Life is an exploration

ok - its been over a year since Ive posted to this space and I figure it`s time to update everyone what`s happened in 2007.   My primary intention is to be in touch and share some major changes that have happened in my life over the past year and give you a sense of where I`m at right in regards to a transition coming up in May.    I really want to include those interested in my decisions so thanks to those of you who already have been in touch.    My compass currently points towards Tokyo where my heart is :)

1. wiki - if you want to play - this is the technology for you!  I consider this a participatory means of keeping in touch - everyone is invited to help me edit my wiki - I put new knowledge in it several times a week - life is my research - research is my life!   If you want to start your own wiki (personal or organizational) please don`t hesitate to get in touch with me - this is not a passion that will die!
   
2. facebook - one world - thats pretty much it.   I appreciate that almost every walk of life has shown up in this space someway somehow - it is a powerful way for me to communicate with the diverse community I have created - thank you for all of you who have accepted my invitations to be in this community.  If you want to read more about my thoughts around facebook and all the research that has gone into my decision,  look no further:  http://chinarut.wikispaces.com/Facebook   if research bores you, then just get your ass in facebook and have fun!
   
3. email - ok - this has been around for what amounts to 17 years for me so it`s a matter of being clear with everyone how I use it these days.   now that most of my chatter (personal and business) has moved to facebook, most of my email tends to be `action-oriented` - things that require follow-up and mailing lists.   Fortunately I don`t have a business relationship with all of you (that would drive me insane) so I can handle my inbox these days which is a godsend!   that said, Google Mail has been kind to me :)   I prefer you reach out to me on facebook if in doubt.
   
4. google docs - now that I`m official about jumping into the `say no to email` bandwagon - this is another outlet that`s been good to me.   I just *love* creating documents with people - I think its a way to organize our ideas and create something *together* - there is a bit of magic that happens when you can simultaneously work on the same document together - at a distance.   My latest find in this paradigm is mind42.com - i intend to explore it further (first map) and always looking for people who are willing to evaluate cutting edge technologies with me!
   

Current Location: Bangkok, Thailand
Current Mood: open
Current Music: 1963 - New Order, Substance

no - i'm not gay - however i know there are some of you out there that think i am - u know who you are! :D

i haven't posted to this blog in ages - in fact i haven't posted since by birthday went by on Aug 12th so happy birthday to me!

so what really happened is i just kinda felt bummed out about things and me being the silly human i am - just didn't think i had anything to share even though that's just how life is!  [whoa - i just checked my journal and there are 5 private entries - dare i just expose my life and make em all public?   i tried to write - really!]

well - life has gone through it's trials and tribulations and really happy to share that Dance Labs really started whizzing by at light speed at the end of August!   In fact, the night of the burn - we had our very first dance experiment for kids!   you can read more about it in our dancelabs community journal - i just posted there yesterday (go check out our video!) not to mention i come outta the box more often in my Dance Labs suit :)

anyhoo - one of the reasons i'm posting now is this discovery that LJ is not my first blog to the despair of many of your LJ loyalists - however, I am most loyal to posting updates here and just want you to know there is this thing called Blogspot...ahem...I mean Blogger - I started my blogspot back in 2002 and rereading my first entries - what the hell was going through my head?!?

well - thanks to Google - blogger is out of beta and works decently well now but not enough to want to dump LJ.   However I am getting a bit ticked off about the changes they've made to the RTF editor in this update journal page - it is slooooooow!    so i hope LJ gets it's act together and at the very least, give us a checkbox to get our ole fashioned editor back cuz i was damn happy with it not to mention blogspot's new editor is now putting you to shame!

point of the matter is my blogspot still lives on in it's own context - it's always been a bit of a playground, with lots of techno talk, experimenting with just about every someodd website or software that gets born every minute that sports a feature to post to my blog.   I think it suffices to say my playful self is in that blog and who knows, maybe some of you will prefer that blog over this one or even demand that I bring that way of beingness to this blog cuz my tone has gotten somewhat bit dry over my years in Thailand (ironically enough) - right?   now that my professional face (ie. my life and blood) is now dedicated to Dance Labs and I've sprouted my not-for-profit efforts with my first website design for the Amana Media Initiative - I can give up looking good in this neck of the woods!

ok - it's gettin late and crazy me pulled an all nighter last nite for absolutely no reason at all (i was up for a total of 29 hrs before taking a 6 hr "nap") - I'll be a happy camper to get up at the crack of dawn if i hit the hay now.   however, I will say I'm reading this kick ass book called Cultural Creatives and only have 50 pgs before I start sharing about the culture I'm committed to inventing (which very much has to do with Dance Labs of course!) - more on this later... there are some of you out there that don't even know this blog exists and it's been over 5 years since I've been in touch so a big hello in the spirit world!

