Shouzer

I’m really digging my new apartment. Sure, I don’t have furniture yet, so it consists of nothing more than a mattress on my living room floor. It’s got so much upside potential though (that one was for you, Hark). It’s a little Diaper Dandy, as Dick Vitale might say.

My one complaint so far has been the street that it faces. It’s actually a rather busy street, and it gets pretty loud during the day. It won’t be much of a problem once I get my surround sound and big TV. Obviously I’ll just drown that shit out. That’s how I roll. Even now, it’s not an issue at all if I close my windows. Since nobody in Washington (apartments and most houses alike) have air conditioning, though… Well, that hasn’t quite been an option.

I’ll have to post some pictures, but I might wait until I actually have something to show for the place.

I got a letter today from my grandparents, one from my grandma and one from my grandpa. According to my grandpa’s letter, it was the first time he has written anything since he retired in 1990. I had never thought about it before, but it was the first time I had ever seen his handwriting. It was kind of cool to be the recipient of a letter from someone who hasn’t seen a need to write in 17 years.

In other news, I’m watching the Seinfeld now where Kramer has the idea to start a pizza place where you can cook your own ‘pizza pie’. Jerry claims that there is no one in an walk of life, under any circumstances, would want to cook their own pizza. Well, I disagree. I would love to cook my own pizza right now. I don’t have a kitchen here in Thailand, and I miss cooking a lot. It used to be very relaxing for me, and I really enjoy creating delicious meals. If I found a restaurant in Thailand that let you cook your own food, I’d be all over that action. There are cooking courses, but I’m get so much Thai cuisine that it’s not really worth learning to cook it at this point. Maybe I’ll take one in the last month I’m here so I can bring the goodness home.

My final tidbit is the slightly interesting fact that it is 29 C (84 F) in my apartment right now, and I’m getting cold. I guess I’ve grown somewhat accustomed to the heat here. I’m going to turn the A/C off now.

As I mentioned, I finished the final Harry Potter book this weekend. I rather enjoyed it–both the last book, and the series as a whole. The more I’ve thought about it, though, the more I’ve begun to dislike various elements of the final book.

[WARNING:] Spoilers Below!

It turns out that most of my issues are with the ending. I thought the battle between Harry and Voldemort was fine, and I have no issues there. One issue I do have, however, is that Mrs. Weasley defeated Bellatrix Lestrange. I don’t get that at all. I don’t see how she would, in any way shape or form, be experienced or skilled enough to defeat her. To me, that job belonged to either Neville or his grandmother. That’s still not my biggest problem, though.

I didn’t like the randomness with which some characters died. Hedwig, Lupin, Tonks. Their deaths were meaningless. At least Moody, Dobby, and some of the others seemed to serve a purpose or drive the story a bit. Granted, it’s war and there will be casualties. I understand that. Oftentimes those deaths will be meaningless. But the world of Harry Potter is a fantasy world… It’s not real. On top of that, it’s a children’s story. I just think of that as requiring more reason to kill a character. 30 pages after Hedwig was killed, her named wasn’t mentioned again. How quickly Harry seemed to forget about her… And yet, that’s still not my biggest issue.

What upsets me, apparently sentimental guy that I am, is Harry’s (and, to the same extent, Ginny’s) reaction after he’s victorious. I certainly understand the desire to see Ron and Hermione. But at the same time, it’s clear that he and Ginny are supposed to have rather strong feelings for each other. That’s further evidenced by the epilogue, which I’ll get to in a minute. So, it would really seem only natural that they sought each other out almost instantly. No, though, quite the opposite. Harry almost ignores her. In fact, not at one single point in the book did they seem to really want to embrace each other. Sure they kissed, but it felt too manufactured. At one point or another, it seemed to me that they should have had an “explosion” of excitement at the sight of the other.

As for the epilogue, I thought it was utterly weak. In my opinion, the only reason you write an epilogue is because you know the fans would want it. Otherwise, why bother? With that in mind, put some heart into it.

