they were the best of times, they were the worst of times

Happy 2007!

At this point one feels compelled to wrap up 2006 in a fully adequite (thanks Lindsay) fashion, so, two weeks nearly after the passing of last year, here's a wrap up of December - some good, some bad, none of them even remotely Dickensian.

Draino

Biddy and I saved a kitten from a drain but it died. Her rescue was miraculous - I lowered a torn-up curtain down the pipe she fell into (how do you fall into a pipe?) and she clung to it with her little front paws until I pulled her out. It was 5am and I was drunk, so I thought it best to take her to the vet the next day, which I did. However, the day after that visit (and a clean bill of health) she looked even worse so I took her back for a second opinion. Needless to say, she never came home, passing through the great drainpipe in the sky to a place where all rain water drainage hardwares are covered by grates and people respond to your constant pleas for help immediately, not after two days of waiting for you to shut up and die.

The vet had her cremated at the temple (which is much better than being buried in a shoebox) and asked me to come and get my deposit back. I cried for a week and now I feed her mum, who lives out the back with the two kittens she managed to not to kill through neglect.


the still alive ones with inattentive mum and similar blue drain in b/g

Bombs

Some bombs went off and killed some people on NYE. Is it ex-PM Thaksin's henchmen? Is it the southern Muslim separatists? Is it a faction of the Junta, either to consolidate their power or a shake up the opposing military group/s? Don't expect an answer any time soon.


Udon at Narita airport

Beckie was here

I'm sure this happened in November, but it's close enough. Beckie Mitchell of B2 fame came and crashed on my couch for two nights. We went to JJ markets, hit the late night pool hall scene, went swimming, tried to put little hats on the cat and suffered heat exhaustion almost constantly. It was fun. I tried to make her go to Laos but she didn't have enough time.

Tokyo

Rog and I went to Tokyo again. It was cold - thought maybe minus 50 or 100 but the meteorologists all said about plus 10 degrees Celcius. They weren't the ones out in Hachiko Square at 1am with only one glove on because they left the other one at home because they drank too many beers while packing their bag. The main reason we went there was to pick up a small, expensive computer from Langdon's cousin Scott but I also bought a camera. So far most of the pictures I've taken have been of cats, but obviously the quality of these has reinterpreted the benchmark of contemporary photography and I will be invited to exhibit at the Tate Modern soon, no doubt.

Xmas and NYE

Spent both eating and drinking and talking. Ate turkey, drank cheap Moet, got Wii, watched DVDs, slept and basically did a tango with liver disease for the entire festive period. Was great. I did miss the family but the lack of family was offset by the not having to wake up at 6am, the not having to do the sit in a circle and open presents thing and the biggest plus: no trace of Ray Martin, the Myer Music Bowl or Rhonda Birchmore doing high-kicks to a jazz rendition of Little Drummer Boy.


Christmas table

UBC

I got cable TV. So now I have an endless stream of Animal Planet, Discovery, NatGeo and AXN at my fingertips, meaning I know everything there possibly is to know about anything. I can perform a tracheotomy on a lizard, remove a one-kilo tumour from a boy's face, scare away marauding African elephants and diagnose most infectious diseases. I've even watched the Dark Crystal and The Blob in the last week. Things are looking good for 2007.

Mum & co

To kick the new year off with a parental, and therefore possibly pantsless vibe, my mum and two aunties and cousin are arriving here next week for two weeks. My 20 year old cousin is actually staying here for a while. I was worried before, about letting my young male cousin loose in a city so obviously skewed towards the "interests" of his demographic/gender but I think I just have to relax. He'll be fine. Once he's got the first completely batshit insane Thai girlfriend out of the way he'll find his feet. If he still has them.

Yes, so the mum and the aunties will be here and I'm very excited. I've already fielded such questions as: "should I bring coat hangers?" "will there be washing powder there?" (no, we bang our clothes against rocks down by the river), so the coming fortnight is going to be more awesome and head-explodingly frustrating than I can fathom. I can't wait.

In conclusion, I will be most likely be staying in Bangkok for another year. I'll make it back for a visit at some point but until then, keep in touch ie. keep leaving me messages on myspace.

xx