Same old same old

Does this make me happy?   I have taken a new look at being a minimalist.

 A few years ago, an acquaintance was relating a story of going to NYC to help celebrate a friend’s birthday.  In talking about the event, and it was an event, the birthday boy, had 1500 of their closest friends at an event in the Hamptons.   Amazing to me that this person, who spent thousands of dollars for food and entertainment, actually thought these folks were friends.  I suspect that if the bottom fell out of his world, that no more than 50 would actual answer his phone call and probably 10 would bring a hot meal.  We are all lucky to have 10 real friends.

I once thought that minimalist was getting down to the bones and living in an austere “little house”.  I now believe it is having a life of things that make you happy.  Every day is not a party, but it is also not a great dark cloud with a scattered rain of doom and gloom.

I have been eating at different places and eating with whoever is next to me or who will share a table.  I use to do that in the long past when I was on the road working and overnight in various towns in upstate New York.   I did it when I first started staying in Thailand by myself.  The difference in Thailand, I started meeting people that I would see often and cut down on my venture and began to attach. 

In the last few nights, I have dined with different people.  The first was a young vegetarian woman in banking from Amsterdam who travels for work, rides a bike, and has a boyfriend that can’t travel.  She is only in town for a few days and wanted to go to the Saturday night market so I gave her a scooter ride and told her how to get home. We sat with a couple from Idaho who are rock climbers.  They met climbing, he is an engineer and is somewhat afraid of heights.   She was not feeling well so I directed them to the great pharmacy and warned her that she would have to reveal intimate details of her ailment. 

   The boyfriend had a picture of the woman dangling off a cliff in a rope chair.  I know I am afraid of heights even more than water at this point.  I enjoyed their company and it would be tempting to connect, but many a mile to go before I rest so onward on the quest.

Last night, I joined a table at one of the places I go when my stomach needs a grilled cheese. This was a lively bunch of mixed travelers and the owner helped me join the group rather than take a table for four.   I had a mental notebook with me and since I am on my January no alcohol challenge, I can even read my morning after writing.   There were four at the table for five when I joined and another, a Thai driver, joined us later.

The other woman was a blonde from CA who has lived in Turkey and other parts of the Mediterranean for years while writing a book about living the “normal” life on a quest. We can call her Bacardi and coke woman and I had an Eat Pray Love feel about the book but she was the only regular person in the group and the only one that looked like they cared about their health.  I think she met the Australian a few days earlier and since he only eats here she asked many questions about where to eat, what was good etc. Unlike myself, she has attached to the place and group.   I thought it was funny that she remarked that when she went home to CA and asked what was happening, they said, "same old same old".  To an outsider, this looks like same old same old just another location.

Her friend, a US expiate, has lived here a long time because he can’t live home on SS.  His coloring was gray and while he was drinking beer and did eat a small plate of duck with veggies.   This was not his first rodeo and he had hiccups,  that I tried not to notice.  Amazingly we both have tickets for a concert Friday in a room with only 35 people.  What are the chances?

The Table Central figure, a 60+ Australian,  said he had a dog named bonny and I said I had a dog named Max, which was his last name.  He was very vague about what he did for income at home and the writer said, let it go, he will not tell you.  His clothing was not too bad and he appeared to have money, talking about getting a house large enough for hired help – a gardener since he wanted a garden, a cook since he wanted a home cooked food, and a driver since he never wanted to drive home.  He also did not want to end up in a nursing home but a home with nurses.    There are two large “Max” firms in Australia,  one Pr and the other clothing.   He looked like a suit man with a road map face of broken blood vessels. 

I would not write an insurance policy for any of them.  His dinner was wine.. several carafe’s, a plate of potato salad with garlic or maybe I should say, garlic with potato.  He then went on to mashed potatoes and sausage.  Afterwards he said he did not feel well.  I was full just watching him eat.

The other Aussie was a young redheaded square body younger man who was drinking some alcohol on the rocks.   He said he rock climbs but prefers run when he is not working as a surveyor.  He was in someway connected to Max and had the same combo of food.  The Thai driver, who was named Tan and came from northern Thailand was a Leo man and had driven the older man on his scooter to the bar.   I did not stick around to see how they got home.   The young man, left the room to smoke and when I asked why soked he answered “why not”.   This is the life they lead,  sleep, eat, swap lies and do it again the next day and to them it was fun.   I found the evening enjoyable and loved leaving to go to my home even more.

Today, I ate at the Jok place and had rice soup with an egg and a red bean bun and remembers coming here with real people in my life on their first trip to Thailand. 

So does this make me happy?   Well I had some real smiles, was not unhappy, and I can very quickly walk away with no greater connection than the experience. and it is all good.