...the monsoon season is in its death throes, and the 'cold' season is about to set in. I don't really expect to ever be cold here, and I'm thinking about mailing my jeans to Russia, where they will fetch a pretty price, especially if I leave the bacon strips in them. (by pretty price, I mean in rubles, which are a wild card on the best of days. 30 rubles in a buck, depending on the US market openings tomorrow.) Actually, the average Thai watches currency exchange rates far more closely than the average US citizen, who is usually standing in line behind Mark Wallace to buy the newest iPhone.
Mark, however, already knows up-to-date market valuations, because he's trying so hard to be a corp-douche. He's not quite nailing it. Smallace, that's a compliment. (most following this don't know Mark, but trust me, he's got some dude named Patel on a help line right now yelling "I just want this thing to make a good phone call!" "Oh, and also download apps in the Chicago L train tunnel." "Sure... I'll wait..."
Anyway, back to business. The theft of intellectual property in this country is alive and well. Makes the napster guy and the Ninja Video crew look like amateurs. Amateurs who weren't paying off the government, that is. I bought a version of Photoshop for 100 Baht (under $4) and a laptop-saving version of Windows XP Recovery disc for the same price. In the Mega Happy Software Blowup Sale (I think they wanted to say 'blowout', and if they had the sign made in neon and mounted, it's not really a sale... I think they meant 'store', not 'sale'), the disc cases on the shelf are empty, and after you show baht, the counter hottie disappears for about 35 seconds, and reemerges with a blank DVD that shows burn tracks on the underside. Upon my return home, I found both to be cracked, fully functional, and both even auto-filled the field for the registration code, thus making them ready for all those goddamn annoying upgrades. But they didn't even bother to label them with a sharpie marker, and I ended up confusing the two, almost re-installing Windows instead of upgrading Photoshop.
As for Photoshop, here's what I have so far....
I think it's rather flattering, if not a bit narcissitic. I am not totally Set, nor do I have a nu bis. Note that I refrained from shaving to add an edge to my image. (actually, the face shot was taken during my 'nobody is calling me for work' phase. Clearly, that left me plenty of time to work out and become deeply tanned. I also seemed to have had my nipples lowered.) Some of you have seen this pic in previous e-mails, but the more I spread my mental flotsam, the greater the chance that someone will stop me before it's too late.
I miss my friends terribly, and although I am having a great time, I don't feel grounded on any level. I have been moving around my whole life, and invariably, each time, one friend or another will say "Why are you going there? Your friends are all here."
My stock response is "I have friends all over the world... I just haven't met them yet."
I very much believe in that notion, and I live by my answer every day; but it's a bit glib, and it dodges the deeper meaning behind the question. And that question is "What about your history with loved ones... times you'll cherish, the times you've made amazing rock together (if only amazing to us), the love you've left behind, and your country, and your culture, and your language, and your family, and your nephews, and driving on the proper side of the road, and sanitation, and people with nosebridges, and your beloved motorbike?"
Hopefully my stock response still handily sidesteps all of that. After all, a response is not an answer at all....
The truth is, I never left you, just like you never left me. B