Current Location: home
Current Mood: playful

they did it again! the world of ICT has flipped upside yet again - empowering us folks around to connect with each other and encouraging us to actually talk to each other rather than email each other as we've taken for granted over the past 15 years!

Michael Roberton gives a really great account on how you can supposedly call the pope

I have yet to try an extended with anyone over Gizmo and can say I tried calling myself (yes, I get that bored) on my cell phone and it really worked - I heard my own greeting message and when I got up this morning to listen to it - it wasn't perfect but quite usable! I suspect a real-time call would sound even better given my experience with Skype.

so it's time to drop that keyboard and start callin people - essentially a wake up call (ahem - no pun intended) to get back to basics Alexander Graham-style!

here's more info on what ya gotta do

what's the catch - umm...yes, there's no free lunch - stay conscious and you can get around lots of marketing ploys and work the system - we do live in a free world full of choice right? ;)

oh - I'm about halfway through a book called Coercion by Rushkoff - it's great so far - I'll never see a mall the same way ever again - the design of Paramus Park, the mall my parents went to while I grew up in New Jersey completely unfolded in front on me!

have a goood wkd and ta ta for now!

Current Music: kids playing outside

It's been awhile since I've posted here!

My Dance Labs partner, Ted Ko, wrote a blog entry on Reducing Gas Demand - carrot or stick? He makes a really great point in regards to what "carrots" would significantly change my use of gasoline and the short answer is I use gasoline quite indirectly while in Thailand now!

So I thought I'd share about my adventures through greenery and my relationship to transportation over the past 20 years (2 decades!)...

I've never owned a car while in high school and admittedly, did borrow my parent's car quite often. in college, Pittsburgh really wasn't that interesting to me so I seldom really had the need to go off campus. So when I landed my first job at Intel and moved to the bay area, it was obvious I needed a car right? wrong. I just didn't see life the way I do now.

What happened is my dad was nice to help me buy a car and we bought a SUV so it would have "utility" - I wasn't into trucks and admittedly, wanted something I considered to be sexier. I asked to trade my car with my dad's Accord V6 and sure wish I had a picture to post here! Some of my friends thought I was crazy - SUVs were so in style at the time.

So my love for SF put this car to the test. Being my energetic self, I found myself driving on many wkds fri, sat, and sun roundtrip from the south bay - that is a total of 300 miles a wkd! I don't feel so guilty cuz I invited just about anyone who wanted to come with me to check something out in the city - it really wasn't hard to fill the call given how cool SF is - eventually, people like Suzanne started to fill my car for me and I quickly became a designated driver happy to have people "along for the ride" :)

My job moved to SF and that's when my car started getting dusty - being in the garage sometimes 2 or 3 weeks at a time. MUNI was s much fun and with the advent of NextBus, I'd pull out my laptop in the morning and it would report precisely how many minutes it would take for my train to arrive at the stop 2 blocks away. It was the kind of thing where 6-7 minutes was a leisurely walk, 4-5 a brisk walk, 3 it was time to run, 2 it's the olympics and you'll probably find yourself chasing that train! long live GPS - this is one of the best applications of technology I'd ever seen.

Eventually, I packed up to live in LA and found the public transport in the Santa Monica area surprisingly usable in a city that is infested with cars. The biggest experiment I ran was how easy it would be to get to my brother's house on the *way* other side of town near Cal Poly Pomona - I think bout 50 miles away! Well - it wasn't too bad! It was time to give up the car.

So here I am in Thailand. I don't own a car and have explored public transit quite a bit outside of the basic train system. It's interesting to find locals that don't even know what bus routes to get on and others who have lived and breathed the system (ahem - the air quality downtown sucks) all their life. It's novelty has worn off and now it's a bit of a chore to get downtown. I do everything I can to telecommute, to coordinate work online, to stay in my office most days. Yesterday, I never even left the house. My desk is one of the most ergonomic desks in Bangkok and I'm proud of it. It supports the way I work.

