tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-54626252011-04-22T06:38:22.496+05:30Sri Lanka on my mind and in my heart . . .Continuing the journal of my life journey in Sri Lanka . . .
Thomas Brinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17601090175062616141noreply@blogger.comBlogger861100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5462625.post-1084106247603039522004-05-09T17:57:00.000+06:002004-05-09T18:55:45.093+06:00More Change is . . .Welp, "all good things come to pass not to stay", as Eric Butterworth used to say. Eric was/is one of my earliest spiritual mentors, whom I was privileged to know and work for during the early years of my recovery, while living in New York City. And it is time for this blog to move on into an early retirement . . .
It's amazing -- it is almost eleven months to the day, since I opened it up earlyThomas Brinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17601090175062616141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5462625.post-1083774700760180962004-05-05T22:14:00.000+06:002004-05-09T15:58:10.360+06:00Double-vision zapped . . .Just like in a video war game, rippling the subtle muscles under my bronzed-skinned forefinger, I gallantly opened several screens, multi-tasking the whole way through the help menus, not too frantic, and zapped, I mean eliminated like greased-lightening, the second of the double post I made of the previous post. Apologies to those who had to scroll through the same stuff twice; for those of you Thomas Brinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17601090175062616141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5462625.post-1083760603935230952004-05-05T18:36:00.000+06:002004-05-05T18:41:19.153+06:00And the tunes go on . . .Have almost finished downloading another hour or so of music from iTunes. Most cool. The day is wending down to a gentle finish. That's good. Gentle is good. And so is my final latte of the day . . .
You know, I never did load up any of the picture of the ruins from Polonnuwaru that I took last week. Now is as good a time as any to do so. Here is . . .
A Southern Asia Hot Tub from the 8th Thomas Brinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17601090175062616141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5462625.post-1083747618359566432004-05-05T14:59:00.000+06:002004-05-05T15:46:27.746+06:00Another day in Colombo . . .Where I have been since Monday late afternoon, basking in the glories of broadband. I'm sitting at the Delifrance Cafe, listening to smooth jazz, savoring lattes, watching the Pretty People, same as in Bloomies in my favorite NYC or Park Place in my second favorite Tucson, and jacked-in to their WI-FI, grooving like the 60s to fast connectivity. I've updated all my software and been downloading Thomas Brinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17601090175062616141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5462625.post-1083481232601426532004-05-02T12:55:00.000+06:002004-05-02T13:03:41.590+06:00Change Is . . .A brand new look on the same old srilankanjourney blog . . .
Feel pretty pleased with myself that I with only minimum frustration was able to actually actuate adding links to my blog, which as is rather obvious necessitated a new theme with this rather garish new look, but I'm not complaining. Who says an old dog can't larm hisself some new tricks . . .
I've added three of my favorite bloggers,Thomas Brinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17601090175062616141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5462625.post-1083474189433012862004-05-02T11:02:00.000+06:002004-05-02T11:10:32.606+06:00The Rains Are Teeming Again . . .And I am pensive. A bit down. This too shall pass.
What bummed me was a little while ago I was in the kitchen fixing Soraia and I cups of coffee. A flying insect flew onto to my arm. Instinctively, without a moment’s hesitation, I smashed that bugger into pulverized squash. Then a roach crept out of the drain into the sink. Whop, that sucker was a deader too.
I stood there, frozen in a momentThomas Brinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17601090175062616141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5462625.post-1083464700074565282004-05-02T08:19:00.000+06:002004-05-02T08:28:08.543+06:00Deal with the vagaries of reality . . .Those of you on the other side of the world have just gotten an object lesson in how randomly relative reality is . . .
This and the previous post are dated Saturday, May Day, while I wax and wane about it being a Sunday Mor -- oo --ning . . .
Maybe when I try to upload some links to other blogs, if I can figure it out, I'll try and fiddle with the date/time stamp to become synchonous with Thomas Brinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17601090175062616141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5462625.post-1083462863177145542004-05-02T07:51:00.000+06:002004-05-02T08:16:08.153+06:00It's a Sunday Mor -- oo -- ning . . .Ah yup, I've added a title for each post field, and I'm humming the Young Rascal's 60's tune, Groovin' as I type . . .
Top of a mighty fine morning at cha, wherever ye might be in whatever timezone. The morning waxes a bit gray again here in the Landa of Lanka, but the teeming showers of most of yesterday have stopped, and a couple of song birds are steadfastly, valiantly I observe, warbling Thomas Brinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17601090175062616141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5462625.post-1083418812156402372004-05-01T19:23:00.000+06:002004-05-01T19:57:35.216+06:00So, okay, I’m a bit better, at least I can grit my teeth and grimace a smile of semi-contentment, as I watch the gentle rain outside and the serene solitude of one heron carefully stalking water bugs (or is it minnows?) in the river. The Church Bell tolls for whom I know not, and Chuck Mangione sweetly wails nostalgic from the mid-70s.
Thinking of Richard Dreyfuss for no particular reason, one Thomas Brinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17601090175062616141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5462625.post-1083404135436412532004-05-01T15:35:00.000+06:002004-05-01T15:51:01.170+06:00Happy May Day. Read in a Sri Lankan newspaper today that May Day started in the late 19th Century in the U.S. with some of the earliest labor unions. Now how historically weird is that? I mean during most of my childhood and adult life up until the late 80s, May Day was the 4th of July, Memorial Day, Thanksgiving, Veterans Day par excellence for the arch enemy of the US of A, the USSR. Jesus/Thomas Brinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17601090175062616141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5462625.post-1083335230098408992004-04-30T20:22:00.000+06:002004-04-30T20:31:27.860+06:00Most strange is this curious Kosmos we spin our tales in . . .
