Too many papers, too little time.
My plans to fill up my schedule have gotten a bit out of hand. I am now employed at three different places. Although, one job is twice a month, and one is once a week. The third will fill in most of the blank spots in my schedule during the day. The blank spots used to be nap time. Therefore, I'm friggin exhausted now.
The main problem is that I got hit with a few papers at one time, and due to my inability to concentrate on one thing for more than 120 seconds or so, I am pretty awful at writing papers. What this entails is me sitting in front of the computer many nights for many hours. This would be more bearable if I wasn't already tired from studying/working all day.
Wednesday, February 22, 2006
Saturday, February 11, 2006
1 Night in Sukothai
I flew to Sukothai yesterday afternoon for the wedding of my longtime friends Boom and Olaf. We went to her aunt's house first for the ceremony, which happened to be my first Thai wedding.
They kneel on a table and rest there arms on some pillows and everyone crawls by and everyone pours water over there hands and then ties a string around both of there right wrists. After this you drop an envelope of cash into another tray after you pass by them. There is a tray of food offerings next to them which happened to include the face of a pig. Obviously, I didn't dig that so much. Its eyes were open a little bit.
After everybody ties the strings and hands over some cash, some elder guy chanted and sang and stuff. And then I guess they were offically married. Lots of pictures. It was a long time to be sitting on my legs.
After that came whiskey and socializing. I sat at the Thai table and had to go through the usual language-monkey routine until they would talk to me like a normal person. Eventually, I won most of them over so it was decent enough.
Later we went to a resort for the dinner party. There was one really attractive girl so I made sure to sit at her table. This turned out to be a brilliant move on my part.
Someone made the mistake of pointing out that I am capable of karaoke in Thai (it might of been me) so I was forced to go on stage and 'perform'. It went fairly well I think, considering I was fairly drunk. It certainly won over the girl at the table. She had to go to Bangkok for 4 days for work and she asked me to go with her. I had to decline due to the fact that I'm poor and have too much homework at the moment. Ugh. So, unfortunately she had to run off to wake up super-early so she could drive to Bangkok. I think she will likely come to see me in Chiang Mai next month.
After the dinner jam, about 12 of the survivors, including the bride and groom went to some karaoke joint called Kitty World or something. It was inundated with Hello Kitty paraphernalia. I found myself doing most of the singing. At some point, some guy sat down with us and turned off the tv and played guitar for us. It was pretty fun.
They kneel on a table and rest there arms on some pillows and everyone crawls by and everyone pours water over there hands and then ties a string around both of there right wrists. After this you drop an envelope of cash into another tray after you pass by them. There is a tray of food offerings next to them which happened to include the face of a pig. Obviously, I didn't dig that so much. Its eyes were open a little bit.
After everybody ties the strings and hands over some cash, some elder guy chanted and sang and stuff. And then I guess they were offically married. Lots of pictures. It was a long time to be sitting on my legs.
After that came whiskey and socializing. I sat at the Thai table and had to go through the usual language-monkey routine until they would talk to me like a normal person. Eventually, I won most of them over so it was decent enough.
Later we went to a resort for the dinner party. There was one really attractive girl so I made sure to sit at her table. This turned out to be a brilliant move on my part.
Someone made the mistake of pointing out that I am capable of karaoke in Thai (it might of been me) so I was forced to go on stage and 'perform'. It went fairly well I think, considering I was fairly drunk. It certainly won over the girl at the table. She had to go to Bangkok for 4 days for work and she asked me to go with her. I had to decline due to the fact that I'm poor and have too much homework at the moment. Ugh. So, unfortunately she had to run off to wake up super-early so she could drive to Bangkok. I think she will likely come to see me in Chiang Mai next month.
After the dinner jam, about 12 of the survivors, including the bride and groom went to some karaoke joint called Kitty World or something. It was inundated with Hello Kitty paraphernalia. I found myself doing most of the singing. At some point, some guy sat down with us and turned off the tv and played guitar for us. It was pretty fun.
