Lucky

Oliver arrives next week! My scale says I am down 23 pounds, but that's the new scale, which may be giving me a 4 pound grace. So, it's either 19 or 23, but not 25. If 23, I can drop 2 by February 1st.

Here are the tallies to date for those who entered the MER Contest: EXPAT 634 Lucky 280 Lurkerspeaks 91 FourAces 79 BiBBoy 77 JKane 73 Five contestants are under 50 300 posts are required to get in the raffle.

First of all, Mr. Yankee said that bitching was a sign of life, and that that was good. So, I bitched. A trial lawyer is always taking a witness' words and using them in the most detrimental way. So, I dissented by taking Ty's words and using them in a trial lawyer fashion. He didn't like that, proving my point that "any sign of life is good" was not quite what he meant. Most witnesses don't like it when they speak carelessly and have their words turned against them. Of course, he is not a witness, but it seemed to me to be a pretty direct way of showing that "any" sign of life was not good. Not sure how Mitt Romney figures in this, but he doesn't like having his words from earlier campaigns used against him either. As for the knees, mine are not great either. After an 11 hour flight to Tokyo, I got down on the floor at Narita to get into my carry-on. Getting back up was a bitch as my knees had stiffened up on the flight. I was embarrassed, yet grateful, when a woman in Muslim garb came to me and extended a helping hand. There. I got the gripe, the Mitt, and a bit of travelogue into one post. (And now for Vietnam too!) As for Vietnam, I have been there, and did not see anyone who looked like those movie stars I posted in the picture gallery.

Costa Rica is supposed to be a wonderful place to visit, not that far away, and relatively cheap. Plus I hear that they have rentboys available.

There will be no war. I am a pacifist. BUT, look how many posts the Pub got since this morning. Even Lookin came out to play. I didn't succeed with my post though... (hehehe...Fortunately, a few are interested enough to bitch -- any sign of life is good. )

The stated goal of the website is now "any sign of life is good." That will certainly encourage more posting. I don't quibble with EXPAT's strategy for winning the contest, I quibble with whether the contest has proven good for the website and enhances my reason for being here. It isn't, and it doesn't. Those who have posted less since the contest began are given no reason to reconsider. Other websites already do Hollywood gossip, and do it well. But if that's what you want to encourage, well, you da boss.

Ah, well. When someone sees his post drop to the second page rapidly due to the influx of new posts by one person, that does not encourage that person to keep posting. That's how I see the contest rules as counter productive. Nonetheless, the powers that be have ruled, and the chips will fall as they may. We will no doubt be aware of any nominees to virtually any award show though. If that's what you come here for...

So many streetside eateries in Thailand were unappealing to me. But, they are so popular with the locals, who I think know best.

Thus semen is the essential for this diet. Lots of seeds plus fluids keep you healthy.

Who knew? Oh, probably a few billion people in those far away lands called Asia.

EXPAT has 27 of the threads in the Politics forum main page, so it is easy to think he might be overdoing it. BUT, he is following the contest rules, which encourage this very thing. So any objection must be directed to the admins and not EXPAT. It is clear to me that he will win for most posts and could ease off, BUT the contest also rewards for achieving a certain number of posts. So I say don't blame EXPAT for trying to win, blame the contest rules. Perhaps it is time to review them and see if they make for a better message center. As Simon likes to say: Just saying.

It is available on DVD, and perhaps at Netflix.

People need to remember that the president appoints federal judges. My reaction t this story was that it would be easily overturned by an appellate court, but you can't count on that since the politicalization of the courts.

A few days after this story appeared in The nation, it appeared in the Bangkok Post- the very same story! My search skills continue to fail me in finding the article, but here is a similar one along with the trailer. The movie is available on DVD. Lost in Paradise One of the movie's stars is Hồ Vĩnh Khoa, shown here:

I added a post about this in the Pub, where we talk about the Renaissance hotel. It's security checks made clear that the Thai government's insistence that there was no threat were pretty hollow. The Thai government was clearly pissed that the US issued the warning, and shortly thereafter, they recognized Palestine, perhaps in retaliation.

