We have less than five hours to go before we put the year of our Lord 2013 to bed. It has earned its rest.

While it was a productive year, it wasn't as productive as I would have liked it to have been. While I am glad that its over, I don't feel quite as satisfied with the ending. I should have done more. More words should have been written. More pictures should have been taken. More miles should have been traveled. Not enough was read or heard. Not enough was experienced. In the end, not enough was shared.

So as I sit here writing this, I have decided not to make any New Year resolutions concerning how I plan to do better in the coming year. Resolutions are ceremonial, and often do not mean anything days or weeks after they are made or broken. I've decided to make New Year's declarations, instead. Declarations carry enough intent behind them to make things happen. No one ever went to war over a resolution. It means nothing when the resolve is gone. A declaration, however, brings with it white knuckles and gnashing teeth. Titans will clash over declarations.

My declarations may sound like typical resolutions. Lose weight. Write more. Read more. Be more creative. What it comes down to is the attitude required to put the plan into action. Resolutions fail because of bad attitudes that reflect apathy or that fails to find value in the struggle to achieve the goals. A declaration lays everything on the line. At the end of the line one is either a winner or a loser. For the winner there is no end of the line. It is only a turning point where the decision is made to either do it again, or do something different. Either way the line goes on.

We have 364 days to connect the dots with the lines we write in the sand. Each of us will go from A to B to C, while others take more serendipitous paths to their personal victories. Where ever we end up on Day 365, staring at the final hours of the year of our Lord 2014, let's make sure the year has earned its rest and we come away happy with a greater sense of accomplishment.

Happy New Year

James H.
Bangkok, Thailand
Dec. 31, 2013 to Jan. 1, 2014

let this truth sink in
"I am alive. I'm ALIVE."
one reason to sing
no gratitude in silence
in stillness the rocks cry out

Jubilee
celebrate this year
with gladness
bless your life
smiles and laughter brighten
the darkest of times

Ubon Ratchathani looking east from Phadang Mansion

Ubon Ratchathani morning market, looking toward Warin Chamrap

the Mun River looking east from the Ubon Ratchathani morning market

November is National Novel Writing Month. I don't plan to write a novel, but I am going to try to bust out 30 essays in 30 days. Each essay should have a word count of 500 words or more. It will be a good chance to experiment with some things I am not too comfortable with, like description. I need to crack down on more emotion/feeling, as well.

Personal narrative
Descriptive
Compare/Contrast
Persuasive
Descriptive
Five paragraph - sounds easy enough
Observation
there are more

I got my tools ready, and I have some ideas on what to write about, many of which cover eight years in Asia.

This month marks the eighth year since I left Kentucky for South Korea, and five years since my arrival in Thailand. That gives me plenty of things to write about. No excuses.

its hard to cheat
the August heat
and watch the year wind down
I'm feelin' beat
and feelin' the letdown
after the sun's gone down
no one to greet
me or to meet
me or go with
me to the end of the road

open my eyes
I realize
nothing is what it is
the dreamin' lies
never end with a kiss
after the sun's gone down
the fireflies
light the tunnel
they're showing
me to the end of the road

a bitter pill
climbing the hill
counting crows all the way
bitter and still
I don't have words to say
after the sun's gone down
it's September
what came before
what comes after
me at the end of the road

http://www.quizbox.com/personality/test82.aspx

Your view on yourself:

Other people find you very interesting, but you are really hiding your true self. Your friends love you because you are a good listener. They'll probably still love you if you learn to be yourself with them.

The type of girlfriend/boyfriend you are looking for:

You are a true romantic. When you are in love, you will do anything and everything to keep your love true.

Your readiness to commit to a relationship:

You are ready to commit as soon as you meet the right person. And you believe you will pretty much know as soon as you might that person.

The seriousness of your love:

Your have very sensible tactics when approaching the opposite sex. In many ways people find your straightforwardness attractive, so you will find yourself with plenty of dates.

Your views on education

Education is less important than the real world out there, away from the classroom. Deep inside you want to start working, earning money and living on your own.

The right job for you:

You have plenty of dream jobs but have little chance of doing any of them if you don't focus on something in particular. You need to choose something and go for it to be happy and achieve success.

