Minecraft Effects

Oh boy, I did get to bed before midnight last night, but I was up again at 5 to continue my adventure before Grace came looking for me to go to the playground.

The adventure is great. After building a fortress hidden in a mountain range with windows overlooking both side and setting up a lot of stone columns with torches in the surrounding area outside for landmarks and to light the place up in those terrifying nights, I dug deep into the earth searching for iron. It was nasty work though and very dangerous.

I woke up one fine day and whilst collecting sand to make more windows I decided to trek along the shoreline for a stretch. The landscape quickly changed from alpine to jungle. I cut a path through the creepers and bushes and found an attractive pond just inland. It was getting late so I dug a small shelter in the earth and secured myself inside for the night. Whilst doing a bit of mining in my humble camp I uncovered an underground chasm. I saw horrible beasts down there looking up at me. I quickly blocked it up and waited for dawn.

I set off again further along the coast but ran into some monsters that nailed me. I lost my stuff and was respawned close to my mountain fortress. Since then a lag has crept into play, which I am desperately trying to fix by a multitude of defragging and running cleaning software and updating java.

Also, blistering headaches have appeared and my eyes are sore. All this in less than a day.

I feel gutted that my brain can't cope with staring at a screen anymore, even though I desperately want to carry on my adventure. I also noted I became snappy and grumpy, something I know technology can do to an individual.

Minecraft

Somehow I started playing Minecraft on the Ipad. Wow! What fun.

Arriving in a strange, blocky land. Zombies appear at night. Quickly you must learn to build a shelter with a strong door, before they kill you. Horrible, scary sounds of moaning zombies. Make torches, pick axes and so much more. Did deep, and I mean very deep into the earth to find iron. It's incredibly scary.

After a couple of days I bought, yes bought, the PC version. Far superior and I am terribly hooked, playing into the night. I built a furnace and created glass from sand I collected on the beach. Now I have snazzy windows at which to gaze through at the blocky pine trees and snow, as I hide in my mountain fortress, as zombies prowl around outside.

Peter, you must. It's cheap.

The Storyteller

Here's Joseph Campbell. Storyteller and expert on world folklore. He has a wonderful voice for recounting ancient stories from across the globe and explains the significance of the various characters in stories, that of heroes and the frog sitting by the side of the road. Star Wars borrows heavily from this. Should you feel inclined you can find his audio books on Pirate Bay and indulge yourself in some fascinating listening.

Cave and Park

 An entertaining day out with Oi's family at some local caves. I am keen to see more of the local nature, and there is an abundance.

 Made the compulsory stop offs at the houses of 3 friends and families. All kind and welcoming folks.

The main park in the town is pretty good with ponds, plenty of fish, a turtle, various playground equipment, a sports stadium, ice creams and places to walk.

State of Things to Come

Stuff going on in the world right now that is horrible and mad.

How North Korea can state it is targeting US sites without any comeback is incredible considering what has gone before.

China buying up South American rainforests for oil extraction.

China blowing up Vietnamese ships in the South China Sea as they lay claim to everything.

China buying up Africa.

Europe going down the plughole big time.

Mad men with no respect for anything plundering the world at whatever cost.

One can only watch with baited breath as to how things will turn out. 

Star Wars Robot Chicken

To those that were sorrily deprived of such greatness, I urge you to view it at your earliest convenience. It is among the funniest things I have ever seen...

Gaming

Those who know me know that I love games, though almost no one ever speaks to me on the subject as no one I know shares the same hobby, with exception to Kyle in Bangkok and Joel.

Anyway, for one reason or another gaming has been coming back to me, either because I am increasingly isolated in my existence, or that the Ipad is such a great gaming device, and seems to be a bridge between video gaming and more traditional board gaming. I already own several board game conversion on the Ipad which are very impressive.

So I have been looking into this subject a lot lately, as well as In Our Time and Material World on BBC Radio 4.

There are some Dungeons and Dragons board games that look really fun. Being in Thailand poses a problem, and having no one to play them with, though it must be said that Oi is a massive fan of Carcassonne. She plays several online games a day and I am hoping to lure her in with some other treats, though she does seem to be dedicated to one game at a time. Before this it was Plants Vs. Zombies which now lies neglected. However, board games are a more robust beast and demand a greater level of admiration than a mere video game.

Anyway, I have discovered these Dungeons and Dragons board game which seem rather appealing to my tiny Chinese mind, and on the geeky Board Game Geek forums they state that some titles are to be converted to the Ipad. This is interesting news and if I cannot find a way to acquire a physical copy let alone some fool to play it with me, maybe I can lay my grubby hands on an ipad version.

For you geeks, here is a video review of the third in the series, The Legend of Dritzz. The reviewer is awesome by the way;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRLJ7r3uFZA

Beach and River

 Today, I rode the motorcycle to the beach where we stayed with Mum back in October, Canbana Beach. Although hot, it was quite stunning and I took the slow road back to town along the coast. Almost deserted and winding from cove to cove. It was great fun. I eventually found myself back in town, acquired some gin, limes, ice and soda water. There is still no tonic here from the floods two years ago which destroyed the factory.

 On the way home I stopped to observe an enormous tree. It stood by a river, so I suggested we take Grace there in the evening. She had cut her knee the previous day in the naff swimming pool on the estate. This, however, was a wonderful alternative. Before too long she was in the water collecting snails and shrimps. Oi knew all the species and which ones you could eat.

 There is a rather fun suspension bridge across the river which wobbles and can take a motorcycle. As you can see there is a great area for paddling and swimming.

 The giant tree is indeed special and has ribbons tied around it. It looks pretty old. I would say between 200-300 years old. The roots are enormous.

