Prubangboy

My couple of months camping out on Soi 11 definitely softened me towards Indians and Arabs. They are low key partiers who are really grateful to be free from their cultural straight jackets. Ultimately, Soi 11 was not for me as a permanent living arrangement -despite jaw-dropping restaurant options. But I can't think of anywhere else on earth where Norwegians toke up with Bahrainians. Cheap Charlie's may be gone, but it's still very much an intercultural crossroads and I hope that never changes.

I would smoke one of those 4 times a day. So I was smoking pot for 20 people.

Out of the two strains, Indica was def my enemy. I could feel my IQ lowering. Though after the second spliff, it didn't seem to matter too much what kind it was.

If I could get hard for hookers instead, I'd still have a mass of grey matter left. Oh, well...... I'm still trying to talk myself into pay for play, but it seems more boring than the weed. The vaped weed that put me over the edge was supposedly 45% THC. And I smoked it all day. I have heard since that 45% weed is impossible. 'Can't say if that's true, 'don't want that level of weed knowledge. It wasn't all bad. I experienced a deep interior silence akin to a 10 day meditation retreat for a while. But then my thoughts came back all shmushed together, really unpleasantly. Then I just sort of went blank, but knew enough to cross Soi 11 super-carefully.

A lot of people go off weed and drink more. For me, my weed binging killed all sin. I might have 2 alcohol units a week these days, only with food. And def never at home. I'm on green tea over coffee. Sugar, almost never. Bad habits beget bad habits. Also, I was buying retail at Soi 11 prices, so call it 1,000 baht a day. It was like paying a second rent.

It ultimately messed up my dopamine. I experienced some scary numbness and flat affect after smoking some crazy potency weed in a vape. I was depressed for a week. That made me attempt to stop, which I found difficult. I booked a yoga retreat to get over the hump. I doubt I will ever smoke it again. These post-weed days, I feel a sense of general well being and emotional balance that I have never felt. It doesn't erase anxiety, it just postpones it. That will probably keep on improving up until around the six months mark. My lungs are much better. My energy is up by a third. This has been very self-reinforcing in not smoking again. The thought makes me a little nauseous. I def smoked way too much of it, about 3-4 grams a day. I'd be interested in hearing from other heavy users about their amounts and time length. In my experience, occaisonal users become frequent users over time. No judgement on that; that was my trajectory. Hopefully not your's. Research says that it affects REM sleep. That def was my experience. Def enjoyed it with sex. Have yet to have non-weed sex, but I think I will like it better, the same way I enjoy food more now. Short version: Weed was a long, fun party for me. And every party is a bore if you stay too long.

I'm not saying to do it. I'm saying that for me, it def became addictive and de-railing to have cheap and powerful weed around me all of the time. 95% of people who smoke weed are fine with it and should keep on doing it. It's great as a money spinner in tourist zones. Some questions: -Have you met people like me for whom it is a negative habit? -Do you ever take tolerance breaks? -Has weed impacted your health or cognition?

Until recently (I mean weeks, not months) I never NOT flew stoned. I preferred a solid spliff blown out the hotel room window and a gummy before check in. The longer the flight, the bigger the spliff and the gummy, like a camel storing up for a long trudge. When arriving at the other end, assuming it was a sober destination, the jet lag was fairly ruinous. Def drink a lot of water, which means more trips to the subpar plane loo. Melatonin and Xanax with weed will def put you under at Michael Jackson levels. But who really needs their short term memory? I quit my lifetime of binge-level weed use for all time 12 weeks ago (I'm still counting days) and found my recent flights much less onerous and my sleep at the other end much deeper. So this post is sort of on the fence: Yes, carpe diem, have fun/no, don't do it, it's like paying for a headache. I went to a 2-week yoga retreat to detox from weed. I slept 12 hours a day, ate vegan, and met a lot of white women. Yoga is 95% women. The yoga part was merely OK. But I have kept it up as a 15 minute routine after I take a crap in the morning. I coughed up a lot of grey gunk and an Ayurvedic doctor told me to drink a lot of basil tea, which I think did help a bit.

