Beren

Early Sunday morning. It has been raining for days without end and it is welcome, though I have acquired a slight chest infection, I don't think it serious. The drumming of the rain on the roof.

This last week Oi and I have been watching The Lord of the Rings. I can't believe what a good job Peter Jackson did. Oi loved it. It is almost indescribable. This morning I read all about JRR Tolkien, keen to know of his life.

Gamewise, I am heavily engrossed in King's Bounty, which my dear friend, Peter would love. I have been batling orcs, goblins and pirates, and searching for hidden treasure.

Bombs and chaos shrouds Thailand, but strangely, I never feel unsafe. Although now I claim to be an anarchist (there seems little choice), this is not the anarchy I wanted for this country. It would appear to me that Thais, as a whole, are quite immature and the smiling faces of the mob seem full of stupidity and ignorance at the expense of their country. Anarchy in UK or USA yes, but for these poor souls, not yet. I have often described Thai business conduct to that of standing behind someone cooking a meal, but they are cooking it wrong and you are unable to intervene. This is why at Smart English, I have taken the position of strictly being only a teacher. They take offense when you offer advise and will do things their own way anyway. Fair enough, but don't expect anything from me other than what you pay for. Oi has witnessed this too at the school she has just left. The hell-bent banker/owner is driving teachers and students away from the place with his sadistic tendencies. Or maybe, as I suggested, he is purposely running the school into the ground in order to sell that land later on.

Thais are amazing to watch. So kind and yet fatally flawed. Too simple for the new world and close to nature, though they would sell it all for a new car. A funny one I noticed years ago was that they will trick you and lie to you almost daily, but if you do it to them, they never see it coming.

I know so well with Oi that I have found someone I truly admire. She is way ahead of me. Maybe like Tony, there is not a bad bone in her body. She is like an elf in the movie, always good, always calm. What makes her different from other Thai girls I have known is her intelligence, keen sense of interest and fair play. I bought her Call of the Wild book on our 2 day honeymoon in Songkhla. Since then, she has been an avid reader and is amassing a veritable library. I am mightily chuffed and we have a brief read every night before falling asleep, or rather she falls asleep and I lay there wondering about crap. I knew of the lesson, that when choosing a wife, you have to look at the qualities that you know to be true, the qualities that will mean you will make it through together. And every time I ponder this I know she is near perfect, and beyond what I should have got. I, for one, could so easily have married a lesser soul, drawn by the promise of the women in the lace. Somehow, I listened to a voice and did something really, really right for a change. Again , this comes from living in the absolute present, being totally pure and aware of what is happening to you and flowing with the river.

...but of course, one must never relax or become complacent, which is why I keep myself at the coalface, on the battlefield of human existance, among the salt and best people in the world, who will always be the poorest and the selfless. It is with these people that I must stay and do what I can to help. One doesn't have to climb far to see the corruption of power.

Another 800 billion!

Announced today the US Federal Reserve is to print off another 800 billion of the money press!

Just go to the New York Times website and read some of the 200+ comments from readers dumbfounded by this action of the US government. I remember my old history teacher, Mr. O'Brian, telling us of post WWI Germany and how the money was left on the street and it was the basket holding the money that was stolen.

I'll cut and paste a few for your perusal;

This is completely crazy- the cure for overspending and excessive debt is NOT more spending and debt!

Pumping all of this cash into our financial system is going to cause hyperinflation!

— Mary, Md.

Isn't it obvious no one knows what they are doing? Nevertheless, they're printing dollars fast enough to guarantee another crisis - a crisis of confidence in the dollar. STOP and THINK!

In addition to the brewing dollar crisis, they are guaranteeing a winner-loser scenario in which some of us get bailed out and others do not. I have a lot of losses in my 401K. Will they be replaced? No! My neighbor purchased his house for no money down and, in fact, didn't pay "rent" for a year. They're rewriting his mortgage so that he now owes less money on an "investment" for which he never paid. Best of all, I get to pay for it!

When they bail out GM's pensioners, what will they tell all the people who have lost their life savings? How are people living in small apartments going to feel when they see a documentary about Bill Fuld (lately of Lehmann Bros.) decorating his fourth home.

Doesn't anyone see that the government, in its haste, is about to tear this country apart, person by person, by creating winners and losers? This kind of thing will not go away! Why isn't anyone talking about what the real people are saying? Read the comments on the NY Times website and you will see the escalating anger, frustration and outrage!

