So, let's get the boring stuff out of the way.

I'm writing this a few hours before my flight back to the US. In case you were unaware, my best bud Dan decided to go and get himself married. I am fortunate enough to be a groomsman, so APPARENTLY you can't just Skype that one in. Gee, thanks Dan.

For serious though, I am looking forward to it. And tacos. Also another bit of good news, I am finished with school. All of my work has been submitted, and now it's just a matter of time until the final grades are tallied and I am done. Presuming I did not completely mess things up, I will have a Master's in ESL in a month or so. So, that's kind of neat. And a giant source of frustration eliminated. I am looking forward to the massive increase in my free time, although I am probably going to fill it with Chinese study.

As far as Bangkok nonsense, what's been going on? Well, looking back through my pictures apparently animal cafes. Ella found a great blog full of stuff to do in Bangkok (shout out to Beyond Khao San Road) and we've been going through the more interesting things featured on there. The first was a visit to a Dog Cafe. It was absolutely pouring rain by the time we got there, and we had to just walk in water about shin deep. Oh, Bangkok. But the cafe was really nice, full of some giant dogs that were super excited to see you... for about 60 seconds. Then they were quite happy to just lie there and let you take selfies. These were massive dogs too. However, not as massive as that one dog I found in Keelung back in Taiwan. That thing was a monster. Anyway, I am not a dog person, but I suppose they were pretty cute. The coffee was a bit expensive, but I am sure those big dogs eat like mad.


The other animal destination was a Rabbit Cafe. Yes, apparently that is a thing? Tucked sort of near Udom Suk, it is a sort of place I never would have found otherwise. The rabbits were actually a little more exciting than the dogs. They had a pen in the middle with some pretty big ones, who mostly just... I dunno, did rabbit things? Where they just move their nose up and down? Anyway my favorite was a little black one. They ran around like crazy, and kept going up to this one cage and messing with the rabbit in there. It truly was the coolest rabbit there. There was also a really fat one, who the owner gave us to hold. They did not seem to care at all.

And the final update for today, this one requires some backstory. See, a month or so ago we were travelling along the Chao Phraya river on the boat metro thing, when we saw this Chinese tower. I couldn't find any tourist info on it, or even where it was exactly. It took some searching on Google Earth to finally locate it and figure out how to go. Well, turns out it's not super easy to get to, and is some sort of religious institution. Ella, Dman, and I set out to find it, and they were nothing but friendly. And one lady showed us where everything was and turned lights on for us in all the buildings. Not only do they have a Chinese tower, they have a few full on Chinese temples. I don't think they get many (if any) visitors here, so it was a nice change of pace from the tourist-packed temples. It's really a quite beautiful place overall, and seems like a great place to film a Chinese-themed movie. I think if this place was near the Grand Palace or somesuch, it would be a really popular destination.

Anywho, this concludes our Bangkok update. I'll leave you with a teaser that I began a new project, and I hope to talk about it more in a month or so. It's something I'm kind of passionate about, and I hope it works out as well as I hope. Anyway, see all you lovely peeps in the USA.

Well. Way to fuck it up.

I don't mean Trump supporters. I mean the anti-Trump crowd. This was Hillary's election to lose, and she did. For as crazy as his campaign was, the Republican base did more or less get behind him. As far as the Democrats? Well, too many of them did not want Hillary to be President. Some of them were bummed over how they treated Bernie. Some of them upset over the E-mails. Some of them just didn't like her. Regardless of how you feel or justify it, a non-vote for Hillary was a partial vote for Trump. Because that's the way our messed up, first past the post system works. I don't like it either, but refusing to play Monopoly at all does not mean you win. (actually, perhaps for Monopoly it does - bad analogy, Monopoly sucks).

This isn't meant to be an "I told you so", because I didn't. I didn't expect this, and nobody else really did either. It's more of a "Hindsight is 20/20". The left did a great job of dismissing Trump supporters as ignorant/racist/sexist/violent etc. And there is evidence to support that. But even if that is the case, they are Republicans. And they likely were in the last election, and the one before that. And instead of reaching out to them, the left lumped everyone together and called them names. After that, the Trump supporters didn't say "Oh yes, excellent point. I will reconsider everything I know." They just turned inwards to their bubble. Instead of reaching out, trying to understand, and connect with the not-so-insane members of that group, the left also practiced the intolerance they claimed to be against. They dismissed them, and went back to their curated social media. But those people get to vote. Is it any surprise that people labeled as such would not be honest to pollsters? Which, sidebar, wow, the pollsters messed this one up BADLY. They are going to need to seriously rethink everything they know for the next election.

So now here we are. People are upset, and I suppose that's expected. But then I see the same sort of rhetoric that they derided the Republicans are in the past 8 years. "We're going to block the Republicans with the filibuster" "Impeach Trump", etc etc. You complained that nothing got done under Obama, yet you're advocating for the same environment. It's alright if nothing gets done when you don't want it, I suppose.

Like it or not, he is our President for the next four years. And I don't mean to sound preachy, I don't like it. I voted against Trump, because he has done many things I find deplorable. Too deplorable to represent the country I want to be associated with. And without rhetoric or sarcasm, I'm scared. I feel his temperament, to use his expression, is way too hot headed for someone to control the most powerful force on Earth. I'm also scared that the racists, xenophobes, and whatnot that did support him have now been granted legitimacy. But government reflects what you put into it. If you don't like the results, remember to vote again in 2 years. In the meantime, we're on this crazy ride so let's focus on the positives. There has never been anyone remotely like Trump before as President. Maybe he is the exact thing we need to cut through all the partisanship, corruption, and obstruction that has come to be the US government. I don't think so. But we'll see.

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Also, as on Facebook the offer is totally open for you to come to Asia and start a new life over here. It really is as easy as I make it out to be, and from my perspective, 100x better.