The First Days are the Hardest Days

These words from the Grateful Dead Song "Uncle John's Band" couldn't ring more true at the moment. On Friday night, I was beginning to feel a little bit woozy and develop a bit of a cough. I went to bed quite early, thinking that it was probably owing to my lack of sleep and an adjustment to the tropical heat and humidity. Woke up the next morning, and it was a bit worse. I was sure I had a fever. So I decided that I wanted to be sure I didn't have some sort of nasty tropical fever, such as Dengue or something like that and made a trip to the Rong Phayaban Ramkhamhaeng (Ramkhamhaeng Hospital.) Upon arrival, they took my temperature, blood pressure, and so on. Then they brought me to a doctor, who spoke limited but sufficient English, which was good, because my Thai wasn't quite sufficient enough for this. She asked a few questions, looked in my throat, and decided that I have tonsilitis. After that, I went into another room where a tiny nurse who spoke less English than I spoke Thai put a needle that was almost bigger than she was into my but cheek, and they gave me six (!) prescriptions. Total cost? Around $33 (1300 Baht), including the cab fare. Not too shabby.
And I'm already feeling better.
Other than that, we have our first meeting tomorrow for faculty, which should be interesting, as we will be able to learn more about what we're doing. Hail progress!

The Far Side of the World

Auspicious Omen #1 - following landing at Don Muang International Airport, passing immigration, customs, and gathering our luggage, we were met by a contigent from the University. The first thing they did was to put wreaths of jasmine blossoms around our necks. If you read my posting on this blog from 15 March, you'll know just how big of a fan I am of jasmine. Indeed...

The final 1/3 of the flight was quite pleasant, much more than expected. I fell asleep shortly before takeoff and didn't wake until about an hour and a half before landing. I attribute this pleasantness to the fact that I had an entire row of seats to myself. We landed at about 11:30 pm.
Following the Auspicious Omen described above, we took our first steps out of the airport. That is when everyone who comes to Bangkok hits "The Wall." It doesn't matter if it's your first time or your 1000th time, "The Wall" will nearly knock you over. "The Wall" I discuss, of course, is Bangkok's air. A combination of the 88 degree temperature (and remember, this was midnight,) 90% + humidity, and air pollution that ranks with places such as Mexico City, Los Angeles, and Shanghai, create this wall. When one hits "The Wall" is when one truly realizes that they've arrived in Bangkok.
Thus far, things are going pretty well. Following about an hour in the bus to campus, we were treated to a little snack of lychees, bananas, mangosteen, and oranges, we had a few beers and chatted into the night. Everyone has been quite friendly thus far. Seems like things are going to be good.
I am a bit jet-lagged, and I fryed my electric razor with the 220 volt cycle plug ins, and I'm sweating a lot. But other than that, nothing to complain about. Hail progress!

The wreath of Jasmine, hanging in my room. 

My room - I apologize for the mess, but I was in the process of unpacking when this was taken... 

to the left... 

The view from my 13th Story Room... 

Shin-Tokyo Kokusai Kyuko Narita

Just finished the 13 hour trans-Pacific slog to Narita Airport - 2/3 of the way there. The flight was unpleasant, in fact, at times it was borderline miserable. Being confined in that seat for that long just isn't fun for a big boy. It's well known that Japanese people are good travelers, and it seems that a plane seat is a microcosm of Japan, as everything here is ultra-compact and stretching your legs is nearly impossible, so perhaps that's why these trans-Pacific jaunts don't seem to phase them as they do me. ANd perhaps that's why I didn't like being in Japan in the end. I'm not sure...
Anyhow, the next 1/3 of the flight takes off in about 2 hours. God help me...

My Uncle David, hard at work... 

The Wisconsin State Capitol at Night, as seen from West Washington Street. 

two hours hence

So in about two hours I'll be on the Van Galder Bus to Orchard Field, which is now known as O'Hare International Airport. Wow...
Getting to Madison when as smooth as could be expected. Ma and Pa drove me to Fargo, where I was left with the very soon to be married Josh Hochgraber, my old friend and travel partner, and his bride to be, Amy. Following that, spent the evening at cousin Lane's house, where a vomiting girl who had been partying quite hard made sleep an impossibility. And so it goes. Walking through Madison in a sleep-deprived state is the way I've spent a significant portion of my time here, isn't it?
Lane was kind enough to drive me to the airport, and I learned that all people on one-way flights are given full examinations by security, which is interesting.
Today in the MAD, I tied up some loose ends, had some ice cream and a beer on the terrace, saw the star of the morning, and said more goodbyes.
One interesting thing about this trip is that Bangkok is 12 hours ahead of Central Daylight Time, which means that I won't even have to adjust my watch. And since the flight leaves at 11:35 from ORD, if I go to sleep on the plane at that point in time, I'll already be adjusted to the Bangkok time, which could be nice. The only problem is that I don't sleep well on planes. Perhaps this all-nighter and some Tylenol PM will do the trick.
It's coming soon! Hail progress!