Despite time differences across the date-line and other arbitrary machinations of the mind, the two previous posts were made exactly 12 hours apart with a full day of living in between, 6:57 p.m. April 29th and 6:57 a.m., April 30th -- and I haven't even read yet the Trilogy of Four Douglas Adams's The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Thomas Brinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17601090175062616141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5462625.post-1083333817947242902004-04-30T19:57:00.000+06:002004-04-30T20:20:21.983+06:00 Holy Moly Magoligan !~!~! This is a banner day, even one doused in day glow red – this is the second entry I have made within a 24-hour period. Now that’s more what blogging should be about, eh?
Today I got an email from the VFP listserv apropos of my Mini-Rant concerning the nefarious Child Recruitment activities of the U.S. Government. Rather synchronistic, don’t cha think? Here is a link to Thomas Brinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17601090175062616141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5462625.post-1083285865495890752004-04-29T19:57:00.000+06:002004-04-30T06:56:29.890+06:00I've really got to get more precise in this blogjournal -- another 25 days of at times too much distraction caused by living life since I've jacked-in and blogged. Not good. Very disrespectful of myself and those of you, whoever you are out there, especially the 78, more or less, ones that I email a notice of a new posting to. So, maybe instead of putting up another gargantuan load of pics and Thomas Brinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17601090175062616141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5462625.post-1081080262979932832004-04-04T17:50:00.000+06:002004-04-04T18:07:04.046+06:00Thirty-six years since I returned home from my first war experience. Seems like most of my life has been focused this time around on the theme of war. Herein follows a long prose poem written six years ago on with an Epilogue written last year, and a brief Epilogue written today . . .
April 4, 1998: Homecoming Anniversary
It's thirty years today since I returned to the U.S. from Vietnam, and I Thomas Brinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17601090175062616141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5462625.post-1080262658193789392004-03-26T06:43:00.000+06:002004-03-26T07:04:45.046+06:00March 25, 2004 Blog Entry:
Early evening time again, my favorite time of day, here in Sri Lanka as anywhere else on this wide planet made smaller by our technologies that I’ve been blessed to tread dust upon. Cows munch lazily in the field beyond my view, flocks of crows swoop and flit from palm tree to banyan tree, exploding in parabolic skeins of flight, the light softly fades from utter Thomas Brinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17601090175062616141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5462625.post-1078062807026577222004-02-29T19:34:00.000+06:002004-02-29T20:40:19.310+06:00Welp, are ye fully ready for some serious Sri Lankan Journey blogging ?!?!?
This whole entry could be subentitled, "What an incredible difference a couple of weeks makes, thanking all gods & godesses !~!~!"
Two weeks gone, since the trauma that Soraia and I experienced with Thor contracting rabies, which resulted in me having to mercy-kill him and for us to take an emergency trip to Colombo Thomas Brinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17601090175062616141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5462625.post-1076934886167593332004-02-16T18:34:00.000+06:002004-02-16T18:49:49.560+06:00Ah, the best laid plans, etc., etc., etc. . .
It's the day after tomorrow, and I can't put up any pictures because I am not in Mutur, I am in Colombo, and I don't have my computer, it's in Mutur by accident because I left it in the van that brought us from Mutur to Colombo yesterday. Long story short, it is safe, and I shall be reunited with it tomorrow morning. Yes, you can imagine how deeply Thomas Brinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17601090175062616141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5462625.post-1076773022772846572004-02-14T21:27:00.000+06:002004-02-14T21:42:07.390+06:00Valentine’s Day, 2004. Once again I am in a strange, foreign land, where I am alone with a sweetheart thousands of miles away.
The first time I was in a strange and foreign land it was 1968, and I was in Vietnam as a faux-warrior officer. My sweetheart was my first wife who had several months earlier given birth to my first child, daughter Rebecca. On that Valentine’s Day, jeez-us, 36 years agoThomas Brinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17601090175062616141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5462625.post-1073610486531058552004-01-09T06:52:00.000+06:002004-01-09T07:15:52.000+06:00Yesterday morning Karen, the current teammate from Germany, and I took the long, lovely bike ride to Velgam Vihara, a complex of ruins out in the middle of the jungle of Trincomalee Province about 10K out in the countryside near some sacred hot springs in Kanniya. The ruins are 2200 years old and absolutely stunning, especially an ancient statue of Buddha that for centuries has been worshipped byThomas Brinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17601090175062616141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5462625.post-1073608834543908262004-01-09T06:24:00.000+06:002004-01-09T06:41:48.716+06:004:47 p.m., Thursday, January 8, 2004
Trinco Beach Resort Bedroom
The New Year over a week old already; comfortably full after a delicious French Toast and pork sausage brunch. I’ve discovered a local bread, sold by the large loaf which when cut is perfect for pan-frying, either as the French Toast I just deliciously made or a garlic bread, which I did last night for my second meal of the now Thomas Brinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17601090175062616141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5462625.post-1073522619950358072004-01-08T06:29:00.000+06:002004-01-08T07:00:11.043+06:00OK, the blog fixed itself over the night time, while I lolled in forgotten dreamland -- here is what I was unable to upload last night . . .
