American Nostalgia: Craving BBQ and Browsing Ofoto
Posted by Stuart at 12:57 PM on August 22, 2004Ok, I just posted two more posts from earlier this month -- both of them about the new student orientation at my school (Sleepless Supanburi from August 7,2004 and Farang Advice from August 8,2004. Now I am caught up on all of the "things I did" postings. I had a few other ideas for posts, but I will save them for daily updates this week.
So, what else is going on? Well, to be honest, the last month or so has been a little difficult. I feel like I am working a lot. It is true, I have been spending a lot of time with my laptop. But, on the other hand, I do have two jobs and so the decent income should keep me from complaining too much.
But my mood today is affected by not only the heavy work, but to a few random events over the past two days. Allow me to explain.
On Friday night, I had a craving for one of the BBQ pork sandwiches at the new restaurant near my apartment. That place always makes me think of my two favorite BBQ places in America: Craig's BBQ in Brinkley, Arkansas and Rendevous in Memphis, Tennessee. Those memories in turn always start a flood of other thoughts about my family and friends back in the States.
Yesterday, I received an interesting email from Ofoto. It said that since I hadn't bought any photos from them in a long time, that they would be deleting all the photos I had stored there. What? I completely forgot that I uploaded a bunch of pictures back in 2000-2001. And since I was still mouring the loss of my laptop with all my digital pics on it a few months ago, I was very excited that perhaps some of them would be retrieved.
So, I logged onto the two Internet photo services I remembered using: Ofoto and Shutterfly. And sure enough, there were lots of photos I took with Kenley: a road trip to Mendicino, a hike in Lake Tahoe, and a trip to Hawaii. There were also a bunch of pictures from the night that I was laid off from work. In an act of solidarity, the entire company (50% of whom were now unemployed) went out for a Kareoke "wake". It was definitely an interesting snapshot of a day that changed my life forever. I saved all of them all of the pictures to my new laptop (mental note: back up to CD soon, even though the quality isn't great) and spent the next hour or so looking through them and fondly remembering.
After another long day at work yesterday, Mark wanted to go to the BBQ place for dinner, so I ended up there for the second night in a row. And again, the thoughts of America came back.
So, combinations of working hard and not getting much free time, daily trips to eat delicious American BBQ, and seeing pictures from my life in America 3-4 years ago has made me a bit nostalgic. I wouldn't really call it "homesick", as it doesn't really make me want to go back, necessarily. Instead, it is just some memories of good times gone by.
I didn't say they sang WELL. hehe. Actually, there were some pretty funny pictures, so maybe I will post a few here, for old times sake.
Im sorry to say but Craig's BBQ is not in Brinkley Arkansas but down the road in DeValls Bluff Araknsas. DeValls Bluff is smaller than Brinkley but Brinkley is not the home the Craigs.
I grew up in Brinkley. For a while, there was a 2nd Craig's BBQ place there (I can't remember the exact years--sorry). It was in the strip mall area adjacent to the Kroger and Wal Mart stores. I remember going there with my oldest brother, who is a true Craig's disciple. Perhaps this is what you remember, Stuart. Of course, they eventually shut it down and went back to operating soley out of the place in Devalls Bluff. Last time I was there was 2003, but you can bet Craig's will always be a mandatory stop if I visit again.
Good on you Stuart. Glad you were able to resurrect your photos and what a fantastic mob of workmates to ease the angst when you were laid off. And they sing too. Wow. :}.