OakMonster’s Den

*I was supposed to post a warning a la spoiler alert any future Thai political comments here.  But this “alert” is NOT that.  As a matter of fact, it’s the opposite.  I will NOT be discussing politics.  However, I will be discussing what politics is affecting my personal life.  So, my dearest Commenter “Ku”, you may so continue.*

The Irish Cousin Robert commented that he was no longer the angriest commenter on my blog with my recent entry.

Thai people have become just that these days.

Angry.  Frustrated.  Confused.  Fed up.  Overwhelmed.  Despaired.  Saddened.  All of the above.

Even the littlest thing could send passionate folks into a rampage.  One comment could cause a mayhem.

My motherland is thoroughly divided that friends are made enemies and family members stop talking to each other over politics.

“Ku” the Commenter and I had our heated moment of exchange off the blog over our stances.  Well, first of all, I personally know “Ku”.  So, the first few exchanges were emotional.  It was firmly requested that politics should not be discussed.  But you really can’t ignore the elephant in the room.

And so the exchange continued and, amazingly, we found out that we were not standing on the polar opposite after all.  We agreed on every fundamental thing that leads up to a certain point.  Our intentions are the same.  Our ideals are the same.  What we want for our country is the same.  But we diverge on the HOW part.  And it’s not all that difference on how our country would get where we would want it to be either.

A very fine line of how our views differ.

Out of this dialogue, I realized a few things.

A civil discussion REALLY can bring parties to a solution.  Gosh knows that between two U.S. educated Thais, one a business owner and a parent in Thailand and the other a non-profit employee and childless by choice in California, we might just come up with a solution to solve our country’s problem!  I mean, both of us started off almost at each other’s throat, and now we might just have an answer.  How cool is that?!

And then it hit me.

For the first time since I’ve known “Ku”, a SERIOUS political discussion slowly grew out of what started out almost like an adolescent spat.

Holy fuck.

We *are* adults now.

Going to bed when I’m supremely tired has been working three nights so far.  It works better on the weekend, I’m sure.  Man, trying to get up to wash the Korean BBQ smoke out of my hair this morning was tough. It’s starting to cool at night in California a little bit.  Cool when I left the house and when I got home.  It makes it really hard to get out of bed in the morning.

When I got work, I gave my dad a call.  Of course, I caught him watching his nightly news and he filled me in on Thailand’s current madness.  He recommends the recent article in Time Magazine.

“Somebody’s funneling money into the PAD,” he said.  “Someone’s paying daily stipends for people to not be earning a living but to sit in at the Parliament House.  And it’s a pretty good bet around here that it’s the old-money elites.  They want the Democrats to be government and Abhisit as PM.”

“But I want Khun Mark [Abhisit] to be the PM…” I whined.

“I know. But not like this,” dad replied.  And I agreed 200%.

“Brandon said if this shit is still going on by the end of October, he’s not coming home with me,” I told him.

“Tell him this is the BEST time to be in Thailand,” dad replied.

“I told him the protest doesn’t bleed over to the tourists so there’s nothing to worry about.”

“It’s not just that,” dad added.  “All the other tourists would’ve canceled.  Hotels would be empty, and then we could get any room at any hotel we want in Phuket on the cheap!”

My dad.  There could only be one.

*

And there could also be only one Brandon.

A text message this afternoon sent me into a giggle.

“Hahah. The cats attacked [The traveling Couch] Monkey!  Jumper walked by  with Monkey in his mouth then the little ones [Brandon’s folks’ new cats as oppose to Jumper, the elder statesman] ran by and stole him from Jump.”

My poor traveling Couch Monkey, covered in kitty drool!  Later on tonight, as Brandon was reading before bed with the cats, again, Monkey was taken.  Brandon had to chase the cats down to get him back.

And my poor husband, for him to be on his cell phone to text me these things, Brandon had to step outside and down the driveway of their house in the mountains of New Mexico.  It was 27F when he called me an hour earlier

Now THAT’S love.

