GinBoy2

I rather like having a working spouse. Gives us something other than mundane sh*&*t to talk about over dinner. In many ways when we were in Thailand full time, and I couldn't work her work stories helped keep me sane through the boredom

On a somewhat serious note, I do worry about the effect of pornography today, but not for men, more for boys. I don't think it's a stretch to say that for many of us sex ed was rooting through Dad's sock draw for his porn stash. Thing was back then it was a lot more vanilla and for a lot of it even the teenage male brain could tell it was staged. Not so sure about that today, and I fear that what a lot of what those boys watch online gives them a very misleading idea of what is regular sex versus fantasy. It's not that I would want to restrict porn, I think as an adult I can distinguish reality and fantasy, but not so sure a 15 year old boy can make that distinction

I think that majority of those that settle in Pattaya are well aware it's one huge brothel. You certainly don't go there for the pristine beaches, so cheap sex, boys or girls, your choice i would suggest is the driving factor

That boy is in for a rude awakening! lol

Well male/female relationships are always complicated. My American wife was half Jamaican, so with my Thai wife I guess my predilection is obviously for dusky maidens. Are there major differences between them, I don't think so. Both strong willed women, both ruled our kids with iron, made them the men and women they are today, ruled me with a rod of iron! Major difference between the two, my Thai wife screams louder!!

I've married for a lot of my adult life, not the same woman, but I digress. I like being with someone, but equally I'm fine being alone. I was an only child, pretty odd in a Hispanic family in the 60/70's, but I learned all the skills to be self sufficient and pretty OK being on my own

Real Estate in Thailand is confusing, honestly it makes no sense. We owned three units in Noble Remix, and in all honestly the only reason we bought them was because the Japanese expat community liked them, and they were easy rentals. In terms of equity appreciation it was zero, With the amount of new build I was happy to get out without losing money. It's a weird market so buckle up

I rather like the Colbert version of truth, 'truthyism' Rather than actual truth it's so much easier and comforting to believe in what you 'feel to be true' Don't let pesky things like facts get in the way of that!

Now as I have said in a previous post health insurance is tricky. Often you will hear the phrase 'I self insure' thats just nonsense, it just means that you are going to pay everything out of pocket. Even in a podunk government hospital, which is going to be nothing like you have ever experienced in the US, you could eat through ฿5M in a week if something serious hits the fan. Private health insurance is just that. It uses underwriters to determine risk, and the older you get that risk goes up exponentially, and consequently premiums, which often results in just pricing folks out of the market at a certain point. Obviously I have no idea of you medical history, but bear in mind there is no version of ACA and pre-existing conditions will not be covered. We lived in Singapore prior to moving to Thailand, and while there my wife had a ruptured ovarian cyst which turned septic and required surgery. At the time of the surgery in Singapore she was in her late 30's, but upon disclosure to then Bupa, now Cigna they excluded ALL gynecologic issues, which for a woman is very common. You are right you will not be able to enroll in Part B or D without a US residence. But have a heart attack, or something equally immediate, do you think you are going to get on a plane for 24 hours to get back to the US? Lot to think about

Honestly if unless you are not looking for cheap sex, for retirement I could probably think of better locations closer to home. Health insurance will, unless as many here seem to think a glass of wheat grass makes you immune to illness, will over time become unaffordable. Your Medicare Part A is worthless in Thailand, and if at some point you call it quits, you'll pay a penalty on Part B. Think carefully, and explore Central American options

Hmmm, Me and Mrs G had been happily living together for 20+ years, had our son, and honestly neither ever experienced any stigma about not being married. My wife has several single female relatives several of then in their 30's and quite happy being single, again never heard any bad word said about them. Mrs G would still single, albeit 'living in sin' if she didn't have to marry me for a Green Card lol

Well when it comes to women and sex, men are inherently stupid. The frontal lobe can switch off and reasoning is delegated to the 'little brain'

