Time Flies
March 5th, 2007Personal update. If you’re into XNA, there’s nothing to see here. Move along, people. Move along.
Won just left for Laos, for a work-related meeting. She was not looking forward to it. At least it’s half-vacation, half-meeting, just like always with government organizations. She’ll be gone a week, so I’ve got my evenings to myself. That’s good, and bad, at the same time. (c:
I’ve been very busy most of January and February, but some of the load is lifted in March. At first I thought I’d get a break in February, but that didn’t happen. I’ll have time to get back to XNA in a more productive way now. The first thirty videos were a breeze, but the second thirty have to be better planned. It has taken a lot of time to piece everything together so that things are presented in the right order, yet keeping progress up on the actual game, so people don’t get bored.
I’m learning Blender. It’s a great tool, really easy to use. It used to be mostly for mechanics, or low-poly organics, but with the new sculpting functions, it’s a breeze to make high-poly organic models. Maybe I ought to make tutorials about that some day. But, I’ve got a lot of work left on XNA that I want to finish first, though.
I bought pipes, troughs, and stuff to build a hydroponic system. The commercial kits are overpriced, so I figured I should make one from scratch myself. I’ve drawn plans and started to put it together already, and it’s going great. The only remaining purchase is hydroponic nutrient solution, and I was a bit worried about finding it. But the neighbor knows a store where I can get that, so I’m not worried anymore. At first, I was thinking I should mix my own solution, but some ingredients are really difficult to find here in Thailand.
I found a string of three outdoor stores on Lad Prao, between sois 71 and 101. Between them, they have a better selection of outdoor goods than all the main shopping malls put together. I’ll try to refrain from stockpiling stuff I only “may” need. (c:
They opened two steakhouses in our neighborhood, one fifty meters from our house. A beef steak covering your plate costs $3, so I guess I’ll be going there until I’ve eaten them out of business.
I’m working my way through A Brief History of Nearly Everything, but at the speed I’m reading, I’ve got months to go. It’s a good book, although the science part is too basic. It has been great to see just how crazy (or wanna-be weirdos, if you read between the lines) many of the old scientists were.
We bought a washing machine, and decided to install it on the roof. There was neither plumbing nor electricity available, so that required several evenings. I’ve also made clothes racks, and the remaining thing is a roof-on-the-roof, because the rainy season is coming, and clothes won’t dry then. I’ll start looking into that after finishing the current project.
We bought iron, iron board, and paraphernalia, and made an ironing corner in the TV room. It’s still difficult to watch a movie while ironing, because you have to split your attention, but at least its more fun.
Extended Family
Lawan keeps working hard instead of smart. We had another dust-up, where I and Won tried to get her to listen to some ideas on how to ease her burden. She didn’t want to hear it. That was the last time I tried, I hope. She thinks her job is to cook food, when actually her job is to manage the restaurant, making sure someone else cooks. It seems to be a common problem among self-employed to not be able to change from “owning a job” to “owning a business”.
Virot enjoys his fishes, and they have grown pretty big. That’s good, because he has nothing else to do. He still hasn’t learnt how to close a door, or take off his shoes, but we’re working on it.
Somboon said he would quit his job, for the umpteenth time. He seems to be stuck on that track, because its all he talks about. At least he got out of town for the extended holiday (coronation day substitution). and got to relax at the beach.
Varanee came during the weekend, helping out with the lack of employees. That was nice, because that took the load off of Won. We want to Raku Raku for some Japanese in the evening, and they have improved their chef, and lowered their prices, so now it’s worth going there again.
Kin is doing okay in school since they moved him down one grade. On the papers it still says he is in third grade, but he’s actually in the second grade classroom…
Employees
The employees live their own weird lives.
Dum got pregnant, and had to get married, so she went home for that. She’ll be back once she has calmed down her mother, who didn’t even know she had a boyfriend.
Jit finally quit, after five years of saying she would, and went home. She did leave some clothes in one of the closets, though, so I think she plans on coming back.
Ben’s husband had to leave the country, because he didn’t have a work permit, not a visa, so Ben had to go to Laos and get him ID card, house registration, a passport, and then help him apply for a visa. He can’t read, and neither can she, so that ought to be exciting.
Tua Lek ran away. She found a better job, and gave five minutes notice. As usual. She promised to keep in touch, mostly for her sake, in case she ever needed to come back. She hasn’t called a single time, to anyone. As usual. She could be dead for all I know.
That leaves Gong and Nang. Lawan has managed to get four temporary replacements, but as their learning curve is years, not weeks, I’m going to have to clean the house, wash my clothes, and iron my shirts myself until some of them find their way back. Sigh.
Cheers!
Jöran

