BFD

Just wondering if anyone is going to this show. If you haven't heard of Misery Signals, think of Meshuggah with a hel_l of a lot more melody. I'm friends with the guitarist, so I thought I'd give a wee bit of promo here.

Overtone, RCA. Tickets: 600B

6:oopm, April 1.

Honestly, even if you don't go to the show, look these guys up in the internet. Very technical, skilled metal.

BFD!

Edit: can a mod fix my typo in the subject line? Should be 'Bkk', not 'Bakk'!

Also, I forgot to put when the show is!

Yeah, this all depends on the time of day. If it's 1:00pm, On Nut is no problem. If it's 4:30pm, On Nut is a nightmare (although I can't verify if other places are any better at that time of day).

I come from On Nut past Central Bangna every workday and it usually takes about 15 minutes. (At 6:15am, that is!)

BFD!

I, myself, would like the dropdown menu of the various forums (forii?) to be located at the top AND the bottom of the page. Would that be difficult?

Let's see...Thai males usually have friends, and some of them are very long-term and close. We farang do not have many Thai male friends. Maybe Thais are not selfish, cliquish, unfriendly. Maybe we are.

A bit of a faulty syllogism here, I think (at least, if I'm using that term correctly!). I don't think anyone here is saying that 'we farang' don't have any close friends, just that we infrequently have close Thai friends. Conversely, Thais infrequently have close farang friends, so I guess the result is that both groups are selfish, cliquish and unfriendly.

Which really sucks, you know? I'd like to expand my experiences in the culture to include having Thai drinking buddies and fellas to watch soccer with. However, all of my attempts have lasted roughly one bottle of Sangsom, at which point my new friends realize my Thai is a little too good for them to make fun of me and I realize that there is very little chance of having a meaningful conversation (at least, meaningful for me).

The fact of the matter is that I can have these sorts of conversations with my girlfriend, and some girls at work, and these are held entirely in Thai. I'll admit that I have to run for my dictionary every now and then to clarify a point, but I just find that women are more willing to talk to me than men are. While I won't cry myself to sleep over this, it is puzzling.

I have pretty much the same experience as the OP regarding Thai males. I was actually talking about this with my (Thai) girlfriend the other day, and she admonished me for even considering befriending a Thai man. "Thai men are very bad men," said she, "If you make your silly jokes around them, they will cut you." I don't really know what silly jokes she's talking about, but I sure don't want to get cut.

Now, I can't believe her characterization as accurate, but she certainly felt it to be so. I guess I have to either believe her or assume that I have such an unpleasant countenance that Thai males immediately discount me as a potential friend. Tough choice.

Either way, the OP needs to keep currency fluctuations in mind when making this decision. When you're living on 24k, a fluctuation of 10% can sort of make or break your month....

So, I've just bought my Nokia 5800 (which I love), but it's running through 1-2-Call money like it's going out of style. This is because I'm completely addicted to the internet functions on the phone.

So, what are the steps involved in getting a monthly plan that includes internet access? I have no desire to switch providers (as I want to keep my current phone number). The AIS website is a little beyond my Thai reading ability (or I'm just too lazy to sit there for hours translating).

Can anyone tell me how they went about getting their monthly plans set up?

I have a work permit and Thai bank account, if that information helps at all.

Thanks in advance,

BFD!

Cheers, thanks for the price info!

Does anybody have an updated price on this phone in MBK or Pantip? I'm thinking of picking one up sometime soon.

Cheers,

BFD!

I've been keeping very detailed records over the past year and have broken down my spending patterns into the following proportions:

Food: 15.4%

Drink: 20.3%

Transport: 7.2%

Entertainment: 26.2%

Rent: 25.9%

Utilities: 5.1%

Entertainment includes leisure activities like going to the movies, massages, buying DVDs/software, etc.

I do all of this on a salary of 85,000 baht a month. Obviously, your proportions will vary (ie. if you don't drink) but I've found it to be a pretty good life, all in all.

BFD!

Any chance that some of these classes are available during the week? I realize it's a longshot, but my girlfriend works 10am-8pm every day except Wednesday. She's interested in finishing her HS diploma (she stopped at M4). Personally, I think she works too hard as it is, but I told her I'd inquire...

So, does anyone know about evening classes held during the week (specifically on Wednesdays)?

Thanks,

BFD!

Some excellent advice here, Ijustwannateach. I wish I would have read something like this before I got into the profession (although I probably still wouldn't have developed a healthy diet or exercise regime!).

On thing I'd stress is that having a close friend at work (#4 in the second post) is of paramount importance. While it might not seem like it to many people, teaching can be an incredibly lonely profession; possibly in much the same way prostitution would be (I imagine!). In other words, while you're surrounded by people almost constantly, it's difficult to get much social satisfaction from the fast-paced conversations and high-pressure situations. That's why having a friend to talk to, joke around with, or just sit with can really help stave off the burn-out.

Thanks again for this post; I look forward to reading more.

