Good morning, afternoon, evening or night depending on where and when this finds you in the world. It is Thursday evening here in the “Big Mango” and I’m relieved that there is only one more day to go till the weekend. This year the fates have given us a mid-term break in our third term at work, so I’m looking at another whole week of vacation time off work again next week, yet again. However, I’ve loads to do with my Graduate studies and helping a friend move, so don’t go getting jealous just yet. We’ve had such a yucky wet week here in Bangkok, and I think it is safe to say that the monsoon season has started early this year in Thailand. I’ve had the misfortune of getting caught out in the rain each and every day this week coming home from work, and I must tell you that I enjoy getting getting rained on as much as cats do. The intense storms come rolling through the city like clockwork every day around 4:30, so I’ve managed to arrive home drenched every single day. Fun times, right?
Anyways, I want to get on with my train of thought I had planned for this post so let me get it underway. Do you consider yourself to be a friendly person?  Are you good at making new friends? Do your friends consider you to be friendly and amicable? Well, believe it or not…I don’t consider myself to be a friendly person. I prefer my own company most of the time, strangers and new people make me uncomfortable, and I avoid large social gatherings like the plague. My “real” life personality is not half as friendly as I come across, but a lot of that is just being from the south and raised in a culture of good manners.
I often wish i could learn to be more friendly and sociable but I have such a hard time overcoming my intense shyness. Unfortunately, this all to often comes across as me just being a snob but nothing could be farther from the truth.  Until very recently I always have used alcohol to overcome my social fears, but my drinking has done more damage over the years than good. I have found myself not able to interact socially at all now without the aid of alcohol and for the first time in my life I clearly see the problem that it has become. I have become an alcoholic. No, I don’t or didn’t drink every day but I am definitely a serious binge drinker. It got to a point where the alcohol was negatively affecting my personal and professional life, soooooo…..it is time Tom said goodbye to the booze.
Well, that went in a direction I didn’t expect but I’m glad I put it all down just the same. I don’t think I am at a place yet where i can share more about this issue, but I’ve been trying hard to take steps in the right direction. I’ve been working out many things in my head lately and I just wanted to share with you and all my readers a little deeper into what makes Tom in Thailand the man he is. Thanks for stopping by today to have a visit to my blog, and I certainly hope you will come again. It is usually much more light hearted than this. Take care and speak to you over the weekend!