I dream about the SkyTrain or subway coming out to this area (Thonburi) - it's supposed to happen but another 5 years? What am I to do in the meantime?

I'm still an advocate of public transit and finding myself using taxis to get myself to a trains more and more these days. Being in a back of taxi has a flavor of peace to it - a chance to be with myself, away from the computer, really be with nothing - I don't have to pay attention the road and can just watch life going by. I get to the train station and can be with the predictability of my arrival - it's a completely different state of mind.

So the reality is it comes at a price. It costs at max US$5 to get downtown which is not a lot for people from the states. It is quite a bit for locals who take a bus for less than 10% of this (20 baht for an air-conditioned express bus, 6 baht for a street bus).

I've grown up in the states, earned a salary to support myself as an engineer and find myself wanting to learn the way of your average everyday citizen in Bangkok. I've become a relentlessly cost-cutting entrepreneur supporting myself in Thailand using my savings and happy project opportunties for the things I love in life (ie. dance!) are now showing up.

I suppose it's time to rework the grassroots budget for dancelabs!

Say no to cars until after Feb 2007!

I have no idea what happens then - it's just a silly promise I made to myself and committed to keep despite temptation.

On that note, time to be with my choice ;-)

Current Location: good ole Thonburi :)
Current Mood: present

[dear LJ community: please excuse any lack of participation in your blogs - I'm doing my best to keep up the LJ spirit during this time!]

I just read an old post I wrote 2 years ago and wow - a lot has happened in 2 years!

Over the years as I talk to friends and family - many see Thailand as the good life and paradise - well - that I'm sure it is when you're visiting the country and it's a whole other story to work here! [don't get me wrong - a lot is possible here!]   However I don't necessarily agree with sacrifices on the "globalism" front I mentioned 2 years ago - life here is quite global - so much so I realize I begin to lose touch with my fellow Thais every so often.   So I'm really grateful the Asia Commons came into my view to keep me focused on this continent! :)

Qualify of Life (QoL) is a mixed bag in many respects - it really works provided you choose to be healthy, exercise, eat well, and have a commitment to well being.

So a quick bulleted update before I begin the day:

• still seeking to look in the same direction as folks :)
• my back is much better - still dealing with general soreness.  I decided to make yesterday a 1/2 in the office and it felt great - only issue is I kept on working - doh!
• instead of being just in my bed, I spent what probably seems like an ungodly amount of time in my apartment and Thonburi - it's nice to settle down to some degree - I do my best to get outta the house so thanks for all of you who encourage me - you know who you are!
• I don't have a health coach in Bangkok but I did find a colleague of mine I met at a communication course who is a health coach in Malaysia!  she's a really great person with a great listening for me and requested I complete a "wellness wheel" something I want to get done today.
• Morn and I went through quite the journey together - we're no longer together and as some of you know, we almost (and didn't) have a baby.  We're still really good friends and pursuing a new relationship with each other and inquiring into what's possible - it's how we met in the first place!
• I'm probably more online than ever and seeking to balance it.  I tend to avoid IM like the plague as some of you notice in favor of voice.  I need your support to let me walk around, lie down, sit down, do whatever I need to do to keep moving.  My long term vision is to be dancing around the world not in front of my computer ya know ;)
  
• I'm starting to shift my communications from email to community forums and spaces (more about current trend).  It's a long transition after being ingrained in email for well over 15 years.  I'm happy it's happening - I've successfully turned off email notifications for most of the community spaces I'm in and really have to thank the Omidyar Network for designing something that really seems to work in the area of collaboration - in particular, giving one the ability to oversee a broad number of conversations, contexts, projects, communities without having to leave the space (ie. jump to another website).  The other side perks for you recent change junkies- it encapsulates notifications at different levels which I find really nice.
• it's no longer expensive for me to call people - in fact, I have complete freedom to call almost anyone I want during the day (5am-5pm)!  DTAC decided to give me this "happy buffet" program that allows me to call anyone in thailand (not just Bangkok!) at a flat fee of 299 baht/month - that's UD$7.50!  hook that up with Skype which let's me call the states and europe for 1 baht (2 cents/minute) and I never look back - it's been a godsend!  now to work on giving myself more freedom to calling peeps at night...and staying productive doing the knowledge work I have to get done!
  