*

The day of much love and laughter ended well at my first Lyrical Jazz class with Sizzle at Moondance Studios tonight.

I LOVE Sizzle!  She’s totally awesome.  Not only does she have lessons planned for the next 6 weeks, she also taught us the history of each week’s style.  Today, we learned the basics of Fosse style and did the routine from the first 2 verses of Chicago’s All That Jazz.

Jazz hands. Fosse’s port de bras. Hip pops. And other signature Fosse moves.

Aw, my quads. And my back.

The zombie moves I was going to practice before I go to bed should look awesome now that my back is a little bit stiff…

I rode my bike to Seal Beach with Brandon. We rode from our house to Seal Beach and hopped on the San Gabriel River trail on our way there, but we decided to take Seal Beach Boulevard back because it was a lot easier and much shorter route. That’s 15-ish miles total with hills, y’all! And I didn’t die.

Well, except for a wall and an uneven road that tried to eat me.

On top of that good little hurt you get from a perfect work out, I have the following injuries which would give you a picture of what happened:

1. Minor scrapes on my right hand…well, they didn’t bleed so I don’t know if that counts.
2. Scrapes on my left hand.
3. Scrapes on my left knee.
4. Bruises (not showing yet…but they will) on my calves.
5. Sore muscles on my right hip and knee.

Injury #1 occurred when I couldn’t turn left quite sharp enough after crossing the street onto the sidewalk and ran into a wall.

The rest came from a total spillage on my bike down the bike path. The little bike path was a paved 2 narrow lanes with gravels and dirt on each side. You’re either on the path or you’re on the dirt. The road wasn’t smoothed out on the edges.

I was following Brandon when, on his little cross country bike, hopped onto the dirt. Not wanting to do the same, I tried to correct myself but somehow verved the other direction and “fell off” the road into the dirt. And my front wheel was caught, sending my bike and me sideway onto the asphalt.

Fortunately, I wasn’t going very fast. I put my hand out to stop myself from the fall. And of course, my right leg was still on the bike when the whole thing came a tumbling. I think the hip and the knee got a bit overstretched.

Brandon patched me up and I toughed out the rest of the trip.

Now I suffer. But it was a great Sunday though.

How was yours?

P.S. One Olympic gold for a Thai lady powerhouse! Go team!

I returned to writing for Thai-Blogs.com after a long hiatus (read: writer’s block of a massive scale) with this lightly saucy entry about a report that 70% of Thai women don’t have orgasm.

The first draft of this piece was pretty much that, plus some personal experience.  But then I read it, and I wasn’t sure if I want to include that much information.  Then I tried to tip-toe around it and talked about my experience without actually saying it.  It was just dumb.  So I left it out altogether.

I know I write a lot about my personal life.  I spill a lot of my guts and tears here.  But even with all the bodily fluids contributed to the existence of this blog, there are still some place I wouldn’t go.

I’m mature enough as a blogger to have a bit more of the self censorship now.  Although only gods know that self censorship only works when I type and not when I speak.

Matt the Lost Boy launched his top 100 Thailand blogs ranking.

Guess who came in at #21? ETA: Ranking changed daily.  So I’ve dropped like gazillion spots since the launch.  Haha!  Get over there and help me at least stay on the list, okay?

I am surprised and honored to actually get to share the edge of the spotlight where the really good blogs about Thailand are featured.

My blog is more of a personal rant and rave with some Thai flavors. Well, heck, I’m Thai! What other flavor is this blog going to have? Even my husband says that despite all of my American-ness, my instincts and habits are very Thai.

My life stories listed here also serve as a cultural study of Thai cultures. I’m one of those more previleged ones from a famous family. And I happened to be laced with some royal DNAs. My story and point of view is going to be different than others.

But I guess being a Thai living in America, writing about things on both sides of the ponds, does represent my motherland. I’m totally okay with that.