7:59 p.m., Wednesday, January 7th
Trinco Bedroom Blog Entry
It’s been a while, a long holiday while, since I’ve taken the time to catch up on the blog, so here goes a lot of pictures from the past several weeks of my life with not necessarily a lot of Thomas Brinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17601090175062616141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5462625.post-1073487921129705182004-01-07T20:59:00.000+06:002004-01-07T21:07:39.466+06:00Two weeks since last entry; the holidays for better or worse have come and gone. The New Year is a week old . . .
Welp, I'm bummed. Apparently the blogger upload a file feature is either blogged down or not working, because I have waited over a minute for it to load and it doesn't, so I am unable to upload the bunches of pictures from the Adam's Peak Climb, a bunch of pictures I took yesterday Thomas Brinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17601090175062616141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5462625.post-1072350185153237102003-12-25T16:33:00.000+06:002003-12-25T17:04:05.420+06:00Christmas Afternoon
Trinco Bedroom
Another gorgeous day in Sri Lanka. The Indian Ocean rhythmically caresses the sandy shore. The ubiquitous seacrows caw and swoop about. The fishermen just gathered up their long skeins of nets.
This is my second Christmas Day outside of the U.S.A. The first was in 1967, when I was in Vietnam as a warrior in the unnecessary war of my generation. I am saddened Thomas Brinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17601090175062616141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5462625.post-1071292899569191762003-12-13T11:16:00.000+06:002003-12-13T11:23:44.436+06:00In Colombo at my fav Internet shop; just had a delicious croissant and latte at my fav hang-out place in Colombo, the Delifrance -- life is good . . .
Had an all-night trainride from hell Thursday night from Trinco to Colombo, crowded, cramped, stinky (ode de commode), jerky, bangy and otherwise most awful, plus it was two hours late.
Yesterday spent mostly queued up at the Indian Embassy to Thomas Brinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17601090175062616141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5462625.post-1071144890763073582003-12-11T18:03:00.000+06:002003-12-11T18:16:47.623+06:006:06 p.m., Thursday, December 11, 2003
Beach Resort Room
Quick post to include this poem, the sole effort of my beach weekend away, now removed several days already . . .
In a couple of hours Karen, Soraia, and I catch the night train to Colombo, sleeping in 2nd Class sleepers. That ought to be really fun. We get in to Colombo about six in the morning, spend the day there doing some shopping Thomas Brinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17601090175062616141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5462625.post-1071143410297196652003-12-11T17:42:00.000+06:002003-12-11T17:57:18.360+06:006:59 p.m., Saturday, December 6, 2003
Room 23, Nilaveli Beach Hotel
Welp, here I am doing what I do best, much more the past couple of years than I too often did during the two decades plus with Sara, off on an adventure by myself. I sit here wired to digital sounds while my desktop fades every 5 seconds into blending colors of different abstract phantasms, reminding me just how slippery each Thomas Brinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17601090175062616141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5462625.post-1070207782927230792003-11-30T21:34:00.000+06:002003-11-30T22:09:58.763+06:008:12 p.m., Sunday, November 30, 2003
Beach Resort Bedroom
Quite a nice, relaxing, most very productive couple of days.
Yesterday, while Angie and Linda from the Batticola Team were visiting us, we had an outing up at the Nilaveli Beach Hotel. It was quite a nice day. Since the rains abated and the sky was generally clear, I decided to bike the 17 kilometers out in the country to the hotel. Thomas Brinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17601090175062616141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5462625.post-1070043276929420572003-11-29T00:03:00.000+06:002003-11-29T00:27:24.310+06:007:20 p.m., Friday, November 28,2003
Beach Resort Bedroom
Friday night and I didn't get paid. Waiting for Linda and Angie of the Batti team to come. Soraia cooked a delicious smelling soup, which is simmering in the kitchen. Rain is still pouring. Thanksgiving come and now gone, as has Martyr's Day, the combination 4th of July, Memorial Day and Veterans Day for the LTTE. Prabhakaran, their leaderThomas Brinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17601090175062616141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5462625.post-1069864183992246892003-11-26T22:04:00.000+06:002003-11-26T22:35:27.200+06:00Socked in most of the day as it has been monsooning to beat the band again. Hard to believe it is Thanksgiving again. What a different one it shall be for me. If the ferry is running, which it wasn't on Tuesday when we tried to go, Karen, Soraia will spend the day in Muthur. Trinco and the surrounding areas in the Northeastern Provinces have been a sea of red and gold bunting, flags and Thomas Brinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17601090175062616141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5462625.post-1069351874440891232003-11-21T00:05:00.000+06:002003-11-21T00:15:44.576+06:005:48 pm, Thursday, November 20, 2003
Trinco Beach Resort Bedroom
A Monsoon gale wind wails again outside the window as Van wails about a Stepping Out Queen Part, while whitecaps dance across a grey sliver of sea underneath roiling dark storm clouds I can barely see beyond the seawall and the frantically waving palm fronds. The tea is sweet in my Sri Lanka blue mug and my cinnamon stick is tasty.Thomas Brinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17601090175062616141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5462625.post-1069256717632370812003-11-19T21:38:00.000+06:002003-11-19T21:49:08.996+06:009:06 p.m., Tuesday, November 18, 2003
Beach House, Trincomalee
Tea sweet, as is cinnamon stick. and I have cashews and chocolate for a reading snack just before I go to bed. Outside the ocean surf pounds and a near gale force wind wails; inside headphone wired to one of my favorite of all-time American musical soundtracks, Fantastiks, my all-time favorite "Try to Remember" bringing a gladful Thomas Brinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17601090175062616141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5462625.post-1068919938028060632003-11-15T23:59:00.000+06:002003-11-16T00:12:38.966+06:00Ah, sometimes life can be just so wonderfully goddamned poignantly bittersweet, like the last line in Anil's Ghost, the beautiful novel by Sri Lankan ex-patriot living in Toronto, Michael Ondaatje, "This sweet touch from the world."
