ThaiXpatWriter

Crepe in Thai style

2009-06-21T15:01:00.005+08:00

repes in Thailand are made on the street or in the mall. The process is simple enough, but they tend to add a little Thai style to the creation. When I have had a rough morning, I love to treat myself to a tasty Crepe. This girl works on our campus and she works 12 hour days 6 days a week. Her estimated pay is about 5,000 baht a month or roughly $125 dollars. But she is always smiling and friendly. What is our cost to buy one of these snacks? 25 baht or about 75 cents in US money. Far too cheap considering the heat she has to work in.

Loss of a hero

2009-06-11T11:15:00.003+08:00

Kwai Chang Caine's passing would have been difficult enough, but to think that his murder took place right here in the city of Bangkok has made this even worse. Bangkok is a very metropolitan city and has incredible wealth, so at times it is easy to forget that it is still in the 3rd world where hired guns are cheap. I can not speculate on why David Carradine was murdered, but I would like to express why I think it was such a horrible loss.

Kung Fu was an American TV sensation in the 70's. It was still a media world where Asian faces were not really allowed to be leading rolls. Carradine was not Chinese, and yet almost everything American's knew about Eastern philosophy and especially Kung Fu, comes from his portrayal of Kwai Chang Caine, the benevolent drifter who upheld the honorable antics of a great knight. He showed us in the west that the Chinese culture had a lot to offer and a lot to be respected for. It was this show that first inspired me to begin wondering about the far East and now some 30 plus years later I find myself living here.

Young people know him for his roll in the Kill Bill movies, and this was a wonderful exploration of his martial arts experience and his stage presence. Even in his early 70's he could still produce the kind of acting work that inspired the young and old a like.

He will be greatly missed by my generation. We loved Bruce Lee, and because David got the Kung Fu roll instead of him there are some people who hold a slight and silly grudge about that. But Bruce Lee was on a different path, a film path, that TV might have killed. David was perfect for the roll even if his martial arts wasn't as spectacular as Bruce Lee, his acting skills were spectacular and moving.

It is sad when our heroes die and even more sad when they die ugly. I hope the USA uses their influence to spur along Thai authorities and some leads are generated in his murder.

Siminoe dot com loves FREE RICE

2009-06-05T15:38:00.002+08:00

The free rice people are all about feeding the hungry. This sight is awesome! Huge financial sponsors have made an offer to donate rice for every vocabulary word that English learners get correct on their quiz. I spend hours on there trying to keep my vocabulary sharp, or at least a word or two ahead of my students, and helping to feed the WORLD! Come on check the site out by clicking on the TITLE.

Coloring my World

2009-06-02T08:15:00.005+08:00

"Let's just paint the living room," Speedy said, as his eyes bounced from corner to corner of my dingy down stairs.

"It really needs it. I think this white paint might have been the original paint," I admitted. "But won't it be a lot of work?"

"We'll knock this room out in about 6 hours. Three hours for the first cote and then three hours for a second cote. Good little Saturday really. You buy the beers and let's do it."

I hadn't painted anything since I was in high school and I believe I painted a barn for some summer money. It wasn't exactly like painting the living room of my home. I was hesitant, but the place certainly needed a new color and fresh paint.

"Let's do it!"

As fate would have it the Nuggets were playing the Lakers and our newest teacher at Satit Kaset Dameon was looking for a place to watch the game. "Dameon, I have a 93 inch screen at my house, would you like to come watch the game."

Dameon made the classic mistake of a new friend, "SURE."

"And oh we might paint one room of my house after the game, no big deal, but wear something for painting," I threw in as if I had forgotten the milk.

"Oh, well, yeah, okay."

Little did he know my front room is like some kind of cathedral with beams to be cut in and ceilings too high to be reached without a circus act on the wobbly ladder. But luckily, Dameon did come to watch the game and he did stay to paint. Even with three of us it took 8 hours. But man did it look better with a splash of color!

