Fat is a type of crazy

11 minutes ago, bignok said:

What is a good look? Badly dressed farangs, drinking, swearing, smoking pot and  complaining about things?

Thought those in robes held themselves to a certain standard which might preclude sucking on a fag but it seems not. I don't remember the bit about smoking being deemed OK on the path to nirvana. 

3 hours ago, sammieuk1 said:

Oh my Buddha is that a packet of fags also I see its outrageous anyone under the bed ????

There was a temple I would go to with my girlfriend where this guy in robes would stand around nonchalantly with a fag hanging from his mouth. Maybe not all in robes are monks but not a good look. 

Had my first taxi in Phuket in 10 years a couple of weeks ago. He continuously talked about his lack of jobs, his baby, showing me pictures and straight out asking for a tip. Asked 3 or 4 times during the trip. Late at night and he took strange back roads too which made it feel a tad potentially menacing.  At the end I gave him a tip - don't be so pushy about a tip and you might get a tip. 

When covid happened I used a work iphone or ipad as a hotspot for the work computer and all online needs that can be used at the same time as well as making calls if necessary and it has been fine. 

I think we are only our physical bodies and the ego is a mind's eye picture of our place in the world. It is not a separate thing that can be removed, or a separate affectation, but an interpretation by our heart and mind of who we are in the world.

Whether we can be at peace. Happy. Free. 

Whether we are on easy street or hard street.

Whether we can relax a bit because we can deal with threats and have a good life or whether the opposite is true.

So to me ego is not a bad or false thing necessarily but a reminder that we are bodies in a material world and we better be aware of that. In that sense it can be healthy or unhealthy, realistic or unrealistic, due to your concept of time and place.

It can become bruised or inflated either because we over or underestimated how things are for us or new things come to light in the real world that change our circumstances.  The inflation does not have to be based on a lie but could be a thoughtful reinterpretation that has us feel better about ourselves based on reality.  It is a thought or idea that can and does change over time like any other thought or idea. Nothing spiritual or non physical or to do with a god in my opinion. 

I think the advantages and disadvantages are pretty obvious. Can you imagine being with a 25 year old who needs to take a photo of everything and is constantly on social media and talks about nothing but trivialities and the constant theme is how beautiful she is and how you love her so much. Some older ones aren't much better these days. 

Mine was fun and pretty down to earth but being Thai and young there is still a certain gap that can't be filled. No need for intellectual chat as I dont go for that much in any case but it's nice to have some similar history and understanding of things and how the world works. But the young ones are certainly fun and appealing in other ways. 

7 minutes ago, Chicksaw said:

They had. She was the face of their Easy Carry  Contest.

 

More than just a trans spokesperson, they had a "pronouns" cans line for her to boost as well.

 

The AB marketing team basically pulled out a gun and fired with pinpoint accuracy. At their own face.

Fair enough. Wouldn’t worry me but can see how that can seem overly politically correct and a bit lame too. Trying too hard. It’s a fine line between accepting people as they want to be and having a voice, and on the other hand, feeling they are forcing new definitions and ways of living on the broader community. Most things like this I see as the former rather than the latter. 

1 minute ago, richard_smith237 said:

You think he actually has that T-shirt and wasn’t making the simple joke ???

 

The reality is that because ’Thailand is what it is’ and because ‘it attracts what it attracts’ people can easily jump to conclusions...   I’ve had such conversations with other parents who’s children are in the late teens... they get some judgemental looks and often comments.... 

 

I very much expect to have similar looks of scorn when my son is a little older if I’m walking with him without his mother... Such is the nature of humans; to judge, and for some to comment with scorn. 

 

The other facet of this is location...  A 50 year old guy walking with a 17 year old is more likely to draw judgement in an area such as Pattaya than they are in Emporium Shopping Mall in Bangkok - thats just another part of life here.... 

