radiochaser

Yeah, same here. Wife loves it when I give her cash money. I tried all kinds of other gifts and each time she said, I don't like it, take it back. One day I gave her five dollars as a gift with a birthday card. She acted like I gave her a million dollars! Me, I'm cheap. A pack of bubble gum, a gift card from a coffee shop, and I am happy.

I live in a town on the eastern side of Pennsylvania, USA. Occasionally, I see the same thing. Only it happens any time of the year, not just after a Buddhist holiday.

https://www.indiatoday.in/world/story/tunnels-built-to-protect-hamas-fighters-not-civilians-terrorist-official-2455812-2023-10-30 Tunnels built to protect our fighters, not civilians: Hamas official Citing Geneva Conventions, the Hamas official said that it is the responsibility of the United Nations to provide Gaza civilians with all the services as long as they are under occupation.

NOt all Thai are like that. But it happened happened back in 1972 when I was stationed in Thailand for 7 months. Most likely like that before and after too.

I left the Radio Research base outside of Udon Thani on leave before Christmas of 1972 and got back to the base after New Years day 1973. Went with a lady to the sticks outside of Khan Khean (sp?) on a bus. Talked with the only resident that could speak English, besides the lady I went with, the pretty school teacher. Ate one bite of the spiciest som tam salad I had ever eaten! Found out the resident farmers thought a foreigner could not walk on a 5 inch diameter pole bridge set a few inches deep in a running stream. Came near being kidnapped by Thai/Lao communists. Took the bus back to Udon Thani. No pictures. The end.

He was in the red light district for an hour one day.

Only cost me 5 minutes. You must read very, very, very, slowly.

Yeah, makes me wonder why hamas thinks it will remedy anything.

Yet, he wants to give 100 million dollars to palastine. I wonder who will actually use the 100 million dollars?

I'm 6' 2" and I find it is a problem. It feels like I am trying to crawl in and out of a 3 foot by 2 foot rectangular hole, when I get in and out of the door. I don't recall bumping my head though. It must be a funny sight seeing me do that.

So if that was EMDR therapy that was tried on me, then it was at the beginning of its use. I had never met that doctor before and after about 3 (or 4) times that I had an appointment with him, I never saw him again. I had better therapy results with people that specialized in treating people with PTSD, mostly police officers, who I paid for out of pocket and felt comfortable with. The last one I saw died from cancer. That was about 9 years ago. I don't remember ever being comfortable with PTSD treatment at the Veterans Administration. Some of the other medical treatments were OK to excellent, just not the mental health department, in my opinion.

Average weight for a Thai person with luggage?

One hamburger and French fries is not a big order. I eat half of it and then four or five or more hours later, eat the rest of it. Some days that is all I eat. I make a cheese sandwich, three thin pieces of cheese on two pieces of bread, 10 ounces of milk or a 8 ounce soda, and sometimes I don't finish eating that. When I was hospitalized one time, it was documented that I ate less than 2000 calories of food a day. The doctors and nurses were encouraging me to eat more. I only eat till I am not hungry, then stop. I don't eat everything on my plate. According to the internet, the ideal weight range for someone my age and height is 194 - 210 pounds. I weigh 184 or 185 after getting out of the shower. Also according to the internet, my weight is normal. I recently had my yearly physical, doc said my weight was in the normal range. So, no weight problem it seems.

I am rated by the VA at 100% disabled with PTSD. That started when I was in Vietnam. There are several triggers that will get my adrenaline going, more so when I am experiencing stress. I retired 13 years ago. It was 3 or 4 years before I began to feel relaxed for some or most of the day. I don't recall hearing the term Rapid Eye Movement desensitization before. I did a search for it. The description sounds very much like what a VA doctor tried with me in 1988 or 1989 (16 or 17 years after leaving Vietnam). The process caused such extreme reactions that he decided that I was not a candidate for that kind of therapy.

I understand about the addiction part, but not from personal experience. In my life, I have found that doctors were overprescribing addictive medications. One doctor prescribed 90 10 mg valiums per month, for muscle spasm problems. I would use what I needed and dump the rest. The last bottle I had in a prescription, a 90 day supply, was only half used 2 or 2.5 years later. I turned it in to a pharmacy to be destroyed. I have had oxycodone (I forget dosage size) prescribed for after surgeries. Take every 4 to 6 hours every day was the prescription. I took one, then 8 or 10 hours later I took half of one. After that first day it was 1/2 pill every 12 hours. Worked well to make the pain tolerable, then I stopped 2 or 3 days later. As for the lorazepam, I took hundreds of pills to a pharmacy for destruction after I stopped going to the Veterans Administration doctor. I had no problems taking them when needed. I found it would break the adrenaline build and stop the anxiety attack with .25 mg (half the prescribed dose). Melatonin and Hydroxyzine do not work with me. Neither does doctor prescribed regulated drugs to make a person sleep. I could feel something in my body a few minutes after taking them, but did not get sleepy or wanted to sleep. My problem is my body lost the ability to deal with adrenaline caused stress. Too much stress and the adrenaline can go out of control. Mindfulness, as I understand it, does not deal with that. A loud unexpected bang, that sounds too much like an exploding mortar round or rocket, and my adrenaline level is sky high. It's the fight or flight syndrome.

