Cue the celebrations! This is my 200th blog post!

It's hard to believe that when I started this blog on a whim, I would maintain it for so long. I half expected it to be like when I tried out Twitter for... a month. (I still don't really get the point of Twitter) But here I am, and I'm quite liking it. I see no reason why I can't do another 200 more.

So, for my 200th post, I scoured all the videos I've taken since I went to Asia. I'd like to post some of my favorites, talk about the background of them, etc etc. Unfortunately, that will need to be saved for the next post. I'm about to talk about something sad, so if you'd like to not hear it, I completely understand and I'd recommend checking back next time.

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I got to experience something this week that I've never experienced before. I had to deal with the death of a friend.

And I say these are things that I had to deal with. Of course it's not a "me" thing, it's a "we" thing. There are people far more affected by this than I am, and people far less. And people are welcome to grieve however they'd like. But for the people who are left behind, it sucks. It really fucking sucks. I've had three relatives that I really knew die so far. And as callous as it sounds, those deaths were not totally unexpected. They were quite old, and the writing was on the wall, so to speak. I'm not saying it wasn't terrible, but, not unexpected. Stefan's death was totally out of right field, which I suppose makes it feel worse. This was a guy I hung out with. We went to see movies, we want to bars together, he was my friend. I have never lost a friend before. I have had those relatives and acquaintances die. (Scotty, Grant) And yeah, it sucks too. It's hard to believe someone you knew, someone you interacted with, is gone now. Just gone. Like dust in the wind. And all you have of them are memories that will never be added to. It's a real punch to the gut, and right now, I don't see how things could get better.

But the weird thing I am learning about this process, is that I'm completely functional on the outside. I go about my day. But when I see something that reminds me of him... I just lose it. Someone liked a thing on Facebook he was tagged in, and when I got the notification, I turned into a blubbering man-child on the metro. And of course, this stranger had no idea the effect they had on me. And perhaps we could learn a lesson about having no idea what kind of day a person is having, and that crying foreigner on the metro isn't (too) insane. But regardless, I know in time, I will learn to cope better and better with it. But what a shitty thing to have to get used to.

I know the few readers of this blog are my friends back in the States. You didn't really know Stefan, and that's cool. But the thing about moving around, and living overseas, is that your circle of friends tends to be small. Part of it is that unless I make giant strides with Thai, you can cut out 95% of the people right away. And even within the remaining group, often times you don't have the time to really establish real friendships before someone, inevitably, moves on to another country.

Stefan was one of those people who was cool with everyone. He didn't care if you were Thai, western, man, woman, black, white, or something else. If you spoke to him, and asked him to come out, he would fucking be there. It was never a "maybe" or "I'll see", it was "I'll be there at 7", and he's there at 6:45. About one year ago, I learned a really painful lesson that you often don't appreciate things until they're gone. And I got a serious reminder of that last night. So, to Future Weg. I hope you have a great circle of friends that you can hang out with. And it's quite easy to say "Don't take them for granted." But what that actually means, is that every one of them teaches you things, and brings you unique experiences that no one in the world will ever have. When you read this blog in 10, 20 years from now, I hope you take a second to remember one of the few friends you had in Bangkok. One of the few people who really appreciated YOU, wanted to spend time with YOU, and left you all the better for having known him.

I'll miss you Stefan.

What's up everybody! It's a lovely... 38 degrees here in Bangkok, which is just above 100 for all of you Imperial Stormtroopers. But no worries, since it's the rainy season we get about 1 hour of rain a day to raise the humidity to unbearable levels. How do we survive? Copious amounts of air conditioning and cheap beer. Regardless, this city is a testament to man's arrogance.

I realized the previous entry is waaaaay back from when I was in Macau, which, surprise, I am no longer in Macau. I had a week or so holiday after I got back to lounge around and honestly, play a lot of video games. But all that free time was fleeting, as things are in full swing back at work and at school. I've also picked up another contract teaching evenings, which leads to some hectic days. However, on the plus side this contracting gig is less work than the previous, despite the same pay.

