The deadly box jellyfish...

Look at this thing.

Glowing, undulating, pulsating with unearthly beauty...floating aimlessly along with only the bare essentials of a nervous system. It's the world's most deadly jelly fish, and each one packs enough venom to kill 60 adults.

Tentacles up to 3 meters long, and just brushing one is enough to automatically release the microscopic darts, flooding your system with poison.

Excruciating pain follows shortly thereafter and if the strike is bad, your expected lifespan is somewhere around oh...3 or 4 minutes.

This creature is from Northern Australia.  It packs a neurotoxin that targets the skin, heart and nervous system simultaneously.

Initial treatment for a victim is to get vinegar onto the wound, and then you'll need to begin CPR.

The nasty thing about trying to help someone who's been stung is that the stingers continue to be active until naturally broken down, so if you so much as touch the wounded area, whilst trying to save your victim, you get stung as well...then you'll be needing CPR too..

"Eh Jeeem?  What's your point in posting this crap?" you ask...

Easily enough answered...as Jeeem's Quiet Musings usually has a definite purpose to its postings...

My point?  NEVER, EVER, VISIT AUSTRALIA!

Hey, it's a tiny little squat continent anyway...nothing much missed as well over half the goddamn place is desert anyway...horrid desert.  Plus the people talk funny anyway.

But, the solid fact is that Australia is home to the largest percentage of the most lethal, putridity poisonous animals and insects in the world.  The box jellyfish is just a small sample.  Whether on land or in the sea, you had better watch your goddamn ass!

Then there is the microscopic terrors most Australian visitors never encounter...but those who do or who have, will tell you...

They'd rather have died by the savage bite of a great white shark, the lethal sting of a box jellyfish, or stepping on the deadly blue-ringed octopus, which delivers a neurotoxin so powerful...so lethal...as to totally paralyze a victim in less than four minutes. 

“The symptoms overwhelm you. On a pain scale of 1 to 10,
it rated between 15 and 20...”
- Irukandji victim

It is likely that the pain from an Irukandji sting ranks among the most intense and excruciating agonies possible to experience - skirting the actual limits of maximum pain. With the soaring blood pressure, profuse sweating and frantic cramps, some bodies simply buckle under the pressure of the unrelenting torment, with brain hemorrhages and heart attacks having been documented as a result. Victims report wanting to rip their own skin off, begging doctors to be killed just to be put out of their misery. A female victim elaborates, "It's like when you're in labor, having a baby, and you've reached the peak of a contraction—that absolute peak—and you feel like you just can't do it anymore. That's the minimum that [Irukandji] pain is at, and it just builds from there."

"I don't think anything can prepare you for it. It comes in these sorts of crazy waves of pain, which increase in intensity
until you get to the point where you just can’t handle it..."
- Irukandji victim

Dr Peter Fenner is Australia's leading expert on the grouping of symptoms that later came to be known as Irukandji syndrome. What he tells of the course of the symptoms shows that the Irukandji has further tricks up its sleeve than the mere pain: "You get cramping in the muscles of the legs, moving up into the abdomen, into the chest, into the arms," says Dr Fenner. "It's the really severe cramping pains that people become totally distraught by.

It comes in waves, rather like labor pain, getting stronger and stronger. You need vast doses of morphine or opiate drugs to control the pain. Victims get a really severe headache and begin vomiting. They feel absolutely dreadful.  A feeling of impending doom is how they describe it".

Disturbingly, Irukandji venom seems to affect the mind as well. Victims report a sense of being certain that the pain will kill them, that death is inevitable.

Compounding the overwhelming stress of the experience, no antivenom exists, and in most cases not even the strongest painkillers can take the edge off the torturous suffering.

Because Irukandji syndrome, though temporary and rarely lasting longer than a "few days" (a lifetime to those who are experiencing the pain), has such a varied and unpredictable progression, complete sedation is extremely risky, leaving no other course for victims than be left alone to face the onslaught head-on, writhing in torment at the limits of pain.

So....you want to visit Australia....

Ahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!

And I didn't even get to the ultra deadly snakes and spiders, which inhabit that sordid continent.

-Jeeem-

Check out the video below for the ultimate in WTF?

Now if any of you readers out there actually understand that video, please...by-all-means, send me an e-mail and explain it to me.

-Jeeem- 

WARNING!

If you are an animal lover like I am, you will surely cry over this video...but then hey, that's a natural thing, right?

