caeron

The MPAA is totally fucked up. People getting shot is PG-13, but ooooh nasty language. Or worse, sexuality. FUCK THEM.

I hired Purple Dragon for 4 of my days in bangkok, as much because I really wanted to see the sights. And it is always easier to navigate with a local. I thought, overall, it was worth it, and if you're uncomfortable navigating the bar scene, it might be a good way to get your feet wet. They will take you to a bar and show you the routine. That said, I have had lots better tour guides, and the bar scene isn't that complicated. I felt the guide I had was more a 'travel' coordinator. He didn't really have the indepth knowledge of the places we visited that I'd expect of a guide and his english while reasonable good, wasn't great. But then again, I wasn't paying that much for him either. Alacarte purple dragon tour guides are I think $65 a day. If you're flying all the way to bangkok, a few extra bucks to get shown around seems reasonable. The bar scene, once you find the places, is really straightforward at the go-go bars. You pay a ridiculous amount for your drinks. 280baht seems to be the going rate, so just shy of $10. But there isn't a cover. Typically a mamasan or the like will chat you up to find out who you like, what you want, etc. If you don't get a good mamasan (who could be a boy waiter, but you get my point), you might want to move bars if your sexual tastes are particular. I ignored a mamasan and while the boy was cute, he didn't deliver. Once you've picked a boy or two, you will pay a 500 baht off fee to the bar. That covers just the bar. You can then take the boy back to your hotel and fool around. At the end of that he'll expect 1500 baht. The locals claim you can do better than this, but at $50, I think it isn't worth fighting unless you've a hankering for a LOT of boys. If you ask him to stay overnight, and most don't really want to, you'll pay more. There are also Massage places, that skip the whole drinking thing, you'll pick a boy or two and the time, and pay the house their fee, and they'll tell you what the minimum tip for the boy(s) are. Again, be specific on what you want or you'll probably be disappointed. That's my .02, there are others here who know the scene even better than I do.

Am in Narita waiting my connection. Brought 5 boys back to the room last night for a huge hoopla, only to find the limit was 4. But that was still plenty! One straight top boy, a couple of twinks, and one of the waiters whose smile was so stunning I couldn't say no. Then a nap and on to the airport at 3:30 in the morning to catch a 6:00am flight. That is just not civilized at all! Thanks for all the suggestions folks. I had a fantastic time.

The puppies at the market were adorable, so I can see how you would. I was looking for a buddha statue in the 'conquering mara' positiont, but never found anything that I liked. I guess I've spent too much time in the north, so this heat is debilitating. Heard the Mayflower hotel dim sum was great, so had that for lunch today. It was good, but I've had better. Service was confused. Going to try one of the roof top dining meals for tonight. Leave tonight at 3:30 to catch a 6am flight back to portland. Will make one last wild trek through the bars tonight. Then it's a long 22 hour trip home. Thank god for frequent flier miles and first class seats!

Tong has stayed missing, who knows, but Dream boys just down the road boasts 65 boys, and I don't think they're lying! I haven't had any trouble finding something to suit! I lack Tomcal's stamina, so one an evening is enough for me. On a sadder note, Hero massage got raided, so I never got the chance to check out that recommendation. Apparently the police were shocked to find they were engaging in prostitution!? Gay Thailand boards suspect they just didn't pay their bribes on time. That and Lumphini park is now shuttered at 8pm to avoid the night time cruising, so my hopes of finding a Thai soldier boy have been dashed. The weekend Chatuchak market is insane. A complete warren of stalls that seems to go on infinitely. I became lost very quickly. If you are looking for cheap clothing, this seems to be the place, but it has a lot of different stuff. Furniture, housewares, even a pet section if you fancy a new dog or cat. After wandering around for a few hours, and feeling like I'd barely scratched the surface, I gave up to escape the heat of the day. I thought I could handle a little heat, but 95 degree days, with high humidity have taken their toll. I come back to the hotel and have to change because my clothes are soaked with sweat. Next time, I'll come back in the 'winter'.

Yeah, he was a cute chinese boy. I got one of the mamasans to make clear what I wanted, and he said he could, which I guess if you count about 4 minutes, he could, but it didn't suit me. Maybe he wanted to spend the night and score up a bit more money, if so he didn't mention it, but that could have been is disappointment when I booted him. Lucky for me that Fortuna was with me that night when I made a second cast into the sea. And on the note of brazenness, I have found over the years that coyness is a really bad idea. Escorts, bar boys, anybody you're going to pay to crawl in the sack with you ought to know exactly what you want there, if you have particular tastes (I do.). If you're like a lot of different things, I guess you don't need to be so direct, but for many of us, we don't have the time or economic freedom to just 'go with the flow' and hope we get our itch scratched.

