Life of a Lounge Lizard

as planned, I got back home before midnight...

bangkokbuddy@hotmail.com (Bangkokbuddy) — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 18:00:00 +0000

the scene at the lobby while I was there could be summarized in one word - DEAD.

I got to the lobby at around 7:30pm. and stayed until 11pm. during that time, I bumped into a number of lounge lizards. as you can imagine, the main topic being discussed was quote, "what will happen tomorrow with the red shirts in town?".

roooooll CALL!!! bronson, the handsome man, arnold schwarzenegger, the silver surfer, roger 8 bellies, singapore jimmy, the analog man, the barber, my wife, YOUR wife, misty, jazz, the heineken girl.

my gut feeling tells me that the reason why the lobby is somewhat slow tonight is because of the red shirt rally tomorrow.

get this, there are police all around. and contrary to some reports that they don't have guns, ..they do.

this is an eyewitness report.

over and out.

the red shirts are in town.

bangkokbuddy@hotmail.com (Bangkokbuddy) — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 10:36:00 +0000

for those of you who are wondering why I didn't post too much info on my blog about the impending red shirt rally tomorrow on sunday, it should be a no brainer.

..scary stuff is not fun to read.

but if you are curious, check out http://www.thaivisa.com for the latest news.

I woke up at about 1pm today. did two loads of laundry. the time showing on my clock now is around 5:40pm. I am thinking of going down to the lobby for a few hours. but returning before midnight.

I'm fully stocked for a month. so, if worst comes to worst, I can hibernate in my room for a while. with my computer games, I can keep myself entertained easily for a month. (that is, if they don't shut off the electricity.)

I read on the internet that gasoline will not be sold in bangkok starting tomorrow.

one of the red shirt leaders said he would burn bangkok if the current government starts any violence. (talk about inflammatory.)

anyway, guess I'll get up and go wander outside now. will report as always when I get back from tonight's festivaties.

hmmm?... the silver surfer was suppose to call me today for dinner. I wonder what happened to him?

YET another lounge lizard arrives....

bangkokbuddy@hotmail.com (Bangkokbuddy) — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 21:01:00 +0000

it seems like lounge lizards are arriving every day. today, I saw kuma sutra.

other faces that I haven't seen in a while include playpen, sweetheart, and someone whom I think was winnie the pooh sporting a new look. (could be wrong?)

very few lounge lizards were hanging out in the lobby.

roooll call.. timberwolf, bronson, dutch callahan, the priest, the handsome man, kuma sutra.

outside, I saw my wife, misty, the heineken girl, cherries jubilee, the magician, toshiba, the colonel, and YOUR wife.

nothing extraordinary happened tonight. it was just me and the priest at the very end. I left him at about 2am. boarded the 3am bus. got home at 3:20am.

tidbits... tiger is leaving on sunday. I spoke to him a little tonight. got a call from the silver surfer. he tells me that he and mr. aloha are busy, busy, busy. tomorrow, mr. nonami is coming back from pattaya. da brain is coming back from the kite festival on monday.

anybody looking to buy a used 29" LCD flatscreen toshiba color tv? the watcher has one for sale. he's asking 4000 baht.

nothing else to report. time to sleep.

it was a slow day overall, BUT....

bangkokbuddy@hotmail.com (Bangkokbuddy) — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 21:05:00 +0000

I did bump into 2 lounge lizards who just arrived into town. AND I met a new lounge lizard. (not bad considering.)

the 2 lounge lizards who just arrived are arnold schwarzenegger, and santa claus. the new lounge lizard is a friend of chow yun-fat. french guy. not sure what to name him. think I will place it on the back burner for now.

the day started out with my going over to thai immigration to get my 90 day notice. the bus ride to the place took me about an hour. and the actual time to process the 90 day notice took about another hour. add an hour for lunch. and the total time was 4 hours. UGH!

when I got home from thai immigration, I was ready for a power nap.

woke up from my power nap at 7pm thereabouts. cooked up a snack. watched some tv. and played my computer game for a little while.

started the journey to the parking lot at around 9:30pm. the first lounge lizard that I saw was brian piccolo. we talked for about 30 minutes. then, I went outside into the parking lot. that's when I saw arnold schwarzenegger. here for 2 weeks. we chatted about nothing for maybe 30 minutes. then, the priest arrived. another 30 minutes of bullshit. decided to go into the lobby to rest my little feet. in the lobby, I saw timberwolf.

at around midnight, chow yun-fat popped up out of the woodwork. he brought along the new guy. for about an hour, chow yun-fat, the new guy, the priest and I traded stories.

at 2am, I decided that it was time to start the journey back home. but before doing so, I went and took a peek at the new disco. man, it was packed. (?) where did the people come from? whatever.

as I was walking to the bus stop, I bumped into santa claus. he's here early. I thought he was going to arrive with the other bay area boyz. but evidently, he had other plans. we talk for like 15 minutes. and that was it.