Honestly, I doubt many fans at all (myself included) really want the series to end. After seven books and ten years, it’s a strong commitment. I’m rather invested in the characters. I actually care about them. So give me something worthwhile. As far as I’m concerned, there should have been another couple chapters rounding the series out. I want to know what became of everybody. I want to know who Draco married. I want to know who became Hogwarts’ headmaster. I want to know who raised Ted Lupin (most likely his grandmother, I suppose). I want to know the immediate happenings after Harry defeated Voldemort. I want to know all these things.

To compare, in book six they had a funeral. It made sense. Dumbledore was such an important character, the book would have been incomplete without it. Just the same, these characters are too important to just end. Most importantly, for me at least, I would have liked some more info on Harry and Ginny. Their relationship, or at least its beginnings in book six, was probably my favorite part of the series. Something about it just seemed right to me, but I was hugely disappointment with how it ended in book six. And, to continue that, I was very disappointed with the major backseat it took in the final book. Then, I was left with a 19 year gap in that storyline. I couldn’t have been more let down with that.

The one thing I really like about the end, though, was what Harry said to his son Albus about Snape. For one reason or another it just stuck with me.

It’s been a while since I’ve posted. Once work started, I haven’t had a ton of free time, and what time I have had has admittedly been spend on tv. This weekend, on the other hand, has been spent on Harry Potter, which I finished earlier today. I’ll get to that sometime later, though.

So yeah, I started work last week. The first two days, I was in orientation with about 150 other people who were also starting. They definitely had a lot to tell us, and hopefully I remembered most of the important things, haha. The next few days were spent setting up my computer, talking to my manager quite a bit, and things like that. I only got around to doing any real work toward the end of Friday, and even then the stuff I was doing was more or less insignificant.

This next week I’ll be spending in a class, actually, so I won’t be doing a whole lot then either, haha. I’m sure it’s only a matter of time before I get to that point, but it’s still somewhat frustrating. Such is life, I imagine.

We have Monday July 30 off from work because of a national holiday (Buddhist Lent Day), and, as you would expect, I’m taking the opportunity to travel. I’ll be heading off to magnificent Cambodia to see the world renowned Angkor Wat and hopefully a few other things which I’m not sure about yet. I’m going to book the trip tomorrow so I’ll find out then.

I was supposed to work on Tuesday, although all of the area schools are closed. For some reason the administration wants us to come into the office. I’m not sure what everyone will be doing. I, however, will still be in Cambodia doing a “visa run.” Our visas must be renewed every three months which means you must exit and reenter the country. The office pays for the trip out of country and gives you a day off to do it. I pushed my run up a few weeks early so that I can have this 4 day weekend. They are even going to pay for part of my trip since they pay for people to do their visa runs. I’m pretty excited.

Nakhon Pathom

The plan for today was to head out to Nakhon Pathom to see the world’s tallest Buddhist monument and also a 40m tall standing Buddha in a park there. I was pretty excited because my friend and his wife were going to come along, and his wife is Thai. Since I didn’t even know how to get to the bus station, I figured this would be a huge help. At 7 this morning, I got a call informing me that they would be skipping the trip because she was sick. No worries though, I still had one travel buddy and my usual thirst for adventure. How hard could it be, right?

Well, getting to the bus station proved to be fairly easy. It was on the far end of town, so I took a canal boat as far as possible, and then picked up a taxi for the remainder of the trip. I had to use the phrase book, but even the taxi ride went off fairly smoothly. Then, there was a lady waiting for us at the bus station who literally opened the door of our taxi and asked us where we wanted to go. She directed us to the right bus, and we were on our way. The bus dropped us off right in the middle of town and the enormous chedi that we had come to see was right there in front of us. Things were going well.

Unfortunately, that’s where it all went wrong. I wanted to go check out this park that was in the guide book that had a 40m tall standing Buddha, but it didn’t really clue us in on how to get there. I was under the impression that this thing was on the corner of town, and the town wasn’t that big so we inquired with a tuk-tuk driver. He wanted 1300 baht for the journey, which is enough for an all expenses paid weekend on a tropical island. That wasn’t happening. Next, we asked a motorcycle taxi, and he directed us to a bus which was shocking to me. Turns out though, we were on the bus for an hour before we were told to get off. Not exactly on the edge of town, and not exactly the right place either.

