Thursday, June 30, 2005: More of the Same

3 Buddhists shot dead, teachers' homes attacked in Thai south

PATTANI, Thailand : Three Buddhists including a mute labourer were shot and killed and teachers' homes were attacked in southern Thailand, police said, as authorities vowed to boost security funding to counter rampaging violence.

Srang Saewong, 56, a mute highway worker in Yala province, was shot dead in Bannang Sata district as he drove to work.

Here this is local news. CNN never mentions it though. Tom Cruise seems to rank as a more important story now that Michael Jackson's trial is over.

Wednesday, June 29, 2005: Big Rain Here & Now

Arielle managed to get out of town just an hour before the big rain came. It was very big rain, but since it has been so hot that makes sense.

I have posted up an "old" tune from 1998 in the music room just because it has been so long since I have had anything posted up there. Only a rough mix but...

Tuesday, June 28, 2005: Arielle Goes

We met up with Arielle today and stowed her stuff at my place. Her flight to Siam Reap was this afternoon so it made more sense to leave from mine. We had a meal then Sandy took her to The Grand Palace and to some other spots. She only got her passport back at 4:30 pm and her flight was at 6:00 pm.

Sandy went with her to the Airport in case she missed her flight and had to come back. She managed to get there in time although I understand there was some running involved.

Monday, June 27, 2005: Arielle Arrives

Arielle came in this morning by train at 6:15 am. Apparently when my alarm went off I rolled over, looked at it, and then shut it off. Sandy woke me at 5:50 am by telling me “as a joke” that it was 6:30 am. That got me out of bed. We got to the train station at around 6:30 am. Arielle was there, we found her standing by an information booth. We collected her and got a cab to where she’s staying. We went and had some MK for brunch then she dealt with getting a visa for Vietnam and a ticket to Cambodia. I left them at Siam were they shopped and so forth.

We hooked up later and took Arielle back over to Khao san Road. I really really hate Khao San Road. I’m not sure if it’s the hippies or the abundance of them, or all the hippy crap that is for sale, or if it’s just the crowds and the noise. Thinking back to when we first landed here in 2001 and how Flashback (who was a hippy the first time around) and I went there… I didn’t hate it as much then. But it has changed a lot. Back then it was just like any other street, except it is where all the back packers ended up. Now it’s blocked to traffic, and has been paved with these weird stones and is like a carnival of Birkenstocks and patchouli oil.

We had a so-so meal at one spot and I got to watch the dread-locked and unwashed mill about. I hope I live long enough to see the day when “the youth” will in turn laugh their asses off at these types as much as we laugh at mulleted now.

Sunday, June 26, 2005: Nothing Sunday

Today was the ultimate do nothing Sunday. First off I didn't even wake up until well after noon. Sandy was already up and about. We ate lunch then I promptly fell back to sleep. I was feeling slightly feverish.

I woke up when Pooh showed up at around 5:00 pm. Sandy and her hung out and talked while I read for a while then played Command & Conquer Generals. Pooh split at around 7:00 pm and Sandy and I had dinner here. The smell of that rice she brought back from her parents when it is cooking is amazing.

After we had dinner we watched a few X-Files episodes. Now it's 10:00 pm. Arielle gets in tomorrow morning from Samui so Sandy and I will be up early to meet her.

Great, Sandy is walking around with a bottle of Buddhist holy water and just splashed me. Don't get any on the Sherman.

"Not make my story on Computer"

Try and stop me, Baby...

Saturday, June 25, 2005: Sandy Comes Back

Sandy got back today. I was coming in from a meal with Bonhomme and she arrived at the same time. She brought back a huge bag of jasmine rice which is the best tasting rice I have ever had.

We watched "The Manchurian Candidate" on disc. It wasn't bad... But it wasn't great. I don't think the story translates well from the Cold War to the War on Terror. The acting was good, but having the bad guys as a nasty evil corporation was sort of lame. The original book makes more sense. Sandy felt the movie was "like an X-Files" except without Mulder, Scully and The Smoking Man.

