Rock Ed- No more excuses

I'm part of a group called Rock-Ed, and instead of me trying to explain what it is we do and what we stand for, let me direct you to Gang's page because she explains it perfectly.

http://gangbadoy.multiply.com/journal/item/3/Parang_Pitong_Libong_Isla

but usual ming style, I still have something to say..

In one way or another, we are all sick and tired of the status quo, sick and tired of the potholes in the road, and sick and f*cking tired of people that get away with stealing, lying and all the other bad things we shouldn't let them get away with....

But you know, we are still lucky, because we have the luxury to complain without actually feeling the hardship and life that millions of other people feel. We complain in the comfort of our airconditioned car or sitting around Starbucks, drinking our hot coffees and fraps..I'm not ridiculing you, because I complain in this comfort state too, but as you can see in my blogs and when you talk to me, I've made my choice, and that is to make no more excuses and to act and move somehow to make poverty history. I do this through environmental advocacy, through environmental awareness campaigns and by telling my friends everything I can about conservation. (and also thru futkal! support futkal!)

Now the choice is yours..in this time of environmental change (for the worse!), political turmoil, developed, developing and less developed country categories (how fucking politically correct is that!??)..

we are no longer homo sapiens, we are now homo economicus, homo urbanicus (or something, read this somewhere, economist ata)..we have evolved, but have we evolved for the better?
Again, the choice is yours, what are you going to do to help change the world?

Vientiane Revisited

About six months ago, or less, I went to Vientiane.

I was there for business, not really up to meeting anyone new, but I did and me meeting him reminded me that life is too short not to be passionate about life and that there are good guys out there..somewhere.

And now, its my second visit. I was a little hesitant, knowing that the last time I was here I met that Tyler.. But you know..I was hesitant because I didn't want to change the good vibes I got from that night, change it with new ones..i just thought it would be unfair to the memory..

But I had to, to get my passport, to get my cheque, to take a break, to do some seriously seriously needed shopping.

I had intended to have a quiet night, not meet people..not be an extrovert..hay..plans change!

I met this guy (who thought he was killer hot, as in. Well, in fairness, he kinda was..but yuh, his teeth were medjo too european for me..(basta, if you know what i mean, YOu KNOW what I mean!) but he was nice...medjo pa feeling pero k lang..but as I ate there at the Scandanavian Bakery, he made pa eye contact eye contact, and I gave in and talked to him..which is good because 3 other people, two girls and one boy, introduced themselves to us, and that, is how you make, a random group of foreigners.

We had dinner together, we talked about ourselves..we did the whole introducing thing during dinner, telling each other things that you wouldn't even tell some friends (I mean not close friends ah, as in friends friends) and these are strangers!
But you know, I had fun.. On day 2 Bec, Dominik and I, we went shopping together, we went clubbing together the night before, and then we had dinner together! We had steak and chips..yum.

On day 3 I played football with Dominik (Austrian) and Tommy (Israeli) and had dinner at Marcel's because they were having a housewarming.

I got my first dose of cultural differences that night..as I sat down next to these two girls that I got introduced to earlier, these two other said something in lao and then they all giggled (ahh women) and so I said, sorry what?
She said "Tai said us three sit together is a good thing, we all the same, we all fat"
and I said "WHAT?" (keep in mind, I have just met ALL these people 20 mins earlier)
and she said "Fat, you know, chubby"

Okay, yes, I am not slim, not thin, not svelte and no, I will never be thai/lao thin. But talk about cultural difference, NEVER will you have a stranger (unless drunk or demented) in Manila to say "hang out with them y'all match, y'all fat!"

Luckily I am still emotionally off..i asked marcel later on and he said yeah, they don't have that sensitivity issue with weight here..

But yeah, Vientiane ver 2.0 didn't go so badly.

Marcel picked me up on his motorbike (little does he know this scares the f*&^ out of me) and took me to the party and I got to hang out and meet new people...i loved it :)

Oh, and I got to shop. I was having shoppers anxiety na not being able to shop for 3 weeks...

ttfn!

Emergency Happy Thoughts (EHT strategy paper)

The only, I will use the word problem, but its not really a problem..anyway..The only problem with going away and finding some peace for your soul and for your mind to defrag* is that you also have a lot time to think and evaluate your life. Well, then again, that is the point. The way to defrag is to sift through thoughts and experiences and organize them into little box folders in your brain, methodically punching holes and placing the pages in ring binders, putting headers like ‘don’t do THAT again’ or ‘Emergency Happy Thoughts’ on the outside for easy referencing.

Okay, yeah yeah I know..this isn’t how its done, but I like to think that this is the way my mind does it (because I am so OC when it comes to notes and periodicals)..

