GammaGlobulin

Yes. Many of us thought of the future when I was a youngster.

Hitchcock, Hitchcock, and Hitchcock

I'm not afraid of dying. I am only afraid of having a difficult and painful death. For example:

Kyoto or Nara, Japan Cuba Ceylon

I have been here since 1971, with a very brief hiatus in order to attend uni in the West. Do you really think there is anywhere to move "back" to? I am already either Chinese, or Thai. There is no other choice, for me, at this late date.

I once had a Serbian friend I met in Thailand who decided to return to Serbia. He returned to Serbia, and then, within less than one year, He jumped off the roof of one of those old Soviet style buildings. I guess, he just tried to test Newton's law, F=ma. After falling 23 floors, from the roof, he hit the concrete, below, like an apple. This is one reason why I will never return to places I once knew, places with high buildings. No. Just joking. I remain here, or anywhere, just because Thailand is the GREATEST place I have ever lived. And, my love of Thailand has ZERO to do with money. IF Thailand were a place three times more expensive in which to live, then I would still live in Thailand. Maybe some guys live in Thailand due to Thailand's relatively lower cost of living. BUT, this is NOT my reason for being here. IF not Thailand, then I would move to Japan, and probably Nara, and also near Kyoto. I have spent my entire life in Asia. I am not about to leave Asia for anywhere else... JEFF BECK IS AMAZING

Speaking of another city, namely Tokyo, and What Mama Said.... Is she a he? Or, is he a she? Either way, all very fine....

Actually, now is not the time to even consider moving. If i were to move, then it might be to move to some city I had never heard of. Quebec City? No. Taipei? No. Shanghai? No NYC? No Tokyo? No HK? No PyongYang?..... Maybe Actually...in fact....ANYWHERE there is a great university is OK with me. This is ALWAYS true. In China, There is TongJi University, located in a terrible environment. However, the only thing that makes this place tolerable is the uni. Anywhere with a major university should be fairly inhabitable. University living is the best in the world.

Sometimes, when I think about my former self, at age 17, full of SPUNK and Vinegar, then I often wonder why I would wish to continue living, now, realizing I am so far less full of spunk and vinegar.

Car loan... 2% interest, per annum. What? ####? At, the Fillmore East? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fillmore_East Pls Note: I think the Allman Brothers pivotal album was recorded at the Fillmore WEST, not East... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fillmore_West_'71

The Fillmore East is now a bank... Total reversal from greatness to disgustingness. Difficult to imagine. Nothing stays the same.

And then, rarely, after dreams of Thanatos, viruses, and fear...... Suddenly, we are presented with new hope, and music which is more upbeat.... Enjoy. This will never happen again.

What I am saying is this: Some say that Mark Twain, from America, was a decent humorist. And, this is true. But, what I am saying is that the average guy from Scotland or Ireland can outdo Twain, in some cases. Now, let me tell you. The humor of guys from Scotland is very THRIFTY, Thrift, in humor is the key to beauty in humor. If one can be thrifty, like the Scotts, then, humor of this kind is incomparable . In other words, one should be both small and hot, like this peppar... Try one. Try just a bite. This will blow your mind. This is a Carolina Reaper Pepper. Irish Humor is OK. But Scottish humor is wickedly condensed, with very few words needed. I guess, no one needs to explain this...simply because everybody knows this. ================= Personally, I love the fact that Scottish humor can have one rolling on the floor using less than a full sentence. Fewer Irish guys are able to do this, I think. =============== Either way...no matter. In my opinion, this forum is mostly made up of old men from the UK, and very few guys from America. ============== True, Mark Twain was a humorist who is second to none. However, considering day-to-day life, just in daily discourse, there are few of us fools who both write better, and who have a better sense of humor, than the guys from Scotland and Ireland. And, this is the only reason I read this forum, actually. Otherwise, why would one?

