It is somewhat understandable when I can’t get my hands on music from UK.
But not even Japanese? Seriously? Aren’t we in the same region?
Why does it have to be that difficult for me to pay for something I want?
I know I’m in the third world. No need to emphasize that fact.
(-“-)
By the way, I love whoever invented this.
And don’t blame me for piracy. It’s only for personal use.
I’ve been keeping this draft since last October. After one and a half hour on jam-packed bus this morning, which is most unusual, I decided it is about time we talk commuting time.
We Thais make it again to world record, with the longest commuting time in the world…
2 HOURS
vs the shortest time at 2 minutes in Malawi.
The survey was published in 2005, but I can assure you that it is not any better today.
I personally spent about half an hour in the morning and another an hour and a half in the evening – so yes, two hours a day. Though the evening one usually includes over 2km walk cause I like walking when I’m not in a hurry. Without the walk, it would take me at least an hour anyway.
Since I’m fortunate enough to live practically downtown, everywhere I go is outbound and the traffic is much better that way. Therefore, if it takes me 2 hours, that 2 hours average in the record is probably an underestimate. I know lots of people who takes longer time and covers further distance. The longest my colleague take is about 4 hours, having to leave home as early as 5 in the morning or risk being late for work.
If you don’t follow a route on a regular basis, you really can’t tell what’s going to happen. Besides BTS and MRT, the rest of the public transportations are simply unpredictable. There’s no schedule for anything; only broad operating time, like 7 am to 10 pm. Whether it’s a bus, an express bus, or a boat, you can only wait until it shows up and you’d never know if it’d be 5 minutes or an hour. Traffic would forever be the most classic excuse why one is late for anything. No wonder we are never on time. Everything is always at least half an hour late from schedule. Though in recent years, with BTS and MRT available, it gets a little better. Not that these are on schedule either, but they come often enough you don’t spent too long waiting.
A Singaporean once commented that Thais are most patient when it comes to traffic. I really don’t know how we could stand it and how we will continue to do so. Most offices do not offer a work-from-home option, nor a flexible working hours. We can only endure. Especially on a day like this with protesters occupying main streets and schools reopening after a week break due to current situation, four-lane streets look exactly like parking lot – the longest parking lot imaginable.
คือคำว่า
ดีออก
และ
อีดอก
เนี่ย…
สะกดคล้ายกันขนาดนั้นแต่ความหมายอยู่คนละฝากฝั่งโลกเลยเนอะ
เพิ่งสังเกตเห็น ไม่รู้เค้าเพิ่งฮิตหรือเปล่า? แถมช่วงนี้เหมือนจะมีเรื่องให้ด่ากันเยอะ
หรือนี่แค่สะกดผิด? สมัยนี้ก็บอกยากจริงๆ ว่าตั้งใจสะกดผิดรึเปล่า แต่ถ้าจงใจใช้เป็น euphemism จริงก็เจ็บแสบพิกล
—
These words,
Dee-ook (that’s good)
and
Ee-dok (you slut)
are spelled so similarly, but each meaning is like furthest apart, isn’t it?
Only noticed the use of it today, or is it the latest trend? After all, seems like we have lots of reasons to swear lately.
Or is it just an intended misspelled? Too hard to tell especially in these days. But if that’s intentionally used as a form of euphemism, it just works.
