The Unknown Cynic

March 16, 2017 Chiang Mai, Thailand Juggling has never been one of my talents. I'm good with one ball in the air. Not three, not five. One. So if I try to put more balls in the air than I can deal with, inevitably, some get dropped. Hence my 15-day hiatus from posting here in my blog. (Narrator's voice): "When we last left Bob, he was still looking for work, bribing traffic cops, and about to go out on a date. How did he do? Let's peek in and find out." My job search has borne some fruit. In a rather indirect way, I might add. A few weeks ago, I walked to a government school on the west edge of the old part of the city in Chiang Mai. The woman whom I met at the first building seemed interested in talking to me about my plans, and made a couple of calls to the English Department and made them come down and bring me up to talk with them. I was surprised that she would bother to put forth that kind of effort, but I didn't complain. Everything see...

March 1, 2017 Chiang Mai, Thailand I was racially profiled today. Looking for a job here in Chiang Mai is interesting. It's not like I can look at the want ads for teaching positions that are open. Rather, I have to find out where the schools stand, and then go there in person and apply. And wherever I go, I have to fill out the dreaded application. It's not that filling one out is difficult, it just seems redundant. Even back in the States, the questions are repetitive and don't really tell much useful information. Anything that is asked in an application can quickly be covered in a brief interview or by reading the resume that most people would bring with them. Okay, so maybe if you are trying to get a job at McDonald's, you won't be bringing a CV or a resume, but you know what I mean. Anything else on the application that isn't covered will be filled out in the eventuality of you getting hired. Such as emergency contact. Why on earth would someon...