I called my friend with the Thai wife, and she explained that Nakhon Pathom was the province and the town we were first in. The town we were in now was also in that province, and that the Buddha image we sought was probably there. We were both about to give up for the day before I made this call, but we decided to have a quick look around for the town’s temple where the Buddha was sure to be. Just as we were about to give up, I saw the roof of a temple at a distance. It looked as though it was a long way away, but we started towards it anyway.

I can’t really accurately describe this walk. Let’s just say it was not short though, and it was not in a straight line. We took many a wrong turn, but we pressed on. I felt a bit like Captain Ahab hunting Moby Dick. I could see this temple, but the roads to get there were hardly logically placed. At one point, we dead-ended in a school. Once we finally got to this temple, it was closed up and practically abandoned. I felt like $1,000,000. I felt pretty bad dragging my friend along on that trek as well. I’m a bit obsessive compulsive when it comes to tourism.

We were looking for a place called Phra Phuttamon. I assumed that when people kept responding to the world Phuttamon, they were recognizing the name of the park. Turns out, it was a city. Phra is the word for Buddha image, which I didn’t know when I was trying to get there, so it makes sense that Phra Phuttamon would be in a temple in Phuttamon. The guide book told us to take the bus towards Phuttamon, but I think now that we were supposed to get off sometime earlier than we did. It says, “All Bangkok-Nakhon Pathom buses pass the access road to the park; from there you can walk, hitch or flag a sawngthaew (I have no idea what this is) into the park itself. From Nakhon Pathom you can also take a white-and-purple Salaya bus; the stop is one Th Tesa across from the post office.” We interpreted that to mean that the stop to get the bus in Nakhon Pathom was across from the post office. I’m thinking now that we were supposed to get off at a stop across from a post office. Either way, I’ve passed by the access road to this park four times now, and I have no idea where it is.

I happened to catch Michael Moore on The Daily Show the other day.  It was ok, I guess.  I don’t really care for Michael Moore as an interviewee.  Mind you, I happen to thoroughly enjoy his movies.  Crazy fuckin’ communist or not (as Team America seems to make him out to be), I think he makes some good sense.  Bush == Bad.  Hurray, I agree!  I guess it doesn’t take much…

That being said, I don’t think he makes for a great interview.  He tries to be funny, and he’s really not.  That alone ruins it.  Despite this, his new movie SiCKO should be something most Americans can rally behind.  I find it hard to believe there’s a lot of people out there (particularly those in the middle class) who think the healthcare system in the US is as good as it should be.

So I have to admit I was surprised to hear from Moore that he was bumped from Larry King for Paris Hilton.  Paris fucking Hilton.  That’s just sad.  Probably more than healthcare, that’s the thing wrong with America.  She shouldn’t be news.  Ever.  EVER.  Apparently the interview brought in the highest ratings Larry King has ever gotten, so I guess I can’t blame him, though he’s basically feeding the monster.

Whatever.

I’m up here in the good ‘ol northwest, now. Blue skies are all I see, so I don’t want to hear anything about how much it rains. For the next seven days, there’s no forecast of rain. So take that, rest of the country!

I don’t know where I’ll be living permanently yet (hopefully I’ll get that taken care of relatively quickly), so for now I’m just living in temporary corporate housing. I’ve got to say that it’s pretty nice, but just in case you didn’t believe me (what’s the matter, you don’t trust me?), I’ve taken the liberty of posting some pics. So sit back and relax, as I walk you through my apartment.

Right after you walk through the door, this is what you’ll see:

A couple steps forward and a left turn earns you:

Across the way is the kitchen, which actually seems pretty nice:

Continuing on, we reach the living room, complete with fireplace. I could do without the fireplace and with the extra space, honestly.

