12 December 2015

Wild Kitten Captured

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Cat Whispering is employed once again! It's an imperfect art, but we do our best. 
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Tuk discovered a tiny wild skinny kitten a few weeks ago skulking about our outdoor courtyard. This kitten, of still uncertain gender, is obviously an orphan, so we have plotted to catch him/her. 
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Food is the classic lure, and I set up kind of box trap right out of the Boy Scout manuals of the 1950s/60s, with a weighted lid controlled by a hand-held line. (My technical engineering and carpentry skills peaked at the Pioneering Merit Badge, so I can do a lot with ropes and knots but I am helpless with any technology since the Stone Age.) 
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This afternoon the little kitten stepped into the box, and I captured them. (The pronoun "them", usually a plural one, is fast becoming acceptable for representing a single solitary mammal of uncertain gender, and this usage is being added/updated to respectable dictionaries as we speak.) The kitten was shocked and frightened by their sudden captivity, and they cried and cried. Poor little orphan. 
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We now have the kitten imprisoned/ isolated in our ground floor toilet room, giving them one room at a time to get used to. (We did this drill before with our dear departed kitten Jiuu over a year ago.) The food and water is on display; they already used the fresh litter box; and they are sleeping in a safe hiding place we designed for them. I will be on watch down here for however long it takes, talking with them when they're awake and about, remaining as still and non-threatening as possible in my lawn-chair. 
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I will sleep here, with the kitten food close to me so they must trust and venture close. It's a long nurturing process, but I'm hoping the skinny tiny little kitten will come through.
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Sad Update:  The little cat freaked completely out right from the beginning of a couple of days and nights captive inside.  Because they were so frantic to claw their way back outside and screamed so loudly nonstop night and day, Tuk decided we should free the little cat to go outside again.  The cat was absent for a day or two but then came back for food and hung around for a while.  Then they disappeared and hasn't been seen for over a week.  We hope the little feline survives somewhere.  
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-Zenwind. 
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21 November 2015

Pledging My Time

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“I’m pledging my time

To you,

Hoping you come through, too.”

(-Bob Dylan, 1966)

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It is difficult finding the time to pledge toward contacting you, my treasured correspondents, as time goes by increasingly fast and life gets busier by the day. I am desperately behind in my writing, both in email replies and blog postings. I apologize. Part of it is my inability to find enough hours of the day when I can really focus:

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“From early in the morning

Til late at night

I got a poison headache

But I feel alright.

I’m pledging my time

To you,

Hoping you come through, too.”

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My recent routine is to completely halt most of my writing and correspondence while I am reading books/eBooks. I am a slow deliberate reader who likes to go back and re-read when necessary and take detailed notes, and it takes my complete attention in order to do these works justice.

I belong to a few local Bangkok book discussion groups, although I don’t often attend the meetings because I end up not reading the month’s book selection. I’ve always had a problem with someone “assigning” me readings, starting in junior high school and going right on through my early attempts at college. I would be assigned one book to read but I’d be drawn to another – usually one in a completely different genre and historical age. I still have that random anarchic individualistic “lack-of-discipline” reading attitude that allows me to follow my immediate intellectual interests wherever they lead. So now I also have my own hugely ambitious personal eccentric reading lists which keep me busy. I’m reading a lot of great stuff – some of it that I wanted to read four or five decades ago but never got the chance – and it’s a wonderful freedom. Pure delight.

Then, between readings, between the agonizingly complex decisions on what to read next, I try to catch up with my writing. As a bumbling perfectionist, my writing takes time to craft – though I’m pledging it to you.

Related to this, I’ve lately been ambushed by a horribly painful FMS episode, and I have lost enormous amounts of strength and energy, as well as accumulating near-crippling injuries. Back pain, neck pain – I can often deal with these everyday physical pains. But when my lower extremities are hindered, then I’m crippled. Marching is Life, but I’ve hit the goddamn Wall. I’m having acute hip pain, and simple walking around the house is difficult. I return from a simple walk to the neighborhood store (a 200 meter round trip) gasping for breath. The overall syndrome leaves me utterly exhausted and brain fatigued. On top of it all, there has been NO cool season so far, and the heat is still oppressive, without letup. I’m drained.