God bless Aung San Suu Kyi

2009-05-20T21:40:00.002+08:00

Aung San Suu Kyi is on trial for a bogus charge in her home nation of Myanmar. As the world watches, groans and mumbles, a court will gather and find her guilty of breaking the conditions of her house arrest. An arrest that never had a trial. She will be found guilty because her house arrest is set to end in about a month from now. So these charges will put her back in her place so that the military government can keep her from running against them in their "free" elections. Since her party won its land slide victory way back in 1990, she has been in and out of house arrest and her victory completely ignored by the ruling junta. A Nobel peace prize should have shamed this military into giving this great leader her freedom, but it merely hardened their convictions that she would forever be a threat to their rule. She is a symbol of hope for a nation that is no closer to freedom and democracy now as it was 19 years ago when Aung San Suu Kyi' party won the right to run the nation.

The situation in the country is so bad, so murderous and oppressive, that reporters who can sneak in and out of the country struggle to report the horrors they have witnessed. It is the worst outside the main cities in the rural areas where minority groups are being persacuted without mercy.

I have no idea how to help or what can be done, but I guess I just hope God will bless Aung San Suu Kyi and her troubled nation.

Nature in the north of Thailand

2009-05-19T10:13:00.001+08:00

Well my summer is over and I'm back to work. So I thought I would put up a little video I shot while up in Chiang Dao in the north of Thailand. My summer was very uneventful, but it was relaxing and I must say that down time is always good time.

Coffee and Black

2009-05-15T10:03:00.004+08:00

Well during April I ventured away from my blog. Just not in the mood to share, but I did do a lot of traveling and enjoyed some great day trips around Thailand. I will be putting these images up soon. But first I'd like to introduce my newest housemates, Coffee and Black. Nan and I found them in the church where we were married and so we thought they would be very good luck for us. Besides, we live in Bangkok where Rats thrive on lots of trash and Buddhist traditions don't allow them to kill them. Of course these two little guys have a way to go before they are killing any rats. For now they are just babies.

Nan is holding Coffee and I am holding Black. Yes they are twins, but Coffee has a thin line of white, like cream, so we decided he would be coffee and Black is pure Black so he gets the most obvious of names.

Yao Ming NBA's Most Popular

2009-05-10T18:33:00.002+08:00

The entire Asian region gave out a collective sigh of defeat when the news of Yao Ming's injury came out this morning. Is everyone in Asia Houston Rockets fans or something? No. But there is more than a BILLION Yao Ming fans in China who were getting very excited about their hero taking on America's Late Show the LA Lakers. When Yao pushed back trainers in game one and forced his way back onto the court to finish the game, scoring 6 of Houston's last 10 point, everyone began to believe this 7 foot 6 giant could bring down the giant Lakers franchise. Now, all over the Asian region, people are putting away their Rocket's banners and shirts for another year. It was obvious in game 3 that Yao was not himself and was not going to be able to finish the series. Without Yao or even a true backup center, Houston is finished.

Yao Ming is the WORLDS most popular player. You can argue all you want to about James or Bryant, but these two are the best players but far from the most popular. Kobe was cleared of a rape case a few years back that tarnished his very clean image until that point. No one believed he raped the gold digger he slept with, but does it really matter to his wife? And despite James having no serious drama so far, he also has no serious personality to back up his amazing talent.

Yao is a proud warrior on the floor. He is not the most talented, but he is one of the most amazing players in the NBA. He works hard and keeps his head up. Can you imagine being Yao and having a billion people watching, listening, and talking about you. In the US he is probably the most recognizable player anywhere he goes. In China he is an icon. Did they even have basketball rims in the nation before he arrived?

So it is a sad day for the NBA, Asia, and of course for YAO. Let's hope he can recover and return next year.

The Red Mob in Bangkok

2009-04-19T14:59:00.001+08:00

I’ve gotten a lot of emails lately about the current problems in Thailand and so I’m going to do my best to explain what I believe to be going on. Now I am putting together 3 local news paper articles, one TV panel discussion translated to me from Thai by Nan, and the word on the street from 3 of my better informed Thai friends. So this is a simplification at best because I myself have little interest in politics, but living in the middle of this turmoil these last few years I’ve been exposed to a lot and will do my best to give a simplistic look at the problem.

