tile (though not sure how securely!) and propped up our fence (which is definitely a temporary thing) at the corner of the garden.  He only wanted 100 baht too.  We gave him 200.

The best thing about today was:

Nothing in particular.  My mood and energy picked up a little by the evening but not to the point of any real inspiration.

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

My mood was weird and unexplainable today.  It wasn’t anything out of control just a general lack.  Handled by soldiering on through the day.

Something I learned today?

My old student Kamboom will be in M4 (grade 10) next year (already!).  She got top grades last year – she’s a good student, for sure.  She wants to learn Japanese now.

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

A lot of nice chats with a few of my grade 7 students just to check in to see how they are doing.

Name three things you and your partner appear to have in common.

Besides our love for each other, which goes beyond our minor niggles with having lived together for 15 years or more, the first thing to mention is the love we have for our cats.

As we commemorate little Kim’s passing one year ago this week, we stress and worry about old man Cappuccino.

All our cats have gone through phases of being healthy and happy with periods of sick and sorry.  Tigger seems to be in his healthy phase at the moment and has no complications from having HIV.  We know when he doesn’t feel well because he usually never refuses food, fat furry fuck that he is!

For some reason, he has started talking more and become more affectionate recently.  Maybe he knows that something is up with Cap and is trying to tell us?

Another thing that we have in common is our understanding of fidelity.

We both know that if we stray then that is the end of ‘us’.  That suits us both.

I personally don’t believe in fidelity for everyone, or perhaps even at all.  It doesn’t seem quite natural.  It is a construct of our society. But it is something that I believe in doing for myself because I grew up in this society.

The third thing that we have in common is our way of thinking.  I guess this follows on from the more specific issue of fidelity.

In our relationship, we are completely understanding of each other’s interests and passions and happily let each other indulge in them alone.  Where many couples insist on being together all the time, we have never subscribed to putting each other through the tortures of enduring things like my music or her love of dancing to English 90s pop!

Since I’ve stopped drinking so much this has made it a little difficult for us to go together for a night out though I do submit from time to time.

I took this picture because I’m hoping that some of these mangoes get to their full potential this year.  The whole tree is sprouting like never before. But a couple already got blown off by the storms over the last couple of nights.

My Cockroaches – 15th November 2022

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

Lizards are my cockroaches
Skittering everywhere
Hiding in dark corners
Always on a tear
Cats always chasing
Mostly without reward
Lizard shit on everything
Cannot be ignored
Second life and tailless
Laying eggs in sheets
Cute little babies run
And so it all repeats

We are so focused on improving our lives, we forget how to live them.

paraphrase Alan Watts

Today I’m feeling:
Happy
Today I’m grateful for:
Breaking routine and going to Sammakhi to meet Kamboom instead of going home straight after classes. Sometimes it takes an effort to get out of my comfort zone.
The best thing about today was:
Walking around Sammakhi with Kamboom and meeting a couple of other old students of mine. It was interesting to be on the grounds of another school and Kamboom is a good kid with a lot of potential and is in a good place to realise it. I also understand better that where I work isn’t so bad for the students when I consider that some of the old Anuban students are now at Sammakhi and they were very poorly skilled before. Sammakhi is supposed to be the better school but I imagine they also have to cater for a wide range of skill levels.
Daily thought
What are you in doubt about at the moment?
I doubt when I talk myself into it.
I have felt doubt about how things will be when Amy returns but when I’m thinking about it now I know everything will be fine.
I doubt myself on bad days at school but that turns around when the next day is fine. These doubts are good reminders though, not to take things for granted.
Who is your favourite singer or musical artist right now?
At my age, it is so difficult to answer a question like this. There’s too much information in my head, too many favourites from the past, from maybe yesterday to last week, year or decade. Why even force a decision like this? It’s a conversation question but not really a journal question. 20-year-old me wouldn’t even hesitate to answer this though. Is 55-year-old me smarter or wiser?

I took this picture because Don’s new puppy was at 22 Grams today and I haven’t met before. The same type of dog as Amy’s dad and just as bouncy and active.

Make The Call – 10th November 2022

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

It’s just a call, dial the number
Maybe they won’t pick up
And all will be forgiven

Dial the number, make the call
The click of the pick-up
The heart skips
A new beginning
Nervous

Once words flow though
Out the stories pour
These things kept secret
Now shared experiences
Empathy and sympathy emerge
That won’t be so bad at all

No man can really say that he knows what joy is until he has experienced peace.

