The Ides of February

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14 February 2011: Our winter is about over, sadly. It is now getting to be Sweat City again after just a mere couple of months of comfortable weather. It rained a bit the other day and the humidity (dew-point) has finally gone back up into the “oppressive” range. The sun will be a constant source of discomfort for the next four months until the Rainy Season’s clouds cover it.
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I got into the city last Thursday to do some exploring. I saw the movie The Fighter, starring Mark Wahlberg and Christian Bale. Bale should win this year’s Oscar for Best Supporting Actor, he was that good.
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I went into town mainly to hear Peter Driscoll and the Cruisers play old-time Rock n Roll later in the evening. They were playing at a wine bar in an area of town I’d never seen, so I went to the neighborhood early and had the chance to see some places I’d always heard about in the area.
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First I had supper at a Lao restaurant nearby called The Vientiane Kitchen. (Vientiane is, of course, the capital of Laos and just across the Mekong River from Thailand’s Issan, or Northeast, area; the Lao and Thai histories, languages, cultures and cuisine are closely related.) This place has reasonably priced Lao/Northeastern Thai food plus a stage show that features somewhat traditional musicians, dancers and fighters. The mock sword battles are done by comedian/performers. The place is open and non-a/c, with a tree growing up in the hall’s middle and going through the roof.
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Nearing Peter’s showtime, I walked the one klick up the soi to the Wine Bibber Sangria, the venue. It was one of the first really hot/humid nights that I’ve walked in for a while, and I was drenched in sweat by the time I arrived. I glanced at the incomprehensible wine list but then just opted for cold, cold beer.
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Peter’s music was fantastic, as usual. He played early Rock songs and gave brief historical notes on who wrote it and covered it. Songs I had first heard so many decades ago by The Rolling Stones or The Beatles were given a deeper history. Part of my ongoing Rock n Roll education.
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Apart from my exploratory rambles, I’ve been reading a lot. I finished another Dan Simmons novel, Black Hills, where an 11-year-old Sioux boy is on the battlefield at Little Big Horn just as Custer dies, Custer’s ghost entering into him and haunting him for decades after. It is historical fiction with a fantastic twist – excellent.
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I am now finishing the fifth and last novel in Ursula K. Le Guin’s fantasy cycle, the Earthsea saga. I want to read more of her wonderful writings.
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-Zenwind.
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Groundhog Day

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1 February 2011. Winter continues to be comfortable here, although the mosquitoes seem to be at their worst now.
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Groundhog Day (aka, Imbolc) is tomorrow. It has no significance here, but in the high latitudes of the temperate zone in Celtic Europe it was always one of the “cross-quarter” days related to the marking of the vegetative season’s birth and death. It is not really midway between the winter solstice and the spring equinox, although it is close. But it is rather almost exactly between Halloween (Samhain), when the grasses and leaves have stopped growing, and May Day (Beltane), when the green world is re-born. Thus, Imbolc was the half-way point in the calendar of the ancient herders; if you still have half of the fodder left that you put up in the autumn then your animals will eat well until Beltane. August 1 or 2 (aka, Lughnasadh to the Irish or Lammas to Anglo-Saxons) marks the opposite cross-quarter day when the greening season is half-way through. These holidays were also celebrated elsewhere in temperate Europe.
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In America, this time of year is Groundhog Day, marking sort of a half-way point of the long winter. And then there is the wonderful film “Groundhog Day” (1993) starring Bill Murray, a film which celebrates changing and rebirth, and which is highly praised by many philosophers and religious thinkers.
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“Oh, Wind! If winter comes
Can Spring be far behind?”
-- P.B. Shelley
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-Zenwind.
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Mid-January 2011

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15 January 2011: Not a lot to report – only that the weather continues to be much less humid than the norm for the rest of the year and that it is (so rarely!) comfortable indoors and out, except for the damn mosquitoes. The cold I caught between Christmas and New Years is finally gone, but I interrupted my exercise routines when I was feeling down and so I am fighting the uphill battle to get back in shape.
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I just finished watching the 10-hour HBO miniseries “The Pacific,” and I wish my father could have lived to see it. Excellent movie-making and attention to historical details.
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In a related matter, I posted to my Zenwind blog, linked here, about a nightmare episode I had around 15 years ago. (Not mealtime reading.)
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-Zenwind.
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New Year’s Eve 2010/2011

