THE PARTY

We had the belated birthday party for Tim last night (Saturday, April 22).  It was a slightly-less-than-expected turnout with Puk making a short appearance at the beginning and Ja, Lek, and Jum making up the until-the-bitter-end partygoers.  Everybody brought food which, combined with what Tim (I) bought, overflowed our kitchen with smells and tastes.  Tim had planned to get some fried chicken for me but the closest cart vendor took the day off; I did pick at various Thai dishes (all extremely spicy) and tried to fill up on Granny Smith apples (which we found at Big C — imported from Washington).  Everyone drank whiskey except for me (I did try a bit and then switched to Coca Cola and later to Singha).  Tim received a couple of gifts (an odd-looking stuffed animal and a pink clock/music box which wouldn't look out of place in a Chinese whorehouse; of course, these have been proudly placed in our bedroom so I'll have to hide them when any of my friends or family members come to visit!).

Much of the party consisted of Tim singing karaoke while the rest of us watched.  Late in the evening, everyone began dancing to the Thai music VCD's and I gave an embarrassing demonstration of my singing and dancing "skills" (there's a song on one of Tim's VCD's that I've heard enough where I almost can sing along) — unfortunately, Jum videotaped this causing howls of laughter this morning when Tim and I watched it.  I still haven't decided if I'll include this when I compile my various clips into a DVD.

Today is very much a lazy stay-at-home day.  We did the lion's share of the cleaning after our guests left last night (probably around midnight) so we only had to wash dishes and do some sweeping and mopping today.  I put the photos I'd shot last night onto the laptop (I actually filled an entire memory stick — 309 photos, the most I've shot in a single day since arriving in Thailand), caught up on my financial records in Money 2006), and plugged the camcorder into the TV so we could view the video I'd shot in the past couple of weeks.

To bring things further up-to-date:  On Friday, Nit picked us up and we went to see Jum who had returned to Phuket the evening before.  She was very happy to see both of us.  When Lek got home, the five of us went to buy a patio table-and-chairs set (Tim and I decided on plastic because it would be easier to clean) and then did some grocery shopping at Makro (beer and other drinks for the party) and Big C (more food).  That evening, Tim and I watched my "King Kong" DVD — I thought she'd find it too long (which it is, but must seem even longer when you can't understand the language being spoken) but she seemed to enjoy all of it.  I found her tearing up at several different parts of the movie, although she kidded me about crying at the end when King Kong dies.  We stayed home all day Saturday, cleaning the house from top to bottom in preparation for the party.  I kind of like the stay-at-home days as during breaks in chores I can retreat to the master bedroom (which is nice and cool with the air-conditioning) and read a chapter or two in my book.

It's now late in the afternoon on Sunday.  We've finished our cleaning and I'm almost finished with my computer tasks.  This evening, we plan to watch the sunset from Promthep Cape (the southernmost point of Phuket) and we'll probably watch a movie back here later tonight.