Well, I admit, even in the midst of my present FMS bodily pain, I no longer suffer the debilitating migraines (aka, the “poison headaches”) that I had through the first 50+ years of my existence. A much-appreciated mercy.

Time to stop typing and post this before the next wave of “brain-fog” will engulf me, bog down my writing, and delay this posting. “I’m pledging my time/ To you/ Hoping you come through, too.”

-Zenwind.

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26 October 2015

Bird Songs, Weather Signs

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Hanging out my laundry today on the veranda, I noticed a few unique bird songs that I haven’t heard in a long time. Migratory birds from up north in China have arrived, chirping their little hearts out.

The last couple of days have been horribly hot, as the sun has no longer been obscured by clouds. I have been sleeping in swim trunks with two fans blowing on me full blast. The forecast calls for rain tomorrow, so maybe we’ll get some relief.

A curious weather difference between SE Asia and North America. In America (and several other worldwide locations) the reliable weather saying is: “red at night, sailors’ delight; red in the morning, sailors take warning”. Here it is the opposite. At sundown just now our western sky is red, which made me re-check the weather reports. Sure enough, thunderstorms tomorrow.

I skipped the philosophy book meet up in the city tonight. Plato is just too boring, and it’s a major hassle to get into town and back. Maybe next month, if the book is right.

-Zenwind.

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19 October 2015

October in the Kingdom

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After a rather dry but cloudy Rainy Season, we ended it with a lot of rain in early October. That appears to be ending now, and on the last two nights I’ve seen the moon for the first time in recent memory.

I try to post here at least once a month in order to let anyone interested know that I’m still alive and kicking. I haven’t written much of anything anywhere lately – either on blogs or in personal correspondence – since I’ve been reading a huge amount of stuff and watching a lot of movies, both in theaters and on DVD.

I also just found a big trove of my old music CDs hidden amongst Tuk’s junk that were “lost” during the chaos of the Great Flood of 2011 when we had to scramble and move everything up to higher ground; and I’ve been laboriously transferring this music first to my computer and then to my phone’s music files. (My Beethoven 9th Symphony – the “glorious Ninth” in the words of Alex in A Clockwork Orange -- was a flawed CD so I had to buy another one to upload.)

We are doing well, all in all. I still have a fragmented blood clot throughout my entire left leg (Deep Vein Thrombosis) from last December. I take the anti-coagulant meds and see the doctor for regular monitoring blood tests and for periodic ultra-sound scans. I seem to be very susceptible to blood clots, since this is far from the first time, and I’m scared to death of any inactivity and long-distance airplane flights.

I am a member of three Bangkok book club meet up groups, but I rarely make it to any events. I’ve always been an extremely undisciplined random reader who reads what he likes when he likes. This caused problems in high school and in my early attempts at college in my early-twenties. (When I returned to finish my philosophy and history studies in my late-thirties I was very much on-task as far as readings.) Now, I’ve been spoiled since my retirement by the freedom to read randomly again. I’m ignoring most of these book club readings now, mainly because they don’t make me laugh enough. Laughter is the very best medicine!

I attended one meet up of the Bangkok Philosophy and Classical Literature book club last month, its first one. The book was On Anger by the Roman Stoic Seneca. Good book, great international group with a lot of smart young thinkers mixed with older ones with long reading experiences. The book was a good analysis of anger, and I was forced to confront my own history of anger (and violence). In this respect, “assigned” readings that I wouldn’t have ordinarily encountered can be invaluable.

This month’s philosophy reading (next week) is Plato’s dialogue, Meno. I first read this 30 years ago, and reading it again is every bit as boring. (I really love Plato’s classic The Apology, the trial defense, aka “apology”, of Socrates; and I enjoy The Symposium for its wonderful theater; but Plato generally bores me to death and I loathe his totalitarian mindset.) In Meno: “innate” knowledge as a somehow “recalled memory” from some kind of past existence? Needless to say, I’m skeptical. To be honest, I’m a bit irked to have been seduced into re-reading this – which activity hijacked my precious time for writing and for reading other things. I may go to the meet up next week, but generally I have retired from argument and may have nothing to say.

