RIP Dad 1950 - 2009 I miss you xx

"Man Of The Hour"

Tidal waves don't beg forgiveness

Crashed and on their way

Father he enjoyed collisions; others walked away

A snowflake falls in may.

And the doors are open now as the bells are ringing out

Cause the man of the hour is taking his final bowGoodbye for now.

Nature has its own religion; gospel from the land

Father ruled by long division, young men they pretend

Old men comprehend.

And the sky breaks at dawn; shedding light upon this town

They'll all come around

Cause the man of the hour is taking his final bow

G'bye for now.

And the road

The old man paved

The broken seams along the way

The rusted signs, left just for me

He was guiding me, love, his own way

Now the man of the hour

is taking his final bow

As the curtain comes down

I feel that this is just g'bye for now

(Pearl Jam)

A New Year Indeed

Well it has arrived, 2008 in all its splendor.

Time to grab life by the freakin balls and have a go me thinks... after 33.5 years you'd think id worked part of it out, or at least grasped some of the rules :)



I am not making promises this year, just going with the flow and seeing where it takes me. Thanks to all who were a part of my 2007, I wish you all well in 2008. May your life be filled with love, peace & all things positive.



When you find youself saying "I want to do that some day" make that some day happen in 2008. Plan for it and make it happen, you deserve it.

Shine

Soft glow in the distance

Across the wind

Creeping closer.

You smell it before you feel it.

The thawing of the leaves, followed by the thawing of the grass.

Enveloping everything in its path

Then come the sounds

Chirp Chirp

Brighter still

Bright

Warm

Inviting

Life.

And drifts away...

He stares at what was once beautiful and safe, now just a vast empty space. A sorrow filled tear runs down the side of his face, a place he once felt warmth seems cold and empty.

He slowly moves down the shore till the darkened waters bite at his feet. Ripples on the surface shape the depths below. He moves forward; shivers move through his body and his skin becomes rough with goose bumps. The shadowy waters envelop his body like wet cement, heavy and cold yet deeper he moves.

He turns to face the shore and he see’s them waving goodbye. Although his heart feels heavy he understands. Lying back he feels the water take away his weight and although his heart sinks his body floats and drifts away.

Just dont get sick... Or VOTE for the nurse friendly

Why? Glad you asked...

Lets steer clear of the gory details and say that I have a condition at the moment that required medical assistance. I went to the Doc and she put me on antibiotics and gave me a cream. A few days later and I got a little worse, went back to the Doc and she sent me off to the hospital with a letter advising them her concerns. She even recommended the hospital, she said it would have the shortest wait in emergency.

I called the flatmates to advise I was being sent to hospital and may not be home for dinner. I then called work to confirm I would not be in for a couple of days.

I was in a little shock but thought they will probably laugh it off at the hospital as some sort of reaction to some sort of chemical. One of the flatmates decided to keep me company so we piled in a cab "Western General Hospital in Footscray please"

We arrived at around 3pm and checked in at triage, the lovely triage nurse took my temperature, pulse check and symptoms run through and asked me to take a seat and he would call me when someone could see me. At around 4:30pm gate number 2 called me up and got my medicare details and again asked me to take a seat. 5pm and triage called me up to advise it may be a while. 6:15pm I was ushered into emergency and asked to take my clothes off and put on a robe in bed 19.

Now you may be thinking how aweful, what a long wait... or maybe your wondering why I have not listed a barage of complaints... During this time 4 or maybe 5 ambulances came in the back door, "code blue" was called twice and for another "possible head trauma, report to theater room 3" ... They were run off their feet.

6:30pm I sent flatmate home and said I would let him know what was happening. I sat quietly watching nurses run from one bed to the next to attend to their patients. 7pm pulse check, blood pressure and temperature. "the doctor will see you soon" 8:15pm and another system check. 8:30pm and the doctor arrives. checks my symptoms, confirms I should be admitted and instructs the nurse to start me on Iv antibiotics.

An orderly and a nurse stop outside my curtain "we're 2 nurses and a doctor down, like we can afford it" and the response "maybe we should all call in sick, at least they cant fine us then" and his response "Just vote Labor, we are"

I could not believe it, these guys were like robots with a smile, hardly stopping to take a breath.

More codes of various colors shouted over the intercom and the tired doctors and nurses answering every call with precision. I did feel a little neglected with my wait times, and with some of the comments of "where did you come from" and the hour long 5 minute waits, but I was far from going to complain.

When I had finally been moved to isolation I got a chance to thank one of the nurses for her hard work before she ran off into the maze of beds and beeps, she apologised to me for making me wait. I confirmed it was more than fine I could see it was a busy night... she said that this was a normal night, it gets busier.

Now I dont know who will be looking after the nurses in the election but I will certainly be keeping an ear out.

Bangkok and Beyond

So what next? Well the sites and sounds of the city of smiles was alive in my mind. I felt taller and filled with energy and excitement of a little kid. I smiled at everyone and even the small things caught my senses. The smells of the different foods at the vendors on the street to the sculptured trees and the detailed statues and shrines. One thing made me ponder early, the city seemed so clean and yet there seemed to be no rubbish bins on the streets at all, a culture that takes pride in their city, there religion and their monarchy.

On almost every corner there was a shrine to buddah or to the King and Queen. Buildings hung the flag with pride. People wei'd to the shrines (even when they were driving hehehe) and on some people left insence or gold leaf as they walked past.

