Sunday, September 25, 2005: Rain & Membership

The gym has given me a year membership for free. Which I can't complain about. Except that I lost my favorite pair of NATO trousers and my journal.

It continues to rain. Chang Mai is flooded. But September is almost over.

Thursday, September 22, 2005: Book Day

Not much to say about this Book Day. I started writing my diary on this date way back in 1977.

And right now Sandy is insisting on watching "Piranha" which came out the following year. What an awful movie. But amusingly so. I had to explain to Sandy that after "Jaws" there was a whole bunch of these movies such as "Grizzley" and "Snowbeast" and so on... I think there was one with ants, and one with killer bees. Well there HAD to be one about KILLER BEES because it was the 70s.

By the way. How is it that you could shoot Snowbeast with a .44 Magnum and he'd live but in the end Snowbeast dies on the end of a ski pole...

Anybody know?

Meanwhile... Big violence in the South. The Government is finally admitting that its more than a "seperatist" problem. And that there is assistance coming in from elsewhere. Malaysia isn't being very helpful.

Monday, September 19, 2005: Hotel Detective

Some one broke into several of the lockers at the gym today while I was up running the Currahee. When I went back down after all was completed I discovered there it was. Or wasn't. Fortunately I as per habit had stuck my watch, phone, keys and sunglasses in my shoes. Unfortunately I had not done this with my wallet, even though I normally would have. The shoes were untouched. My trousers however were gone. As was my wallet and more importantly my little black blank journal book which I'd just started at the end of August. The wallet had two one hundred dollar bills and about 50 bucks worth of Thai Baht as well as my ATM/VISA debit card. I cancelled that right away. The money being missing is a drag as 200 bucks will by you alot of Pad Thai as well as plenty of goodies at Pantip. But I can get more money. The journal however is a sad loss. I have lost about 4 journals over the years and I regret not having each one. 1979, 1980, 1981, and 1988 reside only in my memories now.

The staff at the Gym were in a panic. The Hotel Detective came and I was forced to call Sandy who had to come all the way from the Redoubt with a pair of trousers for me to wear. I think I faired better than the Japanese fellow in the next locker who seemed to have lost everything except his shoes and his ginch. He didn't display any emotion about it, although that may have been a Japanese thing. I was less upset that I might have been a few years ago.

I did get to watch some of the CCTV "tape" (which is on the hard drive of a computer in the sub-basement of the Currahee Hotel) with the Hotel Detective and two of the Gym Staff. About 6 people come and go from the lockers between the time when I went up to run and work out, and when I came back down. There are two other cameras to be reviewed and the Hotel Detective will no doubt do that. I am not sure what sort of compensation they will give me. I didn't really expect any since when you put stuff in a locker you know the Hotel will have a zero-liability sign somewhere. This being the Land of Smiles and having gone there for nearly three years they seemed overly eager to give me some free membership or something.

Saturday, September 17, 2005: Sunshine & Season 8

After so much rain today's sunshine and warm breeze sans humidity felt like the first day of spring. I'm not sure how long this will last but... It was really beautiful out. I think rainy season is the time I feel most homesick.

I had some running around to do today and Sandy went to her family's to be with her Mom who's down to see her now not-blind Grandchild so after I met up with Bonhomme and we had some food at Burbon Street. They were having a big anniversary party so it was packed. There was a 200 Baht buffet but we retardly didn't realize it until it was too late (poor signage).

I went back to the redoubt later and hooked up the Novation Bass Station to Lappy via a USB to MIDI converter thingy and make Switched On Bach sounds until Sandy got back at around 10:00 pm.

We watched more of the season 8 X-Files. I have to say I really like season 8 better than seasons 6 or 7... The guy from Terminator 2 is great and his character is a nice switch from Mulder and his annoying pursuit of whatever. At the rate we are watching this season though we'll be done by October.

Thursday, September 15, 2005: Going Modular

Some thing I have wanted all my life, and even before I wanted a Jaguar was a Moog Modular Synthesizer. The problem with this now is that although Moog is back in business, they no longer make the huge and expensive modular systems. Buying a second hand system would cost maybe $ 10,000 USD.

BUT thanks to the amazing futuristic world in which we live I now have a Moog Modular, or the soft-ware version at any rate, on my laptop! And with a USB keyboard controller I can bleep and blurp and churn out some wonderful sounds. Truly amazing.

