Palmy goes to University

This is the easiest way to sum this whole experience up...........

1. Dorm Room per month............... $3,600 bt

2. Clothes ......................................$7,000 bt

3. Tuition 1 yr ................................$86,000 bt

4. Having your odds on getting

into the bathroom when you

need to going from 25% - 33.3% ........Priceless !!

A Dutchman, a Filippina, and an American walk into this bar....

This is that god awful billboard thing I told you about. Tep still can't figure out what color skin is supposed to look like apparently. This one is stuck up on the wall in front of the school. I don't know where the others are. Jan looks bright red, Roxy looks like she's going bald, and I look too damn fat!

School has started for kindergarteners now. I will start in about 2 weeks, but only with 2/3 of my classes. We are hoping that the rest will start on the 30th, but who knows. The rain is really slowing the construction crew down.

A Priest, a Rabbi, and a Monk walk into a bar....

A priest , a monk and a rabbi were out for a day of fishing. After getting into the boat they had just pulled away from the dock when the rabbi said "stop the boat I forgot the coffee". The priest who was driving the boat said "I will turn around and take you back to the dock" and the rabbi said "oh no need I will be right back".

The rabbi quickly jumped out of the boat and ran across the water to shore and then to his car to fetch the coffee and then ran back across the water and got back in the boat.

Well the priest not wanting to be shown up by the rabbi said "oh my I forgot the sandwiches and quickly jumped out of the boat to attempt running across the water like the rabbi but instead sank quickly to the bottom of the lake.

With that the monk looked reproachfully at the rabbi and said "you really should have told him where the rocks were".

The Nong Bua Class

My first graduating class. These are the kids from Roong's Nong Bua district. They were a good bunch, and tried very hard. There were a few more than this, but we lost a few because either their school started, or they had to work in the family business. From left to right, top to bottom, their names are Kan, Mew, Hmo, Tao, Nan, Bres, Ohm - Pond, Ray, Boss, Kim, Ploy,Nook, Kwaung, and New.

We made a little certificate for them, and had cake and soda on the last day. Kong presented the certificates, and Poon took photos of them all. Everything seemed to go very well. I hope I can teach them all again next spring break.

We are losing our favorite Ka-turi!

It's been kind of quiet around here the past few weeks. They are still working on the school, and I will probably start teaching there June 1st. They swore it would be ready on time, but the boss finally accepted reality. I asked him what he was going to do about the 2 weeks of class that the clients have already paid for, but won't be getting. He just looked at me, and in a very quiet voice said "I no have plan". Haaaaa! I am sure he will figure it out.

The photo above is of our favorite waitress at "Long Bia". Her name is "Thong", and yes, that is a man's name. And yes, her voice is just a tad deeper than one might expect from a small Thai girl. She's a hoot. She likes to raise fish, and has dreams of going to beauty school, and being a hair dresser. She and Roong yak away for hours about all kinds of things. I have no idea what they are saying most of the time. I just keep an eye peeled in case they both look at me and give me that slow, menacing, head nod. This of course means they are gossiping me, or men in general. When I see this, I know to look suitably humble, and to ask about the weather or something.

Anyway, Thong is leaving. She is changing to a different establishment. We will probably start going there. She says the music and the crowd is a bit older, so we might enjoy it more. The 2 bands that play at Long Bia are ok, but it has been almost a year, and they still haven't figured out how to balance their sound worth a damn. But that's ok, because anything is better than the non-stop karaoke at Bannok (geez that stuff is horrible). I think Thong said she will change places next week, so we will see what the new place is like then.

No. 1 on Google!

This Dzi Stone and Thai Phra thing seems to be working. Who knew? I now rank no. 1 , 2, and 7 On google searches! Yayyyyy! Except for the fact that I have only sold $1.73 worth of stuff so far, I am doing ok with this. Yeesh! I am averaging several hundred clicks a week now on those two sites. My Squidoo guru says that it is the way my pages are layed out. She is busy with a contest, and writing a book now, so I am waiting for my next lesson. I like learning about the Dzi stones and the Phra, so it's still a lot of fun. I also have access to a lot of information, that most people don't, because of where I live. I will keep at it.

