5cense

478> silence, exile + cunning: portrait of th artist in th land of green ghosts

16 May 2016 | DC> standing @ a randumb x-section last nite in ∑um randum city abiding a stoplite observing a line of tire repair places .. 1 dilapitated shack next to us in pertickler had 3 eager beavers acting like a pit crew in th Indy 500 .. on th balls of their feet chompin @ th bit fo' a flat tire t' fix .. signul'd when a car drove thru a muddy puddle in front of them .. a lite changed + no cars came + we wait'd 1 mo lite t' see w'happend next .. we (th U.S) = in a recession .. th next lite changed + again they wait'd brite-eyed + bushy-taled ∀ll eager t' work .. th intersection clear'd + they rifled thru th muddy puddle looking fo a tire t' fix t' no avail they shrug'd .... Σumhow th elder crewchief knew (thru Σum sort a polling system) .. @ 7 am + 2 lite changes later + no customrs .. that statistickly they coont maintain this pace economickly .. + 1 of th younger workers knew it too .. like that scene in th Godftather II where a young Vito Corleone quits his job t' spare his boss th mbarrassment of firing him (after Don Fanucci bullys him t' employ his nephew) + w/o a word th youngr apprentice starts taking off his gear + putting away his tools .. stoickly shook th crewchief's hand patted eachudder on th backs + then walk'd away .. tward me + we cd see only then that heed start'd cryng quietly to hisself .. + this made us cry + we woke up w/ our pillow wet .. not sure what fuel'd ∀ll this .. may'b th current elections ± th San Antonio Spurs losing + how even when they do «win» ppl (fuel'd by th media) care more about th dramatic antics of th whiney losers vying fo attn then a quiet worth ethic .... or may'b inspired by th mexikin busser @ a restruant last nite .. quietly doing his job so well no 1 even notices th waitr taking all th glory (+ tip$) .. o purhaps cuz in th aftermath of a heat'd xchange @ a baseball game w/ Σum rich drunk asshole lawyer types (long story .. but 1 of them parting gestures (last word freaks) they told us we «shouldn't procreate» (like they did (a nursery of 6 kids 10 rows back wich they kept standing + yelling back t' them every minute t' make sure they had plenty of junk food t' eat)) .. which dont even seem like an insult but a compliment .. we got no intrest in procreation thank u .. aint gonna offer rebuttal to that .. th same lesson as always .. nice guys finish last + aggressive asshole cheaters like Trump (+ Clinton) always win .. just th weigh of th moondough + we want no part in her no how + surely dont want t' bring kids into her ..

22 May | Dulles airport> had houseguests in town this past week so doing turisty stuff museums + monuments, baseball games, chilidogs + boats on rivers etc. .. lots of rain this month .. almost biblickle .. DC broke a record 4 most cunsecutive dayz w/ rain .... sholder feels 94% better after th last post think that help'd complaining about her thank u dear Inurnet .... working out + doing yoga + stretching + meditating so much lately that once this rite sholder heals reckon wheel find ourselfs in as good a state as ever in our lifetime .. reading From the Land of Green Ghosts by Pascal Khoo Thwe .. so far a good primer to Myanmar .. where we head'd today .. entering a semi-nomadic state .. gonna travel so much that 4 a wile there thawt weed put duffel in storage from now til end of yr but our landlord dint want to break our lease early .. last year in our nomadic state we travel'd 100k miles but dint rilly go to inny new cuntrees .. this yr we kick off homelessness w/ a cuntree weave never bin .. even when she calld herself Burma .. did manedge t' reel off a few mo pgs of A Raft Manifest these past few days + got her t' a state where we kin keep working on her remotely .. jigger w/ th txt on a laptop .. not in InDesign on our big iMac .. this transition (serendipitous o not) forzes us t' make th story gong forword mo linear sted of ∀ll piecemeal collaged t'gether ..