Bob memorably said that his wife's back portal was so blown out that he could barely touch the sides. More, Bob, More.

Where can I find a really nice beach with no people on it?

My girlfriend has a tattoo. What should I make of it?

Russians - too many, or what?

Next up: What are the pros and cons of living in Thailand?

You're doing that thing where you argue with a voice in your head again, like when we fought over Bob's Big Boy Burger. Santana was arguably the first world music crossover. If anyone has a right to shamelessly coast for decades, it's Carlos. And what of his stuff with John McGloughlan? Pretty damn jazzy. Prob sold well into the dozens of albums.

I'll be in Galle, Sri Lanka, where I am assured a turkey roast will be served. As to Oscars on Soi 11, I just spent 2 months living in a serviced apartment 100 steps away. At The Chaidee Mansion, which I cannot recco enough. OnMonday night, they offer a third off discounted menu of specials. Have the wagyu burger, the greatest burger of all time. Oscars is a true 5* restaurant with 3.5* prices. As long as I'm here, the Jamaican restaurant across the street from Oscar's is pretty good too. The Oxtail stew is a miss, but have anything else. I went twice a week and did the whole menu.

I gotta agree on Santana tho. Oy Como Va, on the Lotus, Live In Cuba album is my 3rd most played iTune. Tito Puente, the writer of that monster groove, used to pop into a Cuban diner in Jersey City. One night, The Buena Vista Social Club played at that diner, after slaying at Carnegie Hall across the river. The culture of master players and some guy banging on a coke bottle with a rusty nail continues to this day in Latin music. Only Bluegrass offers that same mix these days. Tito would sit in with the house band yearly there for a Christmas benefit for toys for poor kids, supposedly unannounced, but he always had his timbals set up there hours before. I was more excited to see him at that legendary diner (The Hard Grove Cafe) than Bruce, who'd also eat there a couple of times a year.

Sound originator versus visionary. It's down more to temperament than to taste. Miles had more genius albums. John only had more genius.

Why was Miles Davis in awe of John Coltrane? Same diff. I prefer Coltrane to Miles, and Jimi to Jeff. Some people prefer messy over neat. It's nice to be spoiled with genius-choice.

I have nothing to say about charities. Still Kicking is a sweet guy here. I give a bit to The Red Cross and some guys in Trat who are trying to save the krill, which is the foundation of all sea life in Thailand. And Cabbages and Condoms. https://exofoundation.org/project/cabbages-condoms/ BUT I do want to mention to NoShowJones that I get the humor in his name and have played that novelty country classic a few times. "Tammy had to go and divorce George Jones (uproarious laughter on the live version). They call him NoShow....."

When was the last time a centerfold was hung up in a workplace? I’m guessing early 80s.

Sometimes it’s fun to mock and be mocked

It's funny that it was damned 40 years ago and is still damned today. Do you think more people are doing it? I don't. It's always been a one in 10,000 kind of guy.

Not that many. Menopause cancels a lot of dance tickets. It aint the Men buying XXXL "It's Wine O'Clock" tee shirts. Who can blame them for checking out after their hormones do? Good looking, educated/interesting, sexual older women do not hit the Red Pill "Wall" nearly so hard. Really, hardly at all. As for the hags dating younger, they have the same into-them lacking that I face. Hopefully, I will find a hot one who's desperate. Otherwise, I have my esoteric interests to fill my time.

No, but I have contemplated painting my nails and pretending it's a woman doing the tug.

I'm 72, just broke up with my longterm western wife. 'Still in love, but to quote Monty Python: That parrot is dead, dead, dead. Devoid of life. Everything changes. I'm frontloading my travel to take my mind off of it and because I never know when I will get some bad medical advice. I just know that it's more likely than not in the next 5 years. This year, I did Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Ethiopia, Borneo, Brazil, Peru, Nepal, India, Sri Lanka. Next year, I'll slow it down: Brazil again, Bolivia, Argentina, Papua, Mongolia. If I get a suitable love interest, Tahiti. Maybe some obscure South Sea Islands on the way home. I'm here for a good time, not a long time. So call me semi-stoic.