March 2013 – C. Buddha's Hasty Musings

Sketching reality

“Max, Mina! Do you remember when the baby bird fell from its nest and daddy had to climb the wall to put it back?”

“What do you think happened to that bird? Did it grow up to be a big bird? What does it look like now?”

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Oh, baby!

Cheesy Sauce

The other day I was welcomed home by an enthusiastic Max, who excitedly reported that he had eaten a whole plate of spaghetti, ran around like crazy, then barfed it up into one of my shoes.

Mina will be going to school with Max after summer break. Mommy took her to buy uniforms (blue is for Fridays, and Thursday they wear uniform running suits), and she immediately wanted to try them on.

Photos

View from Thai Watsadu

2013-03-09 17.49.28 — Exiting a home center in Roi-Et to face the setting sun.

We is all fugees

I guess I’m not the only one running to the People’s Republic of TOR before my RSS homeland disappears forever, joining its old arch rival Bloglines, or for that matter, its distant cousins Buzz, Wave, and Lively… but I guess the social features were amputated already, so…

I’m also trying Feedly, which is nicely designed but somehow difficult to use.

Mystery VIP Car, Khon Kaen

I raced this car home back to Sarakham last week.

Perhaps the ugliest sedan I've ever seen. — Perhaps the ugliest sedan I’ve ever seen.

I guess the driver was worried about spilling his Grey Poupon, because he had me on the straightaways (kind of rare because my wife’s VQ30-powered Cefiro A33 smokes almost everything under 2 million baht; such is the sad state of affairs in many road-tax-by-engine-displacement countries) , but slowed way down on the curves. I’m kind of sad because I don’t even know what kind of car it is, but if I had to guess — Chinese Bentley? Korean Cadillac?

Either way, it was hideous. Almost as bad as the ugliest car ever made, which I’ve been seeing kind of often lately.

UPDATE: Of course, Chris the master of all things with engines, called it – this is definitely a Mitsuoka, probably a Galue-III. It’s the first I’ve ever seen, having been in Thailand almost the whole time they’ve been produced, and it totally matches with what I saw. On another page it says this car “incorporates styling touches from such classic designs as the ’94 Cadillac Fleetwood.” Also, the specs indicate it was loaded with the same type of engine in our Cefiro, but newer and with higher output – either a VQ-25HR or VQ-35HR. Interestingly enough, the Galue-III was made in both RWD and AWD.

Dirty dogs at Burapha U

There are many.

Food
Photos

You say iodated, I say iodized

Let’s call the whole thing off.

Food
Photos

Dynamite

A couple of Pinoy exchange students came over to the house last month to make some food, and we had a party with their classmates and some teachers. In order to avoid posting any incriminating evidence, I will limit myself to a single photograph here:

20130226max-schoolshow011 — Making the fabled dish called Dynamite. Some of these peppers are just a little spicy, but about 1 in 5 are head-exploders. The peppers are stuffed, then rolled in a long egg roll skin and deep fried.

One of these kids was about half my age and played really classic songs on the guitar – it’s unnerving to hear songs from when I was a child played by someone younger than the original artists’ kids (or maybe even grandkids!) – Woodie Guthrie, Kansas, Bread, etc., etc., I want an 8-track player for my Crown now.

Also, the food was really good.

Thanks, Bryllie and Job! Maybe I’ll make it around to the University of Luzon some time..

Max’s Art Attack

Max can’t get enough of this old series on TV called Art Attack, and gets a lot of inspiration from it. One of his recent creations was made from items found in the kitchen, and he proudly announced he had made an elephant sculpture:

I’ve been keeping it in my shower for a while now, and the green algae growing on the sides only adds to its charm.

Chillin'

Things to chew on

I hate waiting.

When I’m waiting somewhere in an office, or in a line, or in a classroom with nothing better to do, I find myself thinking about other things that annoy me.

Like, you know when you’re walking in an air-conditioned shopping mall in a third world country, with only tall glass separating your sterile consumerist biosphere from the rotten hell that surrounds you? The knowledge that when you step outside those doors, the stench of poor people will cling to your chest, so why not walk around some more? Being born into this world where you’ve been lucky enough to be among the people wasting time inside, as opposed to one of the desperate souls rooting through the garbage looking for cans outside, is the ultimate reason you’re able to justify the guilt of being in such a position – it really wasn’t your doing anyway.

Or, you know when you see old houses that haven’t been kept up and some of the roofing tiles are missing or out of place?

Or how seeing some young asshole reminds you of yourself (maybe not so) long ago?

Yeah, shit like that annoys me.

That’s why I hate waiting.