I have lately been reveling in the re-reading of the wonderful Charles Stross series, The Laundry Files. They are called “Lovecraftian spy thrillers”: bizarre horror; hard science fiction; dry British humour. Wow. (Look for a review of this series in the future on Zenwind.)

This week is my regular 90-day visit to the dread Immigration Office on Wednesday, then celebration of the birthday of Franz Liszt (b.1811) on Thursday, followed by our long holiday weekend. My main aim this week is to push my exercise regimen into a major re-start after a long spell of decline and sloth due to ill health and pain. (“What a drag it is getting old” – The Rolling Stones.)

Yet, from the perspective of H.W. Longfellow: “Excelsior!” (That is a poem!)

-Zenwind.

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30 September 2015

Blues Music in Bangkok

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Blues music venues have come and gone during my short experience here in greater Bangkok. But one solid and predictable standard of excellence is always at the Saxophone Pub and restaurant on Friday and Saturday nights. Usually a mostly Jazz venue, the Saxophone features phenomenal Blues by Ped’s Band at 21:00-23:30 on Fridays and Saturdays. Highly recommended.

At the rather new venue, Nothing but the Blues, on Thonglor, it’s all Blues. Ped (above) hosts a Blues jam every Sunday and Wednesday night, and there are several other Blues bands I haven’t heard yet. Chai and the Blues Maniacs play on Tuesdays and Fridays, and Chai et al has a singer named Nurse and she can really belt out the Blues. When she sings “Rock Me Baby” (B.B King), I get goose bumps from my back to my arms to my shoulders to my neck and scalp. Whew!

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“Rock me baby/ Rock me all night long

Rock me baby/ Rock me all night long

Rock me baby/ Till my back ain’t got no bone.”

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Can’t get that song out of my head!

-Zenwind.

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27 September 2015

Mid-Autumn Festival

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Tonight’s Full Moon is an important Chinese holiday, celebrated especially in China, Vietnam, and by the worldwide Chinese diaspora. It is a harvest full moon festival.

We have had occasional clear skies lately. This means hot sun in the day but good moon viewing at night. I will look for the moon tonight.

-Zenwind.

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15 September 2015

September Coolness, Finally

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On this Ides of September the tropical climate here seems to be a bit more forgiving. Not exactly “comfortable,” since the humidity can still be wicked. I went out for a neighborhood march at midday, and, although it was not as horribly hot and humid as normal, I still came back home in the traditional condition of wringing sweaty wet.

But we’ve had a few rains lately, which tend to cloud the blasted blazing sun and relieve us a bit. Sometimes, only occasionally, you catch a refreshing breeze. September is usually the rainiest month of the rainy monsoon season, and in this particular rain-starved drought year we are finally getting some. The rainy monsoon that usually approaches us from the Indian Ocean’s northeastern-ward flow is being met by a west-ward flowing tropical storm bearing down on us from the South China Sea to our east. Vietnam (Quang Nam Province, my old stomping grounds) and Laos have already been hit by the cyclone, and we are next.

Tonight, tomorrow, and Thursday should bring us heavy rains – I hope. The temporary flooding will be a problem – especially for me on Thursday night when I go into town to a meet up with my libertarian friends, but I trust I can navigate through. If not, I think I can keep my head above water and survive.

Meanwhile, I sit in swim trunks and have the fan blowing on me at full-blast.

Blessed coolness. Zen delight.

-Zenwind.

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29 August 2015

Little Cat Jiuu, R.I.P.

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Our beloved young cat, Jiuu (meaning “Tiny”), died today, barely one year old. We are heartbroken, as she was a vibrant member of our family. Jiuu was a cosmic clown, making us laugh continuously. She was a loving pet, and she just adored Tuk, sleeping near her every night.

Tuk had rescued her as a kitten after her mother was killed by a dog. Tuk had a good vet give her all the vaccinations in the book and brought her home on Halloween last. We kept her indoors, and we cannot understand how she got so sick. Animals don’t live long here in the tropics.

She got sick suddenly less than six weeks ago and went into a radically steep decline. The vets cannot explain it. She wouldn’t eat and went right down, despite our force-feeding her liquid nourishment, fluids, and meds. We took her to the vet many times, most recently just this morning. But she gave up the ghost this evening. Poor little girl. We miss her so much.