Well to be sure, no one wants to actually utter the words but we are moving back into a cold war; Democracies vs Autocracies. The wonderful idea of peace and harmony we had after the end of the last cold war is pretty much shot to pieces. Global trade is rapidly returning home, or at least to like minded countries, and the idea of disarmament is now a pipe dream. Never was a fan of Reagan, but he had it right in the end. He saw that if you had an arms race the West could bankrupt the other side. I think it might be time to repeat history

I think the biggest issue, and it's one which affects many 2nd and 3rd world countries is onshoreing. Western nations after decades of being addicted to cheap manufactured goods from Asia got a huge wake up call in the past few years as supply chains buckled In the US the trend to bring back manufacturing is intense, additionally fueled by the badly named 'Inflation Reduction Act' who's sole purpose is to subsidize domestic manufacturing. That has awakened the EU who are now also considering similar measures If you get rid of sweat shop manufacturing in SE Asia, there ain't enough tourists on the globe to fill that void

A pretty good analysis of the Russian psych. It's wrong of course, but I kinda get where it comes from

$2k doesn't seem unreasonable. We paid something around that back in 2018, we had no issues, other that me being lazy. But the collection of all the documentation was a pain, and you really don't want to screw it up and have to start all over again. So pay the $2k it's worth it

My first job out of college I worked for Rockwell as an engineer on B1 bombers. I was on deployment and as I was swinging open a hanger blast door and my ring got caught on the door. There was no way I was stopping that door. I was lucky I didn't lose my finger, but the aftermath, my ring was embedded underneath the skin of my finger and had to be cut off. To this this day I have never worn another ring

The death of a 17 year old is tragic enough. But this after the trauma that he and the other boys went through is a gut punch, I think to all of us not least his family. For any parent the loss of a child is something you can't imagine, but to have had a miraculous rescue then to to have your son die must be devastating

I don't know how you guys do it. It's too exhausting. I'm way past being prepared to put in the effort of the chase. I'll settle for decent sex, familiarity, companionship, and a simple home life. I know for some of you guys that doesn't cut it, but different strokes for different folks I guess

I must be in a really tiny minority then. Been together a long time. For sure young lust has long since gone, but we still go at it like like rabbits, maybe not at the same frequency, she's all menopausal and i'm just tired. But all in all we like being around each other. Not sure how you define love, but when she went back to Thailand for a month last year, I think we both felt something was missing, maybe that is love

Well, you are right in a way. Lustful love does develop into a form of just being comfortable around each other. That being said it doesn't diminish sex, it's just easier and less stressful. After 20 years you're not in any way under the gun to 'perform', it's just all for fun

Well, I agree with some of that. 50% of all marriages in the West fail, conversely 50% actually go the distance. I'm one of them, 20 years with my first marriage, 20+ with my Thai one. We all change, a little, but by the time you are 30, nothing about you is ever going to change. Now if anyone in their corn fed mind thinks in their latter years they hook up with a woman young enough to be their daughter and it's real love, well time for medication!

Trump attack, denigrate anyone he thinks won't adore him. I'm an American so I look in. Probably 5% of the US population even know this woman's name. What I would say as an outsider looking in, she was an extremely good orator and very effective at winning elections. Not so sure she was that great at governing after winning those elections!

There is some truth in that. I think many a woman has taken on a man as 'a project' certain she can fix him. I doubt many succeed. In truth humans, male or female rarely change their spots

Well any relationship is pretty much a cr*&*p shoot But when you add in the whole Thai bar girl generational gap thing it gets dicey for sure, and probably destined for disaster The stories of guys getting burnt abound, but there is the sub plot of those of us who have quite boring normal lives with Thai women. Despite the stereotype some of us are quite close in age, similar education and somehow figure it all out. Me and Mrs G are now going on 20+ years. The girl still drives me bat <deleted> crazy, but somehow we are still together. Our son, now in his 20's often remarks on 'how the Hell did you two make it this long' Welcome to being an adult!