If you could start again

[delgarcon]

If I could go back, I'd take the last 50 years racing results with me. I'd still do the same things over again, but boy would I do it in style!

[Rangsitreppin]

i thought about it today .

I remembered over the past four years ive blown over 80000 australian dollars in thailand and have a pair of dirty underwear and an empty bank account to show for it.

Wouldnt have change a thing.

[marko kok prong]

Try not to reply to some posters on here.

[MaeJoMTB]

I'm curious about the 3 people here who said they would either have joined the armed forces or stay on longer. What's the thinking behind that? Is it the pension or the 'hero culture' ("thank-you for your service") that has evolved in the US? The interesting thing about counterfactuals like this is that they involve an asymmetry of information: we know what has actually happened in our past, but we can only guess at how things may have been different had we made different choices in our life. Full knowledge vs guesswork (i.e., zero knowledge). So those of you who think joining the armed forces may have been a good idea may not consider the possibility that you could have died on your first day of duty in Afghanistan (or Grenada). In my own life, I look at my lousy first marriage but don't regret it because it led me to place (metaphorically) where I'm very happy... if that marriage hadn't happened, I cannot guess what my life would look like now.

No need to be in harm's way in the military, just get into an administrative specialty, work in an a/c office for 30 years, and do what you're told. You can retire at 48 and still tell war stories--just listen to all the barstool commandos.

Easier to join the police or fire service, same pensions and retirement age, less personal risk.

[Crazy chef 1]

I'm curious about the 3 people here who said they would either have joined the armed forces or stay on longer. What's the thinking behind that? Is it the pension or the 'hero culture' ("thank-you for your service") that has evolved in the US? The interesting thing about counterfactuals like this is that they involve an asymmetry of information: we know what has actually happened in our past, but we can only guess at how things may have been different had we made different choices in our life. Full knowledge vs guesswork (i.e., zero knowledge). So those of you who think joining the armed forces may have been a good idea may not consider the possibility that you could have died on your first day of duty in Afghanistan (or Grenada). In my own life, I look at my lousy first marriage but don't regret it because it led me to place (metaphorically) where I'm very happy... if that marriage hadn't happened, I cannot guess what my life would look like now.

No need to be in harm's way in the military, just get into an administrative specialty, work in an a/c office for 30 years, and do what you're told. You can retire at 48 and still tell war stories--just listen to all the barstool commandos.

Easier to join the police or fire service, same pensions and retirement age, less personal risk.

In certain areas in the capital of my home country I doubt it...rather be a soldier in Afghanistan...

[poweratradio]

Rewrting the last 50 years would take more than a few lines !

and remember hindsight is perfect vision, the trials and tribulations that life's path takes us through also forms the person/character we have become.

Whilst there are many things I would like to "do over" or paths that in hindsight I shouldnt have taken, I did take them, and they ultimately brought me to where I am now, and I consider myself fortunate to have reached this point in my life and have achieved what I now have and the lifestyle I have.

No complaints in the end result. Often its not the destination, but the journey you took to get there.

The OP is about 'starting' again, not anything after that. Your imaginary fifty years will have to work themselves out.

I would ignore all the advice I heard when I was 10. Most of it was bad and what I wanted to do would have worked out well.

Me too. My mother tried to convince me that sex was dirty. Now I am filthy bastard.

[dotpoom]

I would changes absolutely nothing. There were many times I wished I were dead because I made such a mess of my life. Through help and support I was eventually able to turn that around and leave the chaos behind me. To get to where I am today (a life beyond my wildest dreams) I had to take each and every step I took. If I was allowed by faith to plan where I wanted to be in 40 years from my darkest hour...I would have sold myself short, it's better now than ever I could have imagined.

I once heard it said......if you cannot accept things the way they are now and want to change them, then you would have to go back to the beginning of creation and change the very first event in the Universe......because every action (event) created a reaction which brought us to where we are now..

Edited March 28, 2015 by dotpoom

[Patsycat]

Aha, my first love... It was magic. 15 17. He was hot and i was hotter. But we never did it.

I know his name - i could google him.

He had lovely green eyes. But it's always best to leave old memories where they are. With fondness.

Edited March 28, 2015 by Patsycat

[ExPratt]

I have done ok but i regret, wasting my time at school and not getting a decent education. I left at 15 , 1982 To work with my Brother on the Docklands, Ground work , pumping concrete, knocking the tops of of pile caps with a Jack hammer, quite a bit different from School. Ended up on LUL from 88 to 2002 and did a couple diplomas ect, Went to work in Taiwan 2002 and have been in Asia ever since. I'm quite lucky that I now know many people in the High speed rail Game and People who have left HSR and are on conventional Railways who know I can do a job, CM or anything to do with managing Track construction and planning. Any job I look at on Rail staffing agencies at CM level says "Minimum requirement Degree" my 27 year experience counts for bugger all.