I'm fifty-five years old and have lived long enough to see so many human atrocities...cruelty to others and to animals.  Makes you wonder what is going on with people that they lose their sense of caring. 

Then you see something like this and...at least for me...it sort of restores your faith in altruism.

-Jeeem-

Leonard James Anderson

Born 25th July 1955

On this day…

•  I was born on a Monday.
•  My star sign is Leo.
•  My birthstone is Ruby.
•  The season when I was born was summer.
•  I was born in the Chinese year of the Sheep.
•  The US President was Dwight D. Eisenhower (Republican).
•  The UK Prime Minister was Sir Anthony Eden (Conservative).
•  Monday's child is fair of face.
•  I am 55 years 5 months 6 days old.
•  It is 206 days until my next birthday.
•  In dog years I am 385 years old.
•  I am currently 20,248 days old.
•  I am approximately 485,953 hours old at this moment.
•  I am approximately 1,749,431,731 seconds old at this moment
•  In 1941, the U.S. government froze all Japanese and Chinese assets.
• 1998 - U.S. President Clinton was subpoenaed to appear before a federal grand jury regarding the Monica Lewinsky case. The subpoena was withdrawn when Clinton agreed to give videotaped testimony with his lawyers present.
• 1990 - Rosanne Barr sang the National Anthem in San Diego before a Padres baseball game. She was booed for her performance.
• A lot of people were also born, some of who became famous, and then there is “Dave” a guy from Danvers, Massachusetts who I met in drug rehab.

I couldn't put it off any longer...

My passport was due to expire on January 10th of next year, so I had to renew it.  Living here in Asia, the rules are different.  Why?  I have no idea.  If I was still in the U.S., all I would have had to do would be to send my passport to some government agency located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  But, since I live abroad, I have to show up at the U.S. Embassy here so they can see me in person.  Doesn't quite make sense, but then it's a government thing, and most government things don't make sense.

Not only does it not make sense, it's expensive.  I had to travel to Bangkok, where the U.S. Embassy is located, check into a hotel, take multiple taxi's, and of course eat.  An expensive endeavor I was not prepared for due to my present financial situation.  I have been behind in my finances for some time now due to quitting the job at Sathit Rajabhat Songkhla School and consequently spending months only working piece jobs.  I'm catching up now, but there for a while I was...as my British friend Rich calls it....SKINT.

I booked a van in Hat Yai, traveling to Bangkok, since I figured if I took a bus I'd end up at Morchit Bus Station and then have to take a taxi to my hotel...an expense I wanted to avoid, as the money was going to be very tight.  But as it turned out, the van selection was a stupid idea.  I knew from past experiences (taking a van to Krabi for my holiday on Koh Phi Phi island and my many trips to Georgetown, Penang) that the van drivers are psychotically insane and drive like they are on a vehicular manslaughter / suicide mission, not to mention the uncomfortable seats.  But, I did it anyway...just to save the money for a taxi.  I was assured by the lady at the agency I'd be taken right to the front door of my hotel.

I should have known...

Christ, I've lived here for six years now.  You'd think I'd have learned that nobody who is Thai and runs a business tells the truth.  They say what a foreigner wants to hear...like, "Of course the van will be on time."  and "Yes, the van will take you directly to your hotel."

I paid my fee of 700 baht and was told to arrive promptly at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday the 14th of December.  First off, you have to understand that the word promptly does not exist in Thai language or dialects.  I arrived at 8:20 a.m. because that's what I do.  I've been early my whole damn life.  I'm almost never late.  But, that's a Western concept that only Westerner's understand.  So, I arrived and waited...and waited and waited.  Finally at 9:05 a.m. the van driver arrived and I loaded up.  I was the only passenger at that agency and I knew we'd be traveling around to other agencies and locales to pick up other passengers before finally leaving.

What the hell is wrong with women?

Women...especially Asian women, can waste more damn time.  Practically every woman the van driver picked up had to fiddle-fart around, complaining about this and that, giving the van driver her bags then telling him, "No wait!  I need something-or-another..." then getting the bag, dumping the contents out on the sidewalk for all to see, and picking up some small compact so they can smear some powder on their damn faces..."Wait!  I've got to go to the bathroom!"  "Wait!  I just need to pick up something at the store first."

Jesus freaking christ.

But, the first real insult came at our fourth stop.  The van driver stopped at a tour agency-cum-hotel booking agency-cum-newsstand-cum-restaurant.  Four people boarded and the driver got out and went into the restaurant.  He ate his breakfast (slowly) and ended up staying there for an ungodly forty-eight minutes, picking his teeth and flirting with the waitress.  Finally we left.  It was pushing 10:52 a.m.