Everything does come back to Thaksin the former prime minister of Thailand, self-made billionaire, and now self-exiled globetrotter. He was found guilty of vote rigging or buying, conspiracy, tax evasion, and if he were to return would face a grocery list of other charges, which is why he is in no hurry to return while the current government – his rivals – are in power. They would certainly prosecute him to the utmost of their ability. So Sim, if he’s a billionaire why doesn’t he just go off and enjoy his cash? Well the Thai government has confiscated nearly 1 billion dollars of his cash and assets in the Kingdom. Simplistically put, he wants it back. He needs a government in place that would see him as a victim of a cue and of a conspiracy to take his cash rather than a criminal who was run out of town after taking far too much from the national cookie jar. When he became PM people thought here is a man above the bribery and back dealing of previous administrations because he was already so rich, but the people failed to look at the obvious oddity of this man. He was a police general in the north of Thailand, clue here being golden triangle, before somehow amassing millions of dollars, on that robust 200 dollar a month pay cops get, and buying his way into the media business until he had satellites providing services to his phone companies, TV stations, radio stations, and well to put it mildly his media empire. During his first summer in office more than 700 alleged drug dealers were killed by the police without trial and the citizens of Thailand cheered this, but some were asking the question who was choosing which drug dealers to die. Allegations were made that in general these were Thaksin’s rivals from his old days of northern POLICE WORK. A nationally sponsored vendetta massacre, well some believe so. This was the first red flag.

Another came much later as rumors of bizarre land schemes leaked to the press. Here was how it worked, Thaksin’s plan has always been to sway the common man, the poor, and the uneducated. Thailand has an amazing amount of wealth, but as most emerging nations it is controlled by a very small group of rich elite. Of course the poor workers have nothing to lose following Thaksin, he does help them at times, but usually when it helps him more. The land deal was very crafty. They went to farm areas close to the city and offered the poor FREE LAND for having worked this land. The government provided these lands and again the people cheered this generosity. Then these new land owners were told an amount their land was worth, pennies on the dollar of course, and then select wealthy families were told that for a set amount to the Thaksin people these lands could be purchased for half their value from these poor farmers. The deal was so smooth, the poor got a lump cash payment, the rich families acquired land at a huge discount and with the means to develop it, and of course the Thaksin people got their big cut.

This deal included too many people though and the press picked it up and ran with this story. Well the list goes on and on, but lets focus on TODAY. The power struggle is dire for the following reasons. Thaksin’s followers are not limited only to the poor and uneducated, although these minions are certainly the ones we saw dressed in communist red outfits and rioting in the streets. He also has connections back to the police and navy. These two branches still would probably lean to supporting Thaksin if he could stage a return. The Army is made up of hundreds of generals each with personal alliances and agendas. There really is too many leaders in the branches to understand the complexity of this chess game. We know this, the red shirt mob was trying very hard to pick a fight with the current government. The current government and new PM showed an amazing amount of restraint and did not fight back. The red mob spun out of control, killing 2 citizens and wounding many others. The Thai nation is now grumbling angrily about this chaotic and violent display.

So our problem as it stands. The red mob went home, vowing they were not done, and sure enough two days later, they shot one of their rival’s political leaders in the head and as I write this, we don’t know if he will live or die. Thaksin is furiously looking for an opportunity to return. There are loyal generals to the current government, but believe me many are still loyal to Thaksin. Only action exposes which way they will swing and so it can be very difficult to know until the moment is at hand.

We know this, that loyalty to the King has kept the peace in this Kingdom for decades and so we can only hope that this loyalty will keep the peace again today.

Is it safe to be in Thailand? I would take my chances here over say The Bronx or South Central Las Angles, nearly every African nation, Afghanistan, Iraq, Gaza, Houston, Detroit, probably Moscow, so safe is a relative term. I feel safe, but I’m not naïve enough to think all is calm in the kingdom of smiles, big money can buy a lot of loyalty and a lot of trouble. Picture a Hollywood movie where two rival gangs were going to war over 1 billion dollars and you have makings of a blockbuster right, well there you go. Life is always crazier than fiction. But one thing is for sure, whether it is in a movie or it is a political struggle if you want to know what is going on, look for who is going to benefit, who is getting that CREAM and you’ll find the spoon that stirs the pot. (Cash Rules Everything Around Me) Most importantly, if you want to find the source of the trouble, figure out who’s going to lose their CREAM if they don’t fight.