I caught the bus back home at 3:15am. and here I am doing this post.

time to sleep.

didn't make it to the lobby last night.

bangkokbuddy@hotmail.com (Bangkokbuddy) — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 04:30:00 +0000

at the last minute, I found out that I had to go to the thai immigration. so, rather than go hangout, I stayed home. it is now about noon time. I just got back from doing my 90 day notice.

I think I will take a power nap now. later on. like at night, I will make a beeline to the lobby.

got a call from the watcher telling me the lobby was deserted last night. sounds weird especially since there are so many lounge lizards in town. guess people found other things to do.

I must admit. hanging out in a lobby does get old after a while.

oh well. time to get some beauty sleep.

whoa! it's 5pm in the afternoon already...

bangkokbuddy@hotmail.com (Bangkokbuddy) — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 10:00:00 +0000

about 2 hours ago, I got this call from the silver surfer asking if I wanted to hangout. he and mr. aloha were going to have lunch at the mbk food court.

being a vegetarian, mr. aloha wants to try out the papaya salad.

anyway, there I was still groggy from waking up suddenly having a hard time keeping my eyes open. ...trying to figure out what time it was. this was at about 3pm mind you.

do I get up and meet up with the silver surfer, and mr. aloha? that was the big question.

here I was laying in a comfortable bed with the air con on snoozing away like a baby. do I want to get up and go out? what would YOU do?

that was 2 hours ago.... it's now about 5pm. I'm fully rested. and my little tummy is making noises.

what's the plan???

cook some food at home. plow into that while watching o'reilly on tv. around 8pm, make a beeline to the lobby.

that's the plan.

the watcher is BACK!

bangkokbuddy@hotmail.com (Bangkokbuddy) — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 03:26:00 +0000

just got a call from the watcher. there I was sound asleep dreaming of this other life I had in another world when all of a sudden I was rudely awaken by the watcher! the time was about 10am.

..he's BACK from china!

I gave this lounge lizard the nickname "the WATCHER" because he is much like "da BRAIN". whatever they touch turns to gold. no joke. they reek of good fortune. and don't know about failure.

they are like gods when it comes to business ventures. lo and behold! the watcher cometh. pay homage to he who knows....
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watcher_(comics)

the WATCHER!

after about 5 minutes of chatting with the watcher, I said my farewells and went back to my beauty sleep. this lounge lizard will need at least another 4 hours of sleep. otherwise, he will peeter out early again tonight.

the WATCHER is BACK!

no plans for later on. wake up maybe 3pm. take a shit. shower. ..eat. around 8pm, get dressed, and head on over to the looooobby.

another happy day in the land of smiles.

bangkokbuddy@hotmail.com (Bangkokbuddy) — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 21:17:00 +0000

continuing from my last post...

I met up with mr.nonami, the silver surfer, and a new guy over in mbk at around 4pm. haven't decided on a nickname for the new guy yet. he's from hawaii. ..maybe "mr. aloha"?

anyway, we all make a beeline to the sukishi all-you-can-eat buffet on the 7th floor of mbk. and we feast like there was no tomorrow. we left the place at around 5:30pm so full we had to walk around a little. we ended up walking about a mile from mbk all the way to the central world mall. then, we hopped on the skytrain.

got off at the nana stop, and hooked up with the priest for a drink over at the beer garden. met this nice girl who liked to chat.

after the beer garden, we all went to the parking lot to hang out a little. the silver surfer and mr. aloha peetered out on us at around 10pm. jetlag.

it was just mr. nonami and I holding up the fort. we cruised over to the big T, and hung out there for about an hour. then, I peetered out. mr. nonami was planning on going to pattaya tomorrow. so, the both of us hopped on the last train back out to our pads. that was at about 11:30pm.

along the way, mr. nonami got a phone call from tiger.

when I got home, I'm not sure why. but I started playing with my bowling balls. I've got 3 that I haven't touched in like 6 years. the next thing you know, I'm shining them, and rolling them all over the floor. for some reason, the finger holes don't fit me anymore which means I will probably have to get them refitted if I want to play bowling with them again. fat fingers? UGH!

then, I got on the internet and started reading up on all sorts of things connected to bowling including the PAP, CG, drilling balls, etc.

3 hours later.... it's about 5am now. whew! where did all the time go????

guess I won't be hitting any golf balls at the driving range today. too late for that. will maybe sleep until 3pm.

just spoke to the silver surfer.

bangkokbuddy@hotmail.com (Bangkokbuddy) — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 07:53:00 +0000

it's about 3pm. just woke up from a 3 hour power nap. first thing I did was try to contact da brain to see what he was up to. seems he is busy with a friend who just arrived into town.

so, I then call up the silver surfer to see how he is doing. he's meeting up with mr. nonami for a late lunch over at mbk. wow! just what the doctor ordered. of course, I ask if it's ok to join up with them for lunch.

nobody wants party crashers, you know.

in a minute, I'll shower down, and get dressed. then, head on out to the wild blue yonder. it's great when there are so many lounge lizards in town. always somebody to hang out with.

life in the big mango.

later...

it was hot.

bangkokbuddy@hotmail.com (Bangkokbuddy) — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 04:21:00 +0000

I woke up at 7:30am today. and as planned I made it to the golf driving range at 8am. at 8am, there was only one other person there hitting balls. it was like this for the entire time I was there.

