IF I WEREN’T SO MACHO, I MIGHT FEEL like shedding tears. Not because of what has happened to me, but because I’m such a wuss compared to some. Like, two bloggers I’m following—young women whose husbands both died recently, and these women are blogging their hearts out, slogging away into their futures with grace and panache, even humor.
And here I sit in Bali, a place many might call paradise, where most people will never be able to visit, and yet I’m here and feeling miffed at the gods and demons of the island. No slogging into the future with panache and grace happening here in my bungalow on the edge of a rice field. A wuss in paradise whose biggest problem in a day might be something like finding an electrical outlet to charge a battery, or worse, really slow wi-fi. Whoa, the horrors.
This is the state I discover my mind wallowing in this morning. But in my own defense, I might say: “everything really is relative.” Different people hold different capacities for their threshold of pain. And if you can believe fairy tales, some people were made to give; some people were made to receive; and some strong ones, to hold up the sky for everyone else. But yeah, I know, it’s difficult to feel much empathy for a cheeseburger in paradise. I get that. Still, here we both are. Somebody has to say something. I’ll go first, and explain the wallowing.
I had it all planned out. The WordPress Photo Challenge prompt for this week is “Close Up.” I imagined many people would be shooting macros: flowers, insects, frog eyes. Or photos of two friends hugging. Or a father holding his infant son in one arm. I thought I’d show you “close-up” photographs of what an ordinary day for Badfish in Bali looked like.
Perhaps, I’d do it by the hour. Maybe, it would look something like this:
4:00 am: A panoramic photo of my open-air bathroom, which is as large as some people’s bedrooms, or if you live in one of those tiny houses like, say, Cheri Lucas Rowlands, my bathroom is bigger than your whole house. A myriad of tropical plants grow all along the back wall and are watered and cleansed when it rains like it did last night, as there is no roof above that one wall. A few varieties of fern perch on the wall. A young fern tree rises from the ground next to the wall and spreads its fronds into the sky above the roof. An oil palm, with non-edible red berries and a green trunk that imitates bamboo. And yes, the toilet, the sink, and shower all sit under an over-hanging roof, and you stay dry while shaving in a monsoon. And when you sit to poop during daylight hours, you might glimpse a kingfisher diving, or a kite flying, in the deep-blue sky above the back wall. Bali bathrooms are really cool.
5:00 am: A short video in the dark where you can hear all the night creatures cooing and chirping and mating in the night air. A ménage a trois with the Moon and Venus and one other star, Jupiter perhaps, bright on a blanket of black sky.
6:00 am: Coffee on the veranda, laptop on the table overlooking the garden, the rice paddy just beyond, palm trees and jungle at the horizon.
7:00 am: I might have ended up lying about 7 o’clock. The photograph of my yoga mat beside the garden intimates I do yoga there. I haven’t done yoga all summer. And my atavistic body is beginning to scream at me from the inside out. Let’s not talk about karma today.
8:00 am: A shot of Ibu Made, my housekeeper (right…hard life in paradise), making me breakfast—fruit salad and nasi goreng today.
9:00 am: A close-up of Desa’s hands—Desa, my deep-tissue-massage therapist at the Spa. I’ve been talking myself into believing these massages I’m getting every other day are helping me as much as yoga would; therefore, it might not be necessary to actually practice yoga. So far, I’m winning this argument.
Epiphany du jour: It’s becoming more difficult for me to get through a day without at least one good rationalization.
For the post, I thought I’d just go about my day, and shoot photographs as I went. Just the everyday mundane stuff. A selfie in sunglasses and Sons of Anarchy helmet reflected in the mirror of my motorbike, and beyond, the seemingly-hundred-thousand other motorcycles in the street. A bird of paradise and wild orchids against a background of slightly-out-of-focus green rice. A group of local young men in sarongs and dressed for their temple ceremony, smoking clove cigarettes next to their motorbikes. Maybe a close-up of my 3 o’clock Frappuccino and the view from the outside seating area at Starbucks: a view across the lily pond and the sacred temple beyond, a rather beautiful sight, especially for a view from a Starbucks. Perhaps a wide-angle of a sky full of penjors—40-foot-high bamboo decorations the Balinese display along their streets in front of their houses during their celebrations of Galungan, in which their dead ancestors come to visit, and Kuningan, 10 days later, when the ancestors depart again.
