Sunday, November 27, 2005: The Koh Kerd Herd

Today Sandy took me to some place called (I believe) Koh Kerd. It is an island in the river or between two branches of the big river and is “Thai style” or I guess more traditional in its set up. Or something. Pet & Family came along as well as Sandy’s Aunt and her Cousin who’s moved up from the South.

Getting to Koh Kerd required a drive and a bit to a dock, then we had to take a small boat across. That was a three minute ride at most. Once across it was a winding walk through small laneways between shops and market stalls past all the same hand crafted junk you can buy at the weekend market. It was sunny though (that’s a change) and everything was very scenic and picturesque.

We stopped and had some okay food. It wasn’t bad but wasn’t what I like for a Sunday morning brunch. It was beside the river though so we could watch various boats race past as well as tug boats pulling huge barges full of who knows what. After we’d eaten we headed back on the pathways towards a big Temple where Sandy and her family all made a stop to do Buddhist type stuff involving the purchase of flowers and so forth.

After the temple we headed on and on and on through more stuff past this and that until we came to a second temple with a water buffalo lazing in the shade by the front door. It was tied but I still didn’t approach it too closely. After everyone had exhausted their desire to buy nick-knacks and I’d wasted enough video tape we took a packed boat back across and headed back to Pet’s.

Monday, November 21, 2005: Half Way Poppins

Huzzah. We have Disney Channel again. But sadly we lost Discover Health and Goodness or what ever it was called. We also got V back and lost one of the three dreadful Thai movie channels. The movies weren’t dreadful because they were Thai but because they were the worst of the worst B movies ever made that someone decided to dub into Thai.

Right now I’m being subjected to “Mary Poppins”. Dick Van Dyke’s accent which is supposed to be cockney I guess come off sounding like early Mel Gibson trying not to sound like an Aussie. I don’t really appreciate Mr. Van Dyke that much as being the wrong demographic. For me he was the fading Hollywood star most often animated for guest appearances on Scooby Doo circa 1972.

Those were the days…

IPodization continues and I am up to 2040 songs. But I am only half way there.

Wednesday, November 16, 2005: Loy Kratong 2548

Tonight was the Loy Kratong Festival. This holiday which falls on the full moon in November is a combination of "Thanksgiving" and perhaps "Halloween", although it comes from Buddhism’s Indian roots. Everyone goes to the rivers and khlongs, lights the incense and candles on their "Kratong", which is a small boat made of banana leaf, makes a prayer or wish then sends the Kratong off on the water. The Halloween aspect of it for me is the abundance of fireworks.

This year (2548 Thai) Sandy and I went over to Pet's house at around 5:30 pm. Another Loy Kratong tradition seems to be sitting in traffic on the expressway for an hour. When we finally got over to Pet's he was out on the street with him Mom who was selling Kratongs she and Pooh had made. Pet and a friend of his were busy upsetting Pooh by lighting firecrackers which would scare Pluk. They lit off one rocket type device that flew down the street and exploded after a direct hit on the undercarriage of a car. I managed to video tape that. Pet was then banned from any more boyish antics by his Mom.

We had a meal of breaded shrimp (mmmmmmmmm), and "south style" chicken with sticky rice. South style should not be confused with "southern style" as in the American style. South style chicken is truly great, but comes from that "restive" area we hear so much about so it really more middle eastern in its taste than would you would expect in Thailand. I can't ever get enough of it. Sticky rice of course is the best.

After eating we went across and walked through to the Wat near the Khlong with our Kratongs. I put a sparkler in mine as I wasn't about to have a repeat of last year where my candle went out. There were some Monks by the Wat and a few families putting their Kratongs out. There was one big bees wax candle on the little pier to light things up with. Sandy seemed to take a long time to do her wish / prayer. Pet was pleased that I had a sparkler in mine. Perhaps I should have rigged it to explode too. After the Kratongs were set to float we walked back over to Pet's and hung out there for a while.

I think this year was the most enjoyable Loy Kratong so far. I much preferred the Khlong to the crowds by the river. The little glowing Kratongs floating along under the full moon by the Temple looked quite... to use a Sandy word... "Lovely".

Sunday, November 13, 2005: 160 Gigabytes

One problem I have been running into on Lappy is an increasing lack of free space. I have been using Lappy to back up and render my songs which means if I record a 4 minutes song that has say 18 tracks, I have what amounts to 18 four minute songs. So if I have recorded about 150 minutes of music since January that music is comprised of many tracks as well as various versions of the song itself I have many hours of music filling up my hard drive. In less than a year I have nearly filled Lappy’s hard drive. What to do what to do.

This afternoon I realized the futility of trying to back stuff up on CD. Since Sandy and I were off to World Trade to have MK I made a stop at Pantip and visited the IT Center to buy an external USB hard drive. I had seen a 10 Gig one there back in the spring for 8,000 Baht so I figured I’d just bite the bullet and get it. However I was soon informed that they no longer had the 10 Gigabyte external hard drive for 8,000 Baht. They did however have a 160 Gigabyte external hard drive for 9,500 Baht though. I think 160 Gigs should be enough for now…

Justin M suggested I download the ITunes software before I get the IPod. I now see the wisdom in this. It will take many days to IPodize all my CDs. Hopefully I can get it done before December.