One more thing: No doubt, my opinions posted above will draw nothing but derision from most guys from Scotland and Ireland. I know this. And, I do not mind this. For some strange reason, and I do not know why, some guys become ticked off about rude comments, directed at themselves....!!!!!!! LISTEN: I NEVER am offended by anyone one who wishes to denigrate me in any rude way, provided there is some truth in their comments. This is FINE with me. I really cannot understand why people, sometimes, become offended by true, or untrue, comments. IF, it comes down to...No One is able to express their opinions without being cancelled,...then who would wish to live in a world like this. And, then, who would wish to post a comment in a world like this. Therefore, in fact, I rarely, probably never, take umbrage. Instead, I regard all comments as a learning experience. (Even the dogs who give me gifts on my driveway, I never take umbrage. In fact, these droppings, like comments on TV, are a blessing.) YES. I LOVE TV. No doubt about it. Because, I am a guy who lives in Thailand.

Humor from the guys from Ireland and Scotland is REALLY the true thing that makes this Forum worth reading. Everybody knows this. Some guys are unable to tolerate decent humor. They flee from it. After MANY years of reading TV,....In my opinion, it is ONLY the guys from Scotland and Ireland who make this forum interesting. Otherwise, then why read it???

My Dearest Virtual Friends, Nay, my real and constant Friends, if the truth be told…. It’s pretty darned difficult to find smart guys around here where I am living. I mean, no one cares about Opera, Libraries, Laboratories, Colliders, or such. Speaking of Colliders, probably no one here has ever heard of one. And, most have never heard of Cern, either. Be this as it may, there is no wonder that I sometimes, and probably often, am drawn to post my topics here, only to get shot down, and the shoot down of me makes me feel better than you might imagine. So, thank you for this! It’s like this… Even strong disapprobation is preferable to NOTHINGNESS while living in the country with almost nothing other than dogs to vent their bowels on my driveway, each day, as the most interesting thing which happens to me, each day, almost every day.. Yes, my friends, having a stray dog provide me with this gift of dog doo is pretty much what I look forward to, each day, in order to divert me from my life of NOTHINGNESS, during this period of the WuHan virus, which has completely changed our lives. Well, I could write on, and on, and on. But, I don’t want to. Now, all I want to do is listen to the Allman Brothers. The best band there ever was, when one really considers the TRUTH. I just feel that, after so many months of being locked up, maybe I am beginning to understand the Meaning of Life, even more than I ever did while I was out and among the normal social milieu , two years ago. Well, obviously I can tell you a lot of things about my thoughts concerning the true meaning of life. The worst thing about me, in fact, is that I cannot produce anything DECENT, like any one of the Allman Brothers. So….enjoy. Sometimes I feel….. Sometimes I feel like….I wish I could RETURN to Fillmore East, and hear this band, just one more time. Nice Band. Too long ago. I miss those times. Light one up, for me, and enjoy. Don’t get High. Getting High is no way to go. Stay Sober because….You do not want to miss even a moment of your glorious life on Planet Earth. (Please pardon any typos, above: I am just too High on Life, at the moment, to have the gumption to correct my mistakes.) Love you Guys: Especially the guys from Ireland and Scotland with enough humor to make us all smile our secret smiles, like a woman riding on a bike, being pleasured by the leather saddle of her two-wheeled machine. Oh, Sometimes, I’m Dying…….. Life is what it is. Life is not long enough, mostly. And, sometimes Life is just too long to be enjoyable.

Albert Finney! Sorry for being slightly off topic, but I really want to know. In his early years, and even in his later years, seems Albert Finney was quite an amazing actor. What do you think? Under the Volcano: Amazing Film. Finney was Amazing in this, I always thought. Maybe most of you will not agree with me. That's OK, with me.

This is the basic Human predicament. Buy a Maserati, and you will be unhappy within weeks. Drive safely.

There is really nothing contrived here. Far from it, because most of what is being posted here is obviously fairly spontaneous. If you are initially tempted to read, then please do not feel that you are not welcome to read what is posted here, spontaneously. And, no doubt, if you are looking for an intellectual discussion, then this is not the purpose of this topic, as far as anybody knows.

Yeah, maybe you are right. Maybe we should just cancel Winehouse...? IF you cancel all the "boozers, hop heads, speed freaks or whatever", then you will become a very lonely person with very little to do or read. Edgar A Poe was a hop head, so you might as well cancel him. Much of literature was written by freaks, so cancel this too. Not to mention Sherlock Holmes who did his best sleuthing while spurred on by a bit of opium. Of course, you are correct....psychoactive drugs do harm, and no good, in most cases. Still, just because one is addicted to drugs, or ethanol, for a long time or a short time, this does not mean that one should shoot them up to Saturn to be banished there like Vonnegut. Have a bit of compassion for these artists who are, after all, only Human.