Roong's Buddhism 101

Lesson 1: "Life is not nearly as complicated as you are making it"...
The other day, Roong and I were driving into Soi Sip Song to get lunch. As we drove, I noticed a Monk walking down the side of the road, a very common sight here. As I watched him, he gracefully avoided a small puddle in his path as he was walking. Seeing this, prompted me to ask Roong, if she thought it had rained in Soi Sip Song recently. Without looking up, or missing a beat she replied, "I don't know, was the monk wet?"

Another great Thai plan...Haaaaa!

Ok, here's the latest on the school. They are adding on about 20 rooms to the school I will be teaching at. They have 6 weeks left. They don't even have the roof framing on yet. There is no way it will be finished. I had to go there today and have my photo taken with Jan, and Roxanne. It seems we will get to be on a billboard or two in the area. I am sure they see it as great advertising for the school, but it makes me feel like they are opening a farang petting zoo.

Anyway.... these shots are of the school add-on in progress, the boss and his wife, Roxanne, and Jan.

*Update: I guess I shouldn't complain about the billboard. We have 4 new students at our little school as a result of it. I will try and get a photo of it. It looks hideous! Haaaa!

When did "Badminton" become a sport????

Who, on god's green earth would ever consider badminton a sport? They take this thing verrrry seriously over here! Roong's Office sponsored a tournement between the offices. So naturally I had to go. Yeesh! I tried to get out of it, but I didn't have much choice. Roong's boss Kong was there. He used to be good at this game, but blew his knee out. I think it was a freak "shuttlecock" accident (SMIRK). Anyway. He's still pretty quick at it. The only thing worse than playing this sissy game, is getting whooped at it by your wife's injured boss (who still owes me for a decal I designed for his truck!!!!) .

Roong made it quite clear that I was not allowed to add "full contact" into the game plan. I did get to sit in the comfy chairs with the local parliment rep tho. That wasn't so bad. And I admit that there were a number of cuties scampering about on the courts. That was even less bad.

Roong has just been promoted to C-7, so there was a bit of attitude going on between the contestants. I didn't know that Buddhism came with "in yer face!" victory poses, but it seems it does. Anyway, Roong and Taa ended up placeing 4th overall. I hope for her sake, there were more than 4 teams playing. I couldn't tell.

The worst of this is that now Roong has decided she misses playing, and wants me to play twice a week. She says it will be very good for me if I play, and very bad if i don't. I am not sure she is concerned with my health here. ACK!

Goodbye Karaoke!

Steve and Joom have to go back to the U.K. for a month. Joom has to renwe her dual-citizenship visa, soooooooooooo Steve and I hit Bannok for a goodbye beer, and just to bitch about living in Thailand. Peter stopped by, which was great, because we don't get to see him often. Peter is from the U.K., and is kind of the local veterinarian. We did it on Monday, because there is this group of women that sneak off early every monday, and go to Bannok to get a bit wild. They love to sing and act silly, until about 4pm, when their husbands show up, and then it's back to the stone faced Thai thing. Also, we got the only known existing photo of Yui (she's the cute on in the white apron)! Thai's are a bit camera shy sometimes, but Yui is scared stiff of having her photo taken. The other girl is Baw, and that is Oy in the pink apron. Ead's dad was on hand to keep us out of trouble, Haaaaaa!

The Family Crest

Lately, to keep from going nuts, I have been digging into the family name a bit. I got into the Missouri census birth/death records back to almost 1900. I have found a few things (maybe), but nothing concrete. I am now waiting for some e-mail responses off of Brand family web pages and such. While I was waiting, I tried to design a family Coat of Arms that captured the real me. I like it, but Roong says there's no F'ing way she will let me paint this on the front door. Haaaa!

( She liked it better than the Velveeta wrestling and zuccinni jousting tournament idea though.)

Edward Livingston-Blade

As many of you know, I have a friend on Mirc named Barking_Frog (Edward Livingstone-Blade). He is a writer, with a trilogy under his belt, and now a comic book series underway. I am posting the banner for the series, and will add a paragraph describing it, as soon as the frawg gets off his ass and writes one for me. Aha!!! here it is.....