Thanks for the love, blogosphere!

Southern California weather today is perfect for Songkran.

Blazing hot. And sunny.  A freaky couple of days of summer weather here just in time to go splash somebody and welcome the new year. 

The closest I’m going to get to that is going to be when I wash my car this afternoon.  Hahah.

By the way, check out my Songkran line of clothing.  $1 of your purchase will go to Thai Red Cross.

Again, Thai politics never fail to amuse me. Here’s a report from The Nation:

‘Keep your nose out of our sign language’
A welfare group has called for hands off over how deaf people should describe politicians - in particular the prime minister - in sign language.

Published on January 31, 2008

The Council of Disabled People of Thailand claimed yesterday any interference in the way deaf people communicate with their hands “would not be appropriate”.

Council chairman Wiriya Namsiriphongphan was responding to queries from PPP members on the way deaf people referred to party leader and Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej in sign language.

During a recent televised parliamentary session, translators touched their noses when Samak’s name was mentioned. The prime minister’s nose is widely acknowledged as the most prominent feature on his face.

Many PPP members were reportedly upset when they saw the sign.

And here’s for a little visual aid. This is The Nose.

However Wiriya insisted yesterday: “This is not to mock or to humiliate him. It’s just the sign that deaf people can understand.”

At the mention of Demo-crat Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva’s name, translators moved their hands around their faces and gave a thumbs up. This sign referred to his initials and also indicated they thought he was good looking.

And here’s the Golden Boy, the future PM in my book.

Wiriya said if the PPP wanted to change the way deaf people referred to Samak, it would need to pay for a seminar to determine how best to refer to the prime minister with another sign.

“Is it worth holding such a big seminar for just one person?” he said.

Wiriya said sign language for the deaf was constructed naturally and any attempt to interfere would mean a fabricated language.

Tomorrow is the 100-day marker of the world without mom.  And so far, it has been full of surprises.

Before I hit the road to go to the temple, I stopped by Starbucks for my breakfast latte.  This guy in scrubs looked up from his paper and called my name.

Wouldn’t you know it?  It was Doc Trojan, my ophthalmologist!  (And yes, he reads my blog…so hello there, Doc!)  He had a few minutes before going in to do surgery at the medical center by my house.  So we visited for a little bit.  You know, talking about Trojan football.  What else!

When I told Brandon about this later, he asked if I told Doc that I want to get Lasik done next year.  Haha.  But seriously, he’s the only person I would trust regarding my eyeballs.  Or anyone else he’d refer me to I’d totally trust him on that too.

Anyways.  I said bye to Doc and headed up the 605 to the temple.  I got there just after the monks did their round of “tak batr” (food alms), but the head monk told me to follow the monks with rice anyway.  I brought over some cheesecakes for the monks, one of Mommy’s favorite desserts.  Once again, the only “western” dish in the menu.

If I could have my way, I would make fresh crepe suzettes right there at the temple, withholding the Grand Marnier and brandy, of course, and topped with homemade vanilla beans ice cream.  THAT is my mom’s favorite dessert. Ever.  But I don’t know if they’d let me do a table-side service for the monks.

After praying, I did “tawai sangkataan” (giving the monks provisions).  Traditionally, people would bring this bucket full of supplies like soap, toothpastes, and medicines to the monks.  Nowadays, the temple provided pre-packaged supplies for sangkataan that they reuse.  So you make a donation to the temple for those supplies which you symbolically give to the monks according to traditions.  But what you are actually giving is money to the temple to use for buying the real supplies or whatever the temple needs.

At first, my feelings on this was a bit of bad taste in my mouth. What is this, a money making business?  But when you really look at it, monetary donation does make sense.  I mean, I’m sure temples get flooded with supplies they can’t use fast enough.  All are just going to waste.  But if they do this donation deal, and use the prepackaged items as props for the traditions, then there is nothing to go to waste.  And if you still insist in bringing your own sangkatann bucket, I’m sure you can.  And they won’t turn you down.

