Busy Day with Great Conversations

 

One day last week, I had to cram a lot into the day, racing against the clock.  Doctor’s appointment at the hospital first thing in the morning, ending with our monthly LP meet up – shopping, a movie, and much travel in between. 

With so much on my To Do list and limited time, coffee wasn’t going to get me moving, so I toked some good Cannabis sativa before my shower.  I didn’t have enough time to limber up with my usual morning follow-up of Tai Chi and calisthenics, so I was still quite stiff and sore.  I couldn’t find a taxi, so out of desperation I took a motorcycle taxi, something I very rarely do since it is so insanely dangerous on Thai roads. 

What a ride!  No helmet, stoned, wind in my hair, we flew through the streets, sped by the river and braked at the hospital door.  I was so stiff I could barely dismount from the cycle.  But it was an exciting way to start the day. 

It was a follow-up with the orthopedic doctor, who was pleased with my exercise program and gave me two rules:  don’t do any further injury to my spine, and keep exercising.  I then had a great conversation with my long-time hospital translator and case manager, about Tai Chi and many different exercise routines. 

Leaving the hospital, I had another fine conversation with a long-time friend who speaks English and has a business just across the street, making copies of keys and repairing watches.  He comes from Thailand’s rural Northeast and we often talk of our appreciation for life in the country.  I’ve known him for years and often stop by on my walks.  During our recent Covid years, we have all worn masks – and it is still the general practice most places, but it is getting more relaxed, especially outdoors.  On this morning, I wore my mask down on my chin, so I could breathe easier, as did he.  For the first time in a couple of years, we could now see each other’s smiles and laughs.  We sat down and reminisced about our younger days.  He was trying to remember a song that always made him think of America, and we finally figured out that it was “Take Me Home, Country Roads” by John Denver – back in the day. 

I walked the mile home, and there I finally had time to do my limbering-up Tai Chi and calisthenics routines.  I did some reading before again hitting the road for the rest of the day in downtown Bangkok. 

The mass transit was not crowded – I carefully avoid rush hours – and I was able to get seats on both train connections.  I walked to a cannabis shop, looking for a waterpipe, and I found a fine one.  It rained on me for the walk back, but my “traveling light” gear included an umbrella. 

I saw a movie, The Menu, which I really enjoyed, and then I walked to the restaurant for our LP meet up.  (I relish their Reuben Sandwiches.)  There were only two others at the meet up, but we had good conversation.  They left early, so I finished the final leg of my day’s trek at The Rock Pub, to hear a favorite band that I hadn’t heard in a long time. 

There was a good crowd – the tourists are back! – and the rock music was excellent.  They played the one song they all know is a favorite of mine, “Rock and Roll” by Led Zeppelin.  Later, when asked for a request, I chose “Paint It Black” by the Rolling Stones, and they played their own special rendition of it, really well done.  A night of fine music. 

After the last song, I had a good conversation with the band’s vocalist/ guitarist.  I’ve known him for years, and we had a lot of catching up to do. 

I caught a taxi for the long ride home after midnight.  This time I didn’t stagger or limp on the final walk to my house – the THC start to my day still put a spring in my step and an alert energy that the several evening beers could not dull. 

The best parts of this busy day were the many conversations I had with my rare old friends. 

-Zenwind. 

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Two-Month Post

 

I missed posting a monthly note to this site in September.  A lot has happened in 2 months.  Tuk’s parents have had some health crises.  I injured my back again, which makes it uncomfortable to sit and type. 

Father-in-law has been getting more helpless, and can barely walk short distances with a walker.  Mother-in-law had some kind of violent psychiatric breakdown – which may be beginning Alzheimer’s Disease – and had to be briefly hospitalized, but meds have stopped the worst behavior and she is home. 

Tuk retired after 30 years with the electric company, but it’s not an easy retirement with her parents needing such care.  She has commissioned a lot of work by a former work associate, and a fine ground-floor accommodation is being created for them on their side of the house. 

I have had highs and lows with my health.  It had been over 8 months since I had been able to march my loop route that’s just under 5k.  But at the end of August, I began doing this loop again, and doing it 3 times a week.  My THC regimen (detailed in earlier posts) got me marching again to old standards (briefly).  Two or three tokes, then Tai Chi and stretching calisthenics, and I was out the door with a spring in my step. 

