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Well, it took about ten hours from St. Louis, but I've finally made it to Portland. I can honestly say that it feels a little weird. Not bad weird, but still, weird. I know I have a habit of flitting off to places I've never been before, where I don't know anybody, but this is the first time I've gone somewhere with the expecatation of staying for awhile without having any job or school and money lined up already. And I know someone already here. I haven't had a chance to really see the city yet, at least not in the daylight, but it seems good so far. It seems like the sort of city I'd have visited before and thought that it'd be a neat place to live, without actually considering living there. But now I am! And there's something about mountains and pine trees that triggers some kind of strange nostalgia I can't quite put my finger on. Anyway, now step two is to get a mobile phone, get a job, and get an apartment.

We've only just passed the Chinese New Year, so I it's not too late to do my 2005 year end post now, is it? Actually, I'm not usually one for the year end reviews, as a good friend once said, the new year will be coming again and again. It is not strange. But, this new year was shortly preceded by my much anticipated return to the US, after nearly a year and half living in Thailand, and three years living overseas. So it seems like this event deserves some reflection. Or, it deserves reflection recorded in public place so I can gain validation by the little reads counter below.

I must say, that 2005 has to have been one of my better years yet. But not so great that I'll be left reminiscing about it and wondering where things went wrong. Which is good. The year started off pretty well, within the first two weeks I got molested by a stranger in a horror house. Unfortunately it wasn't the only attempted molestation of the year, and let me just say that my tolerance for inappropriate behavior from old and/or drunk men has run out. 2006 will see an increase in violence in response to such situations.

What is therobots.org? www.therobots.org is a multi-membered blog (or web log) that serves as a public writing forum for its various human authors (or robots if you like). Every robot has a different rhyme and reason for which they post new entries. Some post to keep distant friends and family updated with what's going on in their lives. Some post to fill future gaps in memory with the tidbits one might otherwise forget. Some post to inform the public of travel locations, music, books, films, websites, political opinions, etc. that they feel the world needs to know about. The underlying reason behind it all is simply that we just enjoy it. If you are new to the site, welcome and enjoy! More Robots...

I decided several months ago that I would return home at Christmas. As much as I love Chiang Mai, I was quite happy with this decision, and I felt I left myself plenty of time to plan my strategy for leaving. Because it does take a strategy, as much as I'm sure that for all appearances I seem to be operating according to no plan at all. But leaving, and saying goodbye to people and places is a complicated process, the only advantage of which is that it is a fairly predictable process. There's a certian range of emotions one has to go through, from being excited about going, and seeing new things, (or old friends), to falling in love all over again with the place and the people you're leaving behind. In between of course, are all the feelings of sadness and guilt at having to say goodbye to people you care about. But, I find that if you plan in advance and give yourself enough time to manage all the emotions of leaving, makes it easier to say goodbye without any regrets. Having time makes it easier to deal with the emotions one at a time.

Goddamn river went and flooded again. I've had enough cleaning to last me a lifetime. But at least we didn't lose anything. We put our mattresses and bedding and the TV over on Bob the neighbor's second story. We pre-sandbagged and locked up, then left before the water came. The sandbags might have worked if we could have piled them higher, but, oh well. Too late now. Wanna see?

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Well, for all that I seem to be the only one posting at the moment, I still haven't been writing much. I still don't have a job, but I've been busy with other projects, like my new blog, the Burma Underground. I'm proud of it, so go read it. I'm starting a newsletter and email community as well, and it's for a good cause (supporting indigenous activists and civil society organizations from Burma) so if you're reading this, and you know me, you're morally obligated to join and support me in my endeavors. If you're reading this and you don't know me, join anyway, because helping people will give you a warm fuzzy feeling.

Puh Lao! Enough! I know it keeps raining on you, but for the love of Buddha, stop flooding! Really, this is all starting to get old. I'm sick of sandbags and I'm sick of detours. Perhaps this is some sort of macho "I'm a mighty river", thing, but it's just not necessary. We love you just the way you are - inside your banks. Last I heard you hadn't made inside our house, and I appreciate that, I do. But its stopped raining now, so I think its time you went back down. Sitting around and waiting to see if we'll be flooded again is a bit tiresome. We've just painted the house after the last flood, we have all new beds, and the stinky water smell is all gone.

I made it to the top of google for "Tara Horn"! Bwahahhaa! That makes me way cooler than all the other Tara Horn's with their pansy 'scholarly recognitions' and their 'doctoral research' and their jobs. Take that, slackers!

We’ve officially moved back into our house after the flood on August 14. Karen and Lowey returned from their Borneo / Malaysia trip on September fourth and immediately started the cleaning up and sorting out of their flood soaked and stinky stuff. I’d already cleaned up the worst of the mud, with a bit of help, but some things were still damp and muddy, and there were a few of her dresser drawers I couldn’t even get open; they’d filled up and swelled shut with the water. The mattresses had to be disposed of, they’d only gotten wet on the bottom, but seemed to sprouting poisonous mold spores. You couldn’t spend five minutes in the house without your throat burning. But luckily the wardrobe, bookshelf and entertainment center were salvaged, a bit worse for wear, but scrubbed out and usable at least.