Let Me See Your Feel !

I'm going to some party at a resort an hour or so outside the city tomorrow. Its hosted by the local radio stations here (the only one in English) and a few of my friends are DJs so I got an invite. Free beer and karaoke sold me. More on this later.

I've been using the Heisig system to memorize the writing/meaning of the Chinese characters (for learning Japanese) for some time now and I have been finding it quite useful in Chinese class as well. However, sometimes it can be confusing as the simplification methods used for each language were different. The stuff works really great. The other day I was waiting around at my Chinese school for my class to start and this girl asked me what 袜子 meant. I had come across that a while ago and it was very easy to come up with a story to help me connect the pieces and remember how to write the character without having ever actually written it (I just do it with my finger on my hand or on a table). As for 袜子, it means socks. The first character consists of 2 parts. The first is a slightly thinned form of 木，which means tree. the second part is a more heavily modified version of 衣，which is related to cloth, fabric, clothes and the like. The way to remember that (assuming you know the pieces first, as this is vital) is to briefly picture a tree wearing socks. The second character is extremely common and it doesn't seem necessary to regard it in this image. When I explained this to the girl, she said to me, "Pii Brett, I don't understand why a tree would wear socks..." Um. So I told her to picture a treant from Lord of the Rings if that makes it easier. The more ridiculous the image, the harder it is to forget.

Speaking of Chinese stuff, I ran into a Chinese guy who I met through my teacher today. He was with 5 other Chinese people who have come to study their final year of Uni at Ratchabhat University in Chiang Mai. I'm pretty shy with my Chinese so I didn't say much beyond small talk. I do need to find some Chinese people to talk to if I'm ever going to improve. My classes are ok, but I feel like we waste a whole lot of time and I have very little chance to speak. My Korean lessons on the other hand are extremely efficient. I just refuse to do anything I consider a waste of time.

I started taking Zoloft again yesterday. I was off it for over a month I think. Anyways, I've been feeling pretty lethargic and I thought it might be a good idea to start it up again at a lower dose. During the time I wasn't taking it I did manage to increase my exercise considerably and lower my alcohol intake, but I am too prone to anger over trivial things.

I was at my usual vegetarian restaurant the other night and there was some girls eating at another table and a couple of them were fairly interesting. I ran into one on the way out and she asked for my number for her friend who had left already. I gave it to her and she called me later that night. She wanted help with some English homework apparantly. So I met her for lunch yesterday and she pulled out this 6 page paper about agricultural econmics and the King of Thailand. She wants me to translate it from English to Thai. I'm not sure if I can do that. I said I'd look it over, but I probably wouldn't have time. Certainly not enough to finish before the day she is supposed to hand it in. Meanwhile, she is going to hang out in Bangkok for the weekend. Girls are crazy. I'll probably stick it in a software translator and let her sort out the mess. But that would entail me typing up the stupid 6 pages. Hrm.

I went out for drinks and karaoke last night. One of the spots we went to is called See You. Below that on the sign, it says "Let me see your feel..."

Life Is Tough - Other Stuffs

I have a problem. A female friend of mine who lived in Bangkok previously has moved to Chiang Mai (the city I reside in). She got here a couple of weeks ago, but left for a week to do some things elsewhere. She came back a copule nights ago and I met up with her yesterday. She brought me a present: bedding. While on the one hand, I am super-pleased when people think of me and buy me things, I am a little stressed about one factor of the gift. She bought me bedding. I'm talking , a large plastic bag-like beast full of sheets, blankets and pillowcases I imagine. Very thoughtful, however, as comfortable as I am with my sexuality, pink and yellow bedspreads are sure to cause me some stress.

If I use these beddings, if my white friends see it, they will mock me for certain. If any of my girls see it, they will ask who bought them for me (I don't lie, but I often do my best to avoid situations where I wish I could). If the girl who bought them DOESN'T see them, she will get upset because I didn't use her rather expensive gift.

The beddings are mostly pink. They are covered in flowers, cutesy little animals and messages like "You are always in my dreams," with hearts scattered everywhere. Only in my ridiculous life would such a challenge arise. Honestly, I can handle sleeping on/under the beddings designed for a 12-yr-old girl without giving it much thought if it wasn't for the outside harrassment from every possible angle that I will surely face.

Any thoughts on this?

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I'm fairly sure I have latched on Mike and possibly Jeff to my badminton routine. We are by no means skilled (we suck) in comparison to the people in the gym. However, these guys recognize that the exercise we get from getting are asses handed to us repeatedly is also unmatched. Nobody puts us down apart from ourselves and possibly each other. And its pretty fun. I think we are good for 3-4 times/week until our bodies can handle more. We can barely last 90 min and leave as soaked as if we had went swimming. I always feel great after.

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It is Sat night, but I got too wasted last night and I didn't really feel like going out tonight. However, an old friend called me up and said he was at a local bar with 4 Chinese people who wanted to meet me. As I have little chance to speak Chinese in real life, I headed over there. Between the 4 Chinese, I spoke Chinese with one, Thai with 2 and English and Japanese with the fourth. It was surreal. The one with whom I spoke Chinese is only here for a short time and wanted me to help set him up to meet the international affairs people at Payap as his Uni in Kunming province wants to have an exchange program with Payap. I'm interested for sure.

