Monday, April 30, 2007: Rain

Hot season is at it's end and now the rain begins. The pool is once again empty as the water is "too cold" for the locals. It was storming this morning so I didn't end up going out to Curahee. Instead I just went back to bed and did what is best on a rainy cool morning... Snuggled.

Saturday, April 28, 2007: To Pet's House

Sandy discovered we have a little crab in our fish tank. We suspect he came along with the last batch of plants she bought at the weekend market and was hiding inside one of the little clay pots that moor them to the bottom of the tank. This will make the task of cleaning the tank a bit more challenging as we won't want to crush the little guy.

I spent the morning trying to finish off 20070422 by adding a few more bits and pieces using the Novation XioSynth through the Electro Harmonix LPB2ube. I worked on that for a few hours until Pooh showed up at the Apartment. Sandy and I got ready and then we took a taxi over to Pet's house. It was actually sort of quiet today as Sandy, Pooh and I were the only visitors.

Sandy, Pooh, Pet and I walked with Pluk over to the 7-11. We stopped at the restaurant by the Khlong and ordered a big feed for dinner which we intended to pick it up on our way back. We walked on and Sandy and I spotted a HUGE monitor lizard sitting up in top of a bush, its head out and looking around. My camera is broken and Sandy had left hers behind so sadly I don't have a photo of it. It was really big. It was at least as big as Sandy. We watched it for a bit then it climbed back down into the bushes and was gone. Then we headed on to the 7-11.

We ran into our friend Joey and his two kids at the store. Once the shopping was done we got a ride back to the house with Joey in his car. Originally Sandy and Pet were going to walk back and get the food but Pluk was freaking out so much they joined us. Unfortunately this didn't stop him freaking out and in the end we figured out he wanted to walk back not drive. Sandy took him and Pluk back over to restaurant to pick up the food. Dinner was outstanding as usual. All for 350 baht.

I brought the XioSynth with me and spent much of the afternoon and evening reprogramming the presets. I have used most of the good presets at least once or twice and like any keyboard 70 percent of the presets are totally useless. I had already reprogrammed about 30 of the 200 patches. I began to figure out as I was going the presets that were there that a lot of the patches were pretty weak once the effects such as chorus, echo or distortion were stripped away. I hope to completely reprogram or replace all 200 patches by the end of the month.

Sandy, Pooh and I watched Pluk for a bit. Sandy bought him a DVD of this Japanese TV show that is a big hit with the youngsters. It's called Dog and Monkey or something like that. It is live action and features a really ugly dog and a chimp that goes about in and does exciting things like try to get on an elevator or ride on a ferry. It's bizarre actually. Pluk likes to act out the what ever the monkey does and this usually means running around madly in circles until he's too dizzy to stand.

We stayed until about 10:00 pm then caught a taxi back into the city proper.

Thursday, April 26, 2007: Party at the Palace

Sandy's sister Lat got out of the Hospital today and is now at home and recovering.

Late this afternoon we got hit with the biggest storm so far this year. It rained really hard, and there was lots of lightening and thunder. The storm lasted several hours we could see from the apartment that traffic was snarled in every direction.

I worked on 20070422 this evening. I relistened to it and decided it was time to bring the Sigma to the rescue. I had to battle with tuning of course as the Sigma seems to wander like an senial old codger in his slippers as it heats up. But the results are much better than I'd expected, and tonight I felt more forgiving of the piece in general. I will post it up here eventually.

I went for a swim much to Sandy's displeasure. I did discover some piece of somebody's tin roof had blown up onto the deck of the pool when the storm first began with its high winds. I think if the chunk of roof had hit someone they would have been killed or badly hurt.

Sandy and I watched the 2002 Concert for Queen Elizabeth that she picked up on DVD for 100 baht. It was well worth the price. I don't know what sort of mucic the Monarch of England would like. I know the King here is a huge Jazz fan but is also an accomplished musician so it makes sense. This concert was sort of bizarre. It seems to feature a lot of circa 2000-2002 'pop acts' who I had never heard of and I would suspect that no one in 2007 has heard of either. Queen or whats left of them also played and it was good to hear Brian May do his thing.

The other Queen of England, Sir Elton John, played indoors at the palace on a grand piano and I guess that was beamed out to the jumbotrons in the area for everyone to enjoy. Sandy was displeased that he'd stay inside and suspected that he was afraid his hair would blow off. I had to point out that his hair was transplated from his bum or somewhere so it wasn't going to blow away. Poor old Elton John. I can not for the life of me think of the Pinball Wizard or the guy who wrote the songs on "The Tumbleweed Collection" when I see him now.

