GinBoy2

Well by your thinking we've defied the odds. 24 years, scary huh?

Well as the saying goes, Opposites Attract

Awful story, and so tragic especially for the small children left behind. Unfortunately violence against women isn't confined to Thailand, and through my life I've struggled to understand what drives it. Most of us here were born in a different age, probably the majority in the 1950/60's when attitudes to women were very different. But today attitudes have changed, women are more equal, yet still male violence to women remains, and you could argue might even be worse. I'm in the lover not the fighter camp, but is it that collectively we're just not raising our boys correctly? They are not damn cave men and need to act as such. Whatever jealousy you have, whatever slight to your ego doesn't entitle you to hit or worse kill a woman. Grow up and be a real man and deal with it

A hairdresser of mine many many years ago told me "Men don't lose their hair as they age. It simply relocates"

Well here am I a bleeding heart Liberal, and she likes Tucker Carlson! Got the picture?

The best advantage of getting older, is comfortable you feel in your own skin. I have nothing left to prove, screw it if i don't eat a vegetable in a week, maybe I didn't turn out to be Jeff Besos, but I don't care. My kids are happy so I'm happy You also start to care less and less what other people think about you, and back to the comfortable skin thing

YES, for me at least

So what do you talk about? So we're talking about GF's/Partners, not bar girl hookups. How often can you talk about sex? Food? Well the most educated Thai can talk endlessly about that, as well as posting endless pictures of food. I work with a young Filipino guy who asked me if my wife posted pictures of food? I told him, don't be dumb, you're asian you already know the answer to that! If you're a similar age, you probably talk about the same TV shows, movies, music. Yeah politics can figure, me and Mrs G can have some serious disagreements there, but we kiss and make up. So yeah, I like having a woman my equal who can give as good as she gets, with a bunch in common

I like the idea of an Only Fans account for the saddos with a 20 something GF with the brain and language skills of a fruit fly. My wife has often laughed about this. Now Mrs G ain't no spring chicken, she's in her 50's, but raised and educated in Chicago as a teenager, before she moved back to Asia. She acts and sounds like a Midwest gal. I've seen guys eyes light up when we've met them and suddenly they realize they can actually have an adult conversation with her, as opposed to the scantily clad maiden of Isaan they are sat with!

Well I'm going to diverge here. But not only is Keanu Reeves a good looking guy, he is an incredible human being. Rich, yet modest. Lives in a regular apartment, rides the subway, incredibly generous with charity. A lot of us should try to emulate him, the world might be an awfully better place if there were more Keanu Reeves. https://www.dontpayfull.com/blog/the-modest-life-of-keanu-reeves

I feel a bit boring. Met my wife the old fashioned way as an office romance while we were both working in Singapore. Furtive kisses and a little groping here and there, and 20+ years later here we are Both a bit grayer than we were back then, but we still keep that spark alive

Not quite sure thats exactly true. I just looked up the numbers for the US and it's 41,000 hospitalizations, 4700 ICU cases as of Jan 4th, which is pretty much where is been bouncing along for the past six months. Now I'm too lazy to look up the numbers for Europe but I can't believe it's much different on a per 100K population You can't look up numbers for China the CCP wouldn't like those numbers floating around, but from all the anecdotal evidence it's pretty brutal. So why is Thailand going to require vaccination proof from all? Well you don't need to be a rocket scientist to understand that they don't want to be seen to be singling out China. I'm sure the idea of not pis*&*&ing off Xi is the #1 priority

Bet you don't really remember dreams. For us sleep freaks, you basically enter and exit REM sleep for all of your sleep experience, we never go into deep sleep. Dreams become very real and vivid. I can wake up and it'll take me a few minutes to adjust to reality from my dream state. Hard to explain to normal folks, but we express all sorts of thoughts in our dream state. Most of you forget dreams folks like me don't

For those of us insomniacs this is an impossible question to answer. I kinda switched from the usual teenager able to sleep like a cat to a 3-5 hour a night guy when I was at college. Never been able to break that. I can go to sleep at 7pm or Midnight but I'll wake up ~4 hours later regardless. I figure I'll die after I run out of daylight waking hours!

