Comments Posted By Brian
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Interesting comments over the past few days, and whichever way things fall, i hope that they are in the direction you want. Swan seems like a good woman, but……
At the risk of repeating myself, I think that this latest incident shows that all relationships are transactional. You are looking for, if not love, at least companionship. Swan is looking for………? I think that Swan is looking for security and safety. And maybe companionship, but as much as I hate to say this, i don’t think that is her first priority. If you are okay with that, then things can probably continue.
Given the pretty significant differences between the two of you (age, economics, cultural, educational, worldview, etc.), it would be very very rare both sides to be looking for the same thing.
That is not to say that things wont work out. Just have to be realistic. If you are looking for love, and the best she can do is companionship, then maybe no. If she is looking for security, and you expect her to help pay some portion of the bills by working, then may no. Etc etc.
I am sure that there is someway to test the above.
Best of luck!!
» Posted By Brian On 23/July/2026 @ 5:10 am
Looking down on my little town
Re:Blog title
Dang, I thought I knew for sure which song you would use, and I was wrong. I thought you were going to go with My Little Town by Simon and Garfunkelhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__Ro3eGuznI
Re: Bar/restaurant traffic
if you were going to plot the expat population over the past 7 years, smoothing it out for seasonal adjustments, what would that look like? Slow steady downward trend? Peaks and valleys with 2026 being the lowest(?) valley? Something else?re: 3 ways foreigners go broke.
Related, but somewhat unrelated. If you haven’t read “Private Dancer” by Stephen Leather, give it a read. Fictional story about a young expat falling in love with a BKK bargirl.» Posted By Brian On 19/July/2026 @ 3:15 am
Re: Kokomos
>Well, they’ve lost my business. It’s off my list of places to go.
Seems petty on your part, but maybe I’m missing something and this has been a regular occurrence for you when you go there. You seem to not be remembering the Filipino way, “deep breath, etc”. Are there any convenience stores nearby where you could have gone (or sent the waitress) to buy a bottle of water or something similar to break the 500 peso note?Re: video of Barreto
Definitely not something that the PI tourism dept would want to post on their website. Doesn’t paint a very impressive picture of the town.» Posted By Brian On 18/July/2026 @ 12:09 am
re: walking through flood waters
I don’t envy you with that. Flood waters are nasty, and who knows what little bugs are percolating in the water. Had to wade through flooded streets a couple of times in BKK. One time, I was coming back from some meetings so had dress pants/dress shoes on. Rolled up my pants and took off my shoes/socks to make it across the street. Gave my legs and feet a thorough scrubbing when I made it back to the hotel.re: Video on giving an allowance
Yeah, the guy is pretty spot on. Gets back to my belief that all relationships are transactional on some level. And that is okay as long as both sides are cognizant of the fact. Nothing wrong with it. Both sides are getting what they want/need. Where it goes bad is if there is an 80 year old guy dating a 20 year old and claims she is doing it because she loves him. Well, ask her to start splitting expenses 50/50 and see how much she loves him then. LOL» Posted By Brian On 13/July/2026 @ 10:11 pm
Seems like quite an overreaction by Swan to what in my read is a pretty trivial thing. #shrug
All’s well that ends well I guess.
» Posted By Brian On 13/July/2026 @ 9:52 pm
Bummer. Into every life a little rain must fall, both figuratively and literally. Be strong!
» Posted By Brian On 11/July/2026 @ 10:38 pm
re: hiking out of town
John, don’t you have Swan’s nephew(?) on call as a driver with a car? Couldn’t you use him when the urge strikes to go somewhere new rather than depend on others?re Filipina Pea video
Yup, definitely would not want to move to a developing country and live like a local so that I could brag that I am doing well on <1K/month. Kind of like that video you posted a couple of weeks ago on places to retire, and one of the "segments" mentioned living comfortably in Sri Lanka(?) on something like $700/month. Certainly not my concept of comfortable, and probably not yours either. lOL» Posted By Brian On 10/July/2026 @ 2:14 am
Not a complete Apply fanboy (though I do like their products), but the odds of getting infected with malware is less if you have a Mac, simply because it is a pretty low % of overall operating systems. Not worth take the time and effort to infect computers if it won’t spread very far and will likely die off quickly.
