Chuck Bao
7/17/2009, 01:14 PM
Because everyone’s wearing masks these days. Okay, not everyone in Thailand wears masks. I’m not about to wear a mask. I’d say that about 10% of mass transit riders are now wearing masks and about 20-30% of those in the theater watching the opening night of the new Harry Potter movie last night were.
Health Ministry warnings to avoid public areas whenever possible were not going to dissuade me from seeing the new Harry Potter movie. Two office colleagues, also Harry Potter nuts, went with me and wore masks and they brought one for me.
You know, you can’t eat popcorn while wearing a mask. These two, otherwise pretty intelligent peope, only wore their masks during the movie, not before the opening scene or after the closing credits. I find that a bit funny. One of my colleagues apparently did find a way to eat MY popcorn under his mask. The theater should have given everyone Death Eater masks, which could have made the silliness a little more fun.
I know swine flu isn’t making news very much in the US these days, but it is in Asia. H1N1 is spreading like wildfire in Thailand now.
People here are calling it Ahtch One En One, instead of swine flu. Why? Giving the pigs a break on this one or trying to avoid the hysteria of bird flu when nobody would eat chicken? The first time I heard my colleagues talking about somebody having Ahtch One En One, I had to ask: “Ate what one in what?”
According to the World Health Organization’s website, the countries in the South-East Asia Region with confirmed cases are as follows:
22 in Bangladesh
229 in India
112 in Indonesia
2 in Myanmar
14 in Nepal
37 in Sri Lanka
4,057 in Thailand
Thailand announced this week that it will stop reporting the number of cases. All Bangkok Metropolitan schools were closed for five days this week so that the schools could be sterilized.
While I was on vacation in the US, my company mounted hand sterilizing dispensers on the walls around the client trading rooms. They didn’t do that for employee areas. I told my co-workers that it is a great time for sick leave.
For you international travelers, you have to be aware that you could get quarantined if you have a fever. While I was traveling to the US, I had a plane change in Seoul. They wouldn’t allow anyone into the airport who didn’t answer a questionnaire. I don’t think anyone would truthfully answer these questions even if they were sick: “I have not been sick over the last two weeks”, “I have not had a fever over the last two weeks”, “I have not had a sore throat over the last two weeks”, “I have not had a cough over the last two weeks”, etc.
Then they made all of us queue up single file under an infrared camera. Somebody was suggesting splashing cold water on their face before joining the queue. Somebody else jokingly suggested putting ice cubes in their mouth.
So, I’m fearless and mask free at the moment. I’d still wear a Death Eater mask, though.
Health Ministry warnings to avoid public areas whenever possible were not going to dissuade me from seeing the new Harry Potter movie. Two office colleagues, also Harry Potter nuts, went with me and wore masks and they brought one for me.
You know, you can’t eat popcorn while wearing a mask. These two, otherwise pretty intelligent peope, only wore their masks during the movie, not before the opening scene or after the closing credits. I find that a bit funny. One of my colleagues apparently did find a way to eat MY popcorn under his mask. The theater should have given everyone Death Eater masks, which could have made the silliness a little more fun.
I know swine flu isn’t making news very much in the US these days, but it is in Asia. H1N1 is spreading like wildfire in Thailand now.
People here are calling it Ahtch One En One, instead of swine flu. Why? Giving the pigs a break on this one or trying to avoid the hysteria of bird flu when nobody would eat chicken? The first time I heard my colleagues talking about somebody having Ahtch One En One, I had to ask: “Ate what one in what?”
According to the World Health Organization’s website, the countries in the South-East Asia Region with confirmed cases are as follows:
22 in Bangladesh
229 in India
112 in Indonesia
2 in Myanmar
14 in Nepal
37 in Sri Lanka
4,057 in Thailand
Thailand announced this week that it will stop reporting the number of cases. All Bangkok Metropolitan schools were closed for five days this week so that the schools could be sterilized.
While I was on vacation in the US, my company mounted hand sterilizing dispensers on the walls around the client trading rooms. They didn’t do that for employee areas. I told my co-workers that it is a great time for sick leave.
For you international travelers, you have to be aware that you could get quarantined if you have a fever. While I was traveling to the US, I had a plane change in Seoul. They wouldn’t allow anyone into the airport who didn’t answer a questionnaire. I don’t think anyone would truthfully answer these questions even if they were sick: “I have not been sick over the last two weeks”, “I have not had a fever over the last two weeks”, “I have not had a sore throat over the last two weeks”, “I have not had a cough over the last two weeks”, etc.
Then they made all of us queue up single file under an infrared camera. Somebody was suggesting splashing cold water on their face before joining the queue. Somebody else jokingly suggested putting ice cubes in their mouth.
So, I’m fearless and mask free at the moment. I’d still wear a Death Eater mask, though.