Bit of an overdose on coffee today, but sometimes these things have to be done. Started out to go to a new place called Milestone Coffee, which my wife said was right close to the Minit Mart in Sanur. Ended up instead at a place called Simply Brew, which is also right close to the Minit Mart. In fact, it is in the same parking lot as Milestone, as I later discovered. Anyway, I found the coffee at Simple Brew to be pretty good, at a price of 25000. The coffee at Milestone, some 20 feet away, was better, and the place is more cozy, but the price there is 32000. Ini bedanya yang lumayan besar sama orang pelit seperti saya. Jadi, yang pertama pada hari biasa, yang lain sama peristiwa yang khusus 😅 Wrapping it up now at Limamike - masih kesukaan saya.
Visits
Monday, September 28, 2015
Sunday, September 27, 2015
Blood Moon
Not long after I got engaged to the woman who would be my second wife, she began to listen to strange late night radio shows, where she learned about the impending "rapture" - the theory of a sudden ascension of Christians to heaven, later popularized in fiction books such as Left Behind. She also read a book - one of the few she had read in her life - that covered the same subject, with the addition, as I recall, of the involvement of aliens.
Just my luck. It was a time when I was looking for stability in my life, sanity, after some years that had come mostly from a bottle, and so the advent of this sudden madness was frustrating and disappointing, and, in fact, almost led to a sudden end to our plans for the future together. It didn't matter anyway, for she was going to heaven, you see, on October 31st or whatever (I don't remember the magic date now).
According to the information she had received, she would hear a sounding of trumpets, which would be followed by the appearance of the Lord in the skies and then the sudden bodily departure of his children from the earth.
I remember talking to her on the phone on the very night of this rapture. She had called to say goodbye. I myself would not be going, because I refused to believe.
Suddenly, she interrupted our conversation. She had heard something, from far away ... What was it? Was it a horn? Yes, it was a horn, a trumpet, a ...
Oh, wait, it was only a train whistle. She lived close to the tracks near the Columbia slough. I could hear it on my end of the phone too.
Well, goodnight, I said. I'll see you in the morning.
Oh no you won't.
Oh yes I will.
Oh no you won't.
Well ...
It was a great blow for her when the Lord didn't come that night. But by and by she returned to life and we married and stayed married for 13 years.
And then 9/11 happened. And the radio shows began again. And there were aliens and lizard people, the new world order, the illuminati, and the Lord and the rapture.
And then that blew over too. And so did our marriage.
Round and round and round we go. I am told lately by my stepson that she is predicting the immanent end yet again, which is putting a damper on his vision of his future. The blood moon is upon us, after all, and the anti-Christ and the false prophet just met in Babylon (Washington DC), and Gog and Magog are rising in the east.
But relax. Just breathe. The end is not yet, though come it will, like a thief in the night. And there will be no more death, and no more sorrow and no more tears, and, most of all, no more waiting.
Just my luck. It was a time when I was looking for stability in my life, sanity, after some years that had come mostly from a bottle, and so the advent of this sudden madness was frustrating and disappointing, and, in fact, almost led to a sudden end to our plans for the future together. It didn't matter anyway, for she was going to heaven, you see, on October 31st or whatever (I don't remember the magic date now).
According to the information she had received, she would hear a sounding of trumpets, which would be followed by the appearance of the Lord in the skies and then the sudden bodily departure of his children from the earth.
I remember talking to her on the phone on the very night of this rapture. She had called to say goodbye. I myself would not be going, because I refused to believe.
Suddenly, she interrupted our conversation. She had heard something, from far away ... What was it? Was it a horn? Yes, it was a horn, a trumpet, a ...
Oh, wait, it was only a train whistle. She lived close to the tracks near the Columbia slough. I could hear it on my end of the phone too.
Well, goodnight, I said. I'll see you in the morning.
Oh no you won't.
Oh yes I will.
Oh no you won't.
