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It happens every once in a while that, listing to a song I’ve heard a hundred times, I’ll suddenly be struck by it profundity. Cake’s Tougher Than It Is, for example. The chorus (some people like to make life / a little tougher than it is / some people like to make / liiife / a little tougher than it is…) has long been embedded somewhere deep in my subconscious– a jumbled mess, no doubt, with every other chorus I’ve heard over the last ten years or so– but suddenly, on its 101st repetition, Cake’s deft gifting for tangible and well adapted imagery brought the staggering message of the song home. Check out these lyrics:

the more you try to shake the cat
the more the thing will bite and scratch
it’s best, i think to leave its fur
and listen to its silky purr

Ha! Outstanding. It’s so clear, really. And Cake is certainly a band that doesn’t shake the cat, so to speak. They take life, as they find it (with stick shifts, safety belts, race-car ya yas, short skirts and the like) and the sing about it. There’s nothing contrived about it, no underlying political or moral message, but rather just a simply reflection of life’s silky purr. I think we all could learn a little about life from Cake.

Um. Yeah.

*ahem*

No, I am not procrastinating again. I most definitely found myself inspired by those lyrics. I mean, who wouldn’t be? And being so inspired, I was instantly overcome by the desire to share my inspiration. Of course, sharing my inspiration means putting aside those pressing school matters, but sometimes, oh reader, sacrifices must be made!

In fact, I may be in a bit of trouble: by the standards of those Bovard-esque super-over-achieving students who can study for six finals and still manage to get in a game of Warcraft III, all in the same night, well… what I’m up against is nothing. But you have to keep in mind that I’m completely out of shape, academically. In fact, to speaking metaphorically, I haven’t had to run in months, so this upcoming metaphorical 10K (god! could he BE! any more heavy handed??!) is looking more like a marathon, and all I seem to remember about academic endurance is how to stretch out and warm up– posting on the blog, checking all my favorite websites and, say, is that my guitar over there?.

Yup. I’m in trouble. And my head hurts. And, damnit, I’m addicted to Chrono Trigger again, too. In fact, I beat it twice yesterday. And once the day before that. In an unrelated note, my American History class has been especially enjoyable as of late. My notes, though, seem only to consist of an incomprehensible string of A’s, B’s, X’s and Y’s. I can’t quite make out what it says… something about McCarthyism, or Lavos, or Vietnam…

Edit:
I’ve uploaded some pictures of my apartment (in order to try to guilt trip the rest of you into sending me those pictures you promised, of course =P )
http://www.eateggs.com/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.ShowItem&g2_itemId=1121

This might be the first time this semester that I’ve posted here simply because, well, if I wasn’t posting, I wouldn’t have a good excuse to not to do homework. Needless to say, this post has been long over-due. =)

So, well, here ya go: I have my Thai For Non-Native speakers final tomorrow afternoon. And as much as I know I should, I’m having a really, really hard time forcing myself to sit down and wade through god-only-knows how many pages of words that are theoretically different but all sound the same. Frankly, I’ll be glad to have the class over with– although this is going to be the mother of all finals: a written exam tomorrow, a presentation on Friday, and a half-hour oral exam next week… The language is interesting, of course, especially from a novelty point of view (heh– ask me to write your name in Thai when I get back. You can even choose if your name will be high tone, falling, mid, rising or low), but from a practical point of view, um. Yeah. The longest possible word is four letters, meaning that most words are actually a train-wreck of lesser words, the result of which is that some Thai words are the length of English sentences. And, of course, there’s the problem of every word sounding the same– there’s very little variety available, and in some cases the same word, maa, for example, can have five different meanings, depending on its tone.

By all this, I mean to say (in my new, exhibitionist aim of being more open and honest) that I don’t really like the language. As a novelty, fine. As a cryptic script that I can write secret notes to myself in, fine. As a language that Egan-Wright can’t speak? Awesome. At least I hope she can’t speak it. But is it worth learning a language for the sole purpose of being able to speak the one language that your High School French teacher couldn’t speak? Um… no. And is there really any other motivation (other than to ward against cultural snobbery) for me to learn Thai? Um… no. Not really. I can say that learning Thai has given me a new appreciation for certain elements of the Romantic and Germanic languages, such as spaces between words and cApiTAlization. These concepts have yet to be introduced to Thai– the latter of which is largely superfluous, but the former… Hmm. You want to know my theory? My theory is that Latin is a dead language because they didn’t delineate their words with that amazing little bit of empty space between every complete word. People got tired of trying to read the trainwrecksentences (anonying,isn’tit?) and retained their own languages instead. Simple as that. Probably an over simplification, but I don’t exaggerate to say that I would be significantly more inclined to learn Thai if the individual words were separated out.

