The Golden Rule – 23rd March 2024

When good and evil were formed
Hearts either chilled or warmed
So then every God had warned
To follow the golden rule

I will no longer subscribe
That my life is a tragic ride
Not a rose-tinted world I describe
Just a way of looking and seeing

So sound the bells and travel far
Drop a coin and pass the jar
It’s up to us to heal the scar
Tragedy is a choice

Submitted to Ovi Poetry Challenge – Tragedy and inspired by comments there.


Today I’m feeling:

Rested and slow to get going. Two Utopian coffees are working their magic though I wish I could clear the phlegm out of my body and breathe clearly again.

Today I’m grateful for:

The Ruamittr ice cream in the freezer that Amy only told me about today!

The best thing about today was:

Clean (and new) sheets!

Something I learned today?

It was interesting to read an old interview with all the members of Rancid and to hear a wild story about an exhumed baby at Gilman Street!

Imagine – 7th February 2024

In my head
I lost my mind
Imagining red
Colourblind

Absent a shadow
No friend follows
A poisoned arrow
No more tomorrows

No peace of mind
Imagined I
None could find
Or satisfy

Coming back
To my senses
None so black
Beat my defences

Submitted to dVerse


Today I’m feeling:

A little sick with a sore throat and lack of energy.  I skipped my alarm and exercise for an extra 30 minutes of sleep.  I’m hoping not to have to do too much at school today.  I could do with an afternoon nap and I’m saying that now before it’s even 8 am.

(10 am) And there we are, the tipping point.  Lazily wandering from place to place and eventually being told there’s nothing for us to do today.  So here I am back at House for coffee number two.

Today I’m grateful for:

Lots of free time in which I could read, write and learn whilst sipping coffee and then later spending a couple of hours reading comics in bed, where I did indeed, enjoy an awesome afternoon nap.

The best thing about today was:

Hanging out with Michael and David for a little while this morning and then lazily walking from school to where some of the kids were doing the zip-line and we watched for a few minutes, ducked away and walked back again.  The temperature was ok for the most part and once off the highway, the walk was quite pleasant.

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

The typical dysfunction of Scout week activities at school used to bug me but now I listened to how they bugged David instead and accepted the advantages that we can get from it.

Something I learned today?

Andrew Huberman is into Rancid.

25 THINGS ABOUT LIFE I WISH I HAD KNOWN 10 YEARS AGO –  13. Be Nice. I don’t mean you should be a pushover. You can be someone that doesn’t take shit and be nice about it. Just don’t insult people, think you’re better than them, or act like an idiot.

I’m a lot nicer than I used to be.  I don’t insult people or think that I am better than others anymore but I probably am still prone to acting like an idiot every now and then.  One would hope that we are all a lot nicer than we used to be but then you meet some people…..

I took this picture because these flowers have decided to grow, against the odds.

The Chiang Rai Alternative Hour #51 – 15th August 2020

Music from KIV Orchestra, Rolling Stones, The Malibus, Uz Jsme Doma, YUP, Buildings, Hard Ons, The Who, Lines, Tera Melos, Lashio Thein Aung, That Fucking Tank, Unsane, Teardrop Explodes, Rancid and Wyxz.

Gratitude Journal

I am so happy and grateful for my yoghurt, muesli and Toblerone breakfast. Healthy body, healthy mind.

To-do list

  • Awards again
  • Compliments ½
  • Record TCRAH ✅
  • Blog post ✅

It’s the 19th of August today. I’ve been occupied and happy in general but also a little blurred at the edges. As I mentioned before I haven’t been thinking about thinking so much and have mostly been getting on with living and doing.

Occasionally I trip up and forget some of the things I’ve learned recently and sometimes beat myself up too much over it. This is usually relatively brief though.

I really enjoy being in class with the kids even to the point of joining other classes. Sometimes I still feel frustrated with the system here and the kids always playing with their phones in class. This is going to have serious consequences for those kids in the future. Well, at least it will be interesting to see how things turn out.

Amy went out on Sunday night and met Miche and her friend and that really cheered Amy up. She was happy to find some people she could relax with and just talk stupid girl stuff with. She’s not so comfortable with her old friends who now live completely different lifestyles to her. I know she is still frustrated here in general though.

Tomorrow we go into the hills to do some activities at another school. It should be a fun day and at least we get away to a different environment. Change is as good as a rest.

The Chiang Rai Alternative Hour #38 – 16th May 2020

Music from Curse Ov Dialect and Kaigen, Social Distortion, Bannlyst, The Fall, Unknown, Sun City Girls, The Misunderstood, The Crime, Rancid, Eddy Current Suppression Ring, The Slaves, Billy Childish and Dan Melchior, Itch, My Dad is Dead, Heavy Vegetable, Refused and The Rattles.

Gratitude Journal

I am so happy and grateful that the men came today to look at our roof which blew away a couple of weeks ago. Hopefully, they can fix it. I don’t envy them, having to work on the roof in the blazing sun today.