Yuck, midterms :(

Bleh.

Back from vacation so soon, and whaddaya know, midterms have started. Sorry for the lack of updates lately, but I've been busy being a nerd, staying up till the wee hours of the morn and getting distracted by other people's xangas and blogs burying my nose in books. Bleeeeechhhh.

I had my first midterm yesterday and I think I kicked ass at it. During the exam, this gay guy came into the exam hall dressed up in the standard Thai university uniform, except he was wearing the female version (black skirt and white blouse with university emblem, pin, and belt). Thais generally pride themselves in being relatively tolerant when it comes to homosexuality, and it's not unusual to see gay TV personalities and celebrities all over the late night TV shows and movies. Anyways, what happened was that one of the profs who was supervising the exam refused to allow him (her?) to enter and take the exam if he remained dressed in the female uniform. He demanded that he go change into the proper male uniform and be back by 9:30, since 9:30 is the absolute latest they allow you to enter the exam hall. Well, it just so happens that it was already 9:20, and so unless he was Sonic the Hedgehog or had another uniform stuffed up his sleeve, there was absolutely no way he was going to be able to make it on time.

I know the prof was just following the university's general examination rules and regulations, but it made me realize that Thai society's seemingly tolerant attitude towards homosexuality isn't quite so tolerant after all. Anyway, what happened was that he sort of threw a hissy fit and got really loud, demanding that he be allowed to take the exam. This pissed the prof off and he threw the guy out of the room. I felt really bad for him because he ended up missing the exam and will most likely fail the class because of that. It's been said many times before and might sound a tad immature, but sometimes life is really unfair. I have loads of gay friends, and some of them are the greatest friends anyone could ever ask for: they're incredibly loyal, witty, and some of the funnest conversationalists I've ever met. It's so sad that society still isn't quite prepared to accept them for who they are as individuals, and not because of their sexual preference. Sigh.


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Anyway, I'm really excited because once midterms are over and done with, a big wave of friends are going to start streaming back to Thailand. Patrick's arriving here from London on the 20th, and so is Louise, but I'm still not so sure when exactly. Pam and Sandy are gonna be arriving from Cali, and Monta from Boston. And I also think Peter's coming back to BKK in Feb, too. I end up missing him every single time he comes back because I'm always out of town, but hopefully we'll get to meet up this time around. Oh, and I'm finally going to get to meet fellow xangan, Jai, on the 23rd right before the Jay Chou concert! Hehe, so yeah, I'm really looking forward to that.

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My favorite cousin in the whole world is getting married this Christmas! (That's her pic on the left; isn't she pretty?) She's actually having three weddings: one Thai traditional wedding, a Western-style church-based wedding (since her fiancee is Catholic), and another wedding in Canada for members of her fiancee's side of the family. Whoo! Man, three weddings - that's every girl's dream, hehe. Anyway, she's flying in from Houston with her fiancee tomorrow to finalize some last-minute preparations, and from what I've heard so far, it looks like this wedding's gonna be huge and really extravagent since folks are going to be flying in from the States, Canada, Hong Kong, and all over Thailand. I couldn't be happier; I LOVE weddings, and since it's P'Ju's wedding, I'm literally bubbling with excitement, hehe. Yeah, and I just heard from my mom that on the 22nd, HM King's Bhumibol's sister, HRH Princess Galayani Wattana, will be performing the Rod Nam Sang ceremony especially for my cousin and her fiancee. Rod Nam Sang is a Thai traditional wedding ceremony whereby the most senior person present (in this case, it's HRH Princess Galayani Wattana) will soak the couple's hands in water contained in a conch shell. Traditionally, this is believed to bring good luck. Anyway, this should be really cool because I'll be getting to visit the Royal Palace for the first time ever.


Okay, my books are calling. Sigh. Back to studying I go.


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A few more pics from the Pattaya trip.

I love these pics.
You can literally feel the burning of the sun as the reds and oranges bleed and melt away into the closing of the day.


"I've always thought that I would love to live by the sea..."
--Dido, Life for Rent




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