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        <title>Crimson Cannonball: The Non-Blog of Jason Brink</title>
        <description><![CDATA[The online home of globe-trotting writer Jason Brink.]]></description>
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            <title>CrimsonCannonball.com - The Blog of Jason Brink</title>
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            <description><![CDATA[CrimsonCannonball.com - The Blog of Jason Brink]]></description>
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            <title>Life on the Farm - A Visit With Old Mc'Brucey</title>
            <link>http://www.crimsoncannonball.com/site/index.php?option=com_content&amp;view=article&amp;id=109:life-on-the-farm-a-visit-with-old-mcbrucey&amp;catid=1:blog&amp;Itemid=4</link>
            <description><![CDATA[     “You know, its enough.  We don't have a lot, but its enough.” Bruce says as he mops his brow with his ever-present pink towel.  We sit on his front porch in bamboo chairs, watching the lightning crash down around us, our conversation dying out each time a bolt comes down nearby as we wait to feel the soul-shaking clap of the thunder inside out chests.  “Its not much, but by god, I am happy.  This country saved my life.”  Bruce said as he mops his dripping brow again, the tropical heat bearing down on all of us...sometimes life in Thailand is like being in a sweat lodge, only without the lodge and clear mountain lake with a rim of ice to jump into when we are done sweating.  The sweat part we have covered though.     “When I first came to Thailand I was miserable.  I had too much money for my own good but I hated my life.  Then I met Nitnoi,” Bruce reminisces.  “She had nothing, but she had everything I wanted,” he says, his eyes and voice heavy with emotion.  “If you ever find a
Read more... (http://www.crimsoncannonball.com/site/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=109:life-on-the-farm-a-visit-with-old-mcbrucey&catid=1:blog&Itemid=4)]]></description>
            <author> info@crimsoncannonball.com (Jason Brink)</author>
            <pubDate>Sat, 04 Sep 2010 03:10:14 GMT</pubDate>
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            <title>The Land Where the Naga Sleeps</title>
            <link>http://www.crimsoncannonball.com/site/index.php?option=com_content&amp;view=article&amp;id=107:the-land-where-the-naga-sleeps&amp;catid=1:blog&amp;Itemid=4</link>
            <description><![CDATA[Beneath the city, the seven-headed dragon slumbers.  Deep within its cave, curled around the heart of the earth, the primordial hero of the Lao people rests, waiting for the day it is needed again.  The last time the Naga slithered out from its subterranean lair was in 1828, when according to local legend it repulsed the invading Siamese army and helped the Lao people maintain their independence.Marking the age old entrance of this cave is a stupa rising out of the earth like a needle.  It is old, at least 500 years or so.  Its local name is “That Dam” (pronounced Tawt Dahm).  It is located in a lonely roundabout near the center of Vientiane.  While the road surrounding The Black Stupa is in good shape, the second you step onto the grounds surrounding the stupa you can see how into disrepair it has fallen.  It was originally covered in gold, but that was carted off back to Siam during the Siam-Lao war in the 1820s.  The dragon rose to protect the Lao people, but didn't have enough motivation to protect
Read more... (http://www.crimsoncannonball.com/site/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=107:the-land-where-the-naga-sleeps&catid=1:blog&Itemid=4)]]></description>
            <author> info@crimsoncannonball.com (Jason Brink)</author>
            <pubDate>Mon, 30 Aug 2010 01:06:50 GMT</pubDate>
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            <title>Force of Nature</title>
            <link>http://www.crimsoncannonball.com/site/index.php?option=com_content&amp;view=article&amp;id=106:force-of-nature&amp;catid=1:blog&amp;Itemid=4</link>
            <description><![CDATA[Note: I wrote this about a week ago but have not had any sort of internet worthy of the name to post it...so its a big late, but here it is!  Ok...maybe the internet isn't quite worth the name, because I can't upload pictures...so use your imagination!The small wings of the finches beat furiously at the inside of their red cage.  Tiny clawed feet cling to the thin bamboo bars, a scrap of ribbon tied to the top as a handle.  The three cages were stacked one on top of one another on a small stool outside the Erawan shrine on Ratchadamri in Bangkok.  When I inquired of the woman sitting next to them, she told me I could buy a cage of birds for 400 THB....I did.  As I stood at the entrance to the shrine with my feet placed firmly on the smooth cobbles, holding in my hands the birdcage with the furious and frantic finches inside, I drew in a deep breath of the air; heavy with the smell of incense and thick with the prayers of penitents.   Slowly, I whisper my own personal meditations and slide the small red bamboo
Read more... (http://www.crimsoncannonball.com/site/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=106:force-of-nature&catid=1:blog&Itemid=4)]]></description>
            <author> info@crimsoncannonball.com (Jason Brink)</author>
            <pubDate>Sun, 29 Aug 2010 02:21:46 GMT</pubDate>
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            <title>The Inner Light</title>
            <link>http://www.crimsoncannonball.com/site/index.php?option=com_content&amp;view=article&amp;id=105:the-inner-light&amp;catid=1:blog&amp;Itemid=4</link>
