Daily Report: Lunch and Laughs

Stan's model railroad is coming
along nicely.

Russ and Stan.It was off to Stan's house for a lunch of Indian food today. Along with Stan and Maid Lee, myself and Epril, there was American Jeff, Russ and his son Lance, Jew of Champion and his girlfriend, and Eric from Pittsburgh. I had a fantastic time sitting around with my friends and chatting.

Jeff had some fun at our expense by managing to convince us that Colonel Sanders (the symbol of KFC... and a very popular figure here in Thailand) never existed, and was only an actor created as a marketing ploy by Dave Thomas — who later went on to found the fast-food chain, "Wendys". Armed with a full list of made-up "facts" (along with the genetically-modified-chicken-induced name change to KFC urban legend), mixed in with a bit of truth, of course, he had us all going there. Nothing like a good tall tale to make for an entertaining afternoon.

Eric, on the other hand, another bullshitter, took a different approach to fooling us, and would just interject made-up facts (usually very off-colored) into a conversation at random intervals:

In the middle of a conversation about the band, Eric chimes in, "Did you know that 'Deep Purple' is a code word for anal sex?"

(We all stop talking and look at Eric, sitting at the end of the table.)

After a few seconds, Eric grins sheepishly and says, "Nah... I just made that up."

Anyway, we sat around talking and drinking and laughing hysterically all afternoon and into the early evening. It was really a fantastic time.

After that, Epril and I went over to Rick's bar for a little while and I sat around chatting with Rick. We decided that the rule for closing bars in Thailand during elections (like they have done this weekend) is particularly and especially dumb for one plain fact: About 95% of alcohol consumption in Thailand is done by Thai people sitting around a fire; sitting at a kitchen table or sala; or hanging out in back of, or in front of a shop house... and not in bars. The other 5% of alcohol consumption in Thailand is by tourists... in bars.

That reminds me... most bars are going to be opening up and serving on Sunday evening, 4 or 5 hours before the midnight ending of the alcohol ban. So boozing it up Pattaya-style will be back a little earlier than you probably thought.

Anyway, it was finally home at just after 10:00, and asleep shortly thereafter.