Every accusation a confession; peace through violent aggression
Manipulated media suppression, leading to depression
Today I’m feeling:
Pretty good and positive. For some reason, I woke up well before my alarm and was hoping that I still had hours to sleep but I couldn’t calm my mind down enough or get stupid songs out of my head. Never mind.
I skipped exercise but did some dead hangs, which felt good. After breakfast, I picked up a decent coffee at Utopia and, upon arriving at school, set to printing out all my grading files, which involved a bit of dicking around to make them acceptable for the school, such as the girl who never came to class suddenly having 100% attendance. So it goes.
Health:
Physical: 7 Mental: 8
Today I’m grateful for:
Kru Mai, Jern and PP for helping me sort out the printing of this semester’s grading files.
The best thing about today was:
Writing poetry and reading comics. I also enjoyed playing the guitar today, more so than yesterday, for sure.
What was out of your control today and how did you handle it?
As I was sitting in the teacher’s room this morning, at 9 am, all the Thai teachers went off for a meeting, so I was left by myself, busy updating my files to print.
About ten minutes later, George turns up and, on seeing me, just drops off his bag and leaves the room without saying a word. He was pacing up and down outside the room and making phone calls.
About ten minutes later, he comes back in and collects his bag and leaves again, without saying a word. I didn’t see him again, though I stayed around at the cafe until midday.
Here’s the one perfecting the eight-liner Though some things must be said in twelve Only enjoying writing the rhymer And philosophy is the place to delve
Sometimes perfection is found in four The idea sublimely surmised Yet feeling obliged to write some more Until the eight lines are realised
Submitted as a task for AllPoetry’s ‘An Expression of Yourself’ course.
Don’t be Ordinary
This assignment is going to take you beyond your reaches. I want something that you can’t even fathom writing. Go beyond what you think is normal.
Write to be remembered. Don’t write like anyone else… Don’t blend in! It’s okay to be original and shocking. To stir the pot and to poke the balloon and deflate it. Shake things up. Make a name for yourself.
Write a poem that you would want to define your ability. A poem that is read and the person is like… that is “your name here”.
Don’t write a poem where it could be stirred into water and blended in with everyone else.
This was an interesting task. I can look at a couple of other poets who follow their own rules and can be identified by their poetry.
As I’ve been writing for 40 years or so I don’t feel that I have a particularly identifiable style, though now I’m thinking more about it.
I do have a preference of style for my own writing though so I submit the following for now.
I could break my preference (and do sometimes force myself with different forms) but not sure that I could ever reach writing something that I can’t myself fathom…..
Today I’m feeling:
A little sleep-in this morning was good, setting me up for the day.
After a simple yet delicious lunch, I dropped Amy off at the airport as she goes off to Bangkok for a couple of days to meet Fern and Pim.
I decided to take Baipad to practice driving a car, rather than a motorbike, as it’s too hot in the afternoon and she called Fahmai to come too.
We drove around near her house and then up at the Uni and they both did well for never having done it before.
Health:
Physical: 7 Mental: 8
Today I’m grateful for:
Finding old reviews of 2000AD issues that I’m reading now, which help me to understand some of the weirder stories. Excellent!
The best thing about today was:
Teaching the kids a little driving, because I could see the confidence in them both growing as they were learning.
Something I learned today?
The CIA posted on Twitter and Facebook, asking for Chinese citizens to become their spies. This was met with a lot of laughter on Chinese social media platforms.
Review your acts, Good and bad.
I messaged Baipad to ask how she felt after she did so well with driving and she replied, ‘I feel proud, I think.’ It’s a good start.
Baipad’s cat, Inky. He’s a very chatty cat when he’s awake.
Good again, though I still have a sticky throat. I’m back at the ENT at Sriburin hospital. Let’s see what they say this time.
No big plans for today. Hope to read, write, play guitar and listen to music when I get home again.
Health:
Physical: 7 Mental: 7
Today I’m grateful for:
Everyone at the hospital again. A quite quick turnaround with the result of getting some different medicines.
