Another Day...

Sorry folks, no pictures this time - and I use the term "folks" pretty darned loosely, I figure there's probably one, maybe even two regular readers at this point, possibly due to my lack of posting, or interesting subjects, but also possibly due to the fact that no one has time. Much like myself.

I honestly haven't taken many photos after the family excursion to Saraburi, I've been filling time with other things, mostly catching up on the sleep that I missed out on this past semester, watching episode after episode of 30 Rock (which I highly recommend everyone to do the same), and FINALLY, after almost 24 years on this earth, learning how to open a Mongkut fruit without completely mashing the whole thing to bits.

No shopping to be done, nothing that I really need to do except my school work which I have successfully perfected in procrastinating. But I'm slowly guilting myself into doing some work here and there, so it's getting done, just...slowly.

Will post pictures of my excursions, if I happen to go on any!

More Pictures!

Tiny monkey at shrine in Lopburi

Tons of pictures of Thailand uploaded today!

Usual drill, human pictures on facebook, non-human on flickr.

Enjoy!

Here's Comes That Rainy Day...

Whew, I guess I just got home in time, it's pouring outside, about 10 minutes after I trundled home.

Well this visit to Bangkok has been very nice, a roller coaster of excitement, happiness, stress and reunions. I've gotten to see alot of faces from my childhood, many people that I hadn't seen for over ten years came for my sister's reception. The most memorable was my godparents, who -as always- were warm and happy to see me. Other people I've met I hadn't seen for maybe six or seven years, that was pretty crazy too. It really makes me think how much people change over the years, and how much they don't. It seems like alot of personalities are pretty similar, but the looks change quite a bit, which concerns me mostly because I don't think my outside has changed so much, I still look like I did in high school.

Except with different glasses.

Greetings from Bangkok! I basically flew here, dropped my bags and went to work for my sister's wedding, then a few days after all the wedding stuff was done (a full week after I had arrived) we sped off to the south of Thailand to hang out at Phi Phi for two nights then to Krabi for four. We just got back last night, and this morning set to work figuring out who gave my sister what, writing a list and cataloging it in the computer. Dad's upstairs taking a nap, my mom and sister are off entertaining the brother-in-law's family and I'm here, finishing up the spreadsheet. Good times.

I uploaded some "Thailand" pictures onto facebook, and have yet to do so for flickr, as I'm a little skeptical at the ability of my computer to load the massive load of photos I've got that have been taken over the last two weeks, many of which are of flowers I saw in Phi Phi. Alas, I've got these two on blogger as a taste for you, although I think I see a little message from blogger saying they can't connect, which means my internet just punked out. 'Tis life with a shitty internet connection.

Krabi sunset at Aonang Beach

Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

I couldn't help it. My mom and I were at the grocery store when we saw this. Someone must have placed the fruit that way, it's just too perfect. This is only shot I got before my mom swatted me away from it, for fear that I would get caught taking pictures of bum-lookalike fruit. Haven't done too much lately, so nothing interesting to report, but more pictures on flickr! Be back in San Francisco on Saturday...crazy how fast time passes!

Interim

Don't you love New York in the fall? It makes me wanna buy school supplies. I would send you a bouquet of newly sharpened pencils if I knew your name and address."

-Joe Fox of "You've Got Mail"-

.

I was looking through some old stuff online, and I noticed this quite that I had put up years ago as a favorite. I still love it, and I still love the movie, and I always wondered whether I would ever have a relationship like that, cute, smart and movie-funny. Granted, I doubt these types of relationships exist in the 24/7-always-witty-and-wonderful sort of way. I love being at home, seeing all the sights that I saw and took for granted as a child, but coming back to Thailand always feels like I'm putting my real life on hold, which can be good and bad. When life's on hold, I can't deal with anything from that life until I'm back in it, so I'm finding things like plans for my thesis being put on the back burner because I can't find the strength or brain power to deal with it right now. I wish I had this movie here so I could watch it... I has never failed to put in a good mood, and be positive and happy. The Manhattan scenery is just too beautiful to be sad about.

Day Three (Continued)

Inspired by Yoni's blog, I decided to take some candid photos while Maya and I were out looking around Bangkok. First stop: Central World for a peruse at the new mall.

The open area outside Central World that used to house a huge beer garden but now houses at least three different fountains that no one looks at.

