About time!

Again! Two months of inactivity on this Blog with so much going on. I am ashamed of my laziness!

I'm definitely (ha ha!) going to come back at the weekend at do some stuff with photos and Flickr and whatever to update at least myself on what's being going on for the past 10-15 weeks and what's coming up.

In the meantime, and what inspired me to come here finally, was this mildly amusing video.

Enjoy. Or not.

September

Well, August has gone and September is here. I quite like September if I remember rightly. I seem to remember it being the start of a lot of things. This month, I'll be going back to Tokyo for the first time since I left, almost five years ago.

I'm going for a business meeting but I'll be staying for an extra couple of days to catch up with some friends and some serious Japanese food! When I come back, I will post my very own video guide to eating a lot of plates of sushi!

Quick catch up on the state of affairs with my illness. Nearly 3 months since my operation and I'm not quite mid-way through my chemotherapy and radiation therapy. Thus far, I haven't had many of the nasty-sounding side effects that the doctors have warned me about. Having to go to the hospital every day, six days a week to for a blast of radiation that lasts about 10 minutes is slightly inconvenient, but what the hell! If it's ultimately going to help prevent a recurrence of the disease that got me in May, then bring it on!

Have you ever seen one?

A big girl, that is, bawling her eyes out? I personally can't remember having witnessed this scene but will be keeping an eye out for any emotional Amazonian outbusts in Bangkok. Anyone had to hand out the Kleenex to a fat lass?

Meanwhile, who do you think is the sexiest? Frankie Valli or Fergie?

Steve & Yasko

Our lovely friends from Japan recently visited us here in Thailand while they were on holiday. They swapped their sushi & green tea for ant salad and nam krachieb and we all had a jolly spiffing time on the Chao Praya River and during our day trip to Ayuthaya.

You can have a look at the snaps and one of the videos I took below and should you wish to see the other 4 parts, go to www.yourskool.org. Please join the site and add your own cool videos but no women in their underpants or other X-Rated stuff. We'll leave that on Youtube or here for that matter.

Plinth & Grommets

What is the plural of 'plinth'? Is it 'plinths' or simply 'plinth'. I know not.

Anyway, weekends can be just as exciting for middle aged people as they can be for the younger generation.

I have replaced going clubbing on a Friday night, or going to the 'disco' as it was when I was a young lad, for purchasing a set of golf clubs and one of those nifty little portable putting greens you can probably see in a large number of Japanese salary men's offices. I now need to find myself a golf teacher as I cannot seem to get the small white ball to lift itself off the ground high enough when I hit it with one of my new clubs.

With no hangover from my trip to Thaniya Plaza report, except a 7000 Baht investment - including golf bag I hasten to add, I was able to then transport the 'Jeamster' to Tesco Lotus for a spate of bookshelf buying to replace the midday visit to the pub to neutralise the effects of numerous cans of cheap strong lager and/or cider and whatever shots of Southern Comfort or Gin that would have accompanied them at the disco.

Shelf purchasing took place after my piano lesson which I have just re-started after a few months off. Handel's 'Joy to the World' is now my next challenge which includes using whole scales and finger cross overs. Not all that dissimilar to the 'fingers and tops' of the disco era, I suppose. Similar sort of dexterity required.

Talk about hair of the dog! Shelf purchasing is a great cure for golf club purchasing.

With the weekend not nearly finished, said shelf has now been assembled by yours truly and I am happy to say that I was able to use the words, 'Plinth' & Grommet' in a fully contextualised and legitimate manner.

Finally - 'Joy to the World!!' to all the other poor sods who have been cohersed into constructing an 'out of the box' shelf this weekend. You deserve a nice cold beer! Me? I've had mine for the weekend so I'll settle for a few scoops of Svensons' Rum Raison.

You never know ....

Who you might bump into when out and about in Bangkok. I was getting a sandwich at Paragon near Siam Square where I work at the British Council.

As the Asia Cup, or at least part of it, was being held in Bangkok that week, there was some kind of event going on but the heavens had decided to open and give us one of those short, sharp showers of the tropics. So I legged it to find shelter and these guys had had the same idea. I therefore politely asked for a photo with them and here they are.

Yourskool.org

As this is my blog I thought it would be perfectly acceptable to plug my own website, www.yourskool.org

It is in its early stages but basically it is a website for sharing videos, like the ubiquitous YouTube and other copies, like my own. However, you won't find any sex or violence on www.yourskool.org as I am developing it as a resource for sharing learning experiences and cultures. I hope that people will be able to learn a little from watching a Yourskool video and will want to upload those that they have made themselves.

