Learn Thai from a White Guy

So here is my latest language blog.  The following is small, but steady at the moment.  Its focus is learning Thai.  

I'm working on another somewhat experimental language learning project which will take me a while, but hopefully will operational soon.

learnthaifromawhiteguy.com

Don't Post!

Sometimes I get really miserable. There isn't usually a sound or even a remotely plausible reason for it, but it just happens. When I was younger it was daily part of my life. I know each time (now) that the feeling will pass and that I should just wait it out. There doesn't need to be a trigger, but as one might suspect, such things ease the process.

Its very strange for me. When I was younger these feelings were much more common. Now they are sparse but still a hassle. Because I am aware that they will pass shortly I don't act on or stress about them. However, when I was younger it wasn't so easy. I did stupid things to ease the pain. And they worked well enough. When I smoked I often put the cigs out on my arms or in the palm of my hands. The pain created there would temporarily allow me to forget my mental pains.

Exposed

Its been a long time since I've written (read: published) an entry. It became too much of a hassle for a number of reasons. I still have much to say, but as a wise friend once told me, "Don't write down anything you don't want read." This advice may not apply to everything, but it must be considered for everything you write down. After all, when we write it, we aren't usually considering the possible consequences.

Songkran is well in the works at the moment. This is the insane lunar new years festival that is especially famous in Chiang Mai as the centre city is surrounded by a moat. I don't really feel the need to explain this holiday. I'm not even sure if I can. Its one of those things you just need to experience. I don't want to waste energy trying to describe it. Perhaps one day if I'm in a better mood.

Greetings Old Friend

faithful reader - It has been some time I admit. I can't say this is a return to my past frequency, but hopefully it is a sign of such a return. Many things have happened since we last spoke. I'm in something of a rut I suppose. Certain things have come to me only with great difficulty and often under great duress. There are endless things I wish to discuss, but I just haven't been able to write at all. Even this meager post is something of a struggle and only possible due to the assistance of a controlled substance. You can't even fathom the trouble I have had writing even short essays this term.

Let me sum a few things of late....

• auditioned for a small speaking role in the movie Pinkville
  
• planning to spend about 20 days of Dec/Jan in Japan assuming I don't get the role in the movie and/or the pay isn't enough
• my nursery school-like university is undergoing all kinds of problems - I worry if it will last long enough for me to graduate..or even more likely...if it will ever offer the handful of classes I need to finish so I can graduate. Its not looking good right now. I don't expect anything to improve.
• I did indeed get the hotel job, but not in the capacity I originally expected. I am working M/W/F from 14:00-16:00 there. The pay is good and along with 1-2 private students its enough to pay the bills but I am not quite yet rolling in the baht.
  
• My teachers this semester are imbeciles. This isn't really that unusual, but when the teacher doesn't give a crap about the class, it makes it much harder for me to. And this is the worst I've seen.
  

More to come when I can pull it off.

Broken Promises - Mr. โดน

Well, I have some good news and some confusing not-so-good news. First the good news: I got the confirmation call from a lady in HR at the hotel about my latest millionbahtaire job on Tuesday evening. I agreed to a slightly lower wage than I had hoped for, but its still plenty of money for the time I'll actually be working. They want me to start either on the 1st or the 6th of August, the date has yet to be confirmed. Yaay.

Next, the other news. I got a call yesterday from a different person in the HR department. He told me he had yet to confirm anything with the GM. He also mentioned that they were now considering having just 2 classes instead of 4 and would I still be interested in the job at the same rate. I said probably not. I'd need all the details first and then I would consider. Gnilb!

So I have no clue if I have this job or not. As usual, I find myself almost believing what people say only to be let down 100% of the time. Not sure why I can't seem to learn from this particular type of mistake. I never trust anybody, but I guess when I want to believe something I lie to myself or something. Oh well.

I met with a Korean couple who were referred to me by a friend of mine. I'll be teaching them privately twice a week so that will alleviate 10% of my briefly expected fortune in the event I don't get it.

I'm still going strong on my language studies of late. My browsers are either in Chinese or Japanese now and microsoft office software is all in Thai. I'm in the process of making the switch to monolingual dictionaries in all the languages that I study. I've been doing it with Thai for a while, but I just ordered a student j-j dictionary from Japan and my friend is going back to Korea tomorrow and I told her not to come back without a Korean-Korean dictionary mean for young students. Not sure where the hell I am going to find a Chinese-Chinsese one. When I asked my Chinese school about it, they said they'd never seen one nor could they comprehend what I would want with it.

Um, in other news, I bought a new badminton racked as the head of my last one broke off as it collided with the face of my partner. Black eye for him and a shiny new racket for me. Not everything bad that happens needs to be bad for me.