I guess early morning at the golf driving range is not very popular.

I hit 160 balls as I had planned. 4 trays. it took me about 2 hours to hit all the balls. god o'mighty. it got hot at around 9:30am. not sure what the temperature was. but I was sweating like a dog. and dogs don't sweat.

it's about 11:30am now. not sure what to do. maybe I will go back to sleep. save my energy for tonight, and the loooooobbby.

the plan.

stayed at home today........

bangkokbuddy@hotmail.com (Bangkokbuddy) — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 16:31:00 +0000

there are times when I just feel like staying at home to rest. and today was one of those days.

I did like 3 loads of laundry. watched tv. and practiced my golf swing in my room. that is what I did all day.

it's getting close to midnight right now. I thought about going out and taking the last train into town to hangout at the lobby. but I have this urge to go to the golf driving range tomorrow morning. and that urge won out. hehehe.

tomorrow should be a busy. besides going to the golf driving range, I might be going to the oishi express for dinner.

maybe I'll see the silver surfer tomorrow night. mr.nonami told me he is going to pattaya on wednesday. and come thursday, da brain will be busy with his kite festival. barnaby tells me that kaito is in pattaya now.

the thought has come to me to go to pattaya since so many people are there now. but I'm thinking of being down there when the bay area boyz hit town. that would be around the 19th. zaitoichi is coming on the 24th. and has invited me to dinner on the 28th.

young gun told me he will be back from new york sometime early march. ..this is early march. my guess is - he will make a surprise appearance. lounge lizards like to do that. the gecko comes to mind.

anyway, that's the latest news. time to get some sleep now. if my calculations are correct, I will be at the driving range at around 8am tomorrow. can already see those 160 balls lined up to be hit.

good night all.

what's in my 30 day supply of provisions?

bangkokbuddy@hotmail.com (Bangkokbuddy) — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 08:33:00 +0000

I just received this email from one of the lounge lizards. he's curious as to what I have in my 30 day stash of provisions.

here's the scoop...

10 tins of canned pineapple.
15 liter cartons of assorted fruit juices.
40 packets of assorted ramen noodles.
15 packets of assorted rice porridge.
10 tins of canned tuna.
5 tins of pork and beans.
5 cans of assorted beer. (for guests)
1 liter bottle of vodka. (for guests)
1 liter bottle of whiskey. (for guests)
3 liter bottles of coke.
3 bags of coffee (each with 30 packets).
10 bags of assorted chips.
2 dozen eggs.
1 pint of peanut butter.
2 jars of assorted jams.
20 lbs of jasmine rice.
2 bags of chinese sausage.
2 ten gallon containers of water.
5 lbs of fish sticks.
5 lbs of chicken ham luncheon meat.
5 lbs of assorted dim sum.
2 bags of potatoes.
2 bags of onions.
1 bag of frozen peas.
1 box of ###doms.

so, what do you think, pilgrims? is that enough for 30 days or what? yeah. I know there is not too many vegetables listed. but hey, if the world comes to an end like in that movie "2012", who cares. right?

at least I'll have something to eat.

my 30 day stash of provisions.

WHEW! it's 1:39pm.

bangkokbuddy@hotmail.com (Bangkokbuddy) — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 06:38:00 +0000

just woke up from sleeping about 13 hours. guess I was a little tired.

I really don't see how da brain can make do with just 5 hours of sleep a day.

anyway, I feel really hungry right now. after this post, I'm going to chow down a little. don't have anything planned for later today except to maybe go to the lobby tonight.

according to mr. nonami, the silver surfer is coming back tonight. with a rookie no less. it should be fun seeing him again. haven't heard from the priest for a couple of days. I wonder what he is up to?

many lounge lizards in town right now. all came in the last week. let's do a lineup to remind us who arrived this week... tiger, mr. nonami, the handsome man, da watcher, the silver surfer, the priest, dj dobbs, giovanni, gandhi, the pope, russell crowe. ..did I miss anybody?

leaving town within a week are the family guy, and the swan. wishing you guys a safe journey.

others arriving later this month include errol flynn, dennis the menace, the x-man, santa claus, brad pitt, frank sinatra, orcaray, whatshisface, young gun, da bowler, zaitoichi.

not sure why march is such a busy month. but then, does it really matter? just happy to see everybody.

time to eat...

splurging at makro.

