I scream "merry eiffel tower high"
After reading some things online, I decided that, until I start running again, I am going to up my calorie intake to 2,000/day. I know I need to be careful about the content, but I will work it until I get back to running.
I feel better today about my lungs. I don’t know what happened, but even last night I was coughing a bit still. I might even try to run a little tonight because it is supposed to get to 48 degrees, and I think that is better than the mid-20’s on my lungs. But I still don’t want to push it. Monday was really, really bad.
Not much else going on in my life right now. I am trying to get everything together for my 3 week trip to Thailand with one of my nephews in February/March.
I don’t know if I’ve mentioned it before on here, but I bring my nieces & nephews on a trip anywhere in the world they want to go when they graduate high school. I do put some conditions, usually at least a B average, or 3.0 GPA. But I understand that not everyone is built the same way and their brains don’t work the same way, so as long as I don’t perceive them as slackers, and they actually worked hard but just weren’t cut out to make a B reading Shakespeare, I will take them anywhere.
It has actually helped my 14 y/o nephew. He wasn’t doing so well, even got himself out of a catholic school because it was too much hard work, and then my sister had me talk to him, telling him that he has to show that he worked hard before I’d take him on a trip. This was 2 years ago, and he has shown tremendous strides according to my sister. He is in public school, but he has been on the honor roll most of last year and so far this year. I got no problem using this has a bribe/
Now I make this seem like I’ve done some great thing, but in reality I’ve only done it with 2 kids so far. My niece graduated high school in 2002 with a 4.0, and we went to Paris for a week. Then, last year, her twin brothers graduated high school, and her younger brother chose Paris as well. And if you budget it, it isn’t that expensive. And for christ’s sake, I’m the gay uncle – I’m supposed to have excess money! I’m not having my own kids, I might as well spend the money on someone’s kids.
Sadly, his twin brother started his post high school education before he became aged 18, and that is one of my rules. They must be aged 18 before I will take responsibility for them internationally. If they are under aged 18, there are some things they aren’t able to do in case there is legal problems, and I’d have to have Power-of-Attorney on them, and I don’t want to have to go through all of that. Once they are 18, they can speak for themselves and I don’t have to try to produce legal papers to have emergency surgery done on them. It is complicated, but most kids who graduate high school are either aged 18 or will be by the end of summer.
The other twin nephew is going to be going to Thailand when he graduates from his trade school, which will be February 7, 2007. I have not made the final arraignments, but it will be very shortly after that date. It might even be the next day, as one airline is have a sale that ends February 8, 2007, which would save me about $350 total, but I just don’t know if I want to leave on a Thursday.
Someone asked me why I do this. Well, it is for many reasons, but truly the most important one to me is that when I was 18, I wanted more than anything to be able to travel, especially overseas. And I couldn’t and didn’t. We were quite poor, and I sat in my room dreaming of the possibility, but knowing I’d never do it. I didn’t leave the county for the first time until I was 28, and that was only Canada. I didn’t travel overseas until I was 32. And a half.
I figure that if I let them travel overseas now, they will not be afraid to do it again in the future. Once you’ve traveled in a different country, especially one that doesn’t speak our language, you can do it again. It also leaves open the door if they need a passport for some future job (m niece went into a program in forensic pathology with an eye towards the FBI as an employer.)
And the final thing it does is open their eyes to other people, other cultures and other languages. They get to see more than just the USA way to do things. I never say that one way is better or worse, but it is different, and I think that can only help a young person see things maybe differently, have more of a world view of things, especially in this post 9/11 world we live in.
Once in Thailand, I get lucky in that my friend Eltee is already over there, and he knows the country quite well. For those who don’t know, Eltee is my friend from Edmonton. He is about 55 y/o, really structured, and just a nice guy who decided to retire in his 40’s cause he didn’t want to work for someone else again. He actually manages his investments, and reads a lot about business and investments and tax codes and all the like, but he does it all on his own time.
One of the things that he does to save money is to winter in Thailand. He has spent 8 of the 9 winters I’ve known him in Thailand. He is going to help me organize the trip and be our guide, but he won’t do the day trips to different sites. He will do what he normally does, get his news fix reading the papers and drink beer while we are gone to some historic site.
Now I start the process of buying tickets. I will be interested in what price the travel agent can get me. I am assuming around $1,000/person/flight. Maybe as high as $1,200. I hope less, but I fear more.