 

Some people will always judge, some lack the intelligence and observation skills to differentiate between the a father an his daughter and an older guy and a young hooker. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I know. I married a girl 18 years younger and divorced her too. Good for 5 years. Sometimes I look at the photos and think boy she looks young. I didn’t mind the attention sometimes. We never went to Pattaya though.   Can be fun but also hard being the older one. Not all fun.
If I missed the joke Bill97 please ignore my post. 

10 hours ago, Bill97 said:

So being with your daughter is found by others to be weird?  That is their problem and yes it’s a problem.

 

 I go a lot of places with my grand daughter and many people stare at us wondering what our relationship is.  So we got tshirts in Thai and English saying grand father and grand daughter, no boom boom.

If the tshirts say grand father and grand daughter that’s cute. If it also says no boom boom it’s a bit weird in my opinion. 

1 hour ago, Chicksaw said:

I thought DeSantis was being silly picking a fight with Disney. Until I saw a vid of a bearded lady with hairy arms welcoming children to a toy shop in Disneyland.

 

I understand letting people be what they want to be, but rubbing 3-4 year olds faces in it is a bit much. I hope Disney gets Budlighted.

That Bud light thing was the epitome of lame. I thought they must have had some huge promotion around a trans person but, tell me if I’m wrong, it was one trans person among many spokespeople advocating the beer on social media. So what. How soft are right wingers to care. 

There are certain exercises that I find can give more than normal stress to joints. Two are bench press and tricep push ups with the horizontal bars. Will of course be worse if going too hard. Maybe do bench either inclined or declined or a good option is push ups instead or swimming. 

2 hours ago, bignok said:

Melbourne is expensive with bad weather.

Melbournes not that cold but it is a long winter. Melbourne Australia. Think the others are talking Florida. Hot there. 

49 minutes ago, 4MyEgo said:

This link might be of some interest for you.

 

https://community.ato.gov.au/s/question/a0J9s0000002ngF/p00172380

 

The above said, I have a mate coming over in October once his pension is approved. I sent him the link saying, hey watch out for this space as a non resident you might be up for 32.5c in every $ as a non resident.

 

I asked him to contact the ATO and he did, they said, not interested in pensioners, no tax on pensions overseas, so that is from the horses mouth, suffice to say, I did say to him to keep an Oz address and to notify the motor registry, Medicare etc etc because you are a resident until you are not a resident.

 

Now personally I can't see the ATO going after non resident old age pensioners to slug them 1/3 of there pensions, that said, if those pensioners were earning an income and not declaring it on top of their old age pensions, then that would be a different story.

 

Non residents do have to pay 32.5c in the $ from income derived within Australia, that said there are also ways to get around that, e.g. non dividend paying shares. Dividend paying shares already have 30c taken out when they pay you so the ATO isn't going to chase you for the 2.5 cents in the $.

 

Personally I can't see the ATO chasing OAP's for the non residents tax, that said, if they ever did, they would be within their rights, and it would be a downright low act IMO.

 

All of the above said, I am wondering of anyone knows how Centrelink reduces the OAP if your married to a younger chick, e.g. wife is an Aus citizen 21 years my junior, suffice to say, from what I have read, I can have $643,500 as combined assets with her and they will provide me with a single OAP, around 45,000 baht, does that sound right ? 

 

Sounds right. You’ll receive it at the partner rate rather than single rate assuming you and your partner have no issues with the income test. 
This might help a bit

https://aboutretirement.com.au/age-pension-when-one-partner-is-eligible/

8 hours ago, James105 said:

What happened to the Disney that was universally loved and focused on creating entertaining stories rather than shoehorning "the message" into every bit of content they create?  They are now a political - and therefore divisive - company.   I fail to see how that will help their bottom line as they are alienating large portions of their potential customers and losing out in big markets such as China.  

 

Most people don't want to see DeSantis creating animated feature films in much the same way that most people don't want to see Disney creating overtly political movies.

