Test.

Today I had my Intro to Communications mid-term. Not sure how I'll do. It was pretty damn sketchy. The vocab didn't fit right, because the grammar wasn't all there. So a lot of the grammar section (5 of 30 points or is it 50 of 75?) was best fit kind of answer. The two question parts were also a bit sketchy. The second one I nailed, thanks to my studying of Aristotle theory on persuasion. The other part I'm just unsure of. Odd test. I'm fairly certain that half the class failed. I read English pretty well, and I could barely do it. So... the good news is I may be on the top of the curve.

Tomorrow is Study Skills aka. dictionary and idiom skills. I'm unsure of how to study, so I may just alphabetize things in my room.

Thursday is off, and Friday is Communicative English grammar test. That I may review for, but shouldn't be too hard.

Next week is my biggest concern. This half-semester of Intercultural Studies has been ridiculous. The teacher knows what he is talking about, and I'm familiar with the articles he refers to, but he has yet to answer "What is this class about?". I have no idea. There is no text-book and his lectures (I only wish I had video footage) are ramblings at best.

Women need to teach themselves to read. They can't blame it on culture. Radical Muslims are dangerous. You Thai kids who don't come to class won't know what is on the exam. We need to decide which parts of our culture we want to keep and which parts we want to borrow.

One thing I do know is that we must write and answer our own essay question. This is a good thing because I don't have to use specific words that were supposed to have been taught. I plan on writing an essay on how Thailand can learn from the USA's decision to not use outside assistance in responding to terrorist attacks. I figure this should be safe and something this guy can agree with.

Yesterday I went to Sony. Kind of odd to tell the receptionist that I didn't know who I was meeting, but it worked. P'Noom and P'Sit told me they wanted to hire me as an intern, full-time, working around my school schedule. I would have to get a teachers recommendation. Not sure I'm ready for that, seems like a lot to take on. I printed out a letter to GMM Grammy today, paper-cliped my pictures on, and hope to take it in tomorrow. Hopefully I can get P'Tam to go with me, so I look somewhat familiar to the HR department. He gets back from a concert in Chiang Mai tonight, so maybe tired tomorrow morning. Pleaseeeeeeee let me get a contract with Grammy.

Sketchy - Not certain
All there - 100% correct
Nailed - Finished successfully
Curve - Bell Curve, a system of grading

Re-Cap:Bangkaew

Yesterday, Saturday, I went to class in the morning. Management was a prep for the mid-term, and pretty useful. I went to lunch with some friends in the cafeteria, then caught a motorcycle to the BTS station. Got off at aAsoke and took another to the GMM Grammy tower. I waited in the lobby for about an hour for P'Tam, then we went up and met the Twins, Bangkaew, and their friends on the MGA Music floor.
We chilled in the office for an hour or so. Played video games, music, and talked. We all study in communication arts, so talked about school for a bit. We headed to the studio at some point, I don't remember what time. The studio for o:ic TV is on the 18th floor and is a pretty small room. It was filled with balloons and pillows, with TV screens in the background. Bass, Bon, and Niw warmed up for a while while we cleaned up a bit and brought out the camera equipment. Then brought in the audience of 20 or so girls, and 4 guys (who liked the guitar skills of the twins..). Taped a couple songs, watched music videos, then had a chat about the new album, By Heart.
Not such a good idea to let some girls sing their favorite songs. Maybe it was a good idea, but slightly embarrassing for the girls (all 4) who sung really off-key. I couldn't do any better. I have a feeling that scene will be cut.
About 2 hours of tape, presents for the boys from the girls, and a freakin sweet battle sword thingy from O:IC. They said goodbye, then we went back to the 30th and ate food while the twins filmed opener and commercial-break bits on the couch. We were gonna go to Bass's house to play snooker, but I was pretty damn tired, so came back and crashed.

Ahh. So tomorrow I have a listening exam, to make-up for my dancing stardom on Wednesday (teacher approved). An 11:00 meeting at Sony about who knows what. If its an interview I don't know what I'll say. Then studying for my midterms the rest of the week.

