midservice conference

The latest in social activities:

every Thai town comes equipped with a complete Karaoke venue. This happens to be in Bangkok. Also, I have no idea what song we are singing, but it very well could be 'Desperado'.

From left to right we are: (far back) Jamie, Sean, Emily, Merissa, Jack, Bryn, Rachel, Tara, Leisbeth, Me, Carolyn, Lindsey.

We all work with small children.

Remember things like the first time you ate som tom, the sound of rain pouring down on banana leaves, the feeling of being lost in the woods with a compass and a bad map, and also knowing that you will be ok, the feeling of biting down on pieces of splintered bones in your food and knowing that they are supposed to be there, the first time you look at someone and you want to know them, falling asleep drenched in sweat listening to the torrential rain outside. Remember things like first kisses that flush, secrets told and retold to unkind ears, ilicit moments under flourescent lights. Understand that true friends and true love come in small numbers, that life has less in common with chess as it does with dominoes, that good food, good music and good conversation are really the only things in the world that make you feel fulfilled. That shallowness in some is a defense, while in others it is an inability to swim, that especially in a world where appearances are everything, they are deceiving, that sometimes people won't hear what you're really saying, and that, above all, you must not push people away with truths, because more often than not the images projected are nothing more than images. What scares people the most are people without shells, and it sometimes hurts to be seen so raw.

Little licking eyelids creased in alcoholic stupor

draw in polka dots around a brown halo

showing through a layer of white ginger

crystalized with age and care,

mitigate unwavering signals stolid

and not quite salient, immutable,

drinkable straight but not easily

digestable in the time of one day,

this fibrous libidinous being

so soon stolen by an empty cask,

pupils reflecting a pink dawn

that finds the fruit sellers

solidly planted yet again.