Goodbye Thaiphile, Hello Thaiwriter!

Sawasdee Krab fellow bloggers!

He’s baaaack so grab some snacks, go ahead and go to the hong nam now because it will be an hour to read this one for sure I bet hahaha.
Since our diligent webmaster Richard has been, as usual, hard at work of late making changes to Thai-Blogs.com so our home on the web for all things Thailand is even better, I’ve decided the time has come to really get serious about my own blogging, which I admit I had been a tad lazy about here and there, and really get with the program!

First thing needed was some changes and ‘upgrades’ myself and since my PC was out for a major overhaul/upgrade the past two weeks what better timing? I still kept up with reading everyones blogs and writing comments but I was having to use my older, clunky 10 pound, 2 gigabyte laptop and we have a mutual relationship it seems, we both hate each other! I swear getting that laptop to work was like wrestling with Satan!

So I am most grateful to have my PC back with a now much faster processor, way more expanded memory plus a lot of the accumulated junk on it thrown out and upgraded from basic Windows 2000 to Super Cool Windows XP Professional – cool! Thanks to my friend Mike who did all the upgrade and repair work for me gratis since he really loves doing stuff like this and does it for a living. Kinda like me finding the perfect job where I get paid to live and work in Thailand and share MY expertise on THAT. Nope that’s not a hint to get paid for my blogging Richard lol. Anyway, always good to have your very own tech support guy on hand 😛

While I was waiting to get back in the game and thinking how I could upgrade my blogging I came up with some good ideas so todays blog is about, well, blogging! 😀 These are some ideas for things I’ve changed and some that obviously are still in the works, everybody ready? Buckle yourselves in cuz here we go!

The Name Game

The biggest (so far) and most obvious, as you can see is, ta-da – my new name! Although I was quite fond of ‘Thaiphile’ and it was a pretty cool name it did have its share of problems too, namely trying to explain to some people what the ‘phile’ part meant. I guess you had to be a student of Greek to really get it but I won’t go into that. Let’s just say even after my best explanation sometimes I still got a ‘deer in headlights’ blank stare from some folks.
“A Thai what?”
Maybe it’s not the name that confuses some; maybe they just aren’t into Thailand as much I am. You think? Could that be? Naaaaah 😉

Actually I know Thai friendly folks and just plain Thai fanatics (of which I am #1 as you can see to your right), are a pretty special breed and I like it that way. We are all the more unique for our fascination and appreciation of Thai culture, people, arts not to mention food and anything else Thai that we like. Besides if everyone was into Thailand there would be no room on the net!

So I am at my favorite sidewalk café one day in my usual spot to watch people – especially cute, asian and,ahem, single walking up the street and thinking what would be a new name for me. The Blogger formally known as Thaiphile? Nope, too long and anything else I thought of that sounded cool was even more abstract sooooo ..I was stuck.

I was also working on writing some of my Thai homework and thinking how cool the language is to write and how much I like it (and unfortunately how much better I am at writing it than speaking it) and then *ping* ..light bulb goes on!

I am, in a sense, a writer. I love to write in Thai. Thai. Writer. THAIWRITER! That’s it!!

Plus it sounds like ‘typewriter‘ (I can just hear the younger kids now..typewriter? What’s that???) *sigh* that’s like trying to explain what life was like before cable 😉 haha But I love my new name and the flow of it to me as it rolls off the tongue is perfect. A lot more perfect than my trying to say ‘Nguu’ the Thai word for snake. Try as I might most days I am can only sound no better than a sick cow pronouncing that fun two letter consonant 😉 I don’t know how feng shui my new name is but Thaiwriter works for me so I hope everyone here likes it too. Next up

My Blog Schedule

This was always a concern for me, when to blog and how often for a lot of reasons I won’t go into but recently while reading Richards Highlights of Thai Blogs and the comments by him and Steven I decided what will probably work best.

Since Richard has suggested we regular bloggers set up and stick to a regular routine for blogging I want to be one of the first to volunteer therefore from now on my regular weekly blog will post sometime between 12:01 AM and 11:59 PM, Eastern Standard US Time every Monday.

