Unutterably Silly So what are you doing RIGHT NOW?

[WT Sharpe]

Jeeze, kk — are you normally a free bleeder? Been taking blood thinners lately? What did the surgeon say?

[kindlekitten]

Just smile and nod, act pleasant and maybe it will go away.

No, nothing here, just a mantra that apparently I need to be developing for myself

Smile and nod

[cromag]

Under the circumstances, don't nod!

But best of luck with all the healing you need.

[WT Sharpe]

Yes, best of luck. That would have been a tad scary.

[kindlekitten]

Yeah, ok, smile as much as I can, still swollen, act agreeable, be pleasant and it will go away

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by kindlekitten

Yeah, ok, smile as much as I can, still swollen, act agreeable, be pleasant and it will go away

Still swollen? How long has it been? You thing something else might be going on? An infection set in perhaps?

[kindlekitten]

Thursday noon. Had a lot done so I think the selling is ok, starting to go down. However in just the last thirty minutes I started feeling really icky

[WT Sharpe]

Hope you feel better soon.

[Rumpelteazer]

I just got back from a trip to the garden centre. I stocked up on scented wax chips and bought a big bird feeder and a big bag of bird feed. Hopefully the feed in this feeder will last longer than a couple of days. It's also got four feeding holes instead of two so hopefully there will also be shorter waiting line and less fights between the birds.

[Stitchawl]

Reading this list and actually agreeing with 20 out of the 21!


Stitchawl

[WT Sharpe]

With which of the 21 did you disagree?

[Stitchawl]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

With which of the 21 did you disagree?

The second one. Back in the early '90s, I used to spend a lot of time on a tiny island in the Gulf of Thailand called Koh Tao, working part-time as a DiveMaster to pay for my diving, room and board. One small village with about 6 shops. No electricity, no phones, no cars... heck, not even any roads! Not one! Tiny island, 8 kilometers long and 3k wide. Just half a dozen bungalow colonies along the one beach on the west side, a couple of dive shops, and some local fishermen. The bungalows were all made of bamboo with thatch roofs right on the beach. Only one cement 1-room building, belonging to the headman of the village. Nothing to do there except dive, snorkel, stroll through the undeveloped jungle in the center of the island or around the hidden bays on the other side, and relax. If you get thirsty, just pick up a coconut on the ground, crack it open and take a drink. Night time was absolutely quiet except for the sound of the water lapping up on the shore. We'd build a fire on the beach, sit around playing music and talking in several different languages until it was time to sleep, then dive again the next day. It really was a tropical paradise.

If you were on the island for a couple of months at a time, you really needed somewhere to let off steam once in a while. So to co-ordinate with friends on other islands (as we didn't have phone service,) we'd all agree to go to the more central, larger island of Koh Phanghan on the night of the full moon each month for a party. All the dive shop's personnel, instructors, DiveMasters, plus all the long-time divers would look forward to the 'Full Moon Party' on Koh Phanghan as a way to see some new faces, catch up with old friends working in other dive shops, etc., etc. One night out of the month of pure hedonism. In '91, there may have been 150 people partying on the beach. But this area was (and still is) a popular Mecca for Backpack tourists, and they started coming to the party. And it grew. And grew. And grew... These days, perhaps 5,000-7,000 people, all tourists, arrive on the island just for the party. The locals from the outlying islands don't go any more.

Today, Koh Tao has three villages, two car rental agencies, two dozen (or more) bars with loud music, not one single bamboo bungalow, several large modern cement hotels with swimming pools, and the diving sucks. My last trip there was in 2004, and no desire to go back. No... I do NOT count the days until the full moon, nor do any of my Thai friends... but we used to!

P.S. If you read 'The Beach,' or saw the Leonardo DiCaprio movie by the same name, the island they were supposed to be on was in this area. In the book, they take a small motorboat for an hour's ride to Koh Phanghan. The ONLY island close enough to do that is Koh Tao. However, the movie was actually filmed on the other side of Thailand near Koh Phiphi as the Koh Phanghan area has become over-developed and crowded.


Stitchawl

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by Stitchawl

...In '91, there may have been 150 people partying on the beach. But this area was (and still is) a popular Mecca for Backpack tourists, and they started coming to the party. And it grew. And grew. And grew... These days, perhaps 5,000-7,000 people, all tourists, arrive on the island just for the party. The locals from the outlying islands don't go any more.

Today, Koh Tao has three villages, two car rental agencies, two dozen (or more) bars with loud music, not one single bamboo bungalow, several large modern cement hotels with swimming pools, and the diving sucks. My last trip there was in 2004, and no desire to go back. No... I do NOT count the days until the full moon, nor do any of my Thai friends... but we used to!

P.S. If you read 'The Beach,' or saw the Leonardo DiCaprio movie by the same name, the island they were supposed to be on was in this area. In the book, they take a small motorboat for an hour's ride to Koh Phanghan. The ONLY island close enough to do that is Koh Tao. However, the movie was actually filmed on the other side of Thailand near Koh Phiphi as the Koh Phanghan area has become over-developed and crowded.


Stitchawl

Never saw or read The Beach, but living very close to Virginia Beach, I can identity with what you say about the locals leaving the party to the tourists. It kind of reminds me of that quote attributed to Yogi Berra about the restaurant no one goes to anymore because it' stood IT'S TOO, IPAD AUTOCORRECT!!!

It kind of reminds me of that quote attributed to Yogi Berra about the restaurant no one goes to anymore because it's too crowded. Of course, the Virginia Beach oceanfront crowd has made it plain for several years that locals aren't welcome.

DAMN AUTOCORRECT! It took several tries to convince it that I DIDN'T want to write, "it' stood crowded."

The "tuk-tuks" mentioned in that article reminded me of the three-wheel Lambrettas that used to be ubiquitous in Saigon in the early 70s. Outside of military vehicles, Lambrettas, scooters, and bicycles were about the only things on the streets.

[Rumpelteazer]

Looking into photo printers.

I'm interested in starting my own Project Life album, where you basically keep a photographic journal. However, I don't expect to be making tons of photos each week and I find it a bit wasteful to have only a couple of photographs printed at the time and I don't want to wait several weeks before I have a large enough batch.

I've had a Canon Selphy in the past, which I sold because I didn't use it much, which I liked and the size it prints (ratio 2:3) works well with PL.

[Stitchawl]

I was just going through a box of old papers that hadn't been opened since before I move to Asia years ago. Mostly copies of ordinary stuff; birth certificate, marriage license, old hunting licenses, etc., etc. and some old photos from my late 20's. One is a newspaper photo rock climbing, and the other (I don't know who even shot it) was when I received my first black belt. Gettin' old sure brings back memories...






Stitchawl