I was surprised that of all internet usage (phone, tablet, or laptop/desktop), only about 2% is from a desktop Mac OS.
Android is the largest at 36%
windows = 27%
iPhone (iOS) ~ 17%
etc» Posted By Brian On 08/July/2026 @ 2:11 am
Currently in the US, and no problems in accessing the blog. Used a couple of different browsers (Safari and Firefox) on my iMac as well as checking on an iPhone. No issues. #shrug
Re: trike
How to both of you manage to fit into one of those things? Swan is pretty petite and she looks cramped getting out. LOL» Posted By Brian On 06/July/2026 @ 11:14 pm
No problems from me accessing your blog. Using an iMac and safari as the browser.
» Posted By Brian On 05/July/2026 @ 2:37 am
John, On the fact that the restrictions were overdone, I agree wholeheartedly. Six feet distancing…………. Bandana over the face, but pulled down enough to breathe through the nose………
But, you can’t ignore the life expectancy. A 2.5 year decrease in life expectancy (year on year) in the US is unheard of. I think the last time something like that happened was during WWII. A shitload more people died in 2020 vs. other years, regardless of how the deaths were classified.
>Anyway, I guess this issue is almost like religion; folks are gonna believe whatever their faith tells them.
Very true. Confirmation bias is definitely a thing. I am guilty of it as much as the next person.» Posted By Brian On 04/July/2026 @ 12:17 am
Re:COVID and lockdowns
From looking at a variety of sources from both sides of the political spectrum, the consensus seems to be that between 10-15MM (or more) people died of COVID with millions more having lingering effects. So to dismiss COVID as another flu or just another sickness doesn’t make sense to me. Just look at life expectancy in the US. 2019 = 78.9. 2020 = 76.4. That is a HUGE drop in just one year, and 99% of it can be attributed to COVID.I do think that the lockdowns were a step too far, and somewhat of a knee jerk reaction when we just didn’t know what we didn’t know. It is very easy in hindsight for me to say that and it is impossible to say with any certainty what the alternative would have looked like.
On a scale of 1-10, with 1 being “shouldn’t have done anything” and 10 being “people should have been chained inside their houses”, I would probably fall somewhere in the middle. I believed then, and still do, that there needed to be some sort of restrictions in place. I said it from the beginning that the idea of restrictions was to “flatten the curve”, and spread out the death/illness/hospitalization over a longer period. In my mind, I knew from the beginning that lockdowns in and of itself were not going to prevent the disease.
If you talk with anybody in the US (or other countries) who worked in frontline healthcare during the first few months, it is pretty harrowing in terms of the number of patients, number of deaths, etc..
The economic impact of the lockdowns sucked and did a lot of damage that we are still recovering from. Not only economically, but I think almost worse is that kids suffered a lot and it put their social development back a few years. But again, impossible to say if the alternative would have been better.
The “what if” game is fun to play, but impossible to prove a definitive result that backs any particular bias a person had. I remember Saturday Night Live ran a “what if” segment one time, and the topic, was “What if Napoleon had a B-52 bomber at Waterloo? Would that have changed the battle?” LOL
Didn’t mean to ramble, but to summarize; I think we went too far with restrictions and lockdowns, but I believe that some sort of restrictions/lockdowns were necessary to slow (but certainly not stop) COVID and spread things out.
And, I see nothing with six years of hindsight that refutes what was in the Rand report that I had linked to in your post from long ago. 😛
Related but not directly – not sure if you like to read, but a dystopian novel about a worldwide pandemic that circles the world is a book called “Station Eleven”. Actually written pre-COVID, I thought it was a good book. Not too deep and a fairly quick read.
