55Jay

I was thinking this was a spoof from "Not the Nation", until I saw the link to the "Thai News Agency" at the bottom of the OP. 

2 minutes ago, Reigntax said:

 

He has a reputation of being quite a bright spark.

Watt???

4 hours ago, Naam said:

sound quite normal to me.

Increasingly, yes, it would seem.  Deja vous.  

In the late 80s, I was at sea for the "Cold War" and it was quite common for the Ruskie surveillance and/or bombers to do close fly bys of us in international waters.....but with two of our F/A 18s right there with them.  I don't know about 10 feet but they were tucked up in close, and slightly behind the Soviet aircraft. 

Their small trawlers (bristling with antennas) used to follow us around, very close behind.  We would sometimes wave back and forth when they got really close.

Curious.  What prompted you to want to come here and live on the cheap?  Adventure?  A personal test to see if you can? 

Yup, I'm pretty much a bum around the house too.  If the dogs start barking (that's the door bell), damn, gotta go find a t-shirt. LOL. 

We live outside the city, laid back, but that's not a license to let go of all standards and decorum, and walk around like an ass clown.  It's a fine line between thumbing your nose at Thai society's "rules" to let all and sundry know you don't care what they think, and having some personal standards.  I admit, mine were heavily influenced by the lobotomy I received in the military.  Many of the farangs I hang around are ex or retired military, and seem to follow a similar discipline.

The Three "E"s of traffic management.  Education.  Engineering.  Enforcement.  Gotta do all 3 to have a reasonably safe environment. 

I still can't get over these bloody U-turn breaks in city roads and even some major highways, where there is no merge off/deceleration lane leading up to it. Even with one, like at large PTT stations, they are very dangerous, moreso at night or in a heavy rain squall.   I've got one near my city, I avoid it at all costs, and will drive on another 2 kilometers to use the U turn road under a fly over, then backtrack.   

Lazada threads usually end up representing life in Thailand.

"Hit and Miss".

Sitting in a Pattaya condo, ruminating on-line about on-line porn with anonymous on-line "friends". 

More Tourists = more rubbish. 

Just now, giddyup said:

So what? Even Charlie Sheen pays and he'd have his choice of any number of women. If both partners are getting what they want, who cares?

No need to read too much into what I said. 

$$ Cha-Ching! $$

Tim Kaine was having a hard time pretending nothing unusual was going on.

I've noticed this with my Mrs.  She's got so many styles of fashionable sunglasses, often 2 or 3 in the car to choose from at any given time, but quite often wears none when driving. 

 I always wear sunglasses.  Even if I just walk out to check the mail box.

We bought supplies at a cheese and wine making hobby shop in the US and made 1 small batch.  Right, it did take a lot of milk to make a rather small amount of cheese.  It was a fun thing to try, but we decided not to pursue it any further.

I was skeptical but cautiously optimistic about the La Nina predictions for this season.  Had 3 decent rain fall sessions so far but nowhere near the quantity or duration needed to make up the severe deficit in my area.  Our local reservoirs still virtually dry, no city water on tap, people still taking well water deliveries. I was already concerned about the status of the bore holes in my area, which have been providing household water for 6-7 months already.   Our local well water delivery sources have always been same day service, often within hours of calling.  Wife called for 2,000 liters last week and was told no chance, totally booked up.  Luckily it rained just enough that night to fill our tanks.  

If this trend holds through September/October, the next year looks rather bleak.

5 hours ago, DipStick said:

You obviously are rather green as are your likers, when you book into a hotel they take two swipes of your credit card  (one to cover the cost of the room during your stay ) and the second as a deposit on whatever you spend on such things as you suggest. In general it takes two days after you check out to get the deposit paid back into your CC account.

youare obviously not that experienced.

You aren't too experienced yourself if you don't recognize tongue in cheek when you see it.  

Assuming it was a Thai Doctor that gave me the news, I would get a second opinion. 

A rare, nice post, OP.  Thanks.

1 hour ago, Johnniey said:

I think you nonsense would be more suited to the Pattaya forum.

 

I'm just off to buy wood for a garden shed I'm building and then going to a Buddhist meeting.  After that, I'm going to  Central to talk about buying mutual funds. Just one day and I'd be totally helpless without speaking Thai.

