Did the Reading of The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, and Tom Wolfe's account of Ken Kesey's Merry Pranksters, Motivate Your Move to SE Asia, or, Just, ASIA? In the beginning? Post 1968?

[GammaGlobulin]

Dear Friends,

 

(I try to shorten Topic Titles. In EVERY Case.  But, try as I might, I just cannot abbreviate this title, and still be able to ask the same question, in fewer words. Verbosity in the Title, I admit, is a sign of both stupidity and poor writing skills.  However, in this topic, I am mentioning Ken Kesey, and stream of consciousness.)

 

I always hate to write long topics.

Especially on any given Sunday.

 

Therefore,  in this instance, can we let the Topic's Title speak for itself, with no FURTHER words from me?

(I have noticed in my research that some guys spell FURTHER as FURTHUR.  Such a crime.)

 

Did Ken Kesey, in any way, influence you to come to Thailand, or other SE Asian countries, or India, or East Asia, when you were younger?

 

And, what do you think of the stream-of-consciousness style of writing?

 

I have never seen a hippie I liked.

 

Are you conservative, a Mr.-businessman walking down the street?

Are you much more laid-back?

 

Now that we are becoming very old, then what can we do to move forward into the land of being more "out there", and less blah, blah in our old age, and sort of less tied to the real world of today, while we still have a few years to make some sort of hippie-like final statement?

 

Are we now no more than old has-beens? 

Are we just dinosaurs having zero relevance to our world, a world we see as dying? 

 

 

Talk about a has-been.

 

I hate the stream-of-consciousness writing style.

 

Please, again, do not read anything here but the Title of the Topic, in order to reply to this topic, in case you might.

 

If you don't like Ken Kesey, or Tom Wolfe, and I do not mean the other Wolfe, Virginia, then feel free to ignore this post.

 

Best regards, as always.

 

May you pass the Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, in your sleep,

And wake up refreshed, which is a rare thing, at our ages.

I rarely feel refreshed.

 

G. Licious

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 6, 2022 by GammaGlobulin

[Social Media]

The spectrum of posters and the content here is just astounding. I find it very odd , even scary, that such people walk amongst us.

[GammaGlobulin]

14 minutes ago, Black Ops said:

The spectrum of posters and the content here is just astounding. I find it very odd , even scary, that such people walk amongst us.

Dear Sir, 

 

I must admit that it must have been the reading of the entire writings of my beloved Joseph Conrad which ended me up, here, where I now am. 

 

Ken Kesey is a fool, compared to the likes of Conrad. 

 

I just mean that I am not a hippie. 

 

 

Edited August 6, 2022 by GammaGlobulin

[1FinickyOne]

38 minutes ago, GammaGlobulin said:

can we let the Topic's Title speak for itself, with no FURTHER words from me?

I think that ship sailed 3 paragraphs ago..

 

As to Kesey, Acid test was a fun read, Cuckoos Nest was better...

 

But nothing reaches the level of Conrad... 

[GammaGlobulin]

25 minutes ago, 1FinickyOne said:

I think that ship sailed 3 paragraphs ago..

 

As to Kesey, Acid test was a fun read, Cuckoos Nest was better...

 

But nothing reaches the level of Conrad... 

It's actually true what our teachers say: 

 

Sometimes, when we read a great author, while in our youth, from that day forward, our entire life has changed. 

 

So impressionable, were we. 

[GammaGlobulin]

I am reluctant to mention and add even one more thing to this unworthy Topic, but... 

 

I wish to mention this all-important factor of having some Common Ground, which is the real grease that promotes true understanding in any dialogue. 

 

Without some Common Ground then true understanding can never happen. 

 

I am able to speak English and Chinese fairly fluently. I speak a smattering of Thai. But... 

 

No matter what language I speak, I find it difficult to have a meaningful discussion with anyone who shares no Common Ground with me. 

 

Therefore, from my experience, attempting to communicate with anyone who is ill-read and ill-bred soon becomes tiresome. 

 

Might as well just... Give Up... after the first few attempts to communicate with somebody who does not share common ground. 

 

This does not mean that you can't find a GF who does not have the requisite sense of humor, smarts, and insight to keep you fully engaged, happy, and on your toes. 

 

However, never marry a dumb girl who can't, at the very least, understand this Topic. 

