Armpit: 1. The cavity beneath the junction of the arm and shoulder; somewhere or something considered unpleasant or undesirable.
It is hot as shit here. I mean it is scary hot and I like hot weather. I don't know how people survive in this heat. There are actually air-conditioned buses and non-air-conditioned buses. Not that I'm going to get on a bus here but it's still interesting.
I can't take a country seriously that doesn't have soap, toilet paper, and some way to dry off your hands after you've gone to the bathroom. This is especially egregious when I'm in a restaurant. If the cook takes a crap and then can't wash his hands . . . well . . . And I'm not particularly fussy about that kind of stuff. I can pee in a hole. I can pee in an open-air restroom. I can pee with a woman cleaning the urinal next to me. But I'd like to see the kitchen staff washing their hands.
We got to Bangkok today. I don't trust myself on travel days as a general rule. I'm tired; I'm disoriented; I'm culture-shocked, so I find everything a bit not-up-to-snuff. My normal rule is to go to bed and get up after I've rested. That being said I'm going with the word "armpit" to describe my initial impression.
I booked our room three months ago. I didn't book the most expensive room but I paid the hotel far, far in advance. We open the window and look directly at a huge, lit 7-11 convenience store sign right outside, one story up from Chaos Street. Someone isn't going to sleep tonight. I complained sweetly. They moved us one room up and one room over. I can only see 2/3rds of the sign now and can't make out every word being spoken on the street although I can get the jist of most conversations.
Perhaps I should go to bed now. It will all be better tomorrow. Not that it's that bad right now.
Thursday, January 7, 2016
Wednesday, January 6, 2016
Irony
Irony: A statement that, when taken in context, may actually mean something different from, or the opposite of, what is written literally.
My old sponsor is chairing a meeting here in town and he asked SuperK to lead the meeting. I was introducing myself to a few of the people at the meeting because I was the new guy at the meeting. This one dude, unbidden, said he hadn't been at the meeting in a while because he had been in Lao. Frankly, I could give a shit where he had been. I hate people who start conversations by talking about themselves. I wasn't two sentences into my interaction with this guy but I was already bored. But You People have taught me to be polite, to bite my tongue, to swallow my bile, so I inquired, politely, where is Lao, exactly? I did not know that apparently, maybe, people in Southeast Asia drop the ess sound when pronouncing the name of the country Laos. I've never heard it pronounced any other way.
This man says: "It's a country. The one right next to this one."
I am not making this up.
I paused briefly and went through the drill. What I want to say. What I deserve to say. What I will say. To this pompous ass.
"Um, I haven't ever heard it pronounced without the ess," I said, mildly.
Frankly, I was ticked off as the meeting started. The format is for the chairperson to read a few paragraphs from the Big Book and then to expound briefly. My dear wife read the section on Resentments. As in: The Number One offender. Killed more people than just about any other character defect. We must absolutely, positively be rid of them. Or they may kill us.
I am not making this up, either.
My old sponsor is chairing a meeting here in town and he asked SuperK to lead the meeting. I was introducing myself to a few of the people at the meeting because I was the new guy at the meeting. This one dude, unbidden, said he hadn't been at the meeting in a while because he had been in Lao. Frankly, I could give a shit where he had been. I hate people who start conversations by talking about themselves. I wasn't two sentences into my interaction with this guy but I was already bored. But You People have taught me to be polite, to bite my tongue, to swallow my bile, so I inquired, politely, where is Lao, exactly? I did not know that apparently, maybe, people in Southeast Asia drop the ess sound when pronouncing the name of the country Laos. I've never heard it pronounced any other way.
This man says: "It's a country. The one right next to this one."
I am not making this up.
I paused briefly and went through the drill. What I want to say. What I deserve to say. What I will say. To this pompous ass.
"Um, I haven't ever heard it pronounced without the ess," I said, mildly.
Frankly, I was ticked off as the meeting started. The format is for the chairperson to read a few paragraphs from the Big Book and then to expound briefly. My dear wife read the section on Resentments. As in: The Number One offender. Killed more people than just about any other character defect. We must absolutely, positively be rid of them. Or they may kill us.
