Caterpillar

Well, the quest, although massive, is going well. I just got out of an abandoned mine and found the rare ingredient for some sick warrior princess to make her feel better. The new graphics card is proving super and the game plays so smoothly, it's a joy. Trouble is, is becomes a bit of an obsession. Desperately jugging real life with fantasy.

Oi meanwhile has disappeared into her own world of handicraft, making pretty T-shirts by sewing beads and tiny sparkly shapes to them. They look good and she loves doing it.

Grace is still sick, but being well taken care of. She is resting and we stopped the cows milk. Oi has now bought some Brown Rice milk which looks okay. And on the Net I have read about goats milk which gets good reports and Oi thinks will be available here.

The Thai minefield of being deceived by doctors is just frightening, and it doesn't just come from the hospital but by the few giant corporations who run a monopoly here; Nestle, Nivea and whoever makes Enfapro. I find it disgusting and even for me it is very difficult to decipher the truth, for some humble wide-eyed Thai, well, it must be like the Death Star mind probe. The whole country is bound up in some collective stranglehold. Oi has made some interesting comments, Pamper is UK are far superior to Pampers in Thailand. What's going on, guys? Making folk pay through the nose and giving them an inferior product with a designer label. Food, too is a concern. UK veg is crunchy, Thai veg, soft and limp. Like with the beer, so much stuff is just not available here, and you are given a weak choice all emanating from the same company. Sad. Like so much here, one has to carefully find the small, quality things that exist here and stick rigidly to it. I have found a bakery that makes a good loaf, cheap gin, fried bananas and an array of good stuff that hasn't been detected by the machine. I heard there has been trouble in whoretown, Dannock as Tescos plan to move in there. Locals are dead against it as it operates on street venders and bartering. Tescos would destroy all that and thus, take away that which is so much of the charm of Thailand, the life on the street.

Saw Tony and a new chap, Mark from Canada last night. Good fun.

Yesterday I discovered one of our prized plants under massive attack from nasty, stinging caterpillars. There were about thirty of them racing through a fine fern. I rushed to see the old man in the shop at the end of the road. He gave me some magic powder which I carefully mixed and sprayed over the bugs. Two hours later they were all on the ground, dead or dying. A sad reality, but the plant was shredded and Oi said they would have killed it and moved on to another plant. So, they had to be terminated.

I Spit on the Emperor

Followers will be pleased to learn of my victory over the kingslayer, Letho. As I said, I got my rig taken up to beautiful settings and I was in the game at a very tricky boss figure, thug assassin and all round bad boy, Letho. Aghast with my inability to swipe the oink I delved into the Net to learn of his weakness. Today I achieved this and put him to bed (he actually lives and buggers off for a later encounter). It was horrible, but once I had learned his moves, I had him.

This leads me back into the glorious game. Back to the village and to further the adventure. It's great fun, especially when you are loaded with gin and weed.

Grace is much better and it is Friday night, so a couple of days of taking it very easy ahead. I stocked up on tonic for the occasion.

Oi is having a great time with her T-shirt venture. She is sowing a beautiful butterfly onto a shirt with hope to develop some kind of income from this. I am glad she is happy and free to persue something like this, and not work in some shitty school all hours of the day and paid nothing, as would be her typical future.

Ebooks are being read, namely Battles of the Dark Ages, Melvin whispers about Tea, Bede and Jung. All totally fascinating. And Oom became a fan of Carcassonne and was requesting games. Holy Shit! As if life couldn't get any better. Someone actually likes what I am into.

LA!

Upgrade Complete

I got my PC back this afternoon. It is a bohemoth. Witcher 2 now plays at high spec, not ultra unfortunately, but the difference is instantly noticeable. No jerking, super smooth rolling around and zoom/panning around the head of our hero. By horrible luck, I happened to have rejoined the game fighting a hard core nut boss. So, I am forced to engage in a horrible fight, which I have had to research onine, in order to get past this and enjoy gently blowing leaves and insects buzzing about that the high spec performance can offer.

It cost 11,400 Baht and includes a new main board and a grpahics card. It will see me through the array of games that are due to be released this Summer. A list that includes Duke Nukem, Deux Ex 3, Dungeon Siege 3, Elder Scrolls, Star Wars Old Republic, Mass Effect 3, Diablo 3...there is even a new Call of Juarez! And I will have a fairly chunky rig to play them on, which is so great. Just have to sort out my back and stop relying on gin to take the pain away.

Poor Grace has been in tears all evening, ever since we squirted med down her throat. I told Oi we have to stop that now and it appears like horrific torture to me - having meds forced down your throat. I got some resistance but I think that will vapourise.

