No Place For You

I never realize how hard it is to find a place to live in until I have to move.

I've been looking for a place since May and haven't found anything. Surprisingly, in this tiny college town, all the apartments are taken by students who lease them for the year. I am not a student, I'm not interested in leases (since I'm trying to get out of a horrible one right now), and I don't want to drink/smoke/do drugs, etc.

You'd think for me it would be easy to find a place. It's not.

I don't have a lot of income but I have a lot of savings and a joint checking account with my family that I pay the bills with. Apparently, the online copied forms don't allow for this provision and I have to scribble it down as best I can that I am not poor and I have money.

I haven't bothered to pack my numerous belongings since most of it isn't mine. I'm downgrading from a three bedroom, two bathroom house at $1650.00 a month, hopefully to a cheaper but still nice place. No such luck...

All the places on Craig's List I've found are scams. Numerous crappy apartments aimed at college students with more than ten ads placed for one apartment. Even the property management companies run scams (all with terrible leases) and I can't rely on them either. I've asked around but my friends either have five roommates or they're married with income.

Most of the other places I've found online involve schemes like "re-modeled" garages, shacks and outhouses for student housing (most of which hasn't been approved with a permit). "Studios" that turn out to be someone's room in a house that isn't theirs. "Cottages" in old garages or garden houses that were never meant to be lived in. I've seen ads for men with children, wanting free housekeeping and babysitting in exchange for a "rent discount". It pretty much means a nanny/maid who pays the boss instead of the other way around. Women do this too and often shack up with dubious renters who promise to babysit their children; it's not something I recommend.

International students get scammed with "International Host Families", who make them pay rent, babysit the kids, clean the house and other chores that are not approved. Next comes another baby and the student is thrown out to make room (I've seen this happen to my friend!).

Living in a college town has its definite drawbacks but I never realized how bad until now.

I don't want five roommates, I'm not married, I don't have children (I don't even have pets!), and I'm not looking to make money off of college students. All I ask is to find a place I'm comfortable with but I guess that's too much to ask.

There's also the problem of gender. I noticed since I'm a single woman (no boyfriend, husband, etc.), people don't trust me to pay the rent. "Are you alone?" They always ask me. "Yes" I answer, wondering why it matters at all. Then my application gets denied and thrown away. Living in a rural college town is not the best situation for a women like myself who has no urge to shack up with a man in order to pay the bills. I don't want to end up his servant and have to do the cleaning, cooking, managing bills, all by myself. Worse yet, men often confuse female roommates as their girlfriends, next thing you know they're offering marriage proposals. Or they try to control everything you do.

I've often wondered how my chances in life would improve if I could get a sex-change. I know of no single woman who can make a living on her own and pay the rent at the same time. With minimum wage part-time jobs ruling the market right now, there's no hope for me to make a living for myself.

I guess I'll have to move in with my family, something I really don't want to do, unless I find another family to shack up with. Then I'll end up doing the chores, housekeeping, managing the household, babysitting the children and be stuck with everybody else's responsibilities.

I'm seriously thinking of getting that sex-change now...

Ghosts of Thailand

They build spirit houses to house the spirits who have been misplaced. Temples sit in farm fields, bathed in gold with their exotic steeples. Here in Thailand, people believe in ghosts, bad spirits, who haunt their lives.

Never before in my adult life, had I ever felt this close to the supernatural. I had never seen a ghost before (though I thought I had heard the footsteps of one once) but here in Thailand, anything is possible. The Thai people are very superstitious and they believe in curses, evil spells and restless grudges. Buddhism is only part of what they believe, the real religion lies in their beliefs, old beliefs that never die, like their ghosts.

A bad event, flood, or catastrophe is still blamed on ghosts (PHI ผี), witches, evil spells and unsatisfied ancestors who look down upon the people in their daily lives.

This was such a change for me. Here I was, a Christian (though a non-practicing one), thrown into another world, a world where my previous realities did not exist. Maybe it was my over-active imagination, or the fact that I had just seen one of the numerous ghost movies the Thai people watch.

But here in Thailand, you may see a ghost. You're more likely to see a ghost here than in Japan or America, simple because Thai people live with ghosts always in their daily lives. People here have seen ghosts and they fear them more than the poisonous snakes that can kill a person with one bite.

More than the ghosts they fear, I believe Thai people are most afraid of becoming ghosts themselves. A restless spirit beyond salvation or chance of enlightenment through re-incarnation, a ghost is trapped on this earth forever, and lost.

It was here in Thailand that I felt I would see a ghost.

I was biking alone, through the winding dirt roads, past coffee shops, internet cafes and roadside eateries, to the deserted countryside on the outskirts of town. Here in this small town, nobody spoke English, I had to speak awkward Thai phrases to them. If something were to happen to me, I would have no way of contacting anyone. Cell phone service didn't always work out here either. I hoped I wouldn't come across any of those poisonous snakes. I had already heard of someone who was bitten and had been in a coma from it. Luckily, I had only seen one snake in the fall season that I was here.

It started to rain lightly. In Thailand, it rains often, though not as much as in the spring monsoon season. The rain is warm and doesn't last long.

