DEC 21, 14 .. DRAMA ! WHO WANTS / WHO NEEDS DRAMA !

How exactly am I going to define DRAMA here?

GOOGLE and Wikipedia let me down for possibly the first time ever. They both focused on theatrical drama. Then I looked up LIFE DRAMA and got nowhere at all. Then I found DRAMA QUEEN.

Then .. IF you can believe it .. GOD HOW DO YOU MANAGE THESE THINGS! I actually saw a real live and an up close and in person DRAMA QUEEN!

So I tapped her upon her shoulder and I said to this lovely lady .. “Madam I MUST HAVE A PHOTO OF YOUR PURSE!”

Then I asked her IF she would let me take a photograph OF HER but ..THAT .. my interrupting her and photographing her purse was ENOUGH DRAMA FOR MY DRAMA QUEEN and she turned and stalked away! Still I pulled the photo off!

Where was I? I lost my train-of-thought! Got it!

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

Lacking a good internet definition .. and speaking only for myself .. I am going to say that DRAMA IS when something that I consider to be DRASTIC or EXTREMELY SERIOUS happens to me.

I will add that there is HIGH DRAMA and certainly lesser categories of drama. All are DRAMA but they have a pecking order.

I will now put an adjective with my word drama so as to move it one notch higher. What I am talking about I will call INTERNATIONAL TRAVELING DRAMA! What I am going to get into here does not usually happen in one’s home country. OF COURSE IT CAN and it CERTAINLY does happen at home .. but I am going to stick with my INTERNATIONAL TRAVELING DRAMA.

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – 

CATEGORY 10 INTERNATIONAL TRAVELING DRAMA :

HEALTH ISSUES. IF you get SERIOUSLY injured or you fall prey to a SERIOUS infectious disease or you experience any of the MAJOR MEDICAL HEALTH health ISSUES (Stroke .. Gall Bladder Attack .. Heart Attack ..) you are INDEED IN TROUBLE. P-E-R-I-O-D !! And sadly there is little or nothing you can really do to protect yourself except for the normal precautions. So far I have never been knocked-out. YES indeed I have hit-the-canvas hard several times but have been able to get up. I have been so sick here in Hong Kong and also up in Kathmandu Nepal that I don’t know to this day how on earth I was able to catch air flights. But somehow I managed to do so each time. I was so sick in Istanbul Turkey that I had to literally throw my body out of my bed onto the floor because I HAD TO GET WATER or die. All of this is true DRAMA.

In the United States hospitals are far more available and people usually have health insurance to cover at least a major part of their health care costs. Plus (a BIG plus) in the United States the doctors speak the English language we all speak.

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

I need your help here! Will one of you give to me the level-of-DRAMA-number IF you should LOSE OR DROP AND SERIOUSLY DAMAGE YOUR LAPTOP! Would this DISASTER register with losing your Passport (9.5) or money (9) or would it be HIGHER!

CATEGORY 9.75 LEVEL OF DRAMA.

Having now received YOUR INPUT I have elevated the DISASTER of losing one’s LAPTOP or damaging it to the point where it is useless to a 9.75 DRAMA LEVEL WHICH PLACES IT ABOVE losing one’s PASSPORT. IF you lose a passport it will be a hassle and cause you problems and possibly a delay in you travels or even a rescheduling of your trip BUT a LOST PASSPORT CAN BE .. AND A LOST PASSPORT WILL BE .. REPLACED. Losing a laptop is beyond my comprehension as I think about it.

To this moment I have NEVER had a HEALTH CHALLENGE that would be more worrisome than losing the use of a laptop (Lost or damaged etc.) would be.

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – 

Moving along to a slightly lesser scale of DRAMA here is what I consider to be a CATEGORY 9.5 LEVEL OF DRAMA.

You LOSE YOUR PASSPORT! So far (I began serious international travel when I moved to Europe in July of 1974) this has never happened to me. Unlike the next category you only have ONE Passport. You can carry a copy of it .. and do your best (I physically fasten it to me with a small chain) NOT to lose it but people do lose their passports.

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

CATEGORY 9 LEVEL OF DRAMA.

DRAMA .. YOU LOSE YOUR MONEY AND / OR CREDIT CARDS AND / OR A.T.M. CARDS!

I am here to tell you that losing any of them is totally UNACCEPTABLE! 

In the below photo do you see the small chain leading away from my bill fold off to the right?

The other end of the chain is attached to the pocket in which I carry my wallet. Nor do I want to LOSE MY KEYS!