Ozzie played which was sort of silly. He did some Black Sabbath classic, the name of which I forget and always sounded to me a riff some drunk guys thought up and then jammed on for six minutes as Ozzie sang out of tune over top of while making up the words as he went. If you have ever played in a few bands you will know EXACTLY what I am talking about.

Eric Clapton also played but I have never been able to figure out what the appeal of his guitar playing is. His sound to me is the sound of everyone who ever played in a wedding band. I just don't get him. Brian May has that "sound", but to me Clapton just sounds like some guy on a strat. I know that is blasphemy amongst the boomer generation. I will say that at least Clapton plays guitar well, and that is more than anyone might say about all the prefabricated singing dancing crap of the world that came stumbling on the stage, pitch correctors in tow.

The absolute highlight of the concert for me was seeing Joe Cocker sing "A Little Help From My Friends" with Brian May on guitar and Steve Windwood playing a real honest to goodness PHYSICAL Hammond B3 organ with Phil Collins on drums (where was Ringo when this show happened?).

There was the big end where everyone came out and joined in with Sir Paul McCartney but after seeing Joe Cocker blow everyone else off the stage vocally it was sort of an anticlimax. It was interesting to watch though.

Sandy has been sitting through some of my concert DVDs as I watch them. I know that some of the stuff on King Crimson's "Eyes Wide Open" bugs her but she seems to be able to handle "Yes". She actually asked me the other day as we watched Rick Wakeman soloing like a maniac on an old Model D Mini Moog,

"Can you play like that?"

Uh no. Nope. Few people can.

Wednesday, April 25, 2007: Still Hot

It is HOT. Today it reached 43 C. I did curahee in the morning and went for a Dubliner breakfast afterwards. Mmm Mm. Outstanding.

Sandy spent the day at the Hospital again with her Sister, Lat.

Tonight there was a huge thunderstorm which broke the heat quite nicely. I got a swim in afterwards. Sandy was home when I came back up to the Apartment. We ate then watched a DVD.

Monday, April 23, 2007: Lat in Hospital

Sandy's Sister Lat had to go to the hospital today for an operation so she headed out at the same time as me in the early early. It was brutally hot today. But it is hot season so its not a surprise really. I always forget how hot it gets though since its usually always hot anyways.

Tonight I attempted to take 20070422 further down the path using only the GR-30. Unfortunately I realized there are three things preventing any success in this regard.

1) The GR-30's sounds
2) My lack of guitar skill
3) The song itself sort of sucks

Now it is possible that my lack of dinner and need for a swim was contributing to my frustration with the piece. Or it might be that I couldn't get the GR-30 to lock on to the Zoom MRS8's MIDI clock. Or it might be that I kept getting interupted by the phone. In any event I gave up at around 9:00 pm, fed the fish and went for a swim. I felt much better afterwards and had a bite to eat.

Sandy got home at around 11:00 pm with her other Sister who's staying the night as they must go back to the hospital.

Saturday, April 21, 2007: Pet's Birthday

Sandy left her keys up in Korat Rock City so I had to wait up for her last night. She came in at 1:30 am which is about three hours past my bed time. Thus today I slept in until 10 am which is largely unheard of.

Sandy was rather hung over today. I went over to MBK this afternoon but when I got there is was all locked down. They wouldn't say why but we later found out there had been a fire on the 7th floor. I went back to the New Apartment and then Sandy and I went over to Pet's for his birthday party. All the Sisters except for Julian were there as was Sandy's Mom. Mikey was there so we hung out and talked. He brought us some good tea bags from the UK so I thanked him for that.

There was a big feed and Mikey and I ate most of the breaded prawns. Afterwards there was a table set up outside and we hung out there in the breeze and waited for the cake. It was a good evening. I told Sandy that seeing her party with her Sisters made me feel sorry for her parents when they were growing up. The translation of that got a good laugh. I also introduced the "birthday spanking" tradition. Sandy had the honours of giving them to him.

Sandy, Pooh and I took a taxi back into the city proper at around 9:30 pm. I am too beat to swim.

Friday, April 20, 2007: Sandy's Back

Sandy got back last night safe and sound. She brought back some good corn and some nice taro pies that are so good I doubt they'll last more than a few days. If that. Tonight she's out with her Sisters and a friend who's visiting from New Zeland so it's me and the machines, together again.