I am not making this up, either.
Tuesday, January 5, 2016
Zen-Like Pu
Pu also went on an extended rift describing The Four Noble Truths. He had nothing at all to say about the The Four Tops or The Four Seasons or touching all four bases. The Four Truths, paraphrased are:
1. You are going to suffer. Suffering can be defined as "that which is difficult to bear."
2. Suffering is caused by YOU when you try to avoid something you think is unpleasant or try to cling to something you find pleasurable.
3. You can end suffering.
4. There is a path to ending that suffering, and good luck dealing with that motherfucker.
That was not a very Zen-like, Buddhist-ey word, and for that I apologize although not sincerely and with a tone that suggests heavy sarcasm even though I'm writing and not speaking. The point is that you normally can't pick up tone with the written word.
Anyway, the path has components and you're not going to want to hear this shit, either.
1. Right view, or understanding of the nature of things which is it's enough already with the trying to get a whole lot of good stuff and with the trying to completely, totally avoid the bad stuff. It's just stuff.
2. Right thought.
3. Right speech.
4. Right action.
5. Right effort, or trying to do what is right to the best of our ability.
6. Right livelihood, or trying to be a good member of society.
7. Right mindfulness.
8. Right concentration, or being where you is at.
Again, The Fellowship in slightly different words, right? Try to think, act, and speak well; accept things for what they are; be kind to others; live in the minute.
1. You are going to suffer. Suffering can be defined as "that which is difficult to bear."
2. Suffering is caused by YOU when you try to avoid something you think is unpleasant or try to cling to something you find pleasurable.
3. You can end suffering.
4. There is a path to ending that suffering, and good luck dealing with that motherfucker.
That was not a very Zen-like, Buddhist-ey word, and for that I apologize although not sincerely and with a tone that suggests heavy sarcasm even though I'm writing and not speaking. The point is that you normally can't pick up tone with the written word.
Anyway, the path has components and you're not going to want to hear this shit, either.
1. Right view, or understanding of the nature of things which is it's enough already with the trying to get a whole lot of good stuff and with the trying to completely, totally avoid the bad stuff. It's just stuff.
2. Right thought.
3. Right speech.
4. Right action.
5. Right effort, or trying to do what is right to the best of our ability.
6. Right livelihood, or trying to be a good member of society.
7. Right mindfulness.
8. Right concentration, or being where you is at.
Again, The Fellowship in slightly different words, right? Try to think, act, and speak well; accept things for what they are; be kind to others; live in the minute.
Karma, Kramer
Karma: A force or law of nature which causes one to reap what one sows; destiny; fate.
Pu spoke at length about karma. I think I have a tendency to over think this concept, to concentrate on the reincarnation implications, to worry that if I step on a snake that I'll come back as a rattler in my next life. But, really, aren't we trying to say that if you live well - if you try not to harm or disturb others - that you'll feel a sense of gratitude and happiness?
Again, I say, how complicated is that? That's not complicated at all. That's just about the most common-sense thing I've ever heard.
Pu put it this way: "We don't worry about heaven and hell. Nobody knows what's going to happen next. So if you're happy right now, then you're in heaven and if you're unhappy then you're in hell." He believes that heaven and hell are concepts that were put into place to control people, to make them afraid so that they're easily manipulate. He suggests that there's no proof that either exist.
Some of this stuff has been hard for me to wrap my westernized mind around.
Pu spoke at length about karma. I think I have a tendency to over think this concept, to concentrate on the reincarnation implications, to worry that if I step on a snake that I'll come back as a rattler in my next life. But, really, aren't we trying to say that if you live well - if you try not to harm or disturb others - that you'll feel a sense of gratitude and happiness?
Again, I say, how complicated is that? That's not complicated at all. That's just about the most common-sense thing I've ever heard.
Pu put it this way: "We don't worry about heaven and hell. Nobody knows what's going to happen next. So if you're happy right now, then you're in heaven and if you're unhappy then you're in hell." He believes that heaven and hell are concepts that were put into place to control people, to make them afraid so that they're easily manipulate. He suggests that there's no proof that either exist.
