JW Consciousness Stream - 17 November 2025

This entry represents something like my stream of consciousness for Monday, 17 November, 2025. This is basically like a journal entry that I work on throughout the day and then don't go back to correct errors.

Originally published as: Let me say that life is complicated enough and people should avoid complicating it further by having children on multiple continents and/or where there are significant cultural and linguistic barriers. I'm also from the 1970s, so I'm still daring enough to say that some parts of some stereotypes are based on realities, even if they don't apply in all cases.

Kham didn't tell me this before I bought this house, which is actually in her name because she did tell me that it is or was illegal for falangs to own property here, but it's illegal for us to live together unless we are married. I think the consequence would be a fine (or more likely, a smaller bribe to the village headman), so I'm not too worried about it, but it's "interesting" that Kham didn't tell me in advance, considering that I told her from the beginning that I did not want a marriage or more children. I also told her that I was buying a house to support a charity that I wanted to develop, but it immediately became her house somehow.

One of the nice things about the weekend was watching The Wizard of Oz with Wendy. That was one of my favorite movies as a child and it's nice to see her like something classic that isn't just brainrot on YouTube or whatever.

Here is one of the more interesting videos that I watched over the weekend:

Professor Jiang Xueqin: The World Is About to Change I try to incorporate all perspectives and possibilities into my world view. Jiang's (China-influenced?) perspective on Putin's war (with NATO) in Ukraine and Trump's relationship with Xi really caught me off guard and helped me to understand why some Asian cultures seem to support Russia over Ukraine, where as a Westerner and someone that has been to Russia once and Ukraine three times, I continue to support Ukraine.

One thing I've noticed about writing the story of my life: I seem have been on at least three different yearly calendars. The first starts from birth, when I counted years from my birthday. The second was after school started, which defined a different calendar. After school ended, my current calendar is Gregorian.

Now it's 10:30. I've been writing about my life for at least two hours straight. It seems like the more I write, the more there is to tell - like I'm actually falling behind by working. So I might as well take a break. Some other good news is that my foot seems to feel better today, as do my back and ribs. And I don't have a headache or stomachache at all.

Well, 1:45 and I might be tapped out for the day. I have more thoughts, but they seem to be related mostly to what I'm writing, which is still private.

First, a quick summary of my weekend. Friday night, I went to the Belgian bar and had Beer Lao and Chicken Kiev. From there, I managed to publish this piece:

https://deliverystack.net/2025/11/14/ignorance-and-stupidity/

Because the girls did not have school, I didn't do this consciousness stream exercise over the weekend, so I'll give a little summary.

I felt really bad on Saturday - maybe from not taking pain pills, plus I think from the chicken. OK, and I had a couple of beers that night too, but not enough to ruin my Saturday. Kham took the girls swimming and I mostly layed around the house.

Sunday was better. I did some writing, but I also watched The Wizard of Oz with Wendy, which is an experience to which I had been looking forward. I also did quote a bit of writing towards my book and spent some time on LinkedIn, which (other than YouTube and blogs) is my only social media.

In this household:

Kham mostly speaks Lao, speaks Thai relatively well, and speaks a little English, but understands more spoken English.
I mostly speak English, speak a little Lao, but do not understand most spoken Lao, especially when they speak fast or use regional dialects.
Namneung, who is eleven, goes to a Lao school that teaches a little English.
Wendy, who is almost six, goes to an English school.

Kham and I sometimes resort to translation software, but because this is generally poor for Lao, she uses Thai. Her Thai is not perfect, so this can result in additional confusion.

In English, I asked Namneung if she thinks it's strange that her mother and I don't speak the same language. She immediately responded that it is not, pointing out that she and her sister do not speak the same language. This was a bit strange to me because Wendy does seem to speak Lao, especially with Kham. The girls tend to speak English, but sometimes switch to Lao.

Wendy is half Lao, but looks almost white. When strangers ask whether she is Lao or Falang, she says that she is Falang.

I previously told a story about Namneung going through an envelope in my backpack in my office and taking a $100USD bill and a few hundred thousand Lao Kip. Kham returned the money, but I cannot find the $100. It's possible that I misplaced it, or that Kham took it on her trip to Thailand last week, or that Namneung took it again.

It's very difficult to get any answer from anyone in this household, let alone a direct answer, but I asked Kham and Namneung about it. I explained that I was not angry, just trying to figure out what happened, but Namneung seemed to see this as an accusation and got very upset and would not talk. Maybe there was a communication error. She did not seem to admit that she had taken the money originally, but seemed to be in strong denial that she had taken it a second time.

I want to explain to her that I don't think that she's dishonest, but because she took money once, for some time, when anything goes missing, everyone will suspect her. Unfortunately, my Lao is not good enough to explain this, her English is not good enough to understand it, and Kham is not a reliable intermediary.

Afterwards, I found the pictured note on my desk, which includes an apology. I guess she took some Thai baht from me too, but I think I got the change back as Lao kip (almost every place in Lao accepts USD or baht and returns change in kip). That might be about the best I can get on this issue.

Let me say that life is complicated enough and people should avoid complicating it further by having children on multiple continents and/or where there are significant cultural and linguistic barriers. I'm also from the 1970s, so I'm still daring enough to say that some parts of some stereotypes are based on realities, even if they don't apply in all cases.

Here is one of the more interesting videos that I watched over the weekend:

Professor Jiang Xueqin: The World Is About to Change

I try to incorporate all perspectives and possibilities into my world view. Jiang's (China-influenced?) perspective on Putin's war (with NATO) in Ukraine and Trump's relationship with Xi really caught me off guard and helped me to understand why some Asian cultures seem to support Russia over Ukraine, where as a Westerner and someone that has been to Russia once and Ukraine three times, I continue to support Ukraine.

Well, 1:45 and I might be tapped out for the day. I have more thoughts, but they seem to be related mostly to what I'm writing, which is still private.