It is just a little hard to see but I am positive you all get the idea. First with my wallet attached to me I can NOT set it down on a store counter or at a check out line and walk away leaving it behind me when I get cash or a credit card out to use. Second IF a pickpocket tries to get it away from me his eyes will meet with my martial arts trained fingers very quickly! I do NOT intend to lose money or credit cards and so far I never have.

All of the above precautions not withstanding .. here is THE DRAMA when it comes to money and you have NOT LOST ONE CENT!

Once in awhile .. from time to time .. I have hit a STRETCH of A.T.M. machines that simply refused all of my efforts to use them. It happened to me in Pondicherry in South India on 27 March 2013. I published a post on that date on bobba caps doxology about that DRAMA with A.T.M’s. Two nights ago here in Kowloon I went first to one and then to a second local bank and was curtly REFUSED money by both of the A.T.M’s. Because I have the experience that I have with these A.T.M’s I had the presence of mind to notice that neither displayed the VISA logo. So I just went to the local HSBC bank displaying its VISA logo and VOILA I got my money that I had to have in order to move into my studio apartment on Mercer Street in Sheung Wan on Hong Kong Island.

In Agra Cantt India .. I had an A.T.M. actually dispense my money and INSTANTLY WITHDREW my money back inside of the A.T.M. machine. I went into the bank and the staff simply refused to discuss this with me. “Sir call your own bank!” .. but but but I stammered.

I called Patti .. Patti called Charles Schwab and in about 12 MINUTES a Schwab representative was on the telephone with me! “Don’t worry Sir .. this happens all the time in India!” The Government of India Governmental Banking Regulatory Board has since mandated that A.T.M. machines can no longer withdraw money once money has been dispensed.

But when I rather DESPERATELY WANT AND NEED MONEY .. this DRAMA is upsetting to me!

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

Yesterday’s DRAMA. Yesterday I moved from my 6 person dorm room here on the 15th floor of the HOMY INN ..

Down to my current room on the 6th floor.

In the moving process I LOST my camera. I remained upset but calm. I completely unpacked every bag I have. Two suitcases. One brief case. One over the shoulder bag. My medical C.P.A.P. bag that I put other items into during a move. Two large plastic bags I use to carry food stuffs from one room to another room. I looked into every pocket I have .. shirt pocket .. trouser pockets .. jacket pockets. NO camera.

This DRAMA was very upsetting to me! It was not a 10 nor a 9 on my DRAMA scale .. maybe an 8.5 because I was upset! Two hours later I FOUND IT tucked into the front hand-warming area on my hooded sweatshirt. I have never put a camera into this hand-warming area.

More DRAMA this morning. At 2:15 o’clock early this morning I locked myself out of my room! I was not fully dressed and it is cool here at night. I was tired and I wanted to lie down and go to sleep. What to do? Luck was with me as I had the HOMY INN office telephone number AND a telephone available to me. So I telephoned the office. My call was rolled over to one of the managers (Ken) who had to get up out of bed in the middle of the night and come to the hostel to let me in. I tried to press a 100 HK Dollar note into his hand but Ken absolutely and positively refused to accept any money! “This is my job!” Ken said smiling as he left me about 3 o’clock in the morning. It has been awhile since a bed felt that good to me! All of this .. including sitting on my hands waiting for about 45 minutes was DRAMA.

Then during the night I proceeded to spill a 16 ounce tumbler of water into my bed! “Do I really need this DRAMA I thought to myself” .. as I removed the sheets and underpad and put down a towel.

“Captain when you signed up for this assignment you knew full well the deal!” .. I did and I do!

An itsy bitsy teeny weeny mini DRAMA .. Which instant noodle soup to eat?

The (purple label) TONKOTSU FLAVOR on the left or the (black label) BLACK GARLIC OIL FLAVOR on the right?

To close this out I will be witnessing some REAL THEATRICAL DRAMA  here in Hong Kong at 2:30PM on Saturday the 3rd of January! I bought a ticket to see (my 24th or 25th viewing all the way from San Francisco to New York and from Toronto to London England and now Hong Kong!) THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA. Patti it only runs until the 18th of January 2015 and I doubt you will be here by then. Yes it is in English. I checked before I bought my ticket for just under $39 U.S. Dollars. Not bad at all!

Signing Off .. STILL SMILING .. CAP

How about a little FERRARI AUTOMOTIVE DRAMA! The first one below was on HANKOW ROAD in Kowloon ..

This Ferrari was on Mercer Street in Sheung Wan in Hong Kong proper.

Enough Captain it is bed time! Press Publish and go to bed!

• ← DEC 19, 14 .. 23 MERCER STREET .. SHEUNG WAN .. HONG KONG .. PART I ..
• DEC 23, 14 .. SUBWAY SANDWICH SHOPS IN HONG KONG? →