The Dragonflies'Lair~Thread XXXI

To: Lady Jag; SoldierDad; WayzataJOHNN

Lady! WJ, SD
Soldier DAD is a little excited today!!

621 posted on 11/03/2006 9:36:25 AM PST by Soaring Feather (Once a bent feather... until I learned to soar......)

WhooooooooooHoooooooooo

Robert emailed me this morning and he is definately scheduled to leave for home sometime tomorrow. Message came in at 1:30am today.

Now I'm Walking on Cloud 9!!!

622 posted on 11/03/2006 9:39:48 AM PST by SoldierDad (Proud Father of a 10th Mountain Division 2nd BCT Soldier fighting in Mahmudiyah)

To: SoldierDad; Soaring Feather; WayzataJOHNN

SOLDIER DAD AND SOLDIER SON!!!

623 posted on 11/03/2006 9:59:50 AM PST by Lady Jag (Bravery is being the only one who knows you're afraid)

Oh FABULOUS WOO HOO!

624 posted on 11/03/2006 10:03:03 AM PST by Soaring Feather (Once a bent feather... until I learned to soar......)

That's special. Thanks very much. I love the graphics.

625 posted on 11/03/2006 10:03:41 AM PST by SoldierDad (Proud Father of a 10th Mountain Division 2nd BCT Soldier fighting in Mahmudiyah)

I must say Lady, you have a lovely Gallery of Gulls today!!

626 posted on 11/03/2006 10:16:42 AM PST by Soaring Feather (Once a bent feather... until I learned to soar......)

It is my honor to show such respect for your son and those who serve.

627 posted on 11/03/2006 10:22:26 AM PST by Lady Jag (Bravery is being the only one who knows you're afraid)

To: Soaring Feather; SoldierDad

Yeah, but I have a screwy gallery of cloud nines:

628 posted on 11/03/2006 10:28:03 AM PST by Lady Jag (Bravery is being the only one who knows you're afraid)

Oh my gosh! LOL

Nice nightgown.

629 posted on 11/03/2006 10:40:32 AM PST by Soaring Feather (Once a bent feather... until I learned to soar......)

To: Soaring Feather

The nightgown isn't mine. LOL!!

630 posted on 11/03/2006 10:59:13 AM PST by Lady Jag (Bravery is being the only one who knows you're afraid)

Sheesh I am glad -kinda skimpy! ROTFLOL!

631 posted on 11/03/2006 11:06:36 AM PST by Soaring Feather (Once a bent feather... until I learned to soar......)

To: Soaring Feather

Skimpy for you, maybe.

632 posted on 11/03/2006 11:09:26 AM PST by Lady Jag (Bravery is being the only one who knows you're afraid)

To: Soaring Feather; All

Well high everyone (and hi Soaring Feather, much more upbeat, I love it!). Guess where I am now....

I'm back in Thailand, have to do a visa trip to complete my application in Taiwan. Boy has Thailand become a crap dump. Back in the old days it was a druggy/hippy hang out. The last few years it has become more respectable, but with the tsunami, bird flu, political troubles, the Thai military's murder of 80 prisoners two years ago, and greatly increased crime against foreigners (still not an epidemic, by any means, but much more than has occurred historically) well visitors to Thailand have dropped off greatly.

I just flew into the wonderful new airport. It is new, that's true, but it's ridiculously far out from the city, like a two hour drive through empty fields before you even get to Bangkok! Quite silly. Then when I got to Bangkok and the touristy area, it was largely deserted. I checked into what was once a decent guest house, and the hold dump smelled totally of dope smoke!! A total pot house! So I checked out immediately and now I'm posting on FR at 2:30am!

I'll only be here for 5 days. I knew that stupid visa rule (cutting back on how long their most loyal customers could stay here) would drive the tourist industry straight into the crapper, but I couldn't guess it would have been so fast! Drugged out losers and "foreigner" bars filled with lower spending Thais are what I see now, and this is supposed to be the high tourist season. That marijuana smoke out is what really blares "DUMP!" to me. It hasn't been like that around here since 1989, but now it looks like they have finally killed the tourist industry totally and are scraping the bottom of the barrel.

Oh well, rather predictable really, given their financially predatory attitudes. Well talk to you all later!

starbase

633 posted on 11/03/2006 11:36:10 AM PST by starbase (Understanding Written Propaganda (click "starbase" to learn 22 manipulating tricks!!))