Here is a picture of Jiuu from the early days when we brought her home: http://pinetreewind.blogspot.com/

She was a darling.

-Zenwind.

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21 August 2015

Bangkok Normal

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I went into the city yesterday and found Bangkok Dangerous to be more like Bangkok Normal, at least for the afternoon and evening I was there. After the bombings of earlier in the week, there were not quite as many people on the mass transit or in the stores, but the automobile traffic was in normal gridlock. The security people are checking bags more thoroughly.

I had planned on taking the express boat in and to land on the Sathorn pier where Tuesday’s bombing attempt occurred, but I stepped out of the house into the blazing heat and found a taxi right in front of me. So I skipped the walk to the river and took the taxi, riding in air conditioned comfort to the nearest Skytrain station. What’s happening to my sense of adventure?

It was our libertarian meet up night, which takes me out a bit to the east of the city center. I hate crowds, so my usual strategy is to go out there on the Skytrain in mid-afternoon when it’s not as crowded. There is a movie theater within walking distance of our meet up pub, so I passed rush hour in a/c comfort. From the Skytrain I got a good look down at the Erawan shrine where Monday’s bombing occurred, and although there were people there the crowd was much smaller than normal.

My friends all went home before 23:00, so I went to The Rock Pub – Bangkok’s House of Rock. There were only three of us there in the audience for the late band, Jimmy Revolt. The band knows me as a very enthusiastic fan of theirs, and if I’m there they always play “Rock and Roll” by Led Zeppelin. Although this band has its origins in Punk, they are always surprising me with their new covers of old classics, e.g., "Johnny Be Good," "Paint It Black."

After the pub closed, I sat at one of their outdoor tables talking to one of the audience, an interesting guy from Serbia. He has a PhD in music history and did his dissertation on something like “New Wave Rock Music in the Soviet Block,” or similar. Obviously, he doesn’t have a job in the field. Great conversation.

Normal taxi ride home after midnight with very little traffic and, surprisingly, few police checkpoints. Our street still has the trees trimmed with cascades of blue lights from the recent Mothers' Day (Queen's birthday), and at 3AM it looks magical.

-Zenwind.

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17 August 2015

Explosion in central Bangkok

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There has been an explosion this evening in central Bangkok, close to the famous Erawan shrine that honors the Hindu god Brahma.

It is thought to be a big pipe bomb, and at least a dozen people have been killed and several dozen wounded by the blast. News reports are still coming in. Good old BBC was the first to alert me of this.

The site is at a major intersection, and I often travel by on the elevated Skytrain. I have often shopped at the nearby Amarin Plaza (where I bought my hammock recently).

Who did it is an instant controversy, as most Thais have their personally favorite villains to blame. The political thickets just get thicker and thicker.

Stand by.

-Zenwind.

Update: The value of BBC International News is apparent now, as no other news service is remotely as up to date. (Al Jazeera is a decent second.) CNN and Fox News are asleep at the wheel.

Update: Overnight there's been a lot of changes in reported facts and theories.

Update: This afternoon (Tuesday) a similar bomb was thrown off a bridge toward the Sathorn pier, but it bounced into the river and exploded there without injuring anyone. This is the pier I have often used when coming into the city via express boat down the Chao Phraya River; I land there and take the nearby Skytrain into the downtown area from there.

I still plan to travel into the city later this week -- if public transit is working somewhat normally -- although Tuk thinks I'm nuts.

-Zenwind.

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30 July 2015

Cool Asalha Puja Rainstorm

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Asalha Puja – a major Buddhist holy day

The celebration of Buddha's First Discourse

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A tremendously windy rainstorm

Just hit us this late afternoon.

The coolness is exquisite

The fresh smells intoxicating.

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I had gone out earlier to my hammock

On our back-facing second floor veranda

With reading and writing materials,

And I started reading the First Discourse.

But it got so dark I couldn't read the printed paper page;

So I just lie back, watching the wind whip the big tree.

Then the sudden cool breeze hit,

Reminding me of my father's weather lore:

"It feels like it has rained somewhere."