• thanks to volunteering for the Burning Man Project, it's been fun playing around with conference calls - trying to make it work.  I just recently decided to create a "party line" amongst middle school buddies I've been out of touch with for years - that was great!   now the only thing missing is the chips and beer :P
  
• SMS works rather well if you want to page me: +6617138620  be happy to call you back if I'm near a computer - I'm not quite at the point where I can make international calls from my cell phone - I'm working on it - coming soon ;)

Current Location: could this be paradise? ;)
Current Mood: stretched
Current Music: birds chirping :)

Ha - I just got stuck in the machinery we call human. Something was really bothering me and looking to empty my head.  This I've been doing for the past 4 hours! :-o

I brushed my teeth and was pretty much posessed to write a private entry to myself and then I decided to post to the community so dearest to my heart, dancelabs!

I thought about a msg I got from good ole Bill Gates this past week (no, I'm not buddy buddy with him - it's a mass email) sharing his vision for "The Unified Communications Revolution." While I thought the email was a bit wordy [not to mention salesy towards the end], he makes an important point - we are in the process of transformation, transforming the way we communicate - a "communications revolution." A growing number of are scattered across different devices, spaces, and vehicles on and offline and we are looking to integrate them.   I personally think Google is way ahead of the ball - I continue to reap the benefits of the Google Mail and Google Talk integration!

"Communications divergence" is not anything new - ever since email and the Internet became popular - it's been on everybody's mind! It's just been over a 15 year journey for many of us. We are all looking for ways to communicate effectively - it is our access to life!

Not choosing to communicate often is a powerful choice for me - a chance to go to my cave, appreciate computer technology for its basics. When I first got my Tandy Color Computer 3 (go coco3!) when I was 8 - there wasn't a network - you made the machine do what you wanted it to do and there was no driving force making it do anything you didn't choose for it to do!    Reconnected with long time middle school friends, Manish and George, and it was good reminisce in the good ole days and realize how far we've all come!

So I'm now doing my best to share how the "communication explosion" looks to me. I have the following seemingly divergent ways of communicating with everyone:

1. personal journal (chinarut) - I can choose to share publicly or just with friends
   
2. I can talk to anyone who is the room (if anyone)
   
3. someone may very well knock on my door
4. It's a given there is email waiting in my inbox
5. I may have missed calls or voicemail waiting
6. I may think of people to call ((home phone, cell phone, VoIP)
7. a community journal I've brought to the forefront ( dancelabs)
   
8. social networking sites (friendster, myspace, hi5, tribe.net) (until I see a hint of collaboration, I will rarely spend time in these spaces)
   
9. a new Dance Labs Omidyar.net workspace (discussions)
   
10. I can join a chatroom (IOSN, Burning Man, and yes - there is a Dance Labs room!)
11. I go knock on my neighbor's door
    
12. various online discussion groups, some of which I help moderate (Getting Things Done, cmcrossroads, tigris, a few Yahoo! and Google Groups here and there)
13. Second Life
14. I can go play with a wiki and share knowledge with you
    
15. Ad Naseam! it is exhausting getting present to it all - I don't even have a blackberry, PDA, or pager like some of you do!
    

1. personal journal (chinarut) - wrote a private entry this morning in fact
   
2. I could dance!
3. I could meditate and be with myself
4. I have this thing called a GTD Binder
5. I can go to my wiki of choice and shape a bit of knowledge or create a new gem
6. I have various written (ie. paper) journals with different contexts (whirlwind, education, asia-commons, home, dream)
7. ring notebooks (Dance Labs in particular)
8. Sometimes I'll grab loose leaf paper (ie. no association - like creating from nothing) - I can choose to let it go or process it.
   