Ah, 444. Firecat had told me to check him out as I was bound to like him. So three nights I went to the bar where he worked, but he was not there. Thus, when firecat came to town, I asked him to go with me. Sure enough, 444 was there, and yes, I liked his look. He turned out to be a quite pleasant guy, and I had my hopes up for a renewal of old Thailand memories. But not to be. 444 was as eager as he could be, just not hard. I am sure that he is straight, so imagine what it must be like to go to work every night with the expectation that you will be hired to do things you don't enjoy. But, as they say, your mileage may vary, and no doubt firecat will bring out the best in him. I did tip him extra since I made him sit through the show for 40 minutes even after he confessed that it did not interest him. I liked it, though. Nude dancers, break dancers, clothed dancers who could really dance, one of whom had the most charming smile. I would have hired him just to see him smile at me.

Now I am less happy with the hotel. When checking out, I verified that I owed nothing, but now see that they added a $63 charge to my bill. I don't owe it, but have to go through the hassle of contesting it.

Most dragons breathe fire, don't they? Now having read your review, I see that he does not kiss or engage in anal sex. He only receives masturbation and oral sex. Yet you enjoy him enough to see him 3 times, so he must have special skills that appeal to you. Thanks for the review.

Oz asks how my visit compared with my 13 previous ones, and the answer is easy. I don't think any visit compares with your first one, where it is all new and you are amazed at all the available boys. Thailand has changed a lot since my first visit in 1987. No longer so demure a people, they have risen up in protest, both as red shirts and as yellow shirts. Their economy has taken off. So many can now afford a motorbike, the luxury malls are a beacon of capitalism, and materialism. So, what was in some ways a more innocent country has given way to a more confident people who no longer look the same at the farang as they might have in the past. Which isn't to say that things are worse for the farang. The bars still proliferate in the areas we know. But it is all more commercial than before. (Those luxury malls are very busy.) I remember a time when money wasn't such a big factor. Perhaps it was because I was younger, guys used to approach me on the street with no desire other than to practice their English. The one who said he wanted to do so on this visit was an older man, who really didn't need the practice, but just wanted to make conversation and give his opinions. I didn't have the pressure of needing to cram in as much sex as I could. Age has taken care of some of that, but my tastes have also become more limited. I don't care for skinny guys, and I don't enjoy being with guys who look 14, even if older in fact. The guys in Bangkok appealed to me the most, as big cities are more appealing to me anyway. Pattaya has many charms, and a great beach. Well, the beach is in Jomtien, but I stay in Pattaya. But those damn baht buses are not comfortable in any way. Cheap, though. I paid the same amount in 1987 as I did this year. The same at the beach. For a dollar, you get an umbrella, two chairs, and bar service. The cost of an hour's pleasure was about $20 in 1987, and at has risen a whopping 50% or more today. Is that a deterrent? Hardly! (Do the math, it's about ten dollars!) No where can one find the quality and the quantity of available men that you do in Thailand. Plus there is so much else to do. What was missing? In my heyday, as it were, I learned a little Thai and developed some friendships. A guy would be interested in your company for several days. That's what I was hoping to find this trip, but did not. Of course it could have happened, it just didn't. And I have forgotten much of the Thai I learned. For the first time, I had boys complain. a) you didn't let me fuck you. letter following a*)) I want to come inside you even if you say no. c) you didn't tip enough for that wasted half hour massage. I want double. It was my first experience with a guy lying to justify more money, and it was disturbing. Another guy could not get hard. It made me wonder why he was in the bar business. But I did have the traditional great experiences too- guys who were happy to have been selected and worked hard to please. I would still hope that the few negative experiences were a rare aberration to my history of good ones. (The letter following a types out like this: ) But I did enjoy so much else. I walked until I had no water left inside me. The people watching is beyond compare. The shopping constantly entertaining. The architecture amazing. The river life fascinating. And where else can you stay in five star hotels for a $100 a night? Although I do travel well by myself, I also enjoy having someone else along. In Pattaya, firecat69 and I enjoyed an evening out, and it was quite fun. He knows a lot of people and I saw things I would not have seen otherwise. The same was true last year when Oz took me around Pattaya. Living there opens many doors that the short time visitor doesn't get to see. On the other hand, at the beer bar we went to, one table was filled with white-haired old men and not a Thai at the table. If I want a table full of white haired old men I don't have to leave town! I'd like to think that if I lived in Thailand my life would include a multitude of Thai friends. (Firecat seemed to have many of them!) So, when am I going back? Who knows. I never plan the return trips, they just happen. I did have some unexpected pain problems on this one, and the pain meds caused increased sweating. In the humidity of Thailand, you don't want more sweating. I would like to go back right before Christmas, when, at the winter equinox, the temperatures actually fall under 70 at night. The Thais put on their leather jackets, and build fires. I just enjoy. But I did enjoy this visit, it just wasn't in the top 4 of my 14. So I have reason to go back and see what I can improve.