Well, howdy star base. My goodness you just zoom around. ;)

I think one half of the world does not know how the other half lives. Sounds pretty awful where you are.

You take care now okay??

OBTW, we had snow last night-not much, but I saw it on the car's roof.

634 posted on 11/03/2006 11:45:32 AM PST by Soaring Feather (Once a bent feather... until I learned to soar......)

ROFLOL Till my sides split open.

635 posted on 11/03/2006 11:57:00 AM PST by SoldierDad (Proud Father of a 10th Mountain Division 2nd BCT Soldier fighting in Mahmudiyah)

He could use a shorter nightie . . .

636 posted on 11/03/2006 12:05:19 PM PST by Lady Jag (Bravery is being the only one who knows you're afraid)

Oh, please, no. Can't take much more (ROTFLOL)

637 posted on 11/03/2006 12:10:26 PM PST by SoldierDad (Proud Father of a 10th Mountain Division 2nd BCT Soldier fighting in Mahmudiyah)

To: Soaring Feather; All; Lady Jag; WayzataJOHNN; SoldierDad

Well it's 8:30am now. With the sun up it looks more like the old Thailand, sunny and green (lots of trees). The Taiwan consulate won't open until Monday, of course, so I think I might run down to one of the nearby beaches. I don't want to go too far, and would almost rather sit in the Internet cafe all day anyway!! Travel with my mind, so to speak.

Starting employment in Taiwan is always a bear, you have to wait four or five weeks for the documents then another two for the phone line. Each day seems so long and boring without the Internet!!!

I feel different yet again regarding living in Asia (imagine that!), I do think I could stay a few years in Taiwan, but I believe that will only be if I stay with this employer the whole time. Their start up sequence is almost a crime. They all haze you and try to see if you will get angry, and they do it in these cowardly ways, behind your back, and shamelessly waiting until you mention something you might not like, then totally focusing on forcing that on you!

They even tried to have this big pressure play regarding which country I would do my visa run in! And I'm the one paying the airfare!!!! Believe it or not, they sort of held to this unspoken, hinted at position that I might enjoy going to Thailand, but the purpose for missing some work days is just to do the visa stuff, therefore I should go to Hong Kong and just do the visa stuff, and I should be ashamed to go to Thailand, where I will clearly be having some fun!! It's so crazy, and they threaten your job security and just change their emotions and behavior to turn the screws on you and see if you really, really want the job.

And not only that but they take a big social "hit" from the other Chinese if they have staff changes too often (all Chinese businesses do too, it's like they are advertising that their services are unstable, that's how Chinese society sees turnover, hence people stay places for much longer on average than we do). So hazing employees is also self destructive for the business, but they do it anyway! They use these underhanded ways to put pressure on you, but if you snap and quit, then they take a hit too! Insane!

However, it does make sense in that they would rather hammer the hell out of you (and all their employees) and know if you will stay around for the long haul (their ultimate goal), but in focusing on that idea they consistently destroy perfectly good business relationships to satisfy all these convoluted views!

All in all, it's a great recipe for becoming backwards and low tech for, oh, say, about three thousand years!!

But since I'm almost through with the hazing part of this gig, I do think I could stay a number of years. Then again I might be in India by December!! Hah! Sooner or later, though, I am coming back to our immaculate, advanced, and sophisticated society. Those individual rights and the rule of Law are special, rare, and damn priceless in this world!!

638 posted on 11/03/2006 5:56:26 PM PST by starbase (Understanding Written Propaganda (click "starbase" to learn 22 manipulating tricks!!))

Keep your six covered and when they hassle you smile, it drives them crazy!!!!!!!!

639 posted on 11/03/2006 6:21:55 PM PST by WayzataJOHNN ( Poetry is the jazz of words, laid down by a feeling soul.)

To: Soaring Feather

Dripping Days

Water weeps from the eves
amid rumbles of a summer storm
and I sit inside, eyeing dripping leaves
accepting it as the day’s norm

Wind tugs at the corner of the house
bemoaning such a drizzling day
and I inhabit the fireside as I may
glad not my spirits to douse

A good book in which to lose myself
kept quite close upon a nearby shelf
chaptering it amid the music of the rain
setting the storm aside with easy distain

640 posted on 11/03/2006 6:24:10 PM PST by WayzataJOHNN ( Poetry is the jazz of words, laid down by a feeling soul.)

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