Peanut covered donuts

You know damn it, sometimes people are jerks. Sometimes they are incredibly cool too, but at the moment, the cool people are not my muse. The jerks are. Them, and a momentary bout of Henny Penny, "The sky is falling! The sky is falling!" outlook on the world.

It just came to my attention that I filled out a completely bogus bank "Account Review Alert!" on my e-mail the other day, asking me everything but my...actually, I think I even wrote that in there. Anyway, come to find out it was FRAUD. Luckily, there appears to be no suspicious activity on my account-they likely took one look at my balance and had a sudden stroke of conscience-but the very concept of fraud annoys me. Pricks. Anyway, don't respond to any Wells Fargo e-mails that want you to spell out e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g for them. I am here to tell you, they are bogus.

Now, on to the happier topics in my life. I AM OUT OF BANGKOK!!!! Yeeeeeeeeeehaaaaw! Despite 6 plus hrs of unsucessful, standby wait time at the airport (thanks to the biggest Horticulture Expo on the face of the planet taking place in the one town I am trying to escape to), ridiculous taxi fees (yes both ways), and to add insult to injury, the choice of a peanut covered doughnut to comfort my crumbling ego after hauling my boxed bike, backpack and stuffed-to-the-brim paniers through the (brilliant last resort supplied by Shanti-thank you!) local Thai bus depot at 10 o'clock p.m. Can you say "sore thumb?" That's right, against all odds, peanut freakin' whateverness too, give it up Bangkok, I'm running as fast as I can. And now, I write you from Chang Mai, surrounded by friends, Crystal, Johnny, baby Ilan and Auntie VJ. I seriously thought I might be waking up on Khoa San Rd again this morning. Whew.

I really can't begin to describe some of the things that go on here sometimes. I know the majority of life is laughable, but hell if I can see it when I'm in the middle of a communication melt down with the airline, telling me I do not have a seat on the last flight I've been waiting all day to take, for a ticket I purchased a week ago, from a guy who told me I had a reservation but then told me my visa/passport was delayed by day and therefore my airline tkt was too. Now apparently the reservation was for yesterday because I didn't call, but wait, the airline has a seat, but no room for my bike, or is it that the plane has already pulled away from the luggage loading area, or is it just that they don't want to deal w/ the freakin' huge box that the "fa-lang" (foriegner) is toting around like a suitcase? I really don't know. And the truth is, everytime I sit down somewhere, everybody is so kind and so helpful. But damned if the world wasn't plotting against me for a few hours there and it summed it all up with that donut. I was so looking forward to it too. Never before has Dunkin' Donuts represented comfort to me...and never again will I mistake it as such.

Children, take head of my mistakes. I would never wish you to suffer in the ways that I have.

I can't wait to get on my bike!!! Short jaunt to Burma, and then I am back here to take off. Yippeeeee!

Big hello to all my TX fam who are tuning in. My love to everyone.