Here are a few, alpha order with music quality rating (my opinion only) in stars:

Ad Here (blues and rock), Samsen Rd ****

Brick Bar (rock, ska, pop), Khao San Rd ***

Overtone (rock, fusion), RCA ****

Park 2 (rock, ska, jazz), Sukhumvit 64 ***

Rain Dogs (occasional rock gigs, special events only), Rama IV ****

Rock Pub (rock, fusion), Phayathai Rd **

Saxophone Pub (blues, rock, jazz), Victory Monument ****

Shamrock Bar (rock), Khao San Rd ****

Can you tell me more about this place? I live on soi 75 and wouldn't mind something slightly close to home to enjoy a few pints at.

Cheers,

BFD!

Oh, he's being pointed at, alright... just not with a finger.

BFD!

Awesome advice, folks! This is actually a computer for my brother's wife, so I'll report back to him and see what he says.

Thanks again,

BFD!

My girlfriend was just telling me that iPhone prices has dropped down dramatically in the last few weeks (like, in the area of 7-8,000B). Can anyone confirm this? I'd like a legit phone, of course (and then I'll unlock it!)

Thanks all,

BFD!

Nong(Elder Sis) Kluay(Banana) and Nong Su

Becoming Endorphine's Guests in this show

Just a quick one, pointing out that Nong means 'younger', not 'elder'. Pee is elder.

I make the same mistake all the time!

BFD!

I'm a helluva lot lazier than my girlfriend. She works about 60 hours a week, I work about 50, but I get paid roughly 9 times as much as her. I'm also the one who's complaining about work in the evenings. Honestly, the girl has got work ethic coming out of her ears.

On the other hand, on her day off, this girl can sleep and eat for far longer than anyone else I have met.

In my opinion, she earns that day of sloth.

BFD!

Hey folks, I'm wondering if anyone can help me out with what I can expect for the 25-30k range.

Basically just looking for the best value for the cash. Gaming is not a huge priority for this machine, just really want something reliable.

Any help at all is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

BFD!

I saw it last night and was pleasantly surprised. My girlfriend was less than pleased in how it portrayed her home country, however. Apparently, she had seen an interview with Florence Faivre before the movie, in which Florence explained that Thailand is shown in a completely positive light. She went on to say that this is the 'real' Thailand and everyone should come to see the movie to experience how beautiful Thailand is. My girlfriend, while she didn't hate the movie in and of itself, found these comments to be particularly offensive. I must explain that she's a fairly inexperienced girl, who has been exposed only tangentially to the seedier aspects of Thai life (the reason why I care for her so much, perhaps). Her rose-colored glasses couldn't cope with the stark realism the movie portrays.

And it IS realistic. Many westerners come to Thailand to run away from various responsibilities and the movie shows just how easy it is to fall into that world. hel_l, one walk down beach road in Pattaya will show you just how 'zombie-like' foreigners can become here. Of the two brothers in the film, Jake is a wonderfully constructed character. You're definitely not supposed to like him, and Jonno Roberts pulls that off well. Ellen Burstyn is good as the doting old mother, and Tate Ellington plays a passable depressed New Yorker.

For the negatives, Seth Grossman (director) seems to spend about 25% of the film showing us montage scenes of 'life in Thailand'. This mainly seems to focus on tuk-tuk rides and open-air markets. While I understand that the vast majority of audiences won't be familiar with the setting as intimately as us expats are, for a 92 minute film you need to keep the 'atmosphere' shots to a bit of a minimum. Florence Faivre mails in a cardboard performance in badly accented 'Tinglish'. While she's obviously a looker, the voice-acting just didn't do it for me. While the film was often touted as being the vehicle for Diego Quemada-Diez's cinematographic genius, I didn't find it to be too revolutionary (or anything Darren Aronofsky hasn't done better). The most negative thing of all, however, is that they cut MY scene down to about one second! Two days of shooting (and drinking) and I'm on screen for an inaudible 'thank you' when Flo hands me a Singha. Tough business, show business!

All in all, I recommend this movie as one to generate a bit of discussion between Thais and foreigners. As some mentioned before, no one really comes out as 'the good guy' here, and that's a pretty realistic depiction of the human condition.

BFD!

I'm actually in this movie, so I've been pretty pumped to see it for a long time now! I'm in a muay thai scene that was filmed in Chiangmai. I'm a drunk dude in a red shirt (wasn't much of a stretch for me to act) and I ask Florence for "one more Singha" as she stands behind the bar. She was a super cool girl and it was tons of fun being in a production like this. The free beer helped, I'm sure...

BFD!

I'm in!

BFD!

Sam sure did. And good old Tommy Bomb wiggled it on his finger with no ill effects. However, I fear that perhaps our Abhisit might turn out to be a Boromir-type...

Regardless of anyone's moral stance on extramarital affairs, etc, this is a pretty good piece of advice from G54. I, for one, say thank you!

BFD!

Hey folks, I just received word from one of my students' parents that there is a protest occurring on Bangna-Trad road today. Anybody know what this is about? Is affecting traffic going into Bkk or coming out of it?

Any information would be greatly appreciated!

BFD!