Wednesday, December 17, 2008

"It's Us Against The World"

couple

In the smoky fray of a Bangkok rush hour, Tim and Tina walk along one of the city's busiest roads, on their way to do a little grocery shopping with their son, D.J.

It's a grim task, navigating the crazy streets of the Thai capital, but the young family has the kind of steely resolve that's useful in these situations.

Why are they walking? It's not because they can't afford a car. Both Tim and Tina have well paying jobs, and could easily buy whatever vehicle they wanted. But they're trying to make a point by not being just another car-bound family slogging their way through Bangkok traffic in little air condition prisons. A point that, at this very moment, seems to be a bit hard-learned.

Bangkok's just tough that way. The heat and traffic jams and overall noise and chaos often combine to create a mind-blowing cocktail of sensory overload. But if you're able to learn to deal with it, and get through it, it kind of makes you a tougher person. If that's true, then little D.J. is going to be one tough little fellow -- just like his mom and dad.
.

Saturday, December 13, 2008

"I don't care about getting the record, I just want to STOP"

s_dance

Honey. Sweetie. Darling. I realize how much this dancing competition means to you. Really, I do. It's just that my feet are ACHING, and my head is SPINNING, we've been dancing for over four days now, and I'm basically about to pass out from exhaustion. Can we please stop dancing now?

OK, I admit, the dancing was pretty fun at first. All the people gathered round to watch us. All their cheers. The TV cameras. But sweetness, that was about 100 hours ago, and I've got some major blisters going on here, and not all of them are on my feet. So can we please stop dancing?

The worst part is, we're still only a little over halfway to the record. That couple from Mongolia who danced for 188 hours and 34 minutes back in 1964, I don't know what got into them. I bet they were on something. Although, they probably didn't drug test world record dance candidates back then, so who knows?
.