Maya posing in the grand (and useless) hallway that overlooks the aforementioned mall.

Maya quells her craving for pad-see-ew, whilst my craving also sits in the photo, po-pia-tod.

Milk green tea and gateow-laad-naa.

Now I've got to take a break and explain the next few pictures with a reference picture. The first picture is one of Maya's brother Yonaton, looking much more demure than either one of us has ever seen him, sitting in his swing chair in China, sipping on a drink. I was so amazed by this picture that I not only commented on it (miss spelling at least two words), but also regaled Maya with the tale of how her brother looks so incredibly submissive while enjoying his drink. Hence the phrase "Doing a Yoni" was born and wildly used. Of course, by the time the tale reached Maya, I had pumped it up quite a bit, not only in speech form, but in my mind, so when I finally got around to showing her the picture (after we had taken our respective tribute pictures), we realised we had taken it that next step past the original Yonster.

Yoni getting his Yoni on.

Maya doing a Yoni.

Me doing a Yoni, I'm not sure why I look scared, I assume its because it was my attempt at looking cute, which is very hard for me to do and of course, hopeless backfired.

Me trying a hand at "being spastic" as Maya put it, in the middle of the Central World atrium. I look like a damn linebacker with those shoulders.

And the finishing touch, looking up at the elevator shafts in the atrium.

So the verdict is: Central World is quite the crapper. Mostly because it's boring, it's not even finished and no one wants to lease there because they've all gone else where by now. Central World simply shot its load a little too late. Oh well, more tomorrow.

Day Three(ish) of Maya...

Okay, so when I come home, I usually do near nothing, moving a sloth's pace, maybe leaving the house around 2 in the afternoon for an stroll around a mall and then back home to get into bed at 9:30. Yes, for the first two weeks I was in Bangkok, I was going to sleep at 9:30. And loving it. I'm not a night person, and I have an odd fear of being too far away from home late at night. Mostly because I probably wouldn't be able to get into the house without waking my parents. Also, I don't go clubbing, don't drink, don't do anything that people my age find remotely fun, and I'm just a fuddy duddy.

That all changed when Maya got here on Saturday afternoon. We went to Patpong the first night to go shopping, then the next day, Chatuchak, MBK and then Patpong again. Suffice to say we were both pretty tired by the end of the day. And I just realised that I didn't take many photos at all, even though I had my camera with me all day. Well, we're supposed to go explore the new "Central World" and we'll see where the world takes us after that, I'll try to remember to take more photos...good luck.

Put some up on flickr, and 'people' ones on facebook.

Banjo and spoons players in Chatuchak.

Huh?

Okay, so I haven't posted in foreeeeeever. Forever of course being a week. But alot has happened in that week, most notable: I finally got my visa, in hand, attached in my passport with my I-20 in an envelope (for what reason, I have no clue) stapled to said passport.

Today is a day that merits celebration.

Anyway, in other news, I have not progressed with my thesis proposal, which I was supposed to have done, printed and bound while here in Thailand. Whether or not that happens remains to be seen. Also, Maya will be here for a few days, so I will be hanging out with her, going shopping and probably melting in the heat. Then it is possible that I might get some work done. Notice I said possible, not will, or definite, or anything that indicates that I most certainly will get alot of work done. Just making sure I cover all the bases here so I'm not lying to anything, most importantly myself. Which I am very much inclined to do is such circumstances.

Have a great weekend!

The sun'll come ooooouuuut, tomorrow!

Actually, it came out today as I was waking up at five in the morning. Partly from jetlag and partly because I was so nervous about my visa appointment today. Honestly, from six a.m. (when my brain actually began functioning) to let's say...11 a.m., I was the biggest ball of nerves I have ever been.

But before I regale you with details of my morning (which I'm sure you're curious about), let me say that my last post was, less than efficacious (woohoo thesaurus), but things are better now, and hopefully they will be for the remainder of my stay here. In my mind, I am free to be as bitchy as I want when I'm in San Francisco, but not when I'm home with my parents.

