drummer

Ajarn, stop with the childish comments. Cant you stop when someone else is trying to stop??

Read my last  sentence, this is NOT helping drummer and if you are helping him, good for you.

Get it now?

Just to ring in on this debate.... I would actualy rather have those thoughts out in the open so I can address tham. even if they are speculative, its doubtless nothing other people aren't thinking, too. I'm looking for good advice, and that can only be achieved when people have an accurate picture of the situation.

SK was making some assumptions, but that is nothing that isn't done by everything on the planet that has a brain. C'est la vie. All you can do is to try to recognize your own assumtions, and to try to clear up other people assumptions about you - although that one is much more difficult.

Anyway, back to the subject - I went out and found some good english grammar textbooks - (I forget the name, but I found series one that was quite good - the tenses had great explanations and very clear illustrations) as well as an M4-M6 biology textbook in Thai and a History of Thailand in english for both of us. I found these at a bookstore in a mall on Silom Rd. Anyone have any specific book recomendations? I don't think I'll be buying anything right away untill she shows some progress on the Biology textbook, but it will be good to keep in mind- Thanks

Here's something that will narrow some eyes... tell the next Thai friend you see that the original ethnic Tai people actually came from southern China, and that the Hmong and Khmer were in Thailand first ... Technically true, but Thai culture doesn't just come from the ethnic Tai people, but is an amalgamation (of course)

If drummer does not want to marry her, obv he is either already married (where he comes from) or he doesnt love her................

Actually, neither nor. She's a great girl and I do love her. its just i know that it takes more than love to make a relationship last. I don't want to marry her simply because we haven't spent enough time together. The kid was an accident. (Long story) I am just waiting to see how we get along i little while down the road. I don't want to get married unless I am (reasonably) confident that it will be something that would last, and something that I would do with a child or not. And on that front, it looks pretty good. The only two major problems are

(1) she's not totally fluent in english(although she speaks english well) and I don't speak Thai very well. This will change. I am learning a few new words each day, and she is studying, too.

(2) she's not educated. This is precisely why I brought up this thread.

re: leaving LoS, I've heard that fiance is actually more expiditious, although I suspect it prolly doesn't matter too much. The kid ought to put a lot of it on the fast track...

I was considering an informal ceremony, incidentally. My thinking would be that it would be something to make her feel better. I am virtually married right now (my new favorite thing to do is to tell the BG touts "phom mee mia leo"... had one let go of my arm and *run* away yesterday ) I still wouldn't want to do anything legally binding until later, but I wouldn't mind having an informal ceremony. Any thoughts on that?

Please excuse my straightforwardness, but experience tells me that If you're going to accept her refusal to go out, then I'd say stop wasting your time. She knows everything I've just told you, and pregnant women in public are a dime a dozen in Thailand. Sounds like she's telling you she doesn't want to go to school, or some other manipulative game going on, quite possibly.... Until you can get her to ######' lift one finger herself, back-off.... Don't drive yourself nuts trying to get around her self-created and unnecessary roadblocks.

Actually, your straightforwardness is quite appreciated. And a fine point it is. I've actually mentioned this to her. One of my fav quotes is Henry Ford's "It doesn't matter if you think you will fail or you think you will succeed. You are right" I said that to her when she said that she couldn't go to class, even. But it is so hard to know when she actually understands something and when she is just nodding her head and smiling...

There are a couple things to consider here, though. First, she expressed desire to go back to school before pregnancy without me ever bringing it up. She was making plans to go back, actually. So I don't think that she doesn't want to be educated, I think she just doesn't want to go out. personally, i don't think its that big of a deal, but

The most important to me, though, is that I don't think I will be happy long term with someone who in uneducated. So there is a fire under my @ss with this one. I want the relationship to work - its got very many positive aspects wholly aside from the child.

Of course, it would be great to have her be able to get a better job, speak English better, etc etc. It would be very nice to have her support me in they style to which I would like to become accustomed...

