Florida

Posted by landoman - 26/04/09 at 01:04:39 am

Been a couple weeks since my last post. After I got home, all my fun traveling came to a dead stop for about a week. I spent some time catching up with relatives and friends and then decided that WV sucked and that I needed to leave again. So where else do you go when you’re in such a depressing place? Florida!

Stephen’s family lives just outside of Tallahassee so I took off down this way and spent a few days with them. The weather was much nicer down this way with temperatures in the high 70s and 80s (25-28C). It was a nice change. And I definitely hadn’t re-acclimated to cold weather because I was walking around in long sleeves when it was anything less than 70 (25C). Still do, too. And I somehow sprained a tendon in my foot while running one morning. Go figure, another non-fighting injury. I’m doing something wrong… But a couple nice days with the Adams’ before I met up with my parents who were passing through Tallahassee. They had just come from Texas and through New Orleans as part of Pianafiddle’s tour.

We headed to Orlando and hit Universal Studios. Islands of Adventure opened the year after we were last there so it was a whole new park to explore. With actual roller coasters, too! The Hulk was especially fun. The coaster is almost immediately accelerated out of a tube that launches you over the edge and into a corkscrew. None of that boring clink-clink-clink up a hill. And no time to get that lovely nervous feeling; just straight into terror! After a bit we headed over to the old Universal side. That side of that park is fun, but the nostalgia was shattered after going through the Jaws ride. I remember it so clearly from my younger days…but this time it was such a scripted ride. I guess that’s the downside of being old enough to know what’s going on.

After Orlando we moved on to Juno Beach, just a few minutes above West Palm Beach. The first night there was actually pretty cold (by my standards). We were just a block from the ocean and a front was pushing through that evening. Between the cooler evening temperatures and the cold ocean wind I was definitely feeling out of place. But things warmed up and cleared up for the rest of the week so I was back to normal. Pianafiddle played great concerts in Boca Raton and later in Palm Beach Gardens. And I was able to meet up with a few old work friends on my last night there. A nice time, all in all.

Now I’m back in Tallahasee for a few days, relaxing and trying to figure out what I want to do with my life. It warmed up a lot over the past week and is in the 90s (33C) this weekend! I gave my friend Patrick a call but as luck would have it he was in the process of packing his car and heading home for a couple weeks. Bastard. But I’ve at least had time to think about my future career. Though it hasn’t helped much. I’ve no desire to go back to IT and I’ve been rolling around the idea of journalism, geology, and microbiology (not all at once, of course). I hear Umeå University in Sweden is a pretty fantastic uni. Who knows!

Tattoo

Posted by landoman - 30/03/09 at 10:03:13 am

A soft breeze blows through the room as a hard tropical rain pounds the island outside.  As relaxed as I am — just on the verge of falling asleep — the dull pain resonating through my arm just won’t let me slip into a tranquil sleep.  My thoughts shift back and forth between daydreaming, the hum of a small machine, and the needle it pumps into my skin twenty times per second.  What surprises me the most is how little it hurts.  Occasionally I’ll feel quick jets of pain as the needle hits a nerve but even then I’m still able to hover on the verge of sleep.  And at the same time I’m enthralled at the idea that someone is literally drawing on my flesh.  That puts a realistic spin on it, eh?

After an hour or so I’ve got a nice, shiny drawing permanently set under my skin.  Finally!  Throughout the whole ordeal, and the time afterward, nothing more than an uncomfortable ache can be felt.  It still surprises me how little it hurt.  Either some people can’t tolerate pain or they all exaggerate the pain.  Probably both.

Then comes round two.  After having my left upper arm stamped we move on to a unique Thai tattoo called Sak Yant.  It’s different than a tattoo gun in that, traditionally, sak yant are performed using a long wooden stick to “tap” ink into the skin.  Fortunately times have changed and instead of having wood tapped into me a hypodermic needle (that’s used in a gun) is stuck to the end of the stick.  Another difference between sak yant and tattoo guns are the rituals behind sak yant.  Before the tattooing begins a brief ceremony is held to bless the tattoo.  The artist purifies the skin and breathes life into the soon-to-be tattoo.

