This weekend was the day the trucker's convoy arrived in Ottawa. Basically demonstrating their dislike for Trudope and the Liberal's policies.
The pandemic seem to be disappating so we are hoping to get out and do things and visit people. The rinks open this week so I thought we would try skating. Of course Thavorn and Jaidan have never skated so they could be in for some bruises. We are also thinking of visiting my sister Elaine who has a nice size sledding hill a walk from where she lives.
Meanwhile back in the house I finally completed the Red Racing Truck behemoth. It come out of China (similar to covid) and is produced by a company called MouldKing. It competes in quality and design with Lego Technics but is quite a bit cheaper, maybe 50%. Their designs are actually much better and they often license the design of MOC (My Own Creation) builders. The red racing truck has about 2,700 pieces and kept me busy for quite a while. It features 4 motors, 2 of which are very fast buggy motors.
The price of Lego technics and the clones has gone up by 50% in the last 6 months. I think it is more supply and demand rather than shortages. The real Lego stuff has become collectors items where people buy them, never open the box and sell them at 100% profit when they are discontinued in 2-3 years. Not unlike housing in Canada that is being snapped up by investors, who flip them and never live in them. That's the world we live in!
Some picks of 2 of my favorite cars and the Red Racing truck.
Racing Truck is 20 inches long, 10 wide by 10 high.
Sacle, pool table is 8 feet long.
Working engine is 8 cylinders.
A MOC I created. 4 motors, very fast and cool suspension
Thavorn is back at work that her Covid seems to have gone. Jaidan is back online and showing no signs of his Covid. He heads back to in person schooling on Monday. I myself, am almost done with my Covid so I expect that life will be back to normal come this weekend. Life will be back to as good as it gets in this Covid era that we find ourselves in.
Thavorn mentionned she would like to vist Thailand in the Summer of 2023which just happens to be that last time I will see a 23 (my birthday) in this lifetime. I thinking it would be good to switch to Buddhism to get a do over,
By the summer of 2023 Thavorn should have saved enough money to build her house so that summer opens up all kinds of posibilities for our family. Jaidan will will entering grade 4 which is a grade I have taught in the past and I would feel comfortable home schooling his that year. Our car lease is is up in February of 2024 which also happens to be the last time will see her birthday in this lifetime. Being Buddhist means she also gets do overs.
Back to the Wild Side has its appeal as long that Thailand, itself is back to some sort of normalcy which hopefully it will be. I will be 73 which will be the 4th last prime number before I would be 100 if I live that long. Running out of primes is never a good option as I believe they are special years to be lived well, having not just survived another year as we are doing during these Covid years.
I am optimistic that there bare some good years to be had and 2023 is aligning to be one of the good ones! The only problem I see is staying out of trouble in Thailand but that is a nice problem to have. Ivan Kelly had it right with the Raven, 'Don't Fool Around, buy a round!'.
When I first moved to Malaysia to teach overseas, a phrase I heard often was same same, which transates into nothing different happening. That pretty well describes my life at this moment in space and time.
Thavorn and Jaidan are pretty much over their bout of Omicron. They both managed to sleep 24 hours straight over the weekend. I now have the sniffles and a very minor tickle in my throat but I seem to be fighting it off. Thavorn and Jaidan are now in their 5th day and Jaidan is online with his class. Thavorn will go back to work tomorrow.
Needless to say I did not do much other than program and surf the net. Yesterday the power went out for about 10 hours. I have an excellent UPS that enables my internet to stay up.
Omicron is sweeping Ontario and I suspect it will lead to herd immunity down the road.
My expat friend John, in Bangkok, is moving back to Canada with his wife Fon in June. They are really excited about it and we are excited to have them back in Canada. Time for a trip to the Prescott and Broadways.
Thavorn mentioned that she would like to visit Thailand and see her family during 2023. Hopefully we will be able to make that happen.
Covid19 arrived in my family last night. This morning I tested Thavorn with the rapid anitigen Test and Thavorn tested positive. Jaidan also ran a fever and a headache all night so I suspect he also has covid. We are out of test kits and they are hard to come by, especially now I have to isolate for 5 days.
I feel okay, did my stretching exercises and 30 mins on the treadmill. I also had 2 shots of Jameson's Irish Whisky to play it safe as well as 3 episodes of Lethal Weapon on Netflix.
I did not miss Jaidan's online learning today but I may not be so lucky tomorrow dependent on how well Jaidan is.
The hardest part for me will be being locked up for 5 days, not that I have been going out much in this covid era that we find ourselves in.
Again, I have been remiss in posting and I will make it a New Year's resolution to post more.
Today's is mostly things I have observed over the past month.
First off, I finally caved and bought an iPhone 13 for Thavorn. She has been working her butt off at the mushroom farm and has maintained her joyful and playful personality so, as I see it, she deserves a treat. In Thailand, as elsewhere, the iPhone is a status symbol so face places a part in why she has always wanted one. Me, not so much. We transferred most of her content over from her Motorola Edge and she is good to go.
