Mae Sa Waterfall - Songkrahn 2006
Sunday, April 30, 2006
Saturday, April 29, 2006
Fallen Sidekick - OR - Noodles of Doom?
This is my Eulogy speech given for my not-really-fallen-sidekick Jenny. Comments/criticisms are most welcome. I have to deliver this on Monday.
Born to Laurie and Gordon (Moose) Fleury, Jenny was a short girl who lived a short, yet full life. She was born and raised in Cottage Grove, Wisconsin – a small town just outside of Madison. The actual instance of Jenny’s birth was a bit odd – Born one week late she was just 5.5 lbs or 2.5 kgs. On top of that – she came out butt first! While many of us plunged forth headfirst into this life, Jenny somehow got all tangled up right from the start and came out backwards – She never was good with directions.
As an unusually little girl, Jenny was very active, but unsatisfied with her size. She realized early on that she was much smaller than usual and she would pray each night before going to bed – she would pray for something she could never have – tallness. While she never achieved this childhood dream – she was never deterred and lived a full life – She was a cheerleader, a gymnast, and much more. And what she may have lacked in height, she made up for in climbing ability and sense of humor. 147cm of giggly tree-climbing energy.
I don’t think she would be surprised to see so many people gathered here to mourn her. She was an outgoing, energetic girl. She was a giving, helpful person and she didn’t like to be alone for any length of time. I’m pleased to say she certainly isn’t alone today.
Jenny managed to survive a few near-death experiences in the way she was constantly defying certain laws, such as gravity and common sense – When she was 4, Jenny was watching a children’s show on the Nickolodeon channel with her mother and somehow from this they got the idea that it would be lots of fun to swim in a baby pool full of pasta! So Laurie spent all day boiling up macaroni – Pot after pot was dumped into the tiny pool. And as it had been sitting all day – her mother assumed the noodles were cooled down enough so Jenny ran and jumped into the pool – Her screams were quick and quite horrific I’m sure – The noodles at the bottom had retained their heat as those of you familiar with cooking pasta may already be aware. Jenny was scalded by the still near-boiling temperature noodles towards the bottom of the pool – She suffered burns over most of her body.
Her next run into with heat was much less painful physically, but it was still a significant moment in her life. When she was 11, her house burned down and her parents finalized their divorce. Certainly a time of turmoil – it nevertheless shaped her into a person who could appreciate the hardships of this often cruel world we live in – A world full of hidden dangers; like pasta!
Jenny was often stealthy in her good deeds. She didn’t advertise the way she would help everyone out in subtle ways. I suspect most of us here today have at one point been on the receiving end of her kindness. Myself especially! I’m not sure how I would have gotten to school this semester if Jenny hadn’t picked me up everyday. Then again, had I found another way, I could have been on time more often! Whether she was giving rides or just cheering people up, she was always there doing more than her part to make things easier for everybody else.
She especially loved children and because of her playful nature and possibly her size, they loved her. Children, Jenny knew, are the best judges of character. When she taught first grade here at an international school here some years ago, she really connected with them – and it helped her to regain some of that childhood way of appreciating the wonder of things that most of us seem to have forgotten. I will miss her as a fountain of complements. If I ever needed to be cheered up or helped out, she was there.
I will also miss our adventures together. Sometimes a simple night out a Warm Up was sufficient, but she also accompanied me on one very special occasion where I essentially got Kreng-jai’d into going to this strange vegetarian event to which we were invited to by the staff at the old vegetarian shop that used to be in the canteen. We were taken out to a house far outside the city and shown around mushroom garden-sheds where they grow all the mushrooms for the vegetarian products. Then we had a really great vegetarian breakfast – Everybody was in good spirits. Soon after this we were led into this open building which we quickly realized was some sort of temple. Even then we didn’t realize what we had gotten into. We were separated, as males and females must sit separate for reasons which we were completely oblivious. What followed was a grueling full-day lecture with all kinds of praying and such – Of which Jenny understood absolutely nothing – and it was a struggle for me to understand much of what was going on. We had been lured into an evil Chinese-Buddhist-Vegetarian Cult recruitment seminar. We were trapped there all day until we finally had anxiety attacks and I had to go a little crazy to get someone to drive us out of there. The food sure was good though.
A few semesters back when we were in higher spirits and more likely to be found doing musical things around Payap we would go to the chapel a few times a week and jam out some pretty sweet versions of Evanesence songs with a piano and 2 voices. I will miss her not only as a karaoke and musical partner, but most of all as a sidekick because good sidekicks like Jenny don't happen often in a lifetime.
