Mr. Smooth

It's a damn shame that the people of these tropical countries where so many of us have visited for years, or now have made our homes there, have to be subjected to the absolute worst displays of vile, ugly and disgusting behavior by Westerners. Watching that video was enough for this guy to show what an abject bottom feeder of a man he is. His mouth will get him in some real trouble one day.

A month after I turned 56, I called it a career with the postal service. Combined with previous military experience, I walked away with a decent pension along with a social security supplement (an amount that a federal gov't retiree gets if they reach their minimum retirement age before 62) which will stop upon my eligibility for social security at 62. The timing worked out for me as a few weeks after I retired, my mother was diagnosed with early stage dementia and within a few weeks, I had moved her in to my house to care for her. By that summer, we relocated her to my sister and brother-in-law's home where my sister had quit her job to care for mom full time. She is now in a care home. I lost many co-workers over the years, mainly health reasons, and I vowed that once I felt I could afford to leave, I would at the earliest possible time I could. I would eventually sell my home of 30 years in the Sacramento, Calif area and downsize to a mobile home in Las Vegas where I live now. My plan, or goal, was to move here to have a home base in the States, but to only live here about 6 months a year and travel the other 6. Many of you who live full time in Thailand, or specifically Pattaya, I find inspiration in, as you guys chose to live your life to your standard in a foreign country of your liking with good weather, mates, western-type amenities, and a choice of companionship when you like. Like others here, I too miss many of my old co-workers, a few sadly who have passed on, but in reality, not quite 3 years after I left, there are really only a small handful, maybe 4-5, who I still keep in touch with. That old saw about being "out of sight, out of mind", really is true. No regrets about retiring when I did. My biggest concern is keeping good health. As I have no current health problems closing in on my 59th in 7 weeks, I'd like to think and hope my best years are still ahead of me.

I was told similar when there in January. Buzz shows up for the, at least at the time, twice a week pub crawls, and as with other YT personalities like Nick, promote their "brand" to help the bar financially, though with Nick, he has an actual financial stake with his bars as well as that hotel on Soi 7 directly across from his Pick Up Corner Bar, or Hook Up Corner, whatever the name is. Then of course, all the YT'ers eventually get around to promote everybody else's business on their own channels, like some little clique. These guys are all canibalizing off each other, way too much of the same content, same yada yada yada. I used to watch fairly regular, especially in high season, but now, there just isn't a whole lot of content worth watching. And these Sunday streams....who da fcuk can watch that crap for 90 minutes or 2 hours, or longer, unless they're an invalid? Everybody who has a YT channel all think they are unique in what they do and how they go about presenting their content, when in truth, they are all just trying to reinvent the wheel, while making some coin to help pay their bar tab. Make sure to like, subscribe and share.

One of my favorites! Great show and very rare for a central figure, Shelly Long's character, Diane, to leave and be replaced with Kirstie Alley's, Rebecca, and the chemistry between Sam and both of them stayed the same, if not even better with Kirstie. I'm not a morning tv guy, had no idea that Harry Smith was with NBC. He was on CBS for a long time and was the host of their morning show for years. A nice remembrance, Glass.

What I would like to see happen is any and all female athletes, whether high school or college, if knowingly going up against a trans-athlete, walk away from the competition as a form of protest. Be it swimming, track and field, what have you, just use their voice to boycott the competition as a show of solidarity toward the right of biological females to participate in sports without this idiotic sham involving trans-athletes. Ain't it funny how in all this hubbub, there has yet to be any trans going the other way, and demanding to be allowed to participate in a men's competition? No girl who identifies as a male going out for the football team. No tranny demanding to fight a man in the same weight class in a boxing ring. No shemale joining the men's wrestling team, tennis team, etc. Any shemales want to try out in the NFL? I can see it now, a tranny going over the middle on a pass pattern and getting obliterated by the free safety, thereby suffering severe injuries that might result in lifetime damage. And still, some radical feminazi sports writer will pontificate in a column about how unfair the NFL is toward trans-athletes. Where the fcuk does it stop? And where are all these supposed women's groups protesting this bastardization of women's sports? Aren't they supposed to show support for women in all facets of society? Aren't they about giving women an equal opportunity to succeed in whatever chosen field they wish to pursue? Yet, these groups choose to remain silent as their daughters now fight another barrier thrown at them....biological males identifying as women now being allowed to compete along side them. It's the beginning of the destruction of women's sports at the high school and collegiate level unless the women themselves band together and say enough of this foolishness. Or until some court rules that female sports are the exclusive domain of biological females to participate in. But until then, the ladies need to protest by refusing to go along with this sham.

