Siamese Dream in The Stuff That's Not Interesting But Is The Most Interesting Stuff I'll Write

Thursday was the one year anniversary of my arrival in Thailand. I posted about it and my friend Johnny had a very funny response.

“It’s only been a year?! It feels longer than that…” I asked him why he thought so and he simply said, “Well, you know everyone!” I started to think about that and ruminate on it. It had some surprising results.

On my way to work that morning, I was bitten by a dog. I’ve lived in this condo for 11 months and all of the sudden, the pack of stray dogs finally attacked me hard. It was a quick bite but it broke the skin. Which meant I had to go to the hospital and get all kinds of shots and other nonsense. That was 6 am and the hospital at like 10:30. In fact, I have to go back again today to get another round of rabies shots.

Later that night was the Tom of Finland party. I have a long bizarre history with the Tom of Finland brand, especially the house in LA, where an acquaintance of mine is currently in residency drawing. He drew pictures of some of my friends and sent them to the party to exhibited.

Ark was there and it was very awkward. Good was also there, and we finally had our big confrontation while Jay stood in the sidelines. But it was funny because I didn’t feel hurt at all.

On my way to the Tom of Finland party, I was on the back of a motorbike taxi at one of the busiest intersections in all of Bangkok when I turned to the left and saw my friend Snooker sitting on the bike next to me. It’s so random to see your friend sitting next to you in an intersection.

I have made friends here, I have found a group. I’ll be okay even if I’ve also made my typical messy social situations.

At the afterparty, I got a call from my little brother. He said it in the most direct way possible, “Papa died.”

I don’t think I truly realized what he said at first, but then my mother’s teary, blurry face came on the screen, sobbing and hiccoughing incoherently. That’s when I realized that my grandfather, the man who raised me alongside my grandmother, had passed away.

I still don’t know how I’m supposed to react. Our relationship was one of the closest I’ve ever had in my life and it was complex and had many side tunnels. He was 89, which is actually the youngest of all his siblings. Jack and Mary lived into their 90s and Aunt Lucille lived to be 103. For some reason, I thought I had more time.

That was how I spent celebrating my 1 year anniversary in Thailand.