After the temple, I tracked back from La Puente to Stanton to join up with Brandon, his boss and her friends for lunch at our favorite Thai restaurant.  God bless the Sargeant!  She loves “naem sod kao todd”…even after she finds out what “naem” actually is.  Well, that’s a fermented pork sausage.  Brandon wouldn’t touch that stuff.

And finally, I got myself an hour massage both for my birthday and in honor of my mom.

Mommy used to get massages at our house either once a month or twice a month at one point.  At that time, both of my brothers had left to study abroad and I was sleeping in my parents’ room.  So my room was turned into the massage room.  I would hang out in my brothers’ room, doing homework, watching TV or whatever while mom got her massage  in my room next door since both rooms share the A/C.

I think even with the sheets, the massage oils and creams got into the mattress.  Since then, my room always has a hint of that smell.

So, the massage today was in part my treat and in part one of those things Mommy did that will always remind me of her.

Oh, and Aurora wants to go to dinner.  And Justin is spending the night with us after his interview in Torrance.  So we might all go get food together somewhere.

Needless to say, I’m in a happy place at the moment.

I didn’t go anywhere near a mall, if you were wondering.

I am not THAT insane.  Thank you very much.

As a matter of fact, we had Shane over for a good part of the afternoon.  We were thinking of going to the movies, but changed our minds as we figured all the bored family members from out of town would be at the theaters.  Heck, that was what I did before.

Anyways, the boys played on the XBox 360 while I got my magazines and recipe folders sorted out. Later that night, we picked up Tamara and we all had dinner, some wine and played a little more games.

Despite the fact that we stayed home all day, I got 90% of my Christmas shopping done.  Oh yes, the old school online bargain hunter is back in her original form! Haha!

Back in my earlier days, November 1 marked the start of Christmas shopping. Well, for those my mom and I didn’t already shop for during my summer trip back to Thailand, that is. Most shopping will be done online or through catalog. By the weekend after Thanksgiving, I would be have the Christmas tree up and the gifts will all be wrapped.

Recent years, we have been giving home made gifts with the thought of it being more personal yet economical. But this year, we returned to the consumerism circuit. The past few years of giving homemade treats haven’t really been a success. I mean, some of the friends I won’t get to see for a while and therefore the goods weren’t fresh, or I had to bake according to when I would see them, also not horribly convenient.

Anyways. This year, I supported traditional consumerism.  And I’m pretty much done. There are still a few “hand made” items that need to be done for Brandon’s family. And I still have to put some more thoughts into what to get for a few more people. Other than that, we’re all set.

And to capitalize on other home shoppers like myself, Brandon handed me a few used games to re-sell on Amazon. Despite all the raves, we didn’t particularly like Halo 3 or Assassin’s Creed. Well, Brandon doesn’t like playing them and I got bored watching him play them.

Mind you, Assassin’s Creed is a marvelously beautiful game and the concept is pretty cool, but boy was it boring to watch. It’s like, go to this tower, now go to that tower, scale it and do all of this cool move and stuff and then go to the next one. You can’t even run if you want to keep your low profile so you saunter through a town. I’m sure there is more to this game but we were so done with it. But I digress.

So I put those games back on Amazon for sale on Thursday night. Not 10 minutes later, both of them were sold.

(And for those who are curious, we went out and bought Mass Effect to replace those two games we just sold. Brandon’s enjoying it so far and so am I.  It’s really awesome how everything is done. Just like what they said on the promo on SciFi channel, it does feel like you’re in a “Choose your adventure” movie instead of a game.  Everything is so detailed.)

The buy of Assassin’s Creed turns out to be from a military address.  If you know us, do you think we’re going to have a military personnel buy his own game this time of year?

That’s right.  I sent the buyer a confirmation email that his item has been shipped and that it is on us.  Merry Christmas is my message that I sent with the full refund.