Then the fun begins.  While guns pump the needle into skin so fast that only waves of pain can be felt, the stick gets tapped into skin only once or twice a second — every entry is felt.  Since this one is getting drawn on my left shoulder blade the pain is manageable; still quite distinct, but manageable.  The skin towards my side is the most sensitive but as the needle moves closer to the middle of my back the pain rapidly dulls.  Regardless, time slows with each tap.  But soon the major outline is finished and only a few touch-ups remain.  The pain is nearly gone at this point and my skin is already starting to heal.  Now I not only have an awesome tattoo but I’ve got quite a story to tell as well.

Interesting Week

Posted by landoman - 10/02/09 at 04:02:24 pm

Last week, two interesting new people showed up at Coco.  A half-brother and sister, Alex was born in Belgium and his sister Marisa was born here in Bangkok.  They met for the first time a little over two weeks ago when they first found out they were related.  So Alex is here training at TMT and having a little miniature family reunion.  Like I said: interesting!

But I’ve been hanging out with them for the past few days.  We went out to eat one night last week and I found out that Marisa is a model and actress in Bangkok.  She’s been in Thai soap operas and other t.v. shows/commercials since she was a teenager.  I thought she was just pulling my leg at first but then I started looking around and noticed every Thai in the restaurant hiding behind things, slack-jawed and staring at us.  It was hilarious and totally awesome.  We went out to Patong a couple times this weekend and it was the same scenario everywhere we went.  People stopping, doing double-takes, and giggling in delight when they realize who they’re looking at.  I’ve never seen anything like it.  It’s amazing!

Speaking of Patong, I’m starting to dislike that place now.  Friday night we went out for a bit and Alex got sick.  Saturday we went out again to make up for the previous night and I got sick.  Also on Friday, Ryan was visiting his parents at Kata Beach and he, too, got sick; blaming Patong for that one anyways.

I lied about being settled in…

Posted by landoman - 26/01/09 at 10:01:56 pm

…because until yesterday I didn’t have a grill to cook my own food. Or a blender. My villa is now complete.

grill

Also yesterday we went and hit a bucket of balls at the Phuket Country Club driving range.  Ryan learned how to play, Jazz ended up tossing his club further down the range than he could hit a ball, and I stood back and made them all look good.

Then later, we went back to Kata and ditched Ryan to buy some counterfeit swag.  For less than 1/5 of the U.S. cost, I picked up a sweet North Face backpack.  It’s quite nicely made, actually. I’ll have to stock up on some stuff before I go back…

Cape Promthep

Posted by landoman - 24/01/09 at 04:01:14 pm

I rode down to the southern tip of Phuket earlier today and checked out Cape Promthep — the southern-most point of Phuket. The road slowly winds up a hill and spits you out beside a little lighthouse. From there you can see the waves breaking against the cliffs below. The view from the the cape was amazing. I could see far up the coast on each side; Rawai to the east and Naiharn to the west.

I left the cape and headed up the western side of the island. Naiharn Beach is just a few kilometers north of the cape so I stopped off and did a bit of snorkeling. There’s one little stretch of beach with some rocky outcroppings that I was able to snorkel around in for a bit. I’ve never seen so many sea urchins in such a small area. To be fair, I’ve never seen wild sea urchins period. I’m glad I had fins on because if would’ve been messy if I had tried to stand in that water.

I moved further up the coast to Naiharn proper and lounged around for a bit. Naiharn is one of the nicer beaches I’ve been to so far. You can walk further out into the water before it starts getting even relatively deep. And the water itself is a lot clearer than I’ve seen so far. The only downside to all of this was the sweet sunburn I got. Apparently salt water takes sunscreen right off; apparently.

Oh, and by popular demand, pictures of me!

Eating KFC
kfc

Me with UFC fighter Mike Swick
swick

New Photos

Posted by landoman - 19/01/09 at 10:01:26 pm

I added some new photos of my weekend excursions:

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