15 November 15 Sunday – DAY NINE I begin the day by making stupid sound effects with Tinmar Aung. After she sets her own mic (which is beginning to be a morning ritual for us both) I have her do a test level, show her the meters, and often put the headphones on her so […]

14 November 15 – Saturday – DAY EIGHT It’s Cecilia’s birthday! She wants no one to know, just business as usual. And it sure is, as prosaic a day as they’ve all been here in Pyin Oo Lwin. By now any exotic/special nature of what were doing has worn off – we’re still open to […]

13 November 15 – Friday – DAY SEVEN Friday the 13th is unlucky, but seven is supposedly lucky, so what does that mean for our film today? Nothing so far. I still have this virus, and a bad, bad hacking cough. There’s no telling if it’s bronchitis. In truth, I ended up ill and wheezing […]

12 November 15 – Thursday – DAY SIX I wake with a deep cough. I feel okay, basically, a bit run down. The cough is a bad omen, though. These days if I get any upper respiratory infection it goes to a bronchitis pretty easily. It’s the result of being a poor young man who […]

11 November 15 – Wednesday – DAY FIVE Last night was the worst yet. Though I spent ten hours in bed, most of that was not sleeping but rolling around from side to side, punctuated by a few moments of actual refreshing sleep which inevitably descend into fever dreams. Since I’ve been spending so much […]

9 November 15 – Monday – DAY THREE Captain Ahab gets us up at 4 AM for a 5 AM breakfast and out to the set before six. The production’s very own cold virus has got me now, only three days in. I was struck down with a painful sore throat in the middle of […]

10 November 15 – Tuesday – DAY FOUR Every night has been a blackout for me. I sometimes get to sleep before 10 PM (that has been my latest bedtime after dailies and general discussions) and then it’s total unconsciousness until the cruel dawn arouses us. A quick breakfast of fried rice and we’re on […]

8 November 15  – Sunday – DAY TWO I woke to the sounds of hundreds of howling stray dogs in the neighborhood. Apparently, Myanmar has legions of stray dogs – all friendly – and roughly organized into small gangs.  These packs are not very tight, and it seems that membership can be pretty fluid.  I […]

7 November 15 – Saturday  After Snore Bear’s ordeal, I was awake, no matter what time it was.  The sun began to rise at about six or so, and I watched out the window as we started up the winding mountain road towards Pyin Oo Lwin.   The bus creaked around a myriad network of hairpin turns […]

6 November 15 – Friday Somehow it became the next day, due to the International Dateline and everything.  By the time I staggered off the plane at Taipei I’d lost a day.  I felt like maybe I’d lost several.  Though I’d spent maybe a total of three hours “awake” on the plane I’d probably not slept […]