Mikes Thoughts

Three weddings and two invites

Getting to be the season for wedding parties. We got two invites from my wife’s friends. These events are mostly about unlimited beer and food and then music and dancing until whenever. Guests get nice invites and basically should get there hungry and thirsty. There’s no celebration or schedule I can tell. It’s just everyone eats. Drinks. Repeats. We usually do a few beers but overdo the food. Often the food has been really good. Other times not so. By maybe 10pm everyone is juiced up and the dancing and music starts. There’s no way to dance. No approved method. Kids and adults all join in. After some bit of time we get a tuktuk and go home.

Before that auspicious day, I will need new dress clothes I will rarely wear. Usually nice slacks and a collared shirt. I don’t own those things any more. Not in my repertoire. My wife has fancy dresses but people often rent them and return after.

I don’t know how many I have been to. Maybe 4. Some are vague memories. Others my wife ran into people we no longer deal with. That’s been awkward. They act like nothing has happened. Want hugs and talking. I cannot bring myself to do that. So I just sit. Listen. Avoid.

That’s how it goes at these things. Also at the end there is an expectation of money. Usually $50. Then there’s the photos. One of the brides told me I was a handsome boy and she liked my looks. My wife became a little unhappy. I thought it was funny and the Khmer woman was beautiful. Well Khmer women are beautiful. The rule is look and don’t touch. I go with the rule.

Then down our street

I saw them putting up buildings for a celebration. Yeah a wedding in our neighborhood. Yay. It means music and more people until whenever. It’s always okay to go elsewhere but having it basically next door is a downer.

We are not invited. I’m glad. Two seems sufficient.

Then my birthday comes along. Sometimes my daughter here comes over and brings a cake for me. We drink some Khmer whiskey and toast each other. Neither of us drink that stuff too often. For me it’s beer. For my wife it’s nothing. She can’t do alcohol any more. Messes with her system.

Meanwhile and now

So that’s some crystal ball looking. Now is now. Been writing a bit on retirement and going. I want people to feel they have choices. They can do things to make retirement different. Unique. Maybe challenging. Why just settle when you can do more. So I sit now with a beer at viva. People come and go. Like these renegade thoughts. More tourists since tourist season starts. More retirees since it’s always that season. It’s easy to watch it all at some table. Drink some beer. See a YouTube influencer or vlogger go by. They live in some rarified atmosphere of cameras and followers and comments. Monetizing it all sneaks in.

I watch some. Feel lost in most. Like I wonder how do they feel all those things. Their wiring. Their circuits. All set differently. I’d rather write with none of those expectations. If you read this crap thanks.

I’ll sip my beers at viva. Find my special moments between here and there. And I’ll just continue this tomorrow. It’s what I do.

Its tomorrow or Now

Or whatever it is meant to be. I end up down our street. The little local cafe that I like. The writing becomes the world. The coffee some tool. And me? Just the between thing. I also push buttons and copy files. Make GitHub do whatever. And now it’s the moment. I think I could go on. Could write on a Friday morning that looks like this.

v cafe

How morning and that cool breeze makes sitting along some street seem like a wonder.