At your age: Do you still take life seriously?

[susanlea]

4 hours ago, FriscoKid said:

At my age, I'll be the first to admit that I seriously did not read even a single word of this post. 

Well at 5yo it is difficult for you to read

[Cameroni]

4 hours ago, GammaGlobulin said:

 

 

No way Dylan can compare to serious poets, or to authors like Phillip Roth, who was passed over for the prize.

 

 

 

I completely agree with this. Yes, Dylan has mastery in the turn of phrase, and the little ditties can be fun to read, but what great ideas and thoughts has he ever come up with that were not derivative? None really. By contrast Peter Sloterdijk is a master of the word and has also come up with great ideas, but will never get the Nobel Prize. There is no justice in the world.

[GammaGlobulin]

17 hours ago, georgegeorgia said:

On a serious note ....

 

Stop taking life seriously especially if your in your 70's 

You won't be here in 15 years !!!!!

 

I don't know how many guys especially in my workplace who are over 70yo that I must tell that to who take life too seriously 

 

 

 

70 yo and still in the workplace, you say? 

 

What gives, with that??? 

 

Don't they worry everyday about dying before they receive their next pay check? 

 

 

[Hummin]

Some of us continue to take life seriously because we have responsibility and loved ones who care for us

 

 

I'm not that old yet, but I can't see that will change the older I get.

[Hummin]

6 hours ago, FriscoKid said:

At my age, I'll be the first to admit that I seriously did not read even a single word of this post. 

Yes you did !

[newbee2022]

My health

[spidermike007]

Well, I take some things seriously. But, not this post! I take a limited amount of people seriously, as I do not think at any point in history, has the world had as many absolutely fools as it does now!

[Gandtee]

That's a laugh.😉

[ignore it]

WARNING !!!

 

There seems to be some bad shrooms going around.

 

Please avoid any eating anything suspicious.

If you've accidentally taken some, just relax and chill.

Avoid posting on AN.

[thaibeachlovers]

On 8/9/2024 at 2:09 PM, Presnock said:

As I mentioned, that I do feel fortunate sorry your stay was cut short.   But since TIT, and the changes I have witnessed personally from the early 1970's , who knows what the new year might bring.  Good luck.

Thanks for the sympathy, but that's life.

 

My last year in LOS I never touched a woman, so it wasn't that that attracts me to the place. I was happier just living in an hotel room, eating at restaurants, going to movies, watching cable tv etc than back in the so called first world. Everything is just too expensive to do half the things I did in LOS with less money. I love movies, but can't afford them on a pension. With petrol so expensive I hardly use my car- I didn't even need a car in Pattaya.

 

Anyway, I assume you are in LOS. If so just make the most of it, as you are fortunate indeed.

[thaibeachlovers]

11 hours ago, Hummin said:

Some of us continue to take life seriously because we have responsibility and loved ones who care for us

 

 

I'm not that old yet, but I can't see that will change the older I get.

As you should. I don't, but that's because the one that was supposed to care for me didn't, and is no longer part of my life.

I'm actually happier on my own than I was with her.

[thaibeachlovers]

13 hours ago, Cameroni said:

 

I completely agree with this. Yes, Dylan has mastery in the turn of phrase, and the little ditties can be fun to read, but what great ideas and thoughts has he ever come up with that were not derivative? None really. By contrast Peter Sloterdijk is a master of the word and has also come up with great ideas, but will never get the Nobel Prize. There is no justice in the world.

That is probably because hardly any one knows who Peter Sloterdijk is or read a word he wrote. I never heard of the dude till just now.

[Presnock]

1 hour ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Thanks for the sympathy, but that's life.

 

My last year in LOS I never touched a woman, so it wasn't that that attracts me to the place. I was happier just living in an hotel room, eating at restaurants, going to movies, watching cable tv etc than back in the so called first world. Everything is just too expensive to do half the things I did in LOS with less money. I love movies, but can't afford them on a pension. With petrol so expensive I hardly use my car- I didn't even need a car in Pattaya.

 

Anyway, I assume you are in LOS. If so just make the most of it, as you are fortunate indeed.

Yes, I retired here but prior to that, I had been assigned to the embassy several times beginning in and last assignment in 2003-5 so I had/have a pretty good idea about life here and the associated costs, especially in comparison to life in the US.  That of course was not my first nor only thoughts about retiring here, but on a pension I realized quickly how here is better and it have proven out.  I love life here, speak the language and have no plans to leave what I consider is a paradise.  As other paradises exist, none are perfect EDENs so I accept any bad with the great life.  Life is changing here too as in many parts of the world especially as the new govt realizes how much money they need versus what they found in the empty coffers so that may affect some people's lives too.  Best of luck where ever you hang your hat.  Hang in there.