Life is okay, but I know that Grace being sick does no favours for Oi and I, as we are both feeling tender and raw at this time.

PC Upgrade

Playing Witcher 2, I have noticed that it runs on low spec and I saw some video of it looking a lot better. It's been a couple of years since a major upgrade on the PC and I figured it is about time, particularly as a bunch of awesome games is about to come out. So, I can play Duke Nukem on a nice setting, or at least not at the lowest.

So, I went into the PC shop today and ordered new main board, graphics card etc. Should be great. It is the one thing I like to have as best as I can on, is a PC. I can't afford scuba diving or motocross or anything, but a top games maching is do-able and will last a couple of years. So here goes...

Oi's family called in on Sunday and youngest brother Oom (same name as a Tombliboo) is staying for a few days. This has lifted Oi's spirits, as Grace has been sick again with a cold and it took me to enforce a ban on milk and goodies to get Grace well again. Thanks to mum's secret power. Oi wasn't the best company and it was difficult to stop her wanting to give Grace some milk. I put this down to Thai health brainwashing. That being, if they are not going to the hospital and taking lots of medecine then something is very wrong. Anyway, Grace got better and Oi thanked me.

School is fun and easy.

Rain season is here and there is a healthy deluge every afternoon.

Tom and Tony are coming over later. I won't have any beer.

We had a three player game of Carcassonne with Oom, so we might get a few games in and get him learning the great Carcassonne strategy.

TV? Not too much. Movies? None that I can see. What happened to big movies? Music? New Paul Simon CD which sounds good.

World news? Inching towards the abyss? Who knows? Who cares?

Witcher Update

Wow! What a game! It's mindblowing. This is such a compelling game. I am doing the tasks in the first village where I am based. Had to fight a giant octopus which I thought was going to end the game for me woefully early on. I spied in Utube how to nail the bastard and it was on with the show.

I have been carefully finding and crafting fine armour and acquiring and upgrading swords. The level up rewards are spent on a huge array of magic and sword skills. The side quests have been brilliant and I even found a new upgrade for my graphics card especially for this game, so it works well, though not on high res.

The plot is huge and I think this game might last a couple of weeks at least.

Very addictive. Somehow have to squeeze in life, job and family.

The Witcher 2

The Witcher 2 has made itself available and after a successful crack and installation is proving incredible fun.

A mean character and a very brutal game, but very nicely executed. Cool level up abilities, magic, potions, alchemy and meaner swords and armour. The story is great beginning at a seige of a castle, before escaping from a dungeon and then off to the outside world to begin the quest of finding the kingkiller.

Tom came over last night and the first time I have seen him since our trips. He is just back from the States where he travelled all over the USA going to gis; Medeski, MArtin and Wood, PJ Harvey, Alman Brothers among them.

He brought me a gift from the islands. I gave him the Grow a Girlfriend I picked up in the joke shop in Looe, and the pirate key ring from Portsmouth. He drank beer and I drank gin, and we sat on the back porch, in dimmed lights listening to tunes and exchanging stories.

It's Friday night now after the opening three days of the new term. It was lots of fun at school with some new songs and stories.

I have found a new pool near my house which will be more convenient for me, and it is cheaper than the place in town.

Well, I am probably going to be playing Witcher 2 all weekend, hopefully we will get some Carcassonne in and lie around eating and resting. Also, I have got some new TV docs, namely Henry VIII and one on 1066. The one of the Byzantium empire is first class, extremely informative.

Duke Nukem comes out next month!

Traders and Builders

First day back at school teaching the kids today and it went fairly well. Ten years of this game under my belt now and we don't waste any time. Phit is quite strong too and straight away we are down to business and any kid not paying attention gets severely scolded. I have my new Maisy books for story ammunition and some new songs we found on Utube (dreamenglish.com). These kids will all be proficient at reading and writing by the time they leave us. After school, an embarrassing 11.40am I went for a swim. I did my 40 lengths though sadly, this pool has had its day. It is very heavy on the choline and the price per month is 1000B. Way too much for a cheapskate like me. I shall find another one. Also, I notice the Sun at this time of year is directly overhead and there is no benefit from the skyscraper behind me casting a cooling shadow on the water.

At home I challenged Oi to a game of Carcassonne with the expansion, Traders and Builders. It makes a different game and Oi won! Lots of fun collecting barrels of ale, grain and cloth and using the pig and the builder. One day we will combine the two expansions for a massive game. And I have two more fan-made ones ready as well; mountains and fishermen.

I am reading an historical book on battles of the Dark Ages in Britain which is very compelling. I am collecting some medieval books right now for the ereader.