I suspect the new War of the Worlds movie will be hobbled in a similar manor by the "updating" of the tale. Making it modern so the kids can "dig" it, man. Personally. I dare any Marians to land now. It would be a pretty fair fight. But the original is set at the end of the 19th century so it makes more sense. Why they didn't keep it in that context is a mystery to me, but the fact they need to soak every idea in tried and worn cliche is probably the real reason in the drop of ticket sales.

Also I'm sure they'll try and make the Marians "scary". The means making them sort of look H Gigerish. Like I've noted before, Aliens in movies haven't been remotely scary since the original Alien, and The Thing. Instead it's a guy in a rubber suit (Signs) or the computer generated bum invaders (Dreamcatcher).

Friday, June 24, 2005: Not Enough Sleep

I never sleep well when Sandy isn't here. I'm not exactly sure why. So last night I didn't sleep well. I drifted off at around 4:00 am, which was awful. I woke up with a head full of kooky dreams at the regular time and felt odd all day.

Tonight I went through all of the un-vocalized ideas I've been working on since February and burned them on to CD for further investigation. Some are good. Some aren't. Some need more and some need less. All need vocals but not all of them will get vocals. It's hard to listen to it objectively in any case.

Thursday, June 23, 2005: Sandy Goes Home

Sandy went with her Sisters to the outer regions early this morning. They took their Mom back up after her stint here at the Hospital and so forth. She'll be back on Saturday night.

Tonight there was a huge rain that I got caught in coming back to the Redoubt. My MEC rain coat is on its last legs but it still keeps me dry. I should have replaced it and my black MEC bag when I was back last year but I was preoccupied with the unspeakable.

I keep reading and hearing that movie revenues are down. I have also heard the blame being placed on the high ticket prices. This makes sense in a way except I think it has more to do with there being not many good movies to see. There has been little to rent in the last few months. Normally there is at least one new release that Sandy and I want to see, but now... Well let's just say we end up watching the X-Files. It would be interesting to know if rentals are down as well as ticket sales.

Sandy and I usually stock-pile a few cheap 59 Baht "on sale" VCDs or DVDs for rainy day watching when there is nothing else. I've had “The Big Red One” in that pile for a few months and since it was raining and Sandy was away and I wasn't in the mood for tinkering with my musical gear I tried to watch it.

TRIED.

I sort of remember now that it came out when I was in grade 9 or 10, and that my friends had seen it and spent a great deal of their time afterwards laughing about how bad it was. 14 year old boys laughing at how bad a war movie is... Not a good sign.

It was beyond bad. It had every tired (by that point) WW2 cliché imaginable. It was like they had a check list of them. Bad voice-over narration? Check. Half a dozen instantly recognizable stereotypical GI's? Check. Lee Marvin? Check. Nazis speaking in Hogan’s Heroes German accents? Check. American tanks painted with iron crosses and presented as German tanks (that inaccuracy really bugged me when I was young)? Check.

Mark Hamill?

MARK HAMILL???

I swear it was well to the North Africa part before I realized that Luke Skywalker was the one trying to blow up a tank which appeared to be covered by a carpet with a bag of grenades as some French guys on horses rode around to "distract" it...

“Corvette Summer” and “Big Red One”. No wonder Luke didn't have the force with his career the way Harrison Ford did.

Anyways I gave up trying to watch it when they were invading Sicily. It was just too painful with out Tom Servo and Crow to help me through the viewing.

Wednesday, June 22, 2005: Restive? Oh You Mean Jihad...

More of the same. Sandy asked me recently why CNN only talks about Michael Jackson and Gitmo and never "the Buddhist getting killed". All that I could say was "They don't care, Baby".

MAN BEHEADED IN THAI TEASHOP
Suspected Muslim militants (can't say the word Terrorist) have beheaded a man in southern Thailand in front of customers in a teashop. Police said the man, a travelling salesman, was shot twice and then decapitated in the shop in Narathiwat province, in the middle of the day.

