First Night Out

Today's song is: Just Give me a Reason  .. Pink

They played our favorite song at Country Road last night

I arrived back in Bangkok on Sunday morning and last night, Thursday night was my first night out, mainly due to jet lag.  I headed out at 4 pm to meet a friend but decided to stop in at Country Road on Soi Cowboy and the #1 pool girl was available to play pool so, of course I did.  I had not played for 6 weeks and it showed in the 12 games we played. I did manage to win 4 of them. She is number 1 for a reason.

I texted Thavorn and suggested that she and Jaidan join me for a beer and some music. Poi, Thavorn's friend is now working at Country Road and I bought her some drinks as we awaited Thavorn and Jaidan's arrival. Arrive they did and as usual, Jaidan drew a crowd of ladies who all wanted to hug and kiss him, which he finds very annoying. He will learn to appreciate it some day  :-)

I hung in, enjoying the music and a few vodka and red bulls before deciding to walk home with Jaidan to get him to sleep before 9 pm. Thavorn is very surprised that I have Jaidan back on his schedule of 8 am to 9 pm because she has been letting him stay awake until 11 pm. I think I have finally convinced her that structure is good and he needs his sleep.

My night out, including drinks for my pool partner, Poi, and Thavorn, plus 12 games of pool cost me 1,200 baht or about $45 CDN. That is a lot of fun for the buck and is why I enjoy living in downtown Bangkok so much. That and the lovely ladies that give Bangkok its nickname  .. City of Angels.

Jaidan out at Country Road

TTYL

Home in Bangkok

Today's song is:  Heart of Gold .. Neil Young, a great Canadian

This song reminds me so much of Thavorn!

I am back in Bangkok after the long ass flight from Ottawa. Luckily I went to the airport 2 hours early for my flight to Toronto at 11 am because they cancelled it at the last moment. I was able to get on the 10 o'clock flight and it was half empty. I would hazard a guess that was why they had cancelled the 11 am flight. It was the first week of school and not not many parents were flying.

I lucked in on my flight from Toronto to Tokyo as the flight was about half full and I had my row to myself so I was able to stretch out and sleep. That was good, because the movies sucked, and I usually watch at least 3 of them to pass the time. This time, I only watched 1.  My flight was late taking off and 30 minutes late into Tokyo so I only had about 50 minutes to make my connection and I managed it okay,  but was not sure my luggage would make it, but it did.

I arrived in Kuala Lumpur and transferred terminals with 5 hours to pass until my 6:40 flight to Bangkok. A little sleep on the floor, some walking, and an early breakfast passed the time.At least a couple of hundred other people were doing the same thing. The flight to Bangkok was on time and I wimped out and took a taxi to my apartment.

It was good to be home and Thavorn greeted me at the door and we went to wake Jaidan up.  Despite being half asleep he seemed happy to see me. I hung into 10 pm and managed to sleep until 5:30 am the next day.

Today is Monday and Thavorn wants to play pool but I know I will be sleepy all day so we just went to Big C to pick up some groceries. I expect to be a little bit more energetic tomorrow, but past experience tells me it will be Wednesday until I feel back to normal.

It is great to be back.

TTYL

Old Man

Today;s song is: Old Man  .. Neil Young

My business partner Brent and I are finishing up our work for the year and we seem to have everything under control which is a little scary. Time for a glass of red wine to celebrate.  Work always goes better with a little whine (sorry wine). Ooops, just switched to scotch on the rocks  :-)

Tonight, I take the bus across town (free because I am a senior citizen (yikes, how time flies) and switch to my sister Elaine's for my final two nights in Canada. Tomorrow afternoon after Jordan finishes teaching, I am meeting him at Big Rig for a final beer with Jordan and 2 former women basketball players (Julie and Pola) that I coached many, many moons ago. I have not seen them for quite some time and I suspect one is over 40, and the other in her mid thirties.

Yeppers, that scotch is going down well  .. here is a pic of my scotch and my new Logitech mouse (MX Master 25) which is highly recommended for programmers because it makes you more productive.

The other item that programmers should never be without is ne or two additional monitors. In this setup I am using a cheap $150 HD (1920 by 1080) external monitor that is about 24 inches whereas at home a have a Samsung 36 inch curved monitor and twice that resolution. Once you've gone wide, you can't go back.

Speaking of Samsung, it is time to unload that stock before the North decides to nuke Seoul. Whatever is decided, the outcome is lose/lose!

TTYL

Today's song is: 4 Strong Winds  .. Neil Young and Willie

There was an interesting reader submission to Stickman's website that I am linking to below. Stickman is now offline which is sad because he was an excellent resource on Farang/Thai relationships and the entertainment scene in Thailand.

https://www.stickmanbangkok.com/readers-submissions/2017/09/my-exploits-in-the-land-of-smiles/

My daughter Jaime and I went to the Carleton Raven's Football game last night and it was a trip down memory lane for me. This is the first Raven's game I have watched since I played in the mid 70's.  Hard to say if it is better ball, just different.

Carleton lost by about 23 - 14 but Carleton held McMaster scoreless in the second half but had trouble scoring themselves.

Today is a dreary cold and rainy day, very reminiscent to my 2 winters I spent in Vancouver. Not conducive to encouraging me to go for a run along the Ottawa River Bikeway. Not too worry, I will be back in Bangkok soon and will be back to my regular workout.