bangkokbuddy@hotmail.com (Bangkokbuddy) — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 17:07:00 +0000

didn't wake up at 8am. so, I didn't go out to the driving range. at 10am, I got this call from da brain. "..ready to go to makro?" wow! talk about being early. originally, it was suppose to be noon time for makro. but da brain finished up early with beautiful.

rush, rush, rush. I quickly cleaned up, and ran to the underground. met up with da brain at 11am on the dot. we go to makro. I love shopping at makro. we ended up shopping at the place for over 2 hours. finished at around 1pm.

boy! did I splurge. filled up my frig. got dimsum, fish fillets, hotdogs, luncheon meats, frozen vegies, etc. I now have enough food to last me at least a month. such a good feeling.

after storing everything away, I took a 1 hour power nap. woke up at 3pm. next thing on the itinerary was to meet up with da brain, mr. nonami, and tiger for dinner at the fishhead restaurant. meeting time was 5:30pm. we got to the fishhead restaurant at 6pm.

it was a feast!

we finished up at the fishhead restaurant at around 8pm. and decided to get a foot massage. my favorite foot massage place is at the corner of sukhumvit soi 8. called the "Prauw Spa". if you want to get a foot massage that is therapeudic, this is the place to go. no joke.

I got an hour foot massage. finished up at about 9pm. and went straight from there to the lobby. saw bronson, jack dawson, giovanni, the handsome man, clarence o'doul. while shooting the breeze, mr. nonami tells me that "the silver surfer" is coming into town tomorrow. ..spread the word, ..spread the word.

we checked out the new disco. cool! sort of quiet. but the night was still young.

at around 10pm, tiger came over. he and mr.nonami do a disappearing act and head over to the gogo bars. I didn't join them because I was so tired, I decided to board the last train to return home.

after I finish this post, I will go to sleep. it's been a looooong day for me.

the disco is up and running.

bangkokbuddy@hotmail.com (Bangkokbuddy) — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 22:42:00 +0000

yes, people, you heard me right. the disco is up and running. according to some of the lounge lizards who stayed up late last night, the place was packed at around 3am. currently there is no cover charge. so spread the word.

back at the farm....

wanted to go shopping for some golf related stuff. woke up early. but had to do some chores. 2 loads of laundry. at 1pm, with all my chores out of the way, I made my way to the golf stores over at sala deang.

talk about perfect timing. the mall where all the golf stores are located is currently sponsoring a "golf fair". all kinds of golf stuff were on sale. I bought a new golf glove.

at around 3:30pm, da brain joined up with me. we did some window shopping. da brain bought 2 golf gloves.

at around 4:30pm, da brain and I went to this new coffee shop located near the sala deang BTS. we talk. at around 5:30pm, we parted.

before going over to the lobby, I stopped by this nearby KFC for dinner. did some window shopping. then, I hopped on the underground.

got to the lobby at 7:30pm. there were a handful of lounge lizards hanging out in the softseats. ..the handsome man, timberwolf, the family guy, the swan. we all shoot the breeze.

at around 9pm, dirk bonapare joins the board meeting. followed by russell crowe. the minute russell sits down, we hear screaming, and shouting coming from the hotel reception. ..some people are pissed off because they have to pay for staying at the hotel. (?) in the middle of the soap opera, snake blissken drops by.

after the drama passed, I went outside to walk around a little. I'm feeling a little tired. I think my body still hasn't recovered from the driving range the other day. saw my wife, jazz, hello kitty hanging out.

at around 10pm, I meet this guy who tells me he has spoken to me before. I can't remember him. a friend of chicago joe. (I will call him chicago john so that I will remember who he is in the whole scheme of lounge lizard land.)

chicago john asked me to send chicago joe a message.... quote, "how's everything in chicago, bro?"

at around 11pm, I leave the parking lot to go home. my battery has run out. I do baby steps all the way back to the underground. saw dirk bonapare there. he has the same idea. go home on the last train.

I remember collapsing in bed at exactly midnight. and now, I've got 6am showing on my clock. toilet run.

the thought crosses my mind to get up now and go to the golf driving range to hit some balls. but on second thought, it will be a busy day for me. makro in the afternoon, and fishhead restaurant at night. do I really want to tired myself out now?

100 baht for 4 trays of balls. 100 baht for 4 trays of balls. god o'mighty! it's so tempting. I could just take with me to the driving range a few clubs to practice with. the 9, 7, and 5 irons. 160 balls!!!! such a deal!!!!