Some of this stuff has been hard for me to wrap my westernized mind around.
Monday, January 4, 2016
Pu, The Buddhist
Balance: Mental equilibrium; mental health; calmness, a state of remaining clear-headed and unperturbed.
We took a long drive to visit a Thai national park yesterday - Doi Inthanon - by a little village dude named Pu. I admit that it did kick off my male juvenile sense of humor briefly but I transcended the impulse to make it the theme for the day. On the 2 hour trip I got him talking about Buddhism. I sensed that he was a little hesitant but once he saw that SuperK and I were really interested and in possession of some personal knowledge of this philosophy he warmed up and spoke at length. Always salespeople, eh wot? Get 'em talking and listen to what they say.
And I'm always amazed at how all of the great religions and spiritual philosophies, despite significant differences in dogma and orthodoxy, usually boil down to the same solid, common-sense shit. From my notes . . .
Three facets of a happy life:
1. Take the middle path.
2. Live happily.
3. No harm or injury to others.
Who can improve on that? I laugh at how often I hear how important it is to get in the middle of everything. I think that's one of my main philosophies of life: balance. Pu said and I paraphrase: "If you stand of the right side all you can see is the right and the middle. If you stand on the left side all you can see is the left and the middle. But if you stand in the middle . . . well, you can see everything now, can't you?
He also said one day traveling is the equivalent of one hundred days reading. As a voracious reader I'm tempted to take exception to that but I get the point, actually. Get out there and meet people and experience life. I confess to occasionally picking up a book and realizing that, although I read it at one point, I have no recollection of the story inside. Not the case with a trip. Not the case with yesterday. It's easier to sit in a nice, comfy chair but not as satisfying after the fact than living an experience. We were tired when we got home yesterday. It was a long day but an unforgettable one.
We took a long drive to visit a Thai national park yesterday - Doi Inthanon - by a little village dude named Pu. I admit that it did kick off my male juvenile sense of humor briefly but I transcended the impulse to make it the theme for the day. On the 2 hour trip I got him talking about Buddhism. I sensed that he was a little hesitant but once he saw that SuperK and I were really interested and in possession of some personal knowledge of this philosophy he warmed up and spoke at length. Always salespeople, eh wot? Get 'em talking and listen to what they say.
And I'm always amazed at how all of the great religions and spiritual philosophies, despite significant differences in dogma and orthodoxy, usually boil down to the same solid, common-sense shit. From my notes . . .
Three facets of a happy life:
1. Take the middle path.
2. Live happily.
3. No harm or injury to others.
Who can improve on that? I laugh at how often I hear how important it is to get in the middle of everything. I think that's one of my main philosophies of life: balance. Pu said and I paraphrase: "If you stand of the right side all you can see is the right and the middle. If you stand on the left side all you can see is the left and the middle. But if you stand in the middle . . . well, you can see everything now, can't you?
He also said one day traveling is the equivalent of one hundred days reading. As a voracious reader I'm tempted to take exception to that but I get the point, actually. Get out there and meet people and experience life. I confess to occasionally picking up a book and realizing that, although I read it at one point, I have no recollection of the story inside. Not the case with a trip. Not the case with yesterday. It's easier to sit in a nice, comfy chair but not as satisfying after the fact than living an experience. We were tired when we got home yesterday. It was a long day but an unforgettable one.
Saturday, January 2, 2016
It's A Small World After All
Boy, the world is getting smaller and smaller. I remember my first few trips where it was impossible to find an ATM and very few people spoke English. There are more ATMs on my street than people, all of whom can get by in English. It makes it a lot easier.
On one of my first trips to South America with Little Westside Jonny we hired a dude in a cab to drive us all over creation. At the end of the day he took us to an ATM to get cash. We did not get any cash. He took us to another one, not that close to the first one. We did not get cash again. He took us to a third ATM, probably sweating a little and cursing a lot more. We did get the cash there although my recollection is that my card didn't work and LWSJ's did. I hope we gave him a big tip. I'm sure we did.