I feel better today about my lungs. I don’t know what happened, but even last night I was coughing a bit still. I might even try to run a little tonight because it is supposed to get to 48 degrees, and I think that is better than the mid-20’s on my lungs. But I still don’t want to push it. Monday was really, really bad.
Not much else going on in my life right now. I am trying to get everything together for my 3 week trip to Thailand with one of my nephews in February/March.
I don’t know if I’ve mentioned it before on here, but I bring my nieces & nephews on a trip anywhere in the world they want to go when they graduate high school. I do put some conditions, usually at least a B average, or 3.0 GPA. But I understand that not everyone is built the same way and their brains don’t work the same way, so as long as I don’t perceive them as slackers, and they actually worked hard but just weren’t cut out to make a B reading Shakespeare, I will take them anywhere.
It has actually helped my 14 y/o nephew. He wasn’t doing so well, even got himself out of a catholic school because it was too much hard work, and then my sister had me talk to him, telling him that he has to show that he worked hard before I’d take him on a trip. This was 2 years ago, and he has shown tremendous strides according to my sister. He is in public school, but he has been on the honor roll most of last year and so far this year. I got no problem using this has a bribe/
Now I make this seem like I’ve done some great thing, but in reality I’ve only done it with 2 kids so far. My niece graduated high school in 2002 with a 4.0, and we went to Paris for a week. Then, last year, her twin brothers graduated high school, and her younger brother chose Paris as well. And if you budget it, it isn’t that expensive. And for christ’s sake, I’m the gay uncle – I’m supposed to have excess money! I’m not having my own kids, I might as well spend the money on someone’s kids.
Sadly, his twin brother started his post high school education before he became aged 18, and that is one of my rules. They must be aged 18 before I will take responsibility for them internationally. If they are under aged 18, there are some things they aren’t able to do in case there is legal problems, and I’d have to have Power-of-Attorney on them, and I don’t want to have to go through all of that. Once they are 18, they can speak for themselves and I don’t have to try to produce legal papers to have emergency surgery done on them. It is complicated, but most kids who graduate high school are either aged 18 or will be by the end of summer.
The other twin nephew is going to be going to Thailand when he graduates from his trade school, which will be February 7, 2007. I have not made the final arraignments, but it will be very shortly after that date. It might even be the next day, as one airline is have a sale that ends February 8, 2007, which would save me about $350 total, but I just don’t know if I want to leave on a Thursday.
Someone asked me why I do this. Well, it is for many reasons, but truly the most important one to me is that when I was 18, I wanted more than anything to be able to travel, especially overseas. And I couldn’t and didn’t. We were quite poor, and I sat in my room dreaming of the possibility, but knowing I’d never do it. I didn’t leave the county for the first time until I was 28, and that was only Canada. I didn’t travel overseas until I was 32. And a half.
I figure that if I let them travel overseas now, they will not be afraid to do it again in the future. Once you’ve traveled in a different country, especially one that doesn’t speak our language, you can do it again. It also leaves open the door if they need a passport for some future job (m niece went into a program in forensic pathology with an eye towards the FBI as an employer.)
And the final thing it does is open their eyes to other people, other cultures and other languages. They get to see more than just the USA way to do things. I never say that one way is better or worse, but it is different, and I think that can only help a young person see things maybe differently, have more of a world view of things, especially in this post 9/11 world we live in.
Once in Thailand, I get lucky in that my friend Eltee is already over there, and he knows the country quite well. For those who don’t know, Eltee is my friend from Edmonton. He is about 55 y/o, really structured, and just a nice guy who decided to retire in his 40’s cause he didn’t want to work for someone else again. He actually manages his investments, and reads a lot about business and investments and tax codes and all the like, but he does it all on his own time.
One of the things that he does to save money is to winter in Thailand. He has spent 8 of the 9 winters I’ve known him in Thailand. He is going to help me organize the trip and be our guide, but he won’t do the day trips to different sites. He will do what he normally does, get his news fix reading the papers and drink beer while we are gone to some historic site.
Now I start the process of buying tickets. I will be interested in what price the travel agent can get me. I am assuming around $1,000/person/flight. Maybe as high as $1,200. I hope less, but I fear more.
posted by Mike at 1:59 PM
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