— Shane, NE

Why is it that most people I speak to, most people on this posting board (and every other one I read and post to) and most people on "main street" seem to recognize the fundamental flaw (creating credit from debt) with the plan that Washington is pushing (with our tax money), and the likelihood that it will be completely disastrous?

And why is it that the only ones who DON'T seem to recognize this spendthrift attempt at resolving the economic issues at hand as absurd are the ones who are trying to "rescue" us?

— James Edin, Chicago, IL

Jim - go check the site. Actually, the New York Times seems to be one of the best news site.

The Dangerous J.

Whiskey Fuelled Rant

To inform one that one has recovered from one's whiskey-fuelled rant, and although I make no apology for my "mouthing off", I mean of course not to offend those associated with me.

And though appreciative of concern for my mental state, it is not necessary to refer me to cheap self help books.

Now....where did I put that drink?

The Dangerous J.

Yes I am drunk

yes, i am drunk and all the shit i get about my extreme views seems to be proven right and right again and anyone still supporting the monetary system, through ignorance or choice, is up to you, but don't expect me to shut up about it, because i fucking won't - just like the system (who have fucked you more than i ever will) will never shut up until they are lined up against the wall and a bullet put in their brain. I just can'r believe so many pusssies let it happen.

So, it 's up to you, allow yourselves to be slaves (though you can't see it that's what you are) or take a stand. Soon you won't have a choice when you lose your precious job and find yourselves fucked by th empire you never questioned and took to be as gospel. Like they said, it is the indifference of the good man which is more evil than even the evil man. You fuckers you refused to see it coming. You will reap what you sow. So small minded you fit your place in their world. Don't you kno wthat the monetary system is design to keep you a slave, to debt. What do you owe?

It is the end of days and better are you to stand against those who would have you be servient to them than to follow their false ideology to you total demise when they abandon you and you lose you job and your income and the rest of the crap you work for and belive in (so you tell me).

You got just a few years left.

Walk Away (from the Machine)

The shit is really starting to hit the fan and there has never been a better time to get the fuck away from the bomb that is about to go off.

If you ever wanted to go to Mongolia, now is a great time to do just that.

Zeit Giest

Get hold of this movie and allow yourself to think out of the box, then progress to the next level of humanity.

Of Elves

A wee bit hungover from a night of debauchery at home with Tom, Don and sour-faced Aussie Danny. It was good fun and Oi found me passed out on the sofa at three in the morning. Apparantly I was laughing. There was also a strong stench of burning which went unattended until this morning. It wasn't toast as I suspected but it appears I had attempted to boil pasta and subsequently forgot. Thus the said pot, or chalice, boiled dry and thus the dinner was ruined. I told Oi she hasn't been taking care of me. That was a yoke, by the way.

So now, it is Saturday morning and I must take Oi to college in a moment. After this lies a day of gaming. And the new game is ....King's Bounty. Dead Space has taken a plunge as I am stuck on a torturous section requiring me to do awful, multiple tasks with no save. It may have beaten me at chapter 7 (of 12) which is a disaster, but something I can live with.

King's Bounty comes from Russia apparently and has great humour. It is fun, low-key and very pretty. Twerps and gamers take note. It's fun. I found it via a complex method of selection, involving multiple trip s to Santisook black markets.

Private classes are quite brilliant at the moment and I have devised a cunning game of Pairs or Palmanism (to those more educated) with idioms replacing the standard playing cards. They love it. I am preparing myself to make one with monsters, elves and the like.

I was amused to read of Elves, talking of Elves, queuing outside the game shop in Oxford street for up to 2 days to buy the expansion pack to World of Warcraft, Don't worry, my furry friends, I don't and never will play this game, but I do find it highly amusing that simple folk are dressing up as fairies and goblins and queuing to buy a game. Another prime example of where we are, in terms of society collapse.

More on elves as I am currently DLing Lord of the Rings to watch again. It is such a great movie. My favourite being Fellowship.

More later...

Down, Down, Down

Like the great ship Titantic, the world economy continues it's long voyage to the bottom. The news has never been so fascinating and one can watch new headlines pouring in with each passing minute. The New York Times seems to me to be the best news site, and one of today's headlines is concerning the mounting cars sitting on the dock tarmac in sunny California. "The ships keep coming in" cries the dock worker, but the dealers aren't buying. And the cardboard that gets sent back to china for box maunfacturing isn't required either, creating a nice double whammy. Ya, the car industry is in major meltdown and we may see GM go under.

