Un Bali Vable

Just got back from my second trip to Bali this year. This one was for relaxation and a little snorkeling. We stayed at the Laguna Resort and Spa which is right next door to the Hotel where all the big wigs are staying for the ASEAN Summit which starts next week. Even Obama is going this time.Its a 5 star, which I couldn’t normally afford but got a great deal on groupon.com.

The snorkeling trip was great…private boat, driver, photographer for about 3 hours for a total price of about US$75. If you ever get a chance, Bali is worth the trip. If you wanna see more video, look up Bali Snorkeling 2 and Bali Snorkeling 3 on YouTube.

Catchin the next stage to Bali

Fell in love with Bali when I spent a few days there with my daughter in August. Going back next week, this time to the five star Laguna Resort and Spa in Nusa Dua.

It’s only a 2 hour and 30 minute flight. One of the advantages of living where I do.

Viva Asia!

Dali in Singapore

My daughter and grandson spent a few days here at the end of their two month jaunt through SE Asia. While she took a side trip to Bali (I later joined her) my 16 year old GS and I visited the Dali Exhibit at the new Marina Bay Sands Hotel and Casino. Great stuff. Thought I would share a few pics and a couple of the artists quotes.

This last quote was one of my favorites.

 

Mega Rich are now “Job Creators”

I just love how the Repubs do that. We can’t raise taxes on the “job creators” or they won’t be able to “create jobs”. Since when?

At the same time, they berate Obama for the lack of new jobs. So what are these “job creators” doing? Where are the jobs?

What they’re doing of course is sinking all the money they save on taxes into new personal investments so they can save even more on low taxes.

Create jobs my ass. Create this, assholes.

income tax time…again

Annually I post about my income tax and crime stats. I just paid my income tax. Thought I might relate it for all you DOMESTIC Americans. First of all, this year, as far as filing forms and all that, there were none. I received a short notice of my circumstances and was simply asked, if they are correct, i had to do nothing. In other words, instead of the 200 page book for filing that AMERICANS receive, i got an email and had to do NO PAPER WORK.

As far as the amount I paid, let me see….multiply by the percent….carry the one….take out the deduction…yup, they were right!

Total tax liability = 1.92%.

And I am a singe person, filing that way. Read it and weep.

Still alive and kickin’

Been a long time since I posted here. But life has gone on. I’m heading the English Department in an Australian college in Singapore now and all is well. But I’m looking to retire soon-just searching for a place to do that.

Right now my choices are Costa Rica, Panama, Ecuador or The Philippines. These are all places that are popular with expats because of the low cost of living. Any of you who might be interested in part time or full time living abroad might want to check out www.internationalliving.com.

My daughter and grandson are currently touring SE Asia and will be in Singapore in a few weeks. Their trip includes several places in Vietnam (Hanoi, Dalat, Hoi An, HCM City, etc) then on to Cambodia, Chang Mai and Phuket in Thailand, then here.

From here they will go to a jungle camp in Sumatra, Indonesia then on to Bali.

Yeah, I’m jealous.

Anyway, hope you are all well.

It’s Tax Time Again – Update

Just got my revised tax bill. There was an error and I’m sorry if I misled you in my previous post. There I stated that my tax liability for the year was S$52.00. After the recalculation, it was actually S$14.93.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Peace be with you.

It’s Tax Time Again!

Yeah, I know, I wasn’t going to post anymore. But the tax time post is something of a tradition here so I will say a few words.

As usual, I received my 200+ page federal income tax manual from the US. Anyone who can actually understand it or even tries to gets an extra 10,000 points.

Here in Singapore it was a little different. My employer filed my income and deductions electronically so all I had to do was log into the tax portal and verify that those numbers were correct. Then I hit the submit button.

Done. Tax filing complete. Took about 3 minutes. Oh, and BTW, my total tax liability for the year was an excruciatingly burdensome $52.00.

Enjoy your filing. Hope you meet the deadline.

Bye Gang, its been a gas

After about 4 years and lots of posts, I’m gonna leave the blogsphere. Just don’t have the time anymore. I’ll leave the blog up for a while because it gets a lot of hits on a few of my past posts and pics.

I’ve cyber-met many wonderful people here, Libby, the Fogg man, Bob Rini and a dozen or so others and I’ll still check in with them from time to time. And I’ve had a lot of fun.

This is therapy for many of us. A way to yell and scream out our points of view to a world that seems to no longer listen or care. We see the injustice every day, many of us do, but the injustice never seems to change. It just gets worse.

I wish our new president all the luck in the world, but I really don’t think it makes any difference who sits in that office from one election to the next. The real power stays in the background, manipulating the money supply and selling out the country for profit.

Between them and the horrific environmental deterioration we face, I pretty much think future generations are doomed.

I’m busy now, but soon I will retire, spend more time enjoying my kids and grandkids, and just sit back and watch it play out for as long as I have left.

Like it says in my header, I’m just along for the ride.

Peace be with you.

Brian

Runaround Sue

I’m sticking to the guy greats tonite. If your as old as I am, close your eyes and remember what you were doing when this song was hot. While the video shows an older, very subdued audience, we 12 and 13 year olds were rockin and rollin to this, dancing far and close, trying to steal a feel and gettin’ crazy to this wonderful beat. Dion and the Belmonts followed this super tune up with The Wanderer. Good times.