The van turned onto route 4 south, heading for the route 4/41 intersection but stopped short and pulled over on the side of the road.  I scanned the inside of the van and noticed one empty seat.  Vans always pack the people inside...a van will hold approximately 15 people with their fold-down seats...we were already at fourteen.  So, I figured we were waiting for another passenger and I was right.  Only problem...he was Thai and he was very, very late.

We finally got onto route 4/41 heading north to Bangkok at 11:23 a.m.

Then what I feared the most happened.  The driver began trying to make up for lost time and began driving like a maniac.  I've been living in in Asia now for almost eight years and I've survived a bus accident in Guangzhou, China, two horrendous motorcycle accidents in Xintang, China (where in both cases I walked away with a Chinese burn tattoo from the muffler), and many other hair-raising instances....but I was still afraid for my life as this asshole took sharp turns at lightning speed and I could feel the van wanting to go airborne.

We stopped a grand total of four times along the way for bathroom and snack breaks.  Every single time we had to wait for the women.  Even the van driver, who was Thai, was pissed off.

Finally we arrived in Bangkok...and drove, and drove, and drove.  Typically traffic was terrible in Bangkok even at that hour, which was now pushing 10:50 p.m.  Suddenly I began recognizing my surroundings a bit and as I feared, we were approaching Morchit Bus Station.  I held my breath, hoping the driver was just going to drop someone off, but no luck...everybody out.  I asked why in my terrible Thai and what I could understand was he was so late, he wanted to drop everybody at Morchit since everybody was going in too many different locations.  I plead with him to drop me near Lumpini park where my hotel was near, but no go.  He dropped everybody's bags on the tarmac and sped off.

I was on the side of the road in front of Morchit station for some fifteen or twenty minutes trying to get a metered taxi to my hotel.  Nobody wanted to drive to Lumpini area...for whatever reason.  Probably they only wanted shorter fares in order to make more money.  You see, Bangkok taxi's begin their meter at 35 baht at a dead-standstill.

Finally, an aging Thai man approached me.  "Bainai?  Where you go?"

"I'm going here (handing him the hotel's business card that was printed in both English and Thai)...near Lumpini Park and the Boxing station." (miming a Muay Thai boxer).

"Ahhhh!  Okay, let's go."

Taxi's will ask you, "Highway or no highway?"  It's a crap shoot too, unless you're a local and know the exact distance, since the highway will cost you 45 baht to get on and god only knows if you save money or not by not taking the highway.  Anyway, if you're not a local and know the area well, you're at the mercy of the taxi driver who can damn well drive in circles for awhile running up your tab, before finally arriving at your destination.

"Highway or no?"

"Highway I guess..."

"You speak Thai?"

"Pom poot Thai neet noi."

"Oh!  You speak little Thai huh?  You teacher?"

"Yes." (Christ...almost every goddamn foreigner who lives in Thailand is a freaking teacher)

"Ban unai?"

"I live near Hat Yai."

"Oh!  Hat Yai!  I have brother-in-law in Hat Yai" (this is either fact or fiction...but, Thai's are a prolific bunch, so it is entirely possible)

"Where you live in Hat Yai.  I know Hat Yai good."

"I said.  I live near Hat Yai, not in Hat Yai."

"Oh.  Songkhla?"

"No.  A small village called Ban Klong Tong Nûea, near Thung Lung."

"Ah!  Thung Song!"

"No, no!  Not Thung Song!  Thung Song is near Phattalung!  Thung Lung is near Sadao and Pedang Bezar."

"Oh!"  (I realize I've totally confused him now.  Hat Yai is the major city in the south, as is the second major city of Songkhla...but nobody knows of the smaller villages and towns south of Hat Yai."

So, we rode in silence as the meter ticked off money....

Finally we arrived in the area and I began getting my bearings...memories rushing back to me from back in 2003, the last time I stayed at the Malaysia Hotel.  I paid my fare of 101 baht, grabbed my bags and said thank you in Thai.  No tip.  You don't know Thung Lung....you don't get a tip.  Ha!

I had to pay a late fee at the freaking hotel since I was supposed to check in by 9:00 p.m.  They told me they had already given my room to someone else so I'd have to stay in a bigger room with two beds and no T.V.  I didn't care about the T.V. since it was pushing 11:35 p.m. and I was exhausted from sitting in a goddamn maniac van for better than twelve hair-raising hours.  But, I started thinking to myself..."I'll bet this is all just a scam to get more money from me, as I'll bet since this is off-season, they didn't give my room out...they have plenty of rooms."  While looking at the key-board, which was full of room keys.