After a rich, full day, I listen to Van de Man wail, "Ya not supposed to break down, swallow the hurt, listen to the dirt, I'll . . . something, something . . . and Thomas Brinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17601090175062616141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5462625.post-1068917545617015372003-11-15T23:04:00.000+06:002003-11-15T23:42:11.826+06:001:37 p.m. Saturday, the Ides of November
Beach Resort, Trincomalee
Home alone again. The teamies are out and about shopping. I just bought bread and came home after not being able to order the SLT Internet connection since Peshanti is on leave and after successfully posting a letter to Verizon Wireless as they instructed so they suspend service and don't charge me early termination fee of Thomas Brinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17601090175062616141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5462625.post-1068381504777434112003-11-09T14:24:00.000+06:002003-11-09T18:38:22.310+06:00Feeling rather frisky, so I'll try and upload a couple of more pics taken the first couple of weeks In-Sri Lanka while at the Sarvodaya Center:
Who could make up that I would see a sign that reminded me so much of my NYC hometown . . .
This is the lovely main Buddha statue in the Meditation Garden that Dr. Ari, founder of Sarvodaya Center, built himself using funds from International peaceThomas Brinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17601090175062616141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5462625.post-1068339610063288642003-11-09T06:53:00.000+06:002003-11-09T07:07:13.373+06:009:54 p.m, November 8, 2003
Ecumenical Institute, Colombo
Welp another week has churned its way speedily into the mostly forgotten halls of memory. As I bobble meEarphoned head in tuneful time to the mellow sounds of Brubeck, who I saw in the old X.U. Field Center the Holiday Dance of, geez that must have been just about 42 years ago in December of 1961, I reflect that on balance it’s been a Thomas Brinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17601090175062616141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5462625.post-1067821453552356092003-11-03T07:03:00.000+06:002003-11-03T07:04:12.416+06:009:34 a.m., Sunday, November 2, 2003
Ocean View Inn Patio
Tea sweet, cinnamon stick tasty, Ahmad Jamal piano sounds cool jazzy, the view of the Indian Ocean a blue calm underneath the cloudless expanse of lighter blue sky through the windows of the van that just pulled in front, partially blocking the view – no matter. Sea crows squawk and flit in the trees behind me.
I sit here a week later in Thomas Brinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17601090175062616141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5462625.post-1067093716243314422003-10-25T20:53:00.000+06:002003-10-25T20:56:49.873+06:0010:19 p.m. Tuesday, October 21, 2003
Sarvodaya Center, Colombo
Sitting here in the common room, frustrated, tense, feeling very stressed out after the last couple of days of dealing with one thing after another from the five-hour bridge repair by the very nice dentist in Dehiwila on my one full day off, to the hassle of getting money to pay him, having to travel all the way out to Moratowa Thomas Brinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17601090175062616141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5462625.post-1066481631613039832003-10-18T18:51:00.000+06:002003-10-18T18:53:51.036+06:007:38 a.m., Monday, October 13, 2003
Sarvodaya Center Room
Thirty-one years sober today, and I can’t think of anything more splendid than to be in the final stages of preparation for going into the field again. The next phase of my life begins as we journey today for our field locations in Sri Lanka. In some ways it’s so much the same and, thank all gods/goddesses, it’s so radically different Thomas Brinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17601090175062616141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5462625.post-1065971529443182132003-10-12T21:06:00.001+06:002003-10-12T21:17:20.543+06:007:53 a.m. Tuesday, October 7, 2002
NP Office, Columbo
Sitting here in the front foyer of the NP Colombo Office, where I spent the night last night, satiating my jonesing for connectivity, listening to Van de Man wail "Did Ye Get Healed", which yes I am !~!~! Hopefully I was able to straighten out the DMFCU Visa ATM Card snafu, and will have a new card fedexed to me here.
Last night was a Thomas Brinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17601090175062616141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5462625.post-1065971357508196812003-10-12T21:06:00.000+06:002003-10-12T21:09:17.533+06:007:53 a.m. Tuesday, October 7, 2002
NP Office, Columbo
Sitting here in the front foyer of the NP Colombo Office, where I spent the night last night, satiating my jonesing for connectivity, listening to Van de Man wail “Did Ye Get Healed”, which yes I am !~!~! Hopefully I was able to straighten out the DMFCU Visa ATM Card snafu, and will have a new card fedexed to me here.
Last night was a Thomas Brinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17601090175062616141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5462625.post-1065458194869330722003-10-06T22:33:00.000+06:002003-10-06T22:36:34.496+06:006:16 p.m., Saturday, October 4, 2003
Ocean View Inn
Welp, the first week in Sri Lanka is done. I decided to take an R&R day for myself and found the same Guest House that Soraia and Karen stayed in when they arrived, a nice room with a double bed, a ceiling fan and windows opening onto a balcony from which I can see and hear the ocean.
Yes, indeedy do da ru, have I found the ocean again, this Thomas Brinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17601090175062616141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5462625.post-1065092443369200112003-10-02T17:00:00.000+06:002003-10-02T17:00:43.510+06:00And a hearty hallo to all from Columbo . . .