I think I will go back to sleep and see what happens. if I wake up before 8am, I'll go. otherwise, get up at 11am for makro. that's the plan.

the day started with fox news...

bangkokbuddy@hotmail.com (Bangkokbuddy) — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 02:47:00 +0000

it was an hour of glenn beck, and hannity. I tried to get a little bit of o'reilly in there too. but alas, da brain called me up. asked if I would like to join him at mbk to hangout a little.

we met at 3:30pm. did coffee at the gateaux coffee shop. we talk. da brain is really busy right now. what with the kite festival, the GF, and the salon, he doesn't have much time for anything else. I guess da brain likes to be busy.

during the short time we were together, he got a call from tiger. tiger is BACK! another surprise arrival.

we parted at around 5:30pm thereabouts with plans to meet up again maybe on sunday. golf driving range, makro, and perhaps a meal together. we'll see.

from mbk, I went over to siam paragon to do some window shopping. and eventually made my way from there to the lobby. as soon as I got to the lobby, I remembered that I had planned to meet up with jack dawson for the free buffet at 7:30pm. so, it was a mad dash to get there.

after the free buffet, we went over to the parking lot. it dawned on me that the new disco was opening up at 8pm. curious, the 2 of us walked by the place. saw the owner all dressed up walking around the place. peeked through the door of the place to see all the neon lights, and music going full blast. ..but no customers. (?)

..there were still workers all over the place putting what I think were finishing touches to the disco. the place looks good. still, it may take another day or 2 of work before it can really open. whatever.

at this point, jack dawson and I parted. he went to meet up with some other friends. I walked over to the lobby. nobody there. it was about 8:30pm.

at around 9pm, the handsome man came by to chat a little. timberwolf walked by. saw the swan and clarence o'doul. for some reason, I started yawning a lot at around 10pm. feeling really tired. even closed my eyes for a while. decided to call it an early night. went home at 11pm. as soon as I got back, I fell asleep in my clothes. yeah. that tired.

it's about 10am now. got about 9 hours of sleep now. feeling good. the plan for today includes going over to the emporium shopping mall. jack dawson told me that they have some deals on golf items. I'm going to check out his tip. afterwards, will go to the golf stores over near sala deang, and do some window shopping there too. nothing else planned for today.

tidbits...

mr.nonami is here now. got a call from him. haven't heard from da watcher yet.

the latest...

round 2 of the debate on healthcare reform.

bangkokbuddy@hotmail.com (Bangkokbuddy) — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 02:57:00 +0000

in an earlier blog post, I put forth an argument against obama's healthcare reform plan. I basically said that obama's healthcare plan does not address the rampant runaway costs associated with medical care in america.

imo, penalizing the insurance companies will not solve the problems of rising insurance costs.

in response, I got several rebuttals from readers. one person put forth the question quote, "why is it so many countries in the world have universal healthcare and america doesn't?"

good question. curious myself as to why, I did some research on the net. and here is what I found out... other countries put a lid on the runaway costs. they don't allow HUGE malpractice payouts. they form panels of experts that meet annually to decide on how much their doctors can charge for the services they render. the same with drugs. and get this, for the most part, if you are an illegal alien, you don't get treated. PERIOD.

READ...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_care_reform_in_the_United_States
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_health_care
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socialized_medicine
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_care_compared#Cross-country_comparisons
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monopsony

can america do the same thing? imo, yes. control the runaway costs, and yes, we can have universal health care too. do what the other countries are doing, and it will work.

I did a focused review of obama's healthcare reform plan. and I came away thinking..he's going at it too fast.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_care_reform_in_the_United_States
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_care_reforms_proposed_during_the_Obama_administration http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_care_reform_debate_in_the_United_States

imo, we first need to control the runaway costs.

1) put in place laws to eliminate the out-of-control malpractice payouts.
2) put in place committees that oversee how much doctors can charge.
3) remove ANY loopholes (like social security section 1903) that would allow illegal aliens access to our healthcare system.
4) control the cost of drugs without damaging the current incentive system (patent) in place which has brought forth all the new drugs in the last century.

without putting in place a solid foundation to control costs, imo, universal healthcare in america will fail. we need a system that has accountability. we the people need to know where every nickel and dime is spent before we can ok universal healthcare. otherwise, we open the doors to rampant corruption.

does obama's healthcare plan as it now stand encompass accountability? you tell me.

was there accountability when he ran the stimulus bill? was there accountability when he tackled the meltdown? the are so many details left out as to where the money went, and for who wanted certain items approved.

for all we know, much of the money could have ended up in the pocket of corrupt politicians.

is this what we want?

a day of surprise appearances...

bangkokbuddy@hotmail.com (Bangkokbuddy) — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 20:53:00 +0000

after the early morning roundavue at the golf driving range with da brain, I met up with some of the lounge lizards for lunch. we did sizzler/central world mall at 4pm. those attending were dj dobbs, the priest, mickey rouke, and I.

after the lunch, we did some window shopping at central world, and then went to pantip plaza for a looksee. at around 7pm, we all parted.

from pantip plaza, I made a beeline to the lobby. met up with da brain. we talk. da brain has a lot of things going on right now.

after maybe an hour in the lobby, we all walk outside to checkout the scene there. saw a few lounge lizards that I haven't seen in a while. ..cherries jubilee, gandhi, roger 8 bellies. met a new lounge lizard. his name on my blog will be clarence o'doul.