That opening riff is still, to me, the greatest pre-game introduction music in team sports. When the Chicago Bulls arena went dark and the laser lights started fanning throughout the crowd accompanied by this riff just before the Bulls players were introduced, you couldn't help but get hyped, even sitting at home, for the opening tip off between the Bulls and whoever, especially a playoff game during the Jordan era.

I enjoyed a nice, large glass of Hoegaarden at the Beer Hubb in front of Tree Town. I think it was 269 baht, but the size of the mug was huge, only had one. But it was maybe the single best beer over the 3 weeks I was over there this past Dec-Jan.

I have a Canadian friend there now and he sent me a couple of pics of the madness from his seat at the Zero Bar on Soi Buokow. He said traffic was practically at a dead stop, then just very slowly would get moving again. I'm sure a few of you are familiar with the location. Great for people watching, but like others, I'd rather not be around for any of the cluster fcuk going on. Just hope any potential motorbike accidents caused by the water being fired at passing riders are few and far between. I find it strange that due to Covid protocols these past few years where the government canceled Songkran altogether, why can't they, along with the local BIB course, then limit the festivities to say, 3 days, when it's back to being celebrated again? Isn't that a closer time frame to what the spirit of the celebration was in the first place?

The utter disrespect of some foreigners, and I include a huge number, sadly so, of my fellow Americans, with the above example, just pisses me off to no end. Some of these brain-dead idiots really need to be forcibly sent back on a plane to their home country and continue with their classless behavior there. There are just some people who, by their actions and/or imbecilic behavior, as guests of another country, should have their passport revoked!

Is that the unofficial name for that confluence of Buakhao, Diana and Lengkee....Khaos Corner? If so, very appropriate. I've sat at Nikom many times with a large Tiger and watched in amazement how the traffic all merges together in different directions, as if there was some invisible turning circle with everyone yielding to the oncoming vehicles on their left. Watching it all unfold, along with the occasional sexy lady on a motorbike passing through, does make for some entertaining scenery!

As had I, probably 80% of my trips from either SF or LAX, were with Eva, and was checking them out first on my upcoming return in late June. But FFS! Their economy fares now are what their prem econ fares were in 2019! But not just them as I have found on Kayak, that overall, fares across the board to SEA have gotten so much higher than what they were, no doubt the price of jet fuel in this day and age having gone up so much, the cost being passed on to the consumer. I finally settled on Korean Air in their standard econ, which according to Seat guru, their 777's offer up a 33-34" seat pitch, which is more than the 32" Eva offers, for the trans-Pacific flight into Seoul. And the connection into BKK is the same. I flew them in 2019 and couldn't believe the space I had in economy when seated upright, as my knees were at least a good 3-4" from the seat back in front of me. Was about the most comfortable flight in economy I've ever had for an international flight. That and the fact that they fly from Vegas and that saves me at minimum, several hundred dollars by not needing to book a separate return flight to a west coast airport.

Yeah, I'll be fine. Saw the dam back in late January, I'm about a 35 minute drive away. It was about 55 degrees cooler when I was there then from when you were! Stayed about an hour and a half.

October was always my favorite month of the year when living in the Sacramento area, as it was still plenty warm enough during the day, but not overbearing, while the evenings were quite comfy with maybe a hint of crispness to the night air in the second half of the month. Same with SF and the Bay Area in general. I once read that before deciding to move the NY Giants baseball team to SF, to go along with the Dodgers move from Brooklyn to LA, Horace Stoneham, the Giants owner, took a look at where the Giants would eventually be playing at if they made the move. The trouble was, he was there during October, when the weather was picture-postcard gorgeous. Unfortunately, as Giants fans would come to find out, as well as the owner, attending a night game in July was a different matter. Thank God now for that gorgeous ballpark, the finest sporting cathedral in America, after several decades playing off of Candlestick Point. What a miserable place to watch a baseball game that place was. The wind must have kept Willie Mays from breaking Babe Ruth's HR record before Aaron got it. As Mark Twain once famously said, "The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco". I'm still outta Vegas and escaping that desert heat, dry or not, come end of June for a long spell, off to Thailand for a couple weeks then East Africa, where it's surprisingly cool, in July and August. About low 80's daytime, low 70s at night. Back in Sin City by end of September. Perfect!