Plans:
-I want to go to the village before I leave, to carry presents and just see everybody.
-I need to APPLY at Grammy, so I can get a JOB. ie. money to pay for books and rent. At the moment P'tam has been offering pocket money and food money for me, but I need a job.
-I'd like to score some ALL ACCESS passes to the BigBody concert Momo and I already have tickets for on the 9th.
-I may go with Bangkaew to a Chiang Mai concert. This might help with getting to the village.
-I want/need to get A's on all midterms. This is ridiculously easy material, so I should be able to.
-Need to find VCD's for Chey and T-Shirts for Mom and Renee.

A Re-Cap: Pang

It's exhausting just thinking about it.

I woke up at 7:30, showered, dressed, and took a bus to school. Intro to Communication was yet another student-slideshow (6? of 20) on what they read in "their" chapter. Then they were graded on their pronunciation and stance during the 1hr presentation. This group got an A, but one student was scolded for looking at the screen to often. I'm excited for next semester.

At 3:30 I took a taxi to Mo Chit, then a tour bus to Lob Buri, in Eastern Thailand. This took many hours longer than it should have, and I really had no idea where I was going. I had P'Tum talk to a lady next to me, who told me to get off at Big C then take a motorcycle taxi to the hotel. I did just that, no problems. At the hotel we slept for a while, then P'tum and I had some food cause we were so hungry.

I was shooting a large concert put on for the princess. I never saw the princess BTW, but I was stopped from taking pictures while the royal photographers were there. There was another Grammy photographer. She was older than me, and we took turns shooting to avoid crowding. Afterwards, she told me that she worked in the office and just did came for fun! Looking at my pictures, afterwards, she strongly suggested applying soon as Grammy could use a photographer. The concert was inside Ramkamhaeng University's auditorium.
Work went pretty well. I got a few good pictures out of it and a really super-cool stage pass. Hot. Very hot. The room wasn't cooled, and the stage was packed with dimmers, lights, and speaker cabs all adding to the already hot Issan night.
So Cool played first, then Grammy's Dancers, and Pang as the headliner. Pang was great. The guys are a bit older than most Grammy bands, but are easily one of the top 20 in Thailand.
We were pretty quiet in the van on the way back. I slept... maybe that's why it seemed quiet.

Pang were all very nice, and wished me luck with everything as we dropped everyone at their houses.

I got dropped on the street somewhere along Praram 9 and took a taxi home. Got to sleep at 1:30.

A Re-Cap: Paradox

First off: I've always loved Paradox. They are an awesome band. Very well known in Thailand for their original ideas, vs. copying western songs. The guys are pretty humble too. Dta is a professor in computer technology, at Chulalongkorn University, Song runs a music studio for young musicians that want a chance, and Joey works at Starbucks (I won't say where).
I took a taxi to the club at 5. Only to find out that we would start the show at 11pm >_< So... off to MBK to meet up with P'Tum. That took a couple hours in traffic. I hopped in the van and Tum and the driver picked me up and took me to the Paradox studio near Chula. We hung there for a while. P' Gang played his Nintendo, Dta finished paperwork, and I chatted with Joey and Tum about getting a job at Grammy, and getting them exposure in the US.
Then we all got back in the van and went to Honey, a good sized bar. We waited in a small condo outback until 11, then went inside. It is much easy to shoot small venues. Much easier. He lighting was hard to deal with at Honey, but I mangaged. Great sound though :)
After the last song, I signed autographs (not a joke) and went back to hide in the little condo. It was crazy, sooo many people up against the windows trying to peer in. We went back into the club/bar and sat in this awesome little sofa section and drank/listened to music for about an hour. It was pretty funny. Everyone was still in the club was still in the club having a good time, and were sending beers over. There were easily 7 un-opened beers left over, a surplus really. I actually got a rose from one girl! :blushes: Fake, but I'd never gotten a rose for doing nothing.

So then we got back in the van and took off to a karaoke bar. The van drivers, band, and "hired girls" all crowded along this dark cabin full of sofas and a huge tv. More music listening. No dirty stuff, I guess the girls were just to fill space. This is perfectly acceptable in Thai culture, similar to Hooters in the US. Lots of karaoke. I finally took off at 4 am because I was too tired. I had class the next day at 2, so no big problem.

A Re-Cap: Clash

The last 4 days have been as very long ones.