Jaidan and Thavorn rode the bus back overnight from Phang Nga to Bangkok and it was a good trip as Jaidan slept all the way.  Jaidan is maturing nicely and talking much more. I think I will notice a big change in him over the past month. He is just a month over his 3 year birthday.

On the overnight bus  ..

I am looking forward to getting back in Bangkok and seeing Jaida, Thavorn and my friends, but I have had a good time while working and visiting in Canada. Four more sleeps and I am back in the air.

TTYL

Fall

Today's song is: Shape of You  .. Ed Sheeran

Labour Day Weekend, the first weekend in September is the unofficial end of summer and the start of Fall and the return to school for students. It is also my last weekend in Canada as I fly out next Friday to return to the LOS. Today, Saturday, is a quiet day as I travelled from my business partner's house, across town, to my sister's house. I am trying to convince her to walk down to Big Rig tonight to indulge in a BBQ chicken/avocado spicy pizza.

Tomorrow, Sunday is a busy day as my sister Elaine and I travel up to my sister Ann's house in the woods, on the lake, for BBQ hamburgers and some red wine. I have to be back in town for 7 pm as my daughter Jaime managed to get tickets for the home season opener for the Carlton Ravens Football team that I played for in the 70's (how time flies) and it will be the first time I have watched a game since I retired. It is a night game under the lights. Should be fun.

Meanwhile, back in Thailand, Thavorn and Jaidan are packing for their return 10 hour bus trip from Phang Nga to Bangkok, to await my return to the City of Angels. Apparently, they have both enjoyed their 3 weeks and Jaidan and Bai Deri (Thavorn's 3rd child) really got along well.  Some pics:

Jaidan is not fond of the ocean waves and runs when he sees a big one incoming. Sounds like a good survival skill in tsunami land.

LINE video chat is now too buggy to uses, so we are using Facebook messenger to share pictures of chickens and chat.

I have been chowing back on too may A&W hamburgers and Tim Horton breakfast sausage sandwiches so I will need to diet when I get back to Bangkok.

TTYL

Old Folks in Canada

Today's song is: Whisky in the Jar .. Dubliners

As I go into my 3rd week in Canada I often to take time to reflect on what older folks in Canada do. I noticed that many of them congregate in the same place, morning after morning. This is often McDonalds for breakfast, or more often, Tim Hortons for their morning coffee. They come in singles, but most often in pairs or 2 pairs where they often chat for over an hour. I took a photo of some of them in the Place d'Orleans mall  ..

The folks in the mall often pair up the coffee at Timmy's with mall walking, where they come to the mall before it is open and walk for an hour or so. For me, I prefer the soccer field at 11 am for a run in the sun around the field for 2 kilometres.

It has been 3 weeks and that is long enough to know that I prefer my life style in Thailand but Canada does it has some things going for it, like the 4 seasons, the beautiful clean air, and the people for the most part are simply wonderfully polite with please and thank you's as they hold doors open for you and wave you across the street. Pedestrians rule in Canada where cars and motorcycles rule in Thailand.

But, as always, when it comes to entertainment noting holds a candle to the City of Angels and the LOS (land of smiles), especially for folks over 40. I think it may be the 30 million tourists a year, but more likely, the vibrant expat community.

TTYL

Raven's Basketball

Today's song is:  I Will Always Love You .. Whitney Houston

My daughter Jaime and I are long time basketball fans of The Carleton Ravens Men's Team and we took advantage of the CanAm challenge to catch 3 games at the Raven's nest. Carleton won all 3 games against NCAA Div 1 teams, with the best game being against NorthEastern. If you like basketball and live in Ottawa you should get out and watch the Raven's play.

Bball at the Raven's nest on a beautiful Sunny Sunday afternoon at 3 pm

hence the small crowd as the summer weather has been abysmal

We also tried to get out to a Ravens Football game, but the game this September 3rd, the home opener was sold out and I travel back to Bangkok before the nest game. I played for the Ravens football team from 1972 to 1976 and have fond memories of the characters I played with.

One of the things I miss about Ottawa is coaching basketball. I coached for over 30 years, boys and girls, club and school basketball. If I find myself back in Ottawa I would seriously want to start coaching again despite having coached over 1,600 games already.

It is August 27th so that means in 12 days, I start the long flight back to BKK and my family. Thavorn and Jaidan are enjoying their stay in Phang Nga but will head back to Bangkok on September 1st. I think Thavorn misses her friends back in Bangkok. They are a fun loving bunch of girls.

Jaidan will also start back in Nursery school when I get back. I am not sure he missed it, but I m sure he will let us know  :-)

I always miss certain foods while I am in Thailand and one of them is the Tim Horton's breakfast Sausage Sandwich so I made sure I had one this morning.

Jaidan is often mistaken for a girl because of his long hair. I am not sure it is the hair because Thavorn put his hair up and shot some photos. Hair up, or down, Jaidan would make for a pretty girl .. If he was not such a mischievous boy  :-)

While on the topic of girls, I was chatting on LINE with one of my ex bargirl friends and we were discussing the type of girl I thought her BF preferred and the type I liked.  He would prefer the first pic and I like the second type.  They are both typical of Thai beauties ...

TTYL