The Thai south has been hit by violence since suspected Muslim separatists launched an insurgency 18 months ago. (So why were they letting bombs off in 2001 when i moved here?)

The latest victim, Lek (Thai for "small") Pongpa, was a clothes vendor originally from northern Thailand, police said.

One thing that annoys me about the meger amount of coverage of the Islamic violence against Buddhists in the South of Thailand is the media's constant use of the phrase "Thailand's restive south".

RESTIVE

Uneasily impatient under restriction, opposition, criticism, or delay.
Resisting control; difficult to control.
Refusing to move. Used of a horse or other animal.

That word says it all. The problem isn't that these nutters have been brainwashed into the most radical and extreme version of their religion, an extreme that is foreign to the region. The problem isn't that this new level of intolerance is manifested in violence against their neighbours. According to the BBC or whoever the "Restive" South is restive because of either heavy handed measures by the Government or some vague "discrimination" that is never specified.

People living in Thailand's Muslim majority south have long complained of discrimination by the central government, particularly in areas like education.

Here is another absolutely bizarre thing in the reporting. The majority of Thai Muslims live in the south. That is the majority of th 4% of the population that is Muslim. That is not to say the MAJORITY of Thai's in the south are Muslim and if they are a majority it isn't a big one. But since they are "the majority" there the BBC or who ever makes it almost sound like their actions have some politically legitimate reason.

Guess what...

Whether you are the majority or not, or whether or not you have a legitiment beef about the Government...

SAWING THE HEAD OF A PERSON BECAUSE YOU DON'T LIKE THEIR RELIGIOUS BELIEFS IS WRONG. THAT'S CALLED DISCRIMINATION. IT'S MURDER. ITS TERRORISM!!

Everytime the Thai Police accidently or purposely kill a Muslim who happens to be either attacking them or rioting the full weight of the BBC's indignant condemnation comes down. But none of that is unleased in regards to the daily murder of Monks, Teachers and ordnary people who just happen to be either Buddhist or not Muslim enough for these loonies. Then it has to be viewed in the broader social historical context blah blah blah.

I've watched the news here with Sandy and seen high ranking Thai officials WEEPING because these kooks have blown up some Temple and destroyed a statue of their Lord Buddha. But that isn't any thing compared to them purposely targeting Monks. So why is it any less important than Americans mishandling or damaging a Koran? A book is more important than a life it would seem.

No mention is ever made of what these kooks are claiming as their actual reasons for their actions. Their demand for a Calphate Islamic area with Shiara law that stretches from the South of the Philippines across to the "restive area" in question or their absolute hate for "polythesists" (which rank pretty high on the Infidel Meter due to Buddhist believing in multiple dieties) is not part of the story.

Instead you get crap like this

But one thing seems certain. If police and security personnel continue to act with such heavy-handed methods, the animosity between them and the Muslim inhabitants of southern Thailand is only likely to increase.

So sawing the heads off, shooting, blowing up, and stabbing every Buddhist they can get their hands on won't do that? Some how it's all the Police's fault for being to heavy handed? What are they supposed to do? You have a bunch of crazy bastards running around yelling Allah Akbar and killing not only Buddhists but Monks? Who kills a Buddhist Monk? The Khmer Rouge and these guys. What is more heavy handed that blowing up Wats and killing Monks when they are walking around in the morning?

If some Yank soldier whizzes on a Koran everyone starts flapping their arms around and squawking like ducks in a hail storm but these bastards can blow up as many Temples and murder as many Buddhists as they like and they get to be "Restive".

I'd like to have these reporters' heads shaved and dressed in orange robes and dropped off on the roadside down there and then see how "restive" they find it.

Where is Richard Gere in all this?

Tuesday, June 21, 2005: Are We Not Men?

I haven’t used the Khlong boats in two years. Not since my run in with those dodgy Cops. However I began using them again this week to get around. I’d forgotten how much faster and more pleasant they can be. The only tricky part is getting on and off without ending up in the canal.

