Prubangboy

4 minutes ago, uttradit said:

You friend sounds smart.

I told him if he wants to have a lot of sex with someone who's not that into him, he should just get married.

But he likes a mix. São Paulo is semi-newly on the map for his ilk. 

But to the OP: If you don't like paying TODAY, this is the high water mark.

You will like paying even less even 2 hours from now, let alone 2 weeks from now.

You will prob want to leave her with some kind of kiss-off financial grant.

Whatever number you have in mind, cut it in half to avoid future self-kicking.

My best friend has a lot of relationships that go south around the 4-6 month mark.

Being the caring empath that he is, when he sees the bloom going off the rose, he front loads a lot of sex, partic anal.

Usually, I urge people, "don't be that guy", but in your case.........

I booked 2 tours with Intrepid Travels, Morocco for 18 days, and Oman for 7. Morocco is tourist-hassle hell, but there's a lot I'd like to see there and guided program would keep that at bay. Oman independent travel is hard.

For a lot of countries, 2 days per destination, times 5-6 places, a tour makes sense. India is a good example. Even places like France and England have mostly 2-3 day towns once you leave the capitol. 

Intrepid Tours is mid-priced, Lonely Planet ethos, and very socially conscious about dragging you to the women's weaving collective, which suits me fine.

Going down that rabbit hole, I see that you can easily spend $1000 a day in Antartica and The South Seas. Safari's and Machu Picchu are also big $$$ draws. Wine drinking in Europe has a lot of offers. Papua New Guinea would be my ultimate get, but I am too spooked by the crime factor to pull the trigger. 

If money was no object, where would you go? What would make a tour palatable or a deal breaker for you?

If you had a free $1,000 a day budget, and you had to spend it down to zero each day, how would you do it?

So this new thing where I HAVE to date Trans and fatties ("plans are afoot"), can I at least get by on a credit system?

-A trans date should get me off the hook from having to date 2 fatties. I think it should be more, but "plans are afoot".

-If I date a 300 pound fattie, that should let me pass on two 150 pound ones. Again, I think it should be more, but "plans are afoot". So I guess I'm effed.

3 minutes ago, Rumpelstilskin said:

Napping is a great activity....

We def need relief from the oppressive retiree's here who are installing solar systems and planting avocado plantations.

To do nothing, or not much, to lie down when you feel like it, to kick some minor task into tomorrow. This is bliss.

Gotta go with The Guacho chain. You're paying whitie-prices, but it's New York level good -for call it 20% off.

Their waygu burger was for real, most waygu burgers simply means reduced gristle.

I'm good for a small steak about every other year. Peppercorn sauce or blue cheese, please. Those fries should be so hot that it hurts to pick them up.

My last steak was at The Sizzler. Value for money, partic with the salad bar add on.

1 hour ago, MangoKorat said:

When does something become acceptable and who decides what is and what is not? 

 

The decider is the person who owns the app. I mean, duh.

Worrying about pedophiles in the abstract -a lot- that's just straight up neurosis.

If you see any pedophilia going on, do you promise to intercede and break it up?

Me, no. The odds of me seeing pedophilia going on are zero. I think you have to go to a Cambodian slum and then get lucky.

Whereas for you, it's an ongoing problem. Thanks for keeping on top of things.

24 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

How do you find 'good quality fiction'?

 

 

I'm still in my son's life, he's 12 and I'm near enough your age.

I'll tell where NOT to look: that category called Thai Modern Fiction in The Asia Bookstore.

I recently bought 4 such books and was very underwhelmed. I won't even list the titles, because they're same ones you see every time at the airport. A book of short stories about Bangkok all felt like first drafts.

Problem: Thai's are too non-confrontational to gin up a meaty plot conflict. That's why they bring the ghost on to move the story along.

For Non Fiction Thai Books, Phillip Cornwel-Smith's 2 books (Very Thai and Bangkok) glimmer with insight and arcania about everything around you. He writes in the heady realm of Cultural Studies; he's a guy who stares deep into the noodle bowl and ponders.

Very Thai is out again in an updated edition, noting how much strange Very Thai stuff has vanished. Good Thai interest books have one shot in the bookstores and then they vanish for good. Anything that gets a reprint is top tier.

Slithering South by Steve Van Beek is a good travelog about drifting the length of The Ping River in a small boat that just had a reprint. He now has a companion book out, The Latte River, that completes the journey. Very Bill Bryson-esque.

A truly great book is something that you might fall into twice a year, if you're lucky. Snakehead is another Asian book that a lot of people here liked.

Hot looking Trans or obese Feminist with a lot of body hair -if you have to pick one or take a bullet, what do you do?

Me? I like 'em a little hairy and loud mouthed, so no problem. But I could also do the Trans.

From behind, and always reminding myself: "Don't reach around".