Examples, gun lobbyists, cigarette lobbyists, fossil fuel lobbyists, and the list goes on. If change might take away your $$$$ not to many people will accept this without a fight.

Doi Inthanon Thailand's Highest Point

2009-04-17T18:21:00.002+08:00

Well Easter for us was spent up in the north of Thailand. Doi Inthanon was a new adventure for me. It is located in Chiang Mai province, but is a bit further from the city of Chiang Mai so the crowds were much less than Doi Setep which is on the edge of town.

I really love the north. The air is cleaner, the hills are green and full of waterfalls and wildlife, and the people are amazingly friendly. Bangkok is a city of diversity and it is teeming with nearly 10 million people. In Chiang Dao, a district just north of Chiang Mai, there are only 88,000 people in an area about the same size as Bangkok proper. It's so quiet at night the breeze coming through the trees and the sounds of night bugs hum you to sleep. Since my wife's family home is up there it has become our solace from the hustle and chaos of Bangkok.

Enjoy our video of Doi Inthanon!

AMERICAN SALE on SIMINOE BOOKS

2009-04-17T13:58:00.004+08:00

Some of you have asked how you can get copies of my books. They are pretty available on line at Amazon and my website, but expensive because they are shipped from THAILAND. NOW, special for American residents only I can gladly offer ECHO POOL for $10 and THOSE WHO HEAR for $8.

This sale is possible because of my good friend KELLEY who smuggled 20 of my books in his suitcase back to the USA. Without massive shipping, the books are not so expensive!

SEND A CHECK to:

Elaine Siminoe

107 Cedar Street

Kearney, Nebraska 68845

Tell her which book you want and give her your return address. THIS OFFER ENDS WHEN THE 20 BOOKS ARE SOLD!

ECHO POOL is an adult novel about my life in Thailand, Nebraska, Colorado, and my father.

THOSE WHO HEAR is a bit of fantasy which takes place all over the world, but begins in Denver.

The Wall of Love

2009-04-16T17:09:00.003+08:00

On Thailand's highest mountain there is a set of pagodas that tower above beautiful gardens. I visited there last week and found one very interesting wall which I called the Pimp Wall. Most of the wall art was about religion, but this wall seemed strangely out of place and extremely interesting. Take a look!

Protests Turn UGLY in Thailand

2009-04-14T08:53:00.002+08:00

I am very fortunate to be in the far northern village of Chiang Dao for the week celebrating Chiang Dao's 100th year as a separate district, Easter, and Sangkran. Here things are wonderfully undisturbed, joyously ruckus with water fighting everywhere, pageants, contests, a fair, and more smiles than you can imagine. But the news from Pattaya and Bangkok is very grave. At least 2 people have been murdered by the red mob simply trying to protect their businesses. Government troops acted well, but they were way behind the curve. The red mob has seriously damaged relations with all of the Asean nations as the military did not act to protect their diplomats who were visiting for the Asean summit in Pattaya. I do not believe in any way that the red mob wanted to hurt these foreign diplomats although it does seem a part of their focus to drive out all non-Thais. They are a mix of communists, poor, and uneducated who are opposed to the current government and apparently the monarchy. I myself am loyal to the King. His spiritual leadership has kept this nation in peace during an era on the planet filled with war. I can not believe that the red mobs philosophy of distributing the wealth could possibly be coming from the Taksin they are following. He was always Thailand's richest man, well at least once he had a few years to rule the nation, strangely his fortune TRIPLED while he was in office.

From the news this appears Taksin's desperation to be back in power mixed with a communist group that has been ignored for decades of financial success here in the Kingdom. In general the red shirts are taxi drivers, farmers, and poor folks who are being given a little cash to make trouble, but this is very dangerous. The yellow mob was noticeably different in its makeup as it was made up of middle age ladies, college professors, students, and were peaceful for hundreds of days in a row. They gave lectures and talked about their complaints with the government. These Reds are blowing up stores, throwing fire bombs and killing Thai merchants who just want to go to work the next day. This group is wrong!