Then, one month ago, I hurt my back again trying to help get Father in a car to visit his doctor.  My own doctors are telling me to absolutely not lift anything.  I’ve been too busy to do the THC therapy, and it’s been raining heavily for weeks. 

Our house and near neighborhood have not been flooded, but the river is high and trying to break through dikes.  I tried to visit my province Immigration Office this week, but they were flooded with knee-deep water all around it.  I will try again next week.  In a walk this morning down by the river, water was seeping through under the bridges and flooding the way so much I had to turn back.  The Rainy Season is about to end, but there is a lot of water upcountry and it must come our way. 

-Zenwind.  

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End of Self-Quarantine, Back to Exercise

 

Our Covid episode is over, with Tuk and I ending our self-quarantines.  And her parents did not catch it from us, so things are back to normal.  Tuk has been going in to work most days again. 

I am slowly working my way back to strength after over ten days of being couch-bound.  Before getting Covid, I had been walking regularly, and, because I was using my THC workout regimen, I was relying on my cane less and less each time out walking.  I had been lifting dumbbells too, but that also came to a halt when I tested positive – my reasoning being that I needed rest more than anything.  Getting started again with an exercise program after a lapse is frustrating and painful. 

The THC-regimen is the surest way to get me on my feet again and out the door.  Micro-dosing on just a few tokes of robust Cannabis sativa gets me immediately high, and makes me want to move.  I launch into the few Tai Chi forms I remember from decades ago, and it starts to loosen me up and get the breath moving.  I then add to this with light warm-up calisthenics bends and stretches, routines learned from Kempo and from USMC boot camp PT warm-ups – from over half a century ago. 

The cannabis, by itself, does not stop my pain.  It actually makes me acutely aware of all the areas of my body that are painful, tight and weak, so then I can carefully and mindfully move to stretch and work those muscles and joints without causing further injuries.  Strong C. sativa has a profound physical effect on me that way – it makes me move.  A morning micro-dose, and the movement routines it inspires, will find me at the end of the day with very little pain at all. 

My program of exercise re-start is pathetically feeble right now, after my Covid lockdown and also from my back injury and the debilitating hip pain that has plagued me for the last half-year.  My longest marching routes in the neighborhood have been abandoned a long time ago, and I have been focusing on my short 3km loop by the river. 

This morning, after two tokes of sativa, I did this loop while leaving my cane at home – for the first time in recent memory.  There were many moments on my march where the pain in my hip and leg flared up, so I immediately adjusted my pace and posture, experimenting with the use of alternative muscle combinations and strides.  Thus, finding comfortable movement again, I would find myself marching along at a fairly respectable rate.  I am not yet at the level of walking I was at a year ago, but I am slowly gaining back strength. 

The herb is wonderfully therapeutic for me.  Just the medicine I needed. 

-Zenwind.  

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Covid Invades Our Household

 

I suppose it was inevitable, despite our careful sanitation routines, for Covid to infect our family.  The virus has been considered “endemic” here, and most of the restrictions are in the past.  We have still been wary because Tuk’s parents are old and frail. 

Tuk came down with symptoms and tested positive first.  So, she self-quarantined to our third-floor room, and we didn’t see her for days.  She ordered food delivered to our gate, and I took some to her parents and left hers at her door.  We communicated via text. 

Some days later, I felt cold-like symptoms coming on.  Tuk gave me a Covid home test which came up positive.  Now we both are barricaded in our portion of the house, isolated from her parents who are so far ok.  Since I am no longer going out shopping, the deliveries are all-important.  I really miss going outside, to the courtyard in front and the second-floor veranda in back, but we stay away to let the parents use those areas. 

My symptoms so far have been like the tail-end of a very weak head cold, and they have diminished daily since Day 1 – I’m now at Day 6.  The reason, I think, is because of my vaccinations:  Two Astra-Zeneca (in July and October 2021) and a Moderna booster (in February this year).  Tuk had two Sinovac, then a Pfizer booster, then a Moderna.  She has cold-like symptoms that are a bit more pronounced than mine and which persist longer, yet they are still relatively mild.  Her parents have had a vax history similar to mine, but because of their age we try to keep them safe at a distance. 

I feel like I’m under house arrest.  I will be glad when the self-quarantine ends. 