Dakota Departure

As I type, I'm in my last full day in Dakota, my homeland. It's been a pleasant day, with friends and family coming by the house to wish me well and such. And the weather couldn't have been better. In addition, got to watch the Twins win a thriller over the Brewers in extra innnings. So a good day all around.

What are my feelings? I'm already beginning to miss Dakota, as my restful time here has been just what I needed and the time with family has been pleasant. I'm just not getting too excited for Thailand yet, and I'm not sure why, as I really should be. All I'm feeling is a bit of dread for the 19-20 hours I'll be spending on airplanes. Perhaps it's all because I've done this before and it's not too big of a deal for me. Or perhaps the burnout of finishing the semester has squashed all excitement. I'm not sure. But perhaps it will hit once I arrive. Or once I hit the airport. Or maybe it will be the first mango I consume. I'm not sure, but I know it will be there.

Ma and Pa Luebke (God bless them) drive me to Fargo following their return from work, and then they will drive all the way back to Bismarck that same night - that's 6 hours in the car, following a full day of work with another full day of work to follow their return. If I didn't appreciate this act, as I have appreciated their other acts such as helping me pack up and moving me all the way back from Madison, well, I wouldn't appreciate anything. And I really do appreciate them and could never repay all that they've done for me.
Need some rest, as I must finish packing and do some other errands and the like. Hail progress!

another shot of the colossal colon... 

From a few months back, a shot of the end of the "colossal colon." Note the "exit only" sign. Is that an anti-homosexual crack? Sorry, bad pun... 

The promise of a Coming Day...

Hmmm.... What to report today? We went out last night to the Historic Peacock Alley Restaurant and Bar in Downtown Bismarck, which has served as both a center for bootlegging and the State Capitol after the building burned down in 1910. Saw Eric "Pukehard" Icard, Brian "Diddy" Shawn, Stephen "Muffin" Ryan, Eric "EA" Anderson, my brother, and a guy working with Pukehard named Bailey who's doing a summer ND gig for the State Deparment of Commerce. Following that, we went to the Broken Oar, which may be the coolest bar in the area, as it has a large deck overlooking the beautiful Missouri River and at which boats can dock and pick up a tipple. At the Oar, we saw Lonnie "Lon Nol" Miller, an old friend from the UND days. So it was rather pleasant.
Mother has been making nice meals. The Twins have been pitching extremely well. Other than a rather vicious yet short-lived thunderstorm last night, the weather has been pleasant. All in all, this trip to North Dakota has been a very nice one. I have a fair bit of sorting and the like to do tomorrow, Sunday, and Monday, but it'll get done. Bangkok is coming, and that right soon. Hail progress!

West Dakota Breezes

After a successful grad party where fifty people or so showed up and some intense packing, we're all back in West Dakota, safe, sound, and exhausted. But it's good to be back in Dakota. I like it here at my parents home. While I have a load of unpacking, laundry, and other things to square away in the week that I have here, it feels like an oasis of peace and relaxation following the tumult that was the last three weeks of the semester. It's good to watch the Twins games, sportscenter, the Daily Show, and so on.
The stopover at Grandma's went fairly well, and got lots of good pictures (a few of which I will put on here later).
Other than that, not too much to report. Hail progress!

