Slacker
I am accused of being remiss in my postings...okay, fair enough. I had thought that maybe by doing this online I'd be more up to date than any written journal I have (said journal gets updated only a few times a year). Clearly not. Well, in all fairness to myself, when I'm on the beach I really don't want to spend too much time on the 'Net. Most of the time when I'm there I only even check email once every week or two. I did check a little more often in late Dec./early Jan. '05, only cause I needed to respond to all the "Are you okay?" emails the tsunami spawned. Which was nice, to know that people were concerned. And then I did check most every day in Feb./March, but then only because I wanted to see if I was getting email from a woman I like. But as far as updating this blog goes...well, wasn't a top priority.
So now that I'm back in NY, may as well add a few things. Very random, but here goes.

Beach life
Once again had a fantastic time on the beach in Thailand. The closing party for Thong Ta Pong Bungalows meant that a LOT of old friends came back to the beach, I got to see people I'd not seen in 3-4 years, plus meet lots of new cool people as well. The closing party in March, a big 2 day mini-Full Moon Party, was not exactly what a lot of regulars were expecting, but for what it was, it was pretty good fun. Even though I'm not a huge techno guy, there was some decent music, and it was great to see so many people I know dancing it up with big smiles all over. We did manage to have a smaller farewell party a few days later, more in line with what we all wanted: drinks, food, music and dancing, about 50 people, private little shindig that was great.

NY Life
Leaving the beach is always a little strange. I did stop in Bangkok for a couple days for some shopping (souvenirs) and a checkup (healthy, just thought I may as well), which I think does help adjust to NY. But not entirely. Much as I like NY, and certainly there are worse places to spend half the year, I hate leaving the beach. The only thing I was looking forward to about returning was my out-of-town guest (Pia) visiting for a few days, shortly after I returned. And that visit was great. But after that it's back to same same but different, NY style. Just started working again last week, same job as last year, the new girl I trained got pregnant so I'm filling in for her maternity leave, timing-wise it all worked out well. I'm still waiting for the weather to warm up a bit, my blood is thin after the tropics. And I'm getting lots of tsunami questions from everyone I see here, may have to start charging beers in exchange for stories. (Did have a few sleepless nights a couple weeks back, seeing more footage on documentaries about the tsunami...again realize how damn lucky we all were to be on the east coast and not the west)

The Media, and Politics...same same no different
Jeez, talk about lame. There were only 2 big stories in the media the last month: Terri Schiavo right-to-die thing, and Pope dying/new Pope elected. Such non-stories though! Terri Schiavo: woman's been in a coma for 15 years, living off a feeding tube, and the GOVERNMENT wants to keep her alive? Hey, what about the people who are actually LIVING, and could use some federal assistance on health-care issues (um, can we say stem-cell research, legal abortion)? And the Pope: um, I feel bad the guy died and all, but what's big news about a sick old man dying? And the new guy ain't much different policy-wise...
Oh...the government...jeez what a bunch of idiots...like I said last year, I can no longer defend Americans as a whole, after re-electing this crew of zealots.

Give 'em all the finger
Wait, I did just think of one news story I found amusing. The lady who found the finger in her chili at Wendy's. Of course I didn't think it was much of a story, it seemed kinda obvious from the get-go that the most likely way it got in her chili was her putting it there. So latest reports of her getting arrested are not terribly surprising. But amusing to see how much hype it all got...or maybe the right word is sad...you'd think the media could find more important things to write about...say...the economy's in the shitter, more Americans and Iraqis dying, further erosion of Americans' personal freedoms...but I guess maybe they don't find these important?
...Oh another interesting story: all of Bush's abstinence only sex-ed programs are turning out to be woefully inadequate. Give these kids such a lack of information that when they do fully cave in to their hormones (after the oral, digital, and anal sex they rationalize as not being "sex"), the odds are higher they'll either get pregnant or the clap. And when they do get pregnant, hypocritically enough they'll all be opposed to abortion (since it's a sin, as opposed to premarital sex, which is...not?), so that's more teenage moms, more welfare kids.

oy vey, no wonder I always want to leave again as soon as I'm here.
- posted by dearsirsam @ 1:32 PM