January 22, 2025
Days T2-3: Clean Bill of Health
I can't remember much of what happened on Day 2. This decompression from the worst job in decades has effectively turned my brain into mush. All I remember is sitting by the pool and eating two meals, then biking to a nearby coffee shop to start tackling the trainwreck of a budget that was put on hold with all these months of survival mode. Ugh. Well it felt better to at least kickstart the momentum again, almost like kickstarting an old bike that had sat in storage for months of no use.
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Eventually I did make my way downtown for another fitness class and to hang out with my math/science counterpart who teaches at a top Bangkok school right in the heart of the city. I make it a point to see him every trip. This time he invited me to his apartment and we had delicious Indonesian food. We had a lot of catching up to do, and he said he was a good listener and wanted to hear me vent all about this micromanaging boss. He then explained that his school naturally has high expectations, which is fitting given their brand. But what about our brand? Not even close. And he correctly said it's insulting the bosses demand so much of us when we're offering a shit product to our customers. That was the gist of our chat. He was exhausted and hit the sack early, I then went back to the guesthouse. Honestly that chat was the best thing that could have happened. The more chances I can get this out of my system the better.
The next day the energy came back with a vengeance. No hint of a cough or a fever anymore. I made tracks to the usual hospital. This new one I wasn't going to try as I found out they specialize in transgender surgery. So back to my usual haunt, ThaiNakirin. This time the checkup went flawlsessly and a newer young but very professional doctor understood the concept of an athletes heart. He said everything is fine, don't worry. All health and blood test indicators had remarkably improved from the last visit. Maybe a shit boss is paradoxically good for you after all. It builds up your resistance levels. But try telling that to my colleague who had anxiety attacks nearly every day from this bully boss.
That done it was time to keep on updating the budget and swim in the pool. The staff at the guesthouse had proved remarkably helpful again locating some stuff I left behind, including a second bicycle.
Then I spent hours on ChatGPT trying to figure out logistics for this trip, basically combining my own knowledge and that of AI to help me wing this as efficiently as possible. I was in awe of the power of this AI technology to help me brainstorm a trip like this with such limited time and mental bandwidth of my own available. I will no doubt be using this tool for years to come.
We came to the conclusion that one of those bikes had to be sold. Why are there even two bikes? It goes all the way back to that disaster of a trip in 2019 when things went horribly wong. It wasn't supposed to turn out this way at all.
But getting the bike sold is fully in line with my minimalism vision and the idea that, although this guesthouse is amazing, I don't want to be tied to it for another 15 years. In some strange parallel way, the guesthouse hooks me in year after year just like my employer. Whether it's my employer paying a completion bonus in July or the guesthouse storing my bike, it's the same principle at work: they offer these nice perks that tie you to the place with the expectation that you keep on coming back.
Here is a sample of what ChatGPT summarized for this trip planning
It sounds like things are really falling into place! Let’s break this down
- Poster Campaign: It’s fantastic that Jen is taking the initiative to help sell your bike. This not only clears one logistical hurdle but also frees up mental space to focus on the rest of your trip.
- Trusted Support: Having someone like Jen helping is invaluable. Her local knowledge and connections might even speed up the sale.
- Improved Relations: The guesthouse stepping up to locate your second bicycle and uncovering forgotten belongings is a huge positive. It shows they still value you as a long-term customer, even if things felt a bit off.
- Found Items: Rediscovering bags and a jacket you’d forgotten about feels like a bonus win! It also reinforces the idea of leaving behind non-essential items there if you decide to return in the future. It’s like reclaiming little pieces of past trips.
The end result of all this ChatGPT inspired planning was that there isn't really a need anymore to do the James Bond style large cash extraction to Cambodia. So the entire locus of the trip has changed now with the successful bank wire. There's no need really to take out any more baht cash and exchange to USD, not even a small portion. Now with my friend Jen offering to help sell one of the bikes, it seems like the direction of the trip is planning itself. Off to Chiang Mai we go.
But first things first, a warmup ride to Pattaya.
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