Ma and Pa Luebke - my ever-lovin' parents

UW Geography, Master' Class of '05 

Triage in reverse

What to report today - it was my penultimate day here in the MAD. The first half was spent in a very groggy manner, as I spent the entire night (hopefully for the last time in a long time) throwing together yet another sub-standard term paper cobbled together from bits of the tragic Ms. Thetis. Dr. Jaime A. Peck, being a fellow Marxist, will most undoubtedly have mercy on me like a good Marxist should, as he is well aware of my score. However, I still do not enjoy turning in such a shoddy quality paper. And so it goes - B's get degrees in grad school (along with painstakingly crafted theses.)
Haven't finished the paper for Dr. Wong, but I'll be getting on that immediately following this blog posting. Again, another woefully substandard product will be the result. So it goes, Mr. Vonnegut. So it goes.
I've come to the conclusion that I've had a mild bout of depression of late. I think this is due to the fact that I'm still embarrassed about my thesis, I feel overwhelmed with everything that needs to be done between now and 25 May, and that no one other than my ever-lovin' parents came for this thing. However, I do believe Thailand will pull anyone out of a downward rut. Or at least it will for me.
Which illustrates the reverse-triage of our society's attitude toward various graduations. When one graduates High School, a feat which in excess of 90% of people in this country succeed in and is about as challenging as climbing Bascom Hill if you're a Sherpa, the entire community congratulates them. They receive congratulations from everyone ranging from politicians to their insurance men to all their father's clients. When one receives one's Bachelor's Degree, a feat which somewhere between 40-50% of our populace achieves I would conjecture and is challenging enough to require two or three all-night study sessions per semester, a good portion of the relatives make the trip and one receives a fair number of cards. However, the hubbub is nothing like the High School graduation. When one receives the Master's Degree, a feat which likely less than 10% of society achieves (and of those, more than half are probably professional Master's which require no thesis or any equivalent,) and is slightly less harrowing than an invasion of Normandy in 1944, one receives the same acclaim as if they had bought a fishing license. Parents are proud, but it doesn't extend much beyond that. If I do end up going for my PhD someday, I think I'm gonna have to buy a dog, because if this trend continues, he'll be the only one showing up. Thankfully, potential employers see it the opposite of larger society when it comes to these degrees and the amount of money they are willing to pay is inversely proportional to the amount of acclaim society puts on the new recipients of these degrees.
Ma and Pa Luebke came to town today. I was able to show them the Arthur H. Robinson (May Peace be Upon Him) Map Library, and those of us who all came in to the department of Geography together back in the Fall of '03 took a few pictures together and went and had what is likely to be my last beer on the Terrace. The cool, grey weather actually made for a nice day to be out there, and lots of people who were receiving their PhDs were running around in their robes and caps, which is always cool to see.
Had some pizza for dinner, and got a good start on packing. So things are shaping up okay.
The party is tomorrow, and I'm hoping to let loose a bit. Hail progress!

apprehension

Well, due to my ridiculous level of procrastination and a bit of insomnia to follow it, I've slept only one hour of the past 48 hours. This cannot be good.
This burnout is an ugly one. Turned in my term paper and weekly journal to RD Sack at 4:55 pm yesterday (due at 5). The term paper was basically nothing more than large sections of my thesis cut and pasted. It's probably less integrated than an Alabama High School in 1955, and the weekly journal is even worse, but at least it's in. I doubt RD Sack would give any grad student less than a B on anything, as he knows the score probably better than anyone (one must maintain a 3.0 gpa to remain in good standing/graduate from the grad school here.) However, it's still unnerving to turn in 29 pages of pure garbage when it has some consequence. And so it goes...

sunrise this morning over beautiful Lake Monona (my backyard.) 

Windsurfing and Sailing on Lake Mendota, Friday afternoon 

Bucky Badger flipping off H.C. White College Library. Priceless! 

The man in Orange, Tom Ryan, the highly controversial Picolo player. Perfoming a duet on Library Mall on Friday 

Smut and Eggs

The operative word for this weekend is procrastination. I've been doing it far too much, and RD Sack is going to want my paper tomorrow, poststructural or not. Burnout is rearing its ugly head in a big way here. Ugh!
Yesterday morning, had breakfast with my fellow map library worker and good friend Marjorie Morningstar. For those of you who aren't of Madison, there is a bar on South Park Street called Bennet's, and it's famous for its breakfast, during which they show hard core pornography on 6 televisions. They call it Smut and Eggs - Porn in the Morn! Marjorie wanted to try it just to say she had, and so we did. Wasn't quite as bad as expected, but drunk people at 8:30 am watching adult videos makes for an interesting crowd to be sure. The owner of the place, who was wearing a large rubber phallus on his head and an Aston Villa soccer jersey, told us a numerous tasteless jokes as we watched the stuff on TV and enjoyed our eggs.
Other than that, we (Keli, Debauchery, and I) went to visit our friend Jessica, who now keeps her own chickens in her back yard. Should make for some good eggs, I guess. Wonder if Bennet's might want to purchase them. Keli left today for a job interview at SMU in Dallas, and India's back in Boston for a week or so, so it's bachelor pad at 1431 for the moment - just me and Rebound!
Gotta type for RD Sack. Hail progress!

alien looking sunset 

abe, deep in thought... 

The Terrace yesterday... 