Current Location: Thonburi
Current Mood: humored
Current Music: rooster jam

ok - this is quick post to let everyone know that I've chosen to give up being alone and take on sharing Dance Labs as if it's my life.   It has been a vision that has woken me up every day this week and there is no doubt in my mind it's still alive.  In fact, it didn't take very long to realize just like riding a bike, you just get on it and viola! :)

So from now on, I will be posting "Dance Innovation News" to our dancelabs community journal.    Not to worry - I will continue to post here occasionally so I don't firehose y'all with our dance explorations - all I can do is encourage ya to tune into the prescribed channel and whatever you do, don't stop dancin! :P

Current Location: Thonburi
Current Mood: dancing

I've been a wee bit out of touch with respect to sharing here on my journal - part of it is i'm in a bind around whether this is a personal or professional blog (see the eclectic mix of entries below) and part of me realizes life is just life so what's the difference!   anyhoo - I'm really happy to be back in the conversation around Dance Labs again - this is clearly my driving force in life thanks to countless people!   I thought I'd share an email I wrote to some friends in Bangkok after a wkd outing - I'm clearly confronting [ie. in the present] how challenging it is to keep dancing living the life I love!

ok - a big thanks to everyone for helpin me stay in the conversation around dance and gettn my ass outta the house - y'all sure beat me up in regards to "what is Dance Labs?" and ok ok - i'm workin as fast i can god dammit! at least it's fun answering your questions :)

to those of you who made chicks rock - it sounds like you guys had a good time at the blue's bar - my bad for not goin up to the door and just tellin ya we were at the bar and lettin ya know many of us weren't in the mood to drink booze and weren't feelin the vibe. at the end of the day, I wasn't lookin at the brighter side looking out for ways to just make it work. it was easier to just avoid it (ie. walk away) and that kinda sucks!

what i can share now is we're really excited to put another dinner gig together and create a "dance circuit" around RCA - we were pretty amazed to see RCA changing so fast and find a lil trance bar in the middle of hip hop haven and TimeOut was actually pretty impressive with their layout and the house scene they're pushin - it sooooooooooooo reminds me of San Francisco! (yes, we're including the Universe, the biggest gay club in SF - we never doubted their taste in house all the times we've went!)

okey doke - there are some others of ya that apparently aren't in bangkok or perhaps never made it out so you could be with family and/or do more work. more power to ya!

time for me to eat lunch so have a good week and we'll connect real soon!

chinarut

ps. i'm cross postin this to my journal - it's a been a long ass time - double thx! :)

Current Mood: dancing
Current Music: life

ok - i debated whether i should comment to my own thread and realized I, the blogger, am the main thread! :D

I wrote up town hall notes for the community and spent most of day organizing my thoughts around Second Life and writing Philip a nice followup note which led to sharing this vision with him:

You dance away to your favorite music and it feels so good.   You love it when you're dancing alone.   Another dancer steps into your space and for a moment, a tinge of shyness comes over you.   But wait - you're an avitar and you're still alone in real life!   You give up that thought and keep dancing free in your self-expression - uncontrolled by the judgement of others.   You dance like nobody's watching.   What's so is they do see you and they absolutely love it.   You continue to interact in-world and you play with dance moves - you mirror each other - it's just like this in real life!   So you keep in touch and choose to meetup on a dance floor in real life.   You both discover a connection unreal - individually and then as partners.   You've found a partner you may explore every aspect of your life together: business, dancing, career, well being, you name it - you come to the realization and look each other in the eye that you are dance partners for life.

Current Location: home
Current Mood: dancing

ok - I clearly feel a bit nuts for being online at this hour - it's 4:30 AM!  Getting up at this hour is not really all that abnormal for me - I actually like it and it's my intention every night to go to bed by 10 PM (yes, in my younger years, I clearly made fun of folks like myself and now I get it!)

Evonne was cool to tell me about the Town Hall with Philip Linden (aka Philip Rosedale).    I told myself if I was up at this hour, I'd go - well - I went to sleep at around 11pm and I promptly got up at 3:45 AM, did some stretching and feel great!   the event is going to on in about 1/2 hour - it's only 3pm for you folks in California ;-)

okey doke - I had better jump in-world - I'm really excited to hear the CEO of Linden Lab speak and give my inspiration to be an International Liaison some umph.   I applied for the position and didn't make the cut and nothing's going to stop a vision to bring "virtual dancing" alive.   We're not talking about Komami's Dance Dance Revolution here folks - we're talking full blown, you can see me dance on this nice wood floor I have in my office here in Thailand anywhere in the world!

I am very well aware the virtual world sheds many barriers for many of you out there so given I, myself, is included - more power to us dancers!

See you in-world!

Current Location: Pooley (255,4)
Current Mood: dancing
Current Music: oh - almost forgot the tunes! Sasha - Expander XP

I woke up this morning to this:

http://www.demologue.com/pages/English/Who_We_Are.html

I swear my experience in thailand is the process of being reborn every day - thanks Mary! :)

She is a wonderful woman living in Morocco championing the Internet to cause a democratic revolution!