They shoved the camera in my mouth again and things looked better than last time. Though, because it doesn’t feel any better, it means the sticky phlegm is below the voice box and isn’t visible now.
The best thing about today was:
Not worrying about too much of anything. Although I got out of the hospital by 11 and picked up Amy from her eyelash shop, we then had to go to a couple of banks to transfer a wad of cash and they were both very busy.
Then, stopping off for some food for lunch, it ended up being 2 pm by the time we got back, so I didn’t get much reading in or go out to my room to play guitar.
But that’s ok. I’m feel fine with it.
What was out of your control today and how did you handle it?
When we woke up this morning, Amy came back from the kitchen and said that the baby cow had been stuck in the garden all night last night!
I went and said hello. He’s not afraid of me now and I walked him to near the gate where he stopped to pee. When I opened the gate, Tangmo ran in and was bemused to see the cow there and started barking and running around. I told him to calm down and he started marking territory. He’s so jealous of anyone and anything being around us! The cow chased him a bit and I went back inside for a shower.
I didn’t want to lead the cow out because I couldn’t see his mum nearby and didn’t want him to go wandering off. At least he’s safe in our garden.
When I came out again, the cowman came by and called the baby over and Tangmo went off, too, maybe to make sure that he left.
Something I learned today?
I watched a video about a video game that made me laugh a lot. It is called Squirrel With a Gun and it looked hilarious.
Review your acts, Good and bad.
I got Noey to talk with Amy this morning about opportunities for her to go to Australia next year.
I offered to take Baipad to practice riding the motorbike some more too. She’s not thrilled because she is lazy and still lacks confidence. I will try to keep pushing her through her defences.
Good, though I was enjoying a dream when my alarm went off. Picked up coffees at Utopia before heading to school. I’ll hang here for a couple of hours before going home. Get some more reading and writing done.
I’ll start thinking about new lessons next week.
Back at home, I had a snooze before heading to my room for more blog updating and a little guitar playing. Then back inside to prepare for Nut and Bruno arriving for dinner.
Health:
Physical: 7 Mental: 7
Today I’m grateful for:
Nut bringing some beautifully baked bread for us. I was so hungry that I wanted to eat it immediately but didn’t want to spoil my appetite for dinner.
The best thing about today was:
Chatting with Bruno and catching up on things. I was pretty tired but never bored, and stimulated with talk about music, culture and books, amongst other gossip-type stuff.
Something I learned today?
Kru Tang sent us the plan for next week and then the week following is a holiday.
Review your acts, Good and bad.
I tightened up the bolts on all the chair legs before Nut and Bruno arrived. I felt recently that some of our chairs were getting a little unstable when sat on.
Pretty good, though my sleep was disturbed by the noise of heavy rain all through the night. By the time of my alarm going off, the rain had me deciding not to go to school in case what happened on Tuesday happened again.
Our soi is still looking passable but there doesn’t seem to be any break in the rain. Even the mountains aren’t visible.
By about 9 am, the rain had gone and looking at the weather app, it seemed like it wasn’t going to get any worse, so I decided to head into school and I made sure folks knew that I was around, then went and sat in Le Paradis, where I did some reading and writing but no school-related work!
I would’ve done it if I had stayed longer but by lunch time, it didn’t seem to matter if I stayed around or not, so I headed back home again.
Health:
Physical: 7 Mental: 7
Today I’m grateful for:
The cookies at Le Paradis. They are the only snack or cake there that tastes good and they go well with the bad-tasting, cheap coffee. Balance.
I had two awesome coffees at Utopia again early this morning anyway, so all was good.
The best thing about today was:
Listening to my new ‘Classic’ playlist that I set up on my old iMac in my room, which I now leave playing all the time, so that when I turn on the stereo, it’s as if I’m listening to the radio.
Something I learned today?
As we were quietly sitting in our living room this afternoon, the village PA echoed announcements across the rice fields that said that if we presented photographic evidence, we could get some money from the government to cover any costs from the flooding.
The roof in Kim’s old room was been water damaged and also out in the driveway next to the road, there is a big, dangerous pot hole that we should get filled too.