Hmm...onto the visa stuff, I had planned to do a detailed play-by-play, and while typing it realised that it was as boring as a textbook, and written like a Rosie O' Donnell blog, cryptic and just plain weird. So let's just say, my dad wasn't allowed in, I got more nervous with every step, waited in a room for an hour for my number to called (air conditioned, thank goodness), got to the desk and the only question I was asked was "Why in the WORLD did you go to Fresno?" Loved the interviewer, good humoured guy and nice to boot. So all those nerves weren't for nothing, but it was a huge relief off my shoulders, and even though I was out of there at 9, I didn't even start relaxing until hours later.

Yesterday went to the design library at Emporium TCDC, registered (which was an oddly laborious process) and hung out there with Michelle and Golf reading and learning how to use the library. Went for ramen afterwards, which was very tastey, got the Japanesse-style ramen, burned my mouth, but still loved it. Put some pictures of the Orchid Fair on my flickr. More in a few days!

P.S.

Before I forget, I discovered this great cartoon that (for whatever reason) have fallen in love with: PUCCA!

Pucca and her love interest, Garu.

I was (of course) UBC's (or TrueVision, whatever the hell that is) cartoon channel Spark! and saw this show that has minimal dialogue, and the dialogue they did have was in English (score!). The cartoon is just really cute, the graphics are super clean and simple, which I love, and it's pretty entertaining. Unfortunately, I only watched it that one time, and have been hunting for it ever since. Damn UBC.

Did you know....

....that they restrict certain websites here? I can't access the Seattle PI website because of said restrictions, it's a newspaper site, of course they're going to have scandelous subjects on that website. Anyway, the biggest problem so far is that I can't look at any blogger websites, either because the internet is too slow or because the website is restricted. So that's just a big pain in my ass.

Meanwhile, yesterday I went out with Michelle, and of course ate up a storm. I will simply do a food log, because other than that, all we did was wander around Siam Square, Siam Center and Siam Paragon, since neither of us wanted to buy anything. We started out at Ice Monster, ate ice covered in red bean and green tea with (vanilla?) ice cream on top. Very, very tastey, will go back again, but not to sit, because it's just too crowded in there. The next food stop (hours later) was popcorn, we chose cheesy and sweet (not mixed, just...in the same box) and munched on that...after a while we moved back to Siam Square and went to Baan Khun Mae and ate pla sumlee daad deow (cottonfish with sliced mango and carrot?), po pia tod kung (shrimp spring rolls) and tom yum kung (spicy soup with shrimp). I accidentally ended up eating a full pikinew (tiny superfire chilli) which was one of the most painful experiences of my life, but everything was great, okay, except for the plang plang of the "authentic" Thai instruments in the background. Good third day back. But very hot.

Beauuuutiful Girl....

Damn song... My sister played me this "old style/reggae song with a twist" the other day, and of course, being as catchy as it is, and as one-track-mind as I am, I can't get the damn song out of my mind. And on top of that, I need to through all this U.S. bull-junky that I honestly hate. Stupid forms, with their stupid constant questions and with the system so messed up with the buying of the PIN to the scheduling of the appointment, to the RED TEXT that of course is a "something to take note of" but mostly what it does is scare the shit out of me and cause me to have a near panic attack. That red text is something that I'm supposed to have, well, what if I don't have it? Like proof of payment for my SEVIS I-20? I'm sure I did it, if not, SEVIS would for sure be up my ass asking for some cash for their boleta, but I have recieved nothing since the first time they introduced SEVIS, so what now U.S. Embassy in Thailand? What NOW bitch? Ugh. Honestly, the last time I was this panicked, it was when I realised the hadn't gotten my I-20 signed the DAY BEFORE I WAS GOING TO TRAVEL. Sorry for the caps with the combination of bold there, was completely necessary to make my point.

So right now I'm installing the printer at my parent's place onto my computer so that I can print out the stupid confirmation page that appeared when I made my appointment for my visa 8am. Meaning I must be there at 7:30am. Which is fine since I'm still jetlagged and waking up at a hearty 3:30am. Meanwhile I'm still singing the song, which although a nice song by..uh...*quick research* Sean Kingston, (the song can be heard at his myspace page www.myspace.com/seankingston) it's just a little weird to be singing "suicidal, suicidal" when I'm truely feeling somewhat near that right now...printer installed.

P.S. Do you see the color issues I'm having? After the whole red text thing, I have no way of changing it back to default. So I"m leaving it as a reminder to never do that again. And also because I still haven't figured out how to change it to default.