Yes, a no brainer. 

My stark realization came to a head 2 weeks ago as I went alone (without the Mrs) to the IT Mall to find some of that thermal paste stuff you put on the computer chip processor.   Jesus H Christopher Cross, what a pain in the a$$, and obviously I should of looked up some reference before I went but didn't.  

I felt like (and was) a helpless moron fumble fking my way through with a couple young computer repair guys who seemed willing to help point me in the right direction.  CPU.  OK, they thought I wanted to buy one.  No....  Then I'm saying Paste, and doing the hand motions for a toothbrush and brushing of teeth.  CPU + brushing teeth (paste).  "Lon".  "Yen".  They said Silicone.  No, "paste".  (They probably call silicone and I was confusing things even more).  I was saying hot/cold, so he held up a computer fan cooling unit.  This?  No....  Damn!    We finally got it after 10 minutes, they showed me a small syringe with the white paste/silicon. Yes, yes, that's it!  They pointed me downstairs toward the Amorn shop and said it was 50 Baht - I can understand numbers/currency. OK great!    I found Amorn and wandered around for 15 minutes, obviously looking for something to no avail.  The Thai staff would avert their eyes when I looked at them, didn't want to engage clumsily with a farang.  Finally found it, but when I walked out of there, that's when it really hit me, that I've wasted so much time and still faffing about for the simplest of things without my wife, the Thai security blanket, along to bail me out. 

After my post yesterday, looked up the small Thai language school my buddy went to when he got here.  It's a 20-25 minute car drive into the city/suburbs for me, but I've got nothing else to do except make more excuses and keep being a helpless idiot.  I don't need to be a PhD, but man, I've got to sort myself out if I'm going to keep living here.

You find it?  I Googled "Saitek Thailand" and got some results.

http://www.fpsshop.com/product-tag/saitek/

I'm one of those with a handful of lame excuses why I've "decided" not to put forth any real effort to learn Thai, beyond  numbers and parroting some common phrases and words like a 5 year old.  My wife speaks/reads/writes English, so that probably helps enable my laziness.   I can fold my arms and say I don't care what anyone thinks.....and I don't.... but man, I'm personally embarrassed by my lack of initiative, and Captain Haddock's post ^above is like a cold steel blade right through my chest. 

I have, however, picked up on Thai more and more just being around it so much, to where I now pick out words I recognize (or think I do) instead of a string of unintelligible sounds all run together.  Just yesterday, I was out sweeping the driveway and some kids on motorbikes were passing by slowly, talking to each other briefly as they did.  The tall gate was closed, I couldn't see them and I wasn't trying to listen, but I heard them and understood what they said.  "Where are you going?" "Tesco."  I know, it's simple, but it was an odd, pleasant moment realizing I understood them with trying to....if you know what I mean?

I speak Spanish, a mixture of growing up  in and around Mexicans, Mexican/American relatives, long-time GF originally from Mexico, and some formal, classroom instruction in college.  I remember the feeling I got the first time I overheard some random conversation and it just made sense to me, without having to intentionally translate it to English in my head.   It's like being in a dark room then having a light switched on. 

So, I would say yes, DUS, you may be a bit premature, and trying to rationalize your way out of it.  My little driveway sweeping experience yesterday will eventually come, and you'll be leaps and bounds ahead of where I am now when it does.  I say stick with it and in fact, your thread and my embarrassment, is motivating me get off my ass and put some effort into it myself.

Mixture of diet, eating habits and more sedentary lifestyle (internet/smart phones?).

I like the exterior look of them, haven't driven one.  I also like the Mazda truck, especially if it's got a lift on it with some A/Ts on.

Overall though, the cars and trucks here just seem so "meh" to me, hard to get excited about any of them.  Mrs and I were in Florida earlier this year, drove a new Dodge Durango SUV, bells and whistles, sun roof, all that.  Solid, comfortable as hell, drove it all over for a month, Miami to Mississippi and back.  Returned to LoS and the first time wife and I started down the road in the 2013 Tuna boat, we both looked at each other thinking the same thing.  What a cheap ass ride, whistling down the road like an empty Coke can, the little GPS Navigator felt like a kids' toy from the 1980s. 

Wish I had your problem.