yes sorry I haven’t written in such a long time. I’m still alive and kicking. Incredibly drained though. I don’t know what is going on with me.
Two weeks ago I had a dream where I was driving the car with no brakes, and Greg was sitting next to me, Jamie was in the back, and I was driving on the streets (not fast, like 60km/h) but banging left and right and couldn’t stop the car. Then the car went in(to?)reverse and I couldn’t parallell park.
Mom analysed that it’s because I must subconsciously feel like I have no control of my life.
Very good analysis Mommy!
I’ve gone from being the world’s biggest planner (I would map out the next 10 years of my life to the T!) to someone who isn’t sure of what she is doing in June. And I’m okay with it? I think? I am really taking this whole ‘living in the present’ to heart. Just living life day by day, I only know what I’m doing in May because Grace is scheduled to come in (hurray!) but if it wasn’t for her, my May would be a huge blur.
In a way it is better to be the anti-planner, because life doesn’t work according to plans. Life is filled with punches, and bouts of randomness, things happen that you would never anticipate, the key is to be open to whatever is thrown at you.
I don’t know how to explain how I’m feeling without sounding like I am a completely neurotic thing. I feel entirely spent. Completely utterly spent, but at the same time, I’m content and willing to go with the flow? And then I hope I’m not drifting, because I hate drifting, I’m the anti-drifter.
It’s not that I’ve lost my ambition, because it’s still there. But alot of my ambition has toned down, because I seriously believe that all that is important in life is – having a loving happy and healthy family. So chasing for riches and life achievements? Meh, ideally it would be lovely, but at the same time, I just want to be content. –> which I am…
That being said, I’ve come to terms with staying in Bangkok. So I am going to force myself to get out there and date! Stop rolling your eyes, I said I will, so I will. Just when and how and with whom…that’s a whole other story….
When you live in Bangkok, traffic is a sign of normalcy. All last week, I had the most enjoyable time driving on the roads, hardly any cars on the roads (because who would risk driving out, besides yours truly?), really fabulous driving.
Today, life is back to normal, a busy friday, with friday traffic. I took Grego to lunch and couldn’t help myself to a McDonald’s softee-ice cream with the chocolate dip. (Personally, I prefer it to Dairy Queen’s because the chocolate coating is much thicker) And I was walking around MBK with this huge icecream cone, happy like a chubby bu bby baby.
That’s how I felt like. A happy chubby bubby baby. And lots of people were giving me quick glances, I’m sure they were all craving for ice cream too. hee hee!
Anyhoo, thank goodness Songkran holiday is over. Monday is a working day and I am definitely welcoming it.
You scream, I scream, We all scream for ice cream? Satisfy your ice cream craving today!
Go ahead and spoil yourself, you deserve it. … or at least…that’s how I rationalise my guilty pleasures.
I was shopping with Dianna and Jeab at ZARA last week. Dianna was looking for a coat to wear in the UK, and the only available coats at ZARA were wind-breaker material- trench-ish coats available in bright yellow, orange, and hideous lime green.
I absolutely loved the bright yellow coat, especially worn withdark blue jeans, it looks fabulous. Reminds me of cute paddington bear raincoats. There I was, in ZARA, pleading for Dianna to consider the bright yellow coat, when Jeab hushes me and says, “Stacy, you can’t ask her to buy a bright yellow jacket, esp. with the political situation! ”
WHAT!?!? So now Bright Vibrant Yellow and Beautiful Bright Chinese Red is hijacked from our fashion wardrobes in Thailand!!?!??!
Those PAD bitches!!!!! UDD protesters!!!
Before, I refrained from posting about the PAD hijack of the Suvarnabhumi airport which cost me an arm and two legs – in terms of personal expenses for being stranded in HK, and the indirect effect on my business.
What is with mob rule in Thailand? What has Thailand succumb to?
The former PM – Somsak (PPP ) was elected by popular vote in an GENERAL ELECTION December 2007. In early September 2008, he was removed from office on the account of conflict of interest. The caretaker prime minister during that transition time was Somchai Wongsawat, and the PPP party nominated him to be head representative of their party, and through national assembly vote, he beat Abhbisit 298-163, thus becoming Thailand’s official PM in late September 2008.