Born to Laurie and Gordon (Moose) Fleury, Jenny was a short girl who lived a short, yet full life. She was born and raised in Cottage Grove, Wisconsin – a small town just outside of Madison. The actual instance of Jenny’s birth was a bit odd – Born one week late she was just 5.5 lbs or 2.5 kgs. On top of that – she came out butt first! While many of us plunged forth headfirst into this life, Jenny somehow got all tangled up right from the start and came out backwards – She never was good with directions.
As an unusually little girl, Jenny was very active, but unsatisfied with her size. She realized early on that she was much smaller than usual and she would pray each night before going to bed – she would pray for something she could never have – tallness. While she never achieved this childhood dream – she was never deterred and lived a full life – She was a cheerleader, a gymnast, and much more. And what she may have lacked in height, she made up for in climbing ability and sense of humor. 147cm of giggly tree-climbing energy.
I don’t think she would be surprised to see so many people gathered here to mourn her. She was an outgoing, energetic girl. She was a giving, helpful person and she didn’t like to be alone for any length of time. I’m pleased to say she certainly isn’t alone today.
Jenny managed to survive a few near-death experiences in the way she was constantly defying certain laws, such as gravity and common sense – When she was 4, Jenny was watching a children’s show on the Nickolodeon channel with her mother and somehow from this they got the idea that it would be lots of fun to swim in a baby pool full of pasta! So Laurie spent all day boiling up macaroni – Pot after pot was dumped into the tiny pool. And as it had been sitting all day – her mother assumed the noodles were cooled down enough so Jenny ran and jumped into the pool – Her screams were quick and quite horrific I’m sure – The noodles at the bottom had retained their heat as those of you familiar with cooking pasta may already be aware. Jenny was scalded by the still near-boiling temperature noodles towards the bottom of the pool – She suffered burns over most of her body.
Her next run into with heat was much less painful physically, but it was still a significant moment in her life. When she was 11, her house burned down and her parents finalized their divorce. Certainly a time of turmoil – it nevertheless shaped her into a person who could appreciate the hardships of this often cruel world we live in – A world full of hidden dangers; like pasta!
Jenny was often stealthy in her good deeds. She didn’t advertise the way she would help everyone out in subtle ways. I suspect most of us here today have at one point been on the receiving end of her kindness. Myself especially! I’m not sure how I would have gotten to school this semester if Jenny hadn’t picked me up everyday. Then again, had I found another way, I could have been on time more often! Whether she was giving rides or just cheering people up, she was always there doing more than her part to make things easier for everybody else.
She especially loved children and because of her playful nature and possibly her size, they loved her. Children, Jenny knew, are the best judges of character. When she taught first grade here at an international school here some years ago, she really connected with them – and it helped her to regain some of that childhood way of appreciating the wonder of things that most of us seem to have forgotten. I will miss her as a fountain of complements. If I ever needed to be cheered up or helped out, she was there.
I will also miss our adventures together. Sometimes a simple night out a Warm Up was sufficient, but she also accompanied me on one very special occasion where I essentially got Kreng-jai’d into going to this strange vegetarian event to which we were invited to by the staff at the old vegetarian shop that used to be in the canteen. We were taken out to a house far outside the city and shown around mushroom garden-sheds where they grow all the mushrooms for the vegetarian products. Then we had a really great vegetarian breakfast – Everybody was in good spirits. Soon after this we were led into this open building which we quickly realized was some sort of temple. Even then we didn’t realize what we had gotten into. We were separated, as males and females must sit separate for reasons which we were completely oblivious. What followed was a grueling full-day lecture with all kinds of praying and such – Of which Jenny understood absolutely nothing – and it was a struggle for me to understand much of what was going on. We had been lured into an evil Chinese-Buddhist-Vegetarian Cult recruitment seminar. We were trapped there all day until we finally had anxiety attacks and I had to go a little crazy to get someone to drive us out of there. The food sure was good though.
A few semesters back when we were in higher spirits and more likely to be found doing musical things around Payap we would go to the chapel a few times a week and jam out some pretty sweet versions of Evanesence songs with a piano and 2 voices. I will miss her not only as a karaoke and musical partner, but most of all as a sidekick because good sidekicks like Jenny don't happen often in a lifetime.
Thursday, April 27, 2006
Too Many Papers to Write - More Work
I have to write 2 papers with 2 presentations for my Short Story/Novel class. 10 page critical analysis of Mrs. Dalloway. Not sure what I was thinking choosing that book. No easy task. Next is a slightly shorter analysis of a short story.
