Greetings from Malaysia

I might start posting here again. The last time I did, I was getting ready to retire and find another country to live in. Since then, I moved to Cambodia (a great retirement destination for expats) and lived there for 2 1/2 years in Phnom Penh. I just recently moved from there to Johor Bahru, Malaysia.

I actually preferred Cambodia but I was flying to Singapore and back every month to spend time with my gf and those flights just finally got the best of me. Now, I’m only about an hour away from her by bus.

Cambodia is primarily a Buddhist country while Malaysia is almost exclusively Muslim. There is a difference in many ways.

I’m posting this to simply offer my experiences and advice for anyone who is considering retirement overseas. It’s a big world out there and much more affordable and easy in many locations. I haven’t lived in the US since 2003 and have had time to travel around Asia, investigate visa requirements, etc. and to see many other places and cultures.

Given the economic and political climate in the US, I don’t expect to ever live there again. And having to manage on just my social security, I probably couldn’t if I wanted to. But over here in southeast Asia, I get along just fine. Any questions?

O Level students get ready for exams

The O Level students are working hard to get ready for the Singapore exams in October. Part of the English exam involves narrative writing. Here is an example of the quality of this writing from one of Ms Jane’s students, Aris Li Lu.

Write about an event that changed your life for the better.

 Written by Aris Li Lu

 

“You have advanced lung cancer. The chance of a successful operation is very slim, almost non-existent.” I blundered out of the consultation room with downcast eyes as the doctor’s sentence lingered in my mind. I tore the report and threw it on the ground. Hiding my face, I wept, not believing such a terrible thing could have happened to me.

 After my mother passed away, I became an anti-social person. My mother died due to our family not having extra money to support her medical fees. To take my revenge on this society, I had reached the notorious level typical of seasoned gangsters and was involved in all types of crimes such as robbery, theft and fighting. That was until yesterday. My cousin, who is the only relative in contact with me, sent me for a medical examination and told me to get a checkup. Then I received this report.

 I walked aimlessly on the street feeling that this world is strange and cruel to me. In my eyes, the whole world is grey and black. Suddenly, I saw an elderly woman struggling to drag a box and I gave her a hand, helping her home. She thanked me and her eyes filled my heart like the brightness of the moonlight. At that moment, I knew what I could do with the rest of my life.

 I devoted my days to being a volunteer in the nursing home and orphanage. At night, I found a part-time job which did not pay well, but I enjoyed it as this was my first job. Spending my time at these places, I acknowledged that this world is not as bad as I thought. Everyone was trying their best to live in this world, even these elderly people and children who were abandoned by their parents. From them, I learnt a lot.

 One week later, dusk fell. I was sitting on the beach watching the sunset. The setting sun cast a deep red glow over the city. My heart had never been peaceful, but now I know the essence of life. I felt that my previous life was a failure and meaningless. If I had one more life, I would not live it like my previous way of life. Suddenly, my phone chimed, “Hello, this is Dr Tan. I’m calling to inform that you haven’t got lung cancer. I am terribly sorry as your report was mixed up with another patient’s …” I hung up the phone and looked at the sunset far away with a smile.

 5 years later, as a phenomenally successful businessman, I am sitting in my easy chair. Recalling my previous life, I think getting ‘cancer’ was the best thing that ever happened to me. It really changed my life for the better.

 [464 words]

Great work and good luck!

 

America nears – The End

With sadness and relish, I await it.

Old Music Play Off

I love the old rock n’ roll and I know I’m not alone. I’m also an old fart and I know I’m not alone in that either. Bob Rini consistently posts some of the best old songs I see here. So I’ve made a friendly challenge to Bob for two great oldies at a time. Kind of a blogging dueling banjos of some of the very best music in the genre.

I’m gonna start here…

lets see where it goes.

Oh, and anyone is welcome to join. Just leave the link so we can find you.

If you can’t find a decent vid from the original time period, an up to date vid is ok. Besides, I love it when they can still do it with gray hair and vericose veins.

Ok, here we go.

As I recall, this was at the top of the charts for 11 weeks. It’s a classic and a good challenge to start.

Anyone who doesn’t know this one by heart is not a real baby boomer.

Border Security Confiscating Laptops

We shouldn’t let this story slide under the radar even though it’s not really new. Customs Agents have apparently increased the number of laptop computers that they seize and “detain” indefinitely at border crossings. They’re also detaining Ipods, cell phones, and other digital storage devices in case the boogie man is hiding in your memory card. The devices are being confiscated from foreign and American citizens alike.

As the Washington Post reported yesterday, Border Patrol and Customs agents can now “detain” laptops “for a reasonable period of time” to “review and analyze information.” Article here.