For what it's worth, as I write this from Las Vegas, a few days away from April, it is currently 56 degrees, that's Fahrenheit for our non-American friends, and I had the heater on last night set at 72. I know it's going get hot as we get deeper into the year and closer to summer, but for right now, I've put off buying a Weber grill for outdoors cooking because of the very unseasonably colder temps. It's about 12-14 degrees cooler than normal, and we're getting the aftermath of all the storms that have ravaged California over the winter. But...I know that Southwest desert heat is coming.

Since the March-May time of the year is the hottest, do any of you full time expats ever make plans to return home to America or Canada, England, Germany, Australia, etc....to escape those brutal temperatures in Thailand? I can only imagine when the temperatures reach 35-40 degrees Celcius, which is roughly 100-110 degrees Fahrenheit, how refreshing it would be to experience a rainy, overcast day with temps in the lower teens (around 50-55 F), even if it was only temporary. Do you guys miss that type of weather at all or are you satisfied with the trade off in higher, uncomfortably hot temperatures at this time of year in living in LOS?

I've often thought of them as mall cop rejects, so we're pretty close to having the same dismissive attitude toward them. I think the entire airport security apparatus needs to be given an overhaul and since it's the airlines who are in the business providing their services to the flying public, then I think it should be them deciding on what security measures to be put in place instead of the federal government. It shouldn't matter much on the air fare because the taxes paid on those tickets goes to help pay for all those TSA personnel anyway. But, TSA are here to stay.

For years I had put off applying for the TSA pre-check classification, which, if successful, would allow me to go through the security check at a US airport without needing to take off my shoes, belt, etc...and also not have to wait in those long ass lines with everybody else impatient and grumbling to get through. As an overseas traveler, departing from a major hub like San Francisco, Seattle, Los Angeles or Dallas-Ft Worth, among others, has been a pain in the ass with lines that stretched and snaked around and through the roped off security entrance for over 100 yards or more. Well, I finally applied for the pre-check status, received my appointment time and it wound up taking all of 5 minutes to be finger printed, photographed, being asked a few questions, then having my cc charged the $78 USD fee for the new classification, which is good for 5 years. I was told to check my email, click the link provided, and my new redress number would be there in 2-5 working days. Well, the guy was right as 2 days later, I received that email and got my number. Now, when booking a flight online, just fill that number out in the redress box and on the day of travel, with boarding pass in hand, I would be directed by TSA personnel at the airport security entrance, to head over to the pre-check express line. So, I now have it and for the next 5 years, and beyond, as I'll pay the fee to renew it, there will be no more excessive waiting in security lines to get through into the terminal, no more taking my tray to a bench to put on my shoes again, belt and so on. To me, beyond that inconvenience, the amount of time saved makes it worth it to me. Gliding right on through with the flight crews, grabbing your carry on off the conveyor belt and moving on in a matter of maybe 2-3 minutes, just enhances the whole airport experience and removes a lot of the unnecessary hassle, especially at the major hubs which are always so busy with passengers departing for wherever in the world they are going. Any of my fellow Americans bm's travel with that status, or have thought about it? Is there an equivalent in European countries that will allow you to avoid the long lines and enjoy a small level of "VIP" status when heading out on an overseas trip? Next for me is the Global Entry, which is similar except it's for when returning from a foreign country and being allowed to go through the "express" lane for your passport check at immigration, but was informed that there is at minimum, a 4-6 month time frame for getting an interview appointment, and possibly up to a year. That's fine, I'll wait.

I become aware of who is playing when and where based upon when I see the announcement come across my FB feed. When I click on for more information, it shows whats available and where in the venue they are. Not all are going for outrageous prices, but the big names pretty much are. Bill Burr, I think who is on par with Dave Chappelle, coming in May and the cheapest for him was $65 plus all fees, for the back of the venue. On the floor, well into triple figures. Taylor Swift has two stadium shows, Friday and Saturday night, meaning she will have sold about 110,000 tickets, and I can't even find out how much any of the remaining tickets cost as you have to sign in online and wait. But.....to just park your car at the stadium costs a whopping $50 USD! TO PARK THE DAMN CAR!!!! Shortly after moving here, I read that Adele, who had a residency here, was having trouble filling the venue she was performing at, I think it was Caesars Palace, but not sure, and people were being able to buy unsold tix for as little as $100 to fill the seats, sitting nearby people who had paid exorbitantly more money for their seats. I guess I view such things through the lens of what that amount of money spent would get me on an overseas location, even Pattaya, and would it be worth it to me. I say no, I'd rather have that cash to spend when I take off. I'm sure many of our bm's, if they live in or near London for example, would question an act coming to the Royal Albert or O2 with whether to pay the huge sum of pounds for a ticket to see them or save up that money for that flight to BKK. But, as has been said, somebody, actually a lot of somebodies, are paying these prices so the market dictates the cost. I'll settle for a premium economy seat with ample leg room, thank you very much.