Whew!!!!
Re:Video
I think the commentator nails it. It is lifestyle, not money which probably matters more. When I was working in Indonesia, I was in company housing. The big wigs, who didn’t make a lot salary wise, had nice housing provided to them, a car/driver, multiple domestic staff, etc. So, they may not have been money rich, but they were pretty lifestyle rich.» Posted By Brian On 03/July/2026 @ 2:10 am
Re: Hash
You still got it, so keep on hashin’Re: MJ
Situations like that suck. Sending $200/month is better than nothing, but seeing where she did/does live, ouch!, doesn’t seem like enough. If the births were properly registered, she should be able to pursue citizenship for her kids. Though probably would take more money than she has available.How are mixed race kids treated there in the PI, especially when living rural and “local”. I remember reading stories about mixed race kids that were products of the Vietnam war, and those kids generally didn’t fare too well.
There is an interesting story about the “H” part of DHL, Larry Hillblom. Fathered a number of children throughout SE Asia, I think mainly with (relatively) poor locals, and when he died in a plane crash, a smart lawyer took up the case. I believe that four (or maybe 5) kids were found to be biological children of his, and each received millions.
» Posted By Brian On 01/July/2026 @ 3:57 am
For the most part, I think that musical tastes are determined by what a person listened to from ~ middle school to early/mid 20’s. And that will stay with them for the rest of their life.
Popular music will change and 30 years from now, it will sound quite different, But those now in their teens and 20’s will still be listening to what was popular now.
They will be the new John McCrarey’s; walking into a bar and complaining about the music that the bar is playing. LOL
» Posted By Brian On 29/June/2026 @ 1:43 am
I think you and I have the same mindset. I used to follow some Thai-centric expat forums and there would occasionally be the guy who claims, “I am living like a king for $500/month!!!”
Yeah, and that gets him a tiny box with no A/C and maybe no hot water. The view out of his apartment window is of another apartment block three feet away. He is eating $2 pad Thai from a street vendor. (Granted, I have done that and it is not bad, but definitely would not want to eat it 3x/day.)
Can’t afford to travel at all, and always wants to bum drinks off others because he can’t afford his own.
» Posted By Brian On 28/June/2026 @ 4:06 am
Re: your hero
Good to see him out and about. In the other picture you posted of him, wasn’t he also carrying around a black garbage bag? Any idea what he carries in that bag?Re: retirement rankings
To me, this one seems a bit more realistic. Maybe whoever set up the chart only looked at the 5 countries listed. Wasn’t that the PI didn’t make the ranking, simply that they did not rank it. If you were going to add a sixth column, and using the same criteria as the chart, how would you place the PI?» Posted By Brian On 27/June/2026 @ 1:34 am
>Brian, I’m trying to remember if you were already a reader here when we met. Or is that why we met? It’s all fuzzy, but I think we were at Dolce Vita in Itaewon. I greeted you by saying, “What brings you here, motherfucker?” You responded, “A taxi.”
It’s fuzzy in my mind also. LOL. It was definitely in Dolce Vita and I think that I had happened to come across your blog and in there, you had mentioned it was a decent bar, and so I checked it out. IIRC, one of the times I happened to wander in there, you were in there also, so we chatted for a bit. Chatted a couple of other times also, but I was not a dart player and not in Seoul full time, so our in person paths crossed infrequently.
