Sick. I already decided that I wouldn’t go to school last night and I slept for 11 hours and woke feeling no better. I grabbed some medicine which did help and when I finally ate that helped a lot too.
I have to go to the dentist tomorrow so I hope to be feeling better by then.
Today I’m grateful for:
Water. Over the last couple of years, I’ve watered the garden less and most things seem to survive from what they get during the rainy season.
Often now though our pump stops working and Amy believes it is because there is not enough ground water to pump up. I don’t think that can be the case though as there was so much rain last year.
Unfortunately, that means that there will likely be something else that is the problem that needs fixing.
At the moment we can just restart the pump and it’s ok again until the next time we want to water the garden.
The best thing about today was:
Watching the first episode of the Chinese adaptation of Three-Body Problem. It was pretty good and the second episode is free to watch online but I’m not sure if I’ll take the time to find and the rest to watch for free.
Something I learned today?
More Children Killed by Israel in Gaza War Than in Four Years of Worldwide Conflicts
More than 12,300 children have been killed in the Gaza Strip between Oct 2023 and the end Feb 2024.
Review your acts, and then for vile deeds chide yourself, for good be glad. — Discourses 3.10
I did some watering whilst Amy was busy with her family organising things for the wedding this weekend.
A little disheartened. I slept late again last night and couldn’t force myself up to exercise. Like I mentioned yesterday I tend to feel better and more energetic in the evenings when I’ve been sick or still recovering. When I woke this morning I could feel that I’m still not 100%.
My mood was ok but I could also feel that some of my students weren’t in such a great mood themselves this morning, though as can be expected there are still plenty who were. Perhaps those down ones infected me slightly though.
I also felt a little disconsolate as I came out of school to grab coffee and the reduced number of students being around already at this time of year reminded me that this will all be over again for another year.
Yesterday and last night was also the turning point for temperatures as I put the aircon on for a little while when I got home after work and then needed it on for four hours at the start of the night. With just the fan for the rest of the night, I woke up hot and tired. Time to start the cold showers I think.
Today I’m grateful for:
Casually chatting with Kru Karn about what to teach her class today (with so many students away), which was about to start, and through that coming up with the idea to get the kids to take a photo or video of someone in the school and then make a one-minute video presentation describing them (our topic is Describing People).
Initially, the kids were shocked when I told them all to leave the class and go and find someone to talk about. And then I was shocked to find all of them in the teacher’s room talking to Kru Karn because they wanted her to be the subject. When I found them I told them that everyone had to have a different person as the subject and they all left somewhat dejected, though it got their brains spinning.
Whilst they all went off, some actually doing the work, others just playing with the other half-class of students next door, I sat back a little, fielded questions, gave advice and started my grading files. Eventually, after the two hours were up, everyone had finished the task as best they could and I was happy and they were happy too.
The best thing about today was:
My grade 10s being late for class and me not caring! The work planned for them can be done at any time so we just started when they finally arrived and can do more next week.
It wasn’t their fault that they were late so we just enjoyed a relaxed lesson of writing and thinking.
What was out of your control today and how did you handle it?
(See below)
Something I learned today?
One of our Thai teachers told a student that they will never get a job because they are not smart enough. I was fuming when I heard this, it’s the antithesis of how a teacher should be.
It’s a struggle for a teacher to pick everyone up but you have to support the students in any way that you can. You have to give them something.
I asked the student who confided the information to me what grade they got from that teacher and it was grade 4! Top grade! Unbelievable! It makes me angry!
Review your acts, and then for vile deeds chide yourself, for good be glad. — Discourses 3.10
Another student came to me today asking for help with mental health issues. We talked for about an hour going over the problems they are having (including the issue mentioned above) and despite our struggles with language we blundered through with translation and managed to understand each other.
I’ve done a little bit of investigation and sent some information for support services in Thai and I will find some more information for them later too.
Bruno took this picture in Italy, in the mountains where his family is from. No pictures from me today.