So the day would go something like that, and you would have gotten a taste of what a day was like for a Badfish in Bali, from morning shower to lowering the mosquito net on the bed at night. But get this. I put a new memory card in my camera. But my computer couldn’t read the thing, and a sign popped up saying I had to initialize it. I’m tech challenged; when I see signs like this on my computer, I balk at clicking buttons. I took the computer, the card, and the reader to the local Apple shop. There are hundreds of places in Ubud to buy and fix Android stuff. There is one Mac shop. A new card reader made and packaged by Mac, if you needed to buy one in Bali (which I was hoping I wouldn’t) costs $75. Really, god?
Hint du jour: if you’re thinking of switching to Mac, but haven’t yet, you might want to continue considering the issues. And cost. Buying a Mac is like buying a Porsche Cayenne. If you want the fastest, flashiest and coolest, and you’ve got the money, sure, buy the Cayenne. Otherwise, Kia has an SUV that does everything the Cayenne will do, only a little slower and for a third of the cost and with way better gas mileage. Or a Ford Edge, if you want American; the Edge is a bit more expensive than the Kia, maybe a bit higher quality. It’s like that with Macs and Android. If you want to be a member of the club and wear the Porsche ball cap, fine, buy a Mac. If looking cool is not your top priority, go Android.
FYI: I’m only slightly miffed at the gods and demons here. And here’s the deal on why I’m feeling like a wuss today; it’s because I cannot post all those photos offering a close-up view of my ordinary day. Turns out the memory card and the card reader are not the same “format,” (who knew, there were different formats for card readers and cards, and that they must match!). My card reader won’t read the new card to my laptop. What in hell is up with that… is all I’m saying.
I generally try to shy away from value judgments. But this? It is this simple. You buy a card reader. You buy a card. They work. End of techno story. Nobody should feel a need to get miffed because they can’t make a post just because they tried to transfer a photograph into iPhoto with another format. That’s just wrong.
To insert the photos onto my computer, Mr Mac Fixit uses his personal card reader (with matching format) and migrates all the photos—from both the memory card and all my other photos on my Mac—into a second iPhotos folder. I do not understand his English when he tells me, three times, why this is necessary. I do not believe I can impress upon you just how massively disturbing this is for me—we are talking about someone not only touching my laptop and messing with photo folders, but also moving ALL of my photos—here, in a foreign country where you can’t even drink the water or expect electricity all day long, let alone feel comfortable with some stranger dicking around with all of your photographs and telling you why, but you can’t fathom his accent. If I weren’t so macho, or had weak sphincter muscles, I would have required a change of underwear right there in the Mac shop.
Mr. Mac Fixit believes he fixes the issue, at least the transferring my photos onto my laptop. At some point, I will need to either buy a new card reader or “initialize” this new card to the format of my current reader, but to do that I will need to erase all the photos on the card. Scary—until I am certain I have backups of everything, and know where they are. And I can understand the English of the Geek Squad.
But this morning, when I open iPhoto to write about my ordinary day and show you the view using those photos—are you paying attention here?—none of these photos are on the laptop in the new iPhoto folder. The new photos from the new card are there, and some of my other photos. And lord knows where the old iPhoto folder might sit, somewhere in cyberspace, hopefully still on my laptop. And I’m supposing Mr. Fixit can find them and put them into the new iPhoto2 folder he created for mysterious-techno-babble reasons. However, he will not be working in his store for the next two days. So, I cannot write that post and give you a close-up view of an ordinary Badfish-in-Bali day because my ordinary day, apparently, consists of some minor flaw manifesting into reality that somehow changes reality altogether, and thereby forcing me to accept “what is” yet once again, as though I were some hard-case enlightenment student who can’t seem to quite get it right. Reality today, the reality we are now allegedly accepting as higher spiritual beings, is this: we will see no photos of an ordinary Badfish day. Combined with the distinct possibility that we may have to pop for the seventy-five dollar Mac card reader at some point. Really, Apple?
Rhetorical question du jour: how rich do rich people or big businesses need to get before they feel guilty and become philanthropists?
I wanted to write that piece, and share my ordinary day with you. And I’m feeling a bit of a wuss because I not only did not lose all of those photos (hopefully), but I did not lose a lover either. And yet, I’m still feeling miffed at the cosmos and wondering if there is actually any difference between gods and demons here on this island. Or for that matter, anywhere. And I’m also concerned that I still need to be forced to embrace “what is,” as opposed to just going: “oh, yeah…more shit? No worries, I can accept that. Drop it right here in my lap. And God, how’s your day going?”