Video of the week #6 Jimi Hendrix

2009-04-02T09:52:00.001+08:00

The legend of Jimi Hendrix is usually focused, and I believe completely unfairly, upon his drug use and chaotic life as a superstar. In truth, he may have been one of the greatest musicians of his time. He certainly could play guitar! This is a blues piece he did and I think it shows a milder more melodic side of his turbulent existence. Man could he play!

Chris and Koi's Magical Night

2009-03-30T20:11:00.001+08:00

I met Chris about 7 years ago when I first came to Thailand. He and his crew of friends were a big reason I chose to live in this country. I mean they were so friendly and so welcoming to me I found myself feeling at home within months of moving here. Over the past 7 years this group has been my support and teachers about this kingdom. I'm so happy for he and Koi, she's a special lady and they deserve the happiness they have found together.

It was a crazy night of old friends, families, three live bands, John singing some of his hits, wine, and in the end Tequila. Yikes!

I really apologize for the sound quality, especially for John who is a professional singer and star here in the Kingdom of Thailand, but my camera is just a little point and shoot so his voice is not done any justice. I will say it sounded great live.

Congrats to the bride and groom! Best of luck and all the love!

AIG can burn

2009-03-23T18:54:00.003+08:00

F.U. AIG

Here's a little story I've got to tell about one lovely company we know so well, they started way back in history and now we all own a piece of them 'oh why me?'

Our government says let's bail them out,

if we don't have AIG then we have no clout.

With all our tax money going into their account,

they began to dance, scream and shout. "We're rich again on US money, this is so easy and oh so funny."

"We never paid off when people needed us, but now we need the people's cash and they just wrote us a blank check."

"Ha ha ha USA, we're the boys of AIG and we're here to say, our bonuses are big and we deserve every cent, because in a socialist state it don't matter what you spent. We got the cash, the courts, and bonuses too. So step off citizens we are in charge, that's why are bonuses are so damn large."

"If you want some success we can show you the way, screw up, blow all your cash, and some government guy will say, 'we need AIG they insure my yacht how we gonna live with out them I need them a lot.' So in comes the money oh it really can't be."

But if you don't believe you don't have to listen to me, take a journey to America's car city. Up in Detroit nobody drives, in Washington by Jet every car executive arrives. "Oh we're broke, our cars don't sell if we don't get the US money my G5 I'll have to sell."

But we all know its the US socialist state and we're going to bail you out and without any wait. executives shouldn't worry they are the ruling class and in the USA it's all about the cash. Even if you lose someone else's money, it's okay, it's alright, it's all so funny. We'll reset the game, start you off fresh, that's why we send out the IRS. They'll collect the money from all those poor drones, and none of them will do anything but bitch and moan. Ask Mr. Snipes in his prison cell, if you don't pay for bailout's you go to hell.

Bangkok's Floating Market GATEWAY STYLE

2009-03-18T15:39:00.002+08:00

Last weekend Marisel de Guzman of Gateway High School fame, arrived in Bangkok for a bit of rest and relaxation. I was never Marisel's teacher, but we have many mutual friends and have known each other since she was in high school and I was teaching high school. It was amazing to see her all grown up and happy. She has been traveling Asia with her boyfriend Paul and they left their final leg for Bangkok. I was very excited to see her and her gentleman caller. Paul was very nice and I thought very quiet until I got to know him a little bit better. By our final day together he was feeding fish out of his mouth and chucking bread rolls at Chinese guys trying to eat some soup in peace. I guess people from San Diego are not as conservative as I thought.

Enjoy the video above. We shot it while floating around the water canals of Bangkok. If you are ever in Thailand I highly recommend you get up early one morning and enjoy this river cruise. You'll see the river people's lives up close and enjoy 3 different food markets. If you need some information on how to go, simply drop me an email and I'll help you set it up.

Enjoy!

Kindle me this and Kindle me That

2009-03-13T15:45:00.003+08:00

So the coolest feature of Amazon is probably the KINDLE device. This thing allows you to download books immediately. The KINDLE list is growing daily, as more and more best selling authors are offering their novels on this technologically advanced venue. But, who cares about those guys, the cool thing is they are putting up my novel THOSE WHO HEAR and ECHO POOL for electronic purchase.

