Postcards from Bangkok

So, I spent a week in Thailand last month. It was really, really, really, super-duper great.

Anyways. More on all the fun vacation shizz in a second.

Today is June 16th. You may already be aware of this given the fact that, you know, this post is literally dated ‘June 16th’. Right up there. In the center, beneath the title. In teeny black letters. Yeah.

This means a couple of thingamajigs.
1. In under two weeks school will be ovaaaa. I’ve been working toward this photography certificate for nearly four years, guys. Sure, I’ve maybe-kinda-sorta been half-assing it for a (long) while now but that’s not that point, is it? Assuming all goes well and I somehow manage to pass… I’ll have actually finished an academic (um, if photo even counts as such lol) program for the first time since… the eighth grade. Seriously. I dropped out of high school, then switched unis halfway through college. Do I lack follow-through? Maybe, maybe not. Who even cares. I’m finishing something, peoples!
2. In two weeks I’ll have wrapped up work, as well. As I teach English, classes logically take place throughout the academic year and don’t extend through the summer months. Which means I’ll have a couple months off before picking up again in September. Yay! Next year I’ll unfortunately have to reduce the number of hours I work per week as school will be more intense, but I suppose it’ll all be okay. Less income, though, which totally sucks. Oh well.

In other news… that book I’ve been toiling away at for, like, ever… well, the very first copy arrived. Annnnnd… it wasn’t perfect. I mean, I know I ought to have expected as such given that first drafts are literally never-ever entirely lacking in faults and errors. But I was kinda hoping it would come out just as I’d wanted, you know? It’s okay. It’s still quite good, decent enough for me to present at my final critique on June 25th. And over the summer I’ll have plenty of time to correct the images which didn’t print just as I’d intended. At that point I’ll be able to print copies for my friends and family, as well as for anyone who’d like to purchase one… I’ll share an update here when the time comes.

Oh. I guess you’d like me to tell you a bit about Bangkok, now, huh? Assuming you’re still here… (are those crickets I hear chirping…?)

As I’ve surely mentioned here at some point in the past, my grandfather, my aunt (my dad’s half-sister) and her family live in Thailand, where my grandpa has built fields upon fields of (insanely beautiful) plumeria farms. My dad passes several months there each year, making cuttings of said plumerias which he then sells in California and around the world. Last December he invited me to tag along on his annual May trip, and I of course said yes, because duh.

I had the best time. 

As I’m sure you’re aware, given that literally all I do on this online space of mine is complain about how effing hard life is, my 2019 has been absolute shit (thus far, anyway, let’s try to stay optimistic?). This week away from school and work and sadness was healing. I’m still exhausted. But honestly, if not for this trip, I’m pretty sure I’d have fallen apart by now.

My grandpa doesn’t live in Bangkok… more on that in a future post (I have three planned in total, two on Bangkok – including this one – and one on Lampang) but due to an appointment he had in the city my dad and I ended up spending more time there than originally planned. This was of course fine by me… this city is fudging incredible, after all. So full of energy and buzz, not to mention it’s prettttty.

I took way too many pictures. Way. way. way. too many. I hope you like them.

(Also, yes, yes I did have a McDonald’s soft serve on my very last evening there. And yes, it was literally everything. So good, ugh.)