Re: your joke
Nope, couldn’t have been me. I always stayed at the Marriott across the river and took a bus from there and then walked. 😛» Posted By Brian On 26/June/2026 @ 4:10 am
re: commentators
The anonymity of the internet can bring out the worst in people. At least when I met you in Seoul, I called you a MF to your face. (just kidding!!! Maybe it was you who called me that!)Re: best countries to retire
Would have liked to see a table of the scores for the countries in their list. I had to LOL as the video starts out by saying that their rankings are based on data, yet their criteria and scoring is (quite) subjective. Yes, Thai healthcare is very good, with the caveat that it is very good in private hospitals and you are going to pay for it. In public hospitals, ummmm, not so good. I would imagine it is the same as in the PI. Anyway, it is a fun question to ponder and there is no right or wrong answer. I guess I also have a different definition of comfortable. For myself, I highly doubt I would be comfortable in Sri Lanka on ~$700 USD/month. #eek» Posted By Brian On 25/June/2026 @ 8:02 am
Wow!!! The real culprit of the boyfriend must have known which wheels to grease or knew where the proverbial bodies were buried.
» Posted By Brian On 21/June/2026 @ 1:22 am
So, are any of the characters from the 2020 post still around and hashing? LOL
» Posted By Brian On 20/June/2026 @ 12:12 am
Interesting pics of your walk. Poverty is pretty prevalent. Is your subdivision the upper middle class/upper class neighborhood in the area or are there others?
» Posted By Brian On 16/June/2026 @ 1:24 am
Thanks for the links. Can’t say that I wholly agree with them, but always good to hear different perspectives and some of what they said makes sense. I still dont understand what is different now vs. early Feb 2026 and even after the nuclear deal was signed with Iran in 2016. Other than spending $1B/day for the last four months, I am not sure what was accomplished. #shrug. Well, I supposed if the goal was to increase gas prices, inflation, etc., then “mission accomplished”. LOL
Below are the numbers I use I track to monitor the economy. All the info comes from the US federal reserve so no bias involved. Overall, based on those factors below, the economy is doing worse now than in October 2024. For example, for all the talk of bringing jobs back to the US, the number of manufacturing jobs has actually decreased since October 2024.
SP500
Dow Jones
NASDAQ
Inflation (CPI)
GDP growth
Unemployment
Price of Eggs ($/dozen)
Gal of regular gas ($/gallon)
Trade balance ($, millions)
Industrial Production (2017 = 100)
Home Sales (seasonally adjusted, thousands)
Home Building (permits issued, thousands)
Construction Spending ($, millions)
Manufacturer’s New Orders ($, millions)
Manufacturing Jobs, Thousands
Retail Sales ($, millions)
Consumer Confidence (1Q 1996 = 100)
Federal Workers (thousands)Having said that, I do believe that presidents get too much credit when the economy does well and too much blame when it is bad. The world is a smaller place now, and the US is a smaller piece of the overall pie. BUT, and this is a big but (and I cannot lie. LOL), all presidents campaign on the economy and it is probably the #1 issue for most voters. So, the president has to own it when things are bad. Trump can’t continue to blame Biden.
Another random thought – IMO presidents are mainly cheerleaders, and Trump is one of the best in shaping opinions based on feelings rather than facts. I could show the numbers I cite to a diehard Trump supporter and they would still tell me that the economy is doing gangbusters under Trump.
Anyways, interesting conversation. Glad to engage with you. LOL
» Posted By Brian On 21/June/2026 @ 1:20 am
John, In the link below is the full text of the MOU between the US and Iran.
I am somewhat biased, but I would like your opinion of it. I do not see anything that is really different from where we stood in mid February, and realistically, different from the Iran nuclear agreement signed in 2016(?).
Strait of Hormuz – nothing changed. Open before, open now.
Regime change – nope. Still the same.
Paragraph 2 ->The United States of America and the Islamic Republic of Iran undertake to respect each other’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and to refrain from interfering in each other’s internal affairs.
Okay – no change here.Paragraph 6 – >The United States of America undertakes with regional partners to develop a definitive, mutually agreed plan with at least $300 billion for the reconstruction and economic development of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
HmmmmmParagraph 7 – >The United States of America undertakes to terminate all types of sanctions against the Islamic Republic of Iran, including the United Nations Security Council resolutions, i.e. IAEA [International Atomic Energy Agency] Board of Governors resolutions and all unilateral U.S. sanctions, primary and secondary, in an agreed-upon schedule as part of the final deal.