An education , degree ect opens doors for a person at a much younger age. Where I come from and went to school people don't go to university pure Working class, factory fodder area, 5 years or grades in the school with 10 classes in each year about 1500 kids. Its the only school I know of where there was no school uniform, you could go as you pleased. The Headmaster was a BA who'd studied at Cambridge he wore his "Cape" when he took assembly so we all called him Batman. Unsurprisingly I don't know anyone from that school that went to University including me.If only I knew then what I know now. Any way I'm drumming in it into my 14 year old boy about studying and gong to University and he's working hard and wants to be an Engineer at the moment

[Patsycat]

And good for you.

[Beng]

I wouldn't have wasted 10 years with the wrong farang woman. Apart from that, the last 93 years have been kind to me.

[PeCeDe]

Rewrting the last 50 years would take more than a few lines !

and remember hindsight is perfect vision, the trials and tribulations that life's path takes us through also forms the person/character we have become.

Whilst there are many things I would like to "do over" or paths that in hindsight I shouldnt have taken, I did take them, and they ultimately brought me to where I am now, and I consider myself fortunate to have reached this point in my life and have achieved what I now have and the lifestyle I have.

No complaints in the end result. Often its not the destination, but the journey you took to get there.

I like where I am (mentally) now, just came in from my balcony looking out at the Chao Phreya and the Temples across the river. Are there things I would have done differently? You bet, there were things I did in my late teens, early twenties that to this day dog me, and will never go away, but although I haven't been in Thailand long, I truly believe I haven't been at peace with myself this way for a long time, if ever.

[PeCeDe]

I have done ok but i regret, wasting my time at school and not getting a decent education. I left at 15 , 1982 To work with my Brother on the Docklands, Ground work , pumping concrete, knocking the tops of of pile caps with a Jack hammer, quite a bit different from School. Ended up on LUL from 88 to 2002 and did a couple diplomas ect, Went to work in Taiwan 2002 and have been in Asia ever since. I'm quite lucky that I now know many people in the High speed rail Game and People who have left HSR and are on conventional Railways who know I can do a job, CM or anything to do with managing Track construction and planning. Any job I look at on Rail staffing agencies at CM level says "Minimum requirement Degree" my 27 year experience counts for bugger all.

An education , degree ect opens doors for a person at a much younger age. Where I come from and went to school people don't go to university pure Working class, factory fodder area, 5 years or grades in the school with 10 classes in each year about 1500 kids. Its the only school I know of where there was no school uniform, you could go as you pleased. The Headmaster was a BA who'd studied at Cambridge he wore his "Cape" when he took assembly so we all called him Batman. Unsurprisingly I don't know anyone from that school that went to University including me.If only I knew then what I know now. Any way I'm drumming in it into my 14 year old boy about studying and gong to University and he's working hard and wants to be an Engineer at the moment

You know what? To have had kid(s) and to have left them a better future than yours sounds like a resounding success to me!

[spiritrace]

I traveled the world. Had enough adventures to fill 10 lifetimes. I am 70 now and find I still have enough steam for yet more adventures, I just have to take it a bit slower.

I have no regrets and try to see the bad times as a lesson learned and get on with life.Yes, I agree that even the bad times were a learning event. Can't change the past but can avoid stupid mistakes in the future.

Just like in my past when I didn't listen to the old guys I see the same with young guys I advise. We all have to learn the hard way. My life has been full and gratifying. I'm happy as a pig in mud.

[PeCeDe]

Aha, my first love... It was magic. 15 17. He was hot and i was hotter. But we never did it.

I know his name - i could google him.

He had lovely green eyes. But it's always best to leave old memories where they are. With fondness.

My eye's are brown, does that matter?

[ExPratt]

<script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());</script>

I have done ok but i regret, wasting my time at school and not getting a decent education. I left at 15 , 1982 To work with my Brother on the Docklands, Ground work , pumping concrete, knocking the tops of of pile caps with a Jack hammer, quite a bit different from School. Ended up on LUL from 88 to 2002 and did a couple diplomas ect, Went to work in Taiwan 2002 and have been in Asia ever since. I'm quite lucky that I now know many people in the High speed rail Game and People who have left HSR and are on conventional Railways who know I can do a job, CM or anything to do with managing Track construction and planning. Any job I look at on Rail staffing agencies at CM level says "Minimum requirement Degree" my 27 year experience counts for bugger all.

