TotallyOz

She was fierce. I always called her my pistol packing mama. She always had a 2 shooter in her purse no matter where she went. When I first moved to NYC to go to law school, my present, a pistol. As a single mother of 2, she firmly believed that she had the right to shoot anyone who messed with her kids. When I was 12, she was a chaperon on a trip to Mardis Gras. That is embarrassing enough. We stopped to eat in New Orleans. There were a couple of older guys that took to one of our 14 year old girls. These local guys were a little drunk and happy. The followed the bus to the hotel. Everyone was talking about them and when the bus stopped, my mother told them to keep the kids on the bus. She strolled over to the car that was following and reached into her purse and pulled out the pistol. She persuaded them it was not a good idea to follow us any longer. Needless to say, I shrank into my seat and don't think I spoke the rest of the trip. Years later, the story made me very proud. But, was I was a 12 year old, I was not a happy camper.

I stood in this room the first time with a lad I reviewed on this site. He is no longer escorting but I had such a fantastic time with him seeing Rome and all of Italy with him. We stood in this room as long as we could and I was breathless. It brought me back to Freshman year and Art History at a small Liberal Arts College and only about 15 classmates. My dream was always to visit the chapel and I did. Sensational . . . click on the link below. When it opens, use your mouse to rotate to right or left, up or down. Sistine Chapel Click it and go. So Beautiful!

It’s time to take off the flip-flops and put on the dancing shoes as the cast of Dancing with the Stars season 11 is now in place. Baywatch alum David Hasselhoff will compete against Jersey Shore hunk Michael “The Situation” Sorrentino, as well as former NFL star Kurt Warner, singer Michael Bolton, Bristol Palin and actress Jennifer Grey, DWTS hosts Tom Bergeron and Brooke Burke announced in a live press conference Monday night during a new episode of Bachelor Pad. Also ready to hit the ballroom are Brady Bunch star Florence Henderson, Hills star Audrina Patridge, former Los Angeles Laker Rick Fox, singer Brandy, comedian Margaret Cho and actor Kyle Massey. http://tvwatch.people.com/2010/08/30/dancing-stars-season-11-bristol-situation-audrina/

A teacher canned about 40 students in a Thailand school for leaving their room messy. One of the kids captured part of it on his mobile phone. Two reports. Report One and Report Two

I came from a pretty tough red neck family. My uncles and cousins were always in trouble with the law and in state and federal prison. We had the FBI tap our phones as one of my cousins had escaped from prison and was on the run for years. Everyone in our community knew of the problems and we were pretty well looked down on by most but left alone for fear. When I was 7, my teacher took me to the hall to spank me for constantly talking. I looked up at her and said, "my uncle Rob said if you laid a hand on me he would come up here and kick your ass." The teacher was scared and would not spank me and took me to the principal's office. This man was the song leader in my church and the Boy Scout leader. He asked what I said and I told him, "my uncle Rob said if you ever laid a hand on me he would come up here and kick your ass." I was 7 and didn't know I was doing anything wrong but that is what my uncles had always told me. They called my mother. She came to school and beat the living shit of me in front of them. Told them not to waste her time with this shit and it was OK to spank me and put me back in class as she wanted me to have an education (something the rest of my family did not have). Luckily for me, she won the war. But, no teacher in that school or any other school ever laid a hand on me.

JK, try Season 1 of Dark Blue and The Good Wife. Both are great shows. Also, I do love Bad and Weeds from the cable power houses.

How is it possible to get your ass wider with doing this. I honestly don't get it.

I love Modern Family but was a bit surprised when it beat out Glee. Also, Breaking Bad kicked ass in the drama category. One of my favorite shows, The Good Wife, didn't win as many as I would like. But, overall, a great year for TV. http://edition.cnn.com/2010/SHOWBIZ/TV/08/29/emmy.awards/?hpt=Sbin#fbid=eaIDsVRzvJf&wom=false

From October 1st, Emirates will introduce the new double-deck Airbus A380 on its daily Bangkok/Hong Kong service. On the internet, economy return prices are quite high at Bt. 7,635, but business class return is about the cheapest for that route at Bt. 14,900.

A headache.

They do have introductory specials. They have started to do Bangkok to Hong Kong and and the rate for Business Class is around 300. For that, I'm willing to give it a test run.

I will say that for once, I am speechless!