Next morning was better.  I awoke refreshed and ready to tackle the Embassy.  Played hell getting a damn taxi though...as most had passengers, but finally I caught one and we sped off.  The U.S. Embassy is only about a kilometer from the hotel, so it wasn't much money.  About 58 baht or thereabouts.  There was already a line outside.  I got in line and began surveying the property.

Security naturally was pretty tight.  There's an observation room on the right that's glassed-in, with security personnel looking out at everybody who approaches...as well as obvious and not-so-obvious CCTV cameras.  A mean-and-nasty looking Thai guy was behind the entrance door giving everybody the scrutinizing eye, with a definite large bulge under his suit jacket, which probably wasn't a copy of the Bangkok Post Newspaper.

When I finally approached the front of the line, I showed the woman my appointment slip and my U.S. passport and was immediately allowed to go forward.  I went through the door, passing Mr. jacket bulge, and went to a security counter where I had to give up the contents of my pockets, all electronic equipment (mobile phone and camera) etc.  Then I was given a key to my personal effects and allowed to exit through yet another door.  I followed the signs and eventually arrived at the area where you renew passports.  Everybody was nice, and I really felt comfortable.  Very helpful and overall a very nice experience. 

Once I finished and had paid my fee, I was given back my old passport and told my new passport would be sent to me within two weeks.  Then I was out of there...a grand total of about thirty minutes or so...not long at all. 

I hopped a taxi and went to Morchit Station (another 140 baht) where I booked a VIP bus home to Hat Yai.  The bus didn't leave until 5:30 p.m., so that kind of sucked, having to stay in that station for that long.  But, once I boarded the bus, I immediately knew it was going to be a nice experience and it was.  I gave my ticket to a man who in turn gave me a bottled water, boxed snack, and a blanket.  Then, as we were heading out of the city, they started a movie...albeit in Thai with no English subtitles, but nice all the same. 

The trip was very, very smooth and the bus wasn't full, so practically everyone had two seats to themselves.  The only annoying part was some asshole behind me who couldn't seem to eat with his damn mouth closed...smacking away and making these annoying little satisfied smacking, licking noises.  I wanted to turn around and belt him right in his kisser, but eventually I just fell asleep. 

We stopped only twice that I can remember.  I got out at one stop and walked around like a zombie, still punchy from hard sleep and picked up a couple barbecued pork sticks from a beautiful Thai woman...it was all like it was a dream.  Then inside the bus I ate my pork and once we were off, I realized I had to go to the restroom but had forgotten.  So, I attempted the bus bathroom. 

They should enter "Going to the Bathroom in a Bus while it's moving..." as an Olympic event. 

Finally and surprisingly quick, we arrived in Hat Yai and were turning into the bus station.  Of course I slept the better part of the twelve-plus hours I was on the road, so it didn't seem like long.  I went to the bathroom at the station, hounded by annoying taxi touts, then exited the south gate of the station and headed across the street for a Muslim restaurant I noticed, with a scarf laden woman tossing roti dough in the air.  Had a couple coffee's and two dishes of roti with curry sauce, and I was good to go.  Then I returned home to Ban Klong Tong Nûea via motorcycle taxi once I reached Thung Lung.  

I don't plan on heading back to Bangkok any time soon, but I have got it in my mind to head to Chiang Mai or Chiang Rai up north during vacation and I definitely plan to go by VIP bus!

-Jeeem-

Hi everybody,

As of today I've decided to place this blog back into the public mainstream. 

After today it will not be private anymore unless I end up with problems again from the moronic foreigners here in Southeast Asia who find it necessary to stalk this site, for whatever reason, and leave brainless, immature comments.  I've changed the settings so it will be impossible for anyone who is not a member of this blog to post comments.

Onto bigger and better things...

A lot has happened in the last month or so, since my last posting in November. 

I've dumped the idea of interviewing people since it just isn't working out, with some people taking way too long to answer my e-mails and not sufficiently following simple protocol.  I just chalk it up to another bad idea like the one I had about doing a piece on the guitar masters - Steve Vai, Eric Johnson, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Joe Satriani, Jimi Hendrix, etc., trying to find who would be considered the all-round best guitar player of all time...there were just too many variables. 

