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return of the mollie margaret

Happy fourth of July, my peeps. I haven't got a single peep to wish a happy fourth to here. All my American friends have busted out of this joint and left me on my own with Australians and Thais. Yikes.

So, I see it's been approximately seven months since my last update. Sorry I suck so much and am not an updater. I intend to re-commence, as this stage of my life and times is indeed an interesting one and not keeping a journal of my adventures seems wrong and a bit sad. I have no actual excuse, though I have stopped one job, interned for a few months in an unrelated field, and picked up a new job working for a certain fair government, details of which I shall not belabor as I've no doubt I'm under all kinds of surveillance and watchful eyes.

Anyway, it's not as though my life is a dull one. In passing months, a good deal has happened, not just to me (Hanoi! A Masters program! Athens! The aforementioned new job! Parental/brother visits!), but the region in general. Sometimes living in Bangkok, one forgets about the tsunami that decimated the region in December. Which is crazy, and the not-so-regular reminders (collection boxes; the recent 6-month reports on CNN; colleagues who speak of lost family) are like a punch in the stomach. Thailand has recovered remarkably well; we visited Phuket back in April, the same beach that my friend Christina and I visited back in October. And honestly, other than a little construction here and there, you'd never know. Clearly Phuket is in better shape than a lot of other places (Aceh is still a disaster zone), but it was amazingly encouraging. I know some certain people were almost embittered by the outpouring of money and support after the tsunami, given the horrors elsewhere (Darfur, Iraq, Burma) and the total lack of support going to those folk. But I've been able to draw at least the slightest bit of hope from the whole disaster as a result.

Not to dwell on this incredibly sad topic, but there's more to be said. My parents and my brother, and Steve's parents and his sister, they were all here on December 26. I think the only reason I'm here now is because I'm a terrible planner -- Steve and I waited too long to book accomodation down South in the islands, so couldn't get into a nice place in Khao Lak until December 29, instead of over Christmas like we'd planned. So we were all in Chiang Mai, instead of Khao Lak, the worst hit of the Phuket beaches. Some folks have taken this as evidence that "someone is up there looking out for you", which sort of makes me want to throw up. I've taken it the only way it can be taken: me and the people I care most about are exceptionally lucky, and we'd all better take more time to love and be loved.

It might seem strange that I've waited until July to write about this disaster of last December. But I guess when it comes right down to it, it's the most important thing that I think has ever affected my life. It's not as though I'm obsessing about it over and over again, reliving it in my head every morning. But when I sat down here with the intent of reflecting on the last seven months, it's what struck me as relevant. Even though other amazing, wonderful things have happened (notably, my ecstactic discovery of Hanoi, the greatest city in the world), it's the thing that feels most immediate.

It might also be because of my current state of mind. I'm working out of my house these days, which in a city like Bangkok is both a blessing and a curse. It's given me solid evidence that I am indeed an extrovert and require external social contact and stimulation. I'm going to begin treating this blog as such contact, so please, if you read this whole treatise, post a comment, and explain to me about your own life and times, your own impressions of the tsunami, and recommend me music and books.