Mai Me Arai

The following letter was written when I stayed overnight at the hospital with my mum last week. She quietly passed away on Sunday just before midday and her funeral will be held tomorrow (Wednesday).

I wrote this letter in the back of a book thinking no one would notice it was there but someone did and as a result I am now reading it at my mothers funeral.

I present it here as a record of her passing and hope anyone who reads it gets something of value from it.

I initially thought implementing a nation broadband network (NBN), effectively giving 93% of Australian homes access to 100MB internet access (provided through a 3rd party), was a fantasic idea but as usual the concept is better than the reality and now that details are emerging it worries me in a number of ways.

1. NBN Co., the company created to manage and run the NBN, sounds a lot like what Telstra once was and the future of NBN is not certain. In fact, it’s a very real possibility that once the 15 year time period in which they specify it should remain government owned is over, the government will promptly begin to sell it. I don’t want another Telstra situation – one is bad enough.
2. They are building technology that is good now, not planning for the time it will be completed in 8 years (supposedly) when 100Mbps will be considered the bare minimum you’ll need.
3. The opportunities for corruption in such a massive project are huge.

Can anyone else think of flaws?

I haven’t blogged for a while because things have been a bit hectic since we got back, but here I am now.

I’ve just today convinced my step-dad to switch the internet to AAPT’s new unlimited plan and what a relief to move away from the 12GB download limit he has had with Telstra. I’m a bit ashamed to admit thatthe new computer that I helped him purchase is better than the one I had in Thailand.

The situation with my mum is ongoing (she’s still with us) despite the certainty by the rest of my family that she would die shortly after I arrived. I’m not quite sure how I’m going to deal with other peoples emotions as things draw to a close, though I’m not even sure how I’m going to react at this point (I probably won’t react at all). I’ll have to be sure not to make any jokes on the day. Fishing pills out of liquids of various viscosity mum has thrown up to ensure she takes them does quite a good job of desensitising me I feel.

I’m still jobless so I guess I should pull my finger out and get one since Oui informed me that the day I get a job I am allowed to go and get whatever computer I want. He knows how to motivate me :)

Oui also plans to download WoW and get up and running on my step-dad’s pc once we’ve switched to AAPT.

There is other news, but I will report back soon.

As I was passing through customs upon arriving in Australia I noticed a sign informing everyone that there was some television show being filmed today and that if we didn’t wish to participate we should inform somebody. Aside from the reference to the elusive ‘somebody’ it made me wonder just when exactly did privacy become something I had to opt-in for?

It got me thinking about the need for no-call lists and other such things that only exist because privacy does not exist courtesy of the gradual erosion of our rights. This case in particular frustrates me since Customs is funded entirely by the tax payer yet is attempting to profit by allowing film crew to insert themselves into security process and basically exploit travellers, be they guilty of whatever infraction or not. Some people would say bring up the old “if you’re not guilty then you have nothing to worry about”, but I already find going through customs stressful enough being completely innocent and I do believe the correct response to such a statement would be that we should be considered “innocent until proven guilty”.

There are people who are far more invested in the battle for reclaiming our privacy but I still intend to contact my local representative to inform him of my thoughts, despite knowing full well it will be a complete waste of time.

When the UDD gave their ultimatum today that the House of Representatives be dissolved, to which Prime Minister Abhisit responded “No”, I bet you were all wondering what would be next. I mean, when you give an ultimatum it’s a case of either do-what-we-want-or-we-will-do-something-bad right? Wonder no more!

UDD leaders announced that they:

will take one thousand litres of blood donated by protesters and spill it around Government House on Tuesday, in retaliation for the government’s decision not to dissolve the House.

The drawing of blood will begin about 8am on Tuesday, Mr Natthawut said.

A total of one million cubic centimetres (cc) would be taken from 100,000 volunteers, including protest leaders.

This would be a symbolic action. Cabinet ministers would have to walk over the protesters’ blood when they enter Government House to work, he said.

Talk about bat-shit insane! A symbolic gesture would be to paint the road red (with paint), but if they’re planning to use real blood how exactly is that symbolic? I doubt they can get anywhere near the quantities they’re talking about anyway.

I’ve heard they’re looking for volunteer medical staff to assist with drawing the blood. M?

Did you know it’s possible to do a Google search of a specific website using the address bar of Google’s Chrome browser?

Search from the address bar?!

Different sites seem to support this differently with not all sites offering the ability to press tab to search, though it can still be done manually by entering a colon and your search terms after the address.

Sites that support pressing tab seem to have custom destinations, whereas manually searching sends you to Google.

I noticed on my morning visit to Central Chitlom that the transparent rubbish bin that sits just outside has been removed and that they now have some guy with a handheld metal detector inspecting bags at the entrance. My habit of living my life inside a tiny bubble often causes me to forget that there is quite a bit of news surrounding the red shirts and their pending protest/s.

The most ironic part is of course that despite all of the above, it’s business as usual.

Oui got the call this morning that his application for permanent residency has been approved so we’re flying out on the 21st of March, which unfortunately seems to be after the commencement of mass-protests by the red-shirts.

My last post got me thinking about my mum in a round about way. Besides playing the trumpet I also played the piano, which I learnt a few years after trumpet so I had to learn how to read bass clef at the same time. Luckily it was just a simple case of transposition from the treble clef I already knew so it didn’t take me too long.

I was never great at piano or trumpet, probably through lack of discipline and practise (a common theme throughout my life). Playing the piano was fun for me because the trumpet isn’t a very good solo instrument and while I was a member of an orchestra and various ensembles it was obviously impossible to assemble everyone whenever the desire struck me to play trumpet.

I was fortunate to get a piano at home when I was in high school because the head of the history department wanted to get rid of hers and she’d happened to discover me playing once while walking by the classroom during lunch. I remember my mum took some convincing to let me get it and I had to call in some favours to move it but eventually we got it inside and settled and I started playing straight away because I was so excited to finally have one.

A few weeks later my dad, who had helped move the piano on the day, mentioned that my mum had told him how surprised she was upon hearing me play because she had never realised I could. It was ironic, because by that stage I’d already been playing for more than four years, but not surprising since no one else in my family had shown any interest in music beyond listening.

Though I played a lot while the piano was in the house I found that I hit a wall in my ability that I couldn’t seem to pass. There has been only a single time in my life in which I was able to relax and mentally distance myself enough to be able to overcome that mental block and play beyond my normal abilities but I never learnt how I did it, nor how to replicate it.

Maybe when we’re established in Sydney I will see about buying a new piano.