There hasn't been any more cobra snakes in the house, but there have been two other occasions of snakes of unknown species coming into my abode.  It's the monsoon season here and the animals all seek refuge inside my cottage since it's only a tad drier in here than outside...ha!

The funniest thing happened the other night.  I was upstairs watching a movie and suddenly noticed the dogs were not with me.  Even Boo Boo, my cat was nowhere to be seen.  The animals never leave my side when I'm home...if I go upstairs, they follow.  If I decide to go downstairs to the bathroom, when I leave the bathroom, there they all are...sitting in the middle of the floor waiting for me.  So, I turned the volume down and listened.  I heard some muffled noises downstairs and figured they were up to no good.

When I got downstairs, there they all were huddled around something, staring at the floor.  Seriously!  Two dogs on either side of the cat, all looking down at the floor.  Odd, but then I figured they had found an interesting bug, so I went closer to investigate.  What I saw even surprised me.

A snail...but not just any snail.  A snail with a shell on it's back the size of my whole hand!

Now...I see snails all the time, but they are all the little ones, about the diameter of a U.S. quarter.  Then I see the big slugs with no shell, the biggest ones going maybe four to five inches in length and maybe an inch in width. 

This thing was huge! 

I don't think the dogs or the cat even noticed I was there.  They were mesmerized. 

I sat down on the floor and watched as first, Chok reached out and tapped at the snail with her paw.  Immediately the snail retracted into it's shell and the shell rolled off to one side. 

They all just sat there watching it.

Then, slowly it started coming out of it's shell again and in short order was mobile.  Then it was the cat's turn.  Boo Boo reached out and gave it a light tap. 

Slurp!  Back in it's shell. 

A minute or so and it began coming out again.  Then it was Puppy's turn. 

Tap!

Gone. 

This went on for seemingly fifteen or twenty minutes.  I was laughing until my sides hurt.  Here were all three of my animals gathered around something they'd obviously never seen before, with the wonder of a small child on all their faces.  It couldn't have been funnier or sweeter. 

Sometimes it's the simple things in life that really make your day.

-Jeeem-

Sorry about the "blowing" sound on the video...rather irritating.  It's the fan I had going on the kitchen table.  

As I write this post, this very minute, my house and the jungle surrounding it is inundated in flood waters.  I arose this morning to an e-mail from work saying school was canceled today due to the rains as it's been raining steadily for the past two days really and hasn't let up much.  I managed to get everything upstairs, and here I stay while looking out my window at the expanse of water...sorta like being in a boat.  

This is the second year this cottage has flooded.  The villagers told Mam when she was living here that they'd never seen it flood this high up the road until last year.  But, I figured it was coming since this has been a very wet monsoon season.  

I'm probably crazy for taking the little kitty in, but like I mention on the video...I'm a sucker for animals.  I knew the minute the little kitten approached my motorcycle, I'd be taking it home with me.  Trouble is my dog Puppy.  He's insanely jealous and it's going to take some careful management before he takes to the little girl.  

Work is going pretty good.  Songsaeng School is quite literally right down the road from me, taking me all of a whopping five minutes to get to school in the morning.  The kids are older, which is a switch for me, but they all seem pretty nice and respectful for the most part.  I really hope this job becomes a permanent one.  

Well, not much else to say except I'm planning on just riding out the storm and once everything recedes, jumping on the cleanup as quickly as possible.  I'm lucky so far, as nobody's cut the power yet...sending me into boredville.  

-Jeeem- 

I would have posted this sooner but Blogger.com wouldn't seem to upload an .avi video, so I had to search around for a free video converter and changed the thing to .wma, which worked.

Excuse my weird actions and screaming paranoia, but it's not every day I find myself within feet of a potentially lethal snake.  It's not the first time I've seen cobra's around here, as I've seen at least five or six of them, mostly babies.  Seems this one's a teenager.

Before I could grab the camera, I threw my black boxer shorts down at the thing to try and rouse it from underneath the first step, as I didn't want it disappearing again, and sure enough it reared up and expanded it's hood...but, it also hissed and sent a steady stream of venom splashing against the steps and concrete wall.  If you look carefully at the wall to the right in the video, you can see the stain.

I'd gone downstairs earlier and heard a noise while washing the dishes and thought it was Chok, my little female dog, rummaging through the trash again.  I turned around and saw she wasn't there, then I saw the tail end of the snake going behind my little makeshift bookcase on the floor where I store my English lesson plans and school materials.  Black scales with some vague yellow markings.  I wasn't sure if it was a cobra or not, so tried scaring it out using an old mop handle but it wouldn't come out.  I wasn't about to go moving things on the condition it might be a cobra, so I just left it be and figured it would work it's way back outside again...eventually....hopefully.

