Word Counts Suck in The Stuff That's Not Interesting But Is The Most Interesting Stuff I'll Write

I am just finishing day 11 of my quarantine.

I have had three interviews, one of those being a second interview, so I’m hopeful that I will already have a job by the time I leave this little quarantine hotel. If I do get that job, it will also be nice because I’ll have a full 10 days before I have to start work. It’s not as much money as I was hoping for, but it’s actually doing what I want to do. It’s being an English teacher for the senior class gifted students program at the largest public high school in Bangkok.

I find it kind of head-spinning, frankly. It’s rare that I accomplish my goals so quickly and so decidedly.

The truth is, I’m not counting all my eggs until they’re hatched. Even if this job falls through, I have more than a month to try to find another job… and I might even be able to extend my Visa another month if I haven’t found anything by then. Truthfully, with the situation the way it is, I might not find a job. The Covid situation in Thailand is worse than is being reported around the world. Every morning, several people are found dead on the street. They just died… while walking or something from Covid… and are discovered by morning commuters. Almost every day I’ve been here, new bodies are discovered every morning. Most of the population is not vaccinated because the roll out of the vaccine isn’t as smooth as it was in the US.

I’m lucky. As I’ve gotten know a few people, I’m considered rich here in Thailand. In the US, I was poor. Like, really seriously way below poverty-line poor. Here, I’m not super-rich… but I’m wealthy. I’m not sure I like it, but it’s just strange how my perspective is.... That’s why I’m not too upset about not getting a job that I would consider to be well-paying because even the low-paying job here is well-paying for Thailand.

It’s part of the adjustment. The truth is, I’ve been lucky to have this time locked away from the world to adjust my life and my perspective. With the exception of a few video calls home or to a friend in a neighboring province, I’ve been by myself with my own thoughts this whole time.

Today was the first time I talked to someone else for a period of time. As I went outside to my patio, for the first time, there was someone in the room next to me. As I spoke to this elderly couple who came to see their son get married (“He wanted me to bring all his LEGOs”), I realized that I’m already quite detached from many of my Americanisms. She was complaining that she didn’t have a view of the pool… Why? We can’t go in the pool? No one else is in the pool. What would be the point of having that view? I much prefer the view we have because we can see the entrance. I can tell you every time someone comes or goes. When the 7-11 deliveries come. When the doctors get here from the hospital to give us our Covid tests.

Whatever. They’re from Wisconsin anyway… they might as well be from Mars.

Californians are snobby even in Thailand. puckers lips in mirror

There’s a job for an editor and writer that’s paying good wages, but they want a sample, and I’ve been totally beating my brain in trying to come up with something good to write about. They want an essay about a life-changing moment… but they only want 250 words. I can’t write about something life-changing in two paragraphs.

(As a point of reference, this entry is already 627 words)

Maybe I’ll just submit one of my short stories… Word limits be damned.

I’ll let you know when I’m free…

(On a side note, I’m horny as fuck and this is the weirdest place to be horny)