I’ve got two items to put out today on this fine Sunday—unrelated in some ways, but loosely connected if you squint. The first is about this past week, which marked my sixth time on the so-called retirement visa here in Thailand. My first one was back in 2020, so that’s the initial year plus four subsequent renewals that all went off without a hitch—smooth as greased lightning. I was caught off guard a week ago when I geared up for this latest one, only to find out it was going to be a hundred times more of a pain in the ass. I’ll lay out the gritty details on that shitshow in a bit.

The second item is an update on the Thai girl I’ve known for nearly two years now, but we’ve been properly entangled—boyfriend-girlfriend style—for a good chunk of that. She lives at my place, except when she’s up north with her family. After spending three solid months here, she headed back home for a month to hang with her mom, her kid, the whole neighborhood crew, you name it. She got back about a week ago, and I’ve got a report on how fucking wonderful it’s been since then.

As I’ve been saying for a few weeks now, the way I run this blog is dead simple: I publish whenever the hell I feel like writing or saying something, no matter the day of the week or the subject. It doesn’t follow some rigid schedule or theme—it’s just whatever strikes me. Then I check the calendar: If it’s Monday through Friday, it’s free and open to the public, comments and all. If it lands on a Saturday or Sunday, it’s locked behind the paywall for members only. That’s it—simple as that. No rhyme or reason beyond what works for me, because otherwise, I’d be constantly second-guessing myself: Is this one free? Paid? What the fuck? I don’t play those games. I don’t sit there thinking, “Oh, this info is premium, so I’ll hold it for Saturday.” Bullshit—it’s when I feel like writing, and that’s the end of it.

With that said, this one’s dropping on a Sunday.