-Zenwind. 

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Marijuana Liberated in Thailand!

 

It is Independence Day!  The Glorious Fourth!  And here in Thailand it is appropriate that marijuana has recently been legalized (perhaps) and we can now smoke high-THC weed recreationally.  Cannabis was taken off the prohibited drug list three weeks ago on Jun 9, and free-enterprising sellers have set up shop throughout Bangkok.  And very high-potency ganga is offered. 

I didn’t expect this, and neither did most people.  There were no plans in place for regulating it, except for “public nuisance” prohibitions for smoking in public and a THC-content limit on extracts.  It is a sudden rush of freedom. 

Yet, it is suspicious that such a reactionary society could take such a libertarian step.  Some speculate that, because of the enormous profits from the weed trade and the great stimulus this liberalization will give to the foreign tourism industry, many of the power-brokers among the elite establishment here have their fingers in the various money pies.  Corruption is endemic everywhere here. 

I am skeptical about how long this free market era of freedom will last without stupid regulations from the political class.  A committee is now drawing up new regulations (due around August), and I predict a slew of nonsensical laws from politicians, bureaucrats, and their cronies. 

But in the meantime, I’ve visited two dispensaries in Bangkok to buy the legal limit of 3 grams from each.  One shop was staffed by mostly Americans and the other by Thais.  Each shop was consumer-friendly in the best traditions of free-market capitalism – offering a great product at competitive prices along with very supportive advice.  (As my father always explained to me, as we sold our farm’s milk and eggs to the public, the customers’ preferences and satisfaction are of the most importance.) 

I intend to visit several more of the weed dispensaries in the city, out of curiosity but also from the desire to stock up a decent personal stash in case the government goons decide to crush this renaissance of free-market cooperation between buyers and sellers. 

This stuff is powerful, far beyond our 60s and 70s experiences.  I always tend to micro-dose, limiting my indulgence to two or three tokes, enough to get a buzz and still be able to be energized and motivated.  This mode of usage gets me to exercise, to move out, and to heal.  It especially gets me to have much more intense Tai Chi sessions. 

I have been quite crippled for the last several months with severe hip pain.  I had not fallen, and I couldn’t explain it.  Last week, my doctors speculated that I have suffered compression of the lower spine due to lifting heavy stuff at home recently.  The pain has been so bad that I must walk with a cane, and only short distances at that.  I am curious about how marijuana (the THC-high smoking type) affects this recent episode of pain. 

The pain is always uneven, inconsistent and unpredictable.  But after two weeks of intermittent toking of weed, I no longer have to use my cane for large portions of my day.  Grass doesn’t relieve pain, but I’ve always thought of it as allowing me to “climb up through the pain”.  It kind of forces me to pace my movements carefully. 

I am going to observe this personal use of cannabis more thoroughly and try to see to whether it actually does have consistent healing effects on me.  On the plus side, it does make music sound so much more intense. 

-Zenwind. 

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They're Baaack!! Return of the Tourists

 

The foreign tourists have been starting to come back to Thailand.  Not the former great numbers of Chinese yet, but “farangs”, i.e., westerners, and some Middle Easterners are showing up. 

I have been extremely spoiled for two years, because the Covid pandemic shut down all incoming tourism.  I seemed to be the “only farang in town”, and I admit that I really liked that.  The trains, malls and theaters were empty and I roamed freely.  I didn’t have to witness crude behavior from farang (Euro-American types) or Chinese tourists.  There were only Thais and myself out and about, and I felt like I blended in.  But the dread tourists are trickling back.  I feel crowded now. 

We are all still expected to wear masks everywhere in public – it’s the social norm here as well as the law – but some tourists are arrogantly ignoring it, thumbing their noses at Thai values, and to me, as an expat, this is embarrassing to see. 

What I hate most is that public spaces are more crowded again.  Yes, that is selfish of me, but I am by nature a solitary rambler. 

“Ramble on; and now’s the time, the time is now, to sing my song...”. (Led Zeppelin). 

-Zenwind. 

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Royal Ploughing Ceremony

 

The Royal Ploughing Ceremony was this morning, and I always try to watch it on TV.  It takes place around this time every year, to acknowledge the beginning of the rice-planting season, just before the Rainy Season begins.  It is an ancient ceremony introduced from India, its first mention being in the Ramayana.  Brahmins – Indian Hindu priests, these being historically attached to the Thai royal court – officiate at the ploughing field. 