And, well, it’s a language suited for the East. I don’t mean to be belittling, but it has evolved as a language for a primarily agrarian people, living under a monarch, under the strong influence of Buddhism. The agrarian origin, to me, seems obvious in the overwhelming simplicity of the language. You do not conjugate your verbs. There are no articles. The adjective form of a word is the same as the noun form, or the verb form. Etc. There are specific language structures and words for referring to the royalty, and specific words for referring to monks. There’s nothing elegant about it, but it’s astoundingly functional. I have a startlingly limited vocabulary, and yet it’s sufficient to get me around, from day to day, place to place, without every speaking a word of English. (Heh– but is it sufficient for tomorrow’s exam? That remains to be seen!).

But in terms of applicability of the language? Meh. I doubt I’ll ever be back in Thailand. And if I do come back, I’m sure English will be even more prevalent by the time of my return, and even in 2005 speaking English is sufficient to stay comfortably here. I don’t even have the motivation of the possible thought of impressing all my friends by going out to the local Thai restaurant and ordering in Thai– there certainly isn’t a Thai restaurant in Bozeman or Cheyenne, and even if I were able to find one in Denver, what are the odds that the waiter/waitress would be able to speak Thai?

And so that’s it. I know enough Thai to get from place to place and order some mighty tasty meals. And, frankly, that’s all I feel I need to know. Motivation, the last few weeks, has been a problem.

Yes, and I did say that I’m not likely to be back (anytime soon, at least). The experience, thus far, has been invaluable, but not one I anticipate, ten years from now, wanting to relive. There’s a whole lot of places in the world, and even more walks of life. I’ve seen one, here in Thailand. That’s one down: how many more to go?

Oddly enough, I’ve found myself with a sudden and staggering desire to improve my French. Perhaps this owes itself to the dissolution of whatever aversion I had for the language. We’ll see how things go: I intend to teach myself a bit of French this spring, and hopefully enroll in the next level of French this fall. And probably Spanish as well– although, if I ever want to graduate, I probably need to keep my number of minors to a relatively small number. Of course, it’s not a foregone conclusion that I really want to graduate.

Well, this has gone on long enough, for one night. Until–

After months of training, my roommate Josh ran the Bangkok marathon this morning. He ran very well (especially considering that this is his first marathon), coming just a second shy of his school record at 2 hours, 37 minutes 42 seconds.

There are pictures here:
http://www.eateggs.com/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.ShowItem&g2_itemId=1052

On a more random note, I came across another Bangkok blog with a post on the gruesome pictures included on every Thai cigarette package. Here’s the link:
http://www.mangosauce.com/archives/000409.html

Here’s a random, vacuous post for ya:

I was arrested (heh) by a most interesting sensation today. Stealing wireless internet outside the Dome building on campus today, I had been sitting in a lotus-esque position with my laptop well beyond the point of my legs losing all circulation and going to sleep. When my internet was rudely cut off, I threw my laptop in my bag, got up, and took about two steps before the full reality of technically-dead legs set in. Suddenly, I was completely unable to move my legs. I wasn’t in any danger of falling over, but I felt rather statue-esque, as though my legs and the ground were carved from the same piece of marble, and were in fact quite joined together.

Standing, stupidly, at the top of a set of stairs, I found myself thinking this is silly! It’s just a mental sensation; I can walk just fine. So I tried to take a step. And nearly toppled over. The legs definitely were more attached to the ground below than the brain above.

And so I stood, for perhaps a few minutes, feeling completely stupid, an enduring that amazing tingling sensation that always comes with the flood of fresh blood to temporarily dead body parts. Eventually, I was able to control my legs again, and walked off, but not before noting what a queer occurrence it had been.

Today has been completely non-productive, but ultimately rather enjoyable just the same. I remember vaguely thinking something to the effect of “I’d better fall asleep quick, or the sun’ll be up before I’m asleep” around 5:40 this morning… or some time around then. I found myself on the roof of my apartment at 5:00 this morning, a combined effort of too much caffeine, startlingly cool weather, and the undying appeal of my guitar. I can’t describe how pleasant it was: there was a breeze blowing, which was so cool that I almost felt slightly chilled, in my t-shirt and shorts: a wholly welcomed sensation indeed!

(A kid wearing a shirt emblazoned with a large swastika just walked out of the ‘net cafe I’m in. It’s certainly not the first time that I’ve seen that type of shirt around Bangkok… I don’t understand)

I woke up around 11:30, and basically spent my day reading, interspersed with two trips down the street to the nearest restaurant, and one hour-long trip to the park for some quality time on my slackline.

And that’s been pretty much it. Goodness, I’m such a hermit.