Re: Are finances important to you? Ar e you a cheap charlie?
Well, you probably have more muscle than I do. I'm kinda lacking in that area. Won't lie, ans sure, I could stand to drop a few pounds, or at least turn some of it into muscle. Going blind tends to make you quite lazy, because going for 3 hour long walks around town are now impossible.
We have a joing target of 63kg though. That means he needs to gain about 5kg, and I need to drop about 6kg. Seems a good compromiose. :)
Re: Are finances important to you? Ar e you a cheap charlie?
silly convo...height is needed to establish relation to weight...and sure u r only 35 years old..retired living in a mansion is the wop wops with a 22 year old and a troop of dogs...and u r blind but refuse to get half decent treatment...and here I thought I was the one living in lala land.
Re: Are finances important to you? Ar e you a cheap charlie?
Get proper treatment for what, exactly? Once again, my eyes are totally fine, it's my optic nerve that's fucked. The medical technology to fix that simply doesn't exist yet. Doctors can fix a broken bone, but they can't fix a broken brain.
People are always all confused as to why I didn't rush back to Canada for proper medical treatment. Well, what treatment? I'd get another MRI, the doctor would say, "yep, you have lesions in your right optic nerve, and sorry but nothing we can do about that". That would be the end of my "treatment", then I'm stuck alone and blind in Canada, where I've only lived for one year out of the past 12 years. No thanks, I'll stick it out here where I'm comfortable, happy, and know my way around.
Re: Are finances important to you? Ar e you a cheap charlie?
Matt , Will your condition improve or not?
I guess your right about going back to Canada if there is not much they can do.
The only benefit would be that you could apply for Social Security/ Disability Pension if Canada has such a system along with the free medical care.
I have a lot of empathy for you , I hope things get better.
Re: Are finances important to you? Ar e you a cheap charlie?
For the third time in this thread, it's optic nerve damage, hence it's permanent. Nerve damage in general is always permanent, and definitely permanent when that nerve happens to be buried in your brain. Again, who knows... maybe in 20 years there will be some cool break throughs in stem cell research and nanotechnology that will allow for the possibility of healing damaged nerves, but for now and the forseeable future, that technology simply doesn't exist.
Don't worry, I'm still trying to convince Leo that it's permanent. He always tells me I just need to have "hope". heh, sorry honey, but that's not quite how it works. :)
Once you get used to it though, it's really not that being blind. Besides, think of the benefits. For example, I bet I could walk into a Pattaya go-go bar tonight, wander over to the stage, and start feeling up every guy on stage. When asked what the hell I'm doing, I could say, "well, I'm blind and want to know what they look like", and probably get away with it. You guys probably couldn't do that, but I bet I could get away with it. :)
As for disability from the Canadian govt, probably but I haven't bothered looking. It'd be what? Maybe $400/month say? Big deal. I'm renting a nice 3bdrm house with large yard for 12,000/month, whereas a half-decent 1bdrm apartment in Canada would cost me probably at least 25,000/month. An extra $400/month say to move back to Canada would actually be more expensive for me.
But no, I'm totally fine with being blind these days. It's just idiots like Smiles keep bringing it up, totally derailing threads in this manner. What the hell, have a nice comfortable home, Leo, couple cool dogs, fridge full of food, back to working at a good pace and making money again, etc. Plus loads of support from my local community. Even if I have a problem when Leo is back in Laos, I can think of about a dozen people off the top of my head who I could have at my house within 10 minutes to help me out. Another one of the many reasons I stayed in Thailand, because there's zero chance I would have this level of support wandering around Canada by myself.
Re: Are finances important to you? Ar e you a cheap charlie?
Oh shit, the first half of that above reply is all caps, isn't it? What thehell? Well, whatever...
Re: Are finances important to you? Ar e you a cheap charlie?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
cdnmatt
Oh shit, the first half of that above reply is all caps, isn't it? What thehell? Well, whatever...
Ummm nope , you wrote it all ok Matt :mail:
Re: Are finances important to you? Ar e you a cheap charlie?
Why go off topic...get back to the original post
Re: Are finances important to you? Ar e you a cheap charlie?
Good idea. Since on the topic of finances, I'm curious, how much do you other expats spend a month? Only if you're willing to share of course.
12,000 = Rent
6,000 - Electric & water
12,000 - Food
8,000 - Alcohol, cigs, etc.
5000 - Dogs
12,000 - Leo
4,000 - Entertainment (going out to restaurants, etc.)
20,000 - Misc
TOTAL: 79,000/month
Yeah, that seems about right. I don't really keep track of every baht like Christian, but I think that's about right.
Internet and cable TC are included in rent, so that's free, although we never use the TV. Misc just combines everything from the 500 baht every 3 weeks to the gardener, soap, shampoo, tik-tuks, coffee mugs or things for the kitchen, new phone, computer, etc. There's always something you need to buy, so I just put 20,000/month for that, which is about right over a period of several months. Some months you don't really buy anything, but then drop 30,000 on a new computer, type of thing.
Then we do about one grocery shopping trip at Central once a month or so, which costs around 7000 baht. From there we get everything else from local markets, hence the extra 5000 baht/month.
Not sure how much Leo costs, but he goes back to Laos once a month, and I think probably has about 12,000 in his wallet when he leaves, which is fine with me. Anything smaller than 1000 baht just goes into the change jar, because he takes care of 95% of the shopping anyway, then I throw him a few 1000 baht notes once in a while to say thanks for taking care of me. He takes care of me, I take care of him, and the sun continues to rise every morning. :) Besides, a live-in care taker in Canada would probably cost around 100,000/month, and would probably be some female with one of those weird vagina things I've heard about. I think I'll stick with the cute gay guy who deserves a leg up in life, not to mention loves to shower together with me.
How about the other expats?
Re: Are finances important to you? Ar e you a cheap charlie?
Replying to the original poster.
I agree it's right to be prudent. I don't believe in spending every single cent when I am working, then having nothing saved away for retirement. Live well AND save for the future.
There are plenty of damn good hotels for under 1500 baht.
Ignore the expectation to tip from the neighbouring table. Obviously in certain countries, it's the norm for people to tip waiters 20% and in others the service is in the price. Some of the people from the high tipping countries think they are right and everyone else is not. That's the wrong attitude. Thailand does not have a tradition of tipping.
If the food and service in a Thai restaurant is good, I may well tip 10%. But that's my choice.
Since none of us tip the staff at the local 7-Eleven, the whole thing is arbitrary & no one can logically claim tipping is morally justified since the other party is poor. Make your own decisions.
If someone at the next table makes unwanted comments, tell him to mind his own damn business. Particularly if the waiter was rude & did not deserve a tip.