sUNDAY hANGOVER

I got blasted last night after abstaining for a few days. It was quite fun and I have had the old stir crazy cabin fever setting in. I think Oi understands that me (and possibly all men) have to blow sometimes to release the pressure of everyday life. I was crying while I was watching the Pogues (impossible not to) and I kicked out to the incredible Who gig at Kilburn 1977. I imbibed plenty of happiness, had radical dreams and woke up and it was all over. I have now just worked my way through several days of washing up to make me sober.

Oi wants to move house - next door. Do it, says I. She wants to get away, if only slightly from the monster witch ex-school teacher and her 30 cats that shit over everything and from the country arsehole who knocked down half his house to build a garage and has half a dozen cars and utes parked all over the fucking place at any one time, as well as constant drilling and banging on every day except Sunday. It will also give a big fuck you to the landlady who is currently trying to imply that it is our resonsibility to fix the roof on her house. Fuck that, lazy rich bitch.

I think after this England trip is dealt with I shall start to actively do more with my life. All of this involves young Gracie, of course. I really want to check out some volcanoes in South East Asia and head over to Nepal to look at the mountains.

We have a plan to eventually buy a bit of farmland up in Chum Pon near Oi's family where I can see out my twillight years. I like this idea.

Saw a killer movie with Harry Potter in it, "MY By Jack" about Rudyard Kipling's son who died in WWI. It was superb and Daniel Radcliffe was excellent, even though I hate the Harry Potter movies.

I have seen a bunch of really excellent movie and a new one I just found, London River with Brenda Blethyn looks great. Like the games, every morning when I check out the movie list on bolt.org there is a new great one to watch. It's like a never ending stream of movies. I am hoping Patrick will bring me back an N Box from Malaysia. With an N Box you can simply put the movies on a handy drive and plug them staight into the TV avoiding the need to burn them onto a disc. Sounds great. There has been a slight lull in PC games lately which is welcome as it gives me time to catch up with the ones I already have. I think Mass Effect 2 is nearing completion and I am just acquiring the new Medal Of Honour game (yes, the one where you can play the Taliban, or whatever they are called).

Heard a lovely Coast and County podcast yesterday (at the start of my beer drinking session) about a troup of folks who were travelling through Gloustershire with a cavaran and 4 donkeys. It sounded wonderful. Yes, the podcasts are still high on my list of recommendations.

Another week of holiday before school starts. I am going to teach K3 countries and capitals which raised some eyebrows when I mentioned it. I have some prep to do for that.

Bright Young Things, a movie by Stephen Fry c. 2002. is excellent btw. Evelyn Waugn I believe.

Snickers bars have appeared in Thailand which are most welcome and a few varieties of Kit Kats have appeared in my local shop. I have been eating a fair bit of chocolate lately and introducing Grace to its delights too.

Grace is practically a person now. Very smart, careful and a ball of giggles. We sleep on the floor on a vast arrangement of mats, duvets, pillows and cushions. My new game with Grace is to grab her legs and drag her over the bed and into the cushions. She loves it. And now Joel Bear has arrived the family is almost complete. She has lots of cool toys. The soft ones are; Eeyore, Tigger, Moo-moo, Mousie and Pinkie.

That's it for now...

Gamer

It's been so good getting some serious game time in. Mass Effect 2 is proving fantastic. The shoot out scenes are just incredible and so smooth. The game plays out like a movie and the settings very like Blade Runner. As I have got better at playing it, I have really started to appreciate how to play.

I have a bit of a backlog of games that I don't think I will get through this break. Star Craft 2 still awaits my return and a spooky one called Amnesia comes highly recommended. It's so easy for me to acquire this games and then put them on the hard drive ready to be played.

I will have to abandon Doom 3. It was fun, but was just so dark and creepy, one did question if this was a fun blast or a demented pastime.

Mafia 2 also sits on stand by, but one reviewers comment of "too much driving" has put me off.

Good news is that old time hero Duke Nukem is back in a state of the art episode which I am defintely looking forward too. The Duke, of course, coined the phrase, "I'm here to kick ass and chew bubble gum. And I'm all out of gum." amonst other dry lines. Veteran gamers will remember the pig cops who were most rewarding to gun down, and the peep show cinema, opening the door of the closet and blasting some active customer in the back as he is huddled over in the middle of his peep show. Those were the days.

Armoured Princess still ranks highly as a very fun fantasy battle game.

Happy gaming, pod people.

Easy Times

Well, Don arrived up North and so far things appear to be going well for him. It ain't easy doing a big move like that but he has been most upbeat about it.

Life at home has been quite blissful. The weather is cool and rains a fair bit, so it is nice to sit out on the back porch and watch the rain come down.

It has been great spending time with Grace too. She gets plenty of time to play with dad and we keep her amused. One thing I am pleased about is the amount of time I have with her. I know a lot of dads don't have enough time with their kids. I ain't guilty of this yet.

No one is around so I have been amusing myself. Normally have a couple of beers a day and enjoy some happiness to set the pace of the day. I go out for my bike rides which are just great. It's funny because living at our current house reminds me so much of Bushmead in Rake and times spent over at the Collett house where folks were always pottering about and tinkering with things. I find this sort of lifestyle very comforting and adopt a similar role; meandering down to the village shop, burning around my race course, attending various minor projects I have on the go. It's all rather fun.

Listening to the Pogues a bit at the moment and I got a bunch of old Neil Young albums too.