The dogs scare the piss out of me since they appear to just mindlessly go after other animals and insects that have poisonous potential.  You'd think they would have some sort of instinct about stuff like that.  Puppy has been bitten by a centipede and was terribly miserable for at least three days.  They say around here that many dogs succumb to cobra bites and are found dead.  I certainly don't want it to happen to my pups!

Hope you enjoyed the video!
-Jeeem-

It's been a while since I let anyone know what's really been happening with me, so I'll attempt to be brief...

I left Patong Wittaya Mulnithi School in Thung Lung because I got sick of the corruption, lies, laziness, empty promises and back stabbing.  Pitiful situation for a school supposedly engaged in the education process.  Patong School, I kid you not, is run by a criminal.  A man who carries a gun, is driven around town in a big, black Ford truck with mirrored glass, replete with at least five armed body guards who do nothing to hide the fact they are packing weapons.

His brother, a corrupt local politician, was killed gangland style behind the Thung Lung market some four years ago.  He was found dead in the street with a single bullet hole in the back of the head.  So, the corrupt manager of Patong School is not educated, knows nothing about the educational process, yet he pulls strings at the school and effects day-to-day operations, like coming up with the bright idea to dump 100 plus kids on me, on a Monday afternoon, from ages 6 to 8, for a two hour class he called English Club. 

There's more, but that isn't my focus here.

In the last few months Mam was living with me, she was worried.  She spoke out one day saying, "You should learn to not talk.  To let things be.  You lost your job because of the things you say."  I begged to differ.  I said, "You...you Thai's never stand up for yourselves.  Even when something is happening that you know is wrong...corrupt.  You just sit still and let it happen.  That is why Thailand is as it is now."

And so she left.  Mainly because the money coming in from me was insufficient.  She always wanted more, more, more...but was unwilling to work for it.  Rather ironically, after she left, within days, my prospects began paying off.  Suddenly there were jobs coming at me from all angles, but that didn't last. 

To avoid getting into a long, drawn out story, I will suffice it to say I fell into a whirlpool of piece jobs.  One would run out and another would appear.  But it wasn't enough to really live on.  Currently I'm over two months behind in rent and have two unpaid bills, electric and phone, both of which I haven't been able to pay for two months now. 

I was relying on an agency in Hat Yai called C-Bright to call offering me private adult classes, and the Open Learning Center in Songkhla to come up with much the same.  The same corruption and underhanded dealings is present in both agencies, only now I am able to just turn my head and look away.  I'm only concerned with money at this point.  Here in Thailand it seems, if you make ethics and morals your priority, you will not have work. 

But presently I just signed on for a 30-hour private conversation class at C-Bright on Sundays, which will bring in a little better than 1000 baht for the three hours I will teach on a Sunday afternoon and will be starting a full-time teaching position at Songsaeng school in Ban Klong Ngae, which is only about ten kilometers or so south of me.  Close enough I can ride my motorcycle there. 

So things are looking up a bit, but things have been so bad for so long, things have begun to fall apart here.  My television works, but the sound is gone...not a biggy.  The printer for my computer pooped out long ago.  I have three blankets for my bed, all which need to be retired since my little girl Chok tends to chew holes in them.  My sandals are broken...both pairs.  The rice cooker broke long ago.  My refrigerator is on it's last leg.  And so on and so forth....it's going to be awhile before I get things back in working order again.  But one thing is for sure, it's going to be easier without Mam here to leech off of me. 

I came damn close to bailing out, but I've never been a quitter, so I hung on.  I've got a lot of prospects in other Asian countries, but my dogs keep me here.  I've always been an animal lover, and more than anything negative that Mam did to me, I mostly don't understand how she could just walk away from the dogs.  Chok was her favorite, she rescued Chok from sure death on the main highway near out home.  While Chok loved me, she'd go nuts when Mam would come home.  Now, months later, she's daddy's little girl and I can't go far without her popping up by my side. 

So, that's it.  I do have another love interest in my life, Jenilo Cabasag, a woman I met years ago in the Philippines.  We've been corresponding a lot lately and she wants me to come visit.  She's originally from Bohol but has been living in Metro Manila now for the past two years going to college.  As soon as my finances clear up, that's where I'll be headed. 

-Jeeem-