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31 December 2010. I’ve been reading and enjoying yet another Dan Simmons novel, this one a horror story named Children of the Night (1992). It takes place mostly in the immediate chaos of post-Ceausescu Romania, and the horror a reader experiences here is not just from the vampires but also the horrors revealed of the recent communist regime there. The astounding occurrence of HIV among babies in state orphanages in Romania in the Ceausescu-era communist state; the remaining thuggish legacy of the socialist police state; it is all chilling. Add to this the local lore of Dracula, aka, Vlad Dracul Tepes (The Impaler) – is he a historical figure now long gone for centuries, or is he truly Undead? Some of the best historical research on Dracula is evident.
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People watching: I’ve been sitting outside in the shade watching people cross the small nearby intersection of sidestreets (aka, sois). From my hideaway spot, I can view the soi without being seen easily. A lurker in the afternoon shadows.
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I will have to declare myself on the side of the Stoics when it comes to basic human nature: i.e., people make up one huge universal family (aka, a “universal brotherhood of man”). Although I am profoundly retarded when it comes to learning foreign languages, I can still observe the obvious universal human behaviors. Groups of kids and adults here still show typical group behavior, e.g., leaders/followers, slackers/hard working entrepreneurs, good faith/bad faith, confidence/un-sureness. Loners/Lone wolves.
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I managed to catch a head-cold right after Christmas, and I’ve always thought the hardest colds to kick are the ones you catch in warm weather. My voice is still so bad that the cats scatter when I try to speak.
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It’s a nice afternoon, with temps not getting up above the 80sF, and the humidity is quite tolerable. Yet I still lit a mosquito coil and set it upwind of my chair. Biting critters still bite us every single day and night of the year, even now in our “winter.”
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I came back from a grocery run – the usual: ice, noodles, beer, plus a new fluorescent light bulb. The main soi is pretty quiet, because during this New Year holiday a lot of folks have left town to visit family in the provinces. Mass migrations, always with the worst traffic casualties of the year.
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I just saw one young family of 4 saddled up to go for a multi-day trip. They were all on one motorcycle, and the father and mother had small/medium backpacks and shoulder bags. First on the cycle was a little boy, sitting in front of his father and partially on the gas tank; then the father, driving the machine; then a little girl; and at the end was the mother, hanging on to the back of the seat. I felt sorry for the little girl because, sandwiched as she was between father and mother, she couldn’t see the scenery. Hope their trip goes well and they return safe.
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I was planning on reading more while sitting outside, but my music player has been playing some Miles Davis jazz, and that just makes me lean back and smile. With a big pint mug full of Chang Classic beer and ice, it’s all so Cool and Collected.
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Evening shadows are bringing in the more aggressive mosquitoes, so I’m going back inside. We will be back out for the fireworks.
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Happy New Year!
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-Zenwind.
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P.S. – Just logging on to send this, I received the bad news that Nomads pub, the great live music venue, is closing. There was always only a few of us there listening to fantastic music from acts such as The Soi Dogs Blues Band. So one shouldn’t be too surprised. Thais have been killing their tourist industry by frequent violence and puritanical alcohol laws, and the Euro and US Dollar have tumbled so far in exchange that one’s purchasing power is not what it used to be. The US$ has lost 1/3 of its value to the Thai Baht in the last few years. Thus, the good music venues have been drying up.
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Mid-December

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17 December 2010. Woops! I forgot to post here on the middle of the month as I try to do. It has been a busy couple of weeks. What has most distracted me is just finishing up reading a Dan Simmons horror novel, Summer of Night (1991), a wonderful 600 page read that I may review at another time. I loved the book and could not put it down. Simmons is one of my all-time favorite writers.
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I did get into the city yesterday for a meet up with friends and a major book-hunt, lugging back a backpack full of good volumes. I got home late and am still groggy. Bangkok still amazes me – what a wild town!
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-ZW.

December Eve Note

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30 November 2010: In the last fortnight I have been into Bangkok several times to visit with expat friends and have inspiring conversations. I also tried to catch some movies, e.g., “Red” and “Let Me In.” This last one is an English-language re-make of the original Swedish film “Let The Right One In” (2008), which I have on DVD. The re-make follows the original closely, and I think both are very good, telling a rather dark story of a young vampire and the bonding between two young 12-year-old outsiders.
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I also got to listen to the Soi Dogs Blues Band – at Nomad's pub – for the first time in many months. Nothing like the Blues to make me feel like a young man again, especially when they are playing songs from my teen years. Their third song of the night was “Little Red Rooster,” a Willie Dixon song I first heard covered by The Rolling Stones on one of their early albums in about 1964 or 65. The Soi Dogs have two excellent blues guitarists who often trade off leads and really wail. An expat guess singer sang “Hey, Joe!” very well, and a bluesman from Texas who was passing through played/sang on several numbers, giving us some very authentic blues. A great night.
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-Zenwind.
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Mid-November Note Double Feature