This means starting now so as soon as I post this blog today I got to get busy and write a new one to post Monday! Actually I have it already in my head I just got to get it out of there and online 😉

This schedule will work for me because I can ‘rough draft’ and outline blog ideas during the week when I don’t have much time after working each day and weekends I can flesh out my ideas into full blogs to post using the ‘edit time stamp’ feature and other tricks that Richard has taken the time to show everyone on his how to blog segment. Moving on to –

Blog ‘types’

There are basically three blog types I will probably use off and on and randomly as it were –

Bullet Blogs

Just like the name says fast as a bullet. Short. Sweet. To the point. These will be good when I have something I just got to share with everyone but should not take more than 15 minutes to write. Bullets would essentially have the same great taste (for things Thai) but less filling 😉

Ballistic Blogs or ICBM

These are blogs like the Big Kahuna your reading now. Monster blogs with tons of ammo especially if I go on a rant about something that needs ranting ala our favorite Oakmonster. If you want to cook somtimes you got to turn up the heat 😉 But seriously most blogs will not be anywhere near this long, more bite size or maybe buffet style where you take what you want and can leave the rest.:)

Blog Packs

This is where I post more than one blog the same day or in a short time over my usual once every monday schedule. Now is a perfect example since I am posting tonight and then again tomorrow too. Next –

Blog Categories

I’ll be unveiling new categories over time as I think of them, what I want to write specifically for them but two I have planned already are, expanding on one I have already ‘Thai Books’, and a new one called ‘Just do it!’

I know you can’t see them but just imagine if you will, me at my computer typing away and to my right on the wall is a floor to ceiling bookshelf full of books. Thai books.

I love my Thai books. I am not kidding you I probably have close to the largest privately owned collection of Thai books (written in Thai) and books on Thailand in Washington, DC outside of the Thai Temples here. I probably blur the line quite a bit on loving my books and the knowleadge and pleasure I get from them and forgetting being mindful as a Buddhist of the dangers of attachment 😛

When the day comes that I actually am moving to Thailand things will get interesting. Clothes? no problem I don’t wear much outside what is reguired for my job professionally. Furniture? C’mon I live in a room with a bed, a TV I rarely watch, a computer and books, all these books to pack up and ship. Oh yes, this will be fun. Which leads me too…

If you read my mini-bio on my blogpage you see at the bottom what I wrote about getting ready to make the ‘quantum leap’ to live and work in Thailand and how I write about the process along the way. Well truth is, that’s true it is my goal to one day be living and working in the Land of Smiles but I ain’t wrote squat yet about plans to make the move. That’s about to change. Big time.

I hope writing on this particular subject will be the impetus (read: needed kick in the ass) for future ex-pats with the dream to go to Thailand to go from just dreaming to actually doing it. Maybe I can be a good leader by example or maybe I’ll just be annoying. We’ll see what happens so stay tuned. 😉

Last but not least my favorite new plan is

Blog Tools

Or as I think of them, new toys LOL. I have several new things that I want to get that might help expand what I can do with my blogging but since this involves spending money this will be a slow work in progress most likely. Here’s my shopping list so far –

A combination scanner/copier/printer

Originally I was looking just to get a scanner but going to Best Buy lately to shop around I see all the flatbed scanners are now replaced with multi-combo units for about the same price. The biggest thing I like about getting a scanner is I want to experiment with posting hand written blogs. If this works it will be waaaaaay cool.

A digital voice recorder

95 % of the time I am thinking of ideas to write about or I come up with something really cool to say when I am walking to or from work or somewhere when I can’t just stop and pull out a note book to jot an idea down and a lot of times I forget. This way I can record my thoughts and ideas on the go right then and there. Although I hate the sound of my own voice on recordings this would be very helpful even if making verbal notes and dictating my blog outloud on a crowded Metro train sounds crazy to some folks, that’s nothing compared to some of the crazies you run into on the train sometimes 😉

A New Camera

This is pretty much a ‘must have’ to really add a lot to my blogs when I can add pictures of actual events and stuff but there are so many choice as to what to get. I am deciding between a good amatuer model film camera (Nikon or Canon like Richard has) that will give me good high quality but also the added expense of having each roll of fill I shoot printed onto a CD so I can use it online. Or I get a good pocket digital camera, about the same cost but hopefully better quality than the one I tried out earlier this year during Songkran

Of course I will eventually get a pro model digital SLR camera like Richard has before I go to Thailand. That and a better laptop so I can shoot, post and blog about my experiences at the same time but that’s some major financial investment so we’ll see how it goes.

That’s it for this new and improved blogger, brighter than bright? Maybe. Whiter than white? Definately, this is one farang who doesn’t tan he slow roasts 😉

My next one will not be as long and more fun or your money back..so there!

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