You know how you get an awful song stuck in your head and the only way to get rid of it is to infect someone else? I jotted down a note for this blog several days ago - I kept running into the title "Small World" and infected myself about 87 times.
My impression is that the world is going to have trouble keeping up with what we're doing to it. This is not a big city and it is not in a developed area, by any sense, it is a mess - polluted, overcrowded, run over. I can't get the sight of those zoo animals sitting in their cages while a line of diesel-spewing pick-up trucks stretched into infinity. I hope we know what we're doing. It doesn't seem so right now.
On one of my first trips to South America with Little Westside Jonny we hired a dude in a cab to drive us all over creation. At the end of the day he took us to an ATM to get cash. We did not get any cash. He took us to another one, not that close to the first one. We did not get cash again. He took us to a third ATM, probably sweating a little and cursing a lot more. We did get the cash there although my recollection is that my card didn't work and LWSJ's did. I hope we gave him a big tip. I'm sure we did.
You know how you get an awful song stuck in your head and the only way to get rid of it is to infect someone else? I jotted down a note for this blog several days ago - I kept running into the title "Small World" and infected myself about 87 times.
My impression is that the world is going to have trouble keeping up with what we're doing to it. This is not a big city and it is not in a developed area, by any sense, it is a mess - polluted, overcrowded, run over. I can't get the sight of those zoo animals sitting in their cages while a line of diesel-spewing pick-up trucks stretched into infinity. I hope we know what we're doing. It doesn't seem so right now.
The Adventure, Explained
Vacation: Freedom from some business or activity.
Lest I sound ungrateful it has been a great trip - I've seen a lot of wild stuff. It has not been an overly easy trip, though, and that is not unexpected. I knew what I was getting into and I got into it. A couple of SuperK's friends have replied to the pictures she's posted on social media with comments along the lines of "I thought vacations were supposed to be relaxing." Well, maybe. I'd call this more of an adventure or a journey or a trip, not a vacation, which has a desperate whiff of lying on your ass around a swimming pool, eating and drinking too much. There's nothing the matter with that if you've got a stressful life and you want to unwind, forget it all. I do not have a stressful life. I do not want to unwind on a beach. I live in a beach town. Why in the world would I fly 8,265 miles, in a middle coach seat, almost, to lie on a beach?
To the non-travelers out there I say this kind of adventure is more like making it through a long day at work under a deadline to get something important completed. The day itself may be stressful but the sense of accomplishment when it's over - particularly when you've done it with other people - is great. No one sits around and tells war stories about the day they didn't really have anything to do so they sat at their desk all day and fooled around on the computer. That day may be more pleasurable in the doing but it sucks in the remembering. Now, we all need a day like that from time to time but we all should experience the new and exciting from time to time, too.
It's just wrong the way the people on machines using an internal combustion engine interact with pedestrians in crosswalks here.
Lest I sound ungrateful it has been a great trip - I've seen a lot of wild stuff. It has not been an overly easy trip, though, and that is not unexpected. I knew what I was getting into and I got into it. A couple of SuperK's friends have replied to the pictures she's posted on social media with comments along the lines of "I thought vacations were supposed to be relaxing." Well, maybe. I'd call this more of an adventure or a journey or a trip, not a vacation, which has a desperate whiff of lying on your ass around a swimming pool, eating and drinking too much. There's nothing the matter with that if you've got a stressful life and you want to unwind, forget it all. I do not have a stressful life. I do not want to unwind on a beach. I live in a beach town. Why in the world would I fly 8,265 miles, in a middle coach seat, almost, to lie on a beach?
To the non-travelers out there I say this kind of adventure is more like making it through a long day at work under a deadline to get something important completed. The day itself may be stressful but the sense of accomplishment when it's over - particularly when you've done it with other people - is great. No one sits around and tells war stories about the day they didn't really have anything to do so they sat at their desk all day and fooled around on the computer. That day may be more pleasurable in the doing but it sucks in the remembering. Now, we all need a day like that from time to time but we all should experience the new and exciting from time to time, too.
It's just wrong the way the people on machines using an internal combustion engine interact with pedestrians in crosswalks here.
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