One time I was caught in a heavy downpour and I had to stop at a roadside eatery where I bought a raw young coconut that a man cut with a bloody hatchet he was using for the meat. Cleanliness isn't a big concern in Thailand and I had gotten a terrible stomach illness twice.

All of a sudden, it got dark while I was riding my bike. "Uh oh", I thought, "it's going to thunder soon." No one else was around. The streets were deserted. I realized I was totally alone. Not even a pack of stray dogs were barking, which I knew was very strange. There were always dogs around (Thai people don't believe in spaying or neutering either). It was eerily quiet, not even the sound of birds chirping.

If I was going to see a ghost, now would be the time. What would the ghost look like? Would it be pale gray with blackened eyes, the kind they show in the movies? Or would the ghost look like a normal person, except for the fact they would disappear as soon as I turned around? Would it be possible for me a Falung (foreigner) to see a Thai ghost? Could belief be that strong?

I wondered then how much the Thai culture had influenced me. Here I was, biking along the streets, expecting to see a ghost any moment. I was thrown into a society where anything was possible. Seeing a ghost was not an abnormal event but an everyday occurrence. Especially up in the countryside where I was, near the Burmese border (Myanmar to some). For the Thai people, ghosts are real. Whose to say ghosts aren't real? Which reality is the truth? I didn't know.

It started pouring.

I pulled over to stop at a roadside shop. Nobody paid much attention to me, they just watched their TV and drank their beers. When the rain stopped, I biked back to where I was staying, still feeling that at any moment I would see a ghost. The hairs on the back of my neck prickled, though it could've been the weather change. I had a strange feeling I was being watched, though when I looked around, no one was near.

Finally I biked down the hill, to where more people lived and sure enough, other people were in the street, driving cars and motorcycles (always without a helmet) and the feeling of being watched (and creeped out) had faded away. I must've imagined the whole thing.

I never told anyone what I had felt when I went out that day on my bike. I didn't think anyone else would've understood. If I told a Thai person, they'd probably just smile and nod. An American person wouldn't really understand, not unless they've lived in Thailand and felt what I felt then.

It's hard to say now if I believe in ghosts. I still haven't seen one, and my once brief encounter with the paranormal (those strange footsteps I once heard) could never be proven. The truth is, I'd hate to think a trapped soul actually exists and whatever grudge they carry is not something I want to be involved in.

Perhaps I should buy a charm, to keep the bad spirits away, just in case...

Do you see in Google?

http://www.spreeify.com/promos/win_a_pair_of_google_glass_110

I just saw these from a clip on Google, "Google bans porn on Google Glass" by Heather Kelly, June 4. 2013. (Courtesy of CNN.com)

What is Google Glass you ask? They are interactive web-glasses that can take pictures, record and somehow store information (I haven't figured this part out yet).

Here's the link: http://www.google.com/glass/start/what-it-does/

It reminds me of those special glasses Spider Jerusalem wears in, "Transmetropolitan", the famous comic by Warren Ellis and Darick Robertson. 

Picture by Imageshack, Cover of Transmetropolitan vol. 2 "Lust for Life". Art by Darick Robertson. --Wikipedia.org 

Applications to get those nifty glasses are now closed but you can sign up to get news spam about them. I'm assuming the glasses are reaaaaaly expensive, so there's no chance I'll be getting them soon. 

I don't know how they're powered or how they work (Google keeps a tight security on their products) but I assume it's like having Google powered glasses that you speak commands into, so they must also have a mic somewhere. You can also upload pics, so it must have Wi-Fi too.

According to an article by Charles Arthur for "theguardian" http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2013/jun/03/google-glass-facial-recognition-ban (UK based), the glasses may pose a security risk to those who value privacy as the glasses may be used for facial recognition. 

Glass, a wearable system that can take still and video pictures and upload them to the internet in real time using a Bluetooth-connected smartphone, as well as using voice recognition and location data to provide information about the surroundings. The company has indicated that it wants to begin selling it for broad consumer use within the next year, 

I'm sure the CIA will be ordering a ton of these then...

It's bad enough though that people have their cell phones/smart phones/whatever blocking any social interaction with the real world. Imagine if everyone started wearing these glasses and you tried to talk to them.

"Hello," You say to the guy wearing Google Glass."Hi," He says back, looking you straight in the eye with those strange glasses."Excuse me, do you know where Wall St. is?" You ask politely, since he's looking right at you.He stares at you, not answering for a bit then finally says, "Huh? You talkin' to me? I was having a private conversation here!" He then says, "No, not you! I'm talkin' to someone here...I don't know, some person on the street." He continues with his conversation with someone on his glasses, while staring at you the whole time.

I must say it would be very rude!

Although the idea of these interactive glasses may seem cool at first, imagine if they showed you the wrong information or they wouldn't shut off when you want them to, "NO, I said wrong street, not wall street!". Next thing you know, you're driving off a cliff.

What kind of person needs these things anyway? 

Forbes, called the Google Glass, "A Fashion Failure" (Karsten Strauss, Forbes Staff).

You'd look something like the Borgs from Star Trek, I imagine.

"Resistance is Futile!" (Image from Startrek.com)

OK, maybe not that bad but you get the idea...