Nice - such a great deal on the hotel room should un-block the writer. Just order a bottle of wine.

Some deal. It pays to travel on a whim and without baggage of the human kind to weigh you down.

OMG. Just realized one clue above, "rhymes with clever", was totally wrong! Don't know what I was thinking. Was my brain gassed or did I eat bad chicken? Dogster must be chuckling.

Rhymes with fragile, sorta.

Yup! Thought you had it wrong and were rhyming with Trevor...

I have some form of short-circuit in my brain. I cannot do crosswords. I've never done a crossword in my life. Really. Too much left brain, too much right...? I can't remember which is which. I look at the clues and they mean absolutely nothing. Zero.

So, I've been puzzling over 'rhymes with clever' for a week. Now I discover that I was led astray.

Now I'm confounded by 'rhymes with fragile, sorta...'

I have no idea what anybody is talking about.

Well, the freebie was given for you to see and spy so you should report exactly what you saw no matter how bad it was, he needs the correct feedback if he's to right the wrongs.

And I did Clark, to him.

I had to choose my words very carefully, however, because it became rapidly clear that my personal E-mails were being bounced straight back, slightly edited, to those concerned. I'd drop him a note about XYZ drama that nobody wanted to tell him about [he was half a world away] then wake up next day to 'You made Mr. A very angry last night...'

I was in a no-win situation, whatever I did. I'd give him the correct feedback, he'd react in his usual volatile fashion, fire off an immediate E-mail to fix it, then I'd get the blame. It was pretty clear where the information was coming from.

You can imagine the dynamics in a confined situation. Actually, it became acutely difficult, easily one of the most uncomfortable positions I've been placed in. So, what was my option? Stay silent, complicit in the dangerous incompetence or continue to be Deep Throat? It didn't occur to me that someone would put me in that situation. In my code of ethics such an event simply couldn't happen. Obviously I'm very, very naive.

I guess the issue most concerning me was whether to pass those reflections on to a greater public via my reports in here, although the more I write about it here the less of an issue that is becoming. As a matter of fact, quite the reverse. I've worked out the ethics [more or less] but am still trying to find a way to tell the story.

At least this post is helping me unravel the situation. There's layer after layer of it. So far, I've only mentioned a fraction of it. I was the only one without an agenda, trying to cling to the last shreds of the higher moral ground. All around me were clawing, lying, trying to save their pride, their jobs and their status.

Dogs ate Dog.

dogster, LALeslie and Marija: Ditto my response to what rhymes with "clever" and "fragile." Youth wants to know! What is this??

I'm glad I am not the only one who has spent far too much time trying to figure out the "clever" rhyme. I thought I am the only one who is not clever.

Whatever rhymes with what is irrelevant. let sleeping dogs lie. If Dogster wants us to know he will say so.

What Nywoman said. In spades.

yes.

I don't think Dogster knows either.

Right you are Marija. Don't worry, I would never, ever out the cur. But he is like J.S. Salinger, so mysterious that, ironically, he invites speculation and sniffing about. Besides, I may be utterly utterly wrong in my amateur sleuthing. But methinks the Dogster protests too much.

And Dogster, I had no inkling this was going on while you were in transit. What a scandal! What betrayal! What a coward!Forget ethics. Mr. A is below that it seems.

Just wondering if I could ask the sleuths to zip it up a bit. I have been enjoying the privilege of reading Dogsters accounts of his travels since the beginning of his writing endeavors here. He is remarkably generous in sharing his writing – with humor, unrestrained honesty, and a keen wit I admire.
So – the sleuthing is distracting and more than a bit rude I believe. You are looking in the host’s medicine cabinet after enjoying a superb meal. The writers here all weigh in with as little or much anonymity as they choose to have – please don’t spoil it for the rest of it by making one of our favorite writers uncomfortable.
Dogster – I apologize if I have spoken out of turn on your behalf, but it seems that you have already politely asked once or twice.
I look forward to whatever tale comes next from whatever unique perspective you find your self in. Much appreciated.

Are you uncomfortable Dogster?

Hey, let the Wizard of Oz stay safely behind the curtain, please. I hereby call for no more peeking. We are not only honor bound to do so, it is the only way to keep the dogologue sparkling fresh.

There have been too many clues already and the internet makes it much too easy to rob someone of cherished anonymity.

What say ye?

'...You are looking in the host’s medicine cabinet....'

What a perfect analogy tron - and thank you so much for your very kind words.

Yes! I am uncomfortable with this. Acutely so. Alas, the cat seems to have escaped from the bag. I'm not sure I can stuff kitty back in. Even a glimpse of me undermines the multiple personae I've adopted to suit the stories. Dog can be anyone you want. The more you know, the less power the words have. A sharp, long-term reader may even note that Mr. Dogster features less and less in the stories, unless it's to take the piss out of himself. I scarcely present him as a role model.

I don't believe there is a single occasion in all my many words where I've revealed anything I haven't chosen to about my past life. The more I travel, the more I realise it was just a forgotten chapter in an undistinguished, selfish existence. I've just chosen to move on, big time, for my own mental health. 'Sunset Boulevard' is not going to be the story of my latter life.

I have nothing to do with anyone from those days. It's the primary reason I stay away from home. Those people gave new depth to shallow. The self-absorbtion, rank ignorance and casual cruelty of that scene still boggles me. Multiply that by Australia and you have a recipe for a self-satisfied, parochial emptiness. It's no coincidence that most of that continent is desert.

In the latter, more commercial years of my career I met and worked with some of the most horrible people in creation. That I was so much part of it, just as shallow, just as self-absorbed, just as cruel, appals me.

But I've forgiven myself. Or rather, had forgiveness battered into me. Perhaps even a shallow wisdom followed - not that anybody wants to listen to any of it. Except, maybe, occasionally, in here.

If I could I would delete all the clues, but that would make this post a complete gibberish. I've been wrestling with this somewhat - particularly in relation to one particular contribution. Not only was it written in a lousy parody of my style, it was dumped in the middle of my carefully chosen words like a turd in a florists shop. The casual reader will read through, thinking I wrote it. That worries me just as much. So, you see, I still exhibit the sins of pride.

Of course, what is good for the goose is good for the gander. So I've resisted asking for that particular post to be deleted. Ethics again. But I'm having serious second thoughts. It may go.

It's becoming clear that I'm the only person left alive with any moral compass. Witness the minefield of Mr. A and Mr. B. However, I'm perfectly aware that my Magnetic North is dramatically different from that of others. Most of our Western ethics are merely a product of the last hundred or so years, clung to by fools incapable of making up their own mind, desperate to be part of the pack. They lock in and smother anybody who thinks differently. Of course, they win. Culture creates morality. In a different culture there is a different moral norm. So who is right? Well, actually, nobody.

I decided not to be smothered. It's a solitary road. I can't carry baggage.

Dog, don't go back into hiding... if we happen to be in BKK at the same time, that is. Would love to have a beer at Maeng's again. But to all that other "clue" stuff... it goes in one ear and out the other. Anonymity (sp) it is!!!

Maeng isn't herself these days. Hope you'll stop by. She needs some cheering up.

C

Dear Mr. Dogster,

For this reader, you are mr. dogster, the one who writes so eloquently and even lovingly of global issues and tiny absurdities, of the human condition and the human tendency to be a pain in the posterior. It doesn't matter even a tiny bit who you are/were; we've all been lots of different people at different times, I think. I hope you come to the conclusion that you can continue here, but if not, blessings on your journey and thanks for your wonderful words.

Sincerely,
Amy
who, in one life, worked at a florist shop and did not appreciate turds