An education , degree ect opens doors for a person at a much younger age. Where I come from and went to school people don't go to university pure Working class, factory fodder area, 5 years or grades in the school with 10 classes in each year about 1500 kids. Its the only school I know of where there was no school uniform, you could go as you pleased. The Headmaster was a BA who'd studied at Cambridge he wore his "Cape" when he took assembly so we all called him Batman. Unsurprisingly I don't know anyone from that school that went to University including me.If only I knew then what I know now. Any way I'm drumming in it into my 14 year old boy about studying and gong to University and he's working hard and wants to be an Engineer at the moment

You know what? To have had kid(s) and to have left them a better future than yours sounds like a resounding success to me!

Thanks mate. I had a choice to make 10 years ago when I left the ex missus and was looking after my 2 young kids., stay in Thailand and make a go of it, or back to the UK with them , which is more secure but I wouldn't be able to work while I had them on my own, so it would be case of living on benefits staying in some run down high rise council estate and my kids going to a school like I went to. I didn't want to bring my kids up like that , so I stayed here and touch would its worked out

[PeCeDe]

I traveled the world. Had enough adventures to fill 10 lifetimes. I am 70 now and find I still have enough steam for yet more adventures, I just have to take it a bit slower.

I have no regrets and try to see the bad times as a lesson learned and get on with life.Yes, I agree that even the bad times were a learning event. Can't change the past but can avoid stupid mistakes in the future.

Just like in my past when I didn't listen to the old guys I see the same with young guys I advise. We all have to learn the hard way. My life has been full and gratifying. I'm happy as a pig in mud.

Like your thoughts, and ain't it the truth... We all learn the hard way, as has been said "Youth is wasted on the young!"

[PeCeDe]

<script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());</script>

I have done ok but i regret, wasting my time at school and not getting a decent education. I left at 15 , 1982 To work with my Brother on the Docklands, Ground work , pumping concrete, knocking the tops of of pile caps with a Jack hammer, quite a bit different from School. Ended up on LUL from 88 to 2002 and did a couple diplomas ect, Went to work in Taiwan 2002 and have been in Asia ever since. I'm quite lucky that I now know many people in the High speed rail Game and People who have left HSR and are on conventional Railways who know I can do a job, CM or anything to do with managing Track construction and planning. Any job I look at on Rail staffing agencies at CM level says "Minimum requirement Degree" my 27 year experience counts for bugger all.

An education , degree ect opens doors for a person at a much younger age. Where I come from and went to school people don't go to university pure Working class, factory fodder area, 5 years or grades in the school with 10 classes in each year about 1500 kids. Its the only school I know of where there was no school uniform, you could go as you pleased. The Headmaster was a BA who'd studied at Cambridge he wore his "Cape" when he took assembly so we all called him Batman. Unsurprisingly I don't know anyone from that school that went to University including me.If only I knew then what I know now. Any way I'm drumming in it into my 14 year old boy about studying and gong to University and he's working hard and wants to be an Engineer at the moment

You know what? To have had kid(s) and to have left them a better future than yours sounds like a resounding success to me!

Thanks mate. I had a choice to make 10 years ago when I left the ex missus and was looking after my 2 young kids., stay in Thailand and make a go of it, or back to the UK with them , which is more secure but I wouldn't be able to work while I had them on my own, so it would be case of living on benefits staying in some run down high rise council estate and my kids going to a school like I went to. I didn't want to bring my kids up like that , so I stayed here and touch would its worked out

Benefits in the UK, is , how do they put it? "a glass ceiling", not a floor, it's a horrible way to live and I know you made the right decision, won't be long and you'll be like me "retired" and hopefully have a decent stream of cash coming in every month to live on, and look at your two kids saying, "look at them, I did that!"

[Stan42]

Je ne regrette rien.

[EmptyHead]

I certanly would not have bought that Thai red wine i am drinking now. Duped by the French sounding name they gave it (crafty buggers) i am now drinking something which isn't even made entirely from grape. "...and fruits," it says. And fruits...what does that mean?

So what would i have done differently eh?.... Well, apart from read the smallprint on wine bottles, I would probably try not to become a sex addict and maybe i would marry a woman with a bigger chest than me. Am i contradicting myself agan?

Anyway, back to the wine. Things will get better.