23 May | Dubai > downside of living in DC = not as many direct flights out as say NYC .. flying DC > Dubai + now Dubai > Bangkok + then backtrack Bangkok > Yangon .. hard to keep track of actual travel time .. read most of Land of Green Ghosts .. Pascal Khoo Thwe's personal acct of growing up in Burma .. specifickly he's of th Paduang tribe (whose women put rings on their necks t' elongate them) .. lots of diffrent tribes/sub-ethnicities in Myanmar so no 1 rilly representative "Burmese" (hence th name change .. Myanmar not tied to inny 1 tribe) .. + Khoo Thwe raised christian (w/ sum animist b'leafs thrown in fo good meazure) so perhaps his viewpoint skewed .. or then again not .. in inny event his perspectiv + he does a good job discribing wat it = like in his shoes .. discribes all th crazy foods + strange superstitchings they gots here .... th reason Khoo Thwe even found hisself in a position t' write this book cuz uv James Joyce .. as a student he read Portrait of the Artist.. + then working @ a restraunt in Mandalay he happen'd t' meet a Cambridge professor John Casey + talk'd Joyce etc + reckon he must of left an impression on Casey .. + then he join'd th student rebellion living a miserable guerilla ∃xistence fleeing th Burmese army + end'd up in Thailand where he sent Casey a letter + Casey invited him t' Cambridge t' study .... Joycean words Khoo Thwe lived by that we do too:

«I will tell you what I will do and what I will not do. I will not serve that in which I no longer believe, whether it calls itself my home, my fatherland, or my church: and I will try to express myself in some mode of life or art as freely as I can and as wholly as I can, using for my defense the only arms I allow myself to use—silence, exile, and cunning.»

24 May | Yangon, Myanmar> a.k.a. Rangoon, Burma .. a'rived last nite late .. ∀ll sed + done we left th house in DC @ 7 AM on sunday morning + a'rived at 1 PM on monday (so sed our computer clock b4 we switched her) so 30+ hrs of travel + waiting .. now our timeframe = 10½ hours a'hed .. in fact tuesday here but still monday back in DC .. dint sleep much on th plane but dont feel sleepy nun now .. pouring rain here so not sure wah t' do .. rains came early .. normally dont start til june .. we plan'd on May thinking weed preseed them .. dont mind rain so much but rainy season = dengue season .. + its bad here .. + weave had dengue b4 + th 2° time's sposedly hell worse .. potentially fatal .... + when not raining its insanely hot + humid .. inside bldgs all th windows dripping w/ condensation ..... bided our time thinking may'b rain wd clear but not just no passing shower .. just embraced her .. if not raining then we'd be wet innyway frum swet .. a week ago record heat 120°+ in this region .. even w/ umbrella you'd git wet innyway from cars splashing thru mud puddles .. dangerous t' walk here .. no crosswalks @ intersexions .. just have t' wait til a crowd gathers + run for her tryng to stay in th middle of th pack so @ least u dont git hit 1° ..

Kandawgyi lake + downtown Yangon in distance

 

floodid streets

 

 

 

Burmese script

 

 

Kyay Thone pagoda

 

 

wall

> waht else .. saw 2 guys grab a snake out of a puddle in th street + carry'd her along as if t' eat later .. all slimey + scaley cd barely hold on .. dropt her + she slitherd tward our feet .. they tryd t' kill her by braking her neck but aint easy t/ find th neck on a slippery snake .. u try it .... ∀ll th women have caked-on blotches of creamy paste on their cheeks making them look like that woman in Eraserhead that sings «in heavan everything is fine» .. we dint take no pics of ppl cuz we dont do that but dont think they'd care ether way .. you'd see friends walking t'gether + 1 wd stop to pray on knees while other wd take pic wile they pray'd .. saw lots of monks .. sum w/ iPhones .. not sure if its cuz of stuff we've read (about anti-muslim violence by buddhists + monks abusing powers) but sum monks seem'd angry .. others just hung out like they dig gitting paid to do nothing (¿nice gig after ∀ll rite?) .. generuly ppl pretty chill + nice .. they dont hassle or hussle u ± stare .. every1 seemingly gentle + kind @ least to us .. but that underlying feeling like u have elsewhere in SE Asia that everyone's chill but also unpredictable + slightly volatile .. that violence cd easily + suddenly erupt .. dint walk far t'day (not much fun soaking wet) .. got as far as Shwedagon pagoda ..

Shwedagon pagoda

 

 

 

 

written in roses

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



 477 <( )> 479 > Burmese dayz II: Yangon river ∆elta + Dala + Bago


5cense

[  (ɔ)om.Postd 2016  derek white  |  calamari archive   ]