Hi Gram,
I’m taking this week off from my workout schedule, although I’m not really resting on my laurels. I got up at 5am and did a few things then went for a walk at 6am. When I got back to the hotel, I changed out of my sweaty clothes and made myself some breakfast.

Whereas normally I would have eaten breakfast at camp and then waited for the next class, I did my brainHQ and Duolingo today. It felt good to get back to BrainHQ exercises. I stopped doing them briefly in Bali, then NOT doing them became the habit. One thing I’m trying to start this week is getting back to the habits and routine that matter to me.

After breakfast, I took the Songtaew down to the hospital to get my full blood test records, then walked down to Village Market looking for a shop that could transfer the files from the CD that the hospital gave me onto a thumb drive. I had some fun conversations with clerks and workers, but struck out on the CD drive. With some water in hand to make sure I didn’t get dehydrated, I walked on down the road to the Kodak shop. At first, they told me that they couldn’t help, that transferring the files from CD to USB drive wouldn’t work. Well I just turned on some of my charm, then next thing you know I was walking out of there with the files transferred!

With all of these chores checked off, I decided that I deserved a massage. I found the next shop, which was about 20 feet away – they’re everywhere here – and passed the next hour in la la land for something like $13 USD. I stumbled out of there in a daze, hungry. A few shops away, I melted into a chair and got a plate of chicken pad Thai. The flavors were unforgettable, washed down by water instead of fruit juice because I am behaving! Back at the road, I walked for a bit looking for a Songtaew. The day was hot and I sought shade where I could, but it was scarce and far between. Eventually, the next Songtaew came along providing shade and transportation. A few minutes later and 15 baht lighter, I walked into my hotel room and thanked the air conditioner for being my friend. The rest of the afternoon was boring, scanning documents and transferring the CT scan results to my Dropbox drive.

I had a productive day so I decided to treat myself again with the new Marvel movie “The Marvels” at the Blueport theater. There were only a few of us in the theater, so we each spread out a bit and enjoyed the movie. It felt good to catch a movie, something I haven’t done in a few months. After the movie and post-credit scene, I caught a taxi back to the hotel. I really wanted to go to bed, being past my usual bedtime. However, I had some phone calls that I needed to make during business hours in America. I knew this was going to be the case and had planned on napping a little to prepare but promptly forgot with all of my running around. Relieved to have the calls behind me and the little details buttoned up, I was happy to crawl into bed.