other lounge lizards out and about... jack dawson, chow yun-fat, the swan, giovanni, the handsome man, dj dobbs, the pope, bronson, timberwolf, honda, the family guy, misty, my wife, YOUR wife, jazz.

to chicago joe - some good news... the disco is opening TOMORROW.

sort of tired now. been up since 8am. 8am-4am... 20 hours! I think I'll sleep in tomorrow. only thing scheduled for tomorrow is - the free buffet with jack dawson.

another day at the driving range.

bangkokbuddy@hotmail.com (Bangkokbuddy) — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 05:02:00 +0000

I woke up at about 8am today. altogether I had like 8 hours of sleep. at 9pm, I made my way to the golf driving range to meet up with da brain. this was only my second time up to hit golf balls in like 13 years? not sure how long ago it's been. maybe longer. I think I gave away my own set of golf clubs about 12 years ago just before I moved over to bangkok.

anyway, da brain has been very nice to me. he lended me a full set of golf clubs to use plus a golf bag to store them in. while I try my hand at golf again.

in the past, I never was very good at golf. and it shows at the driving range. hehehe. but I'm not there to impress anyone. hitting balls is good exercise. and that is precisely why I don't mind pursuing the activity.

hopefully, it will help me to lose the calories that I gain when I go on my food binges at the buffets.

my clock is showing about noon now. just got back from hitting 140 balls at the driving range. took me a little over 2 hours to hit all those balls. physically, I feel a little tired. but mentally, I feel great. regaining my feel for the 9 iron through 6 iron. hitting the 9 iron about 100 yards. the 6 iron about 140 yards.

while hitting the balls at the driving range, I got this call from dj dobbs. he's back from the winter olympics in canada. wants to hang out somewhere. I told him that I would get back to him as to when we could meet up later today.

frankly, I want to rest up a little first before going out again. I'm not a spring chicken anymore. since I had to do a raincheck on sizzler with the priest yesterday, I wonder if he would be interested in doing sizzler today with dj dobbs and I? we'll see.

that's the latest. I think I'll take a short 1 hour power nap now.

my 2 cents on obama's healthcare reform.

bangkokbuddy@hotmail.com (Bangkokbuddy) — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 19:14:00 +0000

the guy has got it all wrong. he blames the increasing cost of healthcare on the insurance companies. and that is all wrong.

all the insurance companies essentially do is pass on the bills/expenses that they receive from the hospitals, doctors, and pharmaceuticals on to the consumers with maybe 10 to 20 percent tacked on to pay for their own expenses like salaries and upkeep.

think about it... blue shield and blue cross are "non-profit" organizations.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Cross_and_Blue_Shield_Association
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WellPoint

I know this to be true because at one time, this lounge lizard worked at blue shield of california. in fact, I put in 9 years of my life there working in the underwriting/actuarial section of that company. my life there was totally involved with numbers.

as I see it, what obama's healthcare plan will do is bankrupt the health insurance companies. and then, there will be no insurance to purchase at all. does that make sense?

I wonder if obama and his healthcare groupies understand this?

yes, health insurance is going up. but has obama did any research to find out why? from what I read, what has caused health insurance to increase can be isolated to the following..

1) malpractice payouts have increased in numbers and amounts,
2) huge increases in FREE healthcare support is being provided to ILLEGAL aliens,
3) increased cost of drugs billed to the insurance companies by pharmaceuticals,
4) increased cost of service fees charged by doctors.

does obama's healthcare plan address any of the above? the answer is NO.

since it doesn't, what will happen if obama gets his way, and is able to force the health insurance companies to charge lower premiums?

the bills that the health insurance companies will receive from the medical side of the picture will not be paid. so, the same thing that happens to any company that does not make enough to pay for their own livilhood will happen to the insurance companies.

..they will go broke.

I can't believe I'm the only one that understands this? I feel like this whole obama healthcare debacle is an episode out of the twilight zone. unbelievable!

what makes it more unbelievable is - we have an entire nation discussing this, and nobody seems to be bringing up these above questions.

could it be? this lounge lizard is living inside an imaginery world not unlike that in that movie - the matrix? where everyone thinks they are living a normal life but in actuality lying in a life pod with tubes coming out of their bodies?

perhaps capitol hill is full of cocaine using, marijuana smoking, brain dead, stupid hippies who have lost the ability to think straight?

when will this nightmare end?

imo, if the health insurance companies are smart, they would open up and be transparent to tackle these allegations put forward by obama. let's see some financial statements so that everybody knows where the money is going.

nothing works better than the truth.

my 2 cents.

