Jonathan Swift

Next, hopefully

How about don't preach or judge. You have no idea how this girl was raised. Parents do the best they can. This has nothing to do with upbringing. Once a child becomes an adult they choose their own path, and fall under a lot of influences and temptations outside of parent's reach. Shame on you for making such an insensitive comment.

The problem with therapy is that not all therapists are right for everyone. It can take a lot of shopping to find the right one, as this is a very personal type of treatment. I think I spent months to years searching each time I changed doctors, deteriorating in between. The one I have now is spot on, but she's in the US and I only see her now for 4 months out of the year. If you're happy enough with your booze and drugs and they don't handicap your life in any serious way then you have no worries and I'm happy for you. I'm reluctant to preach or give advice where it may not be welcome, but I would say keep an eye on your "medicine" to be sure it continues to remain harmless, as these things tend to slowly creep up on you. I did the booze self medication for decades until I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and found out that that was at the root of my alcoholism. I continued to drink until it led to jail for DUI, I also found AA to not be helpful, so I managed to just get sick of being drunk, sick of placing my life and health at risk, and now only drink a few beers once in a while. I'm now 68, very blessed in my life here in Thailand, and manage to navigate my ups and downs without substances other than what is prescribed. Each to his own. As a footnote, I don't think Thailand would be the best place to seek therapy, but that is just an opinion based on my impressions and nothing else. Best of luck and Happy Holidays to you.

Your comment may be sarcastic, but I don't think there is anyone who wouldn't benefit from therapy no matter what their condition. I have an actual mental illness, Bipolar II disorder, and have been in therapy for decades just to review and correct my path regularly. In the course of that I have also uncovered and addressed issues to do with my upbringing and other types of internal handicaps, which would never have been dealt with properly without therapy.

And your name is Oliver Twist no doubt. Whoever you are, true or false as your story may be, therapy will undoubtedly help. Try it.

here's a portable one for outside

Funny, whenever I dust my apartment in Bangkok the dust is black. Wonder why?

I only stayed once during burning season, but when I had smoke damage in my house the N95 mask worked wonders - the type with the valve in front. Might be worth looking into, that's what I would do if I was ever stuck there again

Highlighting something in bold doesn't make you easier to understand. It's communication skills and choice of words.

Another tragic victim of the "party till you drop" mindset. Makes me sad every time I see people doing this to themselves with the illusion that it's actually enjoyable. After the first few drinks it's no longer "partying", it's self destruction.

Drug and alcohol addiction and other related recklessness don't favor any age group, but yes I agree. If you can get it out of your system in your 20s and survive you're ahead of the game.

The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward (no, not justice) wealth and power. That's the truth of it if one looks at the historical record. With apologies to Martin Luther King Jr.

Let's wish him luck rather be cynical and sarcastic before he's even begun. Progress in these areas is difficult even for those with the best intentions. Remember he's going after a well entrenched status quo. As far as "land of the lawless", ever hear of a place called The United States?

Right. Exactly. Meanwhile people in this forum think they're all political geniuses and they draw conclusions based on basically nothing. They have opinions based on what they read in the news, which is worth nothing. Yet commenters here seem to think they have divine insight into matters that are effectively hidden from all scrutiny. Silly me, I didn't bring my crystal ball here with me when I came. Truth: It's always all about the money, that's what makes the world go round, politically and otherwise. It has always been that way, in every country, in every civilization. There are more people here taking themselves and their opinions way too seriously, much more so than the Thai population who go about their lives seemingly untouched by all this horrible drama. Wonder why? Well I guess if it weren't for all of these concerned expats who else would save Thailand from itself? Well, I don't know, they've managed to survive 2000 years without blowing themselves to kingdom come, they've managed to stay out of wars since 1947, and all the coups seem to have been relatively without casualties or major changes to the lives of Thai people.

Looking at the rest of the world, who cares? What did he ever to do you?

AKA the RTP

A 66 year old grey haired man? Maybe he yelled at them to get away from his car. Death penalty for that, right?

Wonder if he was selling anything besides ice cream? Or perhaps he was there to recruit some of the young ones?

So is it any different in your country? BTW, why are you here anyway? Ran out of things to complain about at home? How does any of this actually affect you personally? Thinking of opening an ice cream business, only to see all your dreams shattered?

Well, I happen to like the rules that let me live here in the peace, beauty, and fun, without the weekly mass shootings, hate, violence, and racism of the US

Way back when in the US booze could not be sold on Sundays. "Blue Laws". When governments finally started smelling the money to be made they eliminated that. In Thailand I believe originally there was a reason for the 2 - 5 ban, possibly to do with afternoon naps, or a king's decree, or something Buddhist. I think someone told me once but I forgot

I'm not sure how it works here, the price might have to do with taxes, as it is in Scandinavia, where booze is exponentially higher than the US because of tax. I don't drink wine so I plead ignorance. All I buy here is beer, and that's only when I go out

I think it was a court suggestion

You can't stop the drugs, never could, never will. Name one country that has? First there is always a demand largely due to untreated addicts who can'r stop. Second because there are fortunes to be made making and selling it and no amount of attempts at law enforcement can stop any significant percent of it. If it were possible it would have been done by now. BTW you're not Thai, so why does what the Thai people, politicians, police, and government have to do with you anyway? How do they affect you directly?

Hide your face but let everything else hang out. Well we already know these guys aren't the sharpest tool