ING Today

The ING half marathon run today was fun.   This is the 3rd annual and I was determine not to miss any of them.  I got up at 5 am to get ready.   It’s was good getting a decent sleep before a change.   The anticipation usually kept me up.  Not this time.  I got in my car and drove to QT for a cup of coffee and to break my $20 bill for a Martar ride.  Linburgh station was not too far from home so I was laly gagging around until it was time to leave.  There was no hurry.   I got to the train station around 6:30.  Other runners were making their way to the train as well.   They’re my people.  There were tons of them waiting to catch the train to the Centenial Park downtown.  It was a little chilly but I felt warm.   We went on a short ride.  Only 3 stops.   The train came to a stop at Peachtree Center station.   Everyone got off and headed for the escalator.  Funny thing happened.  The escalator to the street level was out of service.  We musta walked 300 steps.  One thing for sure, we had a good work out with the stair master.  We all looked at each other and agreed that the race had already begun.  We marched a couple more blocks to the Olympic Centenial Park.  It was close to seven o’clock.  The wheelchair race was just about to start.  I took a few minutes to stretch.   I was ready!   I had long sleeves under nead my ING race shirt.  It got a little chilly after the rain stopped.  It has been raining all week.  It was perfect weather to run. 

I was proud to collect another event shirt.  They give it to us along with the race number.  Not having a race number would make us a bandit meaning we steal.   It’s like getting into a theater without paying.  I paid $75 for this event.   

I have a lot to say about this race.  For now, the time.   I made it to the finish line at 9:39.  I know my starting time was a little after 7 am because I started with group 5 which is a few minutes after the wheel chair event and group 1.

The outcome, the Kenyan men’s team beat the Ethiopian men’s but the Kenyan women were beaten by the Ethiopian women’s team. 

To be continue…

Air Love Song

One of my all time favorite Lao song.   I love to sing this song on karaoke.  I can sing this song by heart because I love Pakse.  I wonder where guys like Air are up to these days.  I sure wish them luck in their singing career. 

