many emails today...

received a number of emails today. the smothers brother informed me they will be at the lobby tomorrow night. buckteeth billy is trying to give me a few tips on what to talk about on my blog. (maybe he should start his own blog - hint, hint, hint.) the sarge sent me some neat pictures. the watcher gave me the lowdown about his trip so far in china. some of my family have joined me in www.geni.com.

a couple of text messages... the bay area boys are back in town. a secret admirer?

pretty much just spent the whole day indoors twiddling my thumbs, watching tv, and playing computer games.

curious about the debate on marijuana. so, surfed the net for about an hour reading up on that subject matter.

the biggest thing that I did today was cook up a big batch of padkapow moo with plenty of hot peppers, garlic, and holy basil leaves. thanks to beautiful, I know how to make the stuff now.

it's about 10pm at night right now. I guess I'll get up, shower, and go to the lobby to see what is going on over there.

life is good.

all day with da brain.

started the day by meeting up with da brain over at mbk at around 3pm for lunch. from the food court, we went to la gateau (coffee shop) for a cup of hot java. da brain needed some stuff for the return trip. so, we spent like 2 hours shopping for the items. we parted ways at around 6pm. when da brain left, I continued with the window shopping for about an hour. then, hopped on a bus to go back home. ..took a power nap. later, I got a call from da brain to meet up for dinner. he's bringing along beautiful. at around midnight, da brain announced that it was beautiful's birthday. tonight, da brain will host a private birthday party for beautiful.

for personal reasons, I cannot make it. since I won't make the party, let me just wish beautiful a happy birthday now.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BEAUTIFUL!!!!

after dinner, the 3 of us - da brain, beautiful, and I - just chatted about a number of things. a little pass midnight, da brain, and beautiful went home. I went over to the parking lot to hangout. saw gandhi. he just got into town. it was a slow night. but I made the best of it.

it's about 5am now. time for some sleep.

having money problems, you say?

the following is a true story that happened to me on one of my first trips to thailand.

back in 1995, I fell in love with this girl while on vacation in bangkok, thailand. she worked as a model for this car dealership. it was love at first sight. having just experienced a divorce after being married for like 7 years, I was a total rookie on how to deal with these new feelings of mine.

all I wanted to do was please this new love in my life. towards that goal, I bought her a gold bracelet, invited her to eat out with me whenever we gather together, even took her on a trip to this beach resort for a week.

this relationship (if you can call it that) lasted for close to 3 months. and cost me close to $10,000 dollars. this may seem like a small sum of money to many of you reading this story. but to me, it was equivalent to the amount of money I would save working for 4 months on my job back home. in thailand, in 1995, let me tell you - spending over $3,000 dollars a month is living like a king.

so, what happened you ask? more important, how did I deal with the money that I had just wasted on this short affair?

ok. the girl ended up marrying this other guy - who had more to offer her. as for the $10,000 I had racked up on my credit cards. ...well, I'm chinese. and we chinese in general are savers. I basically took a big hit on one of my bank accounts.

did it hurt, you ask? ..both mentally, and financially.

if you ask me, will it happen again? ..I doubt it.

for you guys out there who want to learn the hard way, and don't have the savings to take the hit, let me offer you this online credit counseling site that can possibly assist you to get you "out of the hole", so to speak.

Credit counseling

a day of meditation and reflection.

didn't do too much last night. went out to get some money to pay my rent. along the way, I noticed a public display of photos near the central world mall. spent like an hour reviewing the pics. interesting stuff.

afterwards, I just hopped on a bus and went home. paid the rent. back in my room, I laid back in bed and rested my mind. got so relaxed, I went to sleep. woke up at around midnight. mind was empty like I wanted. decided to play some computer games. and would you believe it? it is now about 6am. not sleepy at all.