I am very proud to be a part of the KINDLE family. Check out my 2 listings on Amazon's KINDLE offerings by clicking on the title of this article. It's really great because many people are a little short on cash and can not afford to buy my book, but with KINDLE I can offer it for about half the price. Basically all the shipping is taken out. So please, be the first to download and enjoy my books! Kindle me baby, YEAH!

Chinese Class

2009-03-12T08:32:00.004+08:00

For the past 4 years I have been asked to teach an English survival class to Chinese agriculturalists who come over to do research in Thailand. Thailand is the #1 exporter of rice in the world and one of the top fruit exporters in the world, so they come to study with the Thai professors. It is always a pleasure for me to get to work with them. I learn so much about Chinese culture and about the Chinese mind set as they emerge as a global power. This years group was full of spirit and in general they were a very fun group of students. The work ethic of Chinese people has always amazed me and it makes me feel like I'm a really good teacher when they improve so fast, even if it was more do to their hard work than do to anything I presented. I hope all of these students will stay in touch during their year in Thailand and when they return to their homeland.

The final point that we came to in our best discussion is this: China is rapidly becoming a free market society in which people who work hard believe they can find their way into the class above them. In other words, the Chinese are socially mobile as the poor work to move into the middle class and the middle class is endeavouring to become rich. And we decided that the United States, my homeland, has become a socialist state in which the government owns all banking and supplements all jobs by owning huge shares in all major manufacturing companies. So when I was in high school and Mr. Miles described communism and capitalism I think he made a critical flaw, given time all white becomes black and all red swirls into blue and all capitalists will turn communist if their capitalism is failing.

TV Dead and Well

2009-03-11T10:47:00.002+08:00

"I have never been one for inaction," Malcom X. I have given this quote to my students for years because I believe it makes a very bold statement and reminds them that the key to success or to even living life instead of waiting for death, is action! Action is the difference between the passivity of TV watching and the more self directed addiction of the internet. I will not completely defend surfing the net all night as far too many of us do, but I will say that it is a drastic improvement from the brain dead who sit idling watching TV for hours. Science has proven your brain is less active during TV viewing than sleeping and in essence while you WATCH your brain goes into a state of mild hypnosis. "What, sorry, I didn't hear you I was watchin' this." Sound familiar?

Many people are wondering just what it was that brought down the American empire, which many social scientists are calling the shortest lived empire in the history of the Earth. I believe it can be best described as addiction. Now drug addiction isn't helping anything, but as a society Americans are sickly addicted to flat screens, plasma screens, bigger and bigger their viewing technology gets -- fatter and fatter they grow -- and now suddenly, like a balloon being filled with a tire pump, the empire is BURSTING!

Look no further than passivity. Passive viewing, 26 minute stories sum up life problems with quips and giggles, canned laughter and guffaws and then roll credits. TURN YOUR TV OFF!

This is not a joke it is a public service announcement. At least if you are on your internet you are directing your experience. You select what you want to investigate, you read what you want to learn about. You can watch programs on the internet, but at least you searched them out. Sitting passively and allowing program directors to shuffle through their tired list of sleepy false reality TV shows is sad. Do people really care who got voted off what island? I'd like to vote the entire lot off of planet Earth to be honest.

Turn off your TV or simply throw it in the closet. I put mine away a couple years ago now and honestly I do NOT miss a thing!

NO TOURIST VISA NEEDED IN THAILAND

2009-03-05T08:52:00.004+08:00

Thailand may be the best shopping place in the world. It certainly can brag some of the biggest venues for this in the world. These mall monstrosities are usually between 4 and 6 stories of everything from name brand rubbish to locally made imitations of name brand rubbish. I myself am not much of a shopper, unless you consider being lost in bookstores for hours shopping -- actually that is more about my poverty as I usually am reading parts of books for free and then putting them back. But a new law is going to allow people into Thailand without a tourist visa. For the next 3 months it is gates open to the city of Bangkok. With no tourist visa restrictions the government is trying to stimulate some shopping growth. Great plan and good for all the guests of the Kingdom. So SHOP SHOP SHOP you consumers, and please dress nicely because I just might be in the mall and I'm not there to buy Gucky or Louey Sting Stong, I'm there to observe the beautiful people walking around in their little fantasy world. Very entertaining to watch them consume! It is like watching chickens pecking in the dirt for seeds, they strut around with their heads wobbling about as if they were searching for the holy grail, and then when they think they have spotted something they peck, peck again, peck and then begin the strutting again. Shoppers are very entertaining, the dance of the chickens pecking away.