Monday, February 06, 2006
Insomnation
I was so exhausted earlier tonight and yet here I am slightly after midnight and I'm not even the slightest bit tired. This is my life.
I gave my first Thai lesson today to my current Korean teacher and her successor. While they both seem fairly capable in some regards, they are lazy/confused with tones (like most people beginning to learn a tonal language) and less problematic, but equally troublesome (for the teacher) have yet to learn how to correctly pronounce the 32 vowel sounds. After studying Korean for 3 hours, its pretty tiring to teach Thai for an hour, but I can't refuse the lady who teaches me for free 3 hours/week.
I got word back that I managed to pass the Business English exemption exam. I got an A. Big surprise. I wish I didn't have to pay to take exams whose classes offer me no information that I don't already have. Or in this case, information that I spent nearly a year of my life teaching.
I miss piano. I really wish I could afford a keyboard, but until I score some work, I don't see myself being able to get one. I have a few job opps in the work at the moment. I have an interview next week and I'm waiting to hear back on some writing jobs. On top of that, there is a chance I will get a 3 days gig organizing a language camp in the south of Thailand. If I can score this job, I will be a happy guy. It would mean I could probably buy a nice keyboard and a new computer. In the meantime I won't get excited. I live a life of broken promises. But I can hope, can't I?
Pictures are a problem. As my writing abilities are somewhat limited, I wish I could better illustrate my life with actual pictures. Alas, I have no camera. My words must suffice for now.
I gave my first Thai lesson today to my current Korean teacher and her successor. While they both seem fairly capable in some regards, they are lazy/confused with tones (like most people beginning to learn a tonal language) and less problematic, but equally troublesome (for the teacher) have yet to learn how to correctly pronounce the 32 vowel sounds. After studying Korean for 3 hours, its pretty tiring to teach Thai for an hour, but I can't refuse the lady who teaches me for free 3 hours/week.
I got word back that I managed to pass the Business English exemption exam. I got an A. Big surprise. I wish I didn't have to pay to take exams whose classes offer me no information that I don't already have. Or in this case, information that I spent nearly a year of my life teaching.
I miss piano. I really wish I could afford a keyboard, but until I score some work, I don't see myself being able to get one. I have a few job opps in the work at the moment. I have an interview next week and I'm waiting to hear back on some writing jobs. On top of that, there is a chance I will get a 3 days gig organizing a language camp in the south of Thailand. If I can score this job, I will be a happy guy. It would mean I could probably buy a nice keyboard and a new computer. In the meantime I won't get excited. I live a life of broken promises. But I can hope, can't I?
Pictures are a problem. As my writing abilities are somewhat limited, I wish I could better illustrate my life with actual pictures. Alas, I have no camera. My words must suffice for now.
Thursday, February 02, 2006
Japanese for Busy People
I begin Japanese private lessons today at two schools, both of which I have previously studied at. 2-4 at YMCA followed by 4:30-6 at Kokusho. Following that marathon of JapanaMese, I gotta run to yoga class at 6:30. I will do one course with each and then choose whichever one I feel is better to continue with. I'd do both, but I'm kind of poor at the moment and private lessons cost a helluva lot more than courses. The biggest friggin problem with language study here is that you reach a certain level and you can't find upper intermediate or advanced classes anywhere. Sure, you may find classes that are advertised as advanced, but its really a load of bollocks. Sometimes I feel like I might kind of like to study Thai, just so I could get a grasp of newspaper vocabulary and score high on the 6th grade exam, but I'll get there eventually without really studying anyways. I suppose I'm not really in a hurry. Even if I was, what could I do?
Payap is going ok so far. I'm still worried about the workload for one class, but I should be able to manage it. We shall see. I have to give my first speech on Wed. No clue what my topic is. Perhaps Chiang Mai nightlife, or maybe Thai girls? Hrm.
Payap is going ok so far. I'm still worried about the workload for one class, but I should be able to manage it. We shall see. I have to give my first speech on Wed. No clue what my topic is. Perhaps Chiang Mai nightlife, or maybe Thai girls? Hrm.
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