            <description><![CDATA[Everyone’s life is full of midway points, between the beginning and the end of everything there is always a middle.  Today I have passed the midlife point of my course here.  The first two weeks were hectic and crammed with information and technique and practice...and the final two are going to be even worse.  Among other things, I have not as of yet had the opportunity to really lay out what my life has been like here and what I have been doing.Earlier today we had the second of our full class teacher practices...I got to teach a class of 42 bright eyed and bushy tailed Thai children, and that one instance was one of the most rewarding things I have experienced in the course my my life thus far.  Earlier in the week I taught a class of thirty 13-14 year old boys...thirty 13-14 year old Thai versions of me.  There was even a group of two boys, one overly-large one who reminded me a lot of me, one very small one who reminded me of my friend Ethan when we were that age...both of them
Read more... (http://www.crimsoncannonball.com/site/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=105:the-inner-light&catid=1:blog&Itemid=4)]]></description>
            <author> info@crimsoncannonball.com (Jason Brink)</author>
            <pubDate>Mon, 16 Aug 2010 05:48:58 GMT</pubDate>
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            <title>Aman Iman</title>
            <link>http://www.crimsoncannonball.com/site/index.php?option=com_content&amp;view=article&amp;id=104:aman-iman&amp;catid=1:blog&amp;Itemid=4</link>
            <description><![CDATA[There is a certain amount of introspection that comes with watching the quiet rains fall, this is something I have felt throughout my entire life.  I remember being a child and playing in the backyard at my parents house...splashing through the puddles on the concrete shaped by my grandfathers hands...smooth and red-painted...watching the ripples spread from each minuscule droplet to race across the surface of the tiny puddles.  I remember standing in the rain at my parents house, watching the rainwater pool in the driveway and begin to race down the small ditch my father dug to the massive puddle at the end of the driveway.  I would make small boats out of popsicle sticks, drawing racing numbers on them and racing stripes with sharpies before sending then bobbing down the tiny flow towards the puddle at the end.  I remember standing in the gazebo in the Paso Robles City Park with a compilation CD I had so carefully made for my girlfriend at the time, standing there watching the rain drip from the eves.
Read more... (http://www.crimsoncannonball.com/site/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=104:aman-iman&catid=1:blog&Itemid=4)]]></description>
            <author> info@crimsoncannonball.com (Jason Brink)</author>
            <pubDate>Sat, 07 Aug 2010 02:02:48 GMT</pubDate>
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            <title>International Perceptions of the United States of America</title>
            <link>http://www.crimsoncannonball.com/site/index.php?option=com_content&amp;view=article&amp;id=103:international-perceptions-of-the-united-states-of-america&amp;catid=1:blog&amp;Itemid=4</link>
            <description><![CDATA[It is amazing how little it is possible to get done sometimes, surrounded by the myriad distractions of modern technology as we often find ourselves.  The internet in particular is a WONDERFUL tool and source of information, but it is all too easy to get sucked into the mindless descending spiral into the land of talking cats or hilarious news stories.  Of course it is always fun to see what new gaffe a politician has made, or see another photo gallery of the latest tragedy.  To join in with the rest of the nation in the information-overload-inspired “Two Minutes Hate” (speaking of which, is the topic of the 2MH still BP, or have we moved on?  I am not as up on the current outrage as I once would have been).These past few weeks I have been finding myself farther and farther away from the outrages of the West...farther and farther away from the general attitudes of the Americas...farther and farther away from the political machinations of the government of my birth...and I think I like it.  It is puzzling sometimes, to take a step back and see the US in
Read more... (http://www.crimsoncannonball.com/site/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=103:international-perceptions-of-the-united-states-of-america&catid=1:blog&Itemid=4)]]></description>
            <author> info@crimsoncannonball.com (Jason Brink)</author>
            <pubDate>Sun, 01 Aug 2010 05:40:51 GMT</pubDate>
            <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.crimsoncannonball.com/site/index.php?option=com_content&amp;view=article&amp;id=103:international-perceptions-of-the-united-states-of-america&amp;catid=1:blog&amp;Itemid=4</guid>
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            <title>The Madman Across The Water</title>
            <link>http://www.crimsoncannonball.com/site/index.php?option=com_content&amp;view=article&amp;id=102:the-madman-across-the-water&amp;catid=1:blog&amp;Itemid=4</link>
