Lacessit

Amen.

AFAIK arthroscopy is repair, surgeons don't waste their time going in to just look around. Surgery was certainly a win for me, after a couple of months trying to sleep upright in a chair. About 30 seconds after I laid down flat in bed, the knee would start aching, and ramp up to about 8 out of 10 on the pain scale. As soon as I sat up in a chair, the pain went. I could walk without pain. After the surgery, the surgeon said he had just done a bit of trimming, and my recovery was completely dependent on the work I put into the rehab. I have not needed RICE, Celebrex, knee bandages or any other paraphernalia for 15 years. A couple of other things the OP could do to assist his cause. Ditch sugar entirely from the diet, and lose weight.

Anti-inflammatories should only be used for short-term relief, long-term they cause kidney damage. Diclofenac is one of the worst NSAID's in that respect. X'rays are fairly useless, in your shoes I would be getting a MRI done. Given the circumstances you describe of the first occurrence, it is possible you have torn the knee meniscus. That can only be fixed with surgery, via an arthroscopy. I had an arthroscopy on my right knee about 15 years ago. One month of rehab, and I have been good to go ever since.

IMO it's more important to think for myself. Talking to myself would be too embarrassing for me, my voice sounds like a castrated bullfrog. Sometimes, I don't even understand myself. What am I doing behind a keyboard, when I could be out and about on my scooter?

It is virtually impossible in Thailand to find packaged food that does not have sugar in it, with the exception of a few yoghurts. Like you, I do a lot of my own cooking. It's the only way to keep the damn stuff out. A small correction. Fruit contains fructose, which is a sugar that is not metabolized by insulin, and does not show up on the fasting blood and hBA1C tests. It is processed by the liver instead, and can cause fatty liver disease. It's best to eat fruits low in fructose, such as apples, guava and berries. Bananas, pineapple, mango and lychees are too high in fructose/carbs.

Look at it now. Celsius,Babel Finance, Vauld. Luna, TerraUSD. The list of failing and teetering companies in crypto is growing. When someone is promising a risk-free investment return of 18% on an asset that is nothing but a stream of electrons, any sensible investor would be saying <deleted> off.

My destiny is unchanged. I would still be living where I am now. As my GF loves travel, and I have traveled enough for five people, I'd say the virus has been beneficial for both myself and my wallet.

My mistake, omitted the 3 in the first number.

The virus is not over. Perhaps one of its undeclared symptoms is unpredictable effects on mental stability.

"Google is your friend" and "Do your own research" are the typical evasions on ASEAN by anyone who actually does not have anything to support a claim they have made. Not my job at all, I stopped working for other people 15 years ago.

I made the mistake of believing I should adhere to the concepts of duty and responsibility. In hindsight, I should have walked out after two weeks. It did convert me to a mindset of trying before buying.

As I explained in my previous post, I usually get waved through a fair bit faster than the "nothing to declare" lane. The difference is, I have declared something, you have not. Frankly, if your hostile response is replicated at the airports, I am not surprised Border Force would give you a hard time. On ignore now, goodbye.

Your friend needs to phone the Centrelink International section to find out why his pension payments have been stopped. He will probably be asked to provide a fair amount of information for security reasons, so he should assemble as much as possible. Centrelink number, passport, tax file number DOB etc. The phone number for the international section is +61 6222 3455.

If I was to marry my Thai GF, and the authorities in Australia found out, my age pension would be docked by about 10,000 baht/month. As my GF will have a secure future after I die, I don't consider marriage is necessary in my circumstances. It's just a bit of paper. Commitment comes in other forms. I certainly did not enjoy my marriage in Australia. None of those flaws have surfaced here.

A 9 hour flight indicates to me the departure point was somewhere in Asia, which is always treated with suspicion due to drug smuggling, and the fact some Asian nationalities are always trying to bring foodstuffs into Australia that go beyond ridiculous. They must think they are going to starve in the country without their cuisine. Here's a tip you may want to try if you go back to Australia. I always put an innocuous item, such as dried fruit, coffee or tea in my luggage, and declare it. About 90% of the time, I just get asked what it is, and are waved through. The other 10%, I'm asked to open up my luggage, which reveals exactly what I claimed, conveniently placed at the top. IME I usually get through the whole rigmarole a fair bit faster than the nothing to declare passengers, because I am a goody-two shoes who has done the right thing.

I bought a small boneless ham from them last Christmas, good quality.

It is possible to bring in some foods to Australia, as long as they are declared and inspected. I have brought in coffee from Vietnam, ginger and dried mango from Thailand, jalapeno mustard from Texas. No problem.

Customs and Quarantine officials would have handed out the fine, Immigration had nothing to do with it. I've never had a problem coming or going, always polite and professional. Unless your attitude triggered a response. I've always followed the policy of if in doubt, declare it. Bringing in a meat-containing item without at least declaring it goes beyond stupid, and the fine is certainly not OTT when the potential damage to the Australian livestock industry is taken into account.

There seems to be quite a lot of discussion of something that is not real, although I suppose one could say the same about religion. "Emotional intelligence (otherwise known as emotional quotient or EQ) is the ability to understand, use, and manage your own emotions in positive ways to relieve stress, communicate effectively, empathize with others, overcome challenges and defuse conflict." "A high IQ will however help increase the chance of a happy marriage" You have some factual data to support that statement, or is it quite an assumption of your own?

You are quite welcome to put me on your ignore list. As if I care. The silliness really is in EV owners pretending their vehicles are risk-free, and environmentally virtuous. The only thing EV's really have going for them is their much cheaper running costs compared to an ICE. I suggest you Google Occam's Razor, then apply it to the Felicity Ace sinking.

Depends on what boundaries are set at the beginning. How my GF distributes the support I give her monthly is her business. I have made it clear getting into debt for any reason would be the end of the relationship. None of her family ask me for money. I give out modest cash gifts at Christmas to family members.

I still remember the Yellow Pages ad when a guy with a British/Welsh accent is trying to find spare parts for his Goggomobil.

Batteries are stored energy. Release that energy incorrectly, result fire and explosion. There's a ship called the Felicity Ace sitting at the bottom of the Atlantic after a fire broke out in its shipment of EV and non-EV luxury cars. My money would be on an EV as the cause.

IQ is a vastly overrated measure of intelligence, and takes no account of EI ( emotional intelligence ) I've associated with people possessing high IQ levels that were also utterly miserable. How is it Western-educated men with presumably better than average IQ either get mulcted of their life savings by a "dumb" Issan girl, or alternatively are quite happy to settle down with a Thai woman far below them in scholastic abilities? My Thai GF cannot read a map, left school early. When it comes to street-smart, there's daylight between myself and her. She has saved my bacon several times here.

I only started using edible pot about a month ago, for osteoarthritis. Once a week, 25 mg intake. Nullifies pain for up to 24 hours. I understand it's very useful for cancer patients as well. It sends me into a very relaxed state, where time seems to stand still. I'm not sure what all the fuss is about, IMO alcohol does far more damage in society. Apologies, off topic.