And job losses. 50,000 in one hit from Citibank. "Jeepers!", as my Divinity teacher, Bomber Brown corrected an excited boy who shouted out, "Jesus!" in one fine class. As you know, thousands are being laid off across multiple sectors. The farm has never been so appealing.

That said, last night I talked with Gee and Oi about forming a new partnership together. Get this; one nasty parent who I had just rejected teaches her kid on a one-on-one basis (I don't do that boring game), shot back at Gee and told her that I would probably soon ditch her as my business partner and take up business soley with Oi, thus keeping all the loot to ourselves. Oh, foolish wench. She obviously doesn't know what Gee and I have been through together and of our great mutual respect. Gee is and always with be awesome. Some Thai business wmoen have also been trying to steal Gee away from me to go working for another private teaching gig. Again, they don't know that our partnership is based on fun and good times, not on cold, hard cash and being cunts to each other, like so many of the rest. I am pissed that folk have tried this on, but very proud of Gee who has rebuffed all such offers. Anyway, next year may bring great things. Oi and Gee are both super-lovely people who love children before the Yankie dollar any day. And you can see that in the kids faces and their reluctance to go home at the end of class.

What have I learnt from this? How quickly, and I am not infallible by any means, human beans will shit on each other if they can smell the green or power. Pretty disgusting actually. I have always made it my point to be so damn perfect in my work that no-one can touch me. It's easy if you try because no one else does. And very importantly, NOT to think about the money but on the work in front of you. The cash is a nice bonus, but only still a by-product to the core activity. Suck it and see.

I ain't touched a drop os liquer since last Friday and have been exercising at home and at the uni. I am determined never to be fat and fucked-up. Actually, once you kick out the crap things you do, it soon falls away and I have slimmed down a tad after just a few days. Last night I suggested to Oi that I wanted one of the cans of Guinness that had been sitting in the fridge since last Saturday when she offered to go and get me a fruit shake from the market outside. So, I had a banana and pineapple shake instead. I didn't even have dinner and I wasn't hungry either. Good show. I am sure marriage can encourage self destructive menfolk to take better care of their bodies and health.

I spy on Gamespot that more games are being released and it is my intention to pop down to the black market and aquire a few more for the stockpile. The Witcher, Tomb Raider Underground and Left for Dead all look fun. I am on about Chapter 7 of 12 of Dead Space and will indeed finish this most excellent game.

Music - srangely enough I have been pulling out the few World Party tracks off of my hard drive and recounting the wisom in Ship of Fools and Is It Like Today. Good stuff.

John Zerzan has done some good shows and is taking a more international perspective which I appreciate. I sent him the link abou the Korean woman so obsessed with cosmetic surgery, that when her prescribed injection at home supply of blotox or whatever ran out, she started injecting cooking oil into her face. The results and "before" picture would leave you feeling awful and in despair.

Pirates off Somalia - cool (not really)! Shame they got driven to it after their fishing waters got so polluted and empty as they watch endless lines of oil tankers chugg past their homes.

Seemingly endless stories of murder and beating coming out of UK as I read the tabloids there.

Thaksin divorced his wife. A plot to gain re-entry into the UK or to claw back his frozen millions. No go - i hope. Fancy sacrificing your marriage for the possibly of material gain. In any eyes, he must have lost credibility over that - or maybe not in this declining society.

Anyway, hopefully the rain has stopped here for a moment and I should rush out and buy me some zombies to blast.

End of Days

It's been a week of running through dark, de-pressurized corridors frantically trying to avoid multi-limbed aliens fraught on my demise. Such has been Dead Space and I have had to stop playing as the stress levels were too great, and I am only about halfway through. Far Cry 2 and Fallout 3 are still waiting for play.

It's been a funny old week actually and SMart English's crap performance has once again been raising it's lazy head. Sometimes you just want to let them drown as they seemed so determined to do so. I think however I can make a little escape plan with Oi, who is thankfully no part of it. Oi really impresses me. She is very cool and makes lots of sensible decisions. Maybe in the future her and I can do something and forget about some of the other cronies who seem destined to screw up everything they attempt.

Saw a great movie this week; The Boondock Saints - about a couple of Irish thugs in Boston. It is awesome. Check it out.