And it had.

Then it rained and blew spray on us with a vengeance,

And I sat back and delighted in the blasts of coolness.

It doesn’t get any better than this!

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-Zenwind.

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15 July 2015

St. Swithun’s Day 2015

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Let the Feast of St. Swithun begin! 15 July 2015

Old Swithun (aka Swithin), often considered the patron saint of drought/rain cycles, you are needed now to relieve the horrible drought in Thailand. It is the worst drought in countless decades and the farmers up-country need rain. We down in the parched central plains need clouds and rain to cool things down. The sun is scorching our brains! I don’t really believe in saints, miracles, or theological meteorology, but appealing to fantasies such as this can be tempting.

As the ancient lore claims:

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“St. Swithun’s Day if thou dost rain

For forty days it will remain.

St. Swithun’s Day if thou be fair

For forty days ‘twill rain nae mare.”

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Therefore, for centuries the old-timer farmers in England and America had a strict rule: you must get your first crop of hay into the barn by 15 July, because if it does rain on that day, what if it actually does rain for the next forty days? Superstitious? Or prudent?

However, I hear that in old Warren County, Pennsylvania, USA they have been getting too much rain. Up there, folks are going to want a dry St. Swithun’s Day!

-Zenwind.

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St. Swithun’s Day mid-year reviews 2015

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I consider this Feast Day of St. Swithun (15 July) to be the calendar year’s mid-point. It was about the midway point in public school summer vacations, vacations which I considered the high holy days of freedom when I was both a student and later a teacher.

So, this is a good time to pause and record things about the last half-year. I started recently listing the books I’ve read and the movies I’ve seen, mainly so that I could keep track of all of them and possibly give them as recommendations to those few (if any) who read my blogging. I’d like to review them all, but that might be too much. From New Year’s Day to St. Swithun’s Day, here they are:

Books Read:

Ira Levin – This Perfect Day (1970) [libertarian SF] [reviewed on Zenwind]

Marc Headley – Blown for Good (2009) [reviewed on Zenwind]

Victor Koman – Solomon’s Knife (1989/2014) [libertarian SF]

Elie Wiesel – Night (1958/2006)

Lawrence Wright – Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief (2013) [reviewed on Zenwind]

Steven Pressfield – Gates of Fire [great novel of the Spartans at Thermopylae]

Basho – Narrow Road to the Interior [master of haiku]

Richard Flanagan – Narrow Road to the Deep North (2013)

Nancy Many – My Billion Year Contract: memoir of a former Scientologist (2009)

Tony Ortega – The Unbreakable Miss Lovely (2015) [Wow!]

J. Neil Schulman – Alongside Night (1979) [libertarian SF]

E.M. Forster – The Machine Stops (1909) [libertarian SF]

Jefferson Hawkins – Counterfeit Dreams (2010)

Amy Scobee – Scientology: Abuse at the Top (2010)

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Movies Seen:

Predestination

Into the Woods

Blackhat

Guardians of the Galaxy (DVD) [recommended]

American Sniper [reviewed on Zenwind]

The Imitation Game [recommended]

Still Alice [recommended]

The Theory of Everything

Birdman

Lost River

Child 44 [reviewed on Zenwind]

Tomorrowland

Mad Max: Fury Road

Wild (DVD) [recommended]

Crazy, Stupid, Love (DVD)

Nightcrawler (DVD)

Unbroken (DVD)

The Voices (2014)

Spy (2014)

Inherent Vice (2014) (DVD)

Jurassic World

Love & Mercy [recommended]

The Kingsmen (2015) (DVD)

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I hope to recap the next half-year’s books and movies at New Year’s next. Let me know what books and movies you have experienced.

As far as our family, we are still doing well. I am still under treatment for chronic Deep Vein Thrombosis, blood clots in my legs. But I'm trying to stay fit and exercise whenever possible.

Swithun lives!

-Zenwind.

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11 July 2015

Hammock Daze

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I got a hammock for the second-floor veranda out back! I haven't yet made it to the big flea market as I'd planned for hammock shopping, but I did get great tips from the online expatriate community and found a store with good camping gear with easier access in downtown Bangkok. The hammock is made of nylon parachute silk, which is not quite as ventilated and cool as I'd like, but it sure is nice otherwise. With it I got a mosquito net covering.