If this were a fairy tale, I would not be one of those guys holding up the sky for everyone.
We’ve all heard this saying from at least one wise woman—and a dozen or so movies: “when the cosmos gives you a lemon, make lemonade.” In other words, go with the flow. In other words, accept what is. In other words, embrace your shit as well as the fun stuff, and move on.
Fine. Imagine me lifting a crystal flute into the air above my head: “A toast! Cheers to lemons.” I’m offering you this as lemonade: some “close-up” photographs of Bali, as close as I could get to close-up and nothing macro. Yet, it is a far cry from One Day in the Life of Ivan Badfish Denisovich (ala Solzhenitsyn).
Now, I believe I will go for my daily deep-tissue massage yoga practice. If we’re both still here on this page, I’d like to say one more thing: thank you for holding up the sky, and now, it’s your turn to say something.
You can find other entries for Lucile’s Photo Rehab here: Photo Rehab
Badfish & Chips Cafe 
I hear ya! To top off a bad day ( or is it a Bad Fish day) it looks like your beer is warm – maybe even hot. But, if you ever get the photos back, we probably won’t mind if you skip the 4am one (at least no close ups).
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Warm beer. It’s funny, but no. I was disappointed in that photo because it was just out of the freezer, and looked freezing…for a couple moments. Then, not. But if you look REAL close toward the bottom, you can still see a few drops of water. The inside where it looks lighter, is actually partially frozen beer. Optical illusions of beer photos suck.
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At least one thing went almost right.
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almost counts in horseshoes but not beer photos!
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Oh, Baddie ( is one allowed to use this kind of a diminutive for your name?) – I am so glad someone else has gone through the techno challenge of living in foreign lands and trying to do stuff. and deciding to go the mac-way and then wondering why. i cannot begin to tell you the number of times I have used multiple devices – yes including a macbook and ordinary pc – and cameras, and supposedly smart phones… etc etc… oh and the odd external hard drive in to boot – JUST to post a photo challenge.
look on the bright side: this up close and personal almost photo free blog post is gonna go very well in the Badfish in Bali ebook… keep some of the best for the ebook so your admiring followers will pay to read it!!!
raising the crystal flute to the universe!
( thats reply one, stay tuned for reply two) 🙂
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Debbie, RIGHT…every chapter can’t all be just how rosy things are in every paradise a badfish might wander–material or virtual, eh? I think if they’re going to make computers, and techno-gadgets, then they should just simply work properly because otherwise, they just miff you off and you had to pay for them just to get miffed off.
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I haven’t read it yet. I’ll come back later and comment again when I’ve read it, but boy you really hit it out of the park this time with the photos – every one a beauty (except the banana leaves)
Alison
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Wow, good to hear that from you. And oh, the banana leaf one. I took a number of photos of that spot in different light. And for some reason, the wrong photo got put in the post. But I don’t want to spend time changing it. Maybe I’ll use the other one(s) in another post later?? Thanks again!
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now, on that threshold of pain thing. think of it this way: you’ve already paid your dues. somewhere, in some lifetime, you’ve done the hard roads, lost a lover, lost an iphone, had your house burnt down, faced your fears… so in the here and now, the benevolent universe sends you to paradise to chill out.
your pain threshold is marked by technology. while im on that subject, i finally gave up the ghost and bought and even smarter phone. so i could click, upload, post… or even better… click and post… like the rest of the blogging universe … and then i lost it. so i bought another one. then i lost that one too. so i bought a cheaper, only marginally intelligent, wanna be smart phone. yeah. enough said on that one.
this is of course in no way detrimental to the women who are dealing with terrible grief by blogging with grace and panache. we dont come to badfish to read that. we come to badfish to read about all the stupid little things we all do and get frustrated by but are too embrassed to talk about, that you do write about with grace, panache, and quite a dollop of humour.
praise the gods and demons all, not to mention the goddesses.
loved the red flowers and the pink one, by the way!
🙂
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Oh whoa: “somewhere, in some lifetime, you’ve done the hard roads…” I believe I am going to have to quote you sometime in the future with these words. And, you know, I really do believe you are right. Otherwise, I should feel guilty as hell. But I do feel blessed. And I’m really glad that I went through all that other crap in previous lives, so that life in this life could be so much easier. I think I’ll go for another massage now.
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You mentioned cheeseburger and I assumed you’d have the picture, but you’re sitting there telling me to accept what is, to embrace something or other. Honestly, Dude, tell me how to do that?