I still want a new Mini-Moog though.

Wednesday, September 14, 2005: Monsoon Season

A big rain came last night at around midnight and carried through all night. I woke up at around 6:30 am with plans to go to Curahee but the intensity of the rain encouraged me to simply go back to bed for a little longer. Or a lot longer...

Redoubt road was flooded when I finally headed out but the rain had backed off a bit. It rained all day and at times it came down very hard. Amazingly driving back to the Redoubt tonight there was no traffic. Usually if there is rain it's bumper to bumper, but tonight it was as if everyone just stayed in.

Sandy told me when I got home that there is lots of floods and destruction in the North which is usual for Monsoon Season. Pet's area was flooded enough that he got the Thai version of a "snow-day".

The high-speed was down at the Redoubt, and is supposably down around the country. I'm writing this via the magic of the air-card in Lappy 2.

Sandy wants to watch X-Files season 8 so I must go...

Sunday, September 11, 2005: Sandy's Niece Can See

One of the dumber bits of thinking that you encounter from the back-packer pajama people types is that the locals such as the Thais would be better off if their traditional way of living had never been changed. This thinking is wrong for two reasons. It assumes that the Thais have “lost” their culture because they now have cell phones and can eat KFC and it romanticizes a past that as a whole nobody besides some first world hippies and Pol Pot really desire. The average Thai now has luxuries beyond what the Kings would have had 400 years ago, and they are very proud of their culture which is in no danger of disappearing.

The reason I mention this is because Sandy’s niece can now see. She was born prematurely and has lived her first four years blind but thanks to that awful Western invention called scientific medical treatment she now has site in one eye. The other can’t be fixed but Sandy and her family seem confident that in ten years the Doctors will “have a new way” to fix it.

Sandy spent yesterday at the Hospital with the family waiting for the outcome of the operation which was successful. The niece can see. Right now her vision is limited to blurred images but over the next month her sight will come into focus and she should be able to function normally. For Sandy’s Mother who’s traveled down from Palooka Ville this is nothing short of a miracle.

Saturday, September 10, 2005: Love Snorey

Love means never having to say you’re sorry, except unless you subject your lover to the 1970 “romantic” movie “Love Story”. With less and less to watch we have really been scraping the bottom of the bargain bin. It has come down to getting anything that has Thai subtitles and today’s treat was “Love Story”.

Where do I begin?

First of all, did people talk funny back then? I don’t mean funny “ha ha” either. There was this strange accent that took about half an hour to get used to coming out of the mouths of the two principal characters. To my ears it sounded as bizarre as that high nasal voice people seemed to use back in the gramophone days. Another thing that was odd was the absolute lack of any catch phrases. Well at least up until the bit about “love meaning never to have to say your sorry” part. And that bit of hogwash was a double shock to hear. I remember that catch phrase as a kid on posters and stickers and t-shirts and coming out of the mouths of seeming mature teenagers. I also remember thinking like most of the stuff that defined that generation that it was a stupid thing to say or think. Love means you do say you’re sorry, and quite often. Love means the other person says they are sorry and you forgive them, and visa versa.

Tommy Lee Jones is in the movie and must be about 24. He has black hair, looks exactly the same sans wrinkles and has a bit part. I have no real idea who the stars were though. I remember their mugs vaguely but that’s about it. The female lead is butt ugly by today’s plastic fantastic Logan’s’ Run surgery standards. There is manliness about her, but perhaps it’s the unflattering clothes that seemed to be the craze then. The story has all the elements that would make it a hit amongst the post Woodstock crowd. Preppy Boy who’s Dad is sort of a Thurston Howl the Third wasp type marries the poor idealistic Catholic girl and is disowned. She croaks in the end but through her death the Thurston and Gilligan find reconciliation. Tears all round. Unless it’s 2005 and the whole thing seems contrived, badly acted, badly scripted and filmed on 16mm with the absolutely most annoying sound track and foley of all time.

The sound track. Oh make the plinky piano bit stop please… And the sound effects… Each scene had to have a car horn, jet plane, siren or some thing to make the inane conversation difficult to hear. Perhaps it was on purpose. So why did we watch it? To laugh at it of course! And I enjoy seeing all the old cars. Not the ones you see in period pieces set in that time, the real cars people drove. The ones no one bothered to keep and preserve. The ones you won’t even find in disrepair at trailer parks or reservations; the K-cars of their time.