I have added new bits to 20070403. I did some additional XioSynth parts yesterday and tonight I recorded some drum tracks using the AN200 and the Sherman Filterbank.

Thursday, April 19, 2007: Alone

I spent the evening last night trying to repair or at least complete 20070403 by adding a few more XioSynth tracks. It is possible that the answer to this piece is LESS tracks not more though. I spent much of Song Kran programming sounds to replace the preset sounds in the XioSynth so this was a chance to see if the ones I came up with worked and to tweak any that had volume or other problems.

I did record four new tracks and I will try and add those to the soup tonight. Hopefully I can sort through it all and make some sense of it. I don't think I'll add any drums until I sort out what I currently have. Or maybe I'll skip them completely as I did on Happy Ghost. Again the Electro Harmonix LPB2ube was used to beef up the XioSynth. I just adds something in the way of grit/warmth that makes it sound so much more analog.

After recording I swam for 40 minutes which is something I've been slack with over the last two weeks. When I'd finished my swim I made some dinner and watched "Tenacious D: The Pick of Destiny" yet again. I got to sleep around midnight.

I got up this morning at 6:30 am after a night of kooky dreams. It was nice and sunny until around 8:00 am when these big dark clouds blew in.
Sandy should be back tonight

Wednesday, April 18, 2007: Sandy Goes to Korat

Sandy has gone up to Korat to be with her Mom and Dad for a few days. I am on my own with the fish and my machines. She will be back around the 20th I think.

New beheading in Thai south

NARATHIWAT - Suspected Islamic rebels shot dead two men in Thailand's restive Muslim-majority south, including a Buddhist they beheaded, police said Wednesday.

More than 2,000 people have been killed in the violence-torn provinces of Yala, Narathiwat and Pattani since the separatist insurgency broke out in January 2004.

January 2004? Seems to me that I remember bombs going off in the south back in 2001. And why the use of the word "Suspected". Do they suspect that the bombs went off but they aren't sure?

Again this is nothing short of ethnic cleansing.

Monday, April 16, 2007: Restive AKA Ethnic Cleansing

Buddhist killed in Thai Muslim south

AN elderly Buddhist man was shot dead and his body set on fire in Thailand's troubled southern province of Narathiwat, police said today.
Thongmee Mainman, 70, was attacked as he drove his motorbike home from a market in Narathiwat, one of three Muslim-majority southern provinces beset by a three-year separatist insurgency in which more than 2000 people have been killed, they said.

Last week, a 26-year-old Buddhist woman was shot and burned alive in neighbouring Yala province, prompting angry protests in the only Muslim-majority region in overwhelmingly Buddhist Thailand.

This attack comes in the wake of the murder of School Teacher last week who was shot then set on fire while she was still alive.

Body paraded in Thai fury

About 200 people paraded the charred remains of a Buddhist woman through Yala town Wednesday to challenge Thailand's military strongman and protest the unending violence in the country's Muslim- majority south.

The 26-year-old woman was shot earlier in the day and her body then burned beyond recognition in an attack blamed on Islamic militants who have fought the government for three years in the southern region adjoining the Malaysian border.

"Eight Buddhists have been killed and burned like this on the same road," a relative of one victim said. "All the victims were from our village."

Sunday, April 15, 2007: Song Kran Day 3

Sandy & Pluk

This afternoon Sandy and I went over to Pet's house. We sort of just chilled for an hour or so then Pet wanted to squirt people so the family set up a big clay pot used to catch rain in front of their gate, put a hose in it and we proceeded to soak all passers by. There was another group of people across the street and further down doing the same but they were too far away to soak.

Pet & his Dad throwing water

Pluk hangs on to me. His Dad soaking a passing biker in the background

Pluk is still too young to really understand the whole procedure of throwing water on people but he was content to mess about with the hose, or pore water on his feet or watch the whole thing unfold. It was a very different day than the last two with Bonhomme as it wasn't in as concentrated area and most of the people we soaked were going by in vehicals.

Victory!

As dangerous as it sounds throwing water on people riding motorcycles or scooters seems to be fair game by Thai standards. There were also families and groups of people riding around in the backs of pick up trucks who'd drive along and try and soak us we did the same to them. It was all very good fun and we were at it until the sun was going down.