เขียนก่อนจะลืม เพราะ ณ จุดนี้ก็ลืมไปเยอะแล้ว
อ่านเล่มสุดท้ายของชุดจบช่วงปีใหม่
เนื้อเรื่องสนุกดี ทำให้นึกถึงแฮรี่พอตเตอร์อยู่หลายประเด็น โดยเฉพาะในโครงสร้างที่ค่อยๆ ซับซ้อนขึ้นเรื่อยๆ ขมวดปมแน่นขึ้นเรื่อยๆ และลึงลงเรื่อยๆ ถึงความเป็นมนุษย์ของตัวละคร ส่วนที่พลิกก็ทำได้ดี ถึงช่วงท้ายๆ จะดูพยายามมากไปหน่อยที่จะทำให้ทุกอย่างจบอย่างมีความสุข แต่โดยรวมก็ค่อนข้างลงตัวทีเดียว จำไม่ได้เลยว่ามีส่วนเกินหรืออะไรที่ไม่จำเป็น
สิ่งเดียวที่รู้สึกขัดใจเล็กๆ คือวิธีบรรยายที่เหมือนการ์ตูนมากไป ทำให้เนื้อหาดู “เบา” ลง ซึ่งถ้าคิดว่าเป็นหนังสือสำหรับเด็กอ่านก็ไม่แปลก อาจจะดีด้วยซ้ำที่นำเสนอความคิดที่ลึกซึ้งให้อ่านได้เพลินๆ สอนอะไรได้หลายอย่างโดยไม่ได้ตั้งท่าสอนจนเกิน จะว่าไปถ้าทำเรื่องนี้เป็นอนิเมะคงเหมาะมาก หรือทำการ์ตูนช่องก็น่าจะดีเหมือนกัน แต่บังเอิญว่านี่คือหนังสือไง อ่านไปก็รู้สึกแปลกๆ ไป โดยเฉพาะเล่มแรกๆ ดูเหมือนเล่มหลังๆ จะดีขึ้นหน่อย ไม่แน่ใจว่าเพราะเป็นเนื้อหาจริงจังขึ้นหรืออ่านจนชินไปแล้วก็ไม่รู้
ตัวละครทุกตัวน่ารักน่าสนใจ มีลักษณะความคิดอุปนิสัยเฉพาะตัว โดยเฉพาะพวกเด็กๆ ชอบหมด ดูเหมือนคนที่มีตัวตนอยู่จริง มีจุดดีจุดด้อยที่ทำให้ตัวละครมีมิติ (แม้การบรรยายจะการ์ตูนเหลือเกินก็ตาม) ที่แน่ๆ ก็มีพระเอกคนนึงล่ะที่ช่างคล้ายคลึงกับคนใกล้ตัวอย่างประหลาด ส่วนตัวละครผู้ใหญ่ก็ชอบลุงผู้หายตัวไปนะ แล้วชื่อตัวละครถึงจะไม่อลังการเท่า daemon bakery ก็ยังน่าประทับใจอยู่ จบชุดนี้แล้วอยากจะอ่านภาค (?) ต่อๆ ไป รวมทั้งอุดหนุนผลงานเล่มอื่นๆ ของผู้เขียนคนนี้ด้วย ได้ข่าวว่าดีไม่แพ้กัน
สรุปแล้วก็เป็นหนังสือที่น่าอ่าน ให้ห้าดาวเลย ไม่ได้อ่านหนังสือภาษาไทยดีๆ อย่างนี้มานาน (คือไม่ใช่ไม่มีหนังสือดี แต่ไม่ค่อยได้อ่านภาษาไทย) ภาษาดีอ่านได้ราบรื่นไม่ติดขัด แทบจะไม่สะดุดอะไรเลย แม้จะมีสะกดผิดเป็นระยะๆ ก็อยู่ในระดับที่ให้อภัยได้ ขอย้ำอีกครั้งว่าควรเปลี่ยนปกจริงๆ ใครจะพูดว่าอย่าตัดสินหนังสือด้วยปกอะไรยังไงก็ตาม การที่ปกดูดีก็เป็นสิ่งแรกที่จะดึงดูดให้คนเปิดดูนะจ๊ะ
I promise.
Cause I don’t think it could get any worst. And hopefully I’m not wrong.
What happened is about our Christmas Gift. It is a one month salary given before Christmas each year as a gift from the office. It is a bonus in a way, but we call it Christmas Gift because it doesn’t really depend on annual performance. No matter what you do, you always get the same amount.
Since handing in my resignation, I did wonder whether I would get it, cause after all I completed the year. It turned out that they didn’t think so, or to be specific, my boss didn’t think so. I did not get the Christmas Gift.
I decided not to ask anybody about it and none of my colleagues mentioned the word “Christmas Gift” to me. To begin with, I didn’t want to know whether everybody else got it. It would only make me feel worst.