Not just with Thai ladies, either. Its a strategy that has probably been around for a loong, long time, as has faking pregnancy. I rather suspect this has more to do with kids that men, though. Biology is a funny thing. My Thai girfriend (6 months along) is already thinking about more kids... Probably already has the suckers named

If she hasn't finished M6, then she needs to get that out of the way. But, she's not going to be able to do that part from home, I believe.

In Thailand, after age 16, anyone can take a High School Equivalency test to get a HS diploma...

In every large city, and most other areas are (government) 'Gaw Saw Baw' schools which specialize in offering evening and weekend classes to help study for the test for each grade level. Contact any local school and they are sure to know where the closest is to you. Figure two school terms to pass 3 levels, on average.

By the way, anyone can go study in these schools. You don't need to be a Thai citizen, either. The Thai government, in a moment of Wisdom, decreed that education be available to anyone, free, up through grade twelve. And it's been operating quite successfully for many years already...

The only difference is that only those legal, identified, people will receive a diploma or official recognition. All others study purely for the sake of learning, still a valuable tool even without the paper.

Please promote education with everyone you know. It's easy, cheap, and available to anyone. And education does have value here...

She has finished M3....

Where do I find out more about the GED equivilent? She is not so hot on the idea of actually going to classes while she's preggers, so maybe that is a better solution.

Also, any thoughts regarding whether to study English language books or Thai books? Her enlgish is pretty good, although not totally fluent. Studying Elgish books would help out her English skills, but will be more difficult to learn the material...

While we are on the subject of education, does anyone know how to go about getting a job teaching drum lessons at an international school? Thanks

Re: education - i wholeheartedly agree. That Thais provide it free is quite admirable - IMHO college should be, at least, quite cheap as well - the benefits to the standard of living would be huge. Not just the economy, but crime, health, etc.

She left home early because of an alkie father. Nice guy, I've met him- recovering now, but an alkie. My sister has a 2 year old, and I have talked to a bunch of other people who have said that they wished they went to school while they were preggers. Its not the impossibility you sugest. Taking care of a tyke is not the all-consuming task you set it out to be. Besides- I plan on helping too.

In fact, at the moment, she's got quite a lot of free time. So much that she wants to go with me everywhere I go. Of course, part of this is because she wants to make sure I'm not running around on her, but also because she just doesn't like being at home with nothing to do. Not a big TV fan (nor am I)

In terms of buying a degree - that does absolutely nothing for the main objective. I think it would be quite beneficial for her and the relationship long term if she was educated. The degree really doesn't mean all that much to me, except insofar as it makes things easier. Educated people percieve the world and interact with it in a different way than non-educated people.

Thanks for your advice, though.

Anyway, does anyone have any recommendations for books, etc? Thanks

The new numbers are a bit worrisome.... Influenza is the deadliest disease in history. If something gets out that does to humans what it did to the birds I think we are in for a tough time. I'm willing to buy 'difficult' trasmission, but 8 new cases? Well, I'm keeping as little of my money in THB as I can right now. If theres a big outbreak it'll cause a huge mess.

In 15 years I've only ever heard one old guy stutter. I hear Thais quite often repeating the same first word of a sentence over and over as though they're formulating what they are going to say.

BTW, my dad and a work mate of mine both had really severe stuttering problems. They never stuttered when singing though. I think it's something to do with hearing.

There is an absolutely fascinating book called "The Lopsided Ape" that adresses this in some detail. Here is the amazon description.

I do not normally stutter, but every once is a while will stutter briefly. It feels (and looks on brain scans) very much like a scratched LP. There is a point where the physical mechanism is just reset from the beginning. I have a good friend who stutters all the time and he said this description was exactly right.

It is a very interesting contidion. It is strongly linked in some forms to handedness. Left handed people who are forced to use their right hands from an early age often end up stuttering.

Singing actually uses different areas of the brain than normal speech. The speech areas are extremely differentiated from one half of the brain to the other. Many forms of stuttereing are caused by unusal / improper specialization (I forget the right word >.< ) by the two halfs of the brain. One theory is that sometimes both halfs of the brain do the same thing, and they can 'fight'.

