A look back

For the last 5 months I have been living and working in Thailand, much of that time being spent here in Bangkok. As I think back, I am blown away by the great experiences I've had. One of the things I wanted to do while here was take advantage of the time away from my chaotic life in Vancouver and use this time to focus myself. In Van, I float so many part time jobs that it's a full time job just coordinating and scheduling all of them. It got beyond ridiculous and one of these times I will further elaborate on the dozen or so different jobs I was maintaining. So being here with only one job to focus on, I chose to take this spare time to not only travel but to learn about myself. To grow and build who I am.  A vacation away from my life if you will. These are just some of the things I chose to do while here:

First off, I read some amazing books:

• Stephen Hawking's- A brief history of time
• Stephen Hawking's- The theory of everything
• The Dailai Lama- The universe in a single atom
• Richard Dawkins- The God delusion
• Eckhart Tolle- The power of now
• Robert Wolke- What Einstein told his barber
• Slash's autobiography
• The iceman killer: Confessions of a mafia hitman

• I taught myself to speak Thai. I am by no means fluent but I can get by and I am only getting better with time. It goes a long way when people see that you're trying to speak their language and seeing how when Im in Canada I expect people to speak english its only fair that being in Thailand, I speak Thai.

• I travelled the beautiful southern islands of Thailand redefining my understanding of paradise. Words really can't describe it. I hope that those who read this one day get a chance to see it for themselves if they haven't already.

• I learned how to rock climb. I got trained to scuba dive. I went cliff jumping and snorkelling in the beautiful life packed reefs of the islands.

• I got Dengue fever where I slept on the floor of a bathroom for 4 days, during which I couldn't eat, never leaving the bathroom. I was travelling alone at the time and realistically should've gone to a hospital but I was delusional with fever at that point and couldn't figure out to leave the bathroom floor. Once I emerged 4 days later I was barely able to eat for 4 more days. I weighed 140 pounds.

• One look in the mirror was all it took to decide to get back in shape. I went from 140 lbs to 168 lbs in 3 months and I can now say I am in pretty good shape. I feel great.

• I lived and worked in Bangkok for 4 months as a model where I booked more work than I ever have. I ended up on runways and in magazines, on billboards, and in TV commercials. This experience has been one loaded with far too much to fit into one bulleted sentence and one day soon I will elaborate.

• After what seems like a lifetime of procrastination, I started writing again. Clearly this blog being part of that but also I started papers on life. My feelings on all sorts of life issues. It feels amazing to look at something you have just written and see how you feel about things. 

• I finally stopped biting my nails. After trying for 30 years I can now say I no longer do it.

• I have had crooked teeth all of my life and it has always bugged me so I decided to get my teeth fixed. No more wonky smile. Thank you to the AMAZING dentists here in Bangkok. I cannot sing you enough praise.

• I decided that porn is unhealthy and I cut it out of my life. Deep down I have always known it's a negative, addictive thing and I've always hated it but I just pretended that it wasn't a big deal. In reality, it really disrupts the brains view on women, perverting ones idea of what sex should be. I can honestly say that I no longer indulge. TMI... I know.

• I became a devote follower of the writings of neil degrasse tyson who is an astro physicist with an astounding mind. How he applies his understanding of the universe in a practical way is so inspiring to me. To me everything in life comes down to reason and he perfectly embodies that idea.

• I bought a ukelele and taught myself how to play it.....much to the chagrin of my roomates.

• Most importantly of all, I met some great human beings. Phenomenal and interesting people from all sorts of different cultures. I joined a network of people who use modelling to travel the world, seeing as much as they can and I can't wait to see them again in new exciting cities.