Grace back home from nursery.

Duty calls...

Tiling

It is so hot right now. All one wants to do is to stay in an air conditioned room. Unfortunately, Grace does not share this view and wants to go outside.

My Carcassonne love affair continues and I have found a fan site with custom made rules and expansion packs. I have cafefully sifted through this list and saved the best ones, namely; Wells, Mountains and Fishermen. These new tiles I have printed off, fixed to thick card, found and fixed a backing tile and coated with acetate resin. I have to say they look superb and very close to the original tiles. Even Oi is impressed. So for the past couple of days I have been making new tiles.

Each new set has rules to be incorporated into th existing game and I even converted a small box and made a front cover design to house the new tiles. It is great doing craft. When we get a new camera I will take some snaps.

It gets me thinking to designing and inventing my own game. I like the tile-placing feature of Carcassonne and would like to use the same approach to slowly reveal a landscape or playing area. I had an idea for one about Princes building castles and raising armies to fight each other. Then I had another idea of explorers in a pyramid, turn by turn revealing passages, chambers, traps and so forth. If I have the spare time it would be a nice way to spend it.

I have a seminar to do on Monday to the Thai teachers at the Cathholic school where I work. I will preapre something tomorrow. It should be fairly easy. Term starts properly on Wednesday. There begins a run right through to October.

Oi has just returned from the dentist to have a gap filled in her teeth. Ten minutes after showing me, it fell out. She has to go back at six. There goes 1,600 B worth of crap to some dentist. TIT is all you can say (This is Thailand).

There was a bulldozer digging up the ground just over the garden wall where the doctor who lives in the Forbidden Palace resides. Looks like we are going to get some noise for the next year, and Thai builders ain't exactly fast.

Oi then says that her mechanic buddy, actually a very nice chap, has found a car for us. Great. I hate cars. 100,000 B. I had better stop now before I get annoyed...

Curb Your Enthusiasm

Following Joel's recommendation I have downloaded 3 episodes, the first of which I watched this evening. I loved it and will endevour to view more. I also got some of Extras with Ricky Gervais which is quite fun. It is The Borgias though which I find excellent. Jeremy Irons is brilliant as always.

Grace is a regular at nursery now and, apart from a few tears, seems to enjoy it. I must say though that the room is dark and unpainted, which I was not impressed with, though the two Thai teachers seem very kind and there is lots of food. So typical Thailand really, lovely people and food, yet minimal decor or effort from management. So, this week we have gone down on the bike to pick her up at about one. Next week I am back at school, so Oi will go with the neighbour at three when she picks up her own daughter, Ching-Ching.

Fairly ok at home though my teeth and gums are somewhat sore. I put this down to my recent trips to the dentist in the UK and the knock-on effect of fucking about with the insides of my mouth. Yet to see if the pain subsides or I am forced for further consultations here in LOS.

As Grace has been at school in the mornings I have been pestering Oi for games of Carcassonne, as there is no tiny hands to grab all the pieces. Good games they have been too, playing with the Inns and Cathedral expansion. Including Traders and Builders expansion became a bit long and confusing. At some point I will swop to solely T&B for a while and may one day incorporate both, but so far the I&C expansion has worked really nicely. We are now starting to learn some of the finer points of the game and strategic tile placing to mess up someone elses city or such like. The game is quite light and fast, and I am pleased to report that Oi seems to genuinely like it. I would still recommend it to anyone. Though I was sad to depart English shores without the two other expansions I spied, namely Abbey & Mayor and Bridges, Castles and Bazaars, careful analysising on online pdf copies of the rules of these two expansions seems to indicate that they are not that great. I am very glad I made a purchase like this to bring home, and really enjoyed exploring the book shops of Hampshire.

The ereader is proving rather ace as well. At night now I can flit between Cadfael and Melvin Bragg on the ipod. The latter has high soperific effects and I often awake to a dead battery in the morning, or hear tiny voices chittering away in the middle of the night.

The rain has started here early and quite heavy which is quite fun. I am off beer, not a drop has passed my lips since my return, though I bought some Philipino gin which is cheap here and it goes well with soda and some lime, both of which are readily available ingredients. Don told me of the high quality Philipino rums available in LOS. Cheap and tasty and we give thanks to the Spanish conquests for these precious provisions. Liquors from Europe are just off the charts cashwise here.

I have been making some slow preparations for the start of term. I have to give a one man seminar to the Thai teachers at the school I work in, and then term kicks off proper a couple of days later.

Perhaps in October, we might head up to Koh PhangNan with some of the boys for a break. It has been years since I have been there. In fact, I think the last time was with Peter.