Video #5 Peacemaker from Thailand

2009-02-27T10:42:00.004+08:00

This is the first Thai song I ever learned. It hit me so hard for some ineffable reason. I didn't understand any of it except the melody which is basically "I MISS YOU" and yet somehow the way it is said is so poignant, so heartfelt that it made me want to learn how to sing the song. I shocked my Thai friends one night in a Koreoke room when I took the microphone, something I almost never do, and sang this Thai song.

If you are not Thai you will not get the meaning of the song, which in truth is just one of a myriad of Thai pop songs which revolve around love. From what I understand the record labels here in the Kingdom don't encourage anything but love songs in the pop music world. It does get a little bit sickening to hear nothing but sappy and often sugary sweet songs of love, lost love, and yearned for love.

Detailed information about THOSE WHO HEAR

2009-02-25T15:10:00.007+08:00

unpublishedink.com/directory/article.php?id=15

The Astropaths series has struggled to get off the ground because book stores in Thailand are not sure what to do with the book. Asia books barely placed an order informing Bangkok Book House that YA and fantasy novels just don't sell. I had to laugh when I heard that considering Harry Potter is poised to pass the Bible in book sales in the next few years. Fantasy and YA doesn't sell? This seemed incomprehensible to me when we think of all of the block buster films out there based on novels in the fantasy or YA genre. Lord of the Rings and Narnia are two of the best examples of loved YA stories that have turned into gold mines for the film industry. Still it is their book stores and their shelves and so they have the right to put the books that they like in their stores. But I sincerely disagree with their assessment of what young readers and English readers here in Asia are looking for.

Now having griped enough about this, I'd like to mention that I hold the North American Copy Rights to Those Who Hear and the Astropath series. So I have begun looking for a publisher in the west who might be able to produce the book and get it on the shelves over there.

Please take a look at the link which my agent has put up to promote my book proposal. Click on the headline of this article to go directly to the publisher's promotional site. If you are interested in the series but have not yet purchased THOSE WHO HEAR on line, you can get lots of information about the book by looking at this book proposal.

S.N.U.G.G.L.E.

2009-02-25T10:21:00.003+08:00

Well I have been trying very hard to be the new me. I even came up with a nice acronym to better label my quest. The acronym is SNUGGLE and it stands for: Sims, new, universal, good, given, lovingly, everyday. So what this is about is the fact that everyone right now is feeling horrible, broke, and in a state of despair. We all need to give good feelings and give smiles and try hard not to get down or give a lot of our anger and frustration out to the world. Let's face it, when we glower at others it is a glower we are going to get back. Let's try to smile. Let's try to offer a kind word. Let's try to SNUGGLE our way through this global depression.

So day one of my quest went something like this. Bad luck for me. I have long feared that if I ever lowered my guard to the teeming masses around me that bad things would happen and sure enough, they did.

It began when I heard some people outside my front door. In front of our gate we had put our trash can out for the garbage collection. I have some plants close to there and so when people look through my trash I usually water the garden with my supersoaker and if a few sprays of water go errantly onto the people looking through my trash well I say "get away from my rubbish", but today I did not get out the water gun. I walked out to see who was out there.

A young girl of about 5 began to shout, "the farang (foreign devil) is coming grandmother run." She might have been sprayed before I can't be sure. "No," I said, "what are you looking for?" She held up a cardboard box. I knew this was my chance to do something nice. I ran inside and dumped out all of my wife's things, anything that was in a box and took the boxes out to the bewildered old woman. She nodded and smiled and I felt very good.

