In which I offer 3 conclusions, illuminate a problem, and offer a strange solution… (kindly bear with a long post – there’s something in it for you)

(Written in Vientiane, Laos – March 5th, 2007)

I haven’t heard so much French spoken since my first trip overseas, to England and France in 1998, traveling with my father and enabled entirely by his generosity. Not surprisingly, Laos couldn’t be much further removed from France, and her days as a French colony ended half a century ago, but a handful of connections make Vientiane a very pleasant place to spend a couple of days.

Although few Laotians bother to learn French these days, the country’s remnant francophonism and, more importantly, the legacy of fine French food continue to lure French tourists. Several of the occupy the tables on the 2nd-floor balcony of the Le Creperie, where I now enjoy a shockingly authentic caramel-and-meringue concoction while overlooking the darkened central square of Vientiane. Though I can understand little of their conversation, Spanish having rudely elbowed French out of my verbal cortex, their chatter is surprisingly soothing – a touch of unexpected elegance.

The food here in Vientiane is supremely tasty, more than compensating for the monolithic architectural drabness that appears to accompany Laos’ vestigial communism. Having enjoyed a delightful chicken-and-wild-mushroom baguette, a hefty order of chicken tikka, and a couple of desserts (a three different restaurants in total), I suppose I didn’t really need another food fix here at Le Creperie. But I felt I needed a suitably cosmopolitan spot to navel-gaze, so I hauled my pen and notebook across the street and up the stairs, so best to scribble out the following:

Conclusion 1) I’m in a bored funk. Not here in Laos (which is spiffy), just in general. I don’t mean that I’m unhappy, merely that, Thailand and all notwithstanding, I face very little challenge in my daily existence. Life here is comfortable, but more routine than you’d expect – wake up, bike to work, toil lightly, eat well, hit the gym if so motivated, and wrap up the day hanging with friends or incinerating digital aliens. Save for occasional weekend sightseeing and a handful of kickass trips like this one, life here differs very little from life at home in Vancouver.

My work is pleasant but unchallenging. I don’t have as much opportunity to teach my students as I would like – though that’s likely to change a bit in coming weeks – and I fill the rest of my time with the same necessary but mundane tasks like writing web copy and editing papers for which I would have been much better-remunerated were I still labouring in corporate whoredom.

None of this sounds terribly difficult, I know – and that’s precisely the point. I feel like I lack opportunities for much personal growth here, even though that’s exactly what I came here to look for in the first place. I’ve been surviving here (quite well, in fact) but I feel static, and uncreative. The solution, it seems, is to force growth and creativity upon myself. My ideal solution would be to travel like mad around Asia at every opportunity, but financial reality has already drowned that option. Nor can I afford the new camera I so desperately crave to feed my growing interest in serious photography. And so, lacking creative aptitudes in virtually all other fields, this blog must be my outlet.

Every single damn bloody %*$%*# day.

I’m going to force myself to blog more as a solution to my (admittedly trivial) problems.

Except…

Conclusion 2) I’ve thought this before, and I haven’t stuck with it long enough to make it work. I’m a champion procrastinator and a world-class squanderer of valuable time. Although I love writing, it’s all too easy every day to postpone it in favour of other pursuit that less resemble work and more resemble sitting on my ass. Time and again I’ve resolved to blog more (as you’ve likely noticed), only to have my brittle determination shattered by whatever obscure link trail I’ve started following on Wikipedia that day.

Which leads us to…

Conclusion 3) I’ll need help, and I’m willing to pay for it. Here’s the new deal: for the next month, I’m going to write at least one solid paragraph every single day. Any time I miss a full calendar day, I will award $10 to the first person who calls me on it (by posting in the previous day’s comments). $10 is my entire disposable income for one day – real money to me, folks: 5 big meals out, 10 delicious Thai teas, 4 trips to the movies, or about 6 litres of not-too-bad local beer. You get the idea. I’m good for it – you’ll get your money.

I know it’s tacky, I know it’s weird. But I’m hopeful it’ll drive me to write, and inspire some of you to put some pressure on me – probably less out of greed than out of sheer bloody-mindedness (Christian, I’m looking at you with that one.)

I’m taking the liberty of establishing some exemptions – conditions under which I ain’t nobody anything for not posting.
1. Hospitalization.
2. Total loss of web access everywhere for the full day.
3. Civil War, but only if it results in exemptions 1 or 2 coming to pass.

Ok, let’s see how it works – in a month I’ll take a look and see how much money I owe and whether I feel more creative. Thanks in advance for your help – next up, lots more Laos!