*Stops. breathes in deeply. Remembers that I too have an imagination. Picture my own cheeseburger.* My mind conjurs such interesting pictures from your ramblings.
Bathrooms, that have the ambiance of a spa; The sounds of life on sub human levels lulling me into a meditative movement. Somewhere my thoughts censor out all the non-paradise aspects. No computers, not photo cards, no wifi, slow or fast, or in-between. Just the lush jungle, and a sea of grass cascading down as the wind brushing across the fingers reaching up toward the warming, life-affirming orb.
Perhaps, it’s all been a dream, and there never was a lost-in-Yonkers folder. What happened between rising and retiring was only the windmills of your badfish mind. You’re tilting at them here. I feel it emanating off you.
But I’ll tell you the picture I miss the most: the selfie in the Sons of Anarchy helmet reflected in the mirror of your motorbike. I sigh at the loss, and turn my nose up at the ineptitude of technology, toying with our wants and needs; teasing us with possibilities, but very matter of fact, plopping us back into reality of ‘you can’t always get what you want, but if you try sometime, you just might find, you get what you need.”
Thus, what I understand, is I need the words more than the photos. Your words are the paintbrush, and perhaps the reality just isn’t what I’d have imagined. This becomes a symbiotic journey.
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No, no. I am not telling YOU to embrace no shit at all. I’m saying those masters say that, and I’m with you: someone please just tell me how people do that because it doesn’t seem to be taking on me.
I’m glad you got that the bathroom was like a spa because someone else mentioned he didn’t want to see that photo…I believe in some people’s mind, a bathroom is just a toilet…or too private?? But not this bathroom, it is cool.
Tilting at windmills…story of my life, dude!! I’ve always believed in something that just does not seem to be here in this dimension. Almost as though I don’t belong here. Some cosmic mistake, and whoops, wait, I’m back here on planet Earth… what the f-ing f?
And yeah…technology. First they make us depend on it, then they give us crap and stuff that doesn’t work, or stuff you got to read a manual to figure out but they won’t give you a paper manual, you have to look it up online! Those F-ing f-ers.
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I definitely do get the whole spa thing.
Actually I’m also a windmill tilter, from way back… more spooky stuff, I know. 🙂
Ugh @ technology… just updated from WIN8/8.1 to WIN10, and now, its incompatible so I’m back with the 8.1. I figure by the time they figure it out, and are moving on to the next one, I’ll be ready for 10 again. 🙂
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I’m kinda lucky, kinda not. Lucky because I have a tech department at work. Unlucky because, well, it’s work. And right…you be like the number one windmill tilter!!
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Also, did you not say somewhere that you use a Mac? No Microsoft involved. Lucky again.
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Yup, I use a Mac because that’s what my university gave me to use. So…more luck…it’s free! And we get all kinds of software. I have Photoshop but don’t know how to use it!! I must be a lazy dork
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So I got so hung up every time you called yourself a ‘woos’ instead of a ‘wus’ that I completely missed any further mention of cheeseburgers in your otherwise excellent post, although my clever mind did make a dubious connection between a Mac and a Big Mac. Anyway I’m just jealous that you are still in Bali and I’m not.
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You mean there really is a word, and there is a correct spelling for the thing??? I usually spell it with an h after the w, but my laptop gave me a red line under that. I looked it up in the dictionary, and bam! You are right. It is wuss. Who’d a thunk?!
And I never drew the connection between Mac and Big Mac, probably because I NEVER eat them. But I would write about them…if I had thought of it! I can’t believe for a minute that your jealous of me in Bali…after ALL the places you’ve just been in the last year alone. It is relaxing here though, buddy.
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we each bring something different to the table, and yours is a slightly quirky look at the world, so you not holding the sky up? It doesn’t matter, you had a bad tech day…………still sounds like you’re living in paradise dude……..cheeseburger or not I still envy that fact. PS did you format the card when you first put it in the camera?……..just saying
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No, I did not format the card when I put it in the camera. I have never done that. Are you supposed to? I put the card in, it works…usually.
You think I’m “slightly quirky”? HA! I can’t even hold up the sky. And yeah, paradise is pretty OK, tech problems or not! I bought a new card reader…it works, with no formatting! What is that about?
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Not sure…..but I have always been to always format my cards before every use
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Hmmmmm….I’ll have to check that out. Thanks. I don’t remember doing that before (but may have!!)