Along the line of off topic putting on weight issues. I used to weigh 165, then alternately put on weight and losing some of it until I was up to 205 pounds. I also became lethargic and almost any kind of sustained exercise, including long walks, caused a feeling of overexertion and feelings of fatigue. When it reached the point of nearly passing out after walking up a flight of stairs, I started talking to doctors. One of my doctors, at a Veterans Administration (U.S of A.) medical facility orders a bunch of blood work. She found that I had a hyper active parathyroid condition. One of the four parathyroid glands was, malfunctioning, which required surgery to remove it. In four weeks I lost 20 pounds. Four years later I am still about 180 pounds and still have some residual fatigue issues that may or may not be age related (I'm in mid 70's), exercise regularly, and have no more problems walking up stairs. Without the surgery I would have continued to gain weight. I don't eat a lot of food. I eat until I am no longer hungry. I eat all the unhealthy fat producing food, like a Burger King whopper hamburger and a large order of French fries, I usually eat half the order, getting two meals and sometimes a snack from one order. At restaurants that gives you a salad before the main course, I don't eat the salads because it will satiate my hunger and then I have to take the rest of the food home to eat later. Regarding those orders of Burger King Whoppers and large fries. I have seen people eat two of those orders at one sitting! They were also skinny. Sort of like a 3 foot or more diameter beach ball with legs, arms, and a head on it.

I am seeing reports on youtube news channels that more than 1000 are dead from the hamas terror attacks. I read someplace on the inter web that, if you compare the number of people living in Israel to the number of people living in the United States, then, 20 dead in Israel is equivalent to 1000 dead in the United States! If true, then the equivalent death toll in a country with a population the size of the United States, from a terror attack, would be 50,000 dead!

Not completely about Israel or Thailand ... but that is how I felt when I was gainfully employed and had to work in certain parts of Philadelphia or Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, or in Newark New Jersey. I am now retired and no longer have to work in those cities. Since certain political party politicians are in control of Philadelphia, which is about 35 minute drive from where I live and I still have to go there on occasion, Philadelphia is more dangerous than it was before. That political party supports hamas and the palastinians, and have disparaged Israel many times in the past, perhaps they are cheerleading (in private you know) what is now happening in Israel!

I have PTSD due to service in Vietnam. I was diagnosed as having PTSD with anxiety reaction. The Veterans Administration doctors tried to get me on anti-depressants and some other strange drugs. The only thing that I eventually found that helped me most when I had anxiety attacks was Lorazepam. Sometimes it helped me get better sleep. I don't take it as prescribed. I take .25 mg to .5 mg which breaks the anxiety cycle and I feel better until a stressful situation causes the anxiety reaction again. I do not take Lorazepam twice a day as prescribed! Only as needed. This medication was prescribed by a doctor at the Veterans Administration hospital. I did go to a head doctor to talk about issues but he was a psychologist who did not prescribe any medication. I found this helpful for me, it may or may not be helpful for you. I also drink ginseng tea made from ginseng imported from Korea. I think this helps me too. It is the only herbal or natural supplement that I use.

Oh come on man! Weed has never affected me like that ... uhhh.. what are we talking about?

That is how I returned to my hotel in Thailand two times. Both times when I was in a city I had never been to before and had forgotten the name of the hotel.

Saved me from being attacked by a drug user that had told his girlfriend he wanted to kill me. Then he later, kicked the door in where I lived. I didn't shoot him, but would have if he had not stopped when I pointed my pistol at him. Instead he turned and left. I reported it to the local police, two of them came to the house and took a report. The police asked what his last name was, I didn't know, but described where he lived. They knew who he was!!! The police did nothing, even though I had a witness that confirmed he had threatened to kill me and kicked my front door in. What most news media does not report, about the so called "gun crime" (actually criminal behavior), in their news reporting, almost all the "gun crime" is committed by, criminals, not law abiding citizens. Most of those criminals commit a felony by illegal possession of a stolen firearm or a strawman purchased firearm. Illegal possession because they were previously charged with felony violation of criminal law, and by law, are no longer, legally, allowed to possess a firearm of any kind!

I know this is about Thailand, but I need to have a short rant about a bicyclist here in the U.S. of A. I made a right hand turn at an intersection onto the center lane of a street. A man riding a bike against the traffic, with almost no space for cars side by side, much less space for a bike lane, was so close to the front end of my truck I could not see the wheels of his bike, just him. I could have run over him if I had turned into the lane next to the curb. Riding against traffic in the U.S. of A. and not being seen by the driver of a car who is turning right, the driver not expecting a vehicle coming from the wrong direction when turning, is the reason the traffic laws requires bicyclists to ride bikes in the same direction as the traffic flow. U.S. of A. rant over.

I beg your pardon sir! I do not steal! ????