Weekend Update

Just got back from a 3-day cultural orientation/leadership training/teambuilding seminar/retreat that CMRCA ran for the International Sustainable Development Studies Institute. It was a good weekend, surprisingly fun, but a little long, and I'm exhausted.

Because of some work permit difficulties, I may be making a border run to Burma on Tuesday or Wednesday. Don't worry, this isn't scary Burma. This is nice, organized, touristy Burma that sells knockoff DVDs and T-shirts for a fraction of what they cost in Thailand. There is actually a whole industry based around  expats in Chiang Mai and elsewhere that have to cross a border to renew their visas, and there's a little border town in Burma that has taken this to the extreme. I pretty much jump across a line, buy something really cheap, and then get my passport re-stamped as I enter Thailand. Takes 7 hours roundtrip.

As I mentioned below, you can all call me now. Really! It's true, it won't cost you a thing. It makes me sad that nobody has taken me up on this yet. I've been away all weeekend, but I'm going to start initiating my own calls tonight, so brace yourselves.

That promised post about my bike and apartment is poised to hit newsstands tomorrow night. Miss you all.

[Update Update: About 5 minutes into calling my sister, I barely nudged my desk lamp, and the light bulb exploded into a thousand pieces and scattered all over the room. It took me over an hour to clean up because:

1. Although we have a broom, we have no dustpan, and I thought it was irresponsible to sweep broken glass out our front door and onto the sidewalk. Somehow I had to coax everything into a plastic cup.
   
2. Glass managed to land in my hair, in my Nalgene, in my guitar's sound hole, in my backpack across the room, in between the seams of my leather desk chair, and miraculously on the other side of a 6-foot tall Japanese screen/room divider.
3. We have no potatoes, so I had to find another way to get the broken bulb out of the lamp.
4. I spent at least five minutes trying to decide whether or not it was okay to walk around my living room in shoes. This thought process was complicated by the loud bang and "Oh Fuck!" that I was sure had woken up Dao, who I really didn't want to see me wearing shoes in the house. I tried to put on her slippers, but she has tiny Thai woman feet, and my size 14 clunkers just weren't going to fit. I ended up wearing my flip flops. Dao did not wake up.]