Category: Chillin’

Just a quick warning: I am possibly the worst person in the world to hang out with if you’re a dedicated vegetarian.
I corrupted another one last night, with a tasty (insert joke here) Lao sausage, and she wants to go out and try a steak tonight. No complaints here. My message is meat, and my mission is to spread it until the end of tofu.

Just came back from my first job interview in Thailand, for a contract teaching position at a nearby university… I think I’ll try it out for a while. The people I will be working with all seem really cool, plus I need a break from salaryman mode, for a while at least.

There are two medium-sized geckos living in my bathroom. I chased one out from behind his hiding place with spray from the shower. Later, as payback, he ran over my foot as I sat on my throne and literally scared the crap out of me.

Just a quick note – we arrived to our house in Sarakham safely. We have been here for 36 hours, but our net connection was down. I have a feeling that will happen a lot here, at least more than I’d like. In the past day I’ve snored loudly while getting a massage, wielded an ancient Chinese sword, and met an astronaut. More on this later…

We are emptying out the house at midnight and listening to Neil Finn.

The shipper came to pick up my two cubic meters of stuff and friends came by to help relieve us of furniture and 100V electronics (Thailand is 220 – 240VAC). We are wasted. The house is almost empty. My beloved hikari line (FTTH) and wireless card are shut off. I’m surfing in seemingly slow motion from a neighbor’s open wifi access point (and sadly, still getting twenty times the speed I will have in the Thai countryside, although, come to think of it, I’ll trade bandwidth for mangosteens any day of the week). I’ll miss B-Flets, but happily take 3 dollar foot massages in return.

Also, my Towers of Power are gone – one (Blacky) in the shipment today, bound for the port of Bangkok on a pallet, and the other (Whitey) in my newly-purchased hardwalled suitcase (note: My PC naming skills are severely PC-inhibited – my laptop’s name is Jappy). I’m using a laptop as my main for the first time in years, and my soul is screaming for a decent GPU. Oh, fuck this, I refuse to fall as far in geek apathy as writing an ode to refresh rates…
…..
BTW, we are out of Japan on Friday. Goodbye rising sun, hello land of smiles.

…you have lived in for a long time, there are certain truths you must face.
This is somewhat unpleasant, like suddenly feeling queasy after just a couple of drinks at a club, after not having imbibed for months and suddenly acting like a lightweight, and just as inevitable as puking into the gutter. A seemingly long period of wishing you hadn’t done what you did, followed by complete release and relief.

Thanks to three different departments at city hall (including one who claims my wife “does not exist”), the tax office, the social security fund office, NTT, international banking problems, and my landlord, my head is about to explode.
Luckily, living vicariously through the exploits of The Claw operator at the end of my street serves as a good release:


The Claw

Just came back from the last trip to the dentist. That’s 7 visits in one month – one root canal, 5 cavities, and today, a lengthy cleaning and some adjustments with a YAG laser.
My dentist turned out to be an okay guy – he treated my wife last year as well and we talked about Thailand a lot in between sessions with the Pick of Pain and the Drill of Evil. He didn’t even charge me for the cleaning and lasering sesh today, an unexpected treat.

Counting today, I have three days of work left. After that, I have three weeks to get my affairs in order and move to Thailand.
It’s been six and a half years since I was last unemployed. Plus, there’s the whole thing about learning a new language and culture… I must admit, I am nervous as I approach this next stage of life.
On the other hand: Freedom! Starting over in a new country! Learning a new language and culture!
When I start thinking about what I’m thinking about too much, I need to force myself to just accept the unknown, accept that I cannot control or even plan for everything. It goes against my nature somehow, but at the same time, it’s the only way I know.