Just an average day

            The first couple of weeks here in Chiang Mai were loaded with a ton of things to accomplish as well as many activities to take part in. That is why this week was such a great week for me. This is the first week that I really got into a nice routine. Before I go into this weekly routine of mine I should first say that a friend of mine gave me some advice about keeping up with a Blog. In order to keep it active, it’s important to update it often, he said. Even if the updates are short little stories or just a few pics uploaded from the day’s events. And so per this bit of advice, I am just going to give a quick run down of my day.

            It’s a funny thing when the day is yours and you are beholding to no other entities schedules or expectations. Knowing that the day is fully mine has given me a new perspective on the direction in which the day will take me. Now I find that the morning of every day has me excited in expectation of the day’s events. My eyes open and I am instantly awake and ready to get my day started at 6:30 in the morn. It is my day, the to and froes, the times and places, the meals the happenings, it is all up to me. Yes… yes, I am aware that this bliss is fleeting; that sooner or later there will be entanglements, obligations, individuals and responsibilities that will factor into the way the days will unfold. And this will be just fine; melding my schedule with those of others is something that I have been doing for my entire life and is something that I do not have a problem with. However, I do have this momentary release from that paradigm of obligation and I am enjoying the reprieve immensely.  With the disadvantages of being a stranger in a strange land there are also many advantages that I am just now beginning to recognize. Since my grasp of the language here is just below rudimentary at best the local populace does not expect me to engage in any sort of small talk or basic niceties. Negating these basic interactions frees up a ton of time as well as allows me to avoid the internal dialogue that invariably appears when I am put into these elevator - small inescapable – scenarios, in which I am constantly wishing the interaction would just end. Think about how nice it would be to go through the entire day knowing that you are not going to run into another person that will just simply occupy your time with a bunch of  and then … and then … and then. Oh, to not be in the bondage of obliged conversation is serenity that in itself makes this excursion to the other side of the world so very worthwhile.

            OK... OK, I digress; I fall into unnecessary diatribes at times, so now I will move onto the day’s activities. I was just writing down the day’s events, starting with what time I awoke and the mornings such and such and I found that it was necessary to go back and delete all of that detail, no one wants to hear my and then… and then. Here is a short summary of the day; today, I take a 20 minute walk in the AM to a little place located in the old town square, where a nice lady makes me the best Koa Tom, she serves it with coffee, some sort of tang like drink and water. After breakfast, I walk the 20 minutes back to my place and pick up my golf clubs. Then I head off to the double decked driving range that has automatic ball dispensers, as well as people to assist with food, drink, or whatever else one may require. The place is pretty much like a heaven to me. It’s a 30 minute walk for me to get to the driving range/golf course. All of this walking is about the only exercise that I’ve been getting as of late but I think I will start doing some standard calisthenics in the mornings. For the umpteenth time, I have quit smoking and so far it seems to be going well. Its day four and I haven’t really been too tempted to start up again. Just so long as I can avoid the damn bar for the next few weeks, I think I should be fine.  So, nothing too spectacular to give you in this little update but not every day can be filled with over the top experiences. Appreciating the mundane is something that I have no problem in doing. I love routine and I find it’s enjoyable to take pleasure in the everyday happenings. Sure it’s a cliche to say something like “be in the moment” in a country that is 90% Buddhist, so be it; I love cliches I suppose.

Enjoy your day, I’m enjoying mine.