I think you're talking about Jim Thompson's house. Rumored to be family. An american who fell in love with thailand and helped revive the Thai Silk trade. His house is lovely, and if he wasn't family, he sure had our taste! Last night after touring, Tong shows back up late. He explains that he had an accident, or maybe that his car broke down. I'm not sure, I am not that good with accents, and he's not bad with English, but... He shows me what looks like some kind of accident report with the little car sides on it to mark what happened, I guess. Whatever, he's here now and prepares to take me to the promised show. I have no idea what I'm getting into, but I'm a 'go with the flow' kinda guy when I'm traveling. You get lots more interesting experiences, I think. So he asks me if I want to take one or two of his friends from Tawan with us. I would have to pay their off fees, but I figure what the heck, a few bucks more for that, and we'll be off to dinner. So he happily calls Tam and Atuk(?), and we walk around the corner and pick them up and pile into a cab. These boys are built big, and I'm pretty tall and broad shouldered myself, so already we're all over each other just fitting in the cab. We drive for a bit, and pull up in front of a place that turns out to be Tawandang german beer hall. A huge enormous room with a stage at the front with a middle aged thai woman in a hugely sparkly dress under the lights belting out some song. We all sit down, and I tell Tong to order. I love Thai food, and will eat pretty much anything, so I figure whatever the guys want will suit me. They ask if I want beer. I like a good beer, but I've got some gout issues and beer is a real trigger for me, so I order a Gin and Tonic. It arrives... with a maraschino cherry in it! What the hell, I think. I fish it out believing that God intended that the only thing that should EVER go in a gin and tonic is a lime, and Tong immediately scarfs it down. Ok, so I guess the cherry has a purpose, it just doesn't belong in my gin and tonic. After that, the waiter arrives with a huge tube of beer. The thing must be 3 feet high, and maybe 6 inches around and immediately starts pouring for the boys... and adding ICE! The western culinary gods are in full revolt at this point, but this is Thailand, so what can you do but shake your head? The lady on the stages sings a few more numbers. It is often a third of the way through the song before I realize that she's singing in english.... The room is packed, and the music is loud. The food is good, and the beer and the gin and tonics keep coming. I give Tam one of the cherries and Tong objects. He gets the rest of the cherries that evening. After the middle-aged lady leaves the stage, Tong tells me that she used to be a famous Thai actress. I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do with that information, but I nod happily. After that comes a series of one song numbers from I think about 4 singers, interspersed with dance numbers from a group of about 10. The male dancers are cute, but wearing entirely too many cloths. Many costume changes ensue. Some physical comedy. I get almost none of it, but the boys are laughing, singing, and dancing. As many have reported, I can confirm these bar boys, while flexible, are pretty straight because they dance with that stiffness that only a straight boy afraid that if he actually allowed his limbs to bend that everyone would think his back door is fair game can manage. I pace myself, the boys don't. Tam, in particular, gets quite vibrant, and hangs over everybody. After four hours, when midnight rolls around, I cut them off, pay the several hundred dollar tab, pay the boys their off fees, and depart with Tong. I am momentarily annoyed at the costs, but then stop myself when I realize that it's not that much for me. I signed up for it, and I did say that I liked the frat boy type, and boy, while these boys were built, they really were drunken frat boys. As the beer flowed, they danced, hung all over each and me, mugged for the pretty girls at the next table, and generally had a great time. Tong was too drunk to accomplish much, but we managed, and I sent him home. He said something about his mother or his brother being in town, or maybe out of town, and something about his two kids, four and five. I'm not surprised, when he told me he was 34 I would have thought he'd have kids by now. Sober his accent was hard to manage at times, drunk, definitely too much. He promised, however, to make it up to me tonight. We'll see. Today was Lopburi. A good two hour drive out of the city, but I enjoyed it. There is a temple in the middle of the city with a street monkey population. They've been there a long time apparently, and now the government feeds them. I took a lot of pictures. I've seen places with a lot of stray cats and dogs, but having that many stray monkeys hanging around was really kind of neat. The temples were mostly in ruins, though the palace museum in the wasn't bad (it was on a couple of occasions in history the capital). Our last stop was a temple that has become an AIDS hospice. It hit me harder than I thought looking through the door at those lying in beds. It reminded me of the men I've known who aren't here any more because of that evil fucking disease. I climbed the hill to the large buddha statue there and thought about them. I left a large donation behind, and their thoughts stayed in my head most of the two hour ride home.

I guess it's a matter of comfort. I figure that there are plenty of places I've put stuff on line already. Somebody figuring out exactly what I make isn't going to help them as much as the credit card info I have stored on amazon and other places. I agree that one of the big benefits comes in year 2, since it remembers all the stuff from the previous year it makes entering charitable donations, wages, interest income much easier, since it usually knows 80% of them from the previous year.

It isn't surprising to me. Carter is an actual Christian. Unlike the majority who use religion to make themselves feel more holy by attacking other people.