Our rainy season monsoon this year is a weak one, and we are not getting much rain. Yet we do have more clouds and a bit more wind, which are welcome relief from the heat. When the wind blows, I can cool off a bit swinging in the gusts with music and a book/Kindle. When it rains, I enjoy the occasional blasts of cool moisture while under the overall protection of the open and roofed veranda. (Gotta love Sony for their waterproof products!)

Blessed Coolness. Zen Delight.

-Zenwind.

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20 June 2015

A Slightly Cool Relief

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The Rainy Monsoon is here (albeit a very weak one), and the constant blazing hell of the Hot Season has been replaced by days with at least some cloud coverage and some nights with rain. Anything is an improvement. Even if we do not get the rain, we can often feel the relative coolness in stormy winds -- reminding me of my father's summer observations during similar weather in NW PA, USA: "It feels like it has rained somewhere."

Blessed Coolness. Zen Delight.

I would like to buy a jungle hammock with its mosquito-netted cocoon that you zip yourself into. It would be great for sleeping out on our roofed open second story veranda during rainy nights. I had one in 1968, which I used heavily while hitchhiking through the Northeast and hanging out as a forest hermit in my home county.

There is a famous -- and huge -- weekend flea market in northern Bangkok that might have jungle hammocks, but I must take a taxi to get to it plus I don't like crowded places like that. (I'm still a die-hard hermit.) We will have to see whether I ever make the expedition there or not.

-Zenwind.

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01 June 2015

Vesak 2015

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Toady is the full moon Buddhist holiday of Vesak, which in Theravada tradition celebrates the birth, enlightenment (at age 35), and paranirvana (death at age 80) of Gotama Buddha. Each of these important times of his life are believed to have happened at the full moon at this time of year (usually June). Big holiday. The neighborhood is very quiet.

-Zenwind.

03 May 2015

I’m Complaining…

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...But I don’t know whom to complain to, and you’ve probably heard this gripe of mine over and over before. I’m complaining about how hellishly hot it is these last few days. It was easily 100*F today and was 104 and 106 on recent days. And those are just raw temperatures without factoring in the humidity, dew point, and Heat Index.

I know: I chose to move to Thailand, so I should be able to hack it. Maybe I’m getting old. Or maybe the heat just makes me grouchy. The one or two people who ever read this blog must be very sick of my constant comments about the heat here. But I’m still astonished by it.

(Trying to calculate temp and humidity into a Heat Index number on a day like this is as futile as trying to calculate Wind Chill when it’s 40-below zero with a stiff wind. One would just say, “It’s damn cold, and there is a brutal killer wind.” In both cases, one just scrambles to survive without bodily damage.)

I defrosted our old frig tonight because I couldn’t sleep and its ice builds up quickly in this weather. Then I went out at 23:00 hours to the all-night store for two packs of ice. As I stepped out of the house unto the street, I felt like I should be swimming instead of walking – the wetness of the air made it almost difficult to breathe. “Thick and soupy” would be the best way to describe the air, and there was no hint of a breeze.

We look forward to the relative coolness of the Rainy Season, which might start (hopefully) in a month or so.

-Zenwind.

10 April 2015

On the Great Chao Phraya River

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I haven’t been on the Chao Phraya River express boats for a long, long time until the other day. I haven’t been going to Bangkok as much in recent months, and when I have gone into the city I’ve taken a taxi in to at least the closest Skytrain (light commuter elevated rail) station and then a taxi back home late. I’ve been opting for the coolest rides in air conditioned comfort. I must be getting old.

Yesterday was my annual trip to the US Embassy to get a notarized document for my annual big visit to Immigration in two weeks to apply for an Extension of Stay in Thailand based on Retirement. I intended to take the boat in the morning, but I was running late and it’s hotter than Hell here, and an empty taxi happened to come by. There are no good movies playing, so after the embassy visit I made a quick bookstore run and jumped on the express boat for the afternoon trip home.