There were some parts in it that were really amusing though. My particular favorite being the scene of the two lovers frolicking in the snow to the music of some woman caterwauling in the same style as the oooohhhh aaaaaaah in the original Star Trek series theme music. Then there is their marriage ceremony which being the youth of today they conduct themselves at where else but the University they met at. This ceremony includes some vows that surpass Donovan’s “Atlantis” in their pure absurdity. All sort of LSD induced pitter patter about glowing orbs and whatever. Truly frightening.

The whole movie really points at what is to come. He’s going to be a hip young lawyer who’ll fight the man and she’ll teach the children to sing in perfect harmony. Through the power of their generation the world will fly up up and away in a beautiful balloon to the Age of Aquarius. Every old person in the movie is portrayed at either bad or clueless which also sums up the thinking of the time. Old is bad. Tradition is bad, unless it’s someone else’s tradition. The youth are passionate, hip and atheist. Perhaps this movie marks the beginning of the grip this generation would have on all pop culture for the next forty years, a grip that even its death throws still leaves its mark.

Thursday, September 8, 2005: Gremlins 3

The Music Room is suffering from what the Allied airmen of WWII called "Gremlins". So I've spend much of the last two days (in my spare time and to the displeasure of Sandy) shouting at the screen of my PC like William Shatner in his "Twightlight Zone" appearance.

"There's some one or some thing... on the wing of the plane..."

At any rate with Labour Day in North America and the Webinator off marching with red flags in the workers parade I have removed all the entries from the Room and will re-upload some and put new ones up as soon as we smoke out the bugs.

Speaking of bugs. Ol' clunky is going to Pantip this weekend at it is acting mighty strange. I suspect that ants have build a temple around the soundcard or something.

Wednesday, September 7, 2005: Casio Nightmares

The storms continue. We fall asleep to them, and we wake up to them. I had this bizarre dream last night that I was playing live somewhere and for a guitar I had one of those plastic Casio midi "Guitars" which is sort of a frightening thought. Almost nightmarish. Except in the dream I had it hooked up to my EMU Vintage Keys box and the spectators chuckles were silenced by the roar of midi controlled Mellotron sounds...

Monday, September 5, 2005: Ode to Cafe the Great

A sad note from Robin and Chris. Cafe was a great cat. Certainly as great as Tungsten.

Cafe', Greatest Cat Ever, passed away in the middle of August on a Wednesday. She had a long and adventurous life, full of treats (mmm, pounce!), toys (mmm, catnip ball, the tassle on robins dressage crop, the light chain) and fluffy places to sleep (mmm, laundry baskets, blankets placed everywhere for her, boxes of all shapes and sizes). Robin met her when she was just days old and they've been together ever since, first in Kitchener and later, when Robin moved to Toronto and Cafe' became a Big City Cat. She waited not-so-patiently for a little sugary milk left over in cereal bowls, and dipped her paw in any unwatched hot chocolate mug she could sneak up to. Sometimes she stole cookies. She ate vegetables and loved fruit, including mangoes and oranges. She liked to be admired and was comfortable tucked in a little ball or sprawled belly up. She was very chatty and always told us what was going on and what she wanted. She loved to be Up! as high as she could climb, but also loved to sit on her Favourite Chairs, Chris and Robin.

She was 14 and due to poor health, her mommy, Robin, had to make the terrible decision, but it was the right decision. She is terribly missed by her Favourite Chairs, and by her entire family. She was an amazing cat, full of personality, and I was so incredibly blessed to have known her and to have been an important part of her life. I have an uncountable number of wonderful memories of Cafe' that will last me my entire life. She was and will always be in my heart, the Greatest Cat Ever, Cafe'.

Robin

All I can say is I am sure Cafe is somewhere and she's purring.

Sunday, September 4, 2005: Six Years

My Mother passed away six years ago today.

Saturday, September 4, 1999

More than anything I feel tired. But in a different way than normal. Not the tired you feel from carrying the weight but the tired you feel when you have set it down. That tired

Friday, September 2, 2005: Stormy Season

Rain. Lot and lots of rain. Not all the time but often enough. And every morning at about 4:00 am of course there has to be a huge thunder and lightening storm. Just to wake me up.

So much is happening... but so little I can talk about. Oh well.