#20 - Curve Balls and Watermelons

Sometimes life throws you curve balls and sometimes it throws you giant ripe watermelons that you shatter with a baseball bat. As the little black seeds peck at my skin and the red pulpiness spits through the air I realize that perhaps things just can’t get any better, and then they do.

I started off my work this time around in Thailand with a series of job offers that provided me with the opportunity of picking a very full schedule that yielded a good amount of money and a rigorous work schedule. Then I was brought on as the co-writer for the play Nana is directing and that made my full schedule nearly overflowing. The work was good though and I continued.

After much deliberation we also decided to move into a new apartment as Nana’s studio was just a little too cute and quaint for the both of us.

The view from our bedroom window to the left.

The bedroom window.

The view to the right.

Luckily we moved about one hundred yards down the road into a one bedroom with half a kitchen and a gorgeous view. I thought things were going pretty well with life. Nana and I were happy to be living together and the transition back into Thai life had been rather smooth for me. Then things got crazy.

Casually after football one day someone asked me what I did here in Thailand. I gave my usual response but thanks to working on Nana’s play I added a little something extra. I said that my “day job” was teaching. So then they asked what my night job was. I told them that I write. The guy who asked me was one of the only people I play football with that I really don’t like so my responses became curt and short after that. The guy sitting next to me during this conversation was a regular patron of Nana’s theater and took an interest in my involvement as a writer. He said he might have a job for me. Two weeks later I was in a meeting with he and another football buddy discussing a side job of writing two minute scripts for this internet start up they’ve been working on for the last four years. I explained to them how busy I was but that I’d love to help out if even in only a small way and so we set a couple of small goals. Two weeks later I produced a single one hundred and thirty-three word script. They had asked me for four and the one I gave them wasn’t even on the subject they asked for. The head guy emailed me and told me he’d like to have lunch with me and discuss the script. We set up a meeting for early on in the next week and while I casually thought about it from time to time I tried to put it far from my daily thoughts as I had a new and very important job to focus on. Little did I know the coming week would provide me with many distractions.

I wish things had been all sunshine and roses. My working hours are noon to nine in the evening so it’s not unusual for me to be drifting off to sleep around two in the morning. On one such night I heard dripping water. I checked the faucets and there was nothing, I opened the glass door to the balcony and there was nothing. I flipped the lights on in the bedroom and there were some water lines coming down the wall of our new apartment, but still no dripping. I walked into the living room and water was splashing down from the window sill and soaking our couch and floor. By four the water had saturated a number of towels and had spread to two other walls. The building security guards were helping us to clean up but no one could get in contact with the owners of the upstairs apartment and they were obviously not home as water was streaming out from under their door. My first instinct was that some stupid farang had pissed off his Thai girlfriend and while he was away on a trip she’d turned on all the faucets and hit the road. When I left for work I didn’t know why but the water had stopped flowing and the apartment was starting to dry out.

When I arrived at my meeting with Anthony, the head of the web startup, we began discussing my script. Now, he’d mentioned more than once some sort of compensation and my “deal” as he called it but we’d never agreed on any numbers or even discussed the ball park figures. I assumed I had pretty much let him down by not producing at the rate we had discussed but to be fair I was working about fifty-two hours per week. I sat down in his office and we briefly went over my script and some other ideas. I thought the script was good even if it wasn’t exactly what he asked for but he thought it was really good. Additionally I’d put him in touch with a few artists and a very technically gifted curriculum writer who could help him with the creation of educational videos for his website. He was happy with the way things were going and he said that it was unfortunate I was so busy because I could never manage the story bucket section of his website and get it ready by the January launch date that they were shooting for.

“Wait a second, you want me to manage the story bucket project?” We’d previously discussed this project but never in more than a conceptual way.

“Yeah, but you can’t do it with how many hours you’re working for all these other people.”

“That’s true.”

“Let’s say I offered you a job and paid you a little bit more than you’re making now.”

I told him I’d consider it and talk with Nana about it but basically I just didn’t want to seem too eager. I called him that evening and accepted the job and in two weeks I will be working for www.binumi.com as a script writer, project manager, copy editor and all around creative idea man.

So let’s recap. I got to Thailand and managed to get almost a sixty percent raise from my previous job albeit working two jobs and about fifty or so hours a week. I also got back into teaching which is infinitely better than restaurant work. Then I consolidated that into one job working about forty hours per week and making slightly more and not only making more but getting to do it as a writer.

Sometimes life throws you curve balls and sometimes you hit ‘em for home runs.

-Adam

Happy birthday Me!

The view from a temple near the old city.

The first in a series of poorly translated menu items.

Can we say google translator?

This is the only one that makes sense.  Who doesn't cook habitually drunk?

A shot from the photo shoot we did to promote the play Nana is directing and I'm co-writing.

Another shot from the play's photo shoot.

...and another.