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Ditto all of the above.
Sounds like my kind of experience with my iPad/iPhone. Formatting and downloading stuff. The iPhone 6 BTW, does not turn out as good of pictures as my 4 did even though they promised me it would. Sadly, our daughter recommended I not get an Apple computer because it would be too techno for me, so I settled for the other two and I just know I’m not maximizing their use because MAC products expect you to get instructions online, which if you cannot even get online is worthless.
Whew! What a day. I so feel for you… NOT! Hell, you’re in Bali!
Still, I look forward to the photos when you’re ready, i.e., especially the rear view selfie.
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Thanks, Jo. I know…tech stuff is a b**tch. I do not like it when things go wrong. Or I don’t know what to do next. And right…getting a user manual ONLINE instead of on paper—what is up with that!!! Hey, Apple, spend a few pennies on a manual will you.
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That’s just too funny. I tell you that the photographs in this post are all fabulous and the whole post is about how you lost the photos you really wanted to post. Gods and demons both at work here I’d say.
I love my mac 🙂
BTW it’s wuss. Now go make some lemonade 🙂
Alison
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Yup…funny, ironic. But cool. Gods and demons…always at work, perhaps everywhere, eh?
I like a lot of things about the Mac. But it does stupid things, or rather, it makes you do stupid things, like click a folder three times before it does what you want to do with that folder, then you got to click it again if you want to rename it. Just a bunch of superfluous clicks for no good reason. And paying a fortune for extra cords and stuff…I don’t like that.
And I did not even think wuss was a real word!
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Great selection of photos, nonetheless, Badfish 🙂 I’m sure that the deep tissue oil massage, (which I’m quite sure that I’m not the only one jealous of not getting one!) will soothe all your tech problems until the gibberish speaking Man is back in his store. Until then, don’t press ‘delete’!
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ThanksGF! And yes, the massage does seem to work wonders for alleviating tech problems! I never press delete!!!! Delete is scary.
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hahaha! Good to know that massages do more than just work on one’s body. Delete …. I learnt that one the hard way!
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Never mind the pix (which are anyway great) you gave us close-up prose instead. And you made me smile. And if I could, I’d hold up the sky for you 🙂
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Tish, thanks, and yeah, I guess a virtual photo in words might work, glad I made you smile! I think you might be one that is holding up the sky!
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Oh, Badfish…what to say. The dog has your back. What a sweetie. My husband is a computer tech: watch my eyes glaze over as he tries to tell me that he needs to know what the problem is because he does not understand “Fix the damn thing!” I’m holding up the sky; you make sure your fix-it guy didn’t just quit his job. Love to ya!
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You are so lucky you live with a techy…even if you must describe the issue every time. I hope my fix-it guy did not leave the country. And I’m pretty sure you ARE holding up the sky!
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Arrrghhh….I want to visit Bali!! It sounds your days get better and better there despites of slow internet. I do find slow internet is blessing in disguise 😀 Nice images mr. Badfish – the third image on the top has great background, is it a ring? And of course cute dog always be my favorite image 😀 It’s nice in Bali that some dogs are treated well… 🙂
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How is slow internet a blessing in disguise for you? It just annoys me.
The third image is actually an anklet, big enough to fit around a woman’s ankle. I love how different people like different photos. That one is one of my favorites in this post.
This Bali dog is owned by a Dutch man. But there are others nearby owned by locals who also treat their dogs well. And yes, nice to see (as many are not). I wouldn’t want to be reincarnated as a dog in Bali.
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Oh I just give up when internet is so slow like in Indonesia. I did not miss internet when I was in Cuba or West Papua – where there was hardly internet, actually it was really nice for not having it once a while 🙂 That’s true, not all dogs there treated nicely..but certainly better than in other islands 🙂 Have a lovely Sunday in Bali..trust you already try Sate Lilit 😀
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Yeah…giving up is all you can do. But a drag when wi-fi is supposed to be fast, and working. But then…it is more relaxing to just forget it for awhile.
Sate Lilit…right! My housekeeper gave me some for Kuningan!! Tasty..
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Wow. What a mess you’ve got going on. But you know…..a post without pix is actually maybe better for this photo challenge. Because of the no-pix event, you had to really describe each and every scene much better than you would’ve done had you had the pic in place. Hence, am thinking Close Up should’ve been the title of this post…..(though did very much enjoy the cheeseburger in there too!)