Wednesday morning I met up with my friend Dave at Grammy. We got in vans, along with 15 or so other people and drove to Pattaya. An abandoned shopping mall was being used as the set for the upcoming Clash video. -Awesome song BTW, I'm phsyed for the album to be released-
Right off, we started filming the pool scene. I was asked to bring my camera, so I took pictures until my battery ran out. I'll by spare soon, I never want to do that again. After the pool, we filmed the bathroom scene. Then the window scene. Then the vacuuming scene. Followed by the wall scenes. Then the table scene. Black wall scene. Finally the parking garage.
This is where it gets interesting. By this point I had been hanging out with the band a lot and things were very laid back. We were running around checking out this freakin scary building. Caved-in sections, years of garbage, and water on the floor. Dark sections, with no light, and old lift, which makes some crazy noises and only comes when it wants to. After running around for several hours, P'Som, the lady in charge of casting for Upper Cut Productions, had Dave and I go get dressed. The costume lady put Dave in some funky clothes but they weren't too bad. I on the other hand, got not funky, but skimpy clothes. A tight black tank top, solid black baseball hat, and tight black jeans. I didn't know where we were shooting so I didn't change my shoes (I was offered black Converse). We went to the parking garage and sat in the gear vans while Helga, the crazy, hung-over, and drunk 15 year old Russian model, and Phil the not-so-strange Swede model did the car scene.
OK THIS is where is gets interesting. At about 5:30 or so, all 20 extras were called over to a section of the garage that had been taped off with plastic and lit already. We were all placed in positions as if we were in a club dancing. So Dave, I, and a bunch of 15-30 year olds are dancing to Dr. Dre? because it was faster than the song for the video. Did that for a while, then P' Bank sung while three of us did cirlcles infront of him, to give the image of many people in the club. Then P' Pon, playing guitar, did the same thing.
OK NOW is the interesting part. By this point I knew most of the guys from the lighting and camera crew. They were all far too ready to hose me down. We were shooting b+w film with a red filter, so a fire truck, and 50 gallon barrels of red-dyed water were brought in. First we stayed in the same positions as the first part of the dance filming. Then we go hosed big-time as we danced. This stuff stains. I now own true-pink Converses and had to SCRUB myself for a half hour to get it off my face and body. After drenching us, the director had me take off my shirt and stand front and center. They had me dance a couple feet from the camera, shot me in the chest with water, and had me fall back like I was being blown away. This should look really cool in b+w. Pretty cool idea. I'm so skinny that the shirtless idea might not have been so cool, but the b+w slow speed will be neat.
More hosing. Gaffers took turns getting it in my ears and nose. Then we went and changed/showered under the fire truck.
About this time I met P'Tum/Dum/Dam (I can't transliterate) the manager for Clash and many bands under the Grammy label. P'Tum invited me to photograph Paradox, one of my favorites, the next day. He had heard I was a photographer.
We got paid, 620 baht. Then everyone left. Dave and I said goodbye to the directors and the band, who were the only ones still around, then got in the vans. Got back to Grammy a little after 12, then home by 1am.

NOTE: I found the song Fai Ruk ไฟรัก on a messageboard. I have no idea how they got a copy of this, as it isn't on a cd for another month. http://www.army2004.com/board/upload/index.php?showtopic=19473

Busy.. but not.

This last week seems like I have been swamped. I haven't been swamped at all.

Mid-terms are getting close which means my flight to the US is approaching too. I'll take off on the 11th and come back on the 18th. When you take 18hours off each end, I'm pretty sure I'll be left with 5 days to visit and enjoy my mid-term break. Not exactly a stunning deal for nearly a thousand dollars, but I am still excited to see everyone.

Speaking of mid-terms, I'm starting to settle into school. It's been pretty easy so far, so we'll see how the tests go. Actually... my first one is tomorrow! A "listening" test. A professor, on a "Learn to Study in English" CD, will give a 2 minute lecture, then I answer 25 multiple choice questions about what I heard. So... No studying really. But I do have homework to hand in tomorrow. First time.