For Speech Writing class I have about 12 days to come up with 3 speeches. One is due tomorrow. A Eulogy - which I will be writing for Jenny, though she is still among the living.
As for new work, a friend of mine called to inform me that he knew a guy who wanted to study Thai and I was suggested. So we started today, and will be teaching him 4 or 5 days a week I believe. This along with my 1.5 hour Monday session with some older Japanese folks should serve to boost my rather non-existent income for a little while anyways. I expect it will be a while before I finish any of the software translation (Eng-Jap) that I'm working on as I just won't have much time to work on it until the term finishes (or rather when I finish all of these damn papers!).
Good night and good luck.
For Speech Writing class I have about 12 days to come up with 3 speeches. One is due tomorrow. A Eulogy - which I will be writing for Jenny, though she is still among the living.
As for new work, a friend of mine called to inform me that he knew a guy who wanted to study Thai and I was suggested. So we started today, and will be teaching him 4 or 5 days a week I believe. This along with my 1.5 hour Monday session with some older Japanese folks should serve to boost my rather non-existent income for a little while anyways. I expect it will be a while before I finish any of the software translation (Eng-Jap) that I'm working on as I just won't have much time to work on it until the term finishes (or rather when I finish all of these damn papers!).
Good night and good luck.
Tuesday, April 18, 2006
He Fell from the 3rd Floor
As I was returning to my apartment from my Japanese private lesson I was coaxed by the laundry shop at the bottom of my building to drink with them for a bit. After hanging out there for an hour or so, there was apparantly a loud noise (which I missed) and somebody looked outside. The owner of the shop came to me frantically saying something that was was hard to comprehend. I could only make out that something fell.
So I went out to the fake balcony of the first floor and there was a guy lying on the pavement with 2 people holding on to him. There was blood everywhere. So I jumped over the railing and went outside to see if I could do anything - which in Thailand means to stop the fake security guard/worker/(slaves - as they we sometimes refer to them) from doing anything stupid like moving him. He said he fell from the third floor and that he hadn't been drinking and he hadn't jumped intentionally. His girlfriend said little and it all seemed kind of strange.
First, it seemed like there was a whole lot more blood than one would expect from the third floor. There was a large puddle a few feet from where he was lying. Also, the trajectory was odd. I was trying to work out originally how he might have flung head-first over the balcony - but it didn't seem to match up. Based on the way he landed (as far as I could tell by when I first saw him maybe 20 seconds or so after he fell) I would say he was probably sitting on the edge and and fell/was pushed backwards.
He was conscious and his arm was broken, but otherwise he didn't seem that bad. But then again, I wasn't sure where the blood was coming from. It was all over his shirt in various patches and plenty on the pavement.
The emergency team must have taken 7 or 8 minutes to get there. This is kind of ridiculous because the hospital they said they called could be walked to in a less than 5. The medical treatment here is good, but the emergency response system isn't much to fawn over.
So I went out to the fake balcony of the first floor and there was a guy lying on the pavement with 2 people holding on to him. There was blood everywhere. So I jumped over the railing and went outside to see if I could do anything - which in Thailand means to stop the fake security guard/worker/(slaves - as they we sometimes refer to them) from doing anything stupid like moving him. He said he fell from the third floor and that he hadn't been drinking and he hadn't jumped intentionally. His girlfriend said little and it all seemed kind of strange.
First, it seemed like there was a whole lot more blood than one would expect from the third floor. There was a large puddle a few feet from where he was lying. Also, the trajectory was odd. I was trying to work out originally how he might have flung head-first over the balcony - but it didn't seem to match up. Based on the way he landed (as far as I could tell by when I first saw him maybe 20 seconds or so after he fell) I would say he was probably sitting on the edge and and fell/was pushed backwards.
He was conscious and his arm was broken, but otherwise he didn't seem that bad. But then again, I wasn't sure where the blood was coming from. It was all over his shirt in various patches and plenty on the pavement.
The emergency team must have taken 7 or 8 minutes to get there. This is kind of ridiculous because the hospital they said they called could be walked to in a less than 5. The medical treatment here is good, but the emergency response system isn't much to fawn over.
