-
Breaking the silence
I’ve been away from blogging just taking it easy after the accident, mostly just playing with the kids and waiting for an estimate for my car. We haven’t decided what to do with it yet, it depends on whether it’s worth fixing or not. As I wrote about before, the shop that screwed the brakes wants to pay only half for the repairs… I’m not willing to let them off so easy, but am waiting for the estimate to continue negotiations. Meanwhile, this is the best thing I’ve watched in ten days:
-
I’m still alive
Almost fucking died today. My car saved me. My reactions saved me. An inept mechanic almost killed me, and is now lying to save his job. — At about 10:00 this morning, I dropped off my car at a local garage called Prasertyon to get brakes on my just-restored Crown fixed. The brake pedal lost pressure yesterday and the brakes were locking on one side this morning, so it needed to be done. Prasertyon had overhauled the entire brake system for me a couple years before, so I thought they would be familiar with my old car and do a good job… Nam and I piled the kids in her…
-
Es verdad.
During my first year of study at Tenri University in Japan, I met my cousin Erisa. She was from a line of my dad’s family, the Yoshidas, who emigrated to Mexico, whereas my family went to Los Angeles. I never even really knew we had Mexican relatives until I met Erisa. She spoke zero English, and I spoke high school level Spanish (just enough to not be able to do anything with), but we were both starting to learn Japanese, so we ended up using that over the time she was in Japan (just a couple of years, whereas I stayed for 13 or 14 cumulatively). We were both totally…
-
Senor Bauer
Here’s a clip of Jack Bauer’s (real life) South American counterpart, just in case you’ve forgotten what an awesome show 24 was. “Para impedir a fuga de suspeitos de transportar carga ilegal para o Brasil, policiais federais de Ribeirão Preto (314 km de São Paulo) atiraram um carro da corporação contra o avião que era usado pelo grupo. Com a ação, os agentes da PF–que filmaram o momento da abordagem– conseguiram impedir a decolagem do avião. A operação terminou com a prisão de cinco suspeitos –incluindo o piloto do avião– e apreensão de uma carga estimada em R$ 200 mil em notebooks, equipamentos de vigilância eletrônica e uma bicicleta. Os produtos,…
-
Honest answers
Q: “Max, why did you hit Mina?” A: “She’s bad.” Q: “Mina, why are you eating the whole drumstick, bone and all?” A: “Hungry.” Q: “Max, why don’t you want to go to school?” A: “I want to watch Mickey Mouse.” Q: “Mina, why did you pee on the bed?” A: “No diaper.” Q: “Max, what sound does a giraffe make?” A: “No sound.” Q: “Mina, do you love daddy? A: “No!” Q: “Daddy has ice cream. Do you love daddy?” A: “Yes!” Q: “Which do you love more, daddy or ice cream?” A: “Ice cream!” Q: “Wrong answer. Let’s try again, shall we? Daddy or ice cream?” A: “WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!…
-
B-boys in Phuket
MAx and Mina got a real kick out of this. As you can see, the guy performing started out right next to us. UPDATE: Their floor routines were super tight, too. I think this is one of them performing solo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=C3J1jkYZNwE
-
Stop poking your face!
I finally found out who taught Mina to (irritatingly) pose for photos like a Japanese gyaru… She works at my wife’s uni, so I won’t say much except that she’ll find out about karma if she ever has kids — I’ll be teaching them to flip off every camera they see. I must admit, this habit Mina has picked up is kind of cute, but she does it in every shot. That’s OK, having the culprit’s baby giving the bird in every photo will be cute as hell, too. @ Jungceylon, Patong Beach, Phuket
-
Dragon Wing
It’s never too rainy to make fun of other people’s rice. Here’s an Isuzu Dragon pickup with multiple rows of covered subwoofers and a rear spoiler worthy of a Red Sun’s RX-7:
-
Fresh honey
Yesterday I bought some fresh honey at a friend’s house. I have different samples from roadside stands all over Thailand; they’re sold in recycled whiskey bottles. The prices generally range from 150 to 200 baht per bottle. Yesterday was the cheapest I’ve seen it in a long time, 120 baht. Update: Yes, the seller is filtering out debris and drowned bees out with a fish net.