It was amazing to see this ongoing daily respect to the Thai heritage. Flags flapped proudly in the breeze and it seemed to me that the ongoing respect was not just for show but a way of living. It gave the place an energy that i could feel under my skin, bought a smile to my face and I found it so easy to show the same respects.

Random pics off the internet

The food in Bankok was just amazing. Take it from someone who nearly did not go to Thailand cause he thought he hated Thai food. I could not believe it; the most amazing colours, textures, presentation, attention to detail and most of all the explosion of flavours in every meal... and even the snacks. Hot and spicy, sweet and sour, crispy and smooth. I ate fresh seafood (I must say I prefer our crustations (although their oysters were magnificent), assorted rices, crispy fish and in one meal I was even able to out chilli Melly :) I also ate a Nacho burger when I reached Hua Hin that was to die for... But more on Hua Hin later (sorry Simon).

I wanted to experience all that Thailand had to offer but feel that even if I stayed in the country for a year I would still be only able to scratch at the surface. Having Melly and Dusty there to share the experience was great. We dined, we shopped and they both protected me from the unrelenting show pushers "It's happy hour, you come for ping pong"... Yes it was happy hour all day long :)

Patpong Market (random Pic of Internet)

Patpong Market; not a huge market to say the least; located in Bangkok's principal red-light area, spilling over onto busy Silom and Suriwong Roads. During the day it looks like every other street until early evening when out of nowhere the market springs to life. products are varied and cheap if you know how to bargain. We started to get the hang of it. Most things started at 1800 baht or 1000 baht, to some unsuspecting tourists, shoping here could be quite expensive.

Patpong on Google Earth

I always found I had gone to low if they let me walk away. I would try the same trick they played on me... They would start at 1800 baht and i would start at 200 baht and we would work from there. It helps to have an idea of what you would pay for the same item back home and figure it out from there.

Everything has a price in Bangkok. I was warned of a few things before I came, some I wish I threw away as they may have restricted me a little and the others were common sense in the end :) One experience though that had me laughing for hours was the "happy finish"... Let me just say that I was looking forward to the cheap massages everyone had told me about but had not had the courage to get one for the 1st couple of days due to "happy finish" warnings.

I finally decided that if I went to one of the professional spas ajoining the shopping centre I should be ok. NOPE; 1st Thai massage and yes; an offer of "happy finish" for 500 baht... Just my luck and let me say they find it hard to take no for an answer, the guy seemed offended I had said no but smiled when I gave him a 300 naht tip and got dressed... no "happy finish" for me, I was content with the massage.

I hope this was a different type of happy finish for you... I have heaps more to share :)

OMG - an uncle to be again...

Thats right; my sister is pregnant again, well they said if they had another they wanted them to be close... maybe not this close.

But when you see moments like this you realise that no matter what your intentions; things happen for a reason and your life can be blessed at any time...

Sawatdee

This is how Thai people say hello, Sa-wa-dee is how it sounds. Now I was a little confused when I was there when saying hello and goodbye, when to wei and when not to wei. Now you may be asking what is a wei???

Glad you asked.

A wei is where you bring both hands together in front of your chest and bow your head ever so slightly (not a complete bow like the japenese, almost like a nod of appreciation). This is usually done at the same time as saying Sawadee. Now before I left I read up a couple of websites that advised me not to wei to everyone as a wei is a sign of respect, usually used by someone of lower stature of the person they’re wei-ing to.

Hard to get a picture of someone giving a wei, I found this one on google images

Once I was there though I found it too hard to resist some of the time. I found though that I got a great response when I did and it did not seem to embarrass anyone like some websites would suggest. Other sites suggest it is rude not to return a wei to someone. I found that whilst some of my research before I left helped, keeping an open mind helped more. Some of the warnings I got from people actually possibly restricted some of the things I did through being too cautious.

My advice is to just use it sparingly and not all the time, I found sometimes acknowledging with a nod, a smile and a good morning I received the same in return.

Now; sawadee… Not always as simple as that. Some would say sawadee ka and then others sawadee khrup. Before I left to go to Thailand my understanding was that if saying hello to a woman it was sawadee ka and to a man, sawadee khrup.

When I got there though, a lot of the people were saying sawadee ka to me. Now either they assumed my sexuality and were having their own little joke hehehe or I had read the wrong websites. Rather than get it wrong, I stuck to just sawadee. This was a polite way of saying hello although it is said to be the informal way.

After more research at home I have discovered what I assumed after a few days in Thailand is that when a woman says hello to someone she is not familiar with or who she may not know well it is said as “sawadee ka” and a man for the same reason will use “sawadee krup”

Once a person gets to know you or feels comfortable with you they may start to use the informal hello which is just sawadee.

Now I was told and also read that you should not point in Thailand as it is very rude to point to a Thai person, even with your feet. I don’t recall ever seeing anyone pointing in Thailand so this advice seems to have merit, use open handed gestures instead. Also in the temples there is signage that confirms not to point your feet at Buddha or point to Buddha.

Also from google images, he reminds me of my nephew :)

And another piece of advice was not to pat people on the head. Thai people see the head as the highest part of their being and would not see the gesture as polite at all. The feet being the lowest part of the body should never be anywhere where the head rests.

Now; some of you may be thinking “what a boring post” You won’t think that if you ever get to Thailand.

I will be writing more about what I got up to in Thailand in other posts. They will be more like the last one below... chat soon