Here's one I made earlier:

What's a few days?

A few days could and probably should be construed as three or four but alas, I have not been here for probably over 14.

What did I say I would write about? Illness - ah yes, here is the abbreviated version as I feel good again and don't wish to dwell.

May 2007

1. I suffer discomfort
2. Discomfort becomes pain
3. Pain is bad so I visit doctor
4. Doctor detects 'mass' in lower colon and wants to take biopsy
5. Pain is too bad for doctor to take biobsy so prescribes antibiotics
6. Antibiotics work - pain improves and doctor can take biopsy of bad bit causing pain
7. Biopsy comes back - bad news - 'well differentiated' adenocarcinoma is detected
8. Doctor sends me for further tests including CT scan to check problem hasn't spread to other parts of body
9. I wait for results while pondering life and what or how much might be left of it
10. Test results are good - except for the original problem, that is.
11.Doctor recommends operation for removal of mass, or else!
12.I take doctor's advice though seek second and third opinions
13.Second opinion from top colorectal surgeon at Bamrungrad Hospital confers with doctor
14.Third opinion confers with others
June 2007
15.I decide to have operation at Bangrumrad - top surgeon, private en-suite room with cable TV
16.June 09 1800 2007 - I start counting to 20, get to 2 then wake up in recovery room
17.June 10-12 - morphine is my friend and makes pain and cable TV programmes bearable
18.June 13 - after 5 days of nil by mouth, rice water actually tastes good
19.June 14 - soft foods again
20.June 17 - I am discharged from hospital - I have a foot-long scar down my lower abdomen but the stitches are out
20.Doctor informs me that operation went well - mass removed with good 'margins' but was in quite an advanced stage, having spread to local lymph nodes. Will need six-months of intensive drug treatment to lower chances of recurrence elsewhere.

June 25 - I return to work. Normally I wouldn't have done this and I will no doubt talk about why later. However, I felt recovered and fit enough to work and really enjoy it, so why not?

It all happened very quickly and I have not really had time to suffer to many emotions or perhaprs it is that I remain extremely positive. I could have been (and still could be!) knocked down by a bus. I could have been blown up on the Tube. I could have not had medical insurance - the total cost of the stay in hospital and operation came to just over 4K. I could have not suffered any pain, as is generally the case in things that are this serious, and my disease could have remained undetected until too late.

All of these things allow me to have a positive attitude and outlook on life, despite the gravity of the situation I found myself in.

Time to move on to the next blog entry!

Samut Songkhram

I was going to Blog about today but I have decided to keep things in chronological order to here's what I was up to Sunday afternoon and most of yesterday.

It was work related but like so much of my job, it really does have a lot of very interesting moments. I drove down to the town of Samut Songkhram Samut Songkhram Province after meeting 5 teachers from England who are going to spend the week there as part of their schools' and Satthasamut School's linking activities that form part of the Dreams+Teams project.

Upon arrival, we were taken to our accommodation which turned out to be a very lovely wooden bungalow each set in lush surroundings in the 'Nam Yen' resort, about a kilometre from the school. Nam Yen means 'cold water', which is very apt as the shower was indeed very cold as we found out in the morning.

We were then taken out for an excellent meal of fresh local seafood, washed down with a few local beers and, after a quick discussion about the following day, we all retired for the night in our comfortable lodgings.

More about the next day in tomorrow, yes tomorrow's post so for now I've put up a photo and here's a link to a little tour of the path leading to my room, the room and back to breakfast!

Check out the video below:

2007 Part II

Well, I haven't posted since April 14th but not for the lack of things happening between then and now.

The end of May - beginning of June were particularly 'trying' times for me with a number of 'ups' and 'downs' to coin a cliche.

Saturday June 9th was a particularly significant day in my life as it was the day I underwent major surgery, courtesy of Bamrungrad International Hospital, a brilliant surgeon and his team, wonderful nursing staff and last but not least, comprehensive medical cover provided by my employers. Don't have good coverage? Get it now!

Anyway, I spent 9 days in my own private en-suite room which made things a little more comfortable although there is only so much cable TV one can watch and be entertained by once the morphine is no longer required!

So, for today I shall simple put up a picture of a typical scene at a Bangkok Hypermarket and come back over the next few days to Blog about my new job, a bit about my illness without dwelling there for too long, starting training for my 3rd Bangkok Marathon and whatever else I get up to and manage to take a picture or video clip of.