Looking up into the darkness of the night I could have been an astronaut exploring space Tuned into the Sydney Olympics that time I could have been the one that won the race
Trudging through the muddy fields in Autumn We were as soldiers marching off to war Or on the school fields, shoes for posts We were the team with the winning score
Racing Matchbox cars down twisted tracks I will be the one praised with champagne and girls The architect of the biggest castles And a new country whose flag unfurls
But would I always come out on top With the skills that I have got? I may not know so very much But I do know what I’m not
Pretty good. I notice that I’ve been waking up before my alarm recently and with my aching shoulder meaning a lot of tossing and turning during the night along with Cap wanting the door opened a couple of times to go in and out, I’m pretty tired too.
Today I’m grateful for:
Getting new tyres on the car today. I couldn’t really tell the difference but after five or six years I guess it was time.
The best thing about today was:
Having a couple more reading classes in groups of five or six again. It’s a lot of fun even though it means leaving the rest of the class to their own devices until it is their turn.
What was out of your control today and how did you handle it?
Just as I was leaving this morning Amy told me that after my first class, I have to go and wait at the car service place until our car is ready, which is hopefully before I’m due back at school! I was looking forward to spending time at the cafe, reading and writing but I guess it doesn’t matter too much as I can do that at the car service place too.
So, after class, I grabbed a takeaway coffee, went to Mum’s, picked up Amy and with a slight detour got to the car service. It was around 11.30 by now and Amy said they thought everything should be done by 12 so we sat around waiting. I did some lesson planning for a while and then someone came and told us that everyone was on a break now and that the car won’t be ready until later.
We tried to work out what to do next as I had to come back to school and Amy was off to visit Nut. How would I get back from school to pick up the car? Amy didn’t want to have to drive back to pick me up. I figured I could get a Grab from school though that would be a pain in the ass as it is really busy around the school at that time.
Whilst we were thinking about this they said that we could pay now and it was then that Amy discovered she didn’t have her credit card and would have to go home and get it and come back anyway! So I said that she may as well come and pick me up too!
So, I don’t know if that makes any sense but all in all it was a waste of two hours with absolutely nothing achieved from that running around.
If I had been the one that had forgotten the card I would never have heard the end of it and I gently reminded Amy of this fact, taking a minute to shine in the glory of not the one being at fault this time. I’m sure this will soon be reversed by something relatively inconsequential that I will be admonished for.
So, ultimately I handled it with smug satisfaction and a little bit of annoyance.
Something I learned today?
I learned that Baipad didn’t do anything special or get any gift from her mum for her birthday which is a bit sad to hear.
Review your acts, and then for vile deeds chide yourself, for good be glad. — Discourses 3.10
I like to think that remaining calm and adaptable to the situation described above was a good deed.
25 THINGS ABOUT LIFE I WISH I HAD KNOWN 10 YEARS AGO – 19. There’s No End Game. We, as a species, just are. Don’t try to figure it all out. Enjoy your journey.
OK, I know that we just are, life is meaningless and I am still enjoying the journey very much.
But I also think it’s ok to try and figure things out as much as I can. For myself, not for the world. I just want to figure out how to make my world the best I can and slowly I see it improving.
Fah took these pictures because my phone was sitting on my desk where she was taking notes from my laptop screen. They were a surprise to me when I went to see what photos I had taken today.
A revelation of the vastness Of the universe *In the scale of the world Ego diminishes*
Sitting under this big night sky Lonely but not alone A life lived put into context Must be made one’s own
Ten thousand years will pass Turning all to dust Footprints left waiting in the mud Maybe seen by none When gods decide on supernova No one will wonder About all the thinking Under the big tree done
Sleepy, not helped by the fact that morning classes were cancelled so I had no flow going for that time. It’s super hot and humid and no one wants to study. I still have class this afternoon but luckily I talked with David who said that the class were behind in his work, whereas they are ahead in mine so instead of teaching them I can let them catch up for him. Happy happy.