Friday, April 14, 2006
Songkhran Festival
Gift (a girl from my uni) and another girl named Nai picked me up in a jeep around noon yesterday. In the back of the jeep was a a barrel full of water and some buckets. These are for throwing the water onto passerby as well as other cars. It took us over an hour to drive down the main road to the moat that surrounds the center of the city. Normally, it would take about 6 or 7 minutes to walk that distance, but the roads are completely packed. Later on we picked up a few more girls.
We spent the entire day drinking while driving around the city moat throwing water at other vehicles as well as the thousands and thousands of people who line the street. 3 days of insanity. You can't go outside if you don't want to get soaked. Its a lot of fun.
That night I went out to Warm Up, and it was more packed than I had ever seen it before. I only lasted about twenty minutes before I realized how ill I had become and I went home to try and sleep. Of course sleep never came until about 9 in the morning.
Three hours later the girls called me again saying they were picking me up in 20 minutes. That was tough, but this time there was a lot more girls in the jeep and the barrel was smaller to accomodate the extra people. Eight of us again circling the moat, getting hit with freezing cold water (people sell huge bricks of ice on the side of the street for the people in cars to drop in their buckets) one second while being blasted with warm filthy water from the moat the next. At the end of every day I am always quite ill, but its worth it. 17 died in the city last year from traffic accidents. This year's tally is 8 people dead and 59 injured.
I'm still covered in bruises from the day at the waterfall, where I slipped a few times on the moss. Of course, it didn't hurt at the time.
We spent the entire day drinking while driving around the city moat throwing water at other vehicles as well as the thousands and thousands of people who line the street. 3 days of insanity. You can't go outside if you don't want to get soaked. Its a lot of fun.
That night I went out to Warm Up, and it was more packed than I had ever seen it before. I only lasted about twenty minutes before I realized how ill I had become and I went home to try and sleep. Of course sleep never came until about 9 in the morning.
Three hours later the girls called me again saying they were picking me up in 20 minutes. That was tough, but this time there was a lot more girls in the jeep and the barrel was smaller to accomodate the extra people. Eight of us again circling the moat, getting hit with freezing cold water (people sell huge bricks of ice on the side of the street for the people in cars to drop in their buckets) one second while being blasted with warm filthy water from the moat the next. At the end of every day I am always quite ill, but its worth it. 17 died in the city last year from traffic accidents. This year's tally is 8 people dead and 59 injured.
I'm still covered in bruises from the day at the waterfall, where I slipped a few times on the moss. Of course, it didn't hurt at the time.
Thursday, April 13, 2006
Water Falls
Today was fun. It is the first unofficial day of the Songkrahn festival in Chiang Mai. The real holiday starts tomorrow, but people get excited and start early. I was invited to go to a waterfall in Mae Sa (Northern Thailand) with a girl whom I am kind of friends with. Actually, my relationship with her was rather strange and I once wrote a post in Japanese about some rather crazy things she did.
Anyways, today we went to this waterfall with everyone that works in her office. So it was me, 5 other guys and 3 girls. I had to go through the usual process of them seeing a white guy and assuming/wondering if he can speak any Thai. Of course I can fluently, but although I often seem to get tired of this almost daily situation, I am not sure if I really am. In fact, I'm fairly sure I like the attention. I got almost none (good att) during my childhood and I have been making up for it since.
So there was swimming and drinking and such. Sitting under waterfalls which bash the hell out of you, but feels like a great massage. I have a large bump on my forehead, a scrape on my arm near my elbow, cuts on my feet and torso. I suppose I wrestled with a mountain and came out ok, but scraped up a bit. The facial scar is probably the worst. It didn't hurt until I noticed it of course, but now it hurts when I touch it hehe.
Tomorrow the festival begins for real. A girl from my uni is picking me up around noon and we will circle the city moat throwing water at people. Should be fun!!
Anyways, today we went to this waterfall with everyone that works in her office. So it was me, 5 other guys and 3 girls. I had to go through the usual process of them seeing a white guy and assuming/wondering if he can speak any Thai. Of course I can fluently, but although I often seem to get tired of this almost daily situation, I am not sure if I really am. In fact, I'm fairly sure I like the attention. I got almost none (good att) during my childhood and I have been making up for it since.
So there was swimming and drinking and such. Sitting under waterfalls which bash the hell out of you, but feels like a great massage. I have a large bump on my forehead, a scrape on my arm near my elbow, cuts on my feet and torso. I suppose I wrestled with a mountain and came out ok, but scraped up a bit. The facial scar is probably the worst. It didn't hurt until I noticed it of course, but now it hurts when I touch it hehe.