The Penguin Lady is back in town.

Saturday, November 12, 2005: Moving House

Sandy & I were up early today as it was Sandy's Sister Lut's big moving day. She and Mike had sold their house near the Airport and bought a new one in an area not far away. Although buying a house near an Airport sounds bad, the current Airport will be closed in a year or so once the new one (on the other side of the city) is finished.

We picked up Pooh and took her with us at 9:00 am. First we went over to the floating market and bought some house warming gifts in the form of orchids, and then we headed on the new house. We got there and I was left on my own while everyone went back to the original house to get the last of the stuff with the movers.

Despite the nice sunshine of the morning there was a huge rain storm in the early afternoon. It was preceded by frantic activity to bring in all the furniture from the moving truck. I talked with Mike for the most part while everyone else cooked or ate or talked in Thai.

Later in the afternoon the rain left and sun came back out so Sandy, Pooh, Julian and I walked with Min, Pet and Pet's cousin down the road past some unfinished houses to the local public pool which was quite nice. Pet and his cousin spent the walk down hitting and chasing each other while the Sisters shouted what I assume is the Thai equivalent of "Slow down!" at them. Once at the pool Pet proceeded to get into trouble there. Julian had Pluk with her so his baby cuteness was possibly the only thing that kept the Pool Attendant Lady from kicking us all out.

We walked back and more cousins and so forth had arrived. Mike and I sat by the kitchen counter and talked while the kids ran about as cousins will do and the grown ups sat on the floor Thai style and ate and drank. Pet was the leader of the mischief and was wearing on his head a pair of battery powered red devil horns which Mike and I found quite amusing.

Things wound up at about 9:30 pm. We drove Pooh who was feeling ill to the drug store nearby then drove some of the cousins to their bus stop before dropping Julian off at her apartment. Then it was the long drive back to the Redoubt.

Friday, November 11, 2005: Remembrance Day

This is a War-time photo of my Father who passed away in November of 1990. Every year until I left home my Father and I went to the Remembrance Day Ceremonies together. It seems fitting to remember him on November 11th for that reason.

Thursday, November 10, 2005: Goodnight Smoking Man...

Sandy and I have finished the last episode of the last season of X-Files… So we have managed to go through the whole 9 seasons in a year. The last episode was actually a two-parter and well it was sort of lame. In fact the last season was rather lame. I think the first 3 seasons and season 8 were actually the best ones, and the rest was sort of so-so. The death of the “Lone Gunman” was sort of an odd episode. In the end Fox and Scully are snuggled up in a hotel and we the viewers are left hanging as the show finally dies an overdue death, choked by the tangled web of confusing and ridiculous conspiracy theories.

Good night Fox, good night Scully, good night Agent What’s Her Face, goodnight John Doggett…

Now what will we watch at night?

Sandy made an interesting connection this morning. I have been watching DVDs of various musical nature in the A.M. instead CNN. One video I have is a double DVD of Devo. She’s seen me watching the “live” DVD but when I was watching the compilation of their videos she observed that they for some unknown reason reminded her of the Lone Gunman from X-Files. This makes perfect sense if you understand nerd culture. Which of course I certainly do.

She hasn’t commented on “Stop Making Sense” yet.

Sunday, November 6, 2005: It's a Boy

Last night we had the biggest rain of the year. It came down like crazy and with in about half an hour the side streets were flooded including Redoubt Road. My shoes are still drying.

Sandy went out with Dexa and Pooh after seeing Pooky who by the way had a Boy. I opted for an evening in with my machines and began re-recording a song I did last year but never liked the final mousing of. I had intended to just add and subtract some tracks from the original recording but soon discovered that the song had many problems and starting over was the best solution.

I think the new guitar through the new delay followed with the new guitar through the new boxes with the Ebow worked out okay. I also set the speed up slightly as it wanted to be played at 116 not 114 bpm. Funny that.

I can hear thunder. I think another big rain is coming.

Saturday, November 5, 2005: IPods & Laptop Bags

Today's big event was going to Pantip for the first time in ages to look at the new IPods. I am leaning towards buying one now that they are smaller and have colour screens. I am undecided on whether I should get the 30 gb or the 60 gb though. I have no interest in the video or picture functions, only the music. Is 30 gigs enough for me? A very good question. One that requires further ponderation.

I did pick up a new laptop bag though. I keep buying increasingly more expensive ones. My last "nice" one had a major strap malfunction and I managed to catch Lappy before it was too late. This one looks more solid and is a little nicer. Hopefully it will last longer than the other one did.

Sandy's friend Pookey is having her and Jame's baby soon so tonight's events will be shaped by that.