Today I’m grateful for:
The English Cheddar cheese chips at Makro that hopefully will stay available and not just be a short trial to see how well they sell. They remind me a little of old England and the regular chips flavours that I grew up with like cheese and onion, salt and vinegar or ready salted. The flavour combinations here in Thailand are wild to me though obviously understandable. I sometimes need familiarity.
The best thing about today was:
Making some deeper connections with some of my quieter students in a more relaxed space than just in the classroom where their bored little faces stare right through me. It’s easy to connect with the studious ones and even with the ones who don’t understand anything but the quiet ones take a bit longer.
What was out of your control today and how did you handle it?
The whole school schedule is out of my control as I discover changes with very short notice and it has taken me some time to adapt myself to this. Now I’m more able to roll with the punches and today has certainly turned out in my favour.
Something I learned today?
Thaksin is due to come back to Thailand next month after 15 years in exile. I’m wondering if this could be a move to quiet any issues with the winners of the recent election not being part of the government? The machinations of politics in Thailand are difficult to follow but it all seems to come back to one word – corruption.
What would I like to accomplish soon?
This feels like a question for a younger person. Do I need to accomplish anything? Sometime soon, I need to clean my room and move my stuff back in there from the house. Hardly a big deal.
I don’t have any big goals or anything. I have plans but they are just things that will happen without much input.
I’d like to lose my belly fat but it also doesn’t really matter if I don’t because I can feel my health has improved in general.
This feels like a tough question to answer for me right now.
Rista took this picture because she grabbed my phone to take photos of herself and Namkhing. This is my lizard eye. One that I never notice in my soft mirror at home. I must stop smiling.
There’s no freedom without morality Or institutions to provide education For freedom to provide peaceful reality Needs reassessment of this situation
We (a royal we, a royal we of the West) are obsessed with freedom but we’ve misunderstood its reality. Freedom does not mean freedom to just do as you please. It must have some moral guidelines and that part is being eroded and going missing in our modern Western societies. I don’t know so much about other societies in depth but I feel that they have a different relationship with ‘authority’. It’s a choice to make and to pick your battles.
The shampoo that helps clean up Tigger’s skin. It leaves his coat feeling good and hopefully, this is the last time I have to wash him for a while as the blisters have almost all gone now. Luckily he doesn’t mind me washing him too much now.
The best thing about today was:
Starting to read Death’s End. First at Daytripper and then in the cooler late afternoon in the hammock. Already thought-provoking in the first 40 pages. Awesome.
What was out of your control today and how did you handle it?
I couldn’t resist an afternoon nap after reading and I spent an hour fluctuating between lucidity and what felt like deep sleep. As I was falling asleep waves of euphoria hit me dragging me down to dreamland. It was delicious, I love that feeling and tried to make it last longer but the pull was too strong. I handled the ‘waste of time’ with sixty jumping jacks when I woke up and after shaking out my head a little.
Something I learned today?
After China brokered a deal between Iran and Saudia Arabia last week there’s talk now about the possibility of negotiating peace between Russia and Ukraine. That would be the biggest diplomatic coup so far this century.
Pushing the world toward peace is the exact opposite of what the US has promoted for the last 70 years. I really hope China can pull it off.
How can I express my creativity today?
How? In any number of ways. Anything is possible. However, I didn’t really. The two photos I took were about it. I did get some students to test my online lesson though, but I created that yesterday and will update accordingly tomorrow. I guess I got some ideas. Not every day is creative, much as we might like it to be.
I took this picture because it’s time to start a new book and get back into a good story. The third part of the trilogy and it’s off with a bang and a twist. I got to Daytripper early so not many people around. I also started to feel sleepy as my body and brain winds down from the intensity of the classroom.
See the fruits of discipline and skill as the richest pleasures of all.
Robert Greene
Today I’m feeling: am: flat – pm: happy and enthusiastic Today I’m grateful for: Being able to fix the number plate on my bike for just 69 baht. The first shop I tried the guy just pointed down an aisle but didn’t help me at all. I couldn’t find the part I needed so went to another shop instead and the lady there went and got what I needed. She gets my money. I guess I’m also grateful that I never got stopped whilst riding around without the plate for the previous 24 hours. The best thing about today was: Finally sitting down to play guitar again after a couple of lazy days. I figured I’d give it ten minutes but ended playing for an hour and a half. Currently reading the Clash bio and hearing about how quickly they became skilled has motivated me a bit more. Take a selfie. Not a selfie type.