Is the iPhone worth it, status aside? It does have a very good phone and vibrant screen, especially in sunlight, but it costs 4 times the Motorola Edge and is it four times better? Not in a long shot, and the buggers don't even give you a charger for the phone, just a cable. Of course they want you to buy the wireless charger so consider the lack of a charger, a gentle nudge. I am not lookimg forward to trying to pair her Skull Candy ear buds as Apple wants you to buy their twice as expensive ear buds. Do you see a pattern here?
We live in the country and it is quiet and peaceful, except for the roads.The folks who live out here have quite a commute to Ottawa, probably 45 mins, and armed with their 4 wheel drive pickup trucks and suv's they drive like idiots, often tailgating you to speed up, despite the fact you are driving 18 clicks over as well. I wonder if all that stress and 1,5 hours out their day for the commute is worth it. In Bangkok and our first 6 months in Canada we lived downtown and could walk to everything. I miss that.
The woke are becoming a real problem, and you can't discuss anything with them because you are discounted as not woke and therefore will never understand because you have not experienced the enlightenment that comes with becoming woke. Factor in that most woke are young, possibly pre millenial, and boomers and other older folks are simply irrelevant. For the most part they are the product of our university system that is far left and has decided that different views are not warranted and will not be tolerated on campus.
The democratic countries are all lamenting that democracy is failing somewhat. Democracy goes hand in hand with capitalism and capitalism is also failing as most of the wealth in the world is now in the hands of the 1% who can control free markets and stock markers due to their wealth. I believe you have to fix capitalism first but what do I know, I am not woke. The French had it right during the French revolution ... Off with their heads! If you think the top 1% are going to give it up, think again.
The NBA has lost control of their league. The players are always injured and sitting out large parts of the season despite a paycheck of a $20,000,00 a year. The monkeys are running the show! Definitely not a woke comment and I meant no racism. It is an old expression but you have to be so careful these days.
Then there is the Karen phenomenon where women lose it and in self rightousness go on a trirade for whatever reason, if there was a reason. Beware the Karen, she may douse you with hot coffee.
For the first time in history, the minority are seen as more important than the majority. I blame it on social platforms where the minority can group and make their opnion hold sway over the silent majority who are usually to busy or scared that they will also be targeted. I believe most of this minority is woke, so doubly bad.
Covid is not going away soon, if ever, and I suspect that it will become the new common cold at best, or the end of humaity if it evolves into something truly potent. Whoever is responsible for Covid should rot in hell for loosing it on the world. You know who you are.
Canadians have over extended themselves and inflation is now at 4.5% and rising and interest rates will go up, especially morgage rates. Young folks have never experienced mortgage rates of 19% that we boomers had to live with. They will be sleeping in million dollar homes and eating at food banks. You read it here first :-)
A final observation for toay. People are important, things are not important, give your significant other or family member a hug and remind them they are special :-)
We put the christmas tree up yesterday because it was chiily outside when we woke up. -8 degrees and I suspect it will get a lot colder despite global warming. Jaidan was quite excited! It should be a good Christmas for him as he is at a great age.
Today, Jaidan lost his first baby tooth. I hope the tooth fairy is good to him tonight.
Today is also my Russian friend Aly's 29 birthday. It has been 12 years since I first met her in Malaysia. I am surprised she is still in Malaysia as I personally did not like Malaysia for a number of reasons. I wish her well and hope she has a great year. :-)
Thavorn cooked a great fish dish last night and the sauce was particularly yummy, sweet and spicy as only the Thais can make.
Thavorn's job is going great and she is saving $2,400 a month which is making her very happy. Before you know it, she will have a million Baht in the bank which is something most Thais only dream of. That would be about Christmas 2022.
THe plan is to still build a house in Thavorn's village, but she is in no hurry to do that and I suspect it will be in about 2 more years. However, things can change quickly so who knows.
Jaidan is still in school although the covid19 numbers are climbing back up in Ontario. Hopefully the schools can hang in there as the government is announcing Pfizer vaccines for 5 - 11 year olds this Friday. They seem to think all children who want one can have their first dose before Christsmas.
Thavorn's job is going well and she is in fantastic shape.
My covid hobby is building motorized Lego cars and Thavorn's hobby is collect Coach purses.
Christmas shopping is finished for Jadain. His big purchase is a DJI Mini 2 drone (actually for me and him) as well as a Lego tracked stunt car that he will build hinself (he is old enough now). He is also getting some GAP clothing, a 500m piece puzzle of wolves, and a moose stuffy with a blanket from Cabelas. He is also asking for a pokemon game for his Nintendo switch that he received last Christmas.
Thavorn's present was a Coach purse (go figure).
As for me, the drone will be fun and a good sharing activity with Jaidan.
I buy Lego motors from New Zealand and China because Lego has stopped making the cheaper ones and their new ones are twice as expensive and no better. There is some good stuff coming out of China. Much of the Lego stuff is bought up by collectors who resell it later at twice or three times what they paid for it.
Jaidan is still growing like a weed despite eating mostly junk. Spiderman for Hallowe'en.
Thailand is still having covid and protest problems so we are in no rush to get back there. Maybe even not this summer. Thavorn seems more concerned with padding her bank account rather than visiting Thailand. All is good.