Just watched Swept from the Sea with Racheal Weisz which was great. Set in Cornwall and based on a Joseph Conrad novel. Now there is someone I have always wanted to read. Thanks Rob for the books. I shall attempt to read them when the feelings are rising.

Don's Leaving

Don leaves for the North tomorrow. It's a long way, and I am wondering how long it will be before I see him again. Maybe I am being dramatic, but things could go differently this time, and Don may not becoming back to Hat Yai. Just maybe to visit. I have known him for about 7 years I suppose and we get along pretty well. He is not too serious about much and he likes to discuss current affairs, health and the environment. Anyhow, we wish him well on his journey to the North.

I have been listening to BBC radio quite a lot and it continues to inform and entertain. It's amazing how content I am to drift around the house and garden, drinking orange juice and coffee all day long, eating snacks and sitting out on the back porch doing very little. I did get to work on the garden though and have done a good job of weeding and swept up all the leaves, knowing the next morning there would be a fresh carpet for me to sweep up again.

Interesting talk about the West admitting utter defeat on its wars in the Middle East and in fear of mass attacks in Europe and the increase of terrorism. One prof was even saying we didn't even know why we fought these wars and they had no meaning. And concentrating on one or two targets while the rest of the world woke up and joined in. They talked of the uprise and confidence of South America now and new terror groups. And that we have made the enemy hate us.

Interesting thoughts for a cloudy day, sitting, looking up through the leaves...

Armoured Princess nearing completion. It has been fabulous.

Oi is enjoying new found freedom with the bike and my ability to hand out thousand Baht bills with the words, "Enjoy yourself.". She's been having fun buying stuff and going out. The neighbour and Oi have become good friends and as she has a big 4x4 and no one to have fun with, Oi has answered the call and also getting lonely at home. Now she goes out to get her hair washed and she can buy tasty snacks for me. Like the delicious spring rolls she brought home yesterday.

Yes, I'm a bit embarrassed about my easy life of late. I have a very practical approach and go around giving out handy tips on how to unscrew something or a better way to manage the bins. We don't miss a trick. Oi has been learning about my cross checking and manipulation of a potentially bad situation. Like, conversations with the landlady and nosey people. I think she is catching on.

More later....

Holiday Vids

Songkhla

  Just back from a fun couple of days in Songkhla. We went on the bike on the country rodes, through the fields, the smelly Muslim fishing village and then up along the coast to Songkhla. The coast road in constantly being eroded and falling into the sea. The Muslim village still reeks of stale fish and the entire stretch to the town polluted and horrible.

The hotel was very nice. The big one on the beach next to the mermaid statue. The shower was excellent and the included breakfast of good quality; help yourself buffee with plenty of coffee, croissants and jam. The cornflakes were welcome too.

The bad point was the nifty stunt they pull on the minibar. Each can coded so even the replacement cans of Singha beer were detected by the evil maid and I was subsequently charged. And then Oi, atfer I had done the unthinkable, "Can you get me a beer from the fridge, please?", she handed me an hotel can and not one of my illegal cans. I didn't make a fuss about the extra charge.

Songkhla Aquarium was really sad. We had visited it two years ago as part of our honeymoon after it had just opened, and it was crap then two years later it is virtually a ruin. The car park has creepers growing across it and all the once pristine flowers beds are overgrown and wild. The staff are asleep and lazy and you have to walk to one end to buy your ticket and then walk all the way back again to go in. The whole thing is decidedly small and fairly kak. 

Had an excellent pie and mash yesterday at the bakery and enjoyed a few loose beers. Oi and Grace had a great time and it was really good to show Grace the sea and to dip her toes in the chemical bath. There are some videos to post as my camera died during the holiday. Though it was fun, Songkhla has a very boring feel to it that hasn't gone away and it seems to be under a continual process of having some new attraction being built and dozens of neglected past projects all over the town. Some billionnaires plaything who doesn't believe in maintaining anything. It's a joke, it really is. I even found a lost Fitness Training park hidden in the jungle with all sorts of concrete logs for jumping on and more concrete logs for doing push-ups on. The ice cream palour had a string of coaches parked outside puffing fumes into the air and obscuring the view of the sea. I felt really sorry for Mankind who has made everything so shit. More later...

Sunday

Sunday and Camp Crusty is over. The English camp was okay, but they went for some new material and hadn't told the convicts, sorry teachers about any of it. So came the dancing white monkey parade where Phit was ordering us (Patrick, Tom and a bunch of other falang) to do the funky chicken dance. We compiled in a limited way. Day Two was was worse. The lads went out that night to Co-Art and we got quite merry. Everyone was feeling a bit seedy the next day when we were ordered to dance the funky chicken again. Patrick wandered off, one guy got on the drums and beat a slow caveman beat whilst staring off into the far distance and the rest of us stood there looking like dorks, swaying back and forth and staring into the far distance and refusing to look at Phit's demanding orders for us to start dancing in front of the entire 3rd year pupils. It was embarassing and I don't know how we got through it. I have a great laugh feeding Tom lines throughout the tortuous event, to which he chuckled in his friendly way.

Pat and Tom have now gone to Malaysia for the holidays.

I went to see Don last night as he is leaving to start a new job way up North in Issan. It will be sad to see now my oldest friend here leaving for fresh fields, but the teaching well is pretty much dry here now for Don as he has had a few jobs in the town and now olny wants to teach kindergarten as it is the most stress free class.

Grace is really coming on these days. She demands to go outside a lot now. We took her to a restaurant down near the university this morning which was fun.

Oi is doing a great job with Grace and trying not to appear too tired.