Utube has been great and when I have had a couple of Guinness's I play Beatles tracks to Oi. Slowly she is learning some but it probably won't get further than that.

It's has been raining a lot which has been pleasant, yet everything is damp and soggy which is a slight pain. It tends to be humid too, but sleeping it blissful with the rain outside.

I had half a notion to drag Oi to Nepal in March which would be awesome and probably not too expensive from here.

The boys are all fine. Don got another job; - 17 hours a week for 35,000 Baht. hat's fucking better than me and I have been with my lot for years now. Such is life. I cannot complain as I am pretty happy and have all the home comforts I need.

It's the burial of the King's sis this weekend who died back in Feb. or something. One must watch it over here as one is likely to loose one's head at even coughing near the royal family. All a bit stupid and I wouldn't like to know too much about the stuff they have been involved in, though I imagine it is fairly sordid. It only affects me insofar as one cannot buy beer for 3 days, whilst she is sent off to wherever she's going.

I couldn't believe Bush is still fucking things up with his latest plea that the financial crisis has nothing to do with the capitalist system. Yes, of course, schooling the population to be greedy is healthy and could never have negative consequences. What a twat. Even BBC radio said "He is likely to experience serious opposition to this view". I heard he was crying when he met Obama. Poor black guy, fairly typical that he should inherit the pile of shite handed to him by a dry drunk white bastard.

The redundancies have started. Next is mass unemployed massing on the streets and some good old property damage going on - oh sorry, if I offended anyone, to suggest such a thing. Just might be a consequence of having no job, no money and no-where to live. Any form of anarchism won't happen because it's trendy or cool. It will happen through the natural course of things - the peasants are revolting, Sire.

I see Donald Trump is building a fucking huge golf course complex on the West coast of Scotland. 500 luxury apartments and 1,000 luxury houses, and a big fuck-off golf course for rich twats to knock a ball around. The radio reporters tried to interview a lone horse rider they met on the isolated beach. She couldn't say anything, such was her rage. Hopefully some brave Scot will take him out at the opening ceremony. Funny, cos I used to not completely hate Trump either, but Scottish soil is sacred in my book.

Man will never rest until the has spoiled the Earth, and a frigging rabbit said that!

Dead Pace - go buy

A quick one.

OMFG! This game Dead Space is awesome. Absolutely gripping gameplay. Reminds me of System Shock 2 only a million times better. Aliens aboard a damaged spaceship. You blow off their limbs to slow them down. Tons of extras and nail biting stuff.

Beg, borrow or steal a great PC and get this game. I guarentee you will totally love it.

JJ

A rainy Saturday morning. It was raining all night and Oi slept like a log, unlike myself. Now the bud has run out I am back to waking up at 2 o'clock in the God damn morning again. I lay there wrestling about it before coming downstairs and surfed the Net and drank some tea. I got back to sleep at about five and was up again at seven for my guitar lesson.

As stated earlier I am watching some of these TV show downloads these day. Californication is really good and David Duchanvony (?) is very cool. He shags countless women and drives around LA generally being super cool, though I thought his Wayne's World saunter was a bit embarrassing. It's a great show. Dirty Sexy Money is proving a bit of a let down as it went from brilliant to TV sap. Also, checking out new Merlin, and the old mini-series Merlin with Sam Neil and Robin of Sherwood from way back in 1984 with Sean Connery's son, Jason.

Life is fairly rosy right now and last week I taught a record-breaking four evenings on top of my daytime job. Somehow, I have adopted a very casual method of teaching which the kids seem to enjoy, and it has proven quite successful as their speaking ability "on the spot" and their confidence have both increased noticeably. Of course, teaching should be easy if you are doing it right. Like anything, there are infinite possiblities and approaches, but there is a most effective method, and it is our job as teachers to find it.

The Red Hand Gang (Lee, Tom, Don and now Patrick) are all fine and we, well Patrick and myself got very drunk last Wednesday. We abandoned the movie halfway through and indulged in a lethal cocktail of Guinness, green, Singha, Leo and Jameson's Irish Whiskey. Patrick fell down the stairs when he got back home, when he decided to have one last beer in the fridge as he was preparing for bed. We gotta stop all this one day.

Oi is as sweet and calm as ever. She still has 4 months of study which is occupying her weekend. She would much rather be sleeping. Her new job is proving good and she is enjoying meeting her new students. It's amazing how quickly one forgets the old ones.

...Saturday evening now and a relatively boring day.