What I really need to give credit to her is her willingness to listen to my views of democracy as explained through dance and music - it wasn't easy - first I tried the segregation between music cultures (ie. trance vs house) at Burning Man and a ton of other angles including masculinity vs femininity on the dance floor!

I can't say I succeeded 100% so if any of you other dancers out there want to shed any ideas of how democracy shows up in the world of music and dance, please comment below - we're all ears!

hmm...you can dance your point i suppose...tell me where to meet you if this be the case... :D

Current Location: Thonburi
Current Mood: accomplished

I got published on the front page of our most popular english newspaper, the Bangkok Post!



ok let me modify that - as you can see - the front of the "Database" - the IT section of the paper published once a week every wednesday - this makes me a true uber-geek right? :D

Believe it or not, I'm so virtual out here I have yet to touch the physical paper. A Google Alert told me about it here first:

http://www.bangkokpost.com/050406_Database/05Apr2006_data001.php (no longer valid as of June 2, 2008)
http://www.asiamedia.ucla.edu/article.asp?parentid=42492

I cannot verify at this time whether the print matches this copy.

You might laugh at inaccuracies around Mambo being a wiki. I didn't walk in thinking my presentation was focused on "tag clouds" and had a nice chat with the reporter. I learned how to give up criticism. I took on listening to how I may improve my presentation and be responsible for what others hear. What happened next is I got an invite to be a guest columnist in return!

It's been an exciting last few days and it's spurred a lot of activity including inspiration to get off my ass to put up an official home page

quick disclaimer: this page is designed to make it easy to find me. I had one report of someone sharing with me how difficult it was to sort all the references to me the web - I'm sure many of you can relate :)

I'm still trying to characterize my service so please bear with the rough edges - this action is a big step forward for me in the area of spontaneity. I invite criticism so contact me if you have something to contribute!

Lastly, I want to thank Paola for declaring a mission for the WOICT and being an inspiration to the group. This is proof-of-concept that words create your reality!

Now go create a miracle in the world! ;)

ok - this weekly thing was an experiment in giving myself space and creating some discipline. given that life is not really about the rigor of work - it's no surprise it's become a bit of a chore! :-o

so i'm gonna give up the monday thing and be in touch when i am.

a breakthrough i want to share i am having is in the area of truth - saying things exactly how they are regardless of whether it looks good or not - another way to put it - sharing life how it is and accepting where i am. in particular, giving up that i've done anything wrong.

For those of you who haven't seen me for 4-5 years - I used to be the kinda guy that really wouldn't share in fear of losing face. well - after last night - no more! really want to thank graham, eric, and my cousin, num. for dropping by our party (yes, more on this later) and just be a space for me to share openly - it was awesome. people in your life show up when you speak your truth - this is not a new concept to me - it's just shown up very powerfully seemingly for the first time in Thailand.

more about this new life later - Morn is falling asleep!

[to anyone who got a blip with 2 postings - I really need an HTML based blog poster! at least I'm learning HTML finally though :)]

ok - folks - i've been laggin for any of you who checked in on monday - it was a holiday here and i just didn't want to plug into my computer god dammit! (excuse my language)

this pic is definitely the highlight from the past week. click on it to find out more about how this all came to together - it was quite inspiring!

Current Music: Mousa April Mix 2005 - Opencloud

hello boys and girls (ladies and gentleman sounds waaaaaay too formal, excuse me if anyone is offended!)

it's been an interesting week and want to keep this short lest I feel I'm always reporting about my life opposed to living it! :-o

so what's happening in my life is related to my last post - Second Life is turning out to be a more fascinating universe (some call it a "metaverse") than I thought. A job opportunity to be an International Liaison popped up since last week! This was a huge cataylst in throwing myself into Second Life and having a look around, meeting the people who make it happen. It's nothing like I've ever seen and it's too soon to make any judgements - I'm impressed and willing to be an early adoptor of sorts as I can really see the potential this technology has for soooooo many things in life.