Standing outside for 10 minutes I felt like I had just taken a swim with all of my clothes on. The other day gave us a freak hard thunderstorm which made the night cool. The following morning wasn’t too bad while the clouds blocked the sun. But when the sun finally came out, all that moisture just hung heavy in the air. Sweat city, without mercy.

Looking at the city from the lowest elevation, at river level, I could see a lot of changes. Bangkok is a dynamic place. Buildings and infrastructure are going up everywhere. One new bridge for elevated rail is already finished not far down-river from us, and I got to look at the new bridge(s) closer to us. I was amazed that there are two double train track bridges being built together. These rail connections will soon make express boat travel antique, as air conditioned fast rail stations will be within walking distance to us in a couple of years.

But you cannot beat the scenery experienced from the river’s level. You see the extreme poverty of collapsing tin squatters’ shacks on stilts on the river’s edge right next to luxurious new high-rise condos going up – that’s Asia in a nutshell.

The Great Flood of 2011 still has its reminders left along the banks. Wooden structures are now showing their immense foundational decay from that deluge. And a couple of riverbank temple monasteries are finally showing their damage as debris is slowly being shoveled out of their ground floors.

Ah, I long for coolness.

-Zenwind.

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Silly Willy, R.I.P.

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[This post was moved from "Zenwind" to this blog.]

Silly Willy, our silliest but beloved cat, died recently after a year-long struggle with some kind of a feline virus. The vet had tests done in late 2013 and told us it was a terminal case, but Willy didn’t give in without a fight and lived much longer than expected. He was seven or eight years old.

Willy was a favorite of ours, and he always wanted to be close to Tuk – until the last weeks of his sickness when he would snuggle next to me because I sleep more. Right from the time he was a kitten, he was always doing silly things, hence his name. He just looked silly. I would always greet him by saying, “There’s that silly little guy!” and he seemed to like that.

He liked to hear us talking to him, and during his last days and nights I would recite a short Mahayana verse to him that I got from reading Jack Kerouac. Although I don’t believe in the Mahayana ideas of rebirth, etc., I do admire their sense of compassion. I really like some of their ideas – which I look at as metaphors -- of a long series of karmic rebirths that have the potential for all sentient beings who think and act virtuously to work their way up to the state of complete Buddha-hood. The Kerouac verses, into which any name can be substituted, went like this:

-- “Willy: equally empty.” [“emptiness” meaning that our individual natures are not fixed; we can overcome ourselves, improve ourselves, and climb higher]

-- “Willy: equally to be loved.”

-- “Willy: equally a coming Buddha.” [even Willy may, in some far future eon, reach that highest of moral heights]

Willy would weakly look at me as I recited this, appreciating the attention. I couldn’t resist assuring him that after his final rebirth he would become famously known as “the Silly Buddha.” I don’t think he took my humor in the wrong way. We sure loved the little guy.

-Zenwind.

01 April 2015

Over 100 Degrees F. and Humid

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The title of this post says it all.

And yet what did I do at noon? I took a march around the neighborhood and down past the river.

"Mad dogs and Englishmen/ Go out in the midday sun." All the dogs I saw were sane; they relaxed in the shade. It was me who was the April Fool.

-Zenwind.

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24 March 2015

Tropical Storm Hitting Us a Bit

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It's still our Dry Season (which lasts from about October to June), and it's also the Hot part of that season (with the hottest time being March to May). So it seems a bit unusual for a big thunderstorm to come through, but it's coolness is welcomed. We have had warning of it, and I always check out the daily weather reports. Yesterday I carried an umbrella with me for the first time in several months, although I didn't need it.

This noon the sky became dark with rumblings of thunder, and our cat Pinkie came downstairs and hid under some clothes. But Jiuu Jiuu was not as frightened, probably because she was born outside during the last rainy season, and then she was orphaned and lived on a roof in the neighborhood before Tuk rescued her.

The air is fresher and cooler than I've known in a long time. I stepped out on our second-floor veranda in the back and relished it. We have a new improved roof on it, so when the rainy season does come again I will set a chair out there.

Blessed coolness. Zen delight.

-Zenwind.

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07 March 2015

How Hot Is It? ...

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It’s horrendously hot and humid here, and I’m wilting in a pool of sweat. How hot is it?