Everyone I know who has seen Bryan Adams has said he puts on a terrific show and makes sure to play the "hits" that the audience wants to hear. Unlike somebody like Van Morrison. Glad you and the wife had a great time. Sorry to say, since the move to Vegas, I haven't made it to any concerts. The prices on the secondary markets, such as Stub Hub, for some of these acts is just outrageous. Where you two sat for this show, a similar seat for Sting, coming in a couple weeks to play as series of shows, were going for as much as $2900 USD, per ticket, 7-8 rows back. Thats a premium economy ticket at Christmas for nearly 40 hours in the air round trip to BKK. Sorry, but I guess I won't be standing so close to him since I can't afford that. Talk about highway robbery! Somebody should call the.....oh never mind! Cheers Mike!

Bobby Caldwell, dead at 71. Probably his best known hit, and for nearly 40 years, I had always thought it was a black guy singing! I, and many others, were surprised he was white. Some of the reaction videos on YT show how surprised black people were to find out when listening to the song for the first time, Caldwell was white. Great tune....RIP.

For me, the greatest western ever made. I watch it about once a year. Numerous YT segments about it, including Henry Fonda telling the story on the old Dick Cavett Show around '71 where when they were about to start filming, he wore brown contacts, thinking if he was playing a bad guy, the brown eyes would look more sinister. But when he showed up on the set, Sergio Leone was beside himself, yelling in Italian, wanting his natural baby blues highlighted as there were many immediate close ups. It worked of course, and upon his grand entrance in the movie after the murdering of the family, when the camera pans around from the back to show Fonds's character, with those blue eyes, the effect was incredible! Has a bad guy character ever had a more dramatic entrance in a movie when matched to the ominous sounding theme music? And what a musical score! My favorite of them all, by the legendary Ennio Morricone.

Unfortunately, the Marshall Tucker Band would lose brothers Tommy and Toy Caldwell, Tommy in 1980 from an auto accident in Spartanburg, SC and Toy from cocaine in '93. Toy is the guy with those great vocals singing "Can't You See" in that video.

Had the pleasure of seeing them 3 times, twice in the 90's and once in the early 2000's. On that last concert, they opened for ZZ Top and played about an hour, squeezing in as many of their classics as they could in the limited time. So many of their songs stretched out for 6-8 minutes, so as to let their musicianship shine during extended solos. And Gary Rossington definitely shined as bright as any guitarist I've ever seen on stage. He was the last of the original members to pass on. But in reading his obit, the man battled all kinds of health problems, including heart attacks, that it's a wonder he made it into his 70's. In a strange bit of irony, I believe they were going to be touring this summer and their opener was going to be none other than.....ZZ Top. RIP.

There are too many of them who all show the same crap. Just video a repeat of what some other guy did 3 days before. You can only watch LK Metro or the same loop around Tree Town so many times before boredom sets in. Who leads such a boring life that they feel the need to pay a Patreon membership to watch girls play pool at a bar thousands of miles away while they sit at home on the sofa eating a bologna sandwich? At least in your case, you're bringing news and info that people may find interesting. A guy with a Go Pro riding around Soi Buokow checking out "whats new" in Pattaya only to see that it's all the same, gets boring. But that same guy on a bike crashing into a noodle cart on the street, causing damage and injury, then By Gawd, that's news and you get to tell us all about it in those dulcet tones of yours. There's a difference!

What a great write up on your 2 days in Bangkok, Mike. I'm glad you finally got a chance to plan something and meet up with a few of the guys, just too bad we couldn't have all made it last month when I was finishing up my trip and we had originally planned to meet. Ah well, another time hopefully. I agree with the view that the one lady does resemble your wife, and yes, they COULD almost be sisters! I'm looking at a short visit in late June for about 10 days before heading off to Kenya for a 2-3 month stay. I avoided Bangkok for nearly 20 years prior to my previous visit in 2019, and after this most recent trip in January, that won't be happening again. Just too much to see and so many women around to "ogle", and more! A stay in Bangkok will be a part of every trip back from now on. Thanks again for the great pics and comments.