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Thanks A. Yeah, a mess is right. You’d think there wouldn’t be a mess in paradise. But maybe everything’s a mess everywhere?? Glad you liked the descriptions of things!
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Maybe you’ll like participate to my challenges
http://www.sylvain-landry.com/category/sl-week
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Badfish it is not that I am laughing at you, but laughing looking at a reflection of my earlier blogging self. I have been doing this blog for two years to the day. On early trips I almost drove myself completely mad with the elusive search for Ms Wifi, the myriad of technical problems, cameras not willing to download, lost photos , you name it. My eyeballs spent a great deal of time blowing out of my head. On this recent trip much of the same occurred and many of my posts could only be done with photos on my iPhone and posts from there. Of all the gadgets along it was the phone that worked.
I suggest more yoga practice and more of those refreshments in the green bottle. You will have lots of great material once home. 🙂
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Happy Anniversary!! You got me to thinking about when I first started my blog…it was 17 Jan 2015. And right…eyeballs blowing out of your head!!! Got it. I wouldn’t have a clue how to post on my phone, which I just got.
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I didn’t either at first. In Peru it really was the only way I could load anything. I use the WordPress App on my iPhone.
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Poop. I have never downloaded an app. Now…you’re telling me I have to download one. I’m not up for no learning curves.
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Let me know if I can help. Last year I picked my eyeballs off the walls – few hundred times learning social media apps and such. Now I might actually be of some assistance. 🙂
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Cool, I’ll let you know (once home)
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I definitely had a lot of help from other bloggers when I first started so happy to pay it forward. 🙂
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Cool! Thanks.
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Beautiful Pictures! I always like the quote about lemons…you know the one, “when life hands you lemons, throw them out”.
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Thanks. I like your lemon quote better…seems more doable. And satisfying.
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I loved sharing your Badfish Day, even if it was through your visual words rather than photographs you had intended. I can relate to your words both as a Mac user (love-hate relationship) and as someone ‘living in paradise’. The gift you have given me today is a much needed reminder to keep things in perspective and to just ‘let it be’. And I very much enjoyed the photos you’ve shared, even if they weren’t the ones you intended.
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Thanks again, Lisa. Love-hate relationship is right. Some things about macs are great, others make me go grrrrrhh. Perspective…that’s a tricky one. Hey, I drank my first kopi luwak yesterday! I bet you don’t have that in Freakin-Fiji…eh?
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Eww 😖…… was your kopi luwak as disgusting as it sounds? My guess is I will try it once when I sail to Indonesia, but the thought is scary.
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Yeah…you have to get passed the idea that some ferrel animal ate a bean, pooped it out, and now you’re drinking it. But yeah, it loses its bitterness. Smooth. I usually use sugar in coffee because I don’t like bitter anything. I drank the lewak without sugar. But it’s even tastier with sugar. But not worth the price. If you decide to drink it, go to a plantation where they make it, because many brands say it’s luwak, but it’s like 10% luwak, 90% something else.
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I guess if we thought about where the food we eat comes from or how it is processed we’d be pretty grossed out…so I’ll keep that in mind when I’m having my first kopi luwak. Thanks for the plantation tip Mr Badfish :-).
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Right…I don’t think we really ever want to think about where our food comes from…especially beef, where an animal dies in fear. But really especially kopi luwak, where there is no death, but lots of poop!!
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Yeah, what a life Badfish, hard life in paradise!
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I know, tell me about it. Can’t catch a break. And now, I have to go get another massage…
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And I’m also concerned that I still need to be forced to embrace “what is,” as opposed to just going: “oh, yeah…more shit? No worries, I can accept that. Drop it right here in my lap. And God, how’s your day going?” Oh Lordy! I laughed through the rest of the blog. I so love your irreverent reverence. 😀 Two of your pictures made my eyes pop out of my head. The orange flowers right up there a little bit (they actually hurt my eyes for a sec!), and the palm fronds at the very top. You have such a good eye for patterns. You’re a wonderful narrator!
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Irreverent reverance!! Yup, that’s gotta be me all right. I don’t know where that stuff comes from some times. I’m sitting here typing something serious, and all of a sudden some line like that pops out onto the page. It worries me…at some point something might pop out that shouldn’t pop out.
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I think you’re smart enough to know where the line is. I don’t really figure you’d have to worry about that. There’s always proof-reading to clean your posts up if you feel you have to. ❤
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It’s just that I read a couple blogs where the women use fairly foul language, and they have oodles of followers! And I think…hey, I could write dirty words like that and maybe get more followers…and a publisher! Then…I think, no…for some reason I’m not aware of yet.