Sandy and Pet went off and bought some food from the Restaurant beside the canal then brought it back. We had a big feed of rice, fish, shrimp, spicey pork salad and other Thai treats. Afterwards Sandy, her sister Dang and Dang's husband started making drinks.

Fish for dinner - it tastes as good as it looks frightening

Sandy and I headed back to the new apartment at around 8:30 pm. We had to wait a long time to get a taxi, but the ride back too no time at all as there was no traffic on the streets. The taxi ride back usually costs about 200 baht but tonight it only cost 100 baht.

Saturday, April 14, 2007: Song Kran Day 2

I hadn't planned on going out again today but at around 3:30 pm I headed off and joined Bonhomme and Associates for more water fighting. We stayed in the same area as yesterday however today there were no grumpy old Frenchmen to annoy.

Some very creepy Eurotrash men did try and pick up Bonhomme's wife's teenage cousins, which was disturbing to witness. They had a unbathedness about them that being doused in water only seemed to make worse. One fellow had a stringy blond mullet that sort of reminded me of the weird old Russian guy that Tim Robins plays in the movie "Tenacious D: The Pick of Destiny". NO amount of water would seem to make these idiots leave. They eventually did give up and move on.

Protecting one's telecom investment

Friday, April 13, 2007: Song Kran

Today was the first day of Song Kran. Sandy went to Pet’s and I went water fighting with Bonhomme and associates. It was the standard Song Kran afternoon of water guns, paste smearing and endless purchasing of large bags of ice.

The highlight of the day for me was being accosted by some miserable old French guy who was very upset not just that he was getting squirted with water, but that the water in my water gun was ice cold. This is not a usual thing for people to do, as after people was soaking wet the only way to make your point is with ice water. Anyways this old crab came up to me after I’d hosed him and his mustachioed friend down and began shouting at me.

“Its okay to play with the water, but to use the ice water is not funny…”

No, it’s not funny. IT HULARIOUS!!

So I squirted him more and he stormed off.

Why is it that every time I see some Farang upset about Song Kran it’s a Frenchman?

Monday, April 9, 2007: Still Sick

I did work on something called 20070403 for a bit yesterday. It wasn't the most focused attempt at finishing a piece. I had started it using the MicroKorg and yesterday added some tracks with the XioSynth. I am not fully satisfied with the results. I moved everything over to Acid Pro and was unsuccessful at the first attempt of trying to sort out the tracks, which there are far too many of. Mixing or mousing this one will be tricky. I could possibly spilt it into two different songs actually, there is so much going on.

No gym today. Maybe a swim though.

Friday, April 6, 2007: Sick

Oh man. Yesterday Sandy served up some BIG prawns that she'd got in China Town. I sort ate one half heartedly as they still had the heads on them and they were the size of a small pet. This being said... For what ever reason at about midnight I began the most violent bout of vomiting in my whole life. And the visit from Girgles the Vomit Clown was only half the story. Billy Blastoff also stopped by. So it was a difficult situation to coordinate.

The sicklies went on through out the night meaning today there was no running, no gym, and no getting up at 6:30 am. As I feel much better now I am certain it was a food related thing and the only suspect item was the jumbo prawns.

Now its toast and tea.

Thursday, April 5, 2007: HOT SEASON

Yes, it is hot. That's because it’s HOT SEASON. Which amazingly is the time of year that is hotter than the other seasons? Such as cool season (which was very cool this year) and rainy season and of course everyone's favorite, monsoon season

This hot is what I consider as "1970s hot". I'm talking about HOT, like Barney Miller in 1975, the time the air-con at the 12th Precinct was broken hot. HOT like it was back then. When everyone drove around in giant seatbelt-less cars made of raw unprocessed steel and lead with no air conditioning. Back when rolling the windows down only made it worse. That kind of hot.

The big problem with hot season for me is suddenly everyone wants to swim, and apparently at the same time. So getting a proper swim in has been difficult as of late. I used to be able to go down at around 5 pm and get in a nice 40 minutes but then summer holidays kicked in and suddenly the pool was over-run with tiny human wave generators. Then the hot weather came and in order to get a nice solitary swim I have to go down at 9:30 pm, which is my bed time!!

Anyways. It's hot.

By the way, before you buy into this notion that China has "higher emissions standards than the US" I suggest you go to China. If such standards exist... which they don't, they are certainly not enforced. Let’s just say that China's real record on pollution is almost as good as its record on mine safety.