Disney has always been a bit corny with the message ‘it’s a small world after all’ and be good and nice and caring.  The goalposts of what is good and nice maybe a bit more broad in 2023 but it’s the same general principle which is half admirable and half sickly sweet. 

I wouldnt recommend the Australian apples I have had here. Cold storage a long time and mushy. Champu’s will do. Maybe some stores get them fresher. 

Probably fine for older expats. Wonder if it’s as Ok for say 16 to 25 year olds. In my youth a lot of dope smokers seemed dopey and it seemed to affect their ability to get things done. Some not all. I know they have to be a certain age to get it legally but easy to get. Research may show its dandy and fine.

1 hour ago, BritManToo said:

Now show me a video of a dog evolving into a horse.

Evolution is a theory ........ as in not proven.

God is a theory ....... again not proven.

 

Once something is proven they drop the 'theory' bit.

But if evolution was real the number of species in the world should steadily increase.

And the unfortunate fact is, since the 'Cambrian explosion' when most of the major animal groups first 'appeared', the number of species has been reducing.

 

Which would tend to indicate God (sudden appearance of new animals in a short time) was more likely than evolution (gradual continuous appearance of new animals).

 

One of the problems with posters is they never think, they just repeat.

The wokes all repeat,

climate change is real an caused by humans

wearing a mask will prevent COVID

Evolution is real and proven

 

The religious all repeat,

Everything is the will of god

 

But none of them have ever tried thinking for themselves.

I even have a few doubts about Newtons Laws, as it fails to account for the orbits of the galaxy, and 'dark matter' (something you can't see or measure) to me, smacks a little of religion and faith.

The last paragraph encompasses your idea. Seems a bit lazy given it is well known Newtons laws have been updated or addressed in the 20th century and onwards. It is fascinating that the theory of an invisible something is now required to explain the universe. It does not smack of faith at all but an observation that all the preceding theories don’t cut it and dark matter is the best fit. Keep a line between best fit theory and faith. Science does and religion doesn’t. You know that. 

9 minutes ago, placeholder said:

Desantis wife is married to a governor of a state who just announced that he's running to be the Presidential candidate of the Republican party. It's a little premature to accuse the media of ignoring Casey Desantis.

Likely correct but we can hold say Vogue and Harpers Bazaar to different standards to say a serious newspaper that states objectivity or equal time as a core aim.

The magazines are biased. Some are run by people who think he’s a dick and don’t want to garner support for him. If it was a Republican candidate they and the readers liked they’d do something.
Not the magazines job to support candidates they don’t like. They aren’t objective arbiters of giving equal time for both sides. 

Murdoch magazines will balance it a bit.  

3 hours ago, sirineou said:

We also lived in Florida before we came here. (Palm Coast) weather very similar to Thailand and many Thais , Cambodians, and Vietnamese. living there. We actually had two  cambodian supermarkets in our area, and a few in Orlando.  I must admit , IMO, Thai food was better there than it is in Isaan. We were near the ocean  but I always thought about acreage near Ocala. Not much different here. I have my challenges here  I wont lie, but in the balance I like it better here. I like the freedom to do whatever I like in my property. Back in Florida , by the time I got permits. licenced tradesmen, and plans stumped by an engineer....

As far as food in Isaan, both me and the wife are very good cooks, she takes care of the Thai cooking (to my liking) and I whip up a western meal on accession. Probably no different than most others here. 

 

But if I recall in Issan you had super noisy neighbours. Or nearby dogs. Or both. That alone would get me out of there. Seriously. 

I prefer Pothole Pete as next president rather than Sleepy Joe. He’s pretty good on interviews even on Fox News and he and Ron might make for an interesting debate. Rather than two people, one a hero and one a clear danger to his country, who should both hang up the boots. 

I wonder if she liked her eighties hits. She didn’t like What’s love got to do with it but it was a huge hit. Simply the Best a dirge in my humble opinion. Maybe people like her honest lived in voice along with kind of corny 80’s lyrics and tunes and sentiments.