Henry Miller

Today I’m feeling:
Satisfied but still tired.
Today I’m grateful for:
My old student Kamboom, who messaged me and we were able to arrange to meet at Sammakhi next Tuesday. I can see from her messages that her English is excellent now. It must be nearly three years since I saw her last time.
The best thing about today was:
Watching Top Boy for a couple of hours and not getting itchy to watch something. I’ve been flicking around Youtube too much so it was nice to submerge into something a little more sustaining
Daily thought
Do you still think you can change the world?
I think we have to think like that. We change the world with the way we interact with others and any of our actions are passed along into the future. Even in a diminished capacity, every little thing we do moves us forward, for both better and worse. The seeds may be sown by a single word. I have to believe we can.
What do you explore on the evenings or weekends?
Evenings and many weekends are usually mental explorations. Otherwise, I like to go for long bike rides and explore tracks, often overgrown and unused. I don’t usually explore much on foot or explore different food and drink places. I’m comfortable with the good places I have found but know its also good to try new places and find other new favourites.

I took this picture because every year I can notice when the sun rises above the stupa on the horizon. It feels like my little Stonehenge although there’s nothing particular about today from where I’m looking out. I wonder where the sun rises above it on solstice days. It’s possible it carries some meaning in that way as quite a lot of cultural events are based around the moon at least.

Stupid Rain – 14th June 2021

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 1 Comment

Stupid rain, you wet my shoes
Flooded the car park badly
Jump right on in the river
Now my socks are smelling, sadly

Left my umbrella in the house
When yesterday’s rain abated
No sign of a break in clouds
No matter how long I waited

27th Jun 2024 – Shared with the RagTag Daily Prompt
28th Oct 2025 – Shared with Poetic Bloomings

Does anyone read promotional blurb anymore? Is it necessary? I say No! But this is what is done, so this is what we’re doing.

For those in the know, Trumans Water have been deconstructing indie rock conventions (and grammar rules) for more than 100 years now (or at least since the early 90s) and there’s a reasonable chance you have totally missed out! But Trumans never stop.

Too true, the vet American “spazz-rock”/”squiggle-core” quartet has been scarce in their native land in recent years: releases mostly on Euro-labels (and now a label based in Thailand!); touring almost exclusively “over there.” One co-founding Branstetter brother, singer-guitarist Kevin, even settled down in France; the other, guitarist-vocalist Kirk, remains in Portland, Oregon, where TW set up in 1995 (formed in San Diego circa 1991).

The 14 tracks of O Zeta Zunis, album #13,14,15 or 16 depending on how you may wish to count, manage one helluva collective double-feat: sounding like distinct, engaging, chance-taking, raw-boned guit-stoked rock to any given listener — whether they know the Water or no — and coming off to TW fans as strikingly fresh while hearkening back to classic Trumans material.

Yes, the latter means going all the way back to 1992’s debut Of Thick Tum — enthusiastically tracked by legendary Brit radio DJ John Peel in its entirety, c’est vrai — and their 1993 2xLP follow-up, Spasm Smash XXXOXOX Ox & Ass. (Note: you’re still on your own in unravelling Trumans-ian title-age.)

O Zeta Zunis sports a few slowed-up passages that help accentuate the melodic riff-drive of “Last Time” or the balls-out whizz-bang of “Greased Water,” the twitchy-catchy frolic of “5-7-10 Split” or the rubbery buzz-chug of “You Live Out Loud.” There’re loping jams and snappy sonic sputter-blasts as well. Essence of Trumans.

Chèvre Au Lait slows things down with subtlety, yet remains as twisted as ever, in the fashion of Captain Beefheart’s Magic Band, fusing madness with restraint and even devolving into post-punk reminiscent of England in the early 80s, which has become popular again with the punk youth of today.

Folks, this ain’t history — this is … living, loopy rock and/or roll! Trumans Water never left so won’t you please welcome them back?

Thailand based label tenzenmen has long been a fan of Trumans Water and was so disappointed that their last two albums were not available on CD, and unable to complete the collection in their music library, that they invested their inheritance monies into bringing these albums to the most unpopular format in recorded history. 

Gratitude Journal

I am so happy and grateful to be contacted by one of my old students, Kamboom, and to hear that she got into Sammakhi – which is one of the better schools in Chiang Rai. She will study science and maths but wants to keep up her English study too.