Later I was driving to badminton practice and saw the little girl and her grandmother going through the trash of one of my neighbors. I rushed to the V-SHOP and purchased 2 cokes because it was boiling hot out and I knew they would need something to drink. I took them the cokes and was thanked. The old lady then dumped out the coke, crushed the cans, and put them in her recycle cart. But okay, she seemed happy with my donation.

So now, as the Thai folks would say, I had offered some nice boons to the universe and it would seem that I should have a better day or perhaps some good luck. Nothing could be further from the truth.

At badminton I purchased 1 water and and a tea to quench my thirst after working out in 95% heat. I had a racket bag, my gym bag, and was trying to make change for the drinks. My hands were full, so I payed and then gathered my things and walked out to my truck. After I had pulled away and was nearly dead from thirst, I reached into my bag to find nothing to drink. I had left the drinks on the counter and the Thai workers, being too shy to say anything to me, had watched me walk out without saying a word.

It got worse. Monday I caught my first head cold of the year. I take about 2 sick days a year, and usually these are sick days where I need to get something done and just can't make it in, but by Tuesday I was so sick I couldn't breath. I missed work, and stayed home to rest. But it gets worse. It is currently HOT in Bangkok. I decided to recover in my movie room. Where better than this? But when I turned on the air-conditioner I heard a whirling sound and then a BANG. The motor had blown.

I guess the moral of the story is this, no good deed will go unpunished. If you want to snuggle those around you, don't do it with hopes of something good happening for you because it won't. Do it because you want to help others, because actually since I started this things have gone horribly. I am still sticking with it. I've got to try.

Leprosy is not Contagious

2009-02-22T15:29:00.003+08:00

I think we all know just how hard the year 2009 is going to be. The year of the ox may as well be known as the year of the goose egg, as in zero. It seems nearly every nation all of the world is declaring 0 or 1 % fiscal growth for the upcoming year. Zero is a more accurate descriptor also of the level of hope most people are feeling about their jobs, investments, retirement, ability to pay for health care, college funds, or just about anything related to our economy. Some oil baron got drunk, oh but not any more wink wink, and now an entire planet gets to enjoy his hangover. Thanks George Bush, we all needed a lesson in humility and your global policies have ensured us that no one is safe from your lesson.

But This is not about GW, this is about all of us finding a way to help everyone get through this mess. I have decided that I need an attitude adjustment. I am a teacher and try very hard to be nice to my students, some of the time, like when they are not being annoying. But I must admit at times I am a bit stand offish with my fellow man.

My friend Speedy was not very happy with me recently when a woman suffering from Leprosy butted in front of me in line and sort of rubbed up against me, I shouted "Leprosy!" and pushed everyone away from her as if I was rescuing them from a speeding bus. Leprosy is not something I give a lot of thought to, but I must admit I did think it was catching and that it was totally uncool of this woman to be out in public with her skin condition. But Speedy informed me that Leprosy is not contagious. Should I have shouted Leprosy and rushed to get away from this poor woman? Popular opinion with my friends is that I was rude and narcissistic. So I did a bit of checking and found out they were right, Leprosy is gross and disfiguring, but it can not be transmitted by touch. So I am going to try very hard to improve my attitude in dealing with people.

We are all in this sinking ship together, so we must try hard to be cool with each other and make everyone feel connected united.

I have decided not to cover my face with both hands when other people cough or sneeze. I will not run away and walk quickly around people with exploding acny problems or who are horribly obese. I will allow others, well those who have some basic grooming habits, to stand within arms reach, and in general I will do my best to simply keep my composer in dealing with people. Honestly I do like people, I mean like the ones that bring me a coffee in a coffee shop, or the people who give me a massage, or the laundry lady, or the cleaning lady, or the accounting women at my work who assist in the processing of my monthly pay, so it is obvious I have a lot of love for the common people. But I want to really go beyond this and attempt to offer a smile to all -- even people with skin diseases who cut in front of me in food lines.

But of course when I mean people, I don't mean the rich. Those monsters are on their own during this economic melt down. F*** them and their SUVs and their BMWs and their F****** hedge funds. Of course for the rich who are on their way back into the humanity of our planet do to bankruptcy we welcome you back with open arms.