My Night Out

I spent the whole day taken care of things so I can leave early to join the party. “We needed to register two boats with the league,” was the calling. It was the party plus the cause that I drove 2 hours north to Habersham County . I hardly visit the place after I moved away. Time have changed, party is not what it use to be for me. For this party, I was prepared for a long night. The temple is hidden among the trees, the houses, and the dark roads. We spotted a marked police car the moment we pulled into the temple courtyard. My dance partner relief. She was out of her comfort zone. “See, that’s Tieng’s brother. He is a police officer now,” I told her. Some of the local kids were also assisting people with parking. Seeing kids getting involved with community function was another good sign. I told her that she has to stop being afraid of her own people. Some of them may look rough but once you get to know them they are the nicest people. While we were walking toward the party central, ao Saly, Air’s dad, greeted us. He had just chased a dog off because it was scaring people. I asked if that was the same dog that always scaring people. He told us yes. At the door Say and La greeted us. Say graduated from High School one year after I did. He was one of the hosts. La was always cheerful. He is still young but has a head full of grey. When he brought drinks over that night, I told everyone that we all are going to be very bab (sin in Laotian) for letting an elderly serve us. Everyone always gets a good laugh out of that one. La is one of the few people I know who calls me bak ha (idiot, stupid, or jerk in Laotian). It sounds fine coming from him. It sounds sincere. We started out that way since the day we met. What we call each other sometime identifies the level of our friendship. Calling a close friend bak ha is all fine and good but calling people you don’t know “bak ha” would get you in a big trouble or a whole lot worst. But, I wouldn’t called him or anyone “bak ha”. I really not use to the term bak, or ku ku murng murng. So the economy is bad. At the door I paid $20 for two people. I spent $15 more on food. I bought two rounds of drinks for my table. I enjoyed the gathering. It has been awhile. The music was great. The Sepandon Band kept everyone dancing. It was good to hear the music from a full band. A lot of time we were entertained by a one man bands. Don’t get me wrong I do love the one man band too but a full band sounds much better. We danced to all kind of style of music that night. I couldn’t keep count of how many times I told my partner, “Let’s dance, this is my favorite song.” Lum Sepandon was the evening’s favor. I was glad the band was able to accommodate different Lao regional dances. The “Lum Vong”, the community dance kept us going round and round. I made my way around community hall greeting everyone I know. I spot Yune and Air in the back. We acknowledged each other with one of those cool hand shake. My high school buddies Air, Say, and Yune used to work together at the chicken plant. At the chicken plant we were cool guys because we go school during the day and work full time at night. We were teens with money. The town people think we were great kids. At the chicken plant we helped each other when ever there is a need to. I remember one time Yune and I had to help ai Sounee out. Ai Sounee, a Laotian ex-miliatary, worked with us at the chicken plant. Ai Sounee had a gripe with a Mexican co-worker. Ai Sounee was in his twenties when we were in our teens. Rough looking ex-military and all, we looked up to him. It is normal for us to look up to those we called ai (big brother). Ai Sounee had one of those thousand yards stare as described by the Vietnam vets. We paid special attention to ai Sounee and be his friend because had mentioned that someone kept bothering him. One night he finally came out and said, “Pon, pai num ai, ai si tee bak Mex.” He had a thick southern accent. He told me he was going to fight with the Mexican guy who has been giving him a hard time. I tried to talk him down but ended up went along because ai Sounee had made up his mind. He wanted to resolve the dispute the traditional way. Challenge someone to a brawl was the only way ai Sounee can be satisfied. I kept asking him, “Are you sure you want to fight this guy?” He was certain he had to because it’s the only way to restore his honor. I said, “Fine, if you must.” I asked Yune to come along just in case the other guy brings his friends. I know I can depend on Yune for this kind of stuff. So it was going to be a one on one fight where we were support to watch. At dinner break we went outside to help ai Sounee settle his affair. The fight took place on the back of the building. Well, it wasn’t really a fight. We had to be there making sure ai Sounee is ok. We wouldn’t want him to get hurt. So the moment the fight started, we had to jump in right away and asked the Mexican guy to stop. ai Sounee was no boxer and was no match for the husky Mexican fellow. The guy thought for a second that all three of us were jumping him. We were not. After all, it was an honorable fight. Yune only had to kick him one time to stop the fight. We walked away with ai Sounee and return to work. Ai Sounee had a little bruise on his cheek. He was upset but he got his point across. We all went on with our business. The Mexican guy never bothers ai Sounee again. I looked for ai Sounee every time I am in town. He may have moved or died already. I asked and no one knows. When I returned from military service, I saw him once at one of our community parties. I usually went over and sat with them and his friends at the table in the back and drink a few beers with them. Bouakham, a local beauty said to me, “Why you always hanging out with crazy people?” Bouakham offended me with her comment. I told her just like I told La that night, “They are our people. How can you call them that?” Bouakham decided that I was crazy too. Yune invited me and La to his house for am after party extention. I kindly declined because La had to get home. I would have gone if I went to the party by myself. Yune always mindful of me and makes me feel welcome. I couldn’t tell him enough how much our friendship means to me. I never have to. We have our code of silence. It was closed to mid night; the guys seemed to be HTTM to drink. They were hugging the wall and were loud but everyone seemed to be having a good time. That was the most important thing. Keo who rolled with on the boat race last year was at the party. He was kind of tipsy and started having one of those heart to heart talks, man to man, a liquor talk rather. I was all ears of course. Kak came over to bail me out when he saw that ai Pon was held captive too long. He came over and relief me of my duty. “What’s up Kak, I am just talking to my brother,” Keo said. “He is my brother too,” Kak said. That was one of the things I proud most about the younger generation, some of them were able to picked up and learned the proper etiquettes that I was used to. Kak saw that I was being held hostage, came over, and bailed me out. I have done the same many times when I saw someone being held captive. Those hearts to hearts talks usually, only, happen when some of us had a few too many. But it was all good. I felt nothing but love. A few people from Atlanta were also out there that night. “Ai Pon, let us know when you leave. We will follow you out,” Si told me she have no idea how found the temple because it was so dark. I agreed that the temple is kind of hidden. I took them on a short cut to avoid major intersections. I didn’t want anyone to get pulled over. I was happy for Kak, Say, and La for putting it all together. It was good to see so many people came out and support the fundraising. It was good to see people moved together in group. I was glad to be a part of it. I had myself a great time.

Tara

On the corner of Sheshire Bridge and Lavista Road is Tara Theatre. They used to play Chinese films there on the weekend. I saw a few of them there.  Tara Theatre is one o the few theatres in Atlanta that show rare flicks. Further down on the road is Spencer Malay, a hair salon belonging to nong cai Spencer. In Georgia we have a plantation called Tara. I figure Tara is pretty well known in the south.   At this point I don’t know if Tara is a real place or made up.  Tara was made famous by the movie Gone with the Wind.  I suggest everyone in the world should watch Gone with the Wind.  Until today I still have not seen the movie to its entirety. I just thought it was so sad.   I guess this is a Q for me to check it.

University

A University was created so people can converge in knowledge and update information. The University system had been set up for a long time. Long before man can read and write. University is where belief, thought, and idea are shared. A learned person converge peacefully with one another. The world gets better and better as more converged. What happen? Did the idea of University become distorted? 

We all have our own ideas about University. At the University we learn about kwam “si vi lai” which is civilized in English. Sad truth is many of us reached the civilized world but never see civilization. Today, a University is a mere institution, a container with walls and a ceilings, a box.

University is not what it used to be.   There are good Universities, Emory University for an example,  produces good people.  Other than Emory, Agnescott all girls University is a good.