17 October 2007
Hi dad,
I’ve had some time to think and now I have some time to write. I started writing a book last night - have you finished your book?
The idea for this letter popped into my head the other day.
I wanted to take the time and make the effort to say thanks.
Thanks for what you might ask.
Thanks for being my dad, of course!
Life never turns out the way we expect it to. We just keep on going and taking it a day at a time. I do wish sometimes for the “Good Old Days” but I think it’s better to find “Good New Days.” Wherever we are now is good and great! I think if we learn to appreciate the present day more, we will be happier.
Thanks for the Good Old Days, and the memories of family…
I’m sitting here at the breakfast shop. I walked Eric to school, and on the way back home I stop off here for a bite to eat, and some green tea.
It is casual day at Eric’s school every Wednesday. So he’s wearing his Spiderman clothes that we bought in South Africa. He loves them! I’m wearing my Superman T-shirt today. The red one!
It’s an overcast day today - the beginning of Autumn. I can feel the weather is cooler. I plan on cycling to work today - about 10 or 12 kilometres. Sometimes plans don’t quite work out the way we want them to. In other words, I plan to cycle but I might end up driving instead.
Oh, by the way… we traded in our old scooter and bought a new one. We also sold the other old one for 1,500nt. So now we are back down to 2 scooters, Nicole’s and mine.
I finished the 10 Hubbard books (Mission Earth). They’re pretty good! I think Hubbard must have been an amazing guy in his day!
At the moment I’m busy reading The Dark Tower I: The Gunslinger (Stephen King). It’s pretty darn good so far. I like the way he writes. I’m on page 89.
Teaching is going very well. I feel I keep improving all the time, always trying new things to inspire the kids and to help them learn English. At the moment I insist that all my students spend at least 5 minutes every day practicing their English. I’m trying to teach them that English is a skill that needs daily practice.
I try and follow my own advice of course. I practie my violin and my piano every day. I try and do some exercise every day, too. I definitely write something every day. I’m on POEM 296 today. I write one poem every day, sometimes more than one!
I hope 1340 Sarnia Road works out well. It is a large undertaking. Let me know when you need some cash and I will transfer what I can. Nicole and I don’t have a lot of cash at the moment as we are paying for the new scooter (53,000nt) and our extra roof part (about 180,000nt). Nicole has also invested a lot of cash on the stock market. She is pretty good with that. She knows what she’s doing.
We have decided to sell her apartment. We get about 10,000nt income per month. But if we sell it and invest the profit, then we could make more! We could even pay off a large part of our mortgage. We’d like to pay off our house in 8 or 10 years.
We started up 2 classes in our house. 6 students in one and 4 in the other. With 10 students we can easily afford our mortgage repayments, which leaves our salaries untouched. Yay! I think I am working too much at the moment. Things will change after 1 year. I’m sure of it.
We have already booked our Christmas vacation to Koh Samui. It’s an island that forms part of Thailand. We will be there for 5 days and 4 nights. I can’t wait! 22-26 December. A real vacation!
I’m sorry we haven’t taken any pictures of our finished house, yet. We will do that, we’re just not sure when. We haven’t forgotten.
Are you still drinking too much Coke? I stay completely away from gassy drinks. I prefer tea, coffee, or just plain water. I feel quite healthy.
Speaking of health, are you still going to the gym? I don’t go to gym, but I do exercise every day. I feel tired and sleepy if I don’t do some exercise. How about you?
I want to audition for LAFA Dance Company. They are based in Taipei and are looking for male dancers. They want to see me. We just hae to work out a suitable time for the audition.
“Chat” again soon?