After the Thai king has finished the Buddhist part of the ceremony at the Grand Palace, he arrives at the ploughing field.  Then two beautiful white oxen, huge with golden embellishments on their horns, are harnessed to an ornate wooden plough with a single blade.  Brahmins led the plough procession, followed by the oxen.  A chief Brahmin has his hand on the plough, and following are young ladies with baskets of rice seeds and flowers.  The Brahmin tosses seeds into the ploughed furrows as they go round and round. 

At the end of the ploughing, the oxen are fed.  Their given choices are:  rice, corn, green beans, grass, water, or rice whiskey.  Their choices are interpreted by Brahmin astrologers (who also have chosen the auspicious date for this ceremony) for predictions of the future harvest. 

Needless to say, my confidence in astrologers is zero.  But it is a beautiful ceremony to watch. 

-Zenwind. 

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Absurd Misadventure

 

I had an extremely trying day recently, to put it lightly.  I got locked into my toilet cubicle, in our outside second-floor veranda toilet-shower area.  The doorknob locks on our doors, both inside and out, are crap.  They are cheap, poor-quality shit that often freeze up.  Through the years, we have had numerous episodes where someone was locked out of (or into) some space or another because the cheap doorknob-locks froze up. 

I went into my toilet cubicle and, per usual, pushed the lock button once inside.  When trying to get out, I turned the knob, which released the lock button with a click.  But the door was still firmly locked.  I could not open it to get out.  I was stuck. 

I tried climbing up out of my cubicle, over the high walls under the veranda roof, to either the shower stall next door or the outer veranda, but I soon realized that I would seriously injure myself if trying these strenuous acrobatic maneuvers.  I only had marginal toe-holds on water pipes, and the long reaches were beyond me.  (And, days later, I am in extreme pain from those attempts at the climb-out.) 

But I was extremely lucky – or “Be Prepared”, as in the Scout Motto – in this instance.  I had my phone.  I always prefer a “Compact” phone, a small 4.7-inch waterproof Sony, one that I can easily put into a pocket of my swim trunks that I wear at home every day.  (If I want more readable internet connection detail, I will access my 8-inch Mini Tablet or my laptop, both of which are less conveniently portable.) 

Locked inside, I called Tuk at her office, and – my extreme good luck again – she answered.  I told her my tale of woe, and she contacted a locksmith to come and rescue me.  It took about an hour, but I had assets:  a toilet, a smartphone, and a towel to wipe the sweat out of my eyes from this accursed tropical heat and humidity (a reminder of my first landing in Vietnam in 1969, when I noticed all Marines had a towel around their necks, to wipe sweat off their weapons and faces). 

The locksmith changed the lock, but also added sliding latch-locks to the inside doors of both toilets and the shower room, so that we don’t have to use the undependable doorknob locks.  I don’t want to go through that again. 

-Zenwind. 

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A New Barber

I have found a new barber, and I am pleased.  (My regular haircutter of over five years is not working anymore.)  I chose this new shop because their barbers are noted for their English-speaking ability.  It is near my most frequented movie theater and shopping centers when I go deep into the city, and is close to transit hubs. 

My new barber, Dew, understood immediately what I wanted and – most importantly – errs on the side of not cutting much off, until I asked him to cut off just a little more, twice.  (I absolutely detest barbers whose first instinct is to scalp you down to the bone!) 

The shop has a classic cool old-time vibe.  I noticed that the bottle for spraying water was a modified Jack Daniel’s bottle.  Everyone is easy-going and friendly.  I’ll be back. 

-Zenwind. 

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Screaming Pain & Agony

Caveat:  I’m not actually screaming, but I’d like to.

It is really difficult to sleep, as my hip pain makes any position uncomfortable.  My range of walking is limited to not much more than 100 meters a day.  I’ve quit stretching and any other exercises, because it hurts too much.  Constant deep pain wears you down. 

In other news, we just got over a week of unseasonably cold and rainy weather, very unexpected.  A high-pressure system over China brought cold air down to us, and it disrupted what would normally be dry and hot conditions.  The Hot is back now, so we will sweat out the upcoming Songkran holidays – the hottest time of the year. 