Maybe worth our time and get a little bit of cash to cover fixing those things.
Review your acts, Good and bad.
I got two free bottles of water when I filled up the car with petrol this morning and when I got to school, I gave them to my two favourite school gardeners.
I messaged a few students (Freya, Paen, Funfai) to see how they were doing. Also Porpieng and Baitong, whom I wished well in their exams that they are doing this week.
Anxious, tired and sleepy. Yesterday’s events were on my mind as I was sleeping, though I didn’t dream of floods or water, but just the underlying anxiety woke me up a few times.
Thankfully, it didn’t rain much overnight and there are only intermittent storms this morning.
Our school told students not to come to school but teachers are still supposed to go! I told them that I’m still dealing with the situation at home and been sitting in Utopia doing this new report that the school wants.
It’s pretty straightforward once it’s been done once, which took a little effort. It is just another piece of paper that won’t get read, though.
My throat is sore, possibly from being wet and riding the bike around yesterday but could also be from falling into the ditch yesterday – who knows what the hell might have been in that water!
Health:
Physical: 6 Mental: 7
Today I’m grateful for:
Getting up at the normal workday time but not going to work. I’m exhausted in that kind of good way that all my energy has been spent. The day has felt long and thankfully peaceful.
The best thing about today was:
The memory of that first sip of coffee at Utopia. Sublime! Will I remember it in a few days time? Will I even remember it after tomorrow’s first sip?
What was out of your control today and how did you handle it?
Our old wooden door that Amy had turned into a table for some plants in the garden finally succumbed to the elements and collapsed into pieces.
I should have spent some time cleaning it up but forgot about it in my lethargy. If Amy doesn’t do it before, I will clean it up at the weekend.
Something I learned today?
I came across a video that recommended taking Pygeum for enlarged prostate problems and I was able to quickly order some on Lazada.
I also learned that the local government and the local electricity suppliers have agreed to cancel last month’s bills due to the flood situation.
I took this picture because Piti was owning the counter this morning.
Now settled in for the greatest joyful genocide Where evil is no longer ashamed to hide Death and mutilation a spectacle cheered No prayers answered or conscience cleared
A playground of rubble where the children lay slain Brothers mop up the body parts that remain Rag-dolled and ruined by murderous intent Fires fanned by despair of the innocent
A holy hand grenade signed and sent with a laugh Floating ashes never find peace on this path This fertile ground may never satisfy the beast Once the Great Satan has been unleashed
Today I’m feeling:
Good again. Exercised and awake. The rain is back, making things a bit dark and plenty of students didn’t bother coming to school today for whatever reasons.
I cancelled my first class to allow them to finish off other work that needed completing but will still take my grade 8s this morning, carrying on a little of what we did yesterday. Not too much stress.
Health:
Physical: 7 Mental: 7
Today I’m grateful for:
Chinese-made goods. I ordered a new cheap laptop bag on Temu last month and whilst it’s not as good as the one I had before, today I was very grateful to find out that it has an extra quality I wasn’t aware of. (see below)
The best thing about today was:
…well this was not the best but was the most defining moment of the day.
As I was sitting at 22 Grams this morning Amy messaged me that it was raining hard at home and a little later it was raining hard in the city too.
I didn’t think too much about it but noticed that the roads were starting to flood around the school as I went to my class, the rain fairly relentless.
After about 40 minutes I got more photos from Amy of the rain and then a message saying I THINK I NEED YOU AT HOME.
Soon after she called and was sounding hysterical as she told me that our road was flooding. I decided to leave and got back as quickly as I could which wasnt easy as the roads were inundated with water all along the way.
As I got on the highway near home, traffic was stopped and it took me a while to get through to the road that goes around the back of our house but the rice fields were already overflowing and making the road almost invisible. I decided to risk and drive through but once at the back of our house the corner was completely flooded to the bridge and impossible to get through.
I went back the way I came and back onto the highway but there was no way to get down our soi as I saw people walking up to their knees in water.