 

Or, if you, yourself, do not understand this topic, then marry a girl, with hair down to there, who is like you. 

 

Common Ground is crucial to good communication, mutual respect, empathy for the other, and even long-lasting pleasure, in any relationship. 

 

Without common ground, even, sometimes one might post a topic, yet be completely misunderstood by one's audience. 

 

This is why any Topic poster worth his salt should always write, first, with her target audience in mind. 

 

Always be mindful of staying within the Common Ground of what is comfortably shared by both the poster and the reader. 

[GammaGlobulin]

Let me please pursue this thought a bit further, though I don't mean to begin foaming at the mouth about this, overly much. 

 

I am just a guy who has spent significant time with bar girls during my life. 

 

I would say that, at least, 20 years of my life have been spent with bar girls, conservatively. 

 

Maybe my time with bar girls was somehow due to my straightlaced upbringing. My mother had always believed that consorting with sinful women before wedlock was a sin. 

 

After leaving home, arriving in Asia, and seeing the sights, especially at such a young age, I found it difficult to contain my former religiously-based restraints, and thusly went hog wild. 

 

I met so many good girls in Hong Kong, topless and beautiful. Most of the girls I met were living in the KMT's enclave on Taiwan. Those girls were so nice. 

 

At that time, the girls were not hardened and tough. They were, most of them, angels. 

 

That was a bygone era. 

 

I must have had about 28 angels during the short span of time before I found a girl that I loved, just another bar girl, but special. 

 

She was smart and intuitive. 

 

Yet, she and I were never able to share much meaningful common ground. 

 

And my point is this. 

 

During this past decade, it truly is the ThaiVisa Forum which has gradually supplanted my original needs for an Asian GF. 

 

Here is why. 

 

Intellectually speaking, ThaiVisa is smarter than any GF I have ever had. 

 

Also, TV is up 24/7, except for the short hiatus of service we experienced last week. 

 

TV always is willing to listen to me speak about thoughts of import to me. 

 

As long as, and providing that, I remain civil, and do not overstep any clearly demarcated boundaries, TV will always be my sounding board for expression of thoughts and feelings dear to me. 

 

There is always somebody here willing to listen. 

 

You know, TV is so great that, if I were ambitious enough, I might even be able to start some topic which might seem meaningful to some. 

 

You might have heard that TV has been recently branded as ASEAN NOW, which means that we can now post topics outside those normally pertinent solely to Thailand. 

 

TV is getting better, while thoughts of my former GFs are now nothing more than distant memories. 

 

I still have about 150 Topics, fresh in my mind, and ready for posting here. I will post them if my NOTE4 can endure for one more year. 

 

You know that, in most cases, I find stream-of-consciousness writing /posting intolerable. Yet, as seems to be true, this was the subject of this post. 

 

I remain satisfied and, nare I say, almost in love with TV. 

 

TV provides all of the best aspects of a girlfriend, with very few negatives. 

 

You can count on me to voice my opinion, in no facetious way, whatsoever, that, in Thailand, and in SE Asia, TV has grown on me. 

 

Might I also honestly acknowledge that TV has, during the past two years, become a revamped and even better example of what it once was. 

 

My GFs and bargirl aquintences never seemed able to improve and up their game, yet, TV has. 

 

All I can say is that the world needs more of us, people like us. 

 

 

 

 

[GammaGlobulin]

The actual quote I am looking for, which I misquoted above, is some sort of US Marine quote about "men like us" from the film Gardens of Stone.

 

Men like us?

TV Men like us?

 

I will watch the film, one more time, and then report.

 

Great quote, in fact.

 

Enjoy the film, men.

 

I am surprised this film is somehow available on YT.

 

 

This guy, James Caan, has a haircut that seems similar to what we see today.

 

Maybe the world is going to heck.

 

 

 

[GammaGlobulin]

A final observation:

 

One important reason we should be willing to devote much time to posting useful thoughts on TV, and as many original words as possible, is because doing so may help, in some small way, to assist TV to remain forefront in Google's search algorithm.

 

The more we write, for free, the more we can contribute to TV's preeminence in this SE Asian sphere of forums.

 

If we do not contribute our share, each and every one of us, then TV might slip in rankings, a circumstance we do not wish to see.

 

I like TV.

I may live for another 5 or 10 years.

During my lifespan, I don't want the status quo to change.