6 hours ago, still kicking said:

The only obstacle I have I can't walk steps 

Gonna be brutal. Not only steps placed willy nilly here, but uneven steps and steps that don't quite fit a whitie foot.

Just now, GinBoy2 said:

Actually at 71 by US standards you'd be on medicare and paying  $174/month with a $1632 deductible, with no pre existing conditions

 

I was a high earner so it's a lot higher. And I'd need to find some poor quality doctor who even takes medicare, and then the prices would be insane. I had supplementary insurance for $180 a month too. And then there's my younger wife who was paying $1,500 a month.

I can stroll into Chiang Mai Ram Hospital and get a consult within a couple of hours for 500 baht. In North Carolina, anything was 2-3 month wait and costs at least triple. 

I do the 5 X 5 weight training program twice a week. Internet tells me that the third session a week was doing little or no good for my 71 year old bones. Recovery is everything.

Alternate days, I do 45 minutes on the treadmill. Maybe 4 alcohol units a week, under 2000 calories a day, no sugar, light/medium carbs. 100 grams of protein a day.

Still have a big gut a year later. Clothes fit just a bit better. Starting late, it's hard to get results.

Much more energy and noticeably more strength. I'm doing it at this point to stay out of managed care, not impress girls.

Cigna will insure you. according to my agent. Get a quote.

I'm 71, pay about $500 a month for a $7,500 deductible. Cheap by US standards, but maybe not by godless socialism standards.

They have aggregate insurance websites, plug in your deets and wonder no more.

Trump ruined political comedy by being an actual menace. It's no fun to laugh at him anymore. 

And for acts like Maher or Rogan who are trying to play the common sense contrarian centralist, it comes off as "on both sides, on both sides" blather. 

Joe Biden is, as advertised, a Weekend at Bernie's coma-victim. But he had one job, beat Trump, and he did it. Not sure he can do it again. Anything anti-Joe is anti-me.

Parsing low hanging fruit democrat foibles to appear balanced in the face of the new Republican bullying anarchy is true Titanic deck chair rearranging. Which side are you on?

Maher and I are no longer on the same side and him being much less funny has killed my fandom for good. 

2 hours ago, Fat is a type of crazy said:

How do you go with the pollution. You do make that part of Chiang Mai sound pretty good.

 

Spending 2 and a half months in Thailand in a few months including a month in Jomtiem with and without my girlfriend to see if I love it or hate it. 

 

Went to Phuket 6 months ago and enjoyed Phuket town  

We just signed a second year lease in Nimman. The smoke is already getting bad. Our condo full of air bnb's is emptying out. Jett's Gym usage decreases by 75%.

Do we love it enough here to spend 8-12 weeks away from it each year and keep paying rent for those weeks for the privilege?

Reservedly, yes. We like it that much.

And we still have a few years worth of world to go out and see during smoke season. People without the flexibility and degree of Chiang Mai-mania that we have should think twice or thrice.

On the other hand, you can be in a studio in Hua Hin or Cha Am for $200 a week on a long term rate to wait it out. Ubon is also on the wait it out-list. And the rainy season here is a pleasure. 

Jomtien was on my short list, as a more benign, lower key Pattaya-option. Liked it fine as that, but I'm just not much of a beach person. And you get much more apartment for your money in CM.

Phuket Old Town -is it likewise mobbed? I loved Penang and it looks like a cleaner Penang. I'd be the rare Phuket tourist who very possibly never sees the beach.

I already live is a supposedly dystopian tourist hell (Nimman, Chiang Mai) -and I really, really love it.

So if it got so-called worse (more sushi, more hat stores for Chinese people, more 200 baht Durian Ice Cream stands), I guess I'd like it even more. It's great to live in a place where everyone has some money and is blissed out while spending it. I used to live near Times Square NYC and liked that too. If I lived in Bangkok, I'd be by some heavily used BTS stop along Sukhamvit, Phrong Phong, maybe. Tourist buzz means good restaurants.

Def. heaving here for Chinese New Year. We had to reserve at Sushi Umai. For lunch, no less. For Omakase, it's two days in advance. How do we get our Asian theme park life back? Just wait a week, I guess.

This thread has successfully killed a planned Phuket outing for me, so thanks.

Just did Koh Samui and found it a bit packed out, so if Phuket is double-that, I'll wait a couple of years for the Russians to thin out. 'Love them in Chiang Mai, but apparently they're a bit overbearing down at the beach.

Not funny for about 5 years.

The people here who I read for laughs are the people that no one's missing back home. Slip out the back, Jack, and......

12 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

I think it's incorrect to say "attractive". I think everyone has an ideal that they want to meet, 

 

when we finally get some of it figured out we are too old to attract the right one.

They are, on average, less attracted to us. We are a thirsty lot. What to do?

Keep living. Grab that pension.