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Perhaps it’s because you know it’s all cheap entertainment with them. What you do here recounting your adventures, your journeys, totally different. It’s education. It’s priceless. Any one can cuss up a storm. Takes someone with a real brain to write the right words. You have a gift of gab and a gift of opening people’s eyes to the wide world. That’s a blessing. {{{Fish}}}
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Hmmmmm. I’ll have to think about that. It’s just so much easier to say shit or damn.
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I feel so bad for your struggles, especially because you don’t even have a Bentang besar. I didn’t know they made bottles that small there.
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I truly appreciate your empathy, Jeff, it means a lot. I think the small bottles are new. And they now have large and small cans. At 4.5% alcohol, that large bottle meant you had to drink the whole thing and get wasted, or share it with a friend.
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My wife and I picked up a bit of Bahasa Indonesia, as I’m sure you have. It is an easy language. We always ordered “Bintang Besar.” Once I asked her how to order a small. She said, “Why would anyone want to know how to order a small?” You can’t argue with that logic.
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Jeff, years ago when I first visited Indonesia, I learned enough in one month to actually speak the language. I loved it. Forgot most of it now. And your wife is right, why would anyone want to order a Bintang Kecil??? You can’t argue with a woman’s logic, whether there’s a word for it or not.
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At least you are aware Badfish, at least you are aware.
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HA! You think? I’m not so sure. I just looked at my first couple posts. You were one of the first people to comment when I first started blogging…six months ago.
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Funny enough, I didn’t miss the photos as your narrative is so good that creates instantaneous images in my head. You’re better than technology, Badfish. Believe me, who needs photos when one has a BadFish writer?
The only one I’d like to see is your selfie. Ok, I’d like to see the others too, later.
So, relax and buy more of these green bottles, go back to the spa and the deep tissue massage.
You’re in Bali, you have a fabulous bathroom and your husband didn’t die.
With my due respect, their experience is sad but it’s theirs, and so is how they react to it.
There is compare and contrast of life experiences, and your pain is and always will be the most painful of the universe, even if that is because your Porsche Cayenne is not running as it should and not collaborating with your blogging activities.
Perhaps the best is to wait till are back home instead of letting this guy change too many things on your computer. Just saying.
Back up everything in case you let him do stuff.
Another wonderful post. Full of BadFish virtual photos!
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OMG, Lucile…this is so funny: “You’re in Bali, you have a fabulous bathroom and your husband didn’t die.” I’m going to have to quote you again, I do believe. Thanks for your sage advice on all the stuff here!!!
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And I really mean it.
Life is not fair.
Part 2.
I got an advertorial email from a travel agent with last minute offers. I normally delete them without opening it. The header caught my attention this time. 8 days Bali for 459! Flight and hotel.
I had to check it, as this price would justify the trip to perform humanitarian aid in a severe crisis situation, which is to bring a new apple card reader to BadFish.
I opened the thing. Of course it was not true. Bali is the name of serviced apartments in the Canary islands. Far away from Ball though. So, rescue mission was aborted.
Life is not fair.
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HA. Bali Apartments, no, is not the same as Bali island. But still, might be nice. But right, you can’t rescue me in the Canary Islands. Life is not fair.
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And the saga continues! Life is is not fair because I’m not trading Bali for a Bali apartment in the Canaries.
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Well, exactly!! The price we pay for advertising…
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😞
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[…] BadFish Out of Water is still in Bali, and you should go and check this wonderful post, and chat with him, if he’s not having a deep tissue massage or enjoying his gigantic and fancy bathroom. […]
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Beautiful images !!! I skipped my yoga for a week after I climbed Mt Batur – fyi – if it makes you feel any less guilty 🙂 🙂
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Thanks! Less guilty? Now I feel like I need to go climb a volcano!! But thanks for trying.
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lol… I’ll stop trying 🙂 have a happy week !!!
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Life in your part of the world sounds a lot more glamorous than my part. 🙂 I have been using a Mac since the little old SE, but iPhoto grabs me every once in a while like the day I tried to move a photo and ended up with over 2,000 photos in one album and all the labels blown out. Ugh. We do have Genius Bars at all the Apple stores in this Country where you can make an appointment and get help for free. Now, that’s nice.
