My Lil’ Saigon

10 days already? I’m surprised at my lack of motivation to show any attention to this site.

Anyway. I must give commendations to my friend Christoff for giving me some seriously addictive books. I’ve ready almost 2 complete 500 page novels in under 2 weeks time. I’ve been so addicted that I’ve read late into the night, when I normally would be ( and should be) sleeping.

The first book I read was The Leopard Hunts in the Darkness by Wilbur Smith. It was addictive enough for me to read hours at at time. I finished the book in about 5-6 sittings, and it has 500+ pages. I highly recommend it to anyone who likes novels, Africa, or a good book. One evening I was reading before I was to sleep and I reached a very intense section of the book, I continued reading until it was over and I found I hadn’t looked up from the book in over an hour, and had read almost 100 pages.

I am very excited to see what the other 2 books that Christoff gave me are like, if they are anything like the first 2 he gave me, then I will be busy for the next 2 weeks with my nose buried in the pages.

It’s been one week since you looked at me
Cocked your head to the side and said “I’m angry”
Five days since you laughed at me saying
“Get that together come back and see me”
Three days since the living room
I realized it’s all my fault, but couldn’t tell you
Yesterday you’d forgiven me
but it’ll still be two days till I say I’m sorry

I know I haven’t posted anything in awhile. To be honest, nothing interesting has happened to me and I would rather not bore you with the usual drivel of my life while I wait for my next paycheck.

Still waiting on that workpermit, Don’t know what to do about my US taxes, Wildlife at Risk is slow at responding, and I’ve been studying Vietnamese too little.

I’ve started reading some novels by Wilbur Smith thanks to my friend Christoff, I have about 3000 pages of reading to do, but I feel that I could easily get sucked into the novels and it probably won’t take too long.

Other than that, I’ll let you know when I figure out my pictures… or if something interesting actually happens.

Until then… I’ll just eat my phỏ and teach the rugrats.

I love this comic, I originally thought it was only in the Daily Cardinal, but as it turns out the strip is a bit more popular than that. It is rude, crude and absolutely hilarious. For adult eyes only.

The Perry Bible Fellowship

Also… Apparently my company overpaid me 38 hours from January, which gave me a nice cash boost on my return, but made it so I won’t get any money until I’ve worked those 38 hours that I was paid for. With me working a lot less these days, that will take longer than one would hope.

Here’s to hoping that those private lessons start pretty soon.

Sunset In Wisconsin, originally uploaded by bdcotter.

Wisconsin: The thirtieth state. To many, it is merely “near Chicago”, to me it represents home, in all its good and bad qualities. The state contains that which I love most, as well as things I despise greatly. I cannot deny that my love of the state is a bit biased, I have lived there my entire life, I have very little first hand experience in the lives of those outside of the state borders. Even within my own country I have traveled very little, with only having spent an extended period of time in one state other that Wisconsin, with that being Minnesota, our lake-endowed neighbor (and even then it was only Minneapolis and ice fishing).

Anyway you put it, I am well versed in Wisconsin. I love the nature, being able to walk around for a day and not see, hear, smell, or even come near another human being. There is a certain peace that it brings to a person. This return visit may not have been as exciting as the other things I could of done, but it was enjoyable in its own fashion. The weather was not cooperative, being as cold as -20c, but everything else was seeming set in stone (or ice in this case). My hometown remained unchange, though I’m told my high school classmates have now taken their respective spots at the local bars. In my month at home, I only took one trip into the town that I went to high school in. I had no reason to go there, I had not spoken at length to anyone from my high school in many months, nor did I want to see them sucking their life out of bottles of bud light. I am not against beer, in fact I love it, but abuse of that nature is different. Most of my time was spent inside my parents house, reading and staying warm. While this sounds boring, I cannot complain (other than the frigid outdoors). I spent time with my parents, and got to see some family.

About half of my time was spent at my alma mater, the University of Wisconsin-Madison. I spent time reacquainting myself with the campus and associated bars. My friends welcomed me home in standard fashion, meaning beer and bullshit (chit-chat, discussion, gossip, etc). Few things had changed, mainly addresses and bank account balances, many were still slaving for their diplomas, while others were struggling to get jobs in the field they had just went into debt for. I beared the cold, and took it like a student. I walked. My brother lives about 3-4km from the capital. Many evenings I would spend near the capital at a friend’s house and bars around there, and then walk home to sleep in my brother’s unheated basement. I would then wake up early and go to Mickies for the great american breakfast with a friend. Eggs, bacon, pancakes, and potatoes were all consumed in various delicious concoctions served with a bottomless cup of coffee (coffee flavored water for the rest of the world). You could call this my comfort food, as well as a blubber-builder.



Universitiy of Wisconsin Bell Tower, originally uploaded by bdcotter.

Anyway you put it, I miss the University. The pursuit of knowledge is something I respect greatly, even if I lack the attention span to do so myself. To me it is the crown jewel of Wisconsin, as outside the city limits, the pursuit of a living and individual conquests over take that for the advancement of study. This leads to a dichotomy of the state, with many labeling Madison, A city surrounded by reality. Sometimes I feel that the differences between the two “groups” is manufactured and merely a matter of semantics.

With all the goods and bads, Wisconsin is a place for homebodies. Many people would never be able to live there. It is for a special breed of people, those that will bear the cold, appreciate the trees, ignore the desire of metropolitan life and massive materialism, and enjoy the quiet expanses of fields and forests. For me, it would be good, but only if I was part of the University, as I don’t think I could work a normal job in Wisconsin for reasons I will not disclose here.

At this moment I cannot be sure where my life will go, and thats a good thing. For now I’ll just let things be, enjoy my tropcial weather and always have the knowledge that my home state is resistant to paving over the trees. Some people think that Wiscosin is full of old-fashioned fools, but I think it is just full of people who are happy with what they have, and that is okay with me.

QUEUE - |kyoō| noun
1. chiefly Brit. a line or sequence of people or vehicles awaiting their turn to be attended to or to proceed.

This is a word I do not believe is translatable into Vietnamese (just kidding, it translates roughly to: hàng xếp nối đuôi nhau, which might be why no one understands the concept). Basically, the orderly lines and polite adherence to this order that occurs in America and most European countries does not occur here in any way, shape, or form. If you aren’t pushing to the counter to buy what you want, then you won’t get there. First come, first serve is more like most aggressive, first served. I can be standing an arms length from the cashier and still be cut in front of from both sides if I don’t push forward and put my items down and engage the cashier. This is also how it works when parking bikes, you must slowly nudge forward until someone yields.

While I don’t believe that being trained to get in a queue automatically is necessarily a good thing, I believe that some preconceived notion of line order is a great thing. I just wish it was a bit more common here.

Until that happens… at least I’m bigger than most of the other people.