Category: Rant/Whine

Ranting and raving and whining and bitching. Oh yes!

Life on Mars

I watched “The Martian Child” this morning.  The Martian Child thinks he’s from Mars.  Others think he’s weird but his adoptive dad goes with it and accepts him anyway.

I’ve always seen myself as an outsider since I was a kid.  True, there were worse cases of “odd girls out” than how I feel, but I have never felt 100% belong anywhere.

A part of me is always the odd girl out somewhere else.

The geeklet among the “normal” people. But not geeky enough for the full-fledge geeks.

The film snob among the mainstream Hollywood crowd.  Not into the real artsy films but apparently snooty enough to piss people off with my film criticism afterward.

The blogger among the “internet is for email and browsing” mass.  Us bloggers hung together against those who think we waste our time.

The one with the funny grammar and an accent among natives.  At least I’m funny.  That should count for something.

The “Western” one among Thais.  Well, may be this one I’m actually happy about sometimes.

The wayward alcoholic among those who don’t partake.  Because I enjoy alcohol, does that make me a bad person?

The classless act among those carrying Coach and donning Armani.  I’m not materialistic but apparently that’s not a virtue for some people.

I’ve always known that I am a Jane of All Trades, Master of None.  That alone already put me at odd with the rest.

I find acceptance in each of the little circle, but I don’t think there’s a circle that would accept all of my trades.

Damn.

Being a Martian gets pretty lonely sometimes.

Feed the Cold

Noticed my Nyquil induced hallucination the other day?

Well, the bug I tried to squash with the Nyquil did bloom through Tuesday into a nice little cold.  As a matter of fact, I’m blogging right now to wait for Nyquil to take a hold so I can go to bed.

My boss was nice enough to let me work from home today.  The extra two hours of sleep and half hour lunch time nap definitely helped me get through the day.

That, and a pot of Yogi Tea, Defense with Echinacea, I brewed and drank all day.

Along with the consumption of copius amount of food which started last night.

I just wanted to eat something.  Constantly.  There was a point when I can’t really taste anything but I was still craving food.  Everything and anything.

Cheese cracker.  Peaches.  Ice cream.  Chocolate.  Food.  Whatever was in the fridge.

Yeah, I sounded pregnant, don’t I?  LOL. But I think it’s all this bug that I have.  My body is doing weird thing fighting it.

At this rate, I’ll be 200 lbs. by Friday.

But I am feeling better.  So whatever it is my body is doing, it’s doing right.

Upsy Daisy

So I went to sleep last night around 3:30 a.m. (6:30 p.m. Thailand Time) and woke up at 10 a.m. (1 a.m. TT).  Obviously, my body, although starving, didn’t want any food at the actual noontime having been woken up “in the middle of the night” and all.

Thank goodness that we made plan with Aurora and Dresden for lunch and afternoon outting.  Otherwise, we would’ve come home and crashed out.  And that wouldn’t be good for our readjustment to PST.

Oh yeah, the melatonin pills.  I will take that tonight.  I know that I didn’t do the whole melatonin regimen thing people do to get over jet lag quickly.  But hopefully I will sleep through the night and wake up okay in the morning.

My body thinks it hasn’t slept all night and now it needs lunch. *sigh*

Backlash

This was the day Brandon was supposed to go back to America.  Obviously, he’s still here.

I just found out that EVA had canceled more flights through Dec. 4, however neither of our flights showed up in that list. Not yet.  Monday will be another struggle to find us a flight out.  At this point, I don’t care how but we have to get out.  Brandon can’t be gone another week and I sure as hell can’t afford to be gone either.

Almost officially, we are stranded.  And what are a couple of stranded “tourists” to do but stroll the malls.

The country’s mood definitely had changed as we experienced from our afternoon stroll.  The vendors of Thai souvenirs in Amarin Plaza (previously in Narayabhand before they closed down) was hit hard.  I made a meager bargaining attempt and they went for it.

“A little business is better than no business,” the lady said.  Sure, I could drive the price down cheaper but judging by the mood on this floor, usually bustling with tourists, I didn’t have the heart.  She said overnight everyone was gone.

“They said ‘we didn’t close the airport’.  They said ‘we’re doing this to save our country’.  How is this saving the country?” the lady continued.  “How could they do this to us?  Because of them, we are losing our businesses.  And look at those guys in tourism business!”

The sentiment was the same as we visited Health Land, traditional Thai massage therapy center, for a rub down…well, a knead and stretch down.

“Your husband is the only tourist we have in here right now,” one of our torturers therapists said.  “Don’t they know their action affect all of us and not just the government?”

Forget the argument over the Yellow Shirt vs. the Red Shirt.  The only thing on a lot of people’s mind is “How am I going to feed my kids tomorrow?”

Then again, you wouldn’t know our country is in a crisis if you saunter down the Rajadamri walk way.

