Man on Wire

Bored and with a broken Nook I picked up one of the many random books furnishing my place.  End the Fed by Ron Paul has already taught me much.  For starters, Ron Paul is old.  But most important of all is that all money is essentially worthless play money as nowadays it is, from what I can deduce, backed by fairy dust.

Great.

This past weekend I went to Pai with some farangs of mine and had a good time.  Pai is a city in the mountains that thrives off tourism yet doesn't feel touristy.  The air is fresh, the food is great, things aren't expensive, and there's plenty to do.  From Chiang Rai it takes a 3 hour bus ride to Chiang Mai, then another 3 hour ride to Pai.  The trip consisted of scuttling around on rented motorbikes through town and the hills to get to sites, great food, plenty of drinks, and plenty of card games.

Work is going well.

My cough went away when I was in Pai, up in the mountains, so I think I've got it from air pollution down here.  What's more is that I think the chest congestion may be why I feel a bit tired so frequently.  My body simply gets a bit less oxygen than it should as my lungs aren't banging on all cylinders.  Christ that's a lay theory but it sounds plausible.

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"Going home" is starting to sound pretty silly.  As if being here is just this chunk of time independent of all other things and afterwards I'll just get back to what I was doing at home.  Ha!  How boring and ordinary.  I've got the world in front of me and so much to tenaciously pursue. 

Last week I watched the movie Man on Wire and it's really getting to me.  It is a documentary about the French wire-walker, Philippe Petit, who walked across the Twin Towers in 1974.  The lengths this man went to to realize his dream are incredible and the intensity of his drive make me envious.  I want that.  I want to know what my dream is, to see something and think "That's it! If I die in pursuit of it so be it!"

How do you find something like that?

Warren Buffet is always serving up some tasty wisdom, some undeniable truth and here's one of my favorites that get's close.

“There comes a time when you ought to start doing what you want. Take a job that you love. You will jump out of bed in the morning. I think you are out of your mind if you keep taking jobs that you don't like because you think it will look good on your resume. Isn't that a little like saving up sex for your old age?” 

To find that thing that set's your brain on fire you have to follow your gut, do what you want, see where it takes you...and then keep going.  Someday you'll cross paths with 'it' and only because you set off in the right direction in the first place.  I think it's the same as dropping all inhibition (except for the really helpful ones like trying to see if you can juggle knives inhibition).  You have to just let go and say fuck it, I want that let's see where this goes.

So that's what I'm up to at the moment.

Here's are the links to watch Man on Wire on youtube.  Please watch it

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5

Do not pass go

I still treat baht as play money.


I'm such a shit.

lol

My energy level has been pretty low for the past few months.  Fortunately it's starting to pick up a considerably.  Who knew living on the other side of the Earth would be so physically taxing.  This is how the Native Americans must have felt.

My new neighbors have moved in; a couple in their thirties with daughter I assume is quite young as I see a stroller out front.

Anywho....

A few of my students need some serious extra help and I will be able to tutor them after school for a fee.  The issue brought some considerations.  Initially I was considering what to charge for each student or what to charge per hour.  I could charge 500 baht an hour and however many students/families wanted to could split the cost.  But if it was only one student it might be expected of me to charge 200 or 300 baht.

The issue is what am I obligated to do as their teacher without charge.  I see 'teacher' now the Asian way.  A teacher isn't a job, it's a societal role that contributes to the greater good.  So isn't it wrong to accept money for something I should be achieving during my working hours?  Well yea but what I'd be trying to accomplish isn't actually possible during my working hours.  It's impossible to teach an entire class AND cater to the needs of a very behind few without holding back everyone else.

I also have to ask myself, what is my time worth?

HIIIIYA!

Taxi driver in Bangkok gives lift to white guy.

Taxi driver not turning on the meter.

White guy refuses to pay for fare.

Taxi driver takes out samurai sword and eviscerates white guy because he lost face.

This is Thailand.

Random

I haven't posted jack in awhile.  It's 5am and I'm up to do some planning for the workweek that I'll end up shit-canning probably Tuesday.  That reminds me, no one here is familiar with my profanity.  So I'll just randomly associate while I procrastinate.

The past two weeks I've been damn exhausted from work and apparently some lingering illness.  After taking some meds for a bit I seem to have actually perked up a bit.  Bit of a relief to be honest.  I've had crap energy and motivation until the revelation/medication.

Any Thai alcohol is like a whiffle ball bat to the head.  I had one beer Friday night and the headache came 30 minutes into it.  I had a headache till Sunday.  From what I've read much Thai alcohol ain't too pure and for some it'll do ya in.  I'm one of those some.  A few months ago one of my first times drinking a lot I had 5 beers.  Shit you not, couldn't walk the entire next day.  Sat in the dark till night sipping on water and dragging myself across the floor to my fridge.

Last Saturday was Jin's birthday party.  Jin's a student and AMEC.  I was renting one of his family's places before this place.  The party was great (for the adults at least), it was at the bowling alley and all of his family came.  Only a few of his friends seemed to show.  Dicks.  After reaching the proper BAC I too engaged in much karaoke.  I titillated the crowd with bangers such as Genesis's "In the air tonight" and "It's my life" by Bon Jovi.  Rock star.


I'm still not used to the stares I get.  As a farang (foreigner/white person) I stick out like a ladyboy's adams apple. When I walk through a market its like HEEEEERREEEE IIIT COOMMESSSS!!!!

Hmmm the King.  Did you know you face real jail time for speaking against the king?  And if you try to stop a rolling coin with your foot (King's head is on it) Thai's'll get reeaall bent out of shape.  The list goes on.

Well this took longer than I wanted.