A Day in the Life of Chaos

Bangkok is a city of a million faces and a million stories.   Each person lives a life independent with his or her own complications, anxieties, depressions and laments.   Joy often gives way to a daily existence of life and work interwoven in a fabric of traffic and noise.   Every day when I awaken I feel like I want to explore and understand.   I want to comprehend what drives each individual.   I want to learn about their lives however joyful or miserable.   I think in a hidden voyeuristic sort of way it encourages me to look beyond myself and discover a world I might otherwise never see. One day while walking down a busy Bangkok street the city of a million stories decided to give me a glimpse into a very different life. One of the great curiosities of Thailand for the Western mind is what here is known colloquially as the “Third Sex.”   In the west we view transgender issues as interwoven with gay rights.   It exists as a subset of the society.  Most people when confronte

I am sure if one paid critical attention to my blog over the years they would rightly perceive I live my life in a constant state of internal analysis.   Many have told me I think too much and honestly they are probably right.   Still thinking is my trade as is analysis and the two skills while earning me a living, seem to haunt me in everyday life. I haven’t written much lately.   I think my urge to write is often stimulated by complexities or questions in life.   When they are present my creativity like water seeks a path and many times the blog presents the channel that I follow.   Often time’s questions in life are stimulated by my own actions and I suppose I am entering another one of those phases as I make another effort to secure a position overseas for the majority of the professional years I have left. I took a walk at lunch today.   It is spring in South Carolina.   The weather is friendly while the pollen chokes your throat.   Spring brings a sense of renewal

Outpost Trinidad Part II.... Continued.... Day to day life in Trinidad meant the constant search for clean food.  This at times was a challenge as shipments form other parts of the country were irregular at best.  The decision was essentially find something and have a maid at the house cook it for you or play Russian roulette at a restaurant.  One experience that always brought a smile to my face was the hunt for chicken.  There are no supermarkets in Trinidad so when chicken was desired you had to pass by the chicken store.  In Trinidad this meant a visit to Pollos Imba.  Pollos Imba sold one thing, chicken.  The problem was that they only had chicken about 30 percent of the time.  The rest of the time the Pollos Imba girls simply hung out and responded to clients queries.  Typically it involved driving up in front of the store and rolling down the window.  Looking into the open front door you would catch the eye of the attendant. "Hay Pollo?"   You would sh

As our politicians have been debating or, not debating, the future budget course of America I have been thinking.  Anyone that reads this blog knows that I do that a lot.  I think in the shower, I think on the way to work.  I think before I fall asleep at night contributing to sleep deprivation.  Sometimes I just wish I didn't think. That said, yesterday my wife and I were talking about the American decline and she said something that made me think yet again.  She said this country has lost its pride.  I feel it imperative to explain that my wife was born and raised in the Philippines.  Until she moved here to put up with me and my over active mind, she viewed America from a much different position.  She viewed us as the "Shining city on the hill" that President Reagan once spoke of.  No Pride, wow I thought, how true is that?  Think beyond the simplistic American Pride and go deeper, much deeper.  We used to be proud of our standing in the world.  We were proud of our

When you visit the Philippines and land in Manila it is often easy to lose sight of what the country really is. Manila is a modest urban nightmare of traffic and concrete.  Towering condominium towers compete with with massive bill boards as they both block out the world outside.  Rivers dark and murky flow through the city filled with pollution.  At times I find the whole thing almost reminiscent of the movie Blade Runner.  Traffic clogs the roads like red blood cells meeting arterial blockage.  The pollution has colored everything with a dirty coating that never seems to wash away. When confronting this concrete jungle it is often easy to forget that it exists in a country filled with beauty, sandy beaches and sun.  It is not the norm, it is the exception.  It seems that progressively there is a move to fly tourists directly to resort destinations avoiding Manila all together.   It is as if the best strategy to deal with the nightmarish urban center is to simply forget it is there.