"The Man Who Wasnt There" is the story of Geoffrey Mearn: hero, criminal, sometimes-mendicant, and former President of the United States.His world is a reality that has run in loose parallel with our own, but anaccelerated space program -- driven in part by competition with a SovietUnion that never fully collapsed -- has brought the major world powers to thedoorstep of manned space exploration beyond their own moon.With Mearn in the role of unwitting catalyst, events are forcing togetherseveral dissonant powers, formerly operating only in the shadows of society.As they face off, violence is inevitable, and the civilized world will betheir battleground. When the field is cleared, what -- if anything -- willremain?
For more info on this riveting new comic and the man behind the story, writer Edward Livingston-Blade, head to The Man Who Wasn’t There

What a week!

We got to see the governor last night. Roong and I went to Long Bia for valentines day last night. After about an hour or so, the police showed up and started carding people. Seems they were looking to get rid of the underagers in there. Then the Governor of Lopburi came in. I am not sure what he was up too. One of his flunkys stopped and talked to us for a few minutes. He said the Gov was touring Restaurants and hotels that night. Whatever.
The other day, a few kids wanted to interview me while we were having lunch. They just asked a few basic questions. It had something to do with school. This photo was taken then.

Roong's night out

Roong had never been out to a club to hear live music. I found that hard to believe. But it seems it's true. I took her to this club in Lopburi called "Loung Bia". It means beer house, or something close to that. They have a solo live guitarist from 7-9pm, and then a full band gets up there. One very nice thing about Thai performers. They don't take breaks. These guys played 3 solid hours. I have been there a few times before with Tep and Bun. I am a bit tired of going to Bannok, so something new was in order. The music was good, and as always, they tried to do a few songs in English....EWWW! the Chic that sings is a hoot. When ever she see's me, she says "Someone buy the farang a leo! At first, that irritated me a bit, but the free beer has calmed my nerves. Haaaa!!! Anyway, a good time was had by all. The photos didn't come out very well from Roong's cell phone. This one is of me and my favorite waitress Ahm. I may have to stalk her :D

I is legal now

Aye Caramba! They gave me a TEFL certificate and everything! 100 hours down, and 50 to go.

Hot dog

What? No mustard?????

Have You Read The Rockefeller Files?

Don't forget this fact, you can't get it back.....

Clapton in Bankok on the 15th!!!! Steve and I are gonna go see him. It may be the last chance we get. We ended up with nosebleed seats, but that's ok. After a while, you can wander around anywhere you want to anyway. I am not sure if I am more excited to see Clapton, or just to be able to run amok in bangkok for a day. Haaa! Ohh, Steve and I may try and make mead. As he owns a honey farm, it seemed a good idea. I found several easy recipes on the net, and may give it a try soon. This has got to be more fun than the mushroom farm idea. I asked Ead if we could build a brewery on the bannok property....both she and Roong growled this time. I think I am getting warmer :P

PukkyKa Art Inc.

Our Youngest daughter, Pukapow (means pufferfish) , has an artistic streak it seems. I was messing about trying to come up with a logo for no reason and ended up with this. Pukky got ahold of it and did the animation. Pretty slick!

Skul Nooz

Our little school is still chugging along. I think basically it is a practice arena for me, but they still seem to be learning. We lost a few students when regular school started, but we will get them back over the next break in March and and April. I finally landed a real teaching gig at a local private school. It's called "Pen Pattana", which means "Moon writing", or something. It's named after the owners Mom. I don't start until May, but I have a contract (which doesn't mean squat here)and all, so I am hoping it will happen. I met with them twice, and taught a class with them watching. All went well. As always, we will see.

New houses and mushroom farms

Hi again. I got a few new shots of Ead and Nan's new house in progress. I also got a few pics of them, and their son Ice. The house is looking great. They have 3 stories set up and the roof on it. Ead's dad says we should open a mushroom farm (No, not THOSE kind of mushrooms). I asked Ead if we could build a few mushroom houses on the Bannok property...was the first time I have ever heard her growl. Haaaa! That's ok, Big daddy and I will be mushroom kings!