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Star Wars Magic

It’s one in the morning and we all just got back from seeing Star Wars, in English, three minutes from our house in Sarakham. That was pretty special. Overall, I liked it, and Max did, too. It was a little bit loud and scary for Mina (she’s only six).

A couple of notes:

  • I didn’t like the opening shot (it looked like crappy cgi)
  • It felt very Lord of the Rings-ish at times
  • I appreciated some of the atmospheres and small details like screen wipes that evoked the crudeness of the original
  • The girls were disappointed that Kylo wasn’t handsome
  • Fuck, I’m old.
  • Star Wars got its mojo back
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What is true manhood?

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True Manhood is playing to win.
True Manhood is making the shot.
True Manhood is making them remember your name.

True Manhood Quadruple Barrel Triple Malt Scotch* Whisky. For the True Manhood in you.
……………………………………

*Proudly made to stringent Scottish standards in the old country (Vientiane, Laos). Available at the Grapevine.

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RMU Welcome Screen

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This is a huge Windows-driven LCD with which I gauge my arrival to the university every morning. It’s usually not on when I roll by the first time since I have a lot of early morning classes, but on free days I sometimes  see diagnostic screens, Windows startup, and the plethora of error dialogs that the operator has to click through before getting to the day’s scheduled programming. Sometimes I dream of hijacking it for giggles.

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Culmination.

It was an 8-day Thai funeral.

Cremation (and for Max and I, ordination) was on the last day.

Ashes were spread on the nearby Chi river this morning (9th day).

Nam is still working on the aftermath, even now. These are some photos from one of the outfits (HD-ELEE Studio) covering it.

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Fire, No Water, Burn.

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During the Songkran water festival,  a fire truck came around to refill its tanks at the pond in front of our house.  The trucks normally spend the duration of the festivities driving along the main strips downtown and basically enjoying being the kings of the country-wide watertfight. On this day, however, a huge fire broke out within a mile of our house and this truck was not at all ready to do its job… The next day we saw another fire truck spraying people during the waterfights,  so obviously, Songkran is the worst time of year to have a fire in Thailand.

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Dim Sum Breakfast

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Breakfast places are few and far between in Sarakham, but this place is ok sometimes.

(these were among Taro’s GoPro photos from last month)

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Somdet Phra Theppharatratsuda Chao Fa Maha Chakri Sirindhorn Ratthasimakhunakonpiyachat Sayamborommaratchakumari

AKA Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn, Thailand’s Princess Royal, came to our university to open my faculty’s new building today (Official title: The Local Knowledge Learning Center). Pretty much every Thai staff member/teacher wears an official white uniform to these ceremonies, so it was fun being the only person in a black pinstriped suit (those not wearing dress whites wore white or black suits, but nobody else had pinstripes – I’m so happy I had this one made all those years ago because it’s BOSS). There was much discussion leading up to today’s event about where the best place to enter the campus and park would be, with some teachers coming in hours before the ceremony started, but I snuck in through an unguarded back gate on my scooter and talked my way past three roadblocks five minutes before assembly time. Then I sweated through the next three hours, happy I had an undershirt and a folding fan. It was glorious.

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Phu Farm Canned Foods

Phu Farms… As aptly named as a company can be…

Silkwork larvae are a snack I’ve had in Korea and Cambodia as well, and they don’t taste so bad. They are a good novelty food after a few beers. The canned frogs, however, are, well…

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New canned food display at Nam’s university shop featuring locally conceived products
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Silkworm pupae – YUM!

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Mina approves (well, she did before we opened the cans)

 
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MANDATORY “YOU MAY LOSE YOUR LUNCH” WARNING
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The shopkeeper gave Nam a sample of the new product – canned frogs!