Tomorrow the festival begins for real. A girl from my uni is picking me up around noon and we will circle the city moat throwing water at people. Should be fun!!
Tuesday, April 11, 2006
5 Nights in Bangkok
I was off from some of my schools, so I decided to skip work and the rest so I could get out of Chiang Mai for a few days and attempt to "relax." But of course, I hate relaxing most of the time because I see it as an awful waste of time. Really, my purpose there was to buy some books that I can't find in CM as well as some clothes because they tend to be cheaper in Bangkok and of greater variety.
I fared well on books I suppose. I bought Cell, Stephen King's new book which is about a plus that happens one afternoon turning everyone speaking on a mobile network at that moment into a zombie. Actually, it was really good. I couldn't stop reading it so I stayed up (not that I can sleep anyways) until 4:30 or so when I finished the book that I had just bought a few hours before. Aside from that, I bought a beginners book for Burmese. I had been helping a Burmese girl to fix up her papers - which means fix up her English so our American teacher can understand what she is trying to say, and in exchange she was only responsible for feeding me and teaching me a Burmese for a few minutes. It seemed easy enough so I figured I could passively study it and see what happens. Finally, I bought a Chinese book. It was pretty expensive, but I thought it offered some interesting information on the first 1500 characters or so.
As for clothes, I scoured the markets for hours and only came up with a handful of shirts I would wear. The most expensive of these being 180 baht (about $4.50 US). Good stuff.
Slightly more exiting than my shopping adventures, I did manage to get to RCA, a street in Bangkok with a number of high class clubs. I went to Route 66 with a girl I met through her older sister in CM. The older sister is one of the Nestle salesteam/distributors that I teach twice a month in CM. It was pretty fun. Not nearly as expensive as I expected it to be, though certainly not cheap in comparison to CM spots. The place we were at was huge. There was a huge hip-hop room and a nearly as big live Thai music room. We stayed in the hip-hop spot and it was pretty fun. The only downside was the smoke. It was just awful, I knew I'd be sick for at least all of the following day. Stop smoking you idiots! It makes me sick. That night, as fun as it was, had me coughing up crap for 2 days. I'm gonna die fairly young because the world isn't catching on fast enough to the problems of smoking. There probably isn't any saving of me now, as my lungs are almost as bad as they forced me to quit smoking 6 years ago, but I won't stop complaining and harrassing those that accost me with their noxious fumes.
The crazy water festival which officially begins on Wed will probably start tomorrow and there will be chaos in the streets. I will try to keep you informed on the good stuff that comes of that.
I fared well on books I suppose. I bought Cell, Stephen King's new book which is about a plus that happens one afternoon turning everyone speaking on a mobile network at that moment into a zombie. Actually, it was really good. I couldn't stop reading it so I stayed up (not that I can sleep anyways) until 4:30 or so when I finished the book that I had just bought a few hours before. Aside from that, I bought a beginners book for Burmese. I had been helping a Burmese girl to fix up her papers - which means fix up her English so our American teacher can understand what she is trying to say, and in exchange she was only responsible for feeding me and teaching me a Burmese for a few minutes. It seemed easy enough so I figured I could passively study it and see what happens. Finally, I bought a Chinese book. It was pretty expensive, but I thought it offered some interesting information on the first 1500 characters or so.
As for clothes, I scoured the markets for hours and only came up with a handful of shirts I would wear. The most expensive of these being 180 baht (about $4.50 US). Good stuff.
Slightly more exiting than my shopping adventures, I did manage to get to RCA, a street in Bangkok with a number of high class clubs. I went to Route 66 with a girl I met through her older sister in CM. The older sister is one of the Nestle salesteam/distributors that I teach twice a month in CM. It was pretty fun. Not nearly as expensive as I expected it to be, though certainly not cheap in comparison to CM spots. The place we were at was huge. There was a huge hip-hop room and a nearly as big live Thai music room. We stayed in the hip-hop spot and it was pretty fun. The only downside was the smoke. It was just awful, I knew I'd be sick for at least all of the following day. Stop smoking you idiots! It makes me sick. That night, as fun as it was, had me coughing up crap for 2 days. I'm gonna die fairly young because the world isn't catching on fast enough to the problems of smoking. There probably isn't any saving of me now, as my lungs are almost as bad as they forced me to quit smoking 6 years ago, but I won't stop complaining and harrassing those that accost me with their noxious fumes.
The crazy water festival which officially begins on Wed will probably start tomorrow and there will be chaos in the streets. I will try to keep you informed on the good stuff that comes of that.
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