Let's see, I went to Rio on a tour. They took us to Sugar Loaf and then the Christ statue. Afterward we did a walking tour of a favela. The next day we went downtown and saw the historic buildings and the gaudy new cathedral. At nightime we went to Ipanema for shopping. Finally, on the 3d day, I asked the guide why we didn't see any of the famous sauna boys, Oh, he said, tomcal is in town, they are all busy! Nice reports, tomcal. We can all envy your stamina and the strength of the dollar- well, at least your dollar!

hehe...they are reed thin oldsters who no doubt sit at the buffet and wonder how those Americans can put away so much food. We hear about Asian reticence, Asian manners, Asian respect for elders, but what we have are normal people who observe and judge like everyone else, but don't always express their opinions. In this case they did, even after I showed them a courtesy, but it was good natured and I really took no offense. Now, can we expect hitoallusa at the Palm Springs Weekend? Last year you said you would come but for a trip to Japan...

A sad state of affairs, huh, Simon? Since you seem to have self-appointed yourself the dragon of MER, why not give us examples of posting that you find constructive and inviting of other members participation? So far we have seen you trash others with some degree of skill, but not much else. Well, you do kiss up to management when it suits you...I mean, they have let you keep your "voice" here despite getting called on the carpet more than most other newbies do. We do agree that the website cannot thrive when the only ones responding to threads are the original poster and the guy who sees fit to criticize everyone else. But if all you can do is trash people, then your presence here contributes nothing over the long run. I'd rather post with Scott Adler.

Wow. Not a soul here interested in Chinese New Year? Or is the Expatriation of the forum moving threads down so fast that no one gets to see them? Ironically, it was EXPAT himself who posted on this last year.

Thanks for the encouraging comments. In my mind, I am working on two final posts for this thread, but damn I need some sleep first. I have been up for 32 hours straight now and endured 3 flights. LAX was an absolute nightmare as we went through customs and then had to re-go a security check. But the lines were enormous. Only for the grace of one kind soul who let me cut the line did I make my connecting flight home. 4 passengers did not.

Could it be that this hotel has made a special offer with the full knowledge that it might be a target of terrorists? The US Embassy recently issues a warning to Americans in Bangkok that there was clear and credible evidence that they could be subject to terrorist activity directed specifically against Americans, with the weekend of Friday the 13th being thought to be a possible target date. One of the 3 venues that worried the Embassy was on Sukhumvit Road. As is the Renaissance. Well, the Thai government was quite upset with the US warning. The Yankees had held off for weeks in an attempt to work with the Thais, who were afraid that any warning would deter tourism. They made statements to the effect that no terrorists would act in Thailand, because the government had such matters under firm control. This kind of head in the sand approach worried the Americans and the Israelis, who had developed the original intelligence. Once the Americans issued the warning, the Thais quickly arrested a subject and declared that no threats were now expected as the arrested man said that they had been canceled. Yes, we were to believe the terrorist here. But wait. Soon a raid on his business turned up tons of potential bomb making material. He claimed to be a mere hairdresser, and many believed him when he said that he was being set up. How does all of this relate to the Renaissance? Well, they must not believe that the threat is over. I ended my Bangkok visit by staying there, and ingress and egress were strictly limited. Anyone, guests included, entering had to go through a metal detector and have all of their bags inspected, even if checking in or returning from shopping. I got my room for $91 a night, without breakfast, but they did offer a 20% discount on same. The breakfast was very good, the bed very comfortable, the decor dated, and the terrorists very quiet.