His tenure didn’t last long, and he actually goes down in history as the first PM who never stepped in the Government House. (read this article)
In December 2008, PAD hijacks Bangkok airports, and knowingly bludgeons the Thai economy. The Constitutional Court dissolves the PPP and bans its executives from politics for 5 years. PM Somchai is removed from office. The un-banned political parties form a majority coalition, nominates Abhisit as their leader, and wins the national assembly vote.
So what we have is a precedent set:
–> screw general elections –> mob rule –> protest force resignation of PM or force Constitutional Court to make a ruling that will remove the PM –> ban current governing executives from politics for 5 years –> nominate favourable party –> wait for 3-4 months–> opposing side starts the cycle all over again. (Well done! AMAZZZING THAILAND!)
PM Abhisit is not a democrat. He is a technocrat. He believes that the most skilled not-most popular person should lead the nation. In a general election, his Democrat party, will never win because the majority of Thai peoplestill favour TRT/PPP/Puea Thai (it’s the same party, under different names since all were previously dissolved and execs banned from politics). Whether the rural folk of Thailand prefer the TRT/PPP/Puea Thai because they are paid to, or because they are not educated enough to see that the Democrat party would do a better job, doesn’t matter. If the Democrat party wants to take office, it should do so by aggressive campaigning and by educating the masses as to why they are the better party to elect. But instead, PM Abhisit was a silent partner in the PAD fiasco, and suddenly appears when all dust has settled. <<—my conspiracy theory opinion.
And now here we are, the UDD (the group that supports the Thaksin) is starting the process all over again. Staging protests, road blocks and now they smashed into the 14th ASEAN Summit – effectively cancelling it and embarrassing Thailand and PM Abhisit in the process.
Honestly, I can’t help siding with the UDD (gasps of shock anywhere?). Technocrats are dangerous. Yes, PM Abhisit has a solid academic background. Fabulous, he went to Eton and studied at Oxford. Bravo well done. But his political experience? His life experiences? His connection to the MAJORITY of Thai people?
How dangerous is it to assume that the rural folk don’t know what’s best for them?
So, instead of educating the majority of Thais on what is the better choice, the elitists pull strings and manage to ‘elect’ (through national assembly – senate + house of representative votes) one of their own to rule the nation? How ideal is it for the elitists to cripple our economy and nominate the best most knowledgeable leader to lead us out of this economy crisis?
Very ideal indeed.
On Wednesday morning, in the car, as we were approaching the tollway-booths, I noticed a 2-km long – bus/car/truck UDD entourage. UDD protesters being brought into Bangkok by the masses. Sitting in their non-airconditioned buses, cheering, playing loud thai country music, dangling their arms from the window shouting and laughing! Very kampung style. I wish I had my camera.
Thai PM Motorcade Attacked
Did you see how the UDD protesters, opened the driver-side door of the PM’s Toyota Fortuner?
What is the PM doing in a Toyota Prado??? And why don’t they have the doors locked? And how can a helmet smash into the rear window glass?
In the Bangkok Post, I saw photos of the protesters pushing through the human barricades, and this one woman was losing her balance – and in the photo she is smiling. Smiling like this is all a game. Smiling like, I am really giving them 300 baht worth of work! I have such good work ethic! hee hee!
At the ASEAN Summit, there were 8,000 police officers to manage the safety of the delegates and the whole entire area. At 1 pm today, a few hundred protesters stormed in, broke through the glass doors, and took over the ASEAN Summit media centre at the Royal Cliff Beach Hotel in Pattaya.
A soldier was quoted in today’s Bangkok Post (April 11th 2009) saying ” We can only do our best to delay the march. But once they break the barriers, we can’t do much to stop them, after all, it’s their taxes that pay our salaries too.”
If that soldier’s sentiment was representative of Thailand’s security forces, then the ASEAN Summit was doomed for cancellation from the beginning. The summit was cancelled, and all the ASEAN leaders flown out to safety. PM Abhisit declared a state of emergency in Pattaya.
And so mob rule triumphs once again in Thailand.
Thai politics is truly a random. Somewhat predictable but at the same time very illogical. Thai politics is tiring, and for us folk being affected by all this political instability, it is downright annoying.
And despite of all this annoyance/frustration, I am still here. Why oh why…
Perplexed and yet slightly amused,
Stacy
My Life in Bangkok 