I interviewed with the VFX startup I spoke about last week and I think my brain is still getting it's hands around the whole concept of being in Hollywood from Thailand. They are doing a great job launching the startup in Thailand and has big plans as to how he wants to move forward. He's given me quite a few options and I'm to follow up again this week to discuss what kind of agreement we're looking to make. I've been pretty busy trying to align my thoughts on VFX, dance, virtual reality, Burning Man, Thailand, and a myriad of other thoughts that come along with the turf. It's been an interesting exercise and it's on me to learn how to communicate this clearly without confusing
people!

Work aside, Morn and I are definitely are having a tough time with our relationship and really glad we had the chance to go out last saturday and meet Jay and his gang. They held a housewarming party/birthday party for our friend Tom, who is an exchange student at one of our largest universities, Thammasat. I met one his classmates, Renee, and was really suprised to hear than Australians think positive things about New Jersey. In case you don't know, New Joisey (yes, that's what we call it.) is not exactly seen in positive light by most Americans esp those who live on the East Coast. It is usually the butt of jokes and sometimes even called the "armpit of America" - not exactly touted as a place you must go by any means! So it was really nice to hear some encouragement that me and my childhood friends have something going for us - maybe I need to visit Australia sooner than I think :) in all honestly, I have some really great memories of New Jersey overall - beaches, haunted houses, amusement parks, malls, it in there!

Paul Van Dyk put on quite the show last week! my only gripe is the lack of room to dance. Sure, I found a spot to dance (eventually) but I really wanted everyone dancing all around me - so much so all I wanted was to be back at a deserted werehouse dance party in Oakland again. I got kinda homesick as some people would say - home being wonderful Radiance parties I've been and helped produce while in San Francisco. That is a culture I'll never forget and how confusing it gets when I feel like there needs to be yet another me to stand for transforming Thailand's dance culture. I don't feel like I have enough energy as is! The positive side to this all is Astra did add a new room to the place, one that looks real classy, has a wood dance floor, and I immediately saw an opportunity to do something new. I'm on a mission to hunt this club owner down and see what's the deal and what plans he has for this place!

oh...a props up to Eric for suggesting we go to dinner at Slim Bo - this restaurant is the bomb - it's vegetarian and they use some of the most amazing soy products I've ever tasted - their duck curry has to be eaten to be believed! to boot the whole experience, they have a fussball table - after 2 years of wandering around Thailand, it was a dream come true! I've been looking for a table, heard a rumor they is one in Kao San, and there it was - right in the middle of downtown! we had a nice energetic game and you bet I'll be back for more! in fact, a game of fussball before hitting the dance floor at RCA sounds like a dandy idea ;-)

ok..this is all I want to write for now - want to thank anyone and everyone in the world for making this possible - I won't feel so open about my life and how great things are (and are not) if it weren't for those of you reading!

the experience of writing this post truly feels natural - the trick is to keep it this way! :D

Current Mood: fatigued
Current Music: The Child - Mea Culpa

We meet again!
Originally uploaded by chinarut.

ok - I bit the bullet - after resisting venturing into online worlds for quite some time (a fear of getting lost - really!) - I really want to thank Evonne for making me realize it's about the people creating the space, what they're up to, and the passion they bring with it. This is just one picture, one view, one snapshot of the beautiful space that represents her and her dreams. To interact with it is an amazing experience that cannot be said in words!

She has already seeded the idea to make Dance Labs unfold in this space and it's really got my noodle going!

First things first, make sure I have a handle on my "real" life :) More details in my next post!

ok - first question I have for all you reading - does one need to believe in the medicine you're taking for it to be effective? with all the placebo research I read about - my attempts to believe in western medicine these days seem completely futile - I'm trying so hard! Good news is after 4 weeks of exercising my back with simple leg lifts, there is a noticeable improvement. Not a lot but some. I seem to have inherited some new tender points so my doctor just ordered Arcoxia of course, I'm not a doctor - I can hardly make sense of what's on the web pages I find - help!

So we got our dance groove on again this past Friday! this time it was salsa - a DJ from NYC (my birthplace!) was here and he really got people goin esp when he started playing what sounded like a combination of reggae and hip hop - it was nice! want to send a shout out to Amanda and her gang for showing up!