 

Therefore, I spend my free time to post something of import.

 

This is the way it is.

 

 

[GammaGlobulin]

One of the greatest scenes of filmdom is the intro to the film, The Great Stantini, based on the book by Pat Conroy.

 

"WHAT'S WRONG WITH THIS MAN?"

 

It's the flu, Sir, it's weakened him.

 

 

 

 

 

[GammaGlobulin]

Some of the above makes me, also, consider whether or not some of the posters here on this forum have ever attended The Citadel?

 

Have you ever attended?

What was your experience there?

 

https://go.citadel.edu/corps/

 

 

[GammaGlobulin]

 

[GammaGlobulin]

 

[GammaGlobulin]

No longer is there any Common Ground.

 

The divide is too wide.

 

We are doomed, as a result.

 

Enjoy the time which still remains.

 

 

The time for chit-chat is at an end.

 

The chattering classes will be doomed.

And, the LaoBaiXing will soon take over,

Using ancient traditional farming techniques,

After the destruction of more organized technologically-based civilization.

 

 

 

 

[GammaGlobulin]

But fortunately, we have been granted another Sunday, this morning. 

 

Some of us, if we are not in Pakistan, in Karachi, do not need to contend with such blistering heat. 

 

And so, if you are one of the fortunate ones on planet Earth, I would suggest to you, that you seek out another human being, maybe rent a short-term room in some Japanese style Love Hotel, and, just like Savoy Brown, stay while the night is young. 

[GammaGlobulin]

Years ago, we read of Malthus, James Lovelock, and, what's his face, the author of The Population Bomb. 

 

In light of what these great authors tell us, then how are you able to enjoy your Scottish breakfast? 

 

Fortunately, when God created Man, God provided Us with sufficient defense mechanisms strong enough to endure the unendurable. 

 

The strongest of our defense mechanisms is that of Denial. Denial of Truth. Also, Denial of Death.  And, Denial of Almost Anything.

 

Without the ability to hide the truth of our reality from ourselves, nobody would be able to survive. 

 

Therefore, thank God for His providing us with the necessary defense mechanisms which allow us to survive the unjust world created by Him, in all His Perversity. 

 

There are 6 (probably only 5) more defense mechanisms you might want to know about. 

 

But can't we first think about just the first, "denial", this Sunday? 

 

===

Hopefully, no one here will deny themselves of anything, this Sunday.  The World is coming to an end, quickly.

 

Therefore, do not be guided by any church minister, this Sunday.

 

Rather, like Henry Fielding, and his character, Tom Jones, sleep in the barnyard, among the hay, and bed ye there any comely farm girl you might see.

 

Go ye therefore, and commune with the farm girls, be they in Pattaya, or elsewhere, this fine Sunday morn. 

 

 

Edited August 6, 2022 by GammaGlobulin

[GammaGlobulin]

This Sunday, please, do not worry about Zhao Lijian.

Don't let his image spoil your Sunday in some Chinese or Japanese Love Hotel.

 

Zhao Lijian is such a sourpuss...

 

 

Why is he such a sourpuss, almost every day?

 

How would you feel under the same circumstances?

 

Poor Mr. Zhao.

[Gottfrid]

7 hours ago, Black Ops said:

The spectrum of posters and the content here is just astounding. I find it very odd , even scary, that such people walk amongst us.

Dear Sir, feel free to contribute with your version of quality content. Impatiently, awaiting your amazing contribution.

[jerrymahoney]

Answer to topic title query:

 

No.

[GammaGlobulin]

16 minutes ago, jerrymahoney said:

Answer to topic title query:

 

No.

Well, then, was it your need for speed? 

[jerrymahoney]

7 minutes ago, GammaGlobulin said:

Well, then, was it your need for speed? 

I worked (but never lived) in China and SE Asia for 15+ years before moving fulltime to Thailand.

[GammaGlobulin]

12 minutes ago, jerrymahoney said:

I worked (but never lived) in China and SE Asia for 15+ years before moving fulltime to Thailand.

So then, one might assume, that you worked for a Fortune-500 company, for 15 years in China, before deploying your golden parachute, in order to land safely in paradise? 

 

China is interesting, for the short haul, but this less-than-Middling Kingdom, while under the control of a Marxist-Leninist dictatorship, and a Stong Man, is no place to relax, while under constant state surveillance, for long, especially when one is ready to retire in the sun.