[CM Dad]

On 8/8/2024 at 10:34 PM, GammaGlobulin said:

 

Only serious if it is serious in the eye of the beholder, naturally.

 

Personally, I think it's fairly serious, but, still, not TOO serious for TV.

 

What is YOUR opinion?

 

 

I haven't owned a TV in the 34 years I've lived in Thailand.

[Cameroni]

2 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

That is probably because hardly any one knows who Peter Sloterdijk is or read a word he wrote. I never heard of the dude till just now.

You are right of course. A bit of fame always helps with these prizes. But sometimes the Nobel Committee digs deep, who had heard of Gao Xingjian and Soul Mountain before his Nobel Prize? But it was of course a politically motivated prize, like so often. Peter Sloterdijk is perhaps the greatest thinker of our time, but he does not deliver political brownie points for the prize jury.

[GammaGlobulin]

1 hour ago, thaibeachlovers said:

That is probably because hardly any one knows who Peter Sloterdijk is or read a word he wrote. I never heard of the dude till just now.

 

The dude is a philosopher, and some progressives have called him a stooge for the AfD, the right-wing fringe party in Germany, etc.

There is no Nobel in Philosophy , and so sometimes philosophers will be chosen for the Literature Prize...

 

 

There are too many philosophers about, but this is not really a self-help book, at least that is good...

 

 

 

[GammaGlobulin]

8 minutes ago, Cameroni said:

You are right of course. A bit of fame always helps with these prizes. But sometimes the Nobel Committee digs deep, who had heard of Gao Xingjian and Soul Mountain before his Nobel Prize? But it was of course a politically motivated prize, like so often. Peter Sloterdijk is perhaps the greatest thinker of our time, but he does not deliver political bownie points for the prize jury.

 

Soul Mountain is written in Chinese, and so how does the Committee read this book in the way it was intended to be read.

Reading a translation, no matter how good, is far from reading a book in the author's first language.

But now I will read the translation first and then try the original Chinese.

One learns something new on TV, almost every day.

 

Glad it's raining now here in CM.

Raining weather is better for reading better books.

They would have called the Raining Season the Reading Season, if only..

Thai people, or a majority of them, actually read books.

 

 

 

 

[Chris Daley]

Yes more seriously than I ever have done.  If I mess up it is down to the Food Bank, sleep in a coat and back to the Job Centre.  I have no one.

[Cameroni]

6 minutes ago, GammaGlobulin said:

 

Soul Mountain is written in Chinese, and so how does the Committee read this book in the way it was intended to be read.

Reading a translation, no matter how good, is far from reading a book in the author's first language.

But now I will read the translation first and then try the original Chinese.

One learns something new on TV, almost every day.

 

Glad it's raining now here in CM.

Raining weather is better for reading better books.

They would have called the Raining Season the Reading Season, if only..

Thai people, or a majority of them, actually read books.

 

 

 

 

 

Indeed, translations never do justice, as anyone who's read Nietzsche in the original and then the cartoonish translations will confirm. This is part of the reason why people like Sloterdijk do not get the prize, few could appreciate the genius of his word craft in translation. I guess we have to learn all the major langages ourselves. But what if a great Tagalog writer comes along? We'd be screwed again.

[GammaGlobulin]

17 minutes ago, Cameroni said:

 

Indeed, translations never do justice, as anyone who's read Nietzsche in the original and then the cartoonish translations will confirm. This is part of the reason why people like Sloterdijk do not get the prize, few could appreciate the genius of his word craft in translation. I guess we have to learn all the major langages ourselves. But what if a great Tagalog writer comes along? We'd be screwed again.

 

I doubt any great Tagalog writers will come around in my lifetime.

 

Meanwhile, here is where you can download the original Chinese version of LingShan (Soul Mountain).... Even the title is ambiguous in the translation.

So, better read the original.

 

https://www.haodoo.net/?M=book&P=17XI

 

Good site...

 

 

[Cameroni]

5 minutes ago, GammaGlobulin said:

 

I doubt any great Tagalog writers will come around in my lifetime.

 

Meanwhile, here is where you can download the original Chinese version of LingShan (Soul Mountain).... Even the title is ambiguous in the translation.

So, better read the original.

 

https://www.haodoo.net/?M=book&P=17XI

 

Good site...

 

 

Thank you so much, this will continue to spur my Chinese language learning attempts.

 

Agreed about the unlikelihood of a great Tagalog writer, Filipinos are vey witty but they have about as much urge to write and read as Thais have the urge to make yogurt.