Dance continues to be a place I am able to explore myself - see what stops me - see what inspires me! Like dancing with someone who just isn't on the beat - I found myself quite impatient and frustrated at first and then realized I could give it up and create a new way to encourage this woman to be on the beat. So I used bigger arm motions - I started changing my feet - I did everything I could! Well - eventually she really started to get it - she had such good intentions - there was no way I could make her wrong for not getting it - she just kept on smiling and telling me in Thai how good I was - I just had to keep a straight face - whew - got through that one! :)

So it's monday (in Thailand) and I gotta make decision what to do this week as I always do. I've been reading my emails - following up on conversations from last week - somehow gotta integrate what I'm present to (my health and well being), what I have planned, following up on promises from last week, and of course, any new aspirations I have - call it a big crucible!

I'm looking for more context to my life. I am invited to look into working in the visual effects (VFX) industry this week and I've brainstormed a lot of ideas around this - where I can be of assistance. It became really interesting once I realized how much I'd love to direct and produce a film one day about the difference dance makes in one's life. Not just another dance documentary - I somehow want to make it different and gee...adding a few visual effects here and there couldn't hurt huh? then I realized there's this online world called Second Life that is really coming alive these days and it occurred to me how much the VFX industry could possibly enhance the whole experience of being online - like bring forth the magic you can really happen like at Burning Man! we're not talking video games boys and girls!

speaking of video games, I hadn't picked up a video game in ages - I was at my friend, Eric's house the other night and we battled each other in a bunch of puzzle games - it so reminded me of one-on-one Tetris for the game boy - who remembers this? George, if you're listening, I'll never forget our battles!

for those of you who continue to wonder what I do with my time, I've been spending some of my time volunteering for the web team that puts together the Burning Man website. This team is a really great group of folks. I'm so glad to find somewhere I can give back to the community - the Internet is the community's presence when 30 to 40 thousand of us are not on the playa. It's been fun trying to hash things out and I'm not so much about the website but rather helping the team connect and encourage Black Rock City (we have a postmark!) citizens to volunteer even if you live afar (like I do in Thailand!) It's a vision that's really important to me and how interesting it was to get an email inviting me to take action against all the telcos threatening the free, public world we appreciate on the Internet! Hell ya I wrote a personal note and I think you should too so click on the link!

In case you're not convinced (I don't give up that easily) - nobody screws around with our presence on the Internet - I have the internet to thank for helping me keep in touch with everyone I know from Germany to Korea to the states! As a American-Thai citizen, I want that channel between Thailand and the United States to stay open. Not every Thai citizen is privileged to take a phone and just call anywhere in the world whenever they want - some in our middle class aren't even aware the Internet allows us to do just that with their sons and daughters who go off to college. The internet is another line of support - I'll even call it life support! It's always there - just reach out when the going gets rough - yes, esp when you think you've gone mad! (yes this really happens!)

on that note, I'm just about done with lunch - Morn was so sweet to have someone deliver food to me while she was out - it's the little things in a relationship that make a difference!

ok - to those of you in BKK this thu nite, look forward to seeing ya at Astra for Paul van Dyk - I'm not ususally one for mega-DJs but I've never seen him live and gotta give him the benefit of the doubt ;-)

dance on!

Current Music: To Wish Impossible Things - the Cure

well - i hope light!

last week with myself has been frustrating at times and englightening at others. so many peeps i'd love to get in touch with and at the end of the day, i hope y'all understand what works for me is posting here and being in touch with you you're wondering what the hell i'm doing - cuz to tell you the truth, i don't have a straight answer for you! just trust i'm gettin ready for my next battle and sorting things out. of course, a phone call or two doesn't hurt - i can go really inward!

so the challenge is this promise i made to myself to share about myself weekly (at minimum) what happened last week is i wrote an entry and decided to post it a week later [along with a call list i have no idea how to manage]. am I refining my thoughts or editing my thoughts? I'd like to say I give up "looking good" at every moment of my life but that's a fallacy (i think)!

well..reality is I haven't eaten lunch yet - and it's like i can't escape the desire to get this post done!

on that note...I'm going to go eat...write more later!

we have hot showers! after telling myself over n over n over again that i can live with cold showers - no more! we finally gave in today.

i tried sooooo hard over 2 years to give it a whirl - what was happening was i was just skipping showers never looking forward to mornings - ahem - not a good thing while you're looking for a job.

it may be simple but now i do look forward to a hot shower in the morning :)

i am soooooo Westernized it's not even funny!

perhaps time to stop being Thai when I'm not - such irony!

Current Mood: satisfied