Well ...
It was a great blow for her when the Lord didn't come that night. But by and by she returned to life and we married and stayed married for 13 years.
And then 9/11 happened. And the radio shows began again. And there were aliens and lizard people, the new world order, the illuminati, and the Lord and the rapture.
And then that blew over too. And so did our marriage.
Round and round and round we go. I am told lately by my stepson that she is predicting the immanent end yet again, which is putting a damper on his vision of his future. The blood moon is upon us, after all, and the anti-Christ and the false prophet just met in Babylon (Washington DC), and Gog and Magog are rising in the east.
But relax. Just breathe. The end is not yet, though come it will, like a thief in the night. And there will be no more death, and no more sorrow and no more tears, and, most of all, no more waiting.
Tuesday, September 8, 2015
Good and Bad
Well, I guess every place has its pluses and its minuses. Although I have found Bangkok deadly, unreasonably hot, and although the heat or the sweat or the air caused a painful sty, on the other hand, I have not had a headache since my arrival in Krabi along with the stressful run-in with immigration, and I have not had significant ringing in my ears at all. So it's a tradeoff - good for bad, bad for good. Honestly, the heat wasn't too bad today either, which was probably because we spent most of the day on the river. Most of the swelling from the sty has gone away, but the eye itself hurts like an SOB. Tomorrow will be our last full day, and I think Louis has shopping in mind. Not sure where or why. I just do what I'm told, or at least try my best to do so.
Sunday, September 6, 2015
The Voice
Many people warned me, but I would not hear. I listened to another voice. It has always been so, even before I knew whose voice it was. When I was very young, I thought it a weakness, a personal defect. But I learned that it was strength, the incomparable strength of weakness. In the presence of such strength, which is not mine, I become nothing and whatever else there is becomes all. I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart has turned to wax; it has melted within me. And yet I am nothing. All else aside from me is life. I was told to save myself, but I would not hear. I listened to another voice. My job is done. It is finished, day by day. This is the last day until the last of the last. And in this, the peace that passes all understanding, do I rejoice eternally, both now and forever, until that day when love takes its own hand in glorious embrace.
Thai
Interestingly, as I read in the 'fascinating' Thailand brochure, the Thai language is a monosyllabic language, which means that it is made up mostly of one syllable words. This is probably what makes it so difficult for us to understand. We want something more complex. English and Indonesia are a mix one one syllable and multi-syllable words. Indonesia, with its prefixes and suffixes, seems especially multi-syllabic. Take 'ketidaksetejuan' for instance. Or 'memperlambatkan'. Tower of Babel here. Speaking of which, I happened to watch that movie (one of my favorites) the other night with subtitles in Chinese. Since I know the movie so well, I could remember the gist of what was being said, but it was interesting to get the effect of an even greater increase in separation, isolation and confusion, which is what the movie is about, anyway.
Thursday, September 3, 2015
Teen Cow
When one has finally learned, to a reasonable degree, to speak and understand a second language, it seems especially disconcerting to find oneself in a country where the second language is useless, and the first nearly as much so. Thai is completely foreign to both Indonesian and English. Some of the people speak just a very little English, such that one is reduced to sign language and gestures for the most part. One phrase came up a couple of times, sounding, phonetically, like "teen cow," so I have been using that for every purpose.
Want massage?
Teen cow.
What would you like for lunch?
Teen cow.
And so on.
Arrived in Krabi Town in the early afternoon via a little mini bus called a Tuk tuk, but have so far been holed up in our little room with the AC on high speed, as it is deadly humid outside. Hope to venture out in the evening to the nearby night market.
Want massage?
Teen cow.
What would you like for lunch?
Teen cow.
And so on.
Arrived in Krabi Town in the early afternoon via a little mini bus called a Tuk tuk, but have so far been holed up in our little room with the AC on high speed, as it is deadly humid outside. Hope to venture out in the evening to the nearby night market.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)