Here's a video with a very tentative connection with today's post, but it's great to go back there and see how truly, 'interesting' the 80's were!

A Bomb around the corner

Might be something you'd do as an 11 year-old on your new Eddie Mercks as you rush off to show off to your less well-off friend but this time, no.

There was actually a bomb placed in a telephone box around the corner from where I live in Bangkok and what's more, the thing went off! Scary times we live in these days, although I was 500 kms away in a Chumphon resort - blog to come - and the bomb was a rather piddling device that fortunately didn't hurt or kill anyone but, if I had been making a call in that box at that time, things could well have been different!

So here's a photo and a song (will be placed) below about a bomb to mark my return to this blog.

Hekis Tebal

A while ago a rare thing happened which was Dan Conitzer being online. Anyway, he reckoned he'd got a good idea for a song and suggested we both have a go at writing and producing one each.

Mine came out as a little number called, 'Hekis Tebal'.

It is the second of a series of releases from, 'The Gift of Yahweh' for the 'Combat the Flesh' project.

Hekis Tebal

Any comments, no matter how supercilious, are always welcome.

Dan's, 'The Tasmanians' to follow.

A month goes by

And I managed no blogs in herein that time - true to form but I guess I'm here at least so what's been happening?

Well, I am taking piano lessons and bought an electric piano so I could actually practise in between lessons. I've had five lessons in total and am truly rubbish, which is good as there's only one way to go - better.

Anyway, I can play a few chords now and rattle off a very poor rendition of 'The Saints Come Marching in' as well as 'Love me tender' and some French folk song.

What's the point? There is no point. It's a piano.

Might pop by and put a few pics up at the weekend, but then again it might be April 13th before I'm next here - time flies.

Best Before 2007

We used to have a website a few years back and I thought we had lost everything but thanks to the 'Way Back Machine', I am now recovering some of our lyrics. As Dan has just reworked this particular song and sent it to me I'm now working on the vocals and maybe add a baseline - I shall put it up, along with new tracks 'Hekis Tebal' and 'The Tasmaanians', in a day or two.

Best Before - the bushpilots

Man has survived for thousands of years without sell-by dates
Take the chance, no consequence, don't hesitate
You can't go on, forever checking the ingredients
Listen to us,take the chance,you know we're making sense

But don't come running to me
When you're wasting away with dysentery
And don't even call me up
When your brain is fried and your nerves are shot

Man has survived for thousands of years without sell-by dates
Take the chance, no consequence, don't hesitate
You can't go on, forever checking the ingredients
Listen to us, take the chance,you know we're making sense

And don't put the blame on me
When you suddenly develop epilepsy
You'll be turning in your grave, young fella
When the tag on your toe reads 'salmonella'

Man will survive for a thousands more years without sell-by dates
Take the chance, no consequence, don't hesitate
You can't go on, forever checking the ingredients
Listen to us,take the chance,you know we're making sense

And you won't find nothing amusing
When you wake up on a table with a blood transfusion
So don't ever turn my way
You knew the risks I've got nothing to say

New Year - a bit late!

I haven't got off to a very good start here but I shall try to better my pathetic 22 entries of last year and the dismal 5 entries of 2005.

We had a few bombs go off in Bangkok on New Years Eve but I was far from the action, so to speak, in a small town called Pak Chong near Khao Yai National Park.

This is a very strange little town that seems to have adopted a permanent theme of a cowboy town, due to the fact that Thailand's largest dairy farm, Chokchai Farm, is nearby.

Anyway, we'd been camping in Khao Yai National Park until New Years Eve but it suddenly got inundated by hundreds of Thais just off work and seeking some fun for their holidays so, being as unsocialable as I am and wanting to avoid lots of people armed with guitars, cheap whiskey and squeaking wives, we decided to head to Chokchai Farm for a visit and stay in Pak Chong that night.

We ended up finding a very nice camp site and later heard that they were having a New Year's party with food and beer, etc, with a cowboy theme of course! We therefore decided to see in 2007 Thai cowboy style!

It was so bad that it was good! I managed to win several bottles of Chang Beer in the little fair that they had organised which emboldened me to later murder a rendition of 'Love is all Around' by the Troggs.

Here are a few photos.

My recently-purchased second-hand Mazda that got us up there, a real cowboy breakfast, 'Chang'-ed up and Karaoke.