Self-destructive behavior becomes less important by age 80. What is the difference between living another 10 years, after age 80? Loss of eyesight, and dementia. Maybe you think you will be forever young? The older I get, I know that Heaven can't wait, forever. Don't take life so SERIOUSLY, Man! Do you really want to live forever?

Your comment is one which makes no one feel happy to read.. However, in order to further put your mind at ease, have you ever thought of finding a reliable bank which might be able to help you with Estate Planning? This might help you become less worried if you could feel more confident that your wishes will be abided by, and that your wife will be sure to be taken care of. Estate Planning, if done well, can help to put one's mind more at ease. If done well, then you will feel less worried that your wishes will not be carried out, as you wish.

Pardon me, but I beg to differ. My topic is not about how to achieve happiness, or about happiness, per se. Instead, more importantly, my topic is about how to AVOID unhappiness, which is something that we all must struggle with. Can you appreciate the difference?

Unhappiness is a relative term. In most countries, the majority of people report that they are unhappy, and we know this from research. Therefore, if you are unhappy in Thailand, then you can be happy that you are among the majority. From research, we realize that inequality contributes to unhappiness. And so, those countries whose inhabitants are, more or less, on the same economic plane, report that they are less unhappy. There are many factors which lead to unhappiness, such as, for example overpopulation. when we live cheek by jowl with our neighbors, we are more likely to encounter our neighbors, and we will be more likely to compare our economic circumstances with those of our neighbors. This leads to inevitable discontent on one side or the other. I would never, normally, ask such a question about HAPPINESS, since the very term Happiness should be defined, even before one can begin to analyse who is unhappy, and who somewhat less unhappy. There are many quantifiers which impinge upon the measurement of perceived "unhappiness". Some say that Finland is the least unhappy country, followed by places such as Denmark and Norway. And you can see, from the social structure of these countries, that all three countries are less stratified according to wealth, and also are less hierarchical, not to mention the "distance to power" coefficient, which is important, too. And so, if you want to know things like how unhappy you are, living here, then this is not such a simple thing, as a yes or no answer, as come might guess. For example, maybe you are living in dream world, a fantasy world, and you, by now, have no idea if you might be unhappy or happy, or slaphappy. There are ways to quantify happiness in order to compare one country to another country. However, these quantifications are only mere approximations, since Social Science is just basically guesswork, like throwing darts at a target in a dark room. This is not to say that we cannot measure unhappiness, maybe just by counting tears. Personally, I am very happy in Thailand. On a scale of zero to one million, I would say that my happiness is about 850,745 out of 1,000,000. And, almost one million is not bad. Many academic articles have been written about perceived happiness, comparing one country to another country. However, these estimates are only useful at the macro level. For me, at the micro level, I am fully capable of happiness in a hardship port, maybe in China, or some other place. Happiness on the micro level is determined by whether or not one is doing what one wants to be doing, and whether or not one feels successful and rewarded by what one is doing The idea of happiness or unhappiness is also meaningless. Seeking happiness brings unhappiness. Why? Just because, no matter how much one seeks happiness, and no matter how much happiness one attains...STILL...any amount of happiness achieved is NOT ENOUGH, which inevitably leads to unhappiness. So, are you unhappy or happy, and how do you know? IF you are still alive, then, most likely, you should feel happy about being alive, and not dead. This is just one fairly sure measure of discriminating between being happy, and being dead and oblivious to everything. Never mistake hedonism for happiness. Never mistake a juicy piece of very expensive Kobe steak for happiness. Most people don't know what happiness is. Most people associate happiness with excitement, temporary love, and a massage with a happy ending. Happiness is something which is not a happy ending, but a beginning. I have read a lot of books. I have had a few girls. I have engaged in all sorts of sexual positions. Yet, not one of these positions ever brought me happiness. If you want to know what makes me less unhappy, it is reading books, and discussing books with guys who are FAR smarter than I. This is what makes me less unhappy. Otherwise, I am usually full of angst about the end of the world, and the knowledge of my own mortality. Somehow, in order to become less unhappy, then one must find a way to help remain in denial of what we know is sure to come, in a very few years.