We have had countless threads on folks injured in Thailand without travel insurance, and few of us have much sympathy This poor guy I'm sure thought he had done all the right stuff, but as the saying goes, the Devil is in the Details. Insurance companies are sharks in suits! https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-64187351

So to add a twist to this thread. How many of you completely checked out? I (we) left for a multitude of reasons but still have ties through a home, family and spending part of our lives there every year.

So I can't comment on your future employment stuff. But so long as your wife has no criminal past and you can pass the financial requirements, the IR-1 is a slam dunk. Make sure you apply for the SSN on the 260 and her SS card and the Green card will arrive in the mail 2 weeks after you land. After that the 'interview' at the embassy is a formality, the decision has already been decided, so unless she fesses up to being a mass murderer it's done. My wife says her interview lasted less then a minute, just confirming her details

For a lot of us, we have complicated lives. Thankfully all my family gets along. Wife, ex wife, all the kids we're one of those modern day families. Back in the day when couples stayed together for the kids BS, total cr@@@p My thai son lived with my US daughter, now works for her as his Boss All of us, me wife, ex her BF, and the kids go an vacation together It can can work out rather well

To IM poster, I'not going to respond to that. But. I was an unusual Hispanic boy in the 60's as an only child, but every summer since both my parents were farm workers in California I was shipped off to relatives in Guadalajara. I generally spent 12 weeks goofing off with distant cousins while my parents worked their asses off. When my wife couldn't get a US tourist visa we all went to Mexico to meet my Grandson. So yeah I have some interests in different countries not just one, and you really need to get a real life, and you know who you are!

You are correct about our lifestyle. However with some of these guys you have to be 'All In' to be a true Believer. I contribute to this forum, general US forums as well as local forums to where we live in the US, plus a Spanish language forum in Mexico where my family originates from. I think I have some interest and say in all of them Maybe the definition of 'dull' should be redefined to someone limiting their field of view and tunnel vision!!! I prefer to embrace a wide range of my life experiences

A lot depends on the hotel. A full service hotel, well they write it off as the cost of doing business, never had an issue in the Novotel I have stayed at the boxtel in BKK, when I had a 4 hour layover, and not that I'm gonna have a period, but they make you sign to say blood will be charged. You get what you pay for. $170/night in the Novotel, $35/4 hours in the Boxtel

Thing is places work at different times in your life, until they don't. I met my wife while we were both working in Singapore. She never wanted to move back to Thailand and wanted us to move straight to the US, especially for our son's education. Of course stubborn a-hole I am I got my way. She told me at the time I'd be bored with the place within 10 years. She got it right within 11 months. I'm now happier with Thailand as a vacation destination, we still have our house there and enjoy my time there. Was I done with it full time, Yes.. Multiple factors drove us to leave. Son went to college an the US and said he wasn't coming back, I was bored, wife's career had stalled. And I am a fairly fit mid 60's guy, but I am acutely aware that the days ahead of me are fewer than the days behind me, and watching my escalating insurance premiums was a concern. So I have no problems with Thailand, enjoyed my time there, but it was just time to leave. What always intrigues me are those that protest too much about any perceived criticism To quote George Smiley. "The zealot is always harboring a secret doubt"

Delusion is a wonderful thing, but if it keeps you happy, go for it

Thing is Thailand is in general a great place in your 40's and 50's. However as you enter your 60's and later it dives. Funds are running out, and as immortal as we once were stuff breaks and that health insurance we once laughed about is now unaffordable or just not available. Now given the choice of some hovel in a Thai village or moving home to at least be with family and some healthcare, I think I know the answer

I'm an American, but have loved your country since a teenager listening to the BBC World Service on Shortwave in my bedroom. It breaks my heart how Brexit has torn your country apart, but I can't deny feeling the sense of lunacy of it all. I'm sure many of you had deep felt reasons for it, and i suspect as in my own country a lot of it was because of immigration. Probably that could have been figured out, but as it turned out you threw the baby out with the bath water