But in any case, the actual structural wiring seems to get some wires crossed somewhere.

Curiously, people who stutter are often smarter than the non-stuttering population. Sometimes remarkable so.

21. She just never went back. Yall have dirty minds In terms of going back to school, it is as much a matter of being educated as it is having a degree. Sure the degree is important, but IMHO, being educated is more important - especially as it will make a difference in our relationship.

I really like that polymer note - sad to see them go

My Thai g/f is pregnant, and I have talked her into studying from home. Any recommendations about how to go about this? She has dropped out of high school, so that would be the first place to start.

Are there programs she could go through? Is just reading at home a good way to go? is there a Thai equivalent of a GED? Thanks

Great - thanks! Ill actually be in LoS for a while. I'll be ataying in an apt, if that makes any difference.

I have had to restore system settings on occaision to get Yahoo to work. I also have a problem running Yahoo Messenger from time to time - and I can't get it to work at all with Trillian, a multi-IM platform.

Well, it quite often has negative side effects for those employed in the industry - willingly or not. At least in the States it does. I was a cab driver for a few years and have talked to all sorts of people. It has definite pesonality side effects. Of course, it takes a certain kind of person, in the US, to become a stripper and/or prostitute. (there are execptions, of course) But the industry does have negative effects. Its kind of like the Bartleby Effect.

Good point. I'm not in Thailand yet. I bought mine @ Frye's Electronics, anyway. Things are more expensive in BKK, but you can always just head down to Singapore - You'll prolly save in the long run - travel expenses and everything.

http://www.3dactionplanet.com/thief/walk/walkthroughs.shtml

Thats a great series of games. I've played the first 2, but not Deadly Shadows yet. Looking forward to it

I'm bringing my laptopto get some work done, play music, etc. Is there a difference in the power supply? I have a fancy surge protector - should I bother bringing it? Anything else I should be aware of? thanks!

Dell actually sells their overstock on eBay. You can get warrantied Dell computers that way.

Its an interesting question. On one hand, it creates victims out of the girls, on the other hand, the girls were victims before the industry. Slave trade and such aside, of course.

Can you  imagine route number 12 now,The bus will be filled with Farang waiting to get an eyefull,The Thais wont be able to get on the bus now

I'm sure the word will spread among the Thai teenage boys, too ... they can't be that different than farang teenage boys, eh?

Funny - I didn't feel ripped off. I think the real one costs about 240,000b 

Talk about feeling ripped off....

I once saw Kurt Vonnegut speak back in callege. Quite a funny fellow. He had a spiel where he said you can chart any story with time on one axis and good/bad fortune on the other.

For example- Cinderella

Good Fortune

|                 4                        6

|          3                5         

|-1--2----------------------------------------------------Time

|                            

|

|Bad Fortune

2...her sisters go off to the ball, but thats expected. no change in fortune

3 ... Fairy Godmother shows up. Good forune

4 ... She's the Belle of the Ball. Really good fortune

5 ... Midnight. She goes back home, but she's knows she was the belle, so better fortune than before

6 ... The prince comes, Great fortune

Or, the Boy Meets Girl story

Good Fortune

|      2                   4               

|                                   

|-1--------------------------------------------------Time

|                            

|            3

|Bad Fortune

1 ... Boy

2 ... boy meets girl - good fortune

3 ... "Sh)t!" - bad fortune

4 ... Boy gets Girl in the end - good fortune

Or Kafka

Good Fortune

|                        

|-----------------------------------------------------Time

|                            

|1

|

|

|

|

|

|      2

|Bad Fortune

1 ... A slimebag of a guy with no money, an awful job, no friends, a family that hates each other wkes up in Prague

2 ... as a cockroach

Anyways, Kafka always reminds me of that speech these days

I have a baby on the way and and heading back to BKK. Is there anything I should bring- anything I can get here that I can't get there that's useful?

Thanks

Thanks! United beats that by $100, and Eva beats that by $150, but earlier this year I was able to find $500 tickets after some searching. Thanks again

Any reccomendations? I will be flying from PDX to BKK mid September. Thanks!