Last night I picked up a DVD of old DEVO stuff from a shop in the World Trade. This was some kind of import and lacked Thai subtitles, not that subtitles would have helped Sandy in being any less perplexed when she came in on my watching it. Specifically the “Jocko Homo” video…

“Why is this so ting tong?”

Of course the remainder of the evening I had to act out as much De-Evolutionary nonsense as possible to torment her further.

How do you explain DEVO to your Thai girlfriend? You can’t.

Tuesday, June 14, 2005: Moby, Gorillaz, Cold Play and Batman

Apparently my not liking the new Moby, Coldplay or Gorillaz is pretty sacrilegious.

Should I bother to defend myself?

Riddle me this, Batman. Moby and Gorillaz were pretty experimental/new when I first heard them. That is why I liked them. Now leaving Gorillaz out of the question, how is it that Moby, with no doubt a gift for making experimental and radically new music has fallen into the pit of repeating himself. Surely (don't call me Shirley) he can afford to go out and get some new kit. Certainly he can lock himself in his Soho flat and learn to use a Technosaurus modular synth or something. If I were Moby I'd have a whole house full of every imaginable noisemaker and noise-squasher ever made. Why not build a futuristic 70s style superwideleg studio overlooking an ocean somewhere and tweak from dawn until dusk, then swim with some pet dolphins or something?

No, it would appear Moby would rather pound on the same Korg Triton string patch for all eternity, use the same drum loops, put his voice through the same chorus pedal. Can't Moby of all people afford a new chorus pedal? I'd lend him my Sherman Filter Bank if he asked nicely.

Same goes for Gorillaz... I have been listening to it a bit, and I do like much of it, but again it isn't as awesome as the first CD and the whole thing of having some second string rapper yipping away during the bridge is getting rather tired. The Chemical Brothers should also take note of that. Growing DATED.

As for the new Cold Play... I only sort of heard a bit of the new single on CNN but all I could discern was that it sounded like Cold Play.

The ambient Moby disc remains the sleepy music though.

Speaking of "Batman"... "Batman Begins"? How can the movie be about him beginning? Weren't at least TWO of the previous ones about that? Why do we have to go through learning why heroes and villains become heroes and villains EVERY TIME THEY MAKE A MOVIE ABOUT THEM?

I really think a 10-year moratorium on Super-Hero, Comic Book and Graphic Novel based movies is in order. Except for Spider-Man. And the X-Men. But those are the only ones people go to see anyways.

Monday, June 13, 2005: Run & Nausea

This morning was the first day back at the gym since I got sickly last weekend. I felt pretty good through the bulk of it, especially the run, but after I came off I was hit with a wave of nausea and dizziness. I just managed to get to my locker to grab a towel. I though for sure I was going to wooah as the Thai's say, so I made my way to the toilet. I didn't barf amazingly. I sat there for about 15 minutes shaking with sweat just poring off of me. The nausea passed and I felt incredibly cold. I took a hot shower and by the time I came out I felt fine. Bizarre. Perhaps the last bit of what ever was afflicting me last week had to get sweated out.

Sandy went out with the Care-Bear Posse tonight. I spent most of the night mousing some of the stuff I've recorded over the last few weeks. One thing I have to be more attentive about is keeping track of which track belongs to which song. I store my backups according to date, but I'm finding now that I have whole songs that I have forgotten I recorded. I need to devise another way of doing it. Part of the problem is how do name a song before you have finished writing it? And in some cases I'll take tracks from a failed attempt at a song and stick them in a new idea if they are the same BPM

Friday, June 10, 2005: Sandy Doesn't Go Out

I came in all knackered out tonight at around 9:30 pm. Sandy was all kitted up ready to go meet Pookey and the Care-Bear Posse for some Khao Sahn Road action. Normally if she were to go out I would be gleefully tweaking the Sherman Filter Bank until her return but tonight I was just too tired. The next thing I know Sandy has called her friends and cancelled on them, choosing to stay with me instead. Because I looked tired...

