Random acts of kindness...and other random stuff!

*So I had my own sweet little Valentine’s Day this year! :) I received 3 roses on this “sacred” day. It’s about time already – it’s been a few years now since I’ve been wooed with flowers! Hahaha. I got one from my English class students (awe!),

one from a guy at work (And no, he’s not interested – he gave all the girls one!),
and one from my security guard “geek”! He was gone for awhile but has now returned! Hahaha – he is still sweet on me!
Him with my friend Sally last year! :)

I have been known to be a little Anti – VDay…I mean really, are we THAT hard up as a society/individuals for romance that we need a day to show how we care? I would normally say, screw it and form a protest, but I of course fall into the ‘Hallmark’ trap and end up sending tons of e-cards to my lovely single girlfriends or disgustingly sweet couples I know! I am not hardened to this occasion though – I think it’s great to celebrate whether you’re with a date or not…as long as you have something special to do (alone or with some special friends)! Some of my best dates were with friends! Or my brother! Hahaha That’s still funny (and a bit sad).


*A tale of 3 Flamingos: A young vivacious girl (yours truly) and her trusty sidekick (roomie/house nurse for a month!) received some silly cement lawn decoration flamingos from a friend (getting rid of the beauties, no less!). The mischievous pair crept through the evening moonlight one night, in the farang neighborhood in which she lived. Placing the heavy and painted birds on the doorsteps of her unsuspecting neighbors, just to create some mysteriousness among the bunch! The next day, the neighbors questioned the girl about the “pelicans” – which she quickly corrected to be “flamingos”, and that she didn’t know anything about them and also (gasp!) received one on her doorstep! They thought it was her doing. A joke? A gift, maybe? She denied it and played along…maybe it’s a joke? Maybe it’s a sign? Maybe it’s a demented flamingo lover? Maybe there would be more? The funniest thing was that they believed it! And they actually liked them and left them on their lawns! I actually have yet to confess – I am unusually finding pleasure in keeping the truth a secret, instead of shouting to the mountain tops!

*Nurses wear little white uniforms, with little white caps, and little white high heeled shoes!

*They have outdoor crematoriams to burn the dead (in the open air, no less!?) before they collect and dispose of the ashes...interesting for sure. This one is right near the youth shelter my dad and I visited - gross! :(
*The lines in bathrooms in Thailand are so funny to me! They are not the ‘stand in the line that forms at the beginning of the stalls and go out the door kind’. They are the 'stand in front of a stall door and hope that no one cuts in front of you'! It doesn’t matter if you got there first, you have to move FAST! Most girls pick a door of their choosing and wait for the person to come out and have a definate spot!

*It happened the other day – I have always dreaded this – I was out of town shopping with a friend and I got my ATM card stuck in the machine! And of course for me, in a foreign country. I mean really, what if it suddenly comes out and someone steals it? Or the machine decides to eat it and my lifeline of cash is gone? I thought I was more a ‘cool under pressure’ girl – but I’m realizing that I’m not. I’m a more ‘hot under the collar’ if the mood suits me that day. I start to panic (in between lucid moments of “I’m ok – it’s gonna be ok”) and my friend Janet is the calm one and calls the company. They tell me that they can come on Monday (it’s Saturday now) and I say that is unacceptable – “you’re an ATM – you’re ALWAYS open”! Isn’t that why they have on-call staff in each city!? So she finally appeases me and sends a guy over within the hour, no less! Customer service at it’s worst – turned into it’s BEST! I was so happy and relived it was in one piece. Thank you Lord, and please help me with my anger issues!

*Farang prices…are pissing me off to no end lately. When you go to the national parks. At the market. With public transportation. For special documents. It’s never-ending and annoying and just wrong. Can you even imagine if they did that in the States?! Made separate prices for the same items: a white price, asian price, black price, etc!? There would be an uproar – controversy galore! It just sucks that people get away with that here and that it is ‘acceptable’ and seen as legitimate and a tourist benefit.

*Breaking down in a Tuk Tuk sucks, let me tell you! On the middle of the super highway with 3 in the back seat and no lights, stopping dead on the road! We nearly got killed by oncoming traffic that couldn’t see us – we had to coast down the hill to the nearest gas station to grab a ride from a Sawngtow (who charged us an obscene amount just because we were desperate and girls – and he was just plain mean…).


I love this guy Greg Behrendt, author of the book: He’s Just Not That Into You! A hysterical and truthful book about love, men, women, dating, and expectations. Read it ladies and live your lives to the fullest!! You Go Girl!




· Men seem to be endlessly confused about what women want. What do you think the answer is?

For one, women don’t want us to be like them. They asked us for a while to do it and we all bought purses and they laughed at us. Women told us to cry and we did and they said stop and we did. I think what women want to know is that we’re listening. I found that out with my wife. It’s like, she wants to tell the whole story from the beginning all way to the end. She doesn’t need my advice in the middle. In fact, it would be fine if I just kept my mouth shut and then let her finish it, and then we could talk later or maybe she doesn’t even want to chat about it. She just wants to get it out.

· And what do you think men want?

I think men also truly want to be understood a little bit better and be who we are. There’s just some days where I think women ask for things and I go, “You’re just not going to get that from him. It’s not what he’s made of.”

So given that’s the case, what’s a gal to do if she wants to settle down?

I think the reason men are the way they are is because they’ve been getting away with it for years and that’s just the way we’ve been allowed to be. I think people are afraid to raise the bar because then they’re like, now what? What if I don’t get what I want? Yeah, but what if you do? I bet what you get is awesome and better than what you thought you were going to get.