Hmmm. Sanctions before as part of the 2016 deal. No sanctions now.Paragraph 8 – >The Islamic Republic of Iran reaffirms that it shall not procure or develop nuclear weapons.
Okay. Nothing changes. This has always been Iran’s stance.Paragraph 10 – >The United States of America undertakes that immediately upon the signing of this MoU until the termination of sanctions, the U.S. Department of Treasury will issue waivers for the export of Iranian crude oil, petroleum products and derivatives, and all associated services, including banking transactions, insurances, transportation, etc.
Seems like a win for Iran. 2016 deal and the status in Feb 2026 did not allow Iranian oil exportsParagraph 11 – >The United States of America undertakes to make fully available for use the frozen or restricted funds and assets of the Islamic Republic of Iran upon the implementation of this MoU.
Win for Iran?etc.
Anyways. I shake my head. I will be interested to see how this is spun by those who support him.
» Posted By Brian On 20/June/2026 @ 1:38 am
Not sure I have found a candidate at the moment. To be honest, I find the ass licking of Trump by the majority of Republicans pretty disgusting. But hey, they seem to like it. People seem to follow the man, and not his policies. But if I had to hold my nose and pick someone out of the pool from both sides, it would probably be Rubio. I would like to see a moderate like Shapiro (or other) and hear more of what he has to say.
>In January 2024, at a New Hampshire rally, he referred to former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who was U.N. ambassador during Trump’s first term, as a “warmonger” whose mentality on foreign policy is, “Let’s kill people all over the place and let’s make a lot of money for those people that make the messes.”
>During a Jan. 6, 2024, rally before the Iowa caucuses, Trump told supporters that returning him to the White House would allow the country to “turn the page forever on those foolish, stupid days of never-ending wars. They never ended.”
At that time, his supporters agreed with that 100%. Stay out of foreign lands, etc etc. Fast forward two years…… Venezuela, Iran, talking about invading Cuba, Greenland, etc. And his supporters now agree with what he is doing 100%. I’m getting whiplash!! LOL. And you can’t tell me that if a Democrat were president and doing the same thing, Trump supporters wouldn’t be up in arms about what was being done.
I am curious to see what the meat of this agreement with Iran is and how things will be different from Jan 2026. In Jan, Strait of Hormuz was open, free flow of shipping, etc.
I do think something had to be done with Iran, but I am not sure we (the US) had or has a coherent plan on what the end game looks like. If this agreement that is going to be signed this week just means a return to the status quo of Jan, then WTF? We spent $1B/day for the last four months for what?
Anyway, maybe we should set up a dual monarchy with you and I at the top. 😛
» Posted By Brian On 16/June/2026 @ 1:19 am
Re: family compounds
How does land ownership work in the PI? Are those somewhat isolated places you come across actually owned by the people who live there? Are they squatters? Do they pay some nominal rent?Re: Rubio and Vance
For you, what are the top 5 issues that matter to you when it comes to US politics? (e.g. economy, immigration, foreign relations, taxes, gun control, etc.)» Posted By Brian On 14/June/2026 @ 11:54 pm
Re: Hash trail
Hopefully all went well, and the rain held off.Re: grammar
While I do try to avoid any egregious mistakes, I am not too hung up on the more subtle errors. As long as the average person understands what is being said/written, I am okay with it.Grammar is always changing. What we think is “correct” now will probably not be 100 years from now (or a couple of hundred years in the past).
>From the September 2019 LTG archives, I shared the story of my lifelong aversion to proper grammar, especially punctuation. Kevin Kim did his best to educate me, but after six years of trying and seeing little to no progress from me, he has finally given up on teaching this old dog new tricks.
I asked for the above to be written in 1750 style, not so much focussing on the words, but more on the grammar and give notes on what had changed.