Time for Cadfael...

Nursery

Sunday evening and all is fairly ship-shape.

The house rennovations have been complete as far as Grace's new playroom is concerned and Oi's mundatory rearranging session. For a while I thought it was never going to end, the moving of grotestue plastic Thai cabinets and the like, but eventually it all fell into place and it doesn't look that bad. In fact, sometimes I feel that we really do live quite an idyllic life here. Our days are spent eating and playing and taking showers and relaxing. Alas, I must return to work a week tomorrow and young Grace joins the nursery tomorrow morning. Poor dear. I really did feel a stab of pain when Oi told me Grace would be gone until 3 o'clock as soon as she is able. As well as the pain in my heart and all the stories laid upon me about how when they go to school they begin to lead a life without you, I also felt the horror of my offspring being sucked into the system, especially such a backward system they have in this poor country. I won't go down that road I promise.

So, I am quite engrossed in Game of Thrones book series, as well as watching the TV show. On top of this I am into my second Cadfael story and trying a few history books about medieval Europe. I have also been searching for various quality TV series to get into. It's so easy just dragging them into my flash drive and popping it in the back of the HD box.

Yes, I now possess 50 episodes of In the Night Garden.

Gaming news. Witcher 2 has become available and am now just awaiting the crack before the epic quest begins. The first installment was a fantastic adventure that I, sadly failed to complete, but I must have been quite close to the end.

Tom is in Koh PhangNgan with Patrick no less. I am hoping Pat will see fit to be pals again, for I am weary of the way people have cut me off the past few years. Makes one not want to make friends anymore. I think of my dad and Nicholas who don't have these pals calling around. I expect I shall end up like them with my head buried in books, and happy to stay at home with a wife.

I have a bunch of new songs to use in the school with the kids. Phit told me of some stuff on Utube which I have since acquired and converted to audio format. Getting quite nifty with the apps.

Carcassonne is yet to be played. Perhaps when Grace is at nursery. I have a feeling my pals won't be too interested. It seems, I am alone in my love of games.

I did my first evening jaunt through  the countryside on my bike today. Lovely to be out in the dusky air, admiring the green, tropical hills and rice paddys.

Life goes on...

The Borgias

Two top series I have found and are quite gripping are Game of Thrones and The Borgias. The latter stars Jeremy Irons as the pope in 1492. Surrounded by conspiracy and murder it is an excellent production. As is Game of Thrones as previously mentioned.

HD Media Player

I got one. After much searching I found a shop that sold them and boy, is it great. No more DVD burning and I can access movies and shows quicker than quick.

After some web searching on BT Junkie I am also in the process of acquiring 50 episodes of In the Night Garden. Just as well, as our original DVD set from UK won't play on Thai DVD players.

So, yes I have been using this new device, and the first thing I watched is Game of Thrones with Sean Bean. An amazing fantasy tale of dark, forboding times. All should watch.

Grace's room is now in use and it is very cosy and fun. Shelves full of toys and the soft ABC tiles to play on. Oi bought Grace a little table and chair too, so she can sit and play her keyboard. Ching Ching comes over every afternoon.

I caught up with new friend Tony the other night which was fun.

I piece of the roof just fell off. Lazy landlady won't fix anything.

Grace's Room

Oi and I have been deciding next steps and the first one was that we are going to stay in our existing house. I looked at the other one, and although quite nice, I think this one has the edge. The garden is also looking rather super right now as our plants are doing really well.

This in mind, we still decided to have a rethink about the house. We opted to go ahead and get Grace's room ready, so I told Oi to order another air con unit to be installed and then I went down to the shops and bought some paint to decorate the one unpainted room in the house. I spent this afternoon splashing Buttermilk about and playing rock music. It is nearly finished and once the air is put in on Wednesday, it will be super. We can then move Grace's toy cabinets out of the living room and free up some space. It should be great. It also means that MY workroom won't have to double up as a bedroom anymore (currently the only room with air).

While I was downtown paying the rent I dove into the computer shop and put in an order for an N-box. This will mean I won't have to burn any more DVDs and can watch shows and movies straight of my memory stick (handy drive). Later, I plan to be another 1 terrabyte internal hard drive so I can keep movies and series on my PC without having DVDs everywhere. Whilst in the UK I jotted down some shows I want to track down, like Celtic Britain.

The weather is boiling and Grace is yet to adjust to the time difference. I have nearly finished my first Cadfael book on the ereader and have install a bunch of new In Our Time shows onto the ipod for some late night listening. Last night was Human Nature, and awesome it was.