Giant, and I mean 7 storey high, Christmas tree is fully lit and the entire Central World complex is decorated.  Shining like a beacon, an excessive one, no less, for the rest of the wearied souls.  The stranded travelers.  The tourism industry workers about to lose their jobs.  The general public unsure of the economic impact this will have on them.

For a moment, gazing upon that marvelous sight of the tree, we all can forget about the uncertainy of tomorrow’s possible journey home and about what terrible future lies ahead for this countr.

Stalled

Brandon’s flight has indeed been canceled.

EVA Airlines phone is so tied up that my dad’s assistant had to send a messenger over to the ticketing office to find out what to do next.  They said there will be a flight to Taipei from U-thapao airport tomorrow and that is what we are aiming for.  5 hours since the ticketing office opened, we still have no words.

The rumor of a coup last night was just a rumor after all.  Nothing happened.  The “cheeky analysis” at The Nation, comparing Thailand’s political stand-off to a poker match is dead on.

Well, as a very poor amateurish poker player, that’s as close as I can get to explaining the current situation. It appears to have come down to who blinks first between Somchai [the current Prime Minister] and Anupong [the Army Chief], after a suicidal PAD [those yellow-shirted buggers at the airport] threw in all its stakes and thus turned what should have been a normal round into one that will decide who goes home with all the money or empty-handed.

Seriously. Can SOMEBODY please do SOMETHING?

Of Bliss…and being pissed off

*Warning! This entry contains Thai political rant at the very end.*

Here we are, another airport, another day.  It’s Phuket International now, waiting to head  back home to Bangkok from a 3-day of bliss.

So far it’s been a whirlwind trip.  We landed in Bangkok on Saturday around 11:30.  Later that evening, I went to Homecoming at my school, Mater Dei Institute.  I met my friends at the gate while I was waiting for Tong.  We went in, and all was good.  Our class of 1995 had the most attendance and apparently we won an award for that.  I’m sure that has a little bit to do with the fact that our class has a Yahoo! Group to spread the word.

It was like school all over again.  Food was mainly being sold in the cafeteria from the counter just like old times.  Our class took up 2 tables in the back of the cafeteria, a familiar practice.  We actually had a table assigned to us at the basketball court, so we eventually migrated back out.

Kitty came to see me too!  Apparently she was the only one from her class, but she was there with her mother.  And by the way, when Kitty said her mom is really fit and looks really young, she ain’t kidding.  Kitty’s mom looked as if she could be her sister.

Joy finally made her way in from the wedding she was attending at the hotel around the corner.  A few miscommunications left her without her school pink shirt and her ticket.  Wiley Tong and I sneaked her in.  She DID pay, just didn’t have her stuff at the time.

More of our girls continue to show up.  Many group pictures later, our class dispersed…before the award for best attendance was announced.  Haha.

The next morning Brandon and I found ourselves on the plane to Phuket.  We stayed at Sheraton Grande Laguna, one of my dad’s handy works.  The next morning, we were off on the boat to explore sea caves in a canoe.

Oh yes, my friends.  A canoe for two, paddled by a seasoned guide, in and out of these beautiful lagoons on these itty bitty islands.  Then the usual tourist pit stop at Koh Tapoo or “James Bond Island”.  Man with a Golden Gun?  Yep, that island.  One more stop on a beach to relax, however, it’s been drizzly, cloudy, and rainy all day.  The hour at the beach was a bit pointless.  Overall, we had a great time.

I haven’t even changed one shade of color so we ran outside when the patch of sunshine appeared this morning.   We greeted the hotel baby elephants along the way.

So far, life’s been a beach.

ETA: We’ve landed safely at Suvannabhumi airport and left the joint before the PAD brought their chaos to embarrass the country in the world’s eyes once again.

*/rant on Thai political situation*

Seriously.  What. The. Fuck.

It’s the beginning of peak tourism season in a downward economy and you guys decided to fuck this up for the entire country?  I don’t care what your political stances are, but NOBODY should fuck with the future and the livelihood of the entire nation so that you can be right.

Folks in Phuket I’ve talked to said that they noticed as much as a 50% drop in their business.  The van drivers haven’t picked up that many people.  The sea cave canoe crew said their client lists thin out considerably.  Even the hotel said the rooms have been somewhat emptied.

PAD’s move to the airport is hitting the country where it really hurts.  And it’s going to continue to hurt for a long, long time.

Our cabby took this opportunity to try to cheat us on our ride home too.  He turned off his meter, claiming the traffic…but there was none.  (Thank god my brother helped me bluff him by reading off the guy’s license and plate number out loud to him on the phone.)  But at the same token, he did report to us that at least 3 cabbies trying to get to the airport had been shot at.

He was talking to me in Thai but with his hand gesture of the gun and “bang, bang, bang!”, I had to translate to Brandon of what had happened.  He did tell me he wouldn’t come over if the political madness was still going on.  It wasn’t THIS crazy when we left, obviously.  And now we pray that we can get Brandon back on the plane on Saturday with no problem.

Thanks a lot, PAD.  I can’t believe I used to be on your side.

*/rant*