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An Apple Genius Bar…now that’s what I need. I think we have cretin bars here. I think life is good everywhere, with the right perspective (and working technology).
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[…] Internet in Indonesia is depressingly slow that I just gave up with it when visiting my parents in Jakarta or traveling to Indonesian remote islands. Mr. Badfish, who is now in Bali, sharing this frustrating situation. […]
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[…] Out of Water is still in Bali, but want to stay a week longer. I guess you can still head to his blog and join […]
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[…] Out of Water decided to follow the opinion of his followers and is now wandering in Bali, and hopefully writing […]
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Aaag gee, I must give a cheer back with the flute saying “thank you” for your uplifting, funny posts that make me laugh-chuckle-think every time… fantastic 🙂 That dog fella of yours on the picture seems to reflect your mood in a perfect way…^^ The close ups are truly beautiful – love them all! Specially that golden thing – what is that?! Hope your photographs ended up being on your laptop after all and didn’t vanish!!!
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If I can make you laugh-chuckle-think, I’ve done my job is what I say. The dog…me…right.
The golden thing is an anklet. My photos are intact. But had to transfer the missing ones again from the SD card!!
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…very glad to hear about the photographs!!! That would have been so painful…^^
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Tell me about it. But I’m still having problems getting them onto iPhoto!!! Don’t know what’s up with that?
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Alas, I can’t help you out – I have no clue what the difference is betweenan iPhoto, iMusic, iPhone or whatever all those things are called…^^ Good luck with it!!! Maybe let someone who understands it really well explain it to you in a language you can actually understand 🙂
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Love your literary references, Badfish. You’re clearly very well read. 🙂 Thanks for turning me onto “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich”. I hope you found your photos. 🙂
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I used to read (a lot). Then I discovered you could watch a whole TV series on DVD’s, and now I’m addicted and there are some really good shows. And books are so much slower. And heavy.
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Yeah, agreed to all that. There are some really good shows. Books are still awesome too, with all their slow heavy pages. I’ve been reading Freya Stark recently and a real, paper book suits her perfectly. I wish I could read more. Hard to find the time. By the way, forgot to mention I’m a fellow Libra too, shortly after you.
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Right…I’ve found some REALLY good shows, and they’re better than movies because they are so long, you get to really know a character(s). I was going to read a Richard Dawkins book over the summer, but it was so thick, I could never quite get to opening it.
And…LIBRAS RULE!!! Libras are kind, intelligent, good looking. Also, they are capable, but truly love it when someone helps them carry a load.
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This is one of those posts where the comments are as entertaining as the post itself 🙂 … I’m glad I wasn’t the only person looking for a close-up of a cheeseburger. I’m a literal sort of person. One needs a cheeseburger!
As you say, pain is relative. I envy your MAC issues. I’m in Windows hell. Win10 and my Fuji camera are not playing nicely together. Grrrr.
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Well, I believe you are right—we all need a cheeseburger some times. I’m bordering on that time as we speak. And yes, I truly get a kick out of what people have to say in these comments! Apparently, I’ve gathered a crowd of very weird ducks to read my stuff!!!!But don’t get me started on techno stuff with computers! Grrrr…is right.
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Quack! 😀
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See…that’s all I’m saying
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Great work in patterns..I love that green.
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Thanks much! Green is good, and Bali is ALL green
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Badfish! Do you realize how amazing your life has been?
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Well, I do feel fairly blessed to have been able to do what I’ve done, gone where I’ve gone, seen this stuff. But there is a price for everything, you know.
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I imagine!
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I guess I could sit here all day reading your posts on my Mac and laughing myself silly, but unfortunately I do have some errands to run, so I’m going to hop into my Porsche Cayenne and buzz off now. My hubby has an Android and drives a Jeep, but he does deign to fix any problems I have with my iPhoto, or my posh ride, which seems to be quite often. I really love the sound of your HUGE bathroom and also that massage therapist. Sound totally like paradise to me. 😉 btw, your photos are stunning, especially the sweet doggie face and the B&W Strelitzia.
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HA! Well, thank you so much, and thanks for stopping by and commenting. When I first saw the Cayenne, I thought: “that’s it. That’s the car I want.” Then, I saw the price tag. At least I did have a huge bathroom!
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[…] The internet in Indonesia is depressingly slow that I just gave up with it when visiting my parents in Jakarta or traveling to Indonesian remote islands. Mr. Badfish, who is now in Bali, sharing this frustrating situation. […]
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