Arrived Sunday night, checked in and walked around the corner to the only place open, Super A boys. It was late, I was the only guy in the bar, and everyone swarmed me. Ended up taking two next door to the rooms they had. I would have taken them back to the room, but I guess one was Laotian without papers, so the hotel wouldn't let him in. The other one spent the night. A little twinky for my taste, but a real snuggler. Bangkok in March is scorchingly hot. I knew it was gonna be hot, but I think I could steam an egg on my head. Taken to afternoon naps to escape the worst of the day. Canal tour and temple of dawn were the highlights of monday. I went to see the Siam Niramit show and was so jet lagged a nodded off a few times. I liked the show, but I'm more historically/academically inclined, so these kind of fictionalized cirque de Soleil style culture shows always leave me a bit off. Crashed and burned that night. Highlight of Tuesday was the golden buddha. A solid gold buddha weighing a mere 5.5 metric tons. Most intrinsically valuable religious item in the world. The south east asian buddhists can really give Rome a run for its money on ostentation when they want to. I was in Phnom Penh a few years ago and they had similar stuff, a mere 550 pure gold statue, but it was encrusted with thousands of carats of diamonds including a 25 carat one. Oh, and they had a couple feet tall buddha carved out of emerald. Last night hit a few go-go bars, got a boy who agreed to top me, but couldn't quite accomplish the task, I paid him and booted him to his unhappiness (not sure why, I didn't short him, maybe he just hoped if he looked unhappy I'd pay him a lot more.) He told me the bars were closed and I was out of luck, but I thought it was close so I'd try. Walked around the Corner to Tawan, which was in fact closed according to the hot boy build like a brick shithouse standing in front of it. Walked down the street, heading towards super A, and then decided the boy behind me was what I wanted. I walked back and asked him if he'd fuck me. He agreed, so I guess Tawan being closed saved me an off fee. He fucked like a tiger, and his english was surprisingly good. A competition body builder who does personal training during the day. He wants to take me to Hua Hin for the weekend. I'm not one to mess with success and am inclined to let him. Not the best picture since this was on his way out the door, but here's Tong of Tawan

I hate it when Christians say "they love all people" right before they spew some crap. I don't care. I don't want or need your love. Your love is never justification for the bullshit that comes out of your mouth. so just SHUT THE FUCK UP. If you want to say crap, you have every right to say it, but telling us you "love" us isn't an excuse for the crap.

I use turbotax online. It is very good at keeping your records and pre-importing your tax materials from last year into the current year. I invest in a number off limited partnerships, and have stock option/stock program stuff that mildly complicates my return, but I find that the top level of turbotax walks me through it quite well. It takes a while to gather all the materials and itemize, but I find that it's much cheaper than using an accountant, and I like to be able to review the materials myself. You don't have to pay until you actually file, so you could give it a try, and abandon it if you find it doesn't work for you.

I don't follow football at all, but read an article in the paper this morning suggesting that Tebow might be a hard trade. He hasn't really had a great season, 46% pass completion, and his fan base is a bit of a mixed blessing to the team that gets him if they don't want to play him all the time. I'll pay attention because I find Tebow's sanctimonious posturing annoying.

I'm an atheist, but I definitely have buddhist tendencies.

Closet case Eddie Murphy's movie's may well be the worst reviewed movie of all time. All 39 of its reviews were bad. http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2012/mar/12/eddie-murphy-thousand-words

You met them, but the only person going to St. Ives' is you. 1.

I think you could get a BFE light experience in a session. I think some escorts are less clock watchers and view their fee as a session fee. I prefer a longer hire myself, but find it often cost prohibitive. I don't really have the spare cash to be paying an escort hourly rates for them to have dinner with me. I wish I did!

I think it's a wonderful parody of designer consumerist culture.

You see his very tasty looking nipples A LOT. I saw it in the theatres and quite enjoyed it.

That is a very cynical view on the world. I prefer to believe that we can take the structure of marriage and make it our own, and negotiate our own boundaries. The legal structure of marriage offers a great deal. I am married to a woman, my best friend, and the person I WILL spend the rest of my life with and be very happy about it. 18 years and counting. The marriage isn't sexual, obviously, but we both knew that going in. I was out when I proposed. I play outside of marriage, but my emotional fidelity is to her. We're happy. I can well imagine gay men building the same relationship in a marriage, or remaining faithful, or... whatever they choose. But I think marriage is something that the gay community deserves to have, and to make their own however they see fit.

Being in private aviation isn't the same as being a waiter at a steak house.

I'd cut the guy some slack. A famous person left him a big tip. It must have made his year, who wouldn't want to brag about it, and why wouldn't Peyton not want the world to know he's a stand up guy with his money? If somebody famous gave me a big tip, I'd tell everybody too. (Ashton, are you listening?) And I'm not talking about money...

Kirk and many other morons like him mistake "free speech" for being able to say what they want without dealing with the consequence of their words. You CAN say what you want. Then the rest of us can tell you what we think of those words...

It is strange the things you don't realize are limits until you lose them. It was odd after quitting realizing how much energy I spent keeping track of my cigarettes and lighter and making sure I had them with me everywhere I went. Getting back a sense of taste was the other thing that really changed. I didn't realize how much I didn't have one until I got it back! Unfortunately, I smoked for enough years that I am not near as well preserved at my age as I wish I were.

I quit a bit over 15 years ago. One of the best things I've ever done. It made me feel so much better.