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.

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

Viva Asia!

This last quote was one of my favorites.

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.

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.

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.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Peace be with you.

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.

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

No. This is fucking Washington business as usual. You’re right. You fucked up. We’ve had enough of presidents fucking up. Get better and get better quick. Or you won’t last past 4 years. You made promises. Keep them. Or join the ranks of all the other big talk lying politicians that we’ve gotten used to.

In 1929-30 businessmen who lost everything in the stock market crash were jumping out of windows to their deaths. Maybe back then, every family didn’t stockpile guns. Today it’s different. The murder/suicide of a family of 4 in Ohio whose mother and father had both lost their jobs. The murder/suicide of a family of 7 in LA who were awash in dept. All shot.

Back in the depression, broke businessmen just killed themselves. Today they take the whole family with them.

Progress in America.

At the very least. After decades of mediocrity, it seems that America has chosen the right and the best man for the job. I feel like, overnight, I became proud to be an American again. And I don’t think I’m alone. His words, his demeanor, his very presence just screams sound leadership.

As Bush slinked away like the wounded badger he is, Obama grabbed the reins of the huge, crazed but sickly bull that is America. Can he stay in the saddle and control this beast? Only time will tell. But hope abounds around the globe that he can and will.

They all say it, but this is truly the beginning of a new era. I believe Obama and his associates are up to the task. I hope the American people are, too.

I was surprised how comfortable I felt in my hometown after so long. Some things had changed but some remain the same. I drove a car for the first time since I left in 2003 and, like riding a bicycle, it came back to me immediately.

I met a lot of my daughter’s friends who have supported her and helped her immensely during her illness and the moods that brought. I am profoundly grateful to all of them. I guess the only thing better than a home where people love you is two homes where they do.

Of course after their divorce, Sonny went on to become the mayor of Palm Springs, and later died, and Cher went on to become a superb actress, superstar performer and deserving diva. This is my fav clip  of her after the transformation.

As Buffalo would say, life is sweet when you have entertainment like this.

I’m feeling a little bit of hope for the first time in a long time.

I’m turning 60 today. I really don’t want to spend anymore days or weeks or years talking here to a very limited few about politics and the world’s woes. I don’t enjoy it anymore.

Instead, I’m going to post what I like to post the most. Good old music. So if you’re looking for some commentary on the zealot, Mugabe or the latest nightmare in Iraq, you best go somewhere else. Here, I’m gonna stick to music. I know, it’s only rock n’ roll. But I like it.

I  also thought it might be fun to post a little memorabilia of those same days. Anyone remember what a 66 GTO sounded like?

I couldn’t afford anything like that so for a while anyway, I scooted around on one of these.

Yup, the Honda 50 Sport. Very popular. Remember when the Honda 250 was the baddest bike around?

I didn’t drive for nearly 3 years while in the army, but when I got home my very conservative father had bought one of these for me to tool around in. My mom told me later, it  was just for me.

It had the big  400 cc engine and looked just like this. On the stretch of Highway  17 straightaway coming down from Santa Cruz to Scotts Valley, I had it up to 140. I’m not a car nut, but that was special. Thanks, Dad.

There were lots of great cars back then to go with the great music. What was yours?