I got past the traffic lights and into Kotchapol and drove up to a dorm a little bit higher and parked the car there, walking back down to the main road where there was nothing for it except to wade through the water, through the traffic, down our soi and eventually home. It took a while as the water was moving rapidly in the opposite direction and I could feel my hip muscles tested and twinging.
Our house was fine but the rice fields were full already and the rain was still coming. Amy had moved things from the kitchen and I started moving things off the floor in my man cave. After about an hour the power went out.
I lay down for a while and the rain had thankfully stopped. I was enjoying eating but couldn’t sleep and when Amy suggested we go and check our car maybe move it, I thought it best to go before it got dark.
We hopped on the bike but got stuck in the soi before we got to the main road. I pushed the bike through until I could get it out of the water and we discussed what to do next.
I got the bike going again but it was struggling and I told Amy to go back home. I wanted to get to the car and bring my laptop home.
I made it to Baipad’s house where the bike stopped again and it took me a little while to get it going again. Eventually I made it through to the car and got my laptop and set off but I didn’t want to go back the way I came figuring that there must be an easier way back.
As I approached the hill, water from the main drainage ditch was flooding the road and a rescue truck was there in the middle of it. I decided to go for it and a guy waved me by but as I went past, unable to see anything of what I was riding on, I plunged down off the edge and into deeper water and I was suddenly up to my neck in it.
A few rescue guys came over and as my feet were on some firm ground I quickly hoisted my laptop bag up and into their arms and said I’m ok, get the bike up!
They pulled the bike back up and then me. I got set, asked for my laptop bag and pushed the bike through to the other side, much to the bemusement is gawking uni kids.
I waited a while and got the bike started again and set off looking for another way back and after a couple of flooded dead ends took the university road and made it straight back home without getting stuck again.
After getting out of my second set of soaked clothes I opened up my laptop bag and was amazed to find that it seems to be mostly waterproof and my laptop was still buzzing away when I opened it up to check. My phone all good too!
We got electricity back at 8.15 pm. Woohoo!
What was out of your control today and how did you handle it?
There’s some messages coming from the school about filling out a monthly report of all our classes and what we do in our free time.
I’m choosing to ignore it at this point but not sure how long that may be able to continue.
Something I learned today?
I learned that little Fino is a champion!
I took this picture because the water was creeping up all around. Auntie next door didn’t seem too phased by it all but she also lived here when it used to flood every year, well before we arrived.
Living in a flat world Able to see from here to there To smell, touch and taste Ride on clouds to share
Deconstructed culture The world still goes around Instant communication A lightning strike profound
Automatic information The hive mind buzzes Armchair philosophers Full of fight and fusses
Inspired by a Philosophy Now article about the Crisis of Culture and the thought that the internet has created a flat world
Today I’m feeling:
Pretty good again, waking up a little before my alarm and energised enough to exercise and do some dead hangs.
Very relaxed at school as many teachers are not teaching and many students are just catching up on work that they were too lazy to do during the semester. I happily let my grade 12 students do that whilst dropping by to David’s class and helping with my old grade 9 students, whom I still enjoy talking with (especially since no longer teaching them!).
Helping them in class was a bit of a reminder of how poor their English skills are. I really hope most of them don’t go into the English Program next year!
It also inspired me to do the same little piece of work to my grade 8s and see if they were any better and in general, I would say that about half of them were!
Health:
Physical: 7 Mental: 7
Today I’m grateful for:
Couple Cups coffee for keeping me going this morning and also having a good seat and table for me to read and write at for an hour or so.
The best thing about today was:
As ever at this time of year, the relaxed atmosphere of the students (and teachers) and the general good feeling around school, in much contrast to last week.
This morning, Rista wanted to tell me all about her boyfriend and Pleng was shyly hiding her haircut, which she has cut into a boyish style but I think looks really nice. Rista tried to drag me off to her class by escorting me arm in arm but I ducked away for coffee first.
In my last class, Nomsen gave me a playful hug and said that I was the best teacher (possibly because I ran out of time to ask her any of the questions that other students had to answer!).
Ozone and Ploy played and joked with me as they waited for their class and I threatened to pick them up and throw them over the edge of the building. They also told me that they wished that I was still teaching them.