Oh, and our Marine contact for this year’s Operation Jingle All the Way wrote me back! After a few years of sending stuff to the troops, this is the first time I actually got an email back from anybody.  (Well, except for Air Force Amy.  Then again, she’s a friend and not a random contact.)  Everything works out for him and his company. All the girlie things got distributed to the ladies and the boys surely will enjoy the loot.

We have been emailing back and forth a little bit now.  Guys, I think we have just adopted a Marine.  :)   So, our Biker Marine, if you stop by, thanks for being out in the front line.  We’ll send you some more stuff soon!

As for tonight, it’s full moon in November. What do you think we’ll be doing after dinner?

Actually, I almost forgot about this year’s Loy Kratong if not for my former blogger friend Kitjar who popped in on my IM to say hi.

Wow. How this month has flown by. And Wednesday is the 100th day anniversary of her death.

3 months have come and gone. Holy cow…

Y’all, finally the week for social calendar explosion has ended.

Last night in Santa Monica proved to be a lot of fun.  Elan, a former coworker from the dot com, is in town from her current home in Cambridge with her friend Jesse.  Joining us were other dot com survivors Joyce, Terri, and Allen.  We hung out, ate, caught up and gossiped over the intermittent screams of Chicago Bears fans at Barney’s Beanery.  Much fun!  It wasn’t a late night as some had to work, some was jetlagged and some needed her rest to get better. 

Now, my sick-ass can rest in peace…for all of one day.  *sigh*

Yes, sick.  The usual stress/exhaustion no energy fever with a minor couch and a dash of sinus infection thing that started up a few hours after lunch on Friday is finally going away.  Brandon has been kind enough to let me get as much sleep in as I can and kept my glass filled with tea, water, or AirBorne.

God loves that man because I sure as hell do!

This morning, I rolled him out of bed and off we went to Wat Padhammachart, the “Nature and Wilderness” Temple in La Puente.  I haven’t been to any other temple in the U.S. since Wat Thai for our wedding almost 6 years ago.  (Yes, it’ll be 6 in January!)  Aunty Tim and May were meeting us there.

Tomorrow afternoon my time marks the 50th day after my mom’s passing.  In our tradition, friends and family will go to the temple to pray and to feed the monks on that day and once more at the 100th day.  Coincidentally, my mom’s 100th day lands on her birthday, November 29.  Aunty Tim will be in Thailand then, so this trip to the temple is also a training for me to go do on my own in November.

We offered some supplies to the monks and made donation.  The monks chanted and blessed us.  We then did a mini Tak Batr (food alms) inside the building.  Brandon, being a few males in the place that morning, got volunteered to help passed the food around for the monks.  Aunty Time, May and I ended up assisted the nuns with theirs.

And my poor husband with banged up knees endured another good 20 minutes of praying, sitting on the floor.  By the time we got up to eat, one of his knee felt like water balloon.  He didn’t expect the praying to be that long, and neither did I.  The last trip to the monthly Tak Batr at the park, it was like wham! bam! done! see ya!  So I didn’t know this was going to be full traditional.  So, when we come out here in November, after assisting the monks, B is going to sneak outside to sit on a bench.

Did I mention I love this man?

One lesson from the sermon today though.  The monk said that going to the temple to “make merits” is just like going to a store.  At the store, you bring money and you get stuff to take home.  You bring your alms of food to the temple and you may not have anything physical to take back with you but you feel the same satisfaction from being generous, praying and meditation.  It doesn’t have to be just the temple and with the monks, but in your everyday life.  If you do good for somebody or show your generosity to people around you, in return, you will feel happiness.  If you come to the temple or go through life with “a bad heart”, ill will and general moodiness, it is like shopping with a torn bag or a broken bowl.  Happiness does not stay with you no matter how much you “spend”.

So, make that a lesson for you all out there today.  Make your heart light, and go “shopping”!

Exactly what my mom would have me do to remember her by.