-Zenwind. 

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Immigration trip & Physical Pain

Today I successfully completed my dreaded annual ordeal at the Immigration Office, applying for an Extension of Stay in the kingdom for another year on a Retirement visa.  I have the routine down quite well, preparing the financial documentation and providing numerous copies of passport info, etc. 

But they always throw a surprise at you, every single year.  They told me right off that I needed a copy of a “house registration”, something they’ve never asked me for before and which I’d never heard about in the online forums where foreigners share info on Thai visa issues. 

Do they do this just to screw with farangs?  It throws an instant panic into the applicant, who wonders if their extension of stay will be denied or what will they have to do to get over this new hurdle. 

I got to see an immigration officer anyway, and she was very professional and decent.  It seemed to be going well, as I was photographed and processed as normal.  But I had to sit and wait for three hours before they returned my bankbook and my passport with an OK stamp for the next year.  I’m good through March 2023, but I’m dazed and in pain from the long wait. 

These last weeks, my hip pain has become alarming.  I can barely walk, and climbing stairs is brutal.  The scariest aspect of it is that I cannot exercise in any way, and I know that routine lack of exercise is a downward path that I do not want to accept. 

This was a stressful day.  After long agony at Immigration, I limped home the last few meters like an old cripple.  Physical pain wears you down. 

I will watch a comedy film this evening, and then I will meditate myself to sleep.  Dukkha – accepting it and then releasing the negativity – letting it go. 

-Zenwind. 

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Jack Kerouac

Jack Kerouac was born one century ago.  (12 March 1922 – 21 October 1969).  He was a great influence on my early life.  In a rare post to my main Zenwind blog, HERE is my tribute to him.  

-Zenwind. 

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Hot Season Begins

 

Sweat City normality is back.  I saw it coming from my close monitoring of weather forecasts.  We lucked out this year, with a February that was not too bad, with dew points only in the “somewhat uncomfortable” range.  Tonight, the dew points will be in the “very humid, quite uncomfortable” range, and tomorrow in the “extremely uncomfortable, oppressive” range. 

This means, for the long foreseeable future, getting dressed to go out while under a fan and a/c, and then when moving through the house to the door becoming wet with sweat already – before ever getting out into the sun.  Returning from a 100-meter walk to the store, I am soaked through, clothes wringing wet.  Without a bandana sweatband, I would be blinded. 

So, “Summer” is back, and April will be the most intense.  The Rainy Season, starting in maybe June or July, will still have high, uncomfortable dew points, but at least the clouds will sometimes shield us from the sun. 

I regret that I have squandered my opportunities to explore new neighborhoods on foot while the weather was more comfortable, although my recent hip pain has hindered my marches.  The new MRT train route would allow me to check out new areas on the far side of the river.  Maybe next winter.  

-Zenwind. 

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Vax Booster, but No Haircut

 

I finally got my Covid-19 Booster vaccine Saturday morning.  This booster was the Moderna mRNA at a private hospital, and Tuk had bought “full dose” (two shots) appointments for herself, her parents and me ahead of time early last year.  But the Moderna vaccine didn’t arrive in Thailand until November or so, and by that time Tuk had two shots of Sinovac and a Pfizer booster, and her parents and myself had already gotten two doses of the A-Z.  So, Tuk had to do some trading to get me just a single Moderna as a booster. 

The private hospital was only several klicks away and easy to get to.  The staff was terrific, there were no waiting lines to speak of, and the whole affair was completed quickly.  Our goal now is to get the parents there for their boosters, but we will have to allow time since their last A-Z shots and figure out how to transport them there.  When they are finally fully-vaccinated, with boosters, then I will feel more confident to go out into more crowded venues for music, etc. 

Our Cool Season has lasted for an unexpectedly long time.  We had one “cold” week in December, as normal, with following weather that lacked the usual brutal humidity of the rest of the year.  In my experience, February was never as semi-comfortable in past years as it has been this year.  I still sweat horribly if out for a long walk, but it has not been 24-hour suffering with rising dew points. 

But this will change soon.  The Hot Season normal will begin, and I will long for the relative shade of the Rainy Season come June or July. 