 

Sometimes, it takes over 30 years in China for someone to finally get the point that enough is enough. 

 

The CCB, the Chinese Communist Bandits, are holding down the hopes and aspirations of all Chinese people. 

 

Life in China, these days, under the thumb of such autocratic rule, is intolerable. 

 

Still, some foreign flies remain in China. But most of them, these days, only remain in China due to the Stockholm syndrome. 

 

 

[Lacessit]

17 posts by the OP, 3 by other posters. That's some kind of record for TV/ASEAN.

No, I was not inspired by second-rate American authors, with turgid prose. I was inspired by working in SE Asia, and the knowledge if I stayed in Australia, the boredom would become unendurable.

 

For me, the apotheosis of American literature is Steinbeck's "East of Eden."

[GammaGlobulin]

14 minutes ago, Lacessit said:

17 posts by the OP, 3 by other posters. That's some kind of record for TV/ASEAN.

No, I was not inspired by second-rate American authors, with turgid prose. I was inspired by working in SE Asia, and the knowledge if I stayed in Australia, the boredom would become unendurable.

 

For me, the apotheosis of American literature is Steinbeck's "East of Eden."

After many decades, I finally learned how to pronounce the word, 'apotheosis', and this was not easy.

 

But, as for me, the book of Steinbeck which still sticks in my craw, after so very many years, is, still, "Grapes of Wrath".

 

This book still spooks.

After 58 years, since reading this book, it continues to haunt me.

 

In other words, we are our brothers keepers...always.

 

[300sd]

3 hours ago, GammaGlobulin said:

Years ago, we read of Malthus, James Lovelock, and, what's his face, the author of The Population Bomb. 

 

In light of what these great authors tell us, then how are you able to enjoy your Scottish breakfast? 

 

Fortunately, when God created Man, God provided Us with sufficient defense mechanisms strong enough to endure the unendurable. 

 

The strongest of our defense mechanisms is that of Denial. Denial of Truth. Also, Denial of Death.  And, Denial of Almost Anything.

 

Without the ability to hide the truth of our reality from ourselves, nobody would be able to survive. 

 

Therefore, thank God for His providing us with the necessary defense mechanisms which allow us to survive the unjust world created by Him, in all His Perversity. 

 

There are 6 (probably only 5) more defense mechanisms you might want to know about. 

 

But can't we first think about just the first, "denial", this Sunday? 

 

===

Hopefully, no one here will deny themselves of anything, this Sunday.  The World is coming to an end, quickly.

 

Therefore, do not be guided by any church minister, this Sunday.

 

Rather, like Henry Fielding, and his character, Tom Jones, sleep in the barnyard, among the hay, and bed ye there any comely farm girl you might see.

 

Go ye therefore, and commune with the farm girls, be they in Pattaya, or elsewhere, this fine Sunday morn. 

 

 

Thank you for a nice Sunday morning read. I like all your posts..awesome.

[Denim]

10 hours ago, GammaGlobulin said:

Ken Kesey is a fool, compared to the likes of Conrad. 

In which Conrad novel would you find the line :

 

" We haven't kept pigs together. "

 

One of my favorite novels by him and , like you , I have read them all.

[jerrymahoney]

1 hour ago, GammaGlobulin said:

Life in China, these days, under the thumb of such autocratic rule, is intolerable. 

When I worked in China, they were poor.

[GammaGlobulin]

16 minutes ago, Denim said:

In which Conrad novel would you find the line :

 

" We haven't kept pigs together. "

 

One of my favorite novels by him and , like you , I have read them all.

Conrad hailed from Poland.

 

This reference to keeping pigs together does not mean quite the same thing in English as it might in Polish.

 

Maybe this is a reference to a Polish idiom?

 

You tell me, please.

[jerrymahoney]

25 minutes ago, Denim said:

In which Conrad novel would you find the line :

 

" We haven't kept pigs together. "

 

One of my favorite novels by him and , like you , I have read them all.

 The <deleted> Of The "Narcissus"

[GammaGlobulin]

36 minutes ago, 300sd said:

Thank you for a nice Sunday morning read. I like all your posts..awesome.

I find your post almost incredible, at least judging from most of the feedback I receive here.

Edited August 7, 2022 by GammaGlobulin