            <description><![CDATA[I rode bus 23 once as a child.  I seem to remember it picking me up at the corner of the street I lived on and carrying me to school.  To Miss Smith's class, if I place the time period correctly.  I was a child, totally unsure of where I was going, totally unsure of the bus I was on...I asked the driver, a kind hearted by hard faced woman, if it was the bus that took me to my elementary school...every morning.  Every morning I would double check to ensure I was bound for the correct port of call.Those feelings, so long forgotten in the mists of old memories, returned in part today on my voyage to Bangkok as I sit on Bus 23, recently departed from the Ekkmai bus station.  As a child, you must ask directions and rely on the goodwill of strangers and family to ensure you get where you need to go.  When you are too young to read, you depend on others pointing you in the right direction.  Today, bumbling around Bangkok, I felt more completely lost than I have in a LONG time.  I felt like
Read more... (http://www.crimsoncannonball.com/site/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=102:the-madman-across-the-water&catid=1:blog&Itemid=4)]]></description>
            <author> info@crimsoncannonball.com (Jason Brink)</author>
            <pubDate>Fri, 30 Jul 2010 01:54:47 GMT</pubDate>
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            <title>All Along the Songlines</title>
            <link>http://www.crimsoncannonball.com/site/index.php?option=com_content&amp;view=article&amp;id=101:all-along-the-songlines&amp;catid=1:blog&amp;Itemid=4</link>
            <description><![CDATA[In the beginning there was the song, and it burst from the stars and ravaged the earth with its melodies.  Some of the notes struck the the stones in the form of stars hurled from the sky to crash down to earth.  Others became waves, churned by the melody and tempo to beat upon the shores.  Still others became wind, reedy and lilting as a piper’s pipe, winnowing from the scattered chafe of the earth the seeds of life before casting them upon the earthquake-tilled ground.  The song grew and grew, weaving together to form the blades of grass, the trunks of trees, the majestic arc of river paths and the deep cacophonous boom of the earth.  The music twisted, crashed together, burst apart, and then finally lay still.It is always remarkable, the way you learn new things.  New pictures of reality given to you by those you meet, new ways to tie the world together.  As we were walking down the street to
Read more... (http://www.crimsoncannonball.com/site/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=101:all-along-the-songlines&catid=1:blog&Itemid=4)]]></description>
            <author> info@crimsoncannonball.com (Jason Brink)</author>
            <pubDate>Thu, 29 Jul 2010 03:06:03 GMT</pubDate>
            <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.crimsoncannonball.com/site/index.php?option=com_content&amp;view=article&amp;id=101:all-along-the-songlines&amp;catid=1:blog&amp;Itemid=4</guid>
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            <title>The View from Saikaew Beach</title>
            <link>http://www.crimsoncannonball.com/site/index.php?option=com_content&amp;view=article&amp;id=100:the-view-from-saikaew-beach&amp;catid=1:blog&amp;Itemid=4</link>
            <description><![CDATA[There are many benefits to living within a merit based society...people are not quite so quick to be total asses to one another, while you will get cheated occasionally, its not nearly as frequent as if you were in a place that is NOT merit based.  For example, most foreigners will get roughly the same price for cab fares and ferry tickets as the local Thai populace will.  Some drivers will try to cheat you, but overall its pretty even.People are often kinder to one another, smiling and thinking that its better to live in a society in which everything seems happy than one which they don’t.  The Thai people are often very helpful and if it looks like you are in a spot that you can’t quite communicate your needs to someone, another who can help will intervene and help arrange things without being asked, and will often not ask anything for it.However, there are points at which a Buddhist merit based mentality is something of a roadblock, and this is in the
Read more... (http://www.crimsoncannonball.com/site/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=100:the-view-from-saikaew-beach&catid=1:blog&Itemid=4)]]></description>
            <author> info@crimsoncannonball.com (Jason Brink)</author>
            <pubDate>Sun, 25 Jul 2010 02:33:40 GMT</pubDate>
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            <title>Road Trippin'</title>
            <link>http://www.crimsoncannonball.com/site/index.php?option=com_content&amp;view=article&amp;id=99:road-trippin&amp;catid=1:blog&amp;Itemid=4</link>
            <description><![CDATA[Every time I have gone anywhere globally, I have always noticed that everywhere in the world manages to lag behind the US in popular culture by about a decade...which is not a bad thing.  I don’t say this attempting to flaunt the cultural superiority of the US, only to point out that its odd sometimes to hop in a taxi cab with a thai driver, and speed down their immaculate expressways while he croons very very very badly to Britney Spears “Hit Me Baby, One More Time!”To take a trip on the Thai expressways made me realize a couple things.  :)First, good lord Californian roads suck...think back for a bit to a decade ago and think about the roads.  We don’t really notice how bad they have become because its a gradual process, but the Thai roads are without exception in fantastic shape.  I am on the south-eastern side of Thailand, and every single road I was on, both in Bangkok
Read more... (http://www.crimsoncannonball.com/site/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=99:road-trippin&catid=1:blog&Itemid=4)]]></description>
            <author> info@crimsoncannonball.com (Jason Brink)</author>
            <pubDate>Fri, 23 Jul 2010 01:59:30 GMT</pubDate>
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