Across from that is the dining room. Apparently I was having a seizure when I took this picture. I must be too much of a man to even notice it.

Finally, we see where all the magic happens. Or, that’s what Cribs tells me anyway.

One thing I really like about the apartment is the nice closets:

And one final shot from the opposite side of the bedroom, showing the second bathroom and closet doors.

I wrote this a little while ago, but apparently never posted it. I don’t remember why, but here it is:

I’ll be moving in about a week now, and it’s strange to think about it.  I’ve lived in the same general area for about twelve years now.  Even more than that, though, I’d been doing the same thing for about seventeen years.  School, summer, school, summer, school, summer.  Bleh.  Just thinking of it leaves a bitter taste in my mouth.

And yet, it was a cycle that, while I wasn’t particularly happy with it, was easy and familiar.  I mean, certainly there’s a taste worse than bitter, right?  I don’t know; I’m lazy–sometimes easy and familiar is all I want.  In fact, I won’t lie…  Most of the time easy and familiar is what I want.  You silly overachievers and your “adventures” and “new things”.  You think you’re better than me?  You wanna go?

Anyway, that’ll all be changing in about two weeks.  Before then, however, I’ve got to pack up and load all my shit on a truck.  It’s a pain in the ass.  Of course, by “I’ve got to” I mean “Microsoft has hired people to”…  It’s probably a distinction worth noting.  I won’t actually be doing any lifting or anything.  Oh, no no no.  Hahaha.  I laugh at the thought.  See?  Ha!  Laughter.

Kanchanaburi Trip

The time is 5:30am on a Saturday, and I’ve just walked 20 minutes up the road to meet my friend to head out on our grand Kanchanaburi adventure. We flag down a taxi, as the ferry isn’t even running yet, and hand the driver a slip of paper with the address we need in Thai. Unfortunately for us, he can’t see it because it’s still dark, and the dome light isn’t providing enough light. He jumps out of the cab to use the headlight to read the address. Unbelievable, this is the man who will be driving us across town this morning, and he’s blindish. He’s also got a cool Michael Jackson glove thing going on. No sparkles, but a solitary white glove adorns his driving hand. I don’t exaggerate when I say that this is the craziest taxi driver since I’ve been here, and the car died on the way. I’m glad I don’t believe in omens.

And I’m right to do so, because this trip was an absolute blast. We started out at the floating markets, which were pretty cool to be honest. I didn’t buy anything, but then again, I hate shopping. Most of the vendors had the same “original” statues and for some reason, photo albums. Don’t ask, because I don’t know why.

At the end of the floating market, we saw a little demonstration of how sugar is refined from coconuts here. The basically boil sap from the tree to get a solid, sugary substance. We got to sample a bit, and it tasted pretty good. They also gave us raw coconut milk on ice, which was also quite nice.

After this, we headed to a place where they did these amazing wood carvings, and of course, they had a huge gift shop. I don’t remember this being on the itinerary.

Next, we headed down this insanely bumpy road to the middle of nowhere to see a waterfall. It was honestly a bit of a letdown, but it was really nice to get out in the wilderness again for a while. Although, I was really wishing I had taken my malaria prophylactic at this point. I know it wasn’t on the itinerary because I would have been on it if it was. I think my risk is still pretty low though.

Next, they take us to an orchid farm. Basically, we were just dumped here while they took the two Korean girls on our tour to some hot spring. It cost extra, and we didn’t feel the need to pay. I’m starting to wonder when we’re going to see the stuff we paid to see, but I’m still pretty happy because everything has been pretty cool. It was quite an adventure sitting in this van, waiting to see what random site we were going to arrive at next.

We actually drove to Kanchanaburi next, but first we stopped outside the city to see a cave temple. It was pretty cool to walk through this cave and see all of these Buddha images.

We stopped off at a cemetery for Allied soldiers killed on the Death Railway before heading to the hotel.

