Today was my first “real” day off of the between-Terms break and I spent most of it…working. Audio editing, to be specific, which is much more enjoyable to me at this point than teaching. I worked on some Morgan James as well as Tony Bennett with Lady Gaga tracks. Jazz is soothing and it fits my present mood. As does this evenings listening pleasure, Hope Sandoval and the Warm Inventions (currently a live recording from San Francisco’s The Fillmore in September 2009).

I also spent the very warm afternoon reading; I finished The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James and read the first 60 pages or so of Chuck Wendig’s Wanderers. Some time was wasted on Lazada (starting to think that a new mobile phone is in my near future as my trusty but old Realme C2 is beginning to give me some headaches) and eBay (searching for early German Empire stamps, circa 1872). Alas, I did not buy anything but I might actually crack a stamp album to look inside sometime in the next few days. I think that next year I may concentrate more on filling spaces in my German, French, and classic Worldwide albums than on tracking modern stamp issues. At least I am beginning to think about philately once again.

The absolute highlight of the day was deciding to order my dinner delivery from Sizzler. This was the first time that I strayed from my usual online-ordered meals from Pizza Company, KFC or (rarely) Burger King. I got some chicken karrage (Japanese boneless fried chicken poppers), truffle fries, hibachi chicken with pineapple, a baked potato, and cheese-topped Texas toast for less than 400 baht (including the delivery charge). This was a very nice change to my usual fare and I daresay it may be quite some time before I order pizza again following a bad experience last week (I got two large pies on a Buy One Get One Deal but the second pizza became moldy before I could finish it, just two days after the order).

Tomorrow, Sunday, will be book-ended with two classes — a two-hour grammar class at Central Festival starting at 10am and an hour-long conversation class via ZOOM beginning at 10pm. The latter is hosted by one of my company’s former teachers; she and the students are all from Russia. We are also joined by another teacher whom I met here in Thailand; he now lives in his home country of Hungary and is getting ready to begin military service there.

I am tentatively planning a songteaw (local bus) trip somewhere in Phuket for Monday or Tuesday. I think I will just hop on the first one leaving from the road in front of the main fresh market and see where it takes me. It is better than just sitting at home, especially since the rains seem to have ended and the heat has returned.