I guess I'll go take a shower now, and roam around outside a little. it will be somewhat of a change to observe the world in daylight. maybe I'll go to the 24 hour grocery store down the street and stock up on food.

after that is done, not sure what to do. will play it by ear....

walking street was fun.

had fun checking out the gogo bars with mike jagger last night. with drinks averaging about 55 baht, hanging out at the bars was affordable. we must have hit about 5 places. afterwards, I came away from the bar scene with a smile on my face and a wallet that was still intact.

mike jagger was still in commando mode after all the oogling. but I was starting to tired out. so, I left him on walking street and went to the 24 hour mcdonalds over in the royal garden mall to munch on a late night snack before going back to the hotel to sleep.

a happy memory.

after a few hours rest, I woke up and went to the lek hotel breakfast buffet to fill up. then, I boarded a bus back to bangkok. the time was about 10am. I was still pretty sleepy when I boarded the bus. slept all the way back to bangkok. I think I must have snored quite a bit because everybody on the bus kept staring at me when we arrived at our destination.

I got back to my apartment in bangkok at around 1pm. STILL sleepy, I went to sleep AGAIN after starting up the washing machine with a load.

I feel ok now. ..rested. the time is about 6pm. da brain called me a couple of times during my sleep. but I cannot recall what we talked about.

anyway, I think I can make it to the lobby tonight. all of a sudden, I feel really hungry. ..guess I'll call da brain and see what he is up to.

finally made it to pattaya.

around 4pm yesterday afternoon, I boarded a bus to pattaya, and arrived around 6:30pm. I was really hungry at the time. so, instead of getting a room right away, I made a stop over at the lek hotel all-you-can-eat buffet, and stuffed myself full of baby back ribs. called the bay area boys to see what they were up to. and then, went looking for a room. found this place for 400 baht a night. and after taking a quick shower, went cruising around the old haunts. ..so many new changes since I was in pattaya last - about 6 months ago. got a call from the bay area boys - errol flynn, dennis the menace, and thor. met up with them. hung out a little. around 11pm thereabouts, I went over to walking street to meet up with mike jagger. tried to touch bases with beenthere and hammer, but was not successful. I know bill cosby, and the smothers brothers are here. but have not seen them yet. anyway, mike jagger and I did the people oogling routine like everybody else was doing. I downed like 4 beers during the time we were walking around. 4 beers is a lot for me. I was feeling somewhat drowsy. ended up going home slowly walking down beach road at around 2am in the morning.

today, I changed hotels and then went to eat at the apex breakfast buffet. dennis the menace joined me. we ate. he rented a motorcycle. gave me a lift back to my hotel. I popped in to rest. and the next thing you know, I slept another 4 hours. ..it's about 4:30pm now. and in a half baked half awake mood, I'm writing this post. when I am done here, I will endeavor to get to the royal garden mall, and do my old man shuffle around there. if there is a good movie playing, I might do that. otherwise, I will head to mcdonalds, and lay about there sipping on a coke, and munch on a cheeseburger - another one of my routines when I am in pattaya.

tonight, I am not sure what I will be doing. maybe go check out one of the gogo bars, and walk down beach road for a looksee. I am thinking of returning to bangkok early tomorrow morning because my maid is coming in at around 9am. later tonight, if I don't think I can make it, I'll call her to reschedule.

that's it from this half dead, down and out, drowsy lounge lizard.

veging at home.

this afternoon, I stayed home and played SOTSE. the shadow called me a number of times as he progressed from his hotel to the airport. for those of you who are not up to date on what's going on.. the shadow is leaving bangkok today - going home. anyway, he wanted to try taking my cheap route to the airport. 35 baht one way - victory monument bus #551 to the new airport. as it were, he ended up taking the victory monument bus #510 to the OLD airport. oh well - learner's fee.

got a call from mike jagger. confirmation that we will be going to pattaya friday afternoon. again, we shall see how that turns out. bill cosby, the smothers brothers, errol flynn, dennis the menace, thor, beenthere, and hammer will all be there. let's just see if I can hook up with them when we get there later today.

didn't go to the lobby tonight. opt to rest for the festivaties in pattaya the next day. don't know why. but my mind is focused on those babyback ribs at the lek hotel dinner buffet. ..tender juicy succulent babyback ribs, melt in your mouth ribs... YEAH!

the clock shows 5am. got to get some beauty sleep now in preparation for those ribs TONIGHT.

something came up.

the time is about noon. ..just got word from mike jagger, he can't make it to pattaya today. so, I've decided to postpone the trip down until maybe tomorrow. maybe for the best since the bay area boys are not going down until tomorrow anyway.

it'll also give me a chance to see kaito one more time tonight to shoot the breeze a little. things happen for a reason.

