Chaos Theory

I don't remember much of what I learned about chaos theory, when I studied it briefly in school, but I remember getting the idea that even within apparent randomness there is a bit of order. The way that smoke rises is the only truly patternless event, I seem to remember. So, with everything save smoke, you just need to watch for a time and a pattern will emerge.
After three weeks of watching here, some of the randomness is showing signs of order. For example, the tones on the words in Lao are not random, PTL. On the contrary, there are nice rules that govern which group of letters (a word) has which tone. True, there are seven tones, I still have a struggle identifying some of the letters (if you don't know your letters, the laws governing them are moot), and even when all is clear my brain may slip in a "dog"-- ma with a low rising tone-- rather than "come"-- ma with a high rising tone--, but I am overjoyed by my colorful tone chart. I was told it was the biologist in me, who likes to classify things. If it helps me speak, classification is a gift.
Also, I've been out on the road more-- walking a bit, bicycling a bit, catching a lift in a classmate's car, taking a tuk-tuk (a motorbike with a carriage behind it-- not a romantic carriage mind you, but one with a low roof, vinyl seats (occasionally wet in spite of the roof), and diesel fumes), and occasionally riding on the back of a motorcycle. I've had lessons so I may soon be on a motorcycle of my own, helmet happily in place, no worries. As I travel, I'm slowly seeing that while there is flexibility in terms of traffic laws, there is a pattern that governs the way cars, trucks, tuk-tuks, and bike interact. This seems to be it: that the person going, gets to go. Simple enough. Right-away belongs to the person who either clearly has it or most clearly claims it. And red lights and stop signs are to be noticed and generally followed. These rules and my defensive driving skills (several classes of them) should get me safely everywhere I need to go.