Edited March 29, 2015 by EmptyHead

[Docno]

I'm curious about the 3 people here who said they would either have joined the armed forces or stay on longer. What's the thinking behind that? Is it the pension or the 'hero culture' ("thank-you for your service") that has evolved in the US? The interesting thing about counterfactuals like this is that they involve an asymmetry of information: we know what has actually happened in our past, but we can only guess at how things may have been different had we made different choices in our life. Full knowledge vs guesswork (i.e., zero knowledge). So those of you who think joining the armed forces may have been a good idea may not consider the possibility that you could have died on your first day of duty in Afghanistan (or Grenada). In my own life, I look at my lousy first marriage but don't regret it because it led me to place (metaphorically) where I'm very happy... if that marriage hadn't happened, I cannot guess what my life would look like now.

No need to be in harm's way in the military, just get into an administrative specialty, work in an a/c office for 30 years, and do what you're told. You can retire at 48 and still tell war stories--just listen to all the barstool commandos.

Easier to join the police or fire service, same pensions and retirement age, less personal risk.

Yeah, but you only get called a "hero" for those 9/11-type events (though the hero-worship of police/fire services did linger for some time after 2001 in the US). That said, police and fire fighters in some places face far more danger than many people in armed services around the world.

Edited March 30, 2015 by Docno

[maidee]

no need to wish things you cannot change as only hurt will follow ... buddah speaking or something

[arunsakda]

I would have stuck with music lessons when I was young. Also tennis.

[i claudius]

To be honest I would not change a thing,I have had a lovely life,my family were quite well off,so I have never had to work to hard,have had 2 great kids a few more lovely wife's,have been all over the world ,was a naughty boy for a time ,but got away with it,even when I lost all my money ,an ex saved the day and started me off again,now I have a wonderful wife who is quite a bit younger than me ,but we have been so happy for over 20 years, I guess I have been one lucky son of a gun,

Edited March 31, 2015 by i claudius

[Ghostnigel]

An excellent contender, and so early in the year, for the most ridiculous 2015 TV post.

How do you lot make this stuff up, where does it come from ?

Do you dream these stupid ideas and then convert them into TV posts,

"if you can go back, what would you do differently" ?..... Ludicrous..... and yet people actually respond to it as if it were a perfectly normal subject.

So, you would go back and change your miserable mind-set then? Get a new life, ha ha, get it?

[EmptyHead]

Different woman, probably.

[RichieHuaHin]

An excellent contender, and so early in the year, for the most ridiculous 2015 TV post.

How do you lot make this stuff up, where does it come from ?

Do you dream these stupid ideas and then convert them into TV posts,

"if you can go back, what would you do differently" ?..... Ludicrous..... and yet people actually respond to it as if it were a perfectly normal subject.

Well worth a cyber like.

It's laughable to read these "wise reflections" from failed Westerners who ended up in Thailand for one reason only.

[how241]

Well said Crazy Chef 1.

Cant change t'he past, just learn from it.

+1...Good advice...

[elviajero]

An excellent contender, and so early in the year, for the most ridiculous 2015 TV post.

How do you lot make this stuff up, where does it come from ?

Do you dream these stupid ideas and then convert them into TV posts,

"if you can go back, what would you do differently" ?..... Ludicrous..... and yet people actually respond to it as if it were a perfectly normal subject.

Well worth a cyber like.

It's laughable to read these "wise reflections" from failed Westerners who ended up in Thailand for one reason only.

"failed", "one reason only". Your knowledge and insight of Westerners living in Thailand must have taken years of painstaking research to acquire. Thanks for sharing, but exactly what is the one reason us failed Westerners ended up in Thailand!

The only thing "ludicrous" is that thejcb feels the need to criticise a perfectly reasonable thread, and what's "laughable" is that embittered people like you make sweeping generalisations.

[RichieHuaHin]

An excellent contender, and so early in the year, for the most ridiculous 2015 TV post.

How do you lot make this stuff up, where does it come from ?

Do you dream these stupid ideas and then convert them into TV posts,

"if you can go back, what would you do differently" ?..... Ludicrous..... and yet people actually respond to it as if it were a perfectly normal subject.

Well worth a cyber like.

It's laughable to read these "wise reflections" from failed Westerners who ended up in Thailand for one reason only.

"failed", "one reason only". Your knowledge and insight of Westerners living in Thailand must have taken years of painstaking research to acquire. Thanks for sharing, but exactly what is the one reason us failed Westerners ended up in Thailand!

The only thing "ludicrous" is that thejcb feels the need to criticise a perfectly reasonable thread, and what's "laughable" is that embittered people like you make sweeping generalisations.

Quote: but exactly what is the one reason us failed Westerners ended up in Thailand

Answer: yawn