I cannot get a haircut.  My regular hair cutter is not working right now (and I don’t know exactly why).  She speaks good English and knows exactly how I want a cut, and I have been a regular customer for well over five years now.  I’m vain about my hair, and I abhor being scalped by barbers who don’t understand what I want.  I’ve always been this way, searching for barbers who I can stick with for as long as possible.  My hair is now slowly growing out long, like it was many times so many years ago.  The difference now is that it is silver.  I cut some around my face to keep it out of my eyes.  As the Hot Season comes, we will see how long I can take the heat. 

I am still enduring bad hip pain, especially when trying to sleep, and I don’t know why this is happening.  I haven’t fallen.  I did pull low back muscles, above my rump and on either side of my sacrum, many months ago when lifting storage boxes, and that set me back, making most exercise go on pause for a long while.  Also, I had minor surgery in December and had stopped exercise for a while, with a lot of leg cramps when starting back up again.  Those stops in exercise routines are killers.  It’s hard to start back up without further injuries.  I’ve had painful episodes on the treadmill and have had to stop that for now.  I have better luck sauntering my walking haunts in the neighborhood without pushing it in a Gung Ho frenzy, then slowly ramping it up when possible, listening to my body.  Push ahead – steady.   (It’s tedious.  What’s it going to be like when I get old?) 

However, all in all, life is good. 

-Zenwind. 

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The Eve of St. Agnes

“St. Agnes’ Eve – Ah, bitter chill it was!

  “The owl, for all his feathers, was a-cold!” 

(John Keats, you bright poetic meteor, blazing across the sky, you died way too young.) 

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I hear it is chilly right now in my old stomping grounds in NW Pennsylvania, although not reaching the degree of the long, deep bitter cold spells of the 1960s and 70s.  I miss bivouacking out in that sub-zero snow, in the silent still air.  Utter stillness, complete frozen silence.  The Moon and stars sparkling in crystal-clear heavens. 

Here, tonight, it is rather comfortable, for the tropics, when sitting outside.  The air is relatively cooler and drier than the normal for the rest of the year, and there is a gusty breeze that is refreshing.  (It is overcast, and tomorrow will be cloudy with a very small possibility of rain, which is rare for this time of year.)  Still, mosquitoes are always a problem at night, so I have a lit mosquito coil in front of me with a fan behind it, blowing the coil’s fumes in my direction.  Sitting in swim trunks, I have also applied a bit of repellant to my feet and shoulders, spots that often get bit. 

An update on my health:  The biopsy I had done on my prostate last month provided rather good news.  There are no obvious signs of cancer.  (Yet much of the science on these prostate problems seem to be inexact and prone to flip-flops in diagnoses, so my doctors and I still have a heads-up attitude and will monitor the case closely and regularly.) 

In other health news, my FMS (fibromyalgia) is knocking me completely out right now.  Pain City.  Cripple Creek.  Undoubtably, my surgery and its down-time contributed to this.  Then I got horrible leg cramps and pulled leg muscles a couple of weeks ago when walking my normal routes, which put me further out of action and into a further downward FMS spiral.  I think the cramps might have been caused by stopping my usual vitamin and mineral supplements, stopped by order when taking specific antibiotics after surgery.  I also think I over-did it, getting into the Gung-Ho attitude and marching too fast for too many days in a row without any rest days.  (However, I refuse to accept that “getting old” – soon to be 72 years old – has anything to do with it!) 

My primary FMS pain sites have been predictable for 40 years.  The first and foremost is at T7 on my spine, right between my shoulder blades.  In the last few days, it hurts so much there that it is painful to take a deep breath.  The secondary FMS pain site is my tailbone/ sacrum area.  But lately I’ve been having a new bad pain more widely in my outer hips, which makes walking difficult.  (I normally walk briskly, and no one ever overtakes me, on foot, on the sidewalks; yet this week I’ve had young Thai men walk past me, and yesterday two Thai women walked right by me easily!)  This alarms me, since walking is my primary way of life – and it always has been.  Hobble along, hobble along! 

On the plus side, I’ve been reading great stuff on Kindle, and I have been keeping up with seeing decent films in the cinemas.  Costing less than two bucks a flick – senior rates here – I see films in matinee in almost empty theaters.  I love movies, and seeing them on the big screen is amazing. 

It’s getting late toward midnight, and the mosquitoes are closing in on me despite my defenses.  So, I will close now and post this. 

-Zenwind. 

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