I have in the past got the flak about "Asian girls are submissive" blah blah, which is believed only by those who have never dated one. The same folk would use her staying in with me as an example of that. What it is in fact an example of is how she feels about me. The other nice thing is that there will be no guilt trip about me "keeping her in, wrecking her night" etc, or will it be used at a later day as some kind of "get out of jail" card. As many problems as our relationship might go through it is truly refreshing NOT to have to deal with having to go through the old fights every time a new one occurs. She never throws my faults at me either, even though our disagreements can be passionate. We only scrap about what we are scrapping about and in all fairness 75% of the time we scrap because I'm in a grumpy mood from the day, lack of food, lack of rest or all of the above.

So tonight it's X-Files and hugs.

Thursday, June 9, 2005: Microsoft Does Something Right

I have been cursing Bill Gates and Microsoft longer than you. I began cursing him around the time of the first Gulf War, and I did it in a rhyme set to the “Roadrunner” theme song.

“That Bill Gates really is a crazy clown… You never know when his Windows will shut down…”

The reason I have recently been increasingly annoyed by Microsoft is simple. Why after 12 years does it STILL take so long for my computer to start up? Why after 12 years does the thing still ask me retarded questions as if I’ve never seen a computer before?

Back in the post-DOS days the “gui” (pronounced ‘gooey’; a cute name for “graphical user interface”) mantra was about making the PC “user friendly”. Meaning grandma and grandpa would be able to operate it thanks to smiley faces and purdy colors (Never mind they have no hand to eye, never having had played Asteroids at the mall). This is a reasonable thing when you consider how uncommon a home PC was in 1992. What I don’t understand is why do software developers STILL act as if this is the case now? Why must I be asked a dozen times if I am SURE I want to do something that I had to go through a complex procedure to do any ways?

YES, I AM SURE I WANT TO TOSS THIS LAPTOP FROM THE 16TH FLOOR BALCONY.

I saw some interview with Gates where he’s yammering on about his vision of how the PC will become the hub of all home entertainment and it will control everything in the house. “Demon Seed” jokes aside, does Bill really think I want my DVD player and TV and everything else to crash just as much as my PC does? The man is deluded.

Anyways... I am amazed, but Microsoft has FINALLY done something right…

What? Windows Media Player version 10.

Why?

In an effort to stop the pirating of CD’s the record companies have been rigging CD’s with these annoying self-contained players that prevented you from burning the CD you just BOUGHT onto your PC. Since I like to make mix CD’s for my friends this was annoying. Since I like to have tunes on my Laptop this was also annoying. In order to get around this I would have to go down to Khao San Road and buy another copy of the same CD there. A pirate copy. One that has been PIRATED. So I can burn it on to my PC. EMI or whoever’s efforts to prevent me from pirating end up giving me no choice but to go by a pirate. Duh.

Windows Media Player 10 however can rip the audio tracks off the annoying no-copy CDs. This is GREAT thing, as I really hate Khao San Road and would rather not go there.

I don’t feel much sorrow for the Record Industry’s recent slump. Blaming “pirating” is a lame excuse. It’s like FORD back in the late 1970’s blaming hitch-hiking for a decline in its sales. Make poor quality goods and people won’t buy it. If you are in a downturn DON’T pump millions into loser projects (Robbie Williams conquering America? Please!) These are simple truths of the market system that the entertainment industry seems to think it’s exempt from on account of its good looks.

And speaking of Cold Play…

I am holding off on buying their new CD. I really liked them back in 2001 when I first heard them. The problem is judging from the new single it is just more of the same.

Strum strum strum strum, high vocal, strum strum strum sounds like coldplay, strum strum same melody or lack there of, strum strum strum, loud part, more high vocal, singer waves arms around, strum quiet bridge, strum strum strum…

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz…

They have become a cliche of themselves. This used to take about 5 albums to occur, back in the DOS days...