I saw buckteeth billy.

bangkokbuddy@hotmail.com (Bangkokbuddy) — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 15:26:00 +0000

I pretty much didn't do anything today. woke up at 1pm. canceled out on a workout at the gym with the priest. at 4pm, da brain called. suggested a moo ka-tat at 6pm. I felt better. so, we met and ate.

after the moo ka-tat, da brain and I decided to have a cup of hot java. at first, it was going to be at the black canyon coffee shop. but at the last minute, I thought to change over to the coffee world at the esplanade. something different.

so, there we were, sitting in the softseats at the coffee world. taking in the scene while sipping on hot coffees. at around 8:30pm, out of the corner of my eye, I saw someone who looked like buckteeth billy. he was walking with some white guy. going downstairs to the restaurant corridor. I asked da brain if I was right.

yes, it was buckteeth billy.

I guess buckteeth billy doesn't want to associate with any of his old buddies anymore. happens... no problem. we all must chose our friends.

I knew another lounge lizard that did the same thing. the guy was at the time a close friend of mine too. but one day, he told me he couldn't hangout with me anymore because he was serious about becoming a politician. and that was all she wrote. I never saw or heard from him again.

no names to protect the innocent.

the thing about buckteeth billy. he was such a comedian. always wearing these stupid fake buckteeth to make people laugh. my guess is - he found out that the girls would never get serious with such a person. and he wanted to turn over a new leaf by deleting everything that was associated with his old life here in bangkok. ... in the hopes of changing his bad luck with love.

to buckteeth billy... I wish you all the luck in the world.

from now on, your nickname on my blog if I ever talk about you again will not be buckteeth billy, it'll be clinton. here's hoping you find your "hillary", bro.

anyway, changing the subject...

I decided not to go the lobby tonight to rest up for another round at the golf driving range tomorrow morning. 4 trays of balls. that's what I plan on hitting. am I ready to hit 160 balls? I'm still a little sore from the last trip to the driving range a few days ago. but I need to exercise some more. why not?

I can always stop if I feel the slightest need to do so.

I've got 11pm thereabouts showing on my clock right now. if I go to sleep within the hour, I should be plenty rested up for the driving range. YEAH!

reading up on other sites..

bangkokbuddy@hotmail.com (Bangkokbuddy) — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 09:17:00 +0000

a couple of lounge lizards have suggested that I check up on other websites that focus on thailand. what for, you ask? I guess they think the info being presented would be interesting to read.

my take on the world around me....

life is short. and each of us have to make decisions on what you want to do with the limited time you have on this planet.

my decision is to focus on happiness. which means limiting the number of negatives in my life. ..from the people I hang out with, the things I do, to the way I think.

if I feel like I am feeling unhappy with something, or someone, my thinking is "why bother continuing with this?" does it make sense when you have like maybe at most 10 or 20 years more in your life?

in general, I try to stay away from all negative influences. and in most part, I think I have been very successful in this endeavor. the only niche that I cannot control is the family part of the picture. hehehe.

AND then there are the cocaine using, marijuana smoking, BRAIN DEAD, STUPID, hippie politicians on capitol hill that make my blood boil. (OOPS!!!)

now that you all know how I think.. the question of why I don't spend too much time reading other sites that much should be pretty obvious.

MOST of the time, after reading some of the stuff out there, I come away stressed, and confused. ...unhappy.

need I say more?

some bangkokbuddy guidelines..
1) stay away from the neurotics!
2) pick your friends carefully. (imagine the difference in your life if all your friends were happy people. then, try to imagine how it would be like if they were all neurotic people. UGH!)
3) don't complain excessively. (debating issues is ok though. it's constructive. hehehe.)
4) wish all your friends happiness, and good fortune.
5) too much good time, bad time come.
6) the more you want, the more you suffer.
7) VOTE!

like the title of my website says..

..in pursuit of happy memories. the most important thing in life.

time for a buffet!!!!!! da brain is coming over in about 2 hours. we're going to a moo ka-tat. ALL-YOU-CAN-EAT!!!!

will I go to the lobby later on? who knows? the handsome man, and the priest just arrived. maybe.

life is great! life is grand! ..IN thailand.

the handsome man is BACK!

bangkokbuddy@hotmail.com (Bangkokbuddy) — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 00:38:00 +0000

I was pretty relaxed yesterday. ready to just lay in bed all day. but at around 1pm, I got a call from da brain. "..want to hangout at mbk? we can have dinner at the kobe buffet. 6pm ok?". my answer was "why not?".

6pm was ok because that meant I could go back to sleep for a few hours before I had to get up and go.

at 4pm, I got a call from the priest. he wants to do sizzler at 7pm. but I told him that I had already made arrangements to have dinner with da brain at 6pm.

at 5pm, I get up, shower, and headed out the door. got to mbk at 5:45pm. on schedule.

like clockwork, da brian arrives, and we both enter kobe ready to feast. the kobe buffet is not bad. hot pot style, all-you-can-eat, and the cost is just 220 baht total.

after the buffet, we went around mbk window shopping a little. we parted at around 8:30pm.

from mbk, I made a beeline to the lobby. hung out there for about 3 hours. many lounge lizards coming and going while I was there.