[GammaGlobulin]

IMHO....There has been just too much water....

 

Over the bridge, and under the dam.

 

This is what is wrong with our world today....maybe....

 

 

Too many people worried about going furthur, and not enough people being satisfied with where they happen to be.

 

As I mentioned above, in the Topic....

 

 

[stoner]

On 8/8/2024 at 9:40 PM, thaibeachlovers said:

If so, I succeeded in my purpose and sooner I depart the better. Unfortunately the government won't allow me to do so in a painless and effective way.

 

 

come to canada we got you covered with maid. 

[StreetCowboy]

6 minutes ago, GammaGlobulin said:

IMHO....There has been just too much water....

 

Over the bridge, and under the dam.

 

This is what is wrong with our world today....maybe....

 

 

Too many people worried about going furthur, and not enough people being satisfied with where they happen to be.

 

As I mentioned above, in the Topic....

 

 

You are absolutely right.  
I cannot imagine where I would be happier than I where I am now.  I can imagine that I might get paid more in other places, I am sure that there are places with a lower cost of living, beer is cheaper in the Philippines, cycling may be better in France…

I have spent ten years making the best of where I am now, and if I could move somewhere better I might have to admit I had wasted ten years of my life

[GammaGlobulin]

13 hours ago, Cameroni said:

Thank you so much, this will continue to spur my Chinese language learning attempts.

 

Agreed about the unlikelihood of a great Tagalog writer, Filipinos are vey witty but they have about as much urge to write and read as Thais have the urge to make yogurt.

 

By the way:

 

If you intend to download and read the epub copy of the book, LingShan, which I linked for you....

 

My suggestion is to install Calibre, here:

 https://calibre-ebook.com/download

 

 

Next, there seems to be a plugin for Calibre which is quite a wizard at doing translations of words in Chinese that you might not know.

You can add this Google Translate plugin to Calibre, and it works quite well.

 

The epub format, and the Chinese version, is traditional Chinese, and not simplified Chinese, which I happen to like, very much, since it's less boring for me.

 

The first word I came across that was not boring for me is the Chinese word for Unicycle...

And so, if you use Calibre, there are many advantages for Chinese language learning through reading Chinese books....

 

For example, here is a good phrase that one should learn:   坐的不是小臥車，就是帶空調的大車子。  And, it just means: The rides were either small sleeper cars or large air-conditioned cars.

 

Good Luck!

 

In Taiwan, aircon is usually called LENG-QI.  But, in China, AC becomes KongTiao....

 

Also, thankfully, the company that sold me my LengQiJi will soon replace it for a better one that does not rattle.....hopefully....after almost one year....

 

Calibre is an amazing piece of software, developed by a true genius...  So, enjoy....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[thaibeachlovers]

20 hours ago, Chris Daley said:

Yes more seriously than I ever have done.  If I mess up it is down to the Food Bank, sleep in a coat and back to the Job Centre.  I have no one.

Won't happen to me. If it gets that bad I'm taking the exit. There is nothing and no one to keep me hanging around if I do end up in a cardboard box under a bridge.

If I have a heart attack and some b****d resuscitates me they'll regret it.

[thaibeachlovers]

12 hours ago, GammaGlobulin said:

IMHO....There has been just too much water....

 

Over the bridge, and under the dam.

 

This is what is wrong with our world today....maybe....

 

 

Too many people worried about going furthur, and not enough people being satisfied with where they happen to be.

 

As I mentioned above, in the Topic....

 

 

I once bought a housebus with the intention of seeing the country the slow way around after I retired. I went back overseas after buying it and a "friend" was going to look after it for me. Turned out he wasn't a friend and my housebus wasn't ( in existence ) either.

Life is easy for some, money, wine, women and song fill their days with no effort on their part, but the rest of us do it the hard way.

 

PS. I imagine my house bus would also have had an interesting paint job, but not as ferocious as that.

[georgegeorgia]

I don't believe in revenge but you really need to call this guy now and remind him and ask him where the bus is 

[cdemundo]

On 8/10/2024 at 7:43 AM, spidermike007 said:

Well, I take some things seriously. But, not this post! I take a limited amount of people seriously, as I do not think at any point in history, has the world had as many absolutely fools as it does now!

Of course if the percentage of absolute fools stayed the same as the population grew this is of course true.

Also, with the rise of global communication we are exposed to more fools that we never would have encountered previously.

For example, in days of yore the OP would have written the opening post in one of hundreds of spiral notebooks piled in his living quarters and no one else would ever have seen it.

[georgegeorgia]

Life is not guaranteed 

 

Dont start hoarding your money away especially if your in your 70's