This is from yesterday. I took this picture because this was the destination that I marked on my map that I almost gave up on a couple of times on the way. I want to go back and I want to keep going!
How can you be lost If you don’t know where you’re going? How much does it cost To be comfortable with the not knowing? You take the first step Outside the familiar loop of each day And don’t you forget You got ‘here’ but ‘there’ is a different way
I am not what I seem I have masks to protect you from me I stay alone in my house And it will this way forever be
I am simply understood Because I am a mirror in my ways Yet you should not trust my deeds Or my thoughts that reflect your plays
I hide from you my darkness My skies of purple shadow As you ascend yourself to Heaven It’s down to Hell that I go
Your steps are taken with caution Whilst my madness removes my care There’s direction to your movement But I feel it’s not going anywhere
My friend, you are not my friend But how shall I make you understand? My path is not your path Yet together we walk hand in hand
Inspired by a Khalil Gibran parable, with the last four lines lifted word for word. I found this short parable very affecting and particularly relevant to my thoughts on friendship.
25th Mar 2024 – Submitted to WDYS with the above picture prompt
I am so happy and grateful for the chicken that laid the egg that Amy is about to cook in the kitchen. I hope the chicken is having a good life and not stuck in a factory farm somewhere.
I am so happy and grateful for the little mouse in our living room last night. It was small and cute and impossible to catch. Cap was only vaguely interested in it and scared when it ran at him. Amy brought Kim in from outside and she caught it immediately. She was very happy. I felt a little sorry for the mouse but I know it happens every day outside our living room.
I overheated yesterday, testing myself to see how long I could bear it. I was reading, and it was uncomfortable, but I was trying not to fidget or complain – ultimately, I had to get to some aircon. I was dressed in pants and a long-sleeved shirt, too – all tucked in. A dumb attempt at temperature assimilation!
Amy complains about the heat all the time – well, everyone does – it’s very uncomfortable at the moment. No wonder people go mad in temperatures like this!
Anyway, the result of this was falling asleep deeply in our living room aircon at about 5 pm. Amy woke me up at 7.45 pm to watch some TV, but then I retired to the bedroom to read a little before more sleep.
Whilst reading, Amy rushed in shouting, ‘There’s a rat in the living room!’ I got up quickly to a wild-eyed Amy and a bemused Cappuccino. She said it was behind the TV cabinet but I couldn’t see it. Eventually, she pointed it out, and it was a cute little tiny field mouse, balanced on the black cables from the back of the TV. No wonder I couldn’t see it. Some rat!
We tried to nudge it out so that Cap could have the honour to catch it and save his family from certain death, but he was scared of it and kept running away whenever it came near him. What a cat! Amy ran outside and called Kim Chi whilst I failed in grabbing the little cutie by the tail over and over again.
Cap had given up at this point, and I was chasing this thing whilst laughing my head off. Kim Chi appeared from next doo,r and Amy brought her in and instantly caught the mouse in her mouth. Then I picked her up to take her outside, and in doing this, Kim dropped the mouse and off it ran again.
At one point, the mouse was in the corner right by Kim’s tail, but she was looking the other way, totally unaware. I cracked up. After a couple more minutes, Kim eventually caught it again, and we managed to get outside. I made a feeble attempt to loosen Kim’s jaws to give the mouse a chance but gave up, and she walked off to play with it some more.
I resumed my reading back in the bedroom, wondering if I would be able to sleep after all this excitement. Fortunately, I was able and sleeping so deeply I didn’t even hear the storm in the night, which thankfully lowered the temperature somewhat by the morning.
As I’m writing this, not even 9 am, I can already feel the heat fusing my shirt to my skin with sweat. It’s going to be a long day, but thankfully, the weekend is coming.
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