Blast from the past

The most fascinating thing that has happened since my last post was a chance meeting with someone at the Monona Terrace. My friend and colleage in the Geography Department, Matt Steigman, struck up a conversation there yesterday with a very senior gentleman who was in town for a class reunion. It turns out that the man, named Einer, was 92 years old and graduated from the UW with a degree in Geography back in the Year of Our Lord 1937. Later, as Matt was telling me about the meeting, Einer walked up and I was able to meet him as well. Absolutely fascinating. The man still had excellent hearing and a mind sharp as a knife, and the only real symptom of his age was the fact that he walked with a cane. He told us stories about old professors in our department, such as Trewartha, whom we only know because of the rooms and monuments in Science Hall which bear their names. Einer had been a band instructor at a high school in Chicago, and some of his students, long since passed on, were ace fighter pilots in WWII. He said that he came to his class reunion here, but he was the only one from his class who showed up, which must really make him feel old. He said that he believes the secret to living long is the fact that he still plays the French Horn, which keeps his lungs healthy and gives his diaphragm a regular workout. The man was fascinating - I could've spoken with him for hours. I'd post a picture of him, but by that point the battery on my digicam was dead since I took something like 57 pictures around campus yesterday.
And what a beautiful day it was. Enjoyed some beers at the Terrace, blew off my project of modifying the lit. review section of my thesis to de-postmodernify it for my paper for RD Sack, and enjoyed some good conversation with some friends. Ahhhhhhhh, I already am missing it. So it goes, as Kurt Vonnegut would say. Bangkok will have its pleasantries as well. Hail progress!

As the Japanese philosophers would say, "Mono No Aware." Such is my time in Madison. 

Mono No Aware

At the moment, I'm understanding yet again what the ancient Japanese philosophers and poets meant when they said Mono No Aware. Mono No Aware is a feeling of bittersweetness when looking at something beautiful. The sweet aspect is appreciation of its beauty, while the bitter aspect is sadness knowing that the beauty is fleeting and ephemeral. The picture which I posted of the Magnolia Tree that is just down the street from me is a good example - the flowers were, and still are, beautiful. However, seeing the petals falling to the ground shows just how temporary their beauty is. It can be seen as a metaphor for our lives. Futhermore, it's the perfect metaphore to describe my time here in Madison.
Today I had what could very well be my last college class ever as a student, which was an optional question/answer session with Burrito Lover RD Sack (and I ate a Sackian burrito right before class, just for good measure.) Had a beer on the terrace, and then ate pizza on the sidewalk at Tuttos with my friend and colleague, Matt Liesch. I really wish I would've brought my camera with me today - the dome of the Capitol was beautiful bathed in the golden, late evening sun. Plus there was a guy walking up and down state street with a massive Burmese Python draped about his neck. Always interesting people watching there, that's for sure...

if you look carefully, you can see the rainbow... 

snow/hail on our picnic table 

snow/hail in India's dreds 

Onward

What to report today...
Last night, my ever-resourceful roommate Keli cooked us all a lovely taco dinner. India made some high-quality daquaries. It was excellent.
A really weird hail/snow type pellet form fell yesterday as well. You can see them in India's hair and on the picnic table in the picuture on here. However, a rainbow followed, so all was not bad.
Today, I've received word from my advisor that he will approve of my plan to delay the thesis writing, which feels good.
I also gave my presentation in Geography 503, my Qualitative Methods class with the great Marxist Geographer in the lead, Dr. J.A. Peck. It was our final meeting, and for some of the people in our class, their final class ever. My presentation wasn't particularly good, as I didn't prepare it until about 10 minutes prior to class, but good enough for me! I'm going to miss that class - probably the most interesting class I've had here yet.
My 901 Seminar Class, which is taught by the burgeoning migration geographer and my committee member Dr. Madeleine Wong, is coming to party at my house tomorrow afternoon. I have to give another presentation which I won't prepare more than five minutes for. But it's not a big deal - it's all related to Thetis, so I can talk about it in my sleep, which I probably do from time to time.
Nothing due in any class until next monday, but I need to get some work done tomorrow night on RD Sack's paper. Other than that, over and out. Hail progress!

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our dinner last Sunday 

A top ten...

I don't really like Dave Letterman, but since I didn't do a heck of a lot today, I'm going to make this post a top ten list. The title is: The ten things I'll miss the most about Madison.

1. Spotted Cow and Edel Pils
2. My backyard
3. Burritos (ala Bob Sack) and beer on the Terrace
4. Food from the food carts on Library Mall
5. The change in the seasons
6. My wonderful roommates and friends and colleagues
7. Deep philosophical discussions in Science Hall
8. The Ice Cream
9. The various characters around campus, such as Scanner Dan and the Piccolo player in all blaze orange
10. The Onion on Wednesdays

Things I'm going to miss the least:

1. The change in seasons
2. Excessively theoretical discussions in Science Hall
3. Triage
4. People handing me flyers and yelling about some sort of cause wherever I go
5. Walking down crowded State Street when I'm in a hurry
6. Trying to go into Science Hall while a class is letting out
7. The uneven heating in Science Hall
8. The Homework and papers
9. Trying to pretend that I've read something that I haven't
10. typing all night