LOCKDOWN SMACKDOWN - ZOOMING THROUGH SCHOOL – GREYSCALE - WHEELIES AND POWERSLIDES - SELF PUBLISHING PROGRESS - FINAL 5.
Difficult to get a solid grip on this time now. With the rest of the world opening up, Lao is locking down as COVID really takes hold. With no chance of heading out of Vientiane or going to my site up North, I am feeling restless and discontent. The lights of Thailand, just a short distance across the Mekong from our house, beckon cruelly. I have taken to fantasizing out loud to Mina;
“Mina, do you think it’s possible for you to take me to the airport tomorrow morning? I have a few things I need to do in Bangkok. It’s just for a few nights and I’ll be back on the Sunday afternoon flight.”
Mina looks at me.
“What you talking about, you crazy or what?!”
I’m not the only one struggling with this, though. Little Christopher is missing school terribly, with no friends to play with and the 5-6 zoom lessons per day a poor substitute for a 7-year-olds social life. I’m trying my best to be all things to him, a father, friend, teacher and mentor. My efforts are essential to his well-being, but they do little to fill him up in the areas he really needs. Tough times.
With all this self-induced pressure on me, it’s interesting to see my creativity take a dive. I struggle to lift the burdens of work and home sufficiently from my mind to allow my creative spirit to roam free. As a result, my photography feels grey and uninspired, as are my few weak attempts at writing. Better to aimlessly scroll through YouTube videos, right?
Despite the exploding COVID situation in Laos, the strict lockdown regulations set in place appear to be receiving less enforcement resulting in some inconsistences throughout the capital city. On the positive side, all the police checkpoints have disappeared, some restaurants and many coffee shops have opened for business. After supervising Christopher’s major set of zoom lessons and “classwork” in the morning, I head out to the office after lunch and work alone till the evening to catch up on the backlog of my morning's work.
I bought Christopher his first “real” bike, a blue 20’’ 7 speed MTB. His old bike was really a toy. In the evenings, Christopher and I ride down to an abandoned school field near our house and ride our bikes around. During this time, I practice my wheelies, while Christopher practices power slides and gets used to having a set of gears. We are both improving in our separate objectives. Long controlled wheelies is a skill I have always wanted to develop, but never really had the time. I can now do around a 4 seconds burst at a time. It doesn’t sound much, but it is actually a vast improvement.
In terms of my book development, things moved quickly this month. We finalized the book cover edits and completed the print book formatting and type-setting. I was shocked to see that the final proofreader found 123 errors, and this after a full set of professional line and copy edits! I also now have a set of ISBN numbers, one for each format, print and e-book. All that remains is the e-book formatting and a media marketing pack.
I had an interesting experience this past week at work while developing a concept proposal for a new UK government funded grant for my site. Nothing unusual, X amount of GBP for a 5-year period. Been there and done that on more than one occasion. The thing that got me was the realization that this is most likely my last 5 year anything in terms of my formal working life. When I write the final report for this grant, if we get it, I will be 67-year-old.