Making It Up

Just watched Dansa Mania, which has become the favourite programme of this household, for the time being at least. It's obvious that the young dancers involved are as much concerned with putting together their routines to dazzle their audiences as with the tedious business of winning and losing, which is as it should be.

Is there anything quite as joyful as making something that's really fun and beautiful all at once? I doubt it. And as anyone who's ever enjoyed being on stage knows: it's being in the moment of making it come to life that the whole point of what's being created lies.

A Lot To Take In

We visited the National Gallery today to view some of the artworks therein. We've been in the building before and seen the kids' gallery on the first floor, but this was our first time really exploring. It's definitely worth a visit for the building alone - the old City Hall and Supreme Court. All very grand, and nicely democratised through adaptation to art for the common folk.

As for the art, as I suspected there was a bit too much of it for me. I'm someone who can spend a long time in front of a single canvas, not so much having deep thoughts about what I'm viewing as just in a sort of relaxed, half-meditative stupor. There were lots of opportunities for such states today with a lot of colourful stuff, generally easy on the eye.

Generally I was most taken with the work out of Vietnam. The overtly political pieces, especially those relating to the war for independence, spoke with intensity and conviction in a bracing manner. Indeed, the anti-colonial slant of so much of what was on display was a reminder of tormented, twisted histories made palpable through the often highly individual works of the various artists. Again, I felt an uneasy sense that I just don't know enough about the area of the world in which I'm fortunate to be able to make a home.

Off And On

It's been difficult to find time to read over the last couple of weeks. I thought my three days in Bangkok might see me making significant progress in Ken Follett's The Pillars of the Earth, which I took along with me for whatever spare moments presented themselves, but it wasn't to be. I stayed in touch with the narrative with a bit of late night reading, but I'm talking about just three or four pages each time at best.

Having said that, I was gripped enough by the story to want to read on, and I'm now moving into the last 200 pages. Happily, I haven't a clue how it will all turn out, except being reasonably sure the bad guys (of whom there are more than a few) will get their comeuppance. But I'm not sure that the good guys will live happily ever after, even in the mildest sense. Or that any cathedral will actually get built.

Elsewhere

Excellent sight of the day: a little lad, not much bigger than the trousers he was wearing, with his head stuck in of the chunky volumes from George R. R. Martin's Game of Thrones series. He looked to be about halfway through the book, and he was entirely unaware of anything going on around him in the SAC, shutting out a torrent of noise to be somewhere elsewhere. Gosh, I envied him his escape.

In Delay Lies Some Plenty

I know all about procrastination. As a teenager I was an expert - in the most debilitating sense. Anything of importance, especially of the academic variety, I could leave and did leave to the last possible moment, at the cost of not really fully enjoying any of the stolen minutes leading up to the inevitable. And in my first year as a teacher I found myself doing something similar, until it occurred to me that if I continued I simply couldn't function in the job - so I sort of grew out of it.

But now I find I've discovered the positive side of purposeful procrastination. A fair amount of my work these days is of the utterly pointless variety and I find real pleasure in delaying the most pointless of it all to the absolute final moment, and then getting it done in rigorously mindless fashion. Of course, this means it isn't done well, but then the sheer pointlessness of it means it makes no difference to anyone at all. In order to facilitate the delay I find myself doing stuff that has at least some importance, which then feels almost effortless since it's helpfully preventing me doing the stuff I can't stand.

I offer the above to all connoisseurs of elegantly twisted logic. 

(Not) On The Streets

Didn't see any beggars at all on the streets of Bangkok on my recent visit. This in contrast to when I first went there in the early 1990s when there were quite a few around. Hope this is a sign of genuine progress and they haven't just been 'moved' conveniently elsewhere.

In ironic contrast, it strikes me that when I was a kid you didn't see beggars anywhere around Manchester and environs. The appearance of a tramp in the locality seemed rather exotic. They were characters in stories and novels; not part of the real world. Now you can't miss them in any urban centre in the UK.

Two Truths

I was reminded of two simple truths in the course of the day.

Truth Number 1: It isn't wise to teach on just three hours sleep. That's how much I achieved last night due to our late flight from Thailand, and didn't I know it!

Truth Number 2: The sort of dance young people do these days is so much more creative and accomplished than the sort that dominated in my youth that it's quite embarrassing to note the difference in quality. I was reminded of this watching Dansa Mania on Suria just now. Nine teams were dancing to make progress in a competition, and I would have gladly voted for them all. The wonderful thing is that when they claim they're all having a great time it's obviously true.

Name That Tune

Being away from my music for a few days has a predictable effect on me. I invariably develop an ear-worm to enjoy (or even two) and today I've been happily finding myself running through a fair chunk of Van der Graaf's Aloft from Do Not Disturb. Now can't wait to get back to the real, solid thing. Not sure this is what I should be reflecting on in the middle of a serious discussion of educational possibilities, but one can't stay on task all the time, can one?

At The High End

After another very packed day reflecting upon, enjoying, struggling with, and generally juggling all sorts of new (and sometimes, old) ideas, I found myself at a distinctly high end shopping mall one train station up the road from our hotel. I think it was called Em Quartier and it was impressive in an icily antiseptic fashion. I think I prefer the ordinary life of the street, but it was pleasant to find myself with lots of space to wander in for an hour or so in the evening.

Spent most of my time there in a branch of Kinokuniya Books. Good to see lots of books available in Thai, and I enjoyed browsing in the English section. I suppose I also enjoyed not buying anything at all in the mall, but that's just me being perversely radical.

All Geared Up

Quite an intense day spent discussing aspects of the new syllabus, followed by an intense time on the trains here. Crowded would be an understatement. But all worthwhile, especially in the light of an excellent dinner; definitely, well worth travelling for.