I guess I'll go hang out at one of the malls today since I am awake already. noon is early for me, people. I normally wake up at 4 or 5pm. hehehe.

anyway, my thoughts are turning to food all of a sudden....

padkapow moo over rice. ..followed by a hot cup of java. aaaahhhhhhhh.

another standup day.

had another great day today. it started out with da brain, beautiful, the shadow, and I meeting up for dinner at the oishi express buffet over at the jusco building in rachada. we ate until we could not eat anymore. normally, I don't do the oishi express buffet more than once a month. but since it was the shadows last day in town, I said - why not? after dinner, da brain, beautiful, and I went over to the homepro plus store to do some shopping. the shadow went home for a power nap.

come 9pm thereabouts, da brain and beautiful went back home. I went to the big T to hang out. the place was practically dead. there were like 30 girls and 10 guys hanging out at the club. but there was no energy at the scene. the scene reminded me of a high school prom where all the girls lined up on one side, and the guys lined up on the other. I couldn't take more than 30 minutes of all this. ..after finishing my hot coffee, I left and went to the parking lot.

at the parking lot, things picked up. the shadow appeared. as did kaito. 2 guys from the past appeared - beenthere, and hammer. even though he has been here before, hammer is a rookie. he's happy. and full of energy. in commando mode. it appears hammer may live here in the near future. after chatting a bit, they went off into the sunset with guns at ready. hammer reminds me of tripod.

later on, the mountain man passes by. he came by to get his routine chicken in a basket. tells me some tennis match is going on. and he has to get his chicken and go home to watch tennis asap. ..the guy pays over 1500 bucks for the airplane ticket. he's here for a few weeks. and he wants to spend his time watching tv. ...confusing picture.

didn't see dennis the menace, or errol flynn tonight. but thor made a cameo appearance.

the stunner came by to flirt with me. saw sky blue with her big smile. and gorgeous with her blonde hair. didn't see cutie pie.

the shadow is leaving for home today. he told me he may return in december. kaito also told me that he is leaving tomorrow. thinking of returning in january.

before calling it a night, I called up mike jagger to see if he still wanted to go to pattaya for a day or 2. current status.. appears there will be 9 of us in pattaya in the next couple of days. should be fun. haven't been there in like 6 months.

..I'm wondering if they still have those babyback ribs at the lek hotel buffet in pattaya. aaahhhhh. I can still remember the tender juicy slabs of meat melting in my mouth the last time I was there. babyback ribs... YEAH!

hanging out to the max.

stayed out until 4am tonight. one of those nights where I had so much fun hanging out with everybody, I forgot what time it was.

I woke up around 4:30pm. made a pot of padkapow moo to go with my rice. stored the rest of the batch in my frig for later consumption. did a load of laundry. played SOTSE for about 4 hours. around 10pm, I took a shower, dressed, and headed out to the lobby to hang out with the guys.

a lot of new people showed up on the scene. and more than the average number of lounge lizards made an appearance tonight.

roll call.. buster, lincoln, mike jagger, the shadow, the mountain man, hawaiian bob, cowboy bob, timberwolf, zorba the greek, errol flynn, dennis the menace, thor, kaito, kumas.

thor introduced me to his new girlfriend - busstop betty. cute girl. speaks fluent english. there were a number of new people that I was introduced to. but offhand, I can't remember their names. so, I won't bother doing any intros for now. if they become frequent faces on the scene, I'll do the intros then.

around 3am, errol flynn, dennis the menace, and I went over to the burger king across the street to eat a snack. afterwards, I took a bus back home.

here it is, close to 5am. and I am about to take a shower before retiring for the day.

the shadow is leaving on thursday. we discussed going to the oishi express over in rachada later today as a going away meal. we'll see if it becomes reality.

the watcher is back in china. lomax went to the PI.

received email from buckteeth billy, the sarge, and the watcher.