I am still getting over the disappointment I had over the new Moby and Gorillaz. Maybe I’ll just go buy a pirate copy of the new Cold Play on Khao San for 100 baht.

Wednesday, June 8, 2005: Grinding Done

I think I may be through all the grinding. And through the flu or whatever it was I have had since the weekend. I woke up today feeling somewhat better although I was knackered out by about 3:00 pm.

I have filled three large garbage bags with R2's waste. Some of it was old banking statements and paperwork that for reasons unknown I felt the need to store for 3 years but 80% of it was indeed photos. Now the photos, the letters, and the seashells are gone, although I didn't "throw them in the khlong" (canal) as Bonhomme had wisely suggested.

I introduced Queen's "Night at the Opera" to Kaboom and the Zero's stereo system today. I warned him that I would HAVE to play this louder than normal, and I did. "Night at the Opera" was an album I learned to love on headphones but it was meant to be played LOUD on a car stereo. Listening to it in traffic brought back good 1978 memories of riding in Dad's old Pontiac with Bruce and Anne, the three of us singing along as loudly as possible.

It also occurred to me that I first listened to this LP 30 years ago. Brian May's guitar (especially on "I'm in Love With My Car") still hits me the same way it did the first time I strapped on ear-lugs in Robert Calman's basement and listened to it. I never really liked "Sweet Lady" much as a kid but tonight I loved it. Again Brian May's absolutely huge guitar sound is unbelievable.

"Night at the Opera" also has the eternal association with summer swims in Uncle Bill's pool with Jayne. We must have listened to that album a hundred times. That and the Osmond Brother's "Crazy Horses".

So the great Box Purge of '05 has moved beyond the radioactive into the much missed CDs and goodies.

Sandy didn't react to the uncrated mini-Korg as I had expected. I had imagined she'd say something along the lines of "not another one!!" but she didn't. She just moved it over to where I have the Roland Saturn 09 boxed and stored and put it there. Such a trooper. Putting up with me, my moods, and my music gear.

Tuesday, June 7, 2005: Waiting Man

Today I feel almost normal. I had some trouble sleeping last night and lots of odd dreams most of which have faded except one. In it I am in an old transport plane about to jump out with a parachute. I walk to the door and look out in to the night but can't bring myself to jump. The reason is that my parachute is the manual kind where one has to actually pull the rip chord. Not the kind where you hook on the line and as you jump the chute is triggered for you. I am standing in the doorway of this plane unable to move due to some irrational fear that my chute won't work.

One of the upsides of The Boxes is having all my CDs again. Not that we needed another 200 CDs to clutter up the Redoubt. This morning after Sandy headed out I listened to King Crimson "Beat" and it was wonderful to hear.

Sandy has enrolled in some computer courses. I have to load Thai language software on Ol' Clunky or Lappy. I have been holding off on replacing Ol' Clunky for a few reasons but I don't know how much longer I can.

Monday, June 6, 2005: Feeding R2

I woke up feeling slightly better today than I did yesterday. I didn't bother running which I was glad of later. I would have run out of steam by 3:00 pm instead of 7:00 pm if I had.

Paper shredders are amazing things. Did you know that you can not only feed old letters into them you can also feed them old photos?

Technology is amazing.

Sunday, June 5, 2005: Everything & Nothing

I was sickly all day. I'm not sure of the cause; whether it was from emotionally radioactive box contents, or a bad piece of sushi. Either way the effects were unpleasant. I spent most of the day in various states of sleep and didn't venture much beyond the bed.

Going out would have been pointless this afternoon anyways. The sky turned a bruised dark blue color and we had the biggest thunder storm of the season so far.

Now it is almost 10:00 pm. Sandy is making some plain rice for me to try and eat. I am not sure if I'll be able to run tomorrow.

Saturday, June 4, 2005: Boxes and Boxes

The storage guys arrived at 9:00 am on the dot and brought in my 9 boxes of stuff. Stuff I haven’t seen since the autumn of 2002. Stuff I’ve managed to survive without and stuff I’d pretty much forgotten about the exception of several items such as my 1974 Korg synth and about 200 CDs. The storage crew manager offered to open the boxes but I declined.