At a bit of a faster internet connection, but I can't configure meMacMojo to their dsl so no pics again today. Don't really have many anyway except for the opening ceremony last Monday when we lit the ceremonial stand and re-ignited our lights from the Thailand training.
Today was spent getting our one-year Visas and registering at our embassies. Thomas Brinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17601090175062616141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5462625.post-1064850104592291912003-09-29T21:33:00.000+06:002003-09-29T21:41:44.146+06:00Hello from Sri Lanka . . .
It is a land of wonder and a land of sadness. We are all met except for one, Charles from Kenya, who is experiencing visa problems. Our welcoming ceremony and first day of training was today. Though hot, the land is beautiful. I was able to go on a run this morning by the sea, near where a ship has run aground and been abandoned. The people are incredibly friendly, andThomas Brinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17601090175062616141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5462625.post-1064655779117412392003-09-27T15:29:00.000+06:002003-09-27T15:42:58.640+06:00Just a quickie connection for folks to know that I am most of the way to Sri Lanka . . .
Have spent a somewhat wonderful but also somewhat frustrating day in Hong Kong. It was wonderful because I was able to visit again a most exotic and fantastic place for the first time in 36 years since I was here in -mid January of 1968 while on R&R from Vietnam. Like so much else everything is the same and Thomas Brinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17601090175062616141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5462625.post-1064531005882681982003-09-26T04:40:00.002+06:002003-09-27T04:03:11.963+06:00The previous post was two entries I typed this morning in my New Mojo Journal, which I've been keeping for the past couple of years on my G-4 -- funny thing that all of a sudden the blogger software isn't recognizing ' " ? -- as far as I can tell, putting funny little question mark diamonds in the midst of the text. Weird. Hope they can fix that whenever I get a chance to go to support about it .Thomas Brinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17601090175062616141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5462625.post-1064546065147843872003-09-26T04:40:00.001+06:002003-09-26T09:24:58.810+06:00Evening in the splendid City by the Bay has come, and after a lovely meal of Chicken with Plum Sauce and a walk through some of the spicier parts of San Francisco, for the second time not being able to find a meeting, I came on back out to SFO to wait to meet David Hartsough.
Walking on the wild side of the City Streets and riding out on the BART in the waning rush hour with the multitudes of Thomas Brinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17601090175062616141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5462625.post-1064530184869011712003-09-26T04:40:00.000+06:002003-09-26T04:49:44.520+06:009:26 a.m., Thursday, September 25, 2003
Tucson Airport
Welp, the actual Sri Lankan Journey begins . . .
Bonnie just dropped me off after we shared a last breakfast, and I was hassled first by not being able to check my baggage all the way through to Sri Lanka because the ticket is ticketed over two days with all the layovers and then by the $289.00 f--- job with no vasoline from Verizon for Thomas Brinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17601090175062616141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5462625.post-1064341412346985292003-09-23T23:39:00.000+06:002003-09-24T00:23:32.223+06:00Cloudy, overcast day. In the distance the Catalina Mountains are muted shades of greys, browns, high-lit with splotches of white and dark skeins of vegetation not burnt from the raging fires earlier this summer, or are the ashed remnants of what once were evergreens.
Next to last day in Tucson, yea verily, next to last day in the U.S. of A., the country of my birth and from which I have been Thomas Brinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17601090175062616141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5462625.post-1063063389493154092003-09-09T05:23:00.000+06:002003-09-09T05:28:51.373+06:00Yup, my gad-about trip through memory lanes of all persuasions in all regions of this great land/lousy government of my birth is rounding to a close . . .
My last two days in New York, could not have been any finer -- perfectly clear with white-washed cloud-swirls throughout the wide horizon of a deep azure blue sky, a bright sun slowly warming up the evenings' touch of Fall in the air coolness Thomas Brinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17601090175062616141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5462625.post-1062265060159067012003-08-30T23:37:00.000+06:002003-08-30T23:37:40.100+06:00Eleven days later and I'm still hanging out on various roads and inching my way closer and closer, nearer and nearer to departure to Sri Lanka . . .
At this point it is circa 99.1% certain that I shall depart Tucson for SFO (that's San Francisco Airport for you folks that don't travel) to catch a 1:30 a.m. flight to Sri Lanka on Friday, September 19th . . .
Been putting, of course, many miles Thomas Brinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17601090175062616141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5462625.post-106132939195004942003-08-20T03:43:00.000+06:002003-08-20T03:45:23.140+06:00And the time wends it way swiftly towards departure to Sri Lanka; it's getting realer and realer, closer and closer and the anxiety mounts --> WHAT THE "F" HAVE YOU DONE NOW, BRINSO ?!?!?
In hometown of Jackson, MS, having traveled half-way across the country and down to the "Crossland of the South", where I grew up fifty years ago . . .
Here's a partial pictorial history of the journey so far:Thomas Brinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17601090175062616141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5462625.post-1060458491655632042003-08-10T01:48:00.000+06:002003-08-10T01:48:35.483+06:00The time do pass itself swiftly on by . . .
Been on the road from Tucson to the Sierra Nevada's visiting dear Bro'-friend, Wally, who I went to Vietnam with last year, to Sacramento to visit a dear cyber-buddy, Amy, and here to in the shining City by the Bay, San Francisco, for the Veterans of Peace Conference.
Yesterday, a delightful day walking around this wonderful town, connecting with VetThomas Brinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17601090175062616141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5462625.post-1060126611076944492003-08-06T05:36:00.000+06:002003-08-06T05:49:33.846+06:00Welp, the last day in Tucson as a resident is winding down . . .