There is another thread that discusses Boyztown. When many foreigners talk of "going over to Boyztown" I ask them where they went and they will discuss the entire area. I guess I often lump all 3 Sois into the "Boyztown" term. I am sure there are some that get upset with this. But, I do wonder how others view this area. What do you think of when the word Boyztown comes to mind?

The new A380 First Class looks amazing. http://www.emirates.com/english/flying/our_fleet/emirates_a380/first_class/first_class.aspx

http://photography.nationalgeographic.com/photography/photos/best-pod-may-2010/#/pantanal-birds-brazil_19477_600x450.jpg

On August 26, 1920 the 19th Amendment was passed giving Women the right to vote. On August 26, 1970, millions of women all over the country marched and demonstrated on its fiftieth anniversary and the Women's Movement came front and center in the social conscience of America. The days of the Second Class Citizen would be gone . . . mostly. Well, there is that issue of Equal Rights in the workplace some forty years later. Still, August 26, 1970 was a pivotal change for many people and it was the beginning of a new era. One of the biggest demonstrations took place in New York with marchers estimated at between 10-50,000. On hand to address the crowd were founding members of the Women's Movement, among them Betty Friedan, whose 1963 book The Feminine Mystique has been credited as sparking the feminist movement. Betty Friedan: “The great debate in Theology of the 60’s was is God dead? I think the debate of the 70’s will be is God He, and I do not say God should be She. But I think that unless we can see the highest possible creation and creativity in Female cause as well as Male, we have not reached the next step of Human evolution.” Forty years ago today, celebrating ninety years ago today. http://newstalgia.crooksandliars.com/gordonskene/womens-right-vote-40-years-on90-years-

TY, give him a break. He is not even worth 20 billion yet.

LOL Great pic!

I realize that many are posting for the contest. I should have been more clear in the rules. But, please do not reopen topics older than 3 months unless there is a need to do so. From here on out, if a post is opened that is older than 3 months, a moderator has the right to place it invisible which means it will not count toward the a tally. I apoloigze for this in advance but some very old threads are being revived and while some of the comments are still useful, they have run their course. Thank you in advance for your understanding.

I can't access the SGT board. It says the account is suspended. That may mean the hosting has not been paid and as soon as they pay, the board will be live again. This does not look like it is a problem with the government censoring the board. It seems to be more of an account issue with their hosting company.

The BF was watching Thai TV and they had a TV crew talking about a raid in Boyztown last night and the bar X boys. Has anyone seen any news reports of this?

When someone lives overseas most of the year, you often yearn for home and to keep in touch with your country. There are many ways to do this and I am sure some of you will give some great advice on this. One of my favorite things when I was in USA was to read The New Yorker. I missed it when I left years ago. I have now been a New Yorker Digital subscriber for years. I love reading the magazine and as a digital subscriber, you get access to ALL the old issues and articles. It is pretty amazing. I wanted to test the site on my IPad and I was pretty amazed they they very quietly updated their site to recognize the IPad and direct you to a nice way to use their service. I still prefer to read my weekly digital issue on the computer, but the new IPad structure tells me they just keep up with the times. http://www.newyorker.com/

I had a great time meeting so many people. The company was great. The stories kept me entertained. Thank you to all who came. A special thanks to Ya and his staff for hosting a great party. They did a fantastic job and were very in tune to what we needed all night. Salt and Pepper catered the event and IMHO, the food was great. Everyone seem to enjoy it and the Chicken Wraps were a big hit. Thanks to Scooby who paid for the food for the evening. It was great that they suggested we have this before I leave LOS. Several of us wandered into Nice Boys after the event to take some M & M's. The boys loved them. Again, it was great to meet so many of you. I hope we do this again.

Associated Press Cuba embraces 2 surprising free-market reforms By WILL WEISSERT (AP) HAVANA — Cuba has issued a pair of surprising free-market decrees, allowing foreign investors to lease government land for up to 99 years — potentially touching off a golf-course building boom — and loosening state controls on commerce to let islanders grow and sell their own fruit and vegetables. The moves, published into law in the Official Gazette on Thursday and Friday and effective immediately, are significant steps as President Raul Castro promises to scale back the communist state's control of the economy while attempting to generate new revenue for a government short on cash. "These are part of the opening that the government wants to make given the country's situation," said Oscar Espinosa Chepe, a state-trained economist who is now an anti-communist dissident. Cuba said it was modifying its property laws "with the aim of amplifying and facilitating" foreign investment in tourism, and that doing so would provide "better security and guarantees to the foreign investor." http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gG8qLd4ozL5rvaQHbiJPOHvtnRpQD9HS34FO0