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I was recently informed that I did score some money for the scholarship I applied for, but its almost worthless and I am by no means pleased with the outcome. Each major was allocated 80,000 Baht (About $2000ish US$). Only 4 from my major applied.

My "advisor" assured me and Jenny that she would call us to inform us when the interviews would take place. Then one day, Kaz, another student at Payap went to school to drop off a paper and found a bunch of other students hanging out, apparantly waiting for their scholarship interview. So he called to let me know and I called Jenny. We rushed over (rainy season = completely soaked) and I was fucking drenched during my interview. The interview was uncomfortable for many reasons. I was honest with my situation, but I didn't really feel like they got it or perhaps they just didn't care. I really felt like they couldn't see through my skin color. That is a common problem here.

In the end - Jenny and I got 10,000 Baht each. This is for 2 semesters. For us, that pays for 1 class over 1 year. Almost useless for me. I'll take it, but it doesn't fix my situation in the least. The Thai person who applied go 20,000 (Thai's pay 20% less tuition + fees than foreigners - but he is my friend so I'm not complaining, just noting) and the Burmese girl who applied got 40k.

I also heard through the Payap gossip-vine that my 'advisor' was opposed to myself or Jenny receiving any scholarship funds. The committee was mixed on us and ended up on giving us some scraps.

My uni really sucks in too many ways. Its a shame because there are a number of talented people trying to improve it (or at least survive in it) and they ineveitably give up because Thai bureacracy is tough to permeate. Complainers get no-where and I just can't lower myself to kissing ass (which always works).

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I always have so much more to say. I just need people to tell me they want to hear it sometimes.

Team: I Apologize

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I've been too damn busy!

Its true. The end of my semester was extremely stressful. And after it was over, I didn't feel the relief I was expecting. In fact, I took on more work and it was rough. I just finished this 12 page translation job that was just awful. It must have taken me nearly 20 hours over the course of 3 days. The 2 papers were for this guys doctorate course in Bangkok. Philosophy and theory of Thai music. It was not well-written in the least and extremely confusing. I got plenty of good vocab out of it though.

ปรัชญา (bpràt-yaa) - philosophy

My computer died yesterday. This isn't good. I gave it to Gateaux who is going to attempt to recover my data. It would suck to lose the endless hours I put in to my language program.

In the meantime, I have been studying Korean a lot lately. 3-4 days a week. This Tuesday I'm starting up a Business Chinese course. So with my other course I'll be studying Chinese 5 nights a week for a total of 10 hours. No luck with Japanese classes lately. I also rarely get the chance to speak to anybody with J'nese.

Awesome - Trifigulous even...

By far the coolest thing I've ever read about Italy since last October when they began to implement Vietato fumare laws (no smoking). And before that, I suppose it would have to be stuff I read about the Roman empire. Good stuff. Having been a smoker and a meat-eater due to peer-societal-familial pressures/ignorance for a large portion of my life, I am aware of the ignorance that brings us to do these things. However, being drunk is a pretty crappy excuse and ignorance is pretty much intolerable. While the shortening of my lifespan and my daily suffering from second-hand smoke is frustrating when I can't breathe during relatively aerobic activity and I often spend hours of my day hacking up little bits of other people's poison, I am perfectly happy to slightly de-prioritize the global banning of smoking in public places to recognize a greater problem in this world, the systematic torture of animals for profit. I am unable to sympathize with people who are so oblivious of the horrors they allow/support/inflict by buying/eating/wearing/toruturing/killing life. Maybe you think I'm odd. I am. As for those of you are stubborn because of your upbringing/scared to investigate or learn something that may affect the way you view the world, I disdain you. Salute to the Italians for making such gi-normous steps in the right direction. As for the rest of you, I offer up my whatever phlegm I bring up today and promises of the best food in the world which involves absolutely no animals. Good luck and good night.

Restaurant Fined for "Cruel" Lobster Display
Reuters
ROME (April 28) - An Italian restaurant was fined 688 euros, or $855, for displaying live lobsters on ice to attract patrons, in an innovative application of an anti-cruelty law usually affecting to household pets.

A court in the northeastern city of Vicenza ruled the display was a form of abuse dooming the crustaceans to a slow death by suffocation.

"We're appealing," said Giuseppe Scalesia, who runs La Conchiglia D'Oro, or "Golden Shell," restaurant along with his brother Camillo.

"They said that the lobsters, laying on the ice, suffer... They compared them in court to other animals, like cats and dogs."

The case was brought by Gianpaolo Cecchetto, a former environmental activist, who took his two young children to the Vicenza restaurant in May 2002.

"They were shocked by the display," Cecchetto told Reuters, adding he immediately got in touch with the ENPA national animal protection entity. "ENPA took care of the lawyers and legal proceedings."

Italy has some of the world's toughest animal rights laws. The city of Rome in October banned goldfish bowls, seen as cruel, while Turin passed a law last year that would fine dog owners 500 euros unless they walked their canine friends at least three times a day.