I have been looking for work. So far I have only gone to GMM Grammy. I wrote up at letter and went with my friend who had to go for a casting call on another floor. The Grammy building is huge. 42 stories? Each floor has its own department of Thai media. Television studios, biggest music labels in the country, magazines... you name it. My friend Dave was casting the music video studio on the 24th floor. We came in, made our way past the models waiting in the hall, and talked to the receptionist who was thrilled to see him. I just listened and smiled. After we turned around for our turn to wait, she asked me what I was there for. I explained and she got really excited to help me. So she took my letters (complete with 1x1 snapshots of yours truly) and said she find me someone who needed a photographer or intern.
I would love to work there. It really is a cool place. Most of the staff is pretty young, wearing cut off jeans, sunglasses, and sneakers to work. Grammy isn't short on funding, so they really let the projects run wild. It would just be a cool place to work. I'll go back, with Dave, tomorrow. Not sure what we are doing, but we are going back. I'm also going to Sony BMG/Blacksheep Records in the next few days to do the same thing (apply, not dance and pose).
So, we waited for about an hour. Then they called us in. So at this point, Dan is also in the casting line-up. We went into a room filled with lights and wrote our names on a dry-erase board. Then we talked to the camera about ourselves, turned in circles, posed, and danced. All of this was not what I expected to be doing when I wanted to apply as an intern. They sent us off, we passed the lead singer from Clash in the hallway, and Dave and I went to the BTS.
Dave went home, I met P'Mo. We hung out at the office for a bit. She introduced me to the few people still around at 8pm, all from her team. Then I met the sales department, which offered me an internship. So at least I have that if I'm desperate to work. Finally Momo, her buddies, and I had dinner and dropped P'Tee at the airport. Fun night. We did get pulled over for turning the wrong way, but a 100baht bill got us out of a ticket.

I bought a TV. It was 4900 baht or $125. Now I can watch the news and have friends over to watch movies. Actually, I have to work on the movie part. I need either a way to run S-video from my computer, to the DVD tulips (new word I learned), or go buy a VCD player. Not sure yet.

Parade

9.6.05 040
Originally uploaded by Nongchai.

more pictures on Flickr

Phapang

This last weekend I took some time and went up the the village. I left Friday morning with Tae, a teachers daughter who is studying at BU Rangsit Campus, at about 9. We got in and her mom, a teacher in the village came and picked us up on the highway. This weekend was the Sawat festival, so thousands of people came to the village. The resturaunt was pumping out hundreds, believe me, of styrofoam lunches for the police checkpoints alone. The sky was lit by search light thingys, stage lights, and fireworks, all three nights. Pretty wild.

We got to the village and I hung out for a while at the resturaunt. At 8 Tam, Yui's younger brother, and I went up to the temple grounds and watched the concert. Then we hung out with some other friends drinking beer, eating, and chatting until 11 or so. I was pretty tired so crashed as soon as I got home.

Next day was a mini parade. I got to hold the sign for อำเภอ (whats that called in English) Ungchin, which I had never heard of before. Hung out some more. Cruised around. Another concert and fireworks, while the tv station had a show on the main stage.

Sunday, was the big parade. Schools from all around Lampang and people from various areas entered floats and musical groups. Tam borrowed Yui's old camera and we went around taking pictures with P'Mo. Then kicked around for the day.

I VERY nearly got forced into dressing up and being a real highlight in the parade. Luckly, I was obligated to take pictures for Yui, so could not dress in the traditional Northern fashion. Cam however, had no camera...

Momo and I took off Sunday night and got back to BKK at 5:30. It really hurt coming back this time. Maybe because I knew what I was coming back to. Not really sure, actually.

Katrina

http://www.emsnetwork.org/artman/publish/article_18337.shtml

I just thought I'd share this link. Very interesting to hear the personal stories vs. cnn or the NY Times.

New Stuff

I did it! I'm on the super-cool 3rd floor now. Nice view, sky vs. my old concrete wall. Bigger bathroom which is laid out in a much more functional way. Same size room, except now I don't have 15 year olds banging against my wall (pun intended).
I'll post some pics from the last few weeks... on http://www.flickr.com/photos/nongchai/

raido

raido
Originally uploaded by Nongchai.

I just got this picture from a friend.

In Lampang this summer, we were asked to come on the 88.5 radio show to talk about the village and stuff. I pretty much screwed up my bit, then cut to commercial, but as a whole it went well.

This is me with the 2 DJs (the girl is actually from Phapang originally) and Kat, a teacher at the school.