They don’t need probable cause under the new policy. Doesn’t matter if you’re a U.S. citizen or foreign visitor. Officials can hold the laptops indefinitely. Or hard drives, flash drives, cellphones, iPods, pagers, beepers, video and audio tapes. Ditto papers, documents, books, pamphlets, even litter.

What have they found so far? Some videos of bombs going off in Iraq, some Jihadhist literature, whatever that is, and some intellectual property violations. OMG!!

This begs the question, what about leftist blogger files. I have backup files full of anti Bush articles and pictures. Do I need to delete these before I visit in December? I suppose I should play it safe and clean up my hard drive.

But isn’t it a shame that I have to? I seem to remember when we all had the freedom to dissent, even against our own government or president. And there was a time when personal privacy was a given. Not to mention freedom of speech. Not anymore. Now what we have is the re-emergence of Nazism. All Bush lacks is the moustache.

Deleting comments

I have only deleted comments to my posts once in the past that I can remember. In that instance, I was emailed by the attorney for a young divorced woman whose exhusband had killed  their two children and himself in a desparate rage that has yet to be explained. I had followed and written about him because he was an untreated PTSD veteran of Iraq. The comments, mostly by family members, had become heated and even petty, and the attorney asked if I would consider removing the worst of them as they were disturbing to the exwife and the one surviving child. I agreed to do just that.

But today I deleted a series of comments left recently by someone who calls him/herself the ignorant American. This person somehow found my tiny blog and decided to stop by – and I will put this as respectfully as I can – to ridicule my more liberal views and to promote the conservative agenda of Mr. Bush and Mr. McCain. How’s that for respectful!

In any case, I deleted his/her comments because I don’t believe what he/she had to say, think he/she is utterly and completely wrong, and let him call me an idiot and a moron one time too many already. I’m pretty sure my IQ is greater than his and I’m damn sure my experience is much more broad, but neither is the point.

The point is, it’s my blog. I will delete who and what I want and write what I want. If Mr./Mrs./Ms ignorant American doesn’t like it, he/she can go comment somewhere else or he/she can go fuck him/herself.

Alive and kicking

I know I’ve been remiss about posting. Just very busy right now. I’ll get caught up this weekend. The candidates are giving us so much juicy material to post about and of course Bush provides a neverending supply of noteworthy raw sewage. Catch you in a couple days

Repeat Child Rapist Executed, finally

LA Times

MIAMI — Convicted child rapist and murderer Mark Dean Schwab was put to death Tuesday at Florida State Prison, the state’s first execution since a botched lethal injection 18 months ago raised concern that a condemned man had endured a “cruel and unusual” ordeal.

Schwab, 39, was executed for the rape and murder of 11-year-old Junny Rios-Martinez of Cocoa. He killed the boy in April 1991, just a month after early release from a previous prison term for sexually assaulting a 13-year-old boy.

Anyone care to comment on why this maniac was let out of prison after the first one? Who made the decision that his time was long enough? Who decided he was “rehabilitated”? Why do we have a law that permits a child rapist to ever be let loose on society again?

Army Desertion Rate Skyrockets

WASHINGTON — Soldiers strained by six years at war are deserting their posts at the highest rate since 1980, with the number of Army deserters this year showing an 80 percent increase since the United States invaded Iraq in 2003. (article)

According to the Army, about nine in every 1,000 soldiers deserted in fiscal year 2007, which ended Sept. 30, compared to nearly seven per 1,000 a year earlier. Overall, 4,698 soldiers deserted this year, compared to 3,301 last year.

These are not cowards. Far from it. It is a tremendously difficult decision to have to make and one that can have serious consequences. I personally admire their courage for standing up to both the government and the army by refusing to serve in Bush’s war.

When caught, they will face lengthy prison sentences or even worse. Unless something has changed, the military penalty for desertion in wartime is death. I hope that once we have a sane president, instead of the current psychopath, amnesty will be extended to these young men and women (as it was to Vietnam deserters).

High School Days

My class of ’67 forty year high school reunion was a couple of months ago. They arranged to go on the 3 day Mexico cruise. Its a common cruise in California originating in San Pedro and stopping at San Diego, then Catalina Island, then Ensenada, Mexico and then back home.

I did not attend but got feedback. It seems everyone had a great time. It occurred to me that it would be a good idea to have a class blog and make the username and password to post available to everyone in the class who wants to. The blog would be used to tell all of us what has been going on since we graduated and as a way to stay in touch via comments and exchanged emails.

The last few days I’ve been building that blog for my school with myself as the first contributor. It’s up and I have notified a classmate who will start distributing the passwords to get in and to post.

The reason I bring that up here is simply that a reader may like the idea and want to try the same thing. Anyway, the site is www.blackford.wordpress.com if you want to check it out. I’m a little burnt out on political posting lately and between this new blog and building my biz website I’m busy anyway.