A great evening and another great place to hang out, and a 2 minute ride from home.

Kon Tiki

 

This Norwegian movie from 2012 is first class.Oi and I watched it last night and were enthralled. The photography and pace are excellent and the realism of the shark and whale encounters make new CGI movies look lame. Highly recommended and a rare treat.

Back Online

Phew!

An enormous move! Oi did a great job of organising everyone and with help from her 2 brothers we packed 2 trucks and left Hat Yai behind us. It was a good ride up and everything went without a hitch. Obviously, it was very tiring it is only now, a week later, that we are starting to feel relaxed again. Oi signed her job and Grace is enrolled to start in Kindergarten year 1 in May. I found a job at one of the main schools in town teaching 14-15 year olds, again starting in May. There is a 50 meter pool at my school which I get to use for free. I also checked out a couple of private teaching places and put my name down for some extra work.

The new house is in an estate. It is rather pleasant and there is a basic playground, a naff pool, a shop and a hairdressers all within the estate grounds. It makes for an easy life.

I have been studying Google Earth to get my bearings and I took a trip to the coast to see the sea. It is quite fantastic, though the weather is incredibly hot right now which prevents any major excursions.

Internet just got connected and we are nearly at 100%. Just a blocked drain to fix and the water just suddenly stopped, a regular thing in Thailand.

People here seem friendly and there is not a lot of traffic on the roads. So glad, as Hat Yai traffic was making me seriously unhappy. It's very rural here and riding around the country lanes among the farmland is great fun.

More later...

The Last Supper

Last night had a fun dinner with Sudarat (boss of Smart English) and folks. It was fun and quite sad. I'm glad Gee and I patched things up after my near breakdown at private classes with her a few years ago. She is a treasure, as are they all in their own ways.

Today, Oi's brothers Om and Ot are coming down in a truck and tomorrow we will move. I am packing glass and sorted through all my junk. Oi is out the back washing down the kitchen stuff.

Grace is hiding under the table on the porch outside and playing Hay Day on the ipad, which she somehow managed to install herself?!#%

I have beeen studying Chum Phon on Google Earth and various tourist websites. It seems there is a ton of stuff to do there with great nearby islands and bungalows to stay in, rafting, national parks, waterfall and caves. I can't wait to get exploring.

Brief Return to Hat Yai

It's Tuesday and we are waiting until Friday for the actual move to Chum Phon.

I'm sick with a cold. My eye started up with some infection the kids had up in Chum Phon. Seems like I got sick from them. I have been trying to take it easy and not do to much and have a chance to recover before Friday's big push. It's going to be hectic.

Oi has been great packing things up and Grace has been busy rummaging around all the boxes.

We have to start cancelling Internet and stuff like that.

Tom left for Koh Phang Nang today with Patrick on their motorbikes. It's quite a hike and I hope it goes smoothly for him. I probably won't see Tom for a few months now. There is little chance of me getting to his island with all the stuff we have to do.

I have watched all available episodes of Enlighted, which was great fun.

A new Tomb Raider game has been released -am downloading.

For gaming enthusiasts, a game I used to have in UK, Space Hulk is to be released for the ipad which sounds like fun.

Got a great radio app, RSS Radio, which automatically downloads all my subscribed radio shows for me. In Our Time, Material World, Any Questions all stream onto the ipad without me even knowing about it. I always try to listen to at least one show when I go to bed.

There are a few small errands to do this week as we wait for our final departure. It's good to have some downtime between finding the new house and the move.

It's boiling hot here now!

Finding a House

Oi's new school.

Back to the farm to find a new house in Chum Phon. I got horribly sick with the flu shortly after arrival which dampened any fun I would have on the grueling search for a new abode.

After two days of fruitless searching and a couple of red herrings we were pretty exhausted and in despair.

As we were heading home we spotted a falang going into a shop. Oi said, "Go and ask him." I jumped out the car and somewhat awkwardly approached the chap and inquired rather sheepishly of any vacant properties he may know of. In a manner not unlike Micheal Caine he replied, "You met the right man on the right day!" He asked us to follow him on his motorcycle and led us to the house we are now in possession of! What a relief! What a joy! Just as we were giving up hope Lady Luck comes waltzing in.

Oi confirmed and signed a contract for her new job and every day after our work was done we rested at the farm. It was blazing hot, of course and I was feeling lousy with a thick head full of cold, but at least we had somewhere to relax. I read part of a Star Wars novel I picked up (the story follows immediately after The Return of the Jedi) as is storming fun actually. I played a lot of games on the ipad and sunk a few cans on a couple of nights.

Grace had a whale of a time with her cousin Ot on the farm. There was a poor puppy and a terrified cat which were tormented beyond despair during the visit. In fact, there was the constant din of crying children and plenty of pee and vomit. The hot nights were spent in a tiny room under a mosquito net. When the toilet summoned, one had to crawl out and fumble around in the dark for the hole in the floor loo. I was reminded of the brochure of my Iceland trip back in 1997 which read, "Guests will not expect comfort." That wasn't too bad, but this tested even my neanderthal facilities. Lucky I had done a ton of swimming prior to the trip thus I was feeling fairly limber. 

So now we are back in Hat Yai having arrived on a Sunday morning to stupefying traffic jams which only serve to remind me of why it is good to leave here. We have to pack, make some final farewells and get the Hey out of here.

Chum Pon offers fantastic recreation and a more social and fun life for us, with the family close by. There are beaches, islands, caves  waterfalls all waiting to be explored.

The only main outstanding thing for me to do is to get a job. But that's a different story.