March 18, 2018. Nai Yang Beach, Phuket, Thailand
Ka playing tag with 5 year old Eliza 18 March 2018
“Cheers.” Ka said as he opened my Chang beer with a lighter. “And Happy Birthday you and I same!”
I grimaced. “It’s not technically your birthday until tomorrow.” I explained to my brother in law. “I mean if your mother is right on the time of 2:00 AM or so, it was March 18th in America then. You would have been born five hours before me.” My daughter was playing in the sand nearby while my husband Oh had walked off to go pee behind a tree. It was a perfect beach weather day. “Thank you for talking to Kuhn Oh. I wanted to get out of the Pai Yang house.” In the morning me and Oh had gotten into a fight as I had caught him smoking yaba the night before under a shrine to his father.
Oh had started yelling and threatened to walk out but he’d been calmed by both our five year old daughter’s pleas of “Daddy I want to go to the beach!” and his brother’s cajoling that dammit it was his birthday too and we should do some nice proper thing to celebrate.
“I don’t come here many years. Since you stay Thailand before.” Ka said sighing.
“You haven’t come to the beach in four years?” I questioned incredulously. “It’s only like one or two miles from you!”
“After you and Eliza and Kuhn Oh leave I so sad. I don’t want to come this area any more.”
“You should never do that Ka. You are a Pisces same same me. Of all of the signs it is the one which derives its greatest strength from being close to water.”
“I don’t understand.” Ka shook his head.
“Okay well this is like US astrology. Like about studying when you born, your birthday. Now there’s three water signs. There’s Scorpio, for the scorpion, and Cancer for the crab. Then there’s Pisces, the fish.”
“We same same the fish?” Ka asked me.
“Well yes!” I explained. “But think about it. A scorpion does not have that much to do with water, any more than a cat or a dog. Now the crab, okay, the crab stays by the water, but 50/50 inside and outside the water. But the fish needs water. It is in the water.”
Ka smiled. “I same same the fish! Maybe can have tattoo.” Oh was a talented tattoo artist who had already done an elaborate dragon on brother Ka’s back. I thought this was a good idea and wanted to ask my husband about it as he was approaching.
“The sign Pisces is usually drawn like this.” I drew in the air an H which curved outwards on each side. “It’s not one fish. It’s two fish, tied together.” My last words stumbled out as I grasped the meaning of them exactly as they were spoken. “Sometimes they draw it as two fish, swimming in a circle.” Both me and Ka looked down and away from each other instantly. I am sure that I blushed. One fish, two fish red fish, blue fish indeed.
Do you believe in fate?
I think this comment regarding the era we are living through summarized the soul crushing mechanical existence which is breaking down before our eyes. The machinery of the bureaucratic motions that seeks to make us all interchangeable parts has shredded our souls in so many ways, leaving us all off balance:
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Love this; when it's all said and done, I think the duality between hope and doubt may end up defining the 20’s…
Regarding other things, however, I do have a visa update, which involves a hopefully slight delay. Considering we’ve been staying close to Nai Yang beach more than we’ve been staying in the bungalow a lot has been going on. This was one which I didn’t expect exactly, although I suppose I should have. To wit:
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