I was ready to put it aside, trying to just get over it. Chinese New Year is approaching, however, and as tradition goes grown up children will give gifts of money to parents and younger siblings. So I talked to my sister that I have to reduce the amount prepared for our parents cause I have less than expected. I told her about the Chirstmas Gift. She was furious and went on to tell my mum. So eventually I went through the matter again as I explained to her why I did not go my boss.
The answer was already obvious. She did not give it to me. Talking would not change that. And the reason would simply be my resignation. So why bother. And no, it is not something you can forget by accident. There are only 7 people in this office, remember?
There’s no use talking to other people either. They are not the ones making the decision. Plus talking to them means the matter would finally reach my boss anyway. I do not want to do their relationships any harm.
Furthermore, one month salary is not that much to fuss over. I’m not going to go begging for it if my boss had made up her mind. And if I was ever in need, I believe God have other ways to provide.
Being a small money though, it only reveals how she really is.
After thinking carefully, I’m now certain that everybody else got it. Cause if not, my boss would have made official announcement before the Christmas break. But she only kept quiet, so did everybody.
It would have been a lot better if she called me to her office and told me openly that she couldn’t give it to me this year according to the rules or whatever. That would have been fair and sincere. But no such thing.
What’s worst is that we are having a new person on staff. He will be a full-time in January after being a part-time for several months last year. My boss even went out of her way to invite him to Christmas dinner hosted by the office. If there was any doubts whether or not she cares about me, there is no more.
I’m not angry. Not at all.
Just sad. A little sad.
We all learn from experience, unfortunately. We are immune to things like these as we got older. See it often enough and you’ll get used to it, like my sister says.
I have no problem forgiving and soon enough I probably forget what she did.
But I don’t think I can forget how she did it.
I would always remember that this person has hurt me in some ways that I cannot trust her completely again. There goes the seven long years we have known each other, my boss and I. And did I ever mention that we are members of the same church? Well, from now on she’s just someone I used to know, someone to say hi to as we pass and make small talk, but that’s it.
So enough of that. I’m pretty busy planning trips at the moment.
Next month, the US – Chicago and Minneapolis. Hopefully I’ll survive the cold and get to go out. >,,<
In March, Japan – Fujikawaguchiko, Nikko, and Tokyo.
Just added Korea to April schedule – bought tickets to Pusan, so maybe Changwon, Jinhae, and Pusan.
Anybody wants a postcard? 🙂
Suggestions on where to go?
Ps. As for the ongoing protest, yes we have Bangkok shutdown. I don’t mind.
—
I always took the easy way
Just sit around and say complaints
It’s now time to say goodbyeMy regrets rise up to the surface
And my melancholy dangles after them
They quietly float by on the cloudsI will find the answer in my heart so…
No matter how often the world is broken apart
An endless yearning will downpour in my heart“Raining all day” going away
Step out to be myself again
I want to chase after it, it’s an amazing day!
“Raining all day” has gone away
Like that summer
My dream…be with me, and I’ll find it
2013 is a strange year to look back on.
I did finish my dissertation, but did not make any more trips nor even try to practice driving at all. (You wouldn’t believe I own a driving license legally.)
Still it was a year full of things I never did before:
It was also a year I looked back on the distant past, who I was and who I am now.
Maybe because of what happened at work and my plan to go to the US soon. It’s like going home, back to a place I used to know. Though I was there for only 10 months, in many ways it was a turning point in my life. Back then it seemed like I knew what I wanted and was sure about myself – at least I thought I did. I didn’t care much about what other people thinks or their expectations – or pretended not to. I was selfish enough to ignore them. But that was 12 years ago and a lot happened in between. I might think more about this when I’m actually there.
Besides the US, I’m also going to Japan a week afterwards. Another friend got free plane tickets for this so it’s too good to say no. Obviously I’ve started saving every cent.
Other than that I have nothing in mind what I would do after April, but I couldn’t care less. No New Year’s resolution whatsoever. Except to enjoy life and read more maybe.
Hope it was a good year for you all. And Happy 2014. 🙂
But with or without you
My only plan is to be free
With or without you
I’m still meI’ll join a band and sing like a canary
Get out of here and change my name to Cherry
And every night I’ll thank Holy Mother Mary
I am a keeper
Oh I am a keeper baby
I am a keeper
nacrelet 