Woo-hoo, my Minstrels at Play YouTube channel just hit 1000 views. I’m excited even though YouTube has changed what counts as a view–it’s not nearly as noteworthy as it used to be, but still it’s a milestone for me. Gotta keep going.
Most Horrible Motorbike Ride Ever
I took the most horrendous motorbike ride ever this morning on my way into work. I left the house around my usual time on a Saturday, about 7 a.m., and I saw on the Thailand Meteorological Department (TMD) radar on my phone that a pretty bad storm was heading our way and was, in fact, almost upon us. I threw on my rain gear, put on my sandals, put my shoes and socks into a bag, rolled up my pants, and headed to Vientiane on my ‘bike.
It wasn’t too bad on my way to Salakham village, a couple of kilometers away, where I stopped to get gas. After I left the station, the storm really hit and continued all the way, another 14 km, into Vientiane. ALL THE WAY! There was heavy, heavy rain, fierce winds that threatened to knock me over and kept blowing me around on the road, and much thunder and lightning that flashed and roared around me. With the heavy rain came flooded roads, some about a few feet deep and lapping at my engine, most of the way into the city. In addition, I had to take off my glasses, which left my vision severely impaired. Almost the entire ride was full of danger, and I rode accordingly–very, very slowly. I could barely see out of my side mirrors, so any traffic coming up from behind was almost impossible to notice.
I managed to make it safely to the school, but I was, even with my rain gear on, very wet. Luckily, one of the other teachers, Rebecca, had an extra Vientiane College shirt at her desk and loaned it to me while I taught my classes. The classes were successful, though I was still shell-shocked from the ride in.
The storm finished passing through about 8 o’clock, but, again, it was the worst ride I’ve ever taken on my motorbike and the most dangerous, including rides at night through terrible storms. Never again, hopefully!
Have I Given Up on Digital Art?
No, I definitely have not. I realize I haven’t posted any new digital art in quite a long time, but there is a reason for that. I was recently told by the Vientiane College (VC) administration that I would no longer be allowed to work there. It isn’t because of anything I’ve done except to become older. It was explained to me that all of the teachers are covered by Workman’s Compensation (WC) by the Laos government in case of accidents while on the job, but anyone over 75 years old was ineligible for the WC, and all teachers who work there MUST be covered. Well, that leaves me out; I’m 77, almost 78.
Consequently, beginning next year, I’m out of a job with no income except for my U.S. Social Security monthly payment. It’s not a huge amount, but I think it might be adequate to hang around here for at least awhile. But if it’s not, I’ve been trying to get monetized with a couple of YouTube channels I’ve got going. It won’t be easy, but with all the time off I’ll have in the near future, I’m gonna give it a shot. I’m OK working at VC for the rest of this year, just a couple of months to go. I was told that next year I could still cover for teachers who might call in sick or miss a class here and there for other reasons. That doesn’t happen often and the most I could probably expect is around a hundred dollars a month, if even that much. The administration told me that I was still welcome at the school, that I was part of the VC family. A small upstairs gym was recently installed and I was welcome to use it, and to attend various functions that might be going on, like workshops. After the workshops, free food and drinks are available. Unbelievably, the school installed a small bar next to the gym, a bar available for teachers and Lao staff only. (Do you know of any other school, anywhere, that has a bar in the building where classes are taught? Nope, me neither.) I doubt I would make use of the bar, but the free food would be nice.
So, why try to hang around in Laos? Well, it’s pretty cheap to live here, despite an almost 8% inflation rate. Also, I’m taking high blood pressure medication and for a three months prescription of a couple of meds I’m taking, the cost is $50. That’s for three months! I can’t even begin to guess what the price for equivalent meds would be in the States. Sky high, I’m sure. And I recently had dental work done–a couple of implants and a full new set of lower dentures. The total cost? $4,500. What would that be in the States? Don’t even want to imagine.
As a backup plan if I can’t manage to stay here, I’d move to another country other than the U.S.A. On my radar are Mexico, Belize, The Dominican Republic, Panama, or Colombia. There are others, but those are the top of my list. But, who knows what the future holds for anyone or everyone.
The takeaway from this is that eventually I’ll get back into digital art, and maybe I’ll even try to start another YouTube channel about that subject or the subject of my artistic attempts in general. Who knows? I’ll keep you informed about my status and my life in general. Wish me luck!
Gaming Post 3
I just added another YouTube video to my gaming channel. This one is about one of my Lord of the Rings Online minstrels. Click on the Gaming tab in the top menu bar if you’re interested.
Gaming Post 2
I just added another YouTube video to my gaming channel. Click on the Gaming tab in the top menu bar if you’re interested.
Today in Laos–Flash Flood in the North
It’s raining lightly in Vientiane at the moment, and we haven’t had an overwhelming amount recently, but in the north, it’s a different story. This is from the Vientiane Times:
Floodwaters surge around Laos-China border crossing as Luang Namtha declares disaster zone.
Luang Namtha province in northern Laos was declared a disaster zone on Saturday after flash floods surged around the Laos-China border crossing in Boten, inundating buildings, a special economic zone, farmland and critical infrastructure across more than 30 villages.
Of course, this is nothing like the recent Nepal flash flood, but I’m sure the people in Luang Namtha are feeling stricken.
Gaming Post 1
I just made my first post on my Gaming Page. It’s about the videos I have on my YouTube channel. Take a look if you’re interested. Just click on Gaming on the top menu bar.