I’ll let the late great Robin Williams answer that from his tropical weather report in the film Good Morning, Vietnam! (1987):

“The weather out there today is hot and shitty with continued hot and shitty in the afternoon. Tomorrow a chance of continued crappy with a pissy weather front coming down from the north. Basically, it's hotter than a snake's ass in a wagon rut.”

“It’s hot. Damn hot. The hottest thing is my shorts. They’re so hot, I can cook in ‘em. Do a little crotch-pot cooking. It’s so hot, I saw two of those little guys in orange robes burst into flames. It’s hot, hot and wet, which is fine if you’re with a lady but not so fine if you’re in the jungle.”

Ah, Robin, you really nailed it. (And you left us too soon.)

-Zenwind.

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25 February 2015

Hot but with a Dry Breeze in the Shade

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I haven’t posted here in a while. We are getting daytime temps up in the brutal mid-90s*F, and the direct sunlight is unbelievably oppressive. Our “cool” season will be over very soon. I know that readers suffering through extreme cold in the great white north don’t want to hear this; but the “hot” season of March, April, and May is our own most dreaded time of year because of the hellish humidity.

I am determined to get air conditioning into our two rooms before the worst hits us. So when I’m feeling well enough I’ve been doing a lot of work clearing junk out of the way for when the guys eventually come to install the a/c. This being Thailand, there is no guarantee that we will get it in, but I dread another year of the heat without it.

I did the moving and cleaning early today but still was drenched in sweat while working inside. And my back started hurting worse than in recent memory – making it painful to even breathe. After de-frosting our ancient frig (which ices up quite fast) I showered and went to the neighborhood store for ice and especially for some cold Beer Chang.

Returning, I cleaned all of our major floor fans outdoors and left the parts out to dry. The final thing on the agenda was to be outside to receive the delivery of chicken livers for our two remaining cats. A woman rides her bicycle by and brings the liver between 14:00 and 15:00 hours every Wednesday.

As I had made a respectable dent in my agenda, I finally sat in the shade and went through a liter of beer with ice in a big mug. The breeze was surprisingly dry in the afternoon, and I stopped sweating – which is unusual for outdoors. The Beer Chang numbed my backache.

My personal sound system is the best I’ve ever had in my entire life, and I made use of it today. Waterproof (sweat-proof) phone and headphones from Sony. For “cleaning music,” Led Zeppelin is the best to get me moving, and I added some Queen later on; hard rocking fast-moving jumpy stuff. (The cats think I'm insane.) For “sitting in the shade music” later, I listened to the Dixie Chicks, and their song "Traveling Soldier" always makes me weep.

It’s evening now, but the house is still hot. The beer anesthesia has worn off and the pain is acute. I should have bought another pint. So I will stop typing and lie down.

-Zenwind.

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03 February 2015

Pipe Bombs Go Off Outside Downtown Mall

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Sunday night two pipe bombs with watch timers went off outside Siam Paragon shopping center in Bangkok’s center. No one was hurt even though it was during a busy time. I walk by that spot at least once a month.

Conspiracy theories have really taken off, and there are all manner of villains blamed. “TIT” (“This Is Thailand”) and I’m rarely surprised anymore. We will continue to be vigilant when out and about.

-Zenwind.

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20 January 2015

The "Cool" season is here

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We are enjoying our January's all-too-brief respite from the tropical norm of extremely uncomfortable heat and humidity. Yes, we still drip with sweat when venturing out and being physically active. But the relatively comfortable dryness of the air at this moment is astonishing and is welcomed beyond belief. The Dew-Point (a calculation of "felt temperature" combining heat and humidity) is very, and rarely, low. Thus, when I meditate, the inhalation of breath is much more free, and the cooler inhaled air is ecstatic beyond description.

This week, the temperatures dropped down into the mid-60s F, and I had to cover my feet at night, and one night I had to turn off the fan!

I have accumulated a huge collection of eBooks for Kindle reading, and I don't know where to start. So many books; so little time! I am going to re-start working out on the treadmill again (despite my doctor's orders), because I can read and exercise at the same time. I am so sick of being idle and weak.

So, ever and always, upward!

-Zenwind.

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