Anyway…

My day is full, every day. I wake at 6:40 which is no easy feat for me and am ready by 7:05 every day. I ride down the escarpment to my office, the beautiful morning ride takes about half an hour. On the way down while watching the scenery which differs daily (more mist, less mist, more green, less green, more blue sky today, dark moody sky tomorrow) while talking to Marcel on whatever the topic of the morning is (today it was about diving and holidays). Eat breakfast at the office and start work at 8. Work til 12 (with some surfing breaks, obviously), lunch at 12 either at RNT, the French camp, or here at the office with the local staff. (ahh, the food, yet another blog entry waiting to happen), then lunch break for half an hour of sitting around chatting and checking email. I should end work at 5 but I usually work til about 5:30, or whenever Marcel asks if I am ready to go and play badminton. We play badminton until I see the futsal people show up and then I ditch Marcel to go play futsal with boys who are now finally accepting me as a boy (I now get shoved and kicked in the shins like any other player), then go back to Marcel to have a last round of badminton. Then we end this all around 8 or so, then dinner, either at the EM-1 camp, RNT or the Vietnam Road down here in Gnommalath. Or sometimes we go up a little early, back to Nakai and get dropped off at the Environment complex to eat with the other E&S staff, then walk back to our camp..half an hour walk. Again, walking, not one of my finer qualities!

So yeah, full full day from waking to bedtime..but you know, its killer stress free. My main issue yesterday is if I could buy yoghurt and if it would keep long enough before I get it to my fridge! So, this means that I have some pockets of time to think and my stress free mind is defragging continuously.

Which takes me back to my problem of evaluation. (see, the word issue doesn’t fit either..I guess I could call it a thing)…back to my thing about evaluation..

The normal questions ofcourse are:
How am I? What am I doing? Is everything alright? What else do I have to do? Do I have a good plan? Am I flexible enough? How do I treat the people around me? Am I a good person?

Then ofcourse, with the extra space from the lack of stress you also think:
Where am I now in my life, is this where I want to be?
Why things do happen to you when they do and what is the best way of handling things?
Have I handled things that have happened to me in the best way possible?
What do I like or not like about myself?
Are you really alright?

You see where I am going with this yeah? I mean, I am not one to avoid confrontation, especially when it’s the healthy sort, but it can still be daunting and overwhelming!

The hardest part is you are looking at all of this in the harsh light of self evaluation, the most critical critic, the most difficult person to please, yourself.

And this is where that grain of salt (or sugar) should come in (that comes out of your ‘Emergency Happy Thoughts” box)

I have a great family who are supportive and real. I have extremely supportive parents (somewhat overprotective, but such is life) and my immediate family (neices, nephews, cousins and siblings) are not only family, but also my friends.

I have many friends and I have a good diverse set of really good friends and I have my handful of people I would trust my life with, the circle of trust.

I have a good fulfilling job that helps me help the world (Go PLANET!) and lets me afford my lifestyle (eek!)

I’m nearly at the stage where I can say I am reasonably happy with how I look, no matter how many times you compare me against Naomi (ha ha ha, the poor nurse Nomes!)

I may be single, but life is good and if the right person who loves me comes, then he will. And if he doesn’t, well, I’ll just have kids :P

I’m a decent person who can be too nice, but then again, I can be quite a bitch, healthy combination.

Hmmm. I think I have just cheered myself up.

I guess the moral of the story is, you should know (normally) that your worst critic is yourself and that life is too short to be that harsh on yourself… live life responsibly, love life with passion and have a drink to celebrate!

*defrag- defragment: computer term that sorts through your files and reorganizes them and takes a look at the bad sectors and then reports back to you the status

Choices we have, choices we make

Yesterday I met someone who used to make less than ten dollars a month. He worked for a hotel in Vientiane where he made 60,000 kip per month, half of which he spent on English lessons so that he could get better jobs.

He may be making more money now, now that he works for the NTPC project as a driver..hopefully a lot more but I wasn’t willing to ask him how much he makes now because then he might ask me how much I make and that would just be embarrassing.

See that? He spent HALF his meager earnings on his plan to make life better. He didn’t just sit at home and hope for the best. He didn’t rely on someone else to fix it for him.

This thought just brought me back to people (I know) who choose to do nothing when there are people in the world who have no choice.

Yesterday also I bought some groceries (some juice, three eggs, dishwashing liquid, tuna, onions and a few other things) and it cost me 200,000 kip. (exchange rate is 1 USD to 9300 kip) I spent 20 dollars. He makes less than half of what I spent in 20 mins in ONE MONTH.

This is not a sermon or a litany on the haves and have nots. I’m not saying feel guilty about the good things we have in life. I too, buy expensive shoes, jeans and whatever else that I spend my money on, but I work hard for it, like most people do.

But what you should do is be grateful and thankful for the blessings, and when you can, give back. It doesn’t have to be money, it can be old clothes, it can be food, or even just your time.

The half way point of the Millennium Development Goals is today, July 7, 2007. Read