The hotel was a bamboo hut that was literally floating on the river. It was probably the coolest place I have ever stayed. They gave us dinner at the hotel as well, and it was one of the best meals I’ve had since I got here. It was a massive portion of green curry that was just delicious, an omelet, and fresh pineapple for dessert. After dinner, we met up with some friends who had also come to Kanchanburi for the weekend. I haven’t seen so many white people in one room since I left! Their hostel was absolutely packed with them. I got reverse culture shock because it was really weird that nobody was staring at me, but I digress. They were going to a floating disco. We opted not to go because it wasn’t getting back until 1am, and we had to get up early for more site seeing the next day. It sounded like a lot of fun though. How often do you go to a disco that floats down the river? Actually, I’ve never been to a regular disco.

The next morning, we floated down the river on a bamboo raft to a Chinese/Vietnamese style temple. Not really a highlight.

We walked up to a museum about the death railway which was very interesting. Hundreds of thousands of POWs died here building a railway from Thailand to Burma. The conditions were appalling for them as they were malnourished and over-worked. Most of the men who died here were Malays and Burmese although there were some POWs from western countries as well.

We took a train along the death railway over the Bridge over the River Kwai. I felt really guilty because I was having trouble staying awake. It seemed like it should have been a very chilling, gut wrenching experience, but it just wasn’t. I kept reminding myself of the atrocities that had been committed there, but there just wasn’t any visible proof. Nothing looked out of the ordinary, except the ladies walking down the isles of the train selling hats and t-shirts and the tourists taking pictures of the bridge as we went by. Other than that, it was a pretty normal train ride.

After the train ride, we went elephant trekking, which basically consisted of a walk around this little elephant camp. That part wasn’t so great, but the elephant bathing was the highlight of the trip. We got on an elephant bareback, and they took it down to the river. The elephant got in the water, and the guide told it to submerge in various different rolls and dips. It was really hard to stay on, especially for me as I was on the back of the elephant, and there was nothing and nobody to hold onto. My friend was in front of me, but she is quite scrawny. I ended up falling off once. It was so much fun though. It was like a ride at a theme park, except there were no safety belts. It was so cool to feel the elephant moving beneath me. His (her?) spine moved around so much.

Yesterday I went to Khao San Road, home of the backpacker in Thailand. The Lonely Planet describes it as a decompression zone for westerners. I like that. It was mostly a bunch of westernized restaurants, bars, tour dealers, etc. They have a good deal of shopping and food on the street as well. The main story from the trip though, was the people I met along the way.

We took the canal boat there, which was probably my favorite way to travel so far. It was really cheap, and there was no traffic. The boat was quite packed, but so is every other formal of public transport here. Anyway, on to the story.

We got to the pier and sat down to wait for the boat. I hear two little voices behind me shouting, “Farang! Farang! Farang!” (foreigner, westerner). I turn around to see these two little kids in a 50 gallon barrel filled with water. They’re just chilling out in there trying to stay cool. My friend whipped out her camera to take some pictures, and they lit up. She was supposed to have emailed me the pics, but she didn’t. At the time, she said the light wasn’t very good, so maybe they didn’t turn out.

Update: I got the pictures! This is now the longest post ever.

We arrived at Khao San Road:

After hanging out for a while, we were sitting in Burger King, and I saw this guy out the window:

My friend, once again, took some pictures. These she obviously emailed to me. The guy noticed her and was absolutely loving the attention. Here, you can see him pointing to us in the window. She talked to him later, and apparently got his email address. Here’s a better pic of his amazing hair:

Later on, we were rolling down the road, and we saw this little kid with a sweet mohawk in a shop. My friends went in to see him and take some pictures, but I stayed outside to talk on the phone. I’m told that while they were in there photographing him, he pulled out his glorious manhood for the ladies to savor. Although, they tell me it was quite small. I didn’t have the good fortune of seeing it.

Just a quick link to this story.  Megan and I stumbled upon it the other day, and I hadn’t posted it yet.  “Good boy” would be an understatement, I’d say.  The thing that’s funny to me is that not only did the dog dial 911, but he knew that he needed to dial.  Hell, he probably reacted better than most people would have.