It is now 11:00 am. I have only managed to get through Box Number One. It started off okay, with some bits for my original Play Station One that I bought in Manila as well as a few small wooden boxes full of trinkets and bits from the old LP4 apartment. Then came the can of sea shells I’d collected for M. That nearly stopped me in my tracks. I went on to this plastic storage container inside Box Number One which contained negatives and what must be thousands of photos. One bunch was all M related. M and I in Manila, M and I in Hong Kong, M and I in Boracay, M and I in Canada…

On I went. The next bunch were photos from the HD Massive days, including the World Cup party and some Koh Samui memories. There were lots of photos of Snowy and the gang in various states of drunkenness. Mixed in with these photos were some Manila photos of Superdry and the Rocket as well as Geri and her family. There were a few of Small L, a few of K, a few of Dori and some on my last days in Makati. Then more of M.

What do you do with that? I have no problem sending old love letters through the paper-shredder but I am reluctant to do the same to photos. My problem may be that I never really went on after M quickly enough and spent at least 2 years clinging on to some lost cause. I thought going back in December would fix all that but it only made the situation more confused. It was like vacuuming up the ashes in a fireplace and setting the vacuum cleaner bag on fire because there were some embers that hadn’t gone out yet. Suddenly the room is full of smoke and you’re trying to toss the bag out into the snow.

Letters. Lots of letters. I kept the ones from GRH and JL but the M letters went into the grinder. I didn’t read them or anything. I couldn’t.

Now it’s 11:15 am and I am starving. Sandy is at her Sisters today.

On to Box Number Two…

Make that Box Number Eight…

This box dates from the Ambassador debacle days and contained mostly CDs and clothes. The big laugh was finding the “I AM LOST IN HONG KONG” t-shirt that I bought in December of 2000 and was too small to fit me. I am now wearing it and it fits perfectly. So there are some things I am glad to have lost in the last 5 years.

Now on to which ever box is up next…

9:30 pm… I am glad that is done…
I had to go through boxes and boxes of crap! One box was full of CDs so that was fun to go through. One box had books, one had clothes, and one had a mix of more photos and papers…

There were a few nice surprises such as my Jollee Bee mug that Geri gave me, and my 35mm camera that I’ve had since 1978. I am baffled as why I kept so much paper junk like old airplane tickets.

I finished up at around 6:00 pm, had a shower then went to meet Bonhomme for some Japanese food. We had to wait for a bit before we could be seated since it was so busy. Afterwards I BTS’d it back to the Redoubt.

Sandy just got in. I’m beat.

Thursday, June 2, 2005: Information Superhighway On-Ramp

Today the internet arrived at the Redoubt with the power of broadband! Not that I feel much like staring a computer screen after a certain point in the day. But I now I won't have an excuse not to make an entry beyond having nothing much to report other than rain, sun or fish related activities.

Miss Canada is big news here. Everyone asks if I am "proud" of her Miss Universe victory. I'm not really. I wasn't paying much attention when the contest was on and it's difficult to be proud about a country when you've chosen not to live there. She is fit though for what it's worth.

Sandy is actually feeding me with a spoon while I type. She's decided I must eat NOW because when I don't eat I am "grumpy".

And the rain is coming...

Wednesday, June 1, 2005: Other News

I always thought Linda Lovelace was Deepthroat...

In other news...

An elderly Buddhist monk and four soldiers escorting the monk were seriously injured when a remote-controlled bomb exploded as they were leaving a temple in Bacho district of Narathiwat province, early Wednesday, police said.

The bomb which was planted 100 metres from the temple was detonated by mobile phone at 6:00 am this morning, as the 78-year-old Pra Thammajaro Buddhist monk, and soldiers were leaving the temple.

Why do Buddhist monks need to be escorted by soldiers? Because if they aren't they will have their heads sawed off.