But nobody here wants to hear about someone's job (unless it's like, Shark Laser Installer). No, everyone is more interested in what sorts of shenanigans I've been getting up to recently. There's been a few meetups, including a bike ride around Bang Nam Pheung. It seems that this group is mostly an older bunch, with significant others who work while they do things like, well, go for bike rides around Bang Nam Pheung. Sounds like a pretty sweet gig to me! Where can I sign up to be one of those! Heck, why am I even working? Ella and I also started to go to an Italian Meetup, despite not being Italian. But in reality, everyone there is super nice and will switch to English when addressing us. Mostly it's a, "Lets go eat Italian food" meetup. But I still feel a little weird, ya know? This is their chance to meet their fellow countrymen and speak Italian, and there's this American with a few Chinese friends there. But still, pizza is delicious. It would appear we have a conundrum on our hands.

More exciting is that Ella and I went to Siam Ocean World, a large aquarium located in the center of the city. It's taken us this long to go because well, it's expensive. But they've been running a promo, and we also cashed in all of our spare change we've been accumulating for the past year or more. In the end it was about 2500 baht ($70?), so I think we can afford to spend a little bit. Unbeknownst to me until we were there, is that this was Ella's first time at an aquarium. And it's a pretty good one! It's pretty much on par with the Newport Aquarium, big enough but not mind blowingly huge. I think that honor would have to be reserved for the one in Kending, Taiwan. Nice aquarium, that was. Still, we got to see all of the standard stuff. I liked it, I think Ella really liked it. We still have about $50 of spending money to use, so the opportunities are endless (as long as they are under $50).

We also went to a sky bar, which is perhaps one of the more luxurious places I've been before. Like being in Macau, it's so fancy it makes me feel uneasy. However, once on the roof we were treated to some really great jazz music, with an amazing view of Lumphini Park. And despite the $7 or so pricetag for my cocktail, it honestly was one of the best cocktails I've ever had. With a big slice of pineapple to boot, I worry it will begin to spoil me. Please, cocktails. Stop being delicious. I really can't afford you every day. I can however, afford $7/liter Thai Whiskey. Although it tastes slightly less good.

There was also an excursion to the newly renovated Science and Technology Museum, which is much less renovated than I thought. Yeah they fixed some things, but mostly it's similar to how it was 1 year ago, and probably similar to how it was from 1987. I invited some of my new coworkers to come along, who I felt did not really enjoy the experience. I mean, it is a science and technology museum. It was pretty much what I expected. However, they noped out pretty early to go to the bar. And so they remained there until we caught up with them again that evening, some 8 hours later. I can't even begin to imagine what their tab was, but also... wow! Sitting at a bar for 8 hours? I get antsy after watching a movie for an hour, I can't imagine being at a bar that long. Also, it's at a bar called the Drunken Leprechaun. It is also staffed by little people dressed in leprechaun attire. I've been there once before, years ago when I first came to Bangkok. I didn't think about it at the time, but ya know, there is absolutely no way such a venue would survive in the west. I would imagine some people would find it a touch offensive. But ah well. When in Asia. It was located next to the new Hooters, and I find their prices even more offensive. I get it if you live here, you are nostalgic for... whatever Hooters provides. But you're in Thailand. If you want girls, you are a 5 minute walk from bars that show far more, and across the street from far better chicken wings for far less. It boggles me how popular that place is.

Speaking of overpriced things, one of the "big malls" of Bangkok, Siam Discovery re-opened after being closed for half a year or so. Originally it was just, ya know, a mall. Nothing too special in it, aside from an Outback Steakhouse. Now they've re-branded as a trendy, upscale sort of place. We were walking through their flagship store when Ella went to look at some top. It said "Made in China" on the unusually prominent tag, so we had a laugh about that. You know the price? 40,000 baht. $1200. What. the. fuck. Forget Hooter's overpriced menu, I'm offended that such a thing could exist. I hope this store is shut down by INTERPOL before anyone buys a thing from there. I don't want to be friends with anyone who spends $1200 on some piece of clothing. The rest of the mall is also quite expensive, though perhaps not on such a scale. A lot of "trendy" things that could be bought for 1/10th the price on the internet. It did have a nice comic book/model/game/nerd thing store though. They were playing a PS4 on a massive TV, which was nice. I looked it at and thought, "This costs less than a $5 blouse from China, apparently."

Other than that, life is fairly normal in little old Bangkok. We had a few get togethers with friends, including another pair of new coworkers. We gathered at a night market, and it was a lovely and pretty crazy night. Phones were lost (not ours), and getting home apparently happened. Ella has claimed she will "never drink again" after that.

Famous last words.