ROOOOOLL CALL! ..timberwolf, the priest, kaito, mr. gimme, dutch callahan, bronson, diamond jack, humphrey bogart, the miner, the swan, kansas city kid, docD.

timberwolf tells me that the opening date for the disco has changed. NOW, a week from today. that would make it tuesday.

went out to the parking lot at midnight... saw snake blissken, and a new guy. they are looking for dirk bonapare.

while hanging out in the parking lot, guess who I saw arrive by taxi? it was "the handsome man". here for a month. just arrived. kaito introduces me to a new lounge lizard. ..the magician. guy is good. others hanging out in the parking lot include snow white, barbie, clint eastwood.

I had to leave the scene at around 2:15am. wanted to buy some groceries before going home by bus. got home at 3:40am. slept at 4:25am.

doing this post on my toilet run.

the plan for today includes meeting up with the priest at 3pm to do a workout at the gym. afterwards, eat at sizzler.

da priest is BACK!

bangkokbuddy@hotmail.com (Bangkokbuddy) — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 01:13:00 +0000

I woke up at 1pm yesterday. still sore from all the golf balls I hit at the driving range the other day, I took it slow and easy getting up. got a call from da brain inviting me to a moo ka-tat that didn't materialize.

I just relaxed at home until about 7pm. then, I made my way to the lobby. da priest had said he would be arriving at 8pm. as it were, that was when his plane landed. I ended up hanging out really early in the lobby. almost nobody around at first. then, timberwolf, the inventor, the swan, the family guy appear.

timberwolf tells me that the latest word on the disco is - it will be opening on friday.

around 9pm, kaito popped out of the woodwork. he's here for a couple of days. going back to pattaya tomorrow. kaito introduced me to a new lounge lizard. mr. gimme. we talk.

at around 10pm, bronson arrives on the scene. followed by giovanni. the whole night was really slow.

at 11pm, I decided to move my body out to the parking lot. I see the stunner, kaito, hello kitty, the dalai lama, nintendo, honda. mostly the japanese lounge lizards.

I pump the stunner for information. she's a nice person. but she has a little of what I would call - latin fire. you don't want to get her angry at you. hehehe.

for a brief half hour, I hung out with the priest. he made a late entrance at around midnight. a little tired from the long flight from the states, he told me it felt good to be back.

at 1:30am, I sat down at this thai sidewalk cafe and ate a bowl of soup noodles. gurgled it down with a bottle of coke.

got home at 3:30am. shower.. slept at 4am.

I've got 9am showing on my clock now. toilet run. no plans for today. may go to the gym for a short workout. being tuesday, I could go to the all-you-can-eat pizza buffet. but I am not sure I want to do the pizza buffet today.

for some reason, I just feel like sleeping in all day. frig is stocked up for at least a week. ..back to sleep.

living life frugally in bangkok, thailand.

bangkokbuddy@hotmail.com (Bangkokbuddy) — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 16:20:00 +0000

I didn't make it to the lobby tonight. so, I decided to do this quick summary of what I currently get living on about 600 dollars a month here in bangkok, thailand.

my current budget is about 900 dollars a month. that is about 30,000 baht. but usually I don't spend that much. you wouldn't too after you see a breakdown of my expenses...

monthly breakdown...
1) 7000 baht= rent/water/electricity/60 channel cable tv included in rent.
2) 550 baht= 2.5 mbs wireless internet access.
3) 200 baht= cell phone. I usually do text messages.
4) 1200 baht= 2 unlimited 15 day MRT passes.
5) 100 baht= monthly gym membership fees.
6) 240 baht= 4 movies. wed. movie days are 60 baht per movie at esplanade.
7) 11k baht= FOOD! and other stuff. that's about 300 baht a day allowance.
-------------
20,000 baht a month budget.

home cooked meals average about 30 baht. mbk food court is 50 baht per meal. mcdonalds is 90 baht per meal. sizzler is 208 baht. moo ka-tats are 160 baht. shabusushi/sukishi buffets are 250 baht. oishi express is 400 baht.

if you mix and match your meals during the month, you could easily average a buffet every other day. and that is good eating too! ..no rice and beans bullshit.

if you just do moo ka-tats and home cooked meals, you could do a buffet EVERY DAY! up to you.

yeah. 20,000 baht a month is plenty. granted, I don't smoke, drink, gamble, or take drugs.

as for dating... you can do that too. just watch out for the golddiggers. they will skin you alive, and toss you out to the dogs if you give them half a chance. but hey. the ratio of girls to guys in bangkok is 3 to 1. I got this statistic from a thai taxi driver. they know.

an inexpensive date could be like a moo ka-tat, a movie, and maybe a frappe at the black canyon coffee shop. 300 to 400 baht. show some respect, and maybe you will have a girlfriend, a soulmate. ..if that is what you want.

nuff said.