>From the Archives of LTG, for September, 2019, I did relate the History of my long and obstinate Aversion to Grammar rightly so called, and, more especially, to that Part of it which concerneth Points and Stops. Mr. Kevin Kim had, for many Years, employed his best Endeavours to instruct me therein; yet, after six Years spent in that charitable Labour, and after having observed in me little, or no Amendment, he hath at length desisted from the Attempt, judging, as I suppose, that an old Dog is not easily taught new Tricks.
A few grammar/style differences reflected here:
In 1750, writers often used longer, more formally balanced sentences, with more subordinate clauses. Capitalization was also less standardized, and important nouns were often capitalized: Archives, History, Aversion, Grammar, Points and Stops.The wording also uses forms that were still common in formal prose, such as “hath” instead of “has,” “concerneth” instead of “concerns,” and “therein” instead of “in it.”
The phrase “little, or no Amendment” also reflects older punctuation habits, where commas were often used more rhetorically, to mark pauses, rather than according to modern rules.
Also changed “I shared the story” to “I did relate the History” because 18th-century prose often favored a more formal auxiliary construction, especially in polished written English.
No idea if the above is actually correct, but seems to make sense. Maybe @Kevin Kim will chime in on the accuracy of the rewrite.
» Posted By Brian On 09/June/2026 @ 1:47 am
Re: Scott and his house
Does he live in his dream house or did he move to another place?re: bars
I know you dont stay out late, but I wonder if business is better later at night in the bars. That would seem to be the norm in most of the world, but demographics are different in your neck of the woods.re: Star Trek joke
Yeah, first world money in a third world country means you can “miss out” on a lot of things that are experienced by locals. Third world money in a third world country = a bit of a tougher experience.» Posted By Brian On 06/June/2026 @ 11:16 pm
Re: Video on safest countries
Japan, for me, ranks far and away the safest country I have visited. Blew me away that people keep their seat/table in a coffeeshop by leaving their phone or computer in that spot. They can come back 30 minutes later and be 100% sure it will still be there.» Posted By Brian On 04/June/2026 @ 2:58 am
Re: Alaska Club girls
Could the supposed slight be nothing more than they didn’t hear you? It has happened to me more than once that I will talk to someone and be completely ignored. Then I find out that they have ear buds in and never heard me or were so engrossed in the phone that they never heard me. (Of course, it could be that they were legitimately ignoring me also, but I like to think otherwise!! LOL)And I myself have actually done it also. Someone will call out to me and for whatever reason, I didn’t hear them nor acknowledge them even if I was apparently looking right at them. Was probably “in the zone” and just blocking out external stuff. Sometimes the actual reason is pretty benign.
Re: your throwback post
What are your general thoughts on unions and has it changed over the years? IMO, they definitely had a place, but I think a lot of them have failed to adapt. Of course, easy for me to say as someone who has never had a union job. I suppose if I were in a position where the company was trying to screw me over, and the union was my backup, I would be in favor of them 100%.» Posted By Brian On 04/June/2026 @ 2:50 am
«« Back To Stats PageRe: the road less traveled
I am not a poet nor read much poetry, but I do like that poem by Frost.There are always “what-ifs”. In some situations, the alternative would have been better and in many cases, things would have been worse.
Re: traffic in Asia
Spent a lot of time in both Thailand and Taiwan, and I dont think that things are that bad for pedestrians in either country. Especially Taiwan. 30 years ago, maybe. Today, things have improved leaps and bounds. Granted, most of my time in Thailand is in BKK, but I dont find it that bad for pedestrians, unless you try and maneuver at unmarked crossings, etc. In both Taiwan and Thailand, the biggest problem for pedestrians is that navigating the sidewalks is a pain in the ass. Sidewalk heights vary from one building to another, people/businesses set up camp on the sidewalks, sidewalk repairs are mostly non-existent, etc. Other than that, no problems. LOL» Posted By Brian On 01/June/2026 @ 11:30 pm