I took a trip into town and picked up some new video games and subsequently gave myself a headache. Why do I still continue this torturous path? Anyway, for those interested I picked up Fry Cry 2, Dead Space and Fallout 3. All look awesome. All are so massive there seems little point in even starting the odyssey.

I watched a bunch of Californication shows which admittedly are fucking awesome and I highly recommend it. If you think I am rude and horrible, watch this show.

Oi is at uni of course and then out to help some kid or some parent or something. Fine. I sat listening to Tanita Tickaram in the dark with a glass of hot whiskey and water.

The boys will be arriving shortly, so I had best sign off.

Night all,

Of Anarchy and Peggle

Back in to the swing of things again now, as the new school term is properly underway. My life is embarrassingly comfortable, though I have made it a slightly more awkward by doing an additional private class this term; making 3 nights per week. The little darlings are all super sweet as I bribe them with Scooby Doo cartoons and video games before being escorted to the torture chamber, I mean classroom. With the young ones, (6-7 year olds) it's horrible amount of reading, at which they are excelling, lightened by some colouring or a cut and glue exercise. The older ones, it's all about talking with awful 2 minute presentations assigned to howling groans and wimpers. In at the deep end. Still, they might thank me when they're about 35.

Right now, I am just amazed at the great babes I live and work with. Oi, Phit and Gee are all very super and it's a hell of a team. Posh, frightened parents quiver at the door, stealing glances of the strange white monkey entertaining their children. I have always been fairly good at working, if nothing else, and can run rings around most people here. Even, if I am dreadfully lazy. I lead the double life I have always led; polite, shy, professional and ever so nice....and the dark, menacing, self indulgent, bloated junkie that I truly am. Such fun.

Right now, I have stopped DL movies, last ones being Evil Dead Trilogy, Flawless (Micheal Caine at his best) and moved onto TV series shows for some light relief. And oh, what corkers I have found, or think I have found. This new one, Dirty Sexy Money with Donald Sutherland started greatbut is in danger of turning into The OC, though it is tres similar to a book my brother gave me; The Winslow Legacy. And I have heard that Californication is a must with the X files dude at some disillusioned middle-class....God I can't bear to complete the sentence. Along with my theory that all things are relevant, it sounds like it parallels the empty lives so many of us lead these days.

Gaming is taking it's toll and my interest wanes with every passing day as I reach beyond puberty. When I play the Crysis Wars online, I am nearly always stoned and hence my reactions are somewhat impaired. Thus I get nailed countless times by some cocky 13 year old spud and called names like "Loser" for hanging about in one spot trying to pick off passers by, instead of charging around and flying through virtual air like most of the gam-heads. Be it so.

I think it was Oscar Wilde who said that there was nothing more vomit-inducing than a newly married couple, and I can see why when I look at the little bubble of happiness that Oi and myself find ourselves in. In over a year we are still to have cross words and can sit side by side for hours with barely a word spoke as she plays Pizza Frenzy and I play Peggle on our respective coms.

She's being very clever with her new school. Officially there as a work experience girl, as part of her degree, she speaks the best English in the school and hold no responsibility like the usual slave teachers there. She can come home at 4.30 and has no extra duties. We have to make sure these nasty Chinese school owners don't have her in shackles like the rest of their staff.

I am really enjoying Of Human Bondage and relieved I am not yet half way through. It is the only book I have read in some time that I truly love and can relish each carefully scripted line. Read it if you can.

Movie night comes around again and Tom and Don I think are both a little apprehensive of coming over these days, though of course there is no need.

We went to see Lee's baby girl the other day. Unfortunately he was absent as two of his students were in a motorcycle accident. One died. So sad this and a daily occurrence here.

The first black American pres? Good luck, son. See if you can dig your way out of the shit Bush has left you with. I am still dumbfounded at how little "fuck you Bush what the fuck have you done to our country" talk there is. I can't believe it. Has the whole world gone lame? He should be tied to the back of a horse and dragged through the streets of Baghdad in the dirt. At least the Ruskies are pushing.

Still waiting for the effects of the crash to really kick in, I notice production is slowing quite dramatically and I would anticipate large scale redundancies in the near future. I hope all my pals are okay, obviously. Once those Yankies are out on the streets with no job and no money which could see some interesting anarchistic action. And lets see if Obama is taken out within a year as Don predicted. Then, there really would be no hope for human beans.

Take care, peps.