This morning Tommy and I went and had new tattoes, me a NY GIANTS logo on the side of my right calf, and he a New York Yankees logo on his right bicep. This was a nice Father/Son bonding ritual for us to do, since several years ago, jeez in '98 or '99 we both got our first tattoes together in a neat tatto parlor down on St. Marks Thomas Brinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17601090175062616141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5462625.post-1059514414556058432003-07-30T03:33:00.000+06:002003-07-30T03:33:34.506+06:00Welp, it's been a few days, over a week actually since I returned "home" to Tucson from the training in Chaing Mai, Thailand. MetrustymojoMac is now fully refurbished with about $1,000 worth of repairs -- a new logic board, case, battery, DVD unit, etc. -- all wonderfully covered under the Apple Care plan, best $350.00 expense I've had lately . . .
I just left my now mostly empty apartment Thomas Brinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17601090175062616141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5462625.post-1058749419386281222003-07-21T07:03:00.000+06:002003-07-21T07:07:28.260+06:00So on this first day back in the USA, I spent a lovely day in one of my favorite City's, the shining City by the Bay, San Fran. I took the BART from SFO into the City and walked all around -- it really is quite small, compared to New York City.
I was able to easily walk along the wharves and waterfront in perfect sunlit, early 70s weather to Fisherman's Wharf, where I had a so-so meal.
Then I Thomas Brinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17601090175062616141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5462625.post-1058748604056746882003-07-21T06:50:00.000+06:002003-07-21T06:50:03.940+06:00On the last day of our training we went to a nearby waterfall in the mountains where the Doi Suthep Temple and the nunnery where we trained were located.
Here are some pictures from that final event of the NP Training:
Here are Angela, Soraia and Rita, three of the wonderfully strong and gentle women who I am blessed to share the Sri Lanka Peacemaking experience with . . .
Nonviolent Thomas Brinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17601090175062616141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5462625.post-1058747925149054532003-07-21T06:38:00.000+06:002003-07-21T06:38:45.070+06:00First day back in the USA, not my home anymore, a place where my passport is from, where I spent most of my life, even went to war for, but now has become too alien a place for me to safely be . . .
My heart and mind are in other places, Southeast Asian places like I just returned from. Here are some pictures from my last day in Thailand that may show why my heart and mind are there:
The riceThomas Brinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17601090175062616141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5462625.post-1058645987295643212003-07-20T02:19:00.000+06:002003-07-20T02:19:47.346+06:00Late night/early morning in Bangkok -- very tired and I'm not even jet-lagged yet . . .
Training is done, have some neat pictures which I will upload when I get back to the USA, of the closing ceremony this afternoon at a lovely waterfall. Later, we spent time at Ouyporn's home by some rice paddies about 45 minutes from Chaing Mai in a lovely, jungle verdant scene. I took a walk on the dikes at Thomas Brinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17601090175062616141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5462625.post-1058357740568018652003-07-16T18:15:00.000+06:002003-07-16T18:18:50.670+06:00Welp, another day and another connection from Chaing Mai . . .
Training's been touch and practically non-stop; first time in town since 7/11, which there are bunches of here. Go figure.
A bit bummed because meMacmojo is majorly on the fritz. The battery doesn't work and it overheats mightily after about 45 minutes, blocking all of the programs.
I'll try to upload a picture or two before I go Thomas Brinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17601090175062616141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5462625.post-1057933747025948692003-07-11T20:29:00.000+06:002003-07-11T20:29:06.963+06:00Half way through the training . . .
Learning lots, especially from the group of folks who will be traveling with me to the project. We'll be deploying in September instead of August -- whew, gives me a bit more time to close out my life in Tucson and to do a road trip with Chutney.
Really rushed, having to get back up the mountain, so will say bye-bye for now, cuz I have to run over to the Thomas Brinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17601090175062616141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5462625.post-1057667224114313842003-07-08T18:27:00.000+06:002003-07-08T18:33:52.970+06:00Welp, several days down the training road trail, and we've hit a rough spot or two . . .
The group is hassling with group process as all groups do, and we've hit a few snags around the challenging issues of gender and racism, ie how our cultural prejudices manifest themselves despite our best intentions and highest ideals -- Houston, de honeymoon is over!
As a group, though, the staff and firstThomas Brinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17601090175062616141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5462625.post-1057053484554574912003-07-01T15:58:00.000+06:002003-07-01T15:58:04.423+06:00One last post today before I go on to other living online and inlife in Thailand . . .
Yep, let's see if I can upload another couple of separate pictures of Rui and Wandera . . .
Rui
Nope, the cyberbugs are randomly attacking reality, so I leave for this day . . .
Bye, give hugs and smiles to each other . . .Thomas Brinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17601090175062616141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5462625.post-1057053119914749832003-07-01T15:51:00.000+06:002003-07-01T15:51:59.806+06:00Hmmm -- most frustrating cyber bugs in either blogger or Safari . . .
I keep crashing when I try to upload a picture of Rui and Wandera in the previous post, so let me see if I can upload it here . . .
Rui
Nope, for some reason what it was doing before now it just won't do for this pic, so I let go and let Internet . . . ;)Thomas Brinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17601090175062616141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5462625.post-1057046763244206612003-07-01T14:06:00.000+06:002003-07-01T15:47:39.563+06:00All righty roo de doo -- I am in from Chaing Mai on meMacMojo soooooooo . . .