How do you view success:

You are confident that you will be successful in your chosen career and nothing will stop you from trying.

What are you most afraid of:

You are afraid of having no one to rely on in times of trouble. You don't ever want to be unable to take care of yourself. Independence is important to you.

Who is your true self:

You are mature, reasonable, honest and give good advice. People ask for your comments on all sorts of different issues. Sometimes you might find yourself in a dilemma when trapped with a problem, which your heart rather than your head needs to solve.

People in love with small towns will fall in love with Vientiane. There are enough modern conveniences to make it cozy, and restrained enough to be quiet. Vientiane is not in your face about anything. Unfortunately, one tourist I met in Chiang Mai who had traveled to Vientiane told me it was "the most boring capital city in the world." Some things change. Some things stay the same.

I got on the street to get to the consulate to process my paperwork. The line wasn't as long as the day before, as it had been a day following a three day holiday, and had many people waiting to get their visa applications turned in. As I had been there the day before, they checked my cover letter and a few other things, and told me everything was good. I waved off the tuk-tuk drivers and walked on down Lane Xang Blvd. toward Wat Si Sa Khet temple. I'd visited it before, about two years ago, when they were making renovations to the building housing the sanctuary. I got to the temple a few minutes before noon, when they close the museum for lunch. 

In my every visit to Vientiane, I have to go to my favorite sandwich shop in town. Fasai Fruit Shake, Drink and Food is located about 10 minutes from Wat Si Sa Khet. I got a sandwich and two banana shakes for around 32,000 kip. 

After lunch I walked back to Wat Si Sa Khet and started clicking pictures. I took a number of self-portraits among the stupas and other older buildings, then went inside to see the main hall. I only took photos of the exterior, as taking pictures is not allowed inside the sanctuary. 

Currently I am packing a Canon A-800 series point-and-shoot camera that has let me down a few times in the focusing department. It has been this way for a while, and it needs to be replaced either with a Canon PowerShot that I really like, or with a Canon DSLR. I need something that will focus, and will allow me to get good wide angle photos. The current camera has its moments, but I need something a bit more powerful, and in the 12-meg range. For self-portraits the camera is okay, but I am not satisfied with the other settings on it. But I also at times ask too much of the camera, pushing it to do more than it can. It's okay for now. We have seen a lot of things together. I would like to see it in the hands of someone who can work with it inside its limitations. 

Thoughts like this come to mind every time I take it out and put it to work. 

I spent about an hour-and-a-half inside the temple grounds, and weathered a brief rain shower that drove up the humidity. 

From there I just went walking for a while. I didn't have any place in particular I wanted to go, but would have to get out of the rain again. My knee was hurting and wanted a break, so I went to a Mexican restaurant to rest up. While there, it rained for about 45 minutes, I guess. When it was over, I headed out to the Mae Kong River. I got there in time to enjoy the sunset, and met two girls who needed some photography advice. One was Filipina; the other was South Korean. They were both on visa runs. The sunset was nice. After dark, I started shooting pictures at the night market, which is set at the base of the levy lining the river. 

The day was spent, and I went to a mini-mart for some food, then went back to the guest house to chill out and get some sleep. 

In the morning I lounged around the guest house, wrote a couple of poems, tried to get the AndroPad to work with Xanga. I can only say I am not happy with the AndroPad. The Apple iPod Touch that I bought two years ago is faster in booting, and loads web pages so much more quickly than the AndroPad. Google screwed up a perfectly good relationship with Apple to produce the Android. More on that someday.

At noon I checked out of the guest house, ate lunch across the street, then went to the consulate for my visa. It was a routine of hurry up and wait, followed by lining up a tuk-tuk for a ride to the bus station. All too soon the 3:00 bus loaded and left for the border for a round of outprocessing from Laos and inprocessing to Thailand. Around 5pm we arrived in Udon Thani, and officially ended the visa run. 

At the mall I got some dinner, did some currency exchange at the bank, and returned to the bus station for the 6:50 bus to Bangkok. I settled in for my seven hour trip back to Saraburi. I slept well enough until Khorat. There I got a Strawberry Fanta, and got back to sleep for another three hours. Friday morning was coming, and I had a morning class to teach.