I encouraged Mee, Gam, Pat and Palmy with their speaking and they all did better than they expected and I guided Nam to find the correct answers in a test that they were doing.
As usual, I played with Apple and Baipad in the morning, trying to steal their phones off them and so it went around for most of the day.
Something I learned today?
We had a visitor whilst we were out and Amy found him when she got back from the city.
Review your acts, Good and bad.
I’ve done this a couple of times recently. There is a mangy-looking dog that often sits at the traffic lights on the bypass and if the light is red and he’s around, I’ll throw him a dog snack that I usually keep in the car for Tokyo.
I took this picture because this is how I found the ‘bad girls’ in the middle of their class today. Some of my favourite students to play with, but happy not to be their teacher anymore!
Pretty good again with a little clarity. I think that is coming from the skipping of Tramadol but the other effect of that is feeling less inspired and ponderous.
So after cleaning the entertainment area and stretching out my back this morning, I took one and will see how I feel later today.
This morning feels like a winter morning with nice, clean and clear cool air and it reminds me to look forward to this time of year and think about doing some bike rides again, which I haven’t been on since last winter.
I’m surprised my body isn’t more stiff this morning, as I spent about 17 hours in bed yesterday, either sleeping or reading. I read a great Paul Jenkins story called Revelations and, despite being tired, read the whole six issues. A great Vatican murder conspiracy with awesome artwork.
Health:
Physical: 7 Mental: 7
Today I’m grateful for:
Chatting with Matt a little yesterday about maybe jamming some music together soon. To be honest, I’m a little scared as I really am hopeless at playing guitar and haven’t been excited enough to practice much recently.
I do also recognise, though, that doing something creative would give me more reason to practice and improve myself. I’m talking myself into doing it.
The best thing about today was:
Organising more things on my computer, in my room and on my blog. My old MacBook has finally given up, so I’m trying to get my music altogether on my old iMac, which is still going pretty well these days.
I was glad to spend a fair few hours in there today instead of succumbing to any afternoon snoozing.
Jet took this picture because she was messing around with my phone. One of my favourite students, Fah, and that’s Anchan working in the background.
In the game, I’m in the zone Flowing beyond all your shouting Laser-focused on the ball alone Oblivious to all your doubting
There’s nothing that you contribute Because you have nothing to lose Distraction is your foremost attribute I’m strong enough to ignore the boos
You don’t have skin in the game So you have nothing I want to hear Everything said is always the same My silence sends my message clear
Inspired by a David Elikwu thought that applies to those friends who always think that they know best.
Today I’m feeling:
Quite well rested though my body is still sore from exercise. I only did seven minutes for two mornings and my body is really feeling it. This is a message to get back to a routine and rebuild some strength. Now that I’m almost out of this weird illness, I’m feeling positive about it.
I’m also a little tense this morning as I wait for the AFL grand final to start! Ultimately, it doesn’t matter if Sydney wins or loses but I do enjoy supporting my team and being part of this little tribal dance.
One thing I love about AFL is that, despite the rivalries and shit-talk, there is no real aggression between supporters. Once the game is done, it’s done.
Health:
Physical: 6 Mental: 7
Today I’m grateful for:
Takky for keeping Amy occupied for the afternoon and evening. They are screaming, singing, dancing and singing in the living room whilst I try to concentrate on reading!
The best thing about today was:
Lots of comic book reading. Shadowman, 2000AD, Judge Dredd Megazine, Justice League Dark and especially enjoyable was Ekho, a fabulous European fantasy adventure.
What was out of your control today and how did you handle it?
Well, it appears that Sydney, once again, forgot to turn up to play the last game of the year and it was all over by half time, after which I soon tuned out, went to bed and fell into an afternoon nap whilst reading comics.
Another season over. It was a good one in general.
Something I learned today?
Finally, the cheap London Town shaving cream is available online again so despite having already bought other expensive options to try, I ordered a couple of cans to keep for the future. I hate shaving. So boring!
Baitoey took this picture a couple of days ago because… I don’t know why but I go with the flow.
1994ever 