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15 November 2010. I just may have sorted out my major computer problems. I could never have done it myself, but I’m lucky to have the help of my expat buddy down in Bangkok and Tuk here to show me the way out of the darkness. Now I have a ton of emails to answer but probably cannot get to all of them. If you don’t hear from me regularly, check this blog, as I try to post twice a month at least.
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Tuk got a 98% grade on her recent 50-hour English language course at her office, but I had been rather amazed, as I was helping her with her homework during that course, at how little she really knew about common English phrases and grammar points when she entered the course in August. We usually communicate adequately with each other in very abbreviated English words and phrases, but that doesn’t help her improve her knowledge of the language. This all points to me being a poor teacher to her for the years before this, and it also implies that she doesn’t understand – or care to clarify – most of what I say to her. Humbling.
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The rains have stopped and the air is drier and “cooler.” The sun shines every day, which is very good for me, one who always suffered severe seasonal depression every November-December at 42* N latitude as the northern days got shorter and darker. (If you suffer the same way while living in the Dark North, get a full-spectrum light, because they really work, and your pets might like them too. I left mine in the States, because the hours of summer and winter daylight here are close to equal.)
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I can now resume working on my suntan up on the roof – and maybe get in some astronomy as well. I broke out my climbing gear and did some needed work on my ladder system that goes from the 3rd story window of the house up to the roof. I replaced the fixed safety rope which parallels the ladder and which had been in the sun too long to be safe – UV from sunlight degrades nylon – and then I hung from it in my climbing harness while reinforcing the old rusty ladder with steel bar. The idea of the fixed rope is that I clip an ascender device on my harness onto the rope and then climb the ladder. The theory is that it will catch me if the ladder fails. I also have enough slings and gear to keep from getting hung up and to get up and down safely. In theory.
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I must say that it feels good to be up high again. On this note, there is an old Zen motto which had summed up the Zen novice’s job description, and which I have amended.
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The original Zen motto goes:
“Haul water. Chop wood.”
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The Barlow Corollary:
“Climb high. Watch moon.”
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Below is a separate blog post on the recent US mid-term elections.
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-Zenwind.
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Power Divided

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15 November 2010. Here are some musings on the recent US mid-term elections. Power in Washington, DC is now divided up.
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US politics bores me to death more and more as I see the same historical cyclic re-runs, decade after decade, with only name changes among the actors and parties. In longer historical views, it is the same. But in the overall philosophical view, I remain “cynically optimistic” about humanity’s future. I have hopes that someday, long after my own lifespan is over, humans may outgrow the perverse love of political power – much as the childhood bully finally grows up by learning to leave people alone and in peace (unless, of course, that bully grows up to be a politician, in which case he makes bullying a lucrative career).
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Power in the US federal government is now divided up between the major parties, and that is always good, no matter who the particular players of the moment are. The division of political power is always better than a monopoly hold of power by one party or faction, and this holds true regardless of which party has been in power, whether it is the “liberals,” conservatives, Republicans, Democrats, etc. When one party holds all the reins of power, they commit mischief and grievous harm.
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Stripped to essentials, the perennial political issue is Liberty versus Power, and the seductiveness of Power always gives it the advantage. (“Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely” said Lord Acton.)
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Politicians of any stripe, while they take their turn as the minority opposition position in the cycle, will at that time express their most radical libertarian rhetoric. But the moment they gain any portion of power they arrogantly wield it and then some other individuals, from opposing factions or parties, lose liberties. As the astute songwriter for The Who, Pete Townshend, once put it: “Meet the new boss, Same as the old boss.” (See his full lyrics, below, to “Won’t Get Fooled Again.”)
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The only thing saving real people from complete authoritarian domination by their government is this ongoing in-fighting amongst the power-grabbers, a kind of competition for the votes of a people not yet completely cowed – that, and a solid Constitution which somewhat chains down the monster of Power.
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Won’t Get Fooled Again by Pete Townshend
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“We’ll be fighting in the streets
With our children at our feet,
And the morals that they worship will be gone.
And the men who spurred us on
Sit in judgment of all wrong.
They decide and the shotgun sings the song.
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[chorus]
“I’ll tip my hat to the new constitution,
Take a bow for the new revolution,
Smile and grin at the change all around,
Pick up my guitar and play,
Then I’ll get on my knees and pray,
We won’t get fooled again.
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“The change, it had to come,
We knew it all along,
We were liberated from the fold, that’s all.
And the world looks just the same,
And history ain’t changed,
‘Cause the banners, they are flown in the next war.
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[chorus]
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“I’ll move myself and my family aside,
If we happen to be half left alive.
I’ll get all my papers and smile at the sky,
Though I know that the hypnotized never lie,
Do ya?
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“There’s nothing in the streets
Looks any different to me.
And the slogans are replaced, bye-and-bye.
And the parting on the left
Are now the parting on the right,
And the beards have grown longer overnight.
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[chorus]
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“Meet the new boss,
Same as the old boss.”
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[~lyrics by Pete Townshend ~ Performed by The Who~]
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Marine Corps Birthday – 2010

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It has been 235 years since John Adams stood up before the Continental Congress and made the motion that they create two battalions of Continental Marines. Recruiting soon began at Tun Tavern (appropriately) in Philadelphia, and the rest is history.
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I celebrated 10 November 2010 by tipping a few pints, contemplating the Corps’ history, and by watching the James Cameron film Avatar (2009), which has an element of tribute to Marines, past, present and future. I wrote a review of the film and its relevance to the USMC here.
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-Zenwind.
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Halloween Note

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In the spirit of Halloween, I posted the lyrics to “Werewolves of London," by Warren Zevon, on Zenwind. My favorite werewolf films are “Werewolf of London” (1935) starring Henry Hull; “The Wolf Man” (1941) starring Lon Chaney, Jr.; “I Was a Teenage Werewolf” (1957) starring Michael Landon; and “The Wolfman” (2010) starring Benicio Del Toro.
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Ahooww-Oooooh!!!
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