Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Pretend


Hi,

Chiang Rai, and most of Thailand, had another hazy, smokey, nasty day.  The conversation and news coverage have reached epic proportions.  We stay inside as much as possible.  Today we had two power outages, which didn't help at all.   Meanwhile, the locals have started camping by the river in anticipation of the Songkran Festival.

I got several correct answers for our 'Easy Monday' tune.  This song has one of the longest titles with nine words.
"Sometime you really dig a girl the moment you kiss her, and then you get distracted by her older sister.  When in walks her father and takes you in line and says, 'Better go home, son, and make up your mind.'  Then you bet you better finally decide, and say yes to one and let the other one ride... __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __?"  Clue:  During the summer in the city they believed in magic, that's why she was so nice.  Now there's a problem in deciding who is nicer.  Maybe it's all a daydream.

This morning when I returned to the house, I pressed the button on the gate remote and nothing happened.  I was about to call Boot when she opened the gate manually.  The power was out so the gate is just an ordinary, big gate.  It's not hard to roll it open, but it means getting out of the car, blah, blah, blah.   The power was 'gone', as Boot would say, for over an hour.  In the hot, hazy weather it's very quiet when the power is gone.  The usual background sounds disappear and the magic of silence fills the air.  

This afternoon, the power went out again.  We decided to go to Central Plaza for a little relief.  Then the phone rang and it was the iService Center asking me to bring my laptop for testing of the battery for their records.  It was to take about 20 minutes.  That sounded perfect.  Off to the mall for some fresher air and coolness.  Since school is out in our area, the traffic was light.  We dropped off the laptop and browsed a bit and went back to the center.  It was going to be another 20 minutes.  The 20 minutes is clearly the time it takes from when they begin the process, not how long we had to wait.  The young man at the counter needed a little more English, but he had the nodding head/smiling thing down.  We saw our friends Nukoon and Sutheera and that was a nice surprise.  It helped pass the time and diffuse the tension.  A stop at the 'record store' and we had used up another 20 minutes.  We finally got the laptop back, after a lot of insisting that we had to go.

The Songkran Festival begins, officially, on 13 April (which is the way dates are related here).  As a point of interest, the use of 'th' and 'rd' after a number is not used.  One refers to a date as simply 13 or number 13.  So, even though Songkran doesn't start until 13 April, the river bank looks like it will begin tomorrow.  Thatch huts, dining tables with umbrellas, and truck-campers are already staking claim to parts of the shoreline.  It's going to be a long vacation for some folks.  The water throwing will probably begin early and go for a week.  Oh boy, not.  More on that as it gets closer.  

There is a place we pass almost everyday, but have never checked out.  It looks kinda cool, interesting, different, and hip so I took a photo today to share with you.  It's called 'Tattoo's Cafe' and from what I can figure, they do ink and Henna tattoos, serve soft/hard drinks and food, and maybe have video games.  It looks tiny from the street, but it goes way back on the property.  I must investigate and give a full report.  (555)


Have a Happy Tuesday.

                    Peace,
                               Danny

"Be careful what you pretend to be because 
you are what you pretend to be."
~Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

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