It’s the stuff that adds up

The Royal Cliff Beach Hotel in the headline photo (est. 1974), and the view is from my new condo on the 23rd floor of The Sky Residences.

Keep that in mind. I’ll close the loop at the end. There’s a story.

… My last post was about this move and what prefaced and led to it. Remember what I was saying back in 2022 when I dropped alcohol like a hot potato in early August of that year?

I was telling you that to fix something like that which is holding you back, you must first fix your environment where, boozing (or whatever) seems like the best thing to do at whatever time, or very often. Otherwise, you’re simply eliminating a coping thing you have for a shit life you hate.

You need to take the steps, even in an inebriated or doped up state of mind, to fix your underlying shit first.

… It took me 2 1/2 years—since moving from a lonely existence in the Sierra mountains with cold, dark, and long winters—to realize that hey, there are lots of better things to do, now that I live in a tropical paradise. So I did, and that made it easy. Simple. But, once you stop, you have to immediately get off your ass and start doing the better things. Morning hikes, especially along the beach, preceded, topped off, or both, with coffee is excellent for that. 24 hour dosing recommended.

But 2.0 is here…that after suffering a huge defeat, in early 2024, I made the best of it for some months but at about 3 months, I ended up boozing again and after 8 months, I’ve decided I needed to do something, again. I’m not too far removed from an uncanny sober life to not miss it, a lot.

I’ve had to make real moves every day, no matter how “enlightened” by alcohol, to radically change my environment. That began by telling my landlord that I would not be renewing the lease on the studio I was renting in The Cliff.

That made it real. Then I got working to find a place and Holy Mother of God, the stars aligned for me.

That’s what I was leaving back a year ago and thanks to my friend, I was getting it dirt cheap.

That was the best I could do for the move and ended up choosing a place where my old place mocked me hour by hour. That white property to the left, The Sky Residence, where occupied the front-facing 1504. So initially, I thought, ok, I dealt with a bad situation I’m ok.

Nope. For a few months, it was ok. Then it turned from dusk into darkness. Again, my last post speaks to all of that.

… When I began searching, I wasn’t even thinking about regaining my former stature at Sky. I had the same R/E agent from my place at The Cliff look for me.

But in a few days I could tell that just wasn’t going to work out, and I was already searching the listings myself. Facebook marketplace is about the best. So, I happened on some listings at my old place, The Sky, and met a new agent. Here’s my new real-state agent, JJ.

Does your agent look like that? And, why do dudes in the Western world put up with undesirable fat chicks in their field of view, everywhere they look?

Why the fuck why?

JJ kept in good contact with me even though the units on offer were gone already. It wasn’t a day or two, and she had a choice of two. Neither with the ideal front view, but my thinking turned to “get my foot in the door.”

Oh, and having forgotten my key card on exiting more times than I can count, and it’s always a pain in the ass…no more.

It’s still not all.

When I showed up to meet JJ yesterday, she had good news for me.

“I can get you into room 1711 in 2 months. It faces Pattaya Beach, and you’ll have your view back.”

Not only that, but I will not have to do a standard move out, move in. Just enough to make up for price and deposit differences, and she’ll handle it all as a lateral. It’s about 60 bucks per month more, so I’ll finally be at $600 US monthly rent.

Did you read that? 600 bucks. Dudes!!!

I won’t even have to pack. Just gather a few things, hit the service elevator…2 steps outside my front door (as well as the trash bins).

… What else? Gotta keep it real, right? From a social media post…

I was not even close to being settled in, and 24-year-old Ploy messaged me.

“I’m coming over. I want to see your new room.”

She’s a fairly new regular because I shifted my experiment from the 35-45 set to the 18-25 with excellent results.

The young gals are just so much more fun. Girls just wanna have fun. They just wanna.

Yet, I’m 40 years her senior, 7 years older than her dad.

So I started to ask her abut it a bit. Her English is good.

Why not a man your own age?

“I no like; I like old man”

“ปากหวาน” I reply (Pāk h̄wān — “sweet mouth”).

She LOLS (555…hahaha ‘5’ is ‘ha’ in Thai).

What it kinda comes down to is young guys either treat her shitty, like a quick fuck, or they’re sappy and weak.

Old guys treat her like a very special toy they want to play with for a long time.

And I did.

I promised to close the loop on The Royal Cliff Beach Hotel. From another social media post…

That’s the view from the 23rd floor of my new condo of The Royal Cliff Beach Hotel (est 1974) and when I first stepped foot onto Pattaya beach in 1986 at the age of 25, from USS Reeves moored in the bay, that’s where I somehow ended up my first night. I don’t even remember how.

But it was too far from the action I was seeking for that particular 5 days of leave from the ship, so I found something else somewhere in the thick of things, and that’s all I remember.

Since the 1990s, it’s a hotel group comprising 4 separate properties along the beach on the south end of Pattaya.

Now I’m off to get all unpacked, organized, and settled in. Then life recommences, born again.