Why I’m Slow to Post Digital Art
I stated in an earlier post that I was back into doing digital art again. So, why haven’t I posted anything recently? Time. The lack of time.(But, read the end of this post to see my real time killer.) I’m involved in so many artistic endeavors and other interests that it’s impossible to keep up with everything. I’m stretched too thin and I should, undoubtedly, focus on one area instead of flitting from one thing to another. Here are the various interests I’m involved in:
First, and probably foremost, are the several Photoshop Artistry courses I’m either taking or have finished but refer back to from time to time. There is the original Grunge course that got me started on this journey and then, after that, the Awake group of artistic training. I’ve finished both of those, and I’m currently doing an ongoing monthly artistic group called Kaizen. I’ve been a member for several years, a total of 92 monthly courses, but I’m only at month 52. Gotta catch up! All three of these have been created by Sebastian Michaels, a wonderful teacher and guru of all things digital art. The original Photoshop Artistry: Fine Art Grunge Composition course cost $197, and the Kaizen group, which is closed to new members, costs $37 a month. It has been well worth the price. I don’t remember what I paid for the Awake group. It might have been free and was by invite only. I don’t think it’s offered any more.
Another group is Evenant, started by Scandanavian creators, Walid Feghali and Arn Andersson, which teaches digital Matte Painting and offers other modules (for a price, of course). I’m currently doing, when I make time, seven courses and workshops, including The Awesome Art of Matte Painting, Visual Storytelling, Cinematic Design and four others. They’re worth the price I paid for them, though the focus is different than the Photoshop Artistry courses. They’re related, though somewhat different. Evenant also offers Musical Composition courses, if you’re interested. All of these courses, as well as the Photoshop Artistry courses, have lifetime access, so I can re-visit them anytime I want.
Lest I forget, there’s also Shift Art and Shift Art Summit. Here’s a description of them from the website: Shift Art was launched on December 1st, 2015. The site is dedicated to highlighting Photoshop artists and their work with interviews, galleries and tutorials. The goal is to promote a new generation of artists using Photoshop as their main medium. To facilitate this, Shift Art offers a member’s only tutorial collection which includes tutorials by the featured artists. It’s $97 for lifetime access, which I have, and Shift Art Summit comes free with the Kaizen group mentioned above. Another worthwhile endeavor.
There are also Training for Comics (you might get an alert from your virus protection software, but I’ve never had a problem with the site), Phil Steele training for using AI in MidJourney and Photoshop, and the twice-a-year Dave Cross Photo Shop and Lightroom Virtual Summit courses, to all of which I have lifetime access. Again, they are a bit pricey, but worth it.
So, as you can see, I’m kept quite busy with digital art. But there’s more.
What’s my biggest time black hole? Playing computer games, mainly the long-running MMORPG “The Lord of the Rings Online,” or LotRO for short. I love Tolkien’s books and I’ve read them probably at least a dozen times since I first read the trilogy in 1970. LotRO scratches the itch. It also sucks up a lot of my free time. I play several other games as well, but they don’t engross me as much as LotRO. Those games include Eve Online, another time killing MMORPG, and a few other old classics, none of which I regularly play.
I’m going to start a Gaming Page on this website or include gaming into the main blog posts. If it’s a new page, just see the top menu bar.
Anyway, there you have it. My time is “precious,” to paraphrase an iconic adjective from The Lord of the Rings. I’ll eventually get serious with digital art again, so if you’re looking for some art on this blog, don’t worry. I’ll get some posts up sooner or later. Thanks for reading this somewhat long post.
Too Much Rain
Finally . . . FINALLY . . . after 2 weeks, I was able to walk through my front yard to go out to the main road to do some walking without getting my shoes completely water logged. It’s been that long since I’ve been able to do any jogging or power walking at all. Tomorrow, barring any rain overnight, I’ll be able to get back to my morning routine.
There’s a restaurant owner a few minutes down the road who’s had the same problem–3 to 4 inches of water, above the ankles, at least, for the past couple of weeks. I’ve been walking through the yard in my sandals, so I ordered some fried rice and shrimp from the place yesterday and that’s when I talked to him.
The same problem occurred last year, though not for so long a time, and I posted about it, with a YouTube video, here.
I sure hope this dry spell lasts a while, a week or so at least, though that’s doubtful. I plan on going to Nongkhai next week for several days. Fingers crossed.
Rainy Season in Laos
Speaking of the rainy season in Laos, which I mentioned in my previous post, it rained quite heavily a few nights ago. The two ponds on either side of my house filled up and overflowed into my yard, a somewhat usual occurrence this time of year. In the past I’ve foregone the pleasure of taking my morning jog because it was impossible to walk out to the main road without getting my running shoes completely drenched. Normally, it takes a few days without rain and with lots of sunshine to reduce the amount of water in my yard.
But now I have a backup for that. My place of employment, Vientiane College, installed a small gym, complete with a few treadmills, for teachers and staff to use on the top floor of the building. So, before my normal class periods begin in the evening, I have time in the afternoon to do either some jogging or some power walking. Hooray, no more down time
I still have to take my shoes off and put them in a plastic bag while I wear my old sandals coming and going to the main road through my yard. It’s impossible, for me at least, to ride through the yard without putting my feet down to balance my motorbike through all the water, which right now is about three to four inches deep in a few places. When I get to the school, about 16 kilometers away, I can remove the sandals, let my feet dry, and put on some nice, dry socks and shoes. So, I can do cardio exercising without skipping many days.
The next time I get the opportunity, I’ll take a photo of our wonderful new, albeit small, gym.