Here's some pics from last night's celebration:
The group of us candidates and staff fully gathered together:
And here's The All-time Original Kid -- not so original anymore and certainly not a kid anymore:
And, yes, Tucson folks, you are seeing me in full-growing gray beard with fuzzy head . . .
Here's a shot Thomas Brinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17601090175062616141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5462625.post-1057042641468487562003-07-01T12:57:00.000+06:002003-07-01T12:57:21.323+06:00So, it has come to pass that 13 of the original 18 of us who were invited to the assessment phase here in Thailand will continue on for the Intensive Training phase here before we are deployed to Sri Lanka. Four folks chose to drop out due family/other career opportunities, and another was not able to make it to even to the Assessment Phase due to Visa probs and family difficulties.
That leaves Thomas Brinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17601090175062616141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5462625.post-1056958012503927952003-06-30T13:26:00.000+06:002003-06-30T13:26:52.536+06:00Welp, one mystery has been solved . . .
The reason I am unable to access my original yahoo.com email account is that they for some unknown reason deactivated it -- I am most pissed . . .
So, anyone out there who may be reading this, please email me at the following new yahoo email addy, so I can reestablish the list with those of you who want to stay connected with me:
ltbrin2003@yahoo.co.uk
Thomas Brinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17601090175062616141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5462625.post-1056955157770979272003-06-30T12:39:00.000+06:002003-06-30T12:39:17.706+06:00The assessment process is over, and it looks like I'm in -- training starts on Wednesday, July 2nd. As of now 15 of the original 18 are going on to do the three week training. Two of the folk are still making decisions to accept the offer of training balancing other commitments and/or family issues.
It is an incredible group of people, most dedicated, intelligent, spiritually centered, Thomas Brinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17601090175062616141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5462625.post-1056619054240303152003-06-26T15:17:00.000+06:002003-06-26T15:27:52.386+06:00Holla, upcountry Thailand in the city of Chaing Mai is a mountain jungle paradise !~!~! I absolutely love it here, especially to be filled with the ferdant smells, sights and sounds of the jungle without any of the hazards that pursued me in reality 36 years ago and virtually have continued to pursue me during the interim time in between.
This morning up on the mountain at the Retreat Center I Thomas Brinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17601090175062616141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5462625.post-1056535489943925872003-06-25T16:04:00.000+06:002003-06-25T16:04:49.990+06:00Welp, here I am again in Southeast Asia, jacked in from a Cybernet Cafe in the Bangkok Train Station. Really disgusted and upset with yahoo.mail which has blocked me out of my account for the past couple of days. Oh well . . .
Had a wonderful first night back in the "urban bush" getting to a hotel in Don Muong. Up early this morning at daybreak, cracking golden-lining clouds through morning mistThomas Brinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17601090175062616141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5462625.post-1056444616767489642003-06-24T14:50:00.000+06:002003-06-24T14:50:16.643+06:00Jacked in from Narita airport in Tokyo . . .
Very frustrated and upset with yahoo mail, which was out all day yesterday, and now won't let me in because they say I am using an invalid password.
Oh well, so it goes . . .
Peace to all and know that I am with you as you are with me . . .Thomas Brinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17601090175062616141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5462625.post-1056394370502175832003-06-24T00:52:00.000+06:002003-06-24T00:52:50.393+06:00It is very real, now . . .
I mean really, really real, and it shall become realer.
Once again in the lovely City by the Bay, and of course the weather is gorgeous.
Sitting in International Air Terminal, jacked-in via T-mobile, rejuicing my battery. Just finished a DECAF venti latte, and I know where I will get at least a couple more before I board at 1:00 p.m. It really tasted good -- and I Thomas Brinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17601090175062616141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5462625.post-1056327802043819202003-06-23T06:23:00.000+06:002003-06-23T06:24:46.210+06:00The ticking clock is winding down, getting real close now. All packed, ready to load up on Bonnie's truck for the drive to Phoenix. Just got back from a lovely going away party and ceremony Rev. Gerry and Faith organized for me at Science of Mind.
Tired, the calm before massive change; also, tired due to having come off caffiene totally in the past two days with no real problems . . .
So, not Thomas Brinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17601090175062616141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5462625.post-1056116345348436542003-06-20T19:39:00.000+06:002003-06-20T19:39:05.273+06:00Early morning sunrise glory as I listen to Kitaro, while I am importing it to iTunes, to join the other couple of days worth of music I will take digitally with me to Thailand and Sri Lanka.
A real bummer for me is that it looks like I am going to have to find a home for Chutney, my loveable, laughable, loyal, and on so true, English Standard Poodle. Here he is last year with his then companion,Thomas Brinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17601090175062616141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5462625.post-1056089263577560822003-06-20T12:07:00.000+06:002003-06-20T12:07:43.583+06:00
Dear oldest friend, Peter, and I sharing a moment of gifted laughter while Bonnie and I were in San Diego this past weekend. He knows me better, longer and deeper than anyone, even my parents or my three wives . . . ;)
Exhausted. Long day getting ready, vacillating between ecstatic joy and stark terror, doing some shopping, getting Tommy on the car insurance, doing a half-hour radio Thomas Brinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17601090175062616141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5462625.post-1056035043946024632003-06-19T21:04:00.000+06:002003-06-19T21:04:03.850+06:00More becomes clear . . .
Just got an email that I will not have read Internet connectivity while in training in Thailand -- I kind of suspected that when I read in the email I previously copied here that the accommodations at the Retreat Center on top of a mountain about 30 minutes from Chaing Mai provides a simple single room, a mosquito net and candles to read by . . . ;)
And that's how that Thomas Brinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17601090175062616141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5462625.post-1055997541883374092003-06-19T10:39:00.000+06:002003-06-19T10:53:33.976+06:00Welp it's really getting close now; getting both ultimately psyched and in deep awe/terror(?) of the reality of how radically I have chosen to change my life.
Of course, I had to watch again The Killing Fields and Swimming to Cambodia. I stared, again, in horror, sobs again caught in my throat, at the hollywoodified faux images of our species' incredible power to wreak violence, suffering and Thomas Brinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17601090175062616141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5462625.post-1055987137320285332003-06-19T07:45:00.000+06:002003-06-19T10:23:36.076+06:00
Here is a view of the sweet, sweet ocean which I visited this past weekend, camping at San Orofre State Beach under a full-mooned Friday the 13th. Scrumptious !~!~!
It gave me some considerable solace and comfort as I am busily engaged in the harrowing final days of making preparations for my trip to Thailand on Monday for training . . .Thomas Brinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17601090175062616141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5462625.post-1055798324848383102003-06-17T03:18:00.000+06:002003-06-17T03:18:44.870+06:00Spent the last couple of days in San Diego, such a Garden of Eden place of color, sea and people.
Camped in San Orofre State Beach high on a bluff, a short, scintillating walk to the ocean through a lovely canyon filled with birdsong.
Yesterday met with dear friend, had lunch and a glorious walk about La Jolla Cove, seeing seals, pelicans and my favorite, cormorants.
Hard to believe that Thomas Brinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17601090175062616141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5462625.post-1055607099054880562003-06-14T22:11:00.000+06:002003-06-14T22:11:39.096+06:00I am getting so incredibly psyched . . .
Here is an excerpt from the logistics email that describes the "Retreat Center" where we shall conduct the training:
The training site is a Retreat Center run by Catholic Sisters. It has two large training rooms, eating space and a private sleeping room for each participant.
The rooms are simple: bed, pillow, blanket, mosquito net, and candles for Thomas Brinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17601090175062616141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5462625.post-1055488832296048772003-06-13T13:20:00.000+06:002003-06-13T13:20:32.180+06:00Most tired, but a good tired, after spending the evening sending out bunches of press releases to local news media and to the national offices of VVA and VFP, etc.
Gotta do whatever I can to raise money through the selling of Peace Bonds. Got an email from the project coordinator, Donna Howard, yesterday letting us know that full deployment is dependent on NP continuing to raise sufficient fundsThomas Brinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17601090175062616141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5462625.post-1055342739477219222003-06-11T20:45:00.000+06:002003-06-11T20:45:39.476+06:00It just keeps getting better and better . . .
Here's an article I just received this morning about those of us chosen as candidates for final assesment and training:
Recruitment, Assessment and Training
For the Sri Lanka Pilot Project Field Team
Over the course of several months Nonviolent Peaceforce staff developed a plan for recruiting, assessing and training up to 50 field team members for Thomas Brinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17601090175062616141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5462625.post-1055308236467068962003-06-11T11:10:00.000+06:002003-06-11T11:28:25.116+06:00Hoo Ha . . .
It's beginning to get really real. Got an email today from David Grant, the recruiter from Peaceforce with a listing of the 17 folks who shall join me in Thailand for our final assessment and training. It is a most diverse and international group that consists of:
3 USAians besides meFineself
2 Germans
2 Canadians
2 Japanese
2 Kenyans
And one each from:
Ghana
India
Palestine
Thomas Brinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17601090175062616141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5462625.post-1055196409572642482003-06-10T04:06:00.000+06:002003-06-10T04:06:49.610+06:00
Here' me doing in meatspace yesterday afternoon at the Going Away Party at Nancy's what from time to time I shall do here in this cyberspace at lot -- Pitch Peace BondsThomas Brinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17601090175062616141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5462625.post-1055175665583805602003-06-09T22:21:00.000+06:002003-06-09T22:21:07.363+06:00Welp, progress is . . .
I see that I've been upgraded to blog*spot plus, which means I can upload pics and play around with formatting a bit . . .
Most Kuel.
Course, all my pics and stuff to upload are safely home resting in the G-4 Powerbook -- oh well . . .
So, I entreat you to BUY PEACE BONDS, puh lease . . .Thomas Brinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17601090175062616141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5462625.post-1055126627565542162003-06-09T08:43:00.000+06:002003-06-09T08:43:47.496+06:00Just back from delightful going away party at Nancy's house; about 35 folks from the peace activist community in Tucson came to wish me well and to send me off. Most cool !~!~!
Met Faith Edmund, who has been affiliated with Peaceforce for the past couple of years, having found the website on the Internet when she googled nonviolence. She will coordinate an Affinity Group here in Arizona. Most Thomas Brinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17601090175062616141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5462625.post-1055110132655756282003-06-09T04:08:00.000+06:002003-06-09T04:11:55.953+06:0014 days and a wake-up . . .
Yup, it's official; the time is winding down, wending its slow tick-tocking moment by moment meandering way to me getting on another big, ole jet plane to take me swooshing outta Phoenix International airport at circa 7:40 a.m., Monday morn, June 23rd to San Fran. Then, I fly on Northwestern Flight 27 with a stop in Tokyo back to Southeast Asia, back to the jungle, Thomas Brinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17601090175062616141noreply@blogger.com