Three topics this month: Thai, a thorough health review as I hit 65, and some thoughts on how much Claude has become part of my daily life. Also, a video link at the end that hit surprisingly close to home.
The Thai Juggling Act
I’ve written before about learning Thai being slow going. What I haven’t fully explained is why — and it’s not just the usual language learning grind. Thai requires you to hold a remarkable number of things in your head simultaneously, every time you open your mouth.
I made a diagram. I’ll include it here because a picture genuinely is worth a thousand words in this case.
But let me walk through it. When I try to speak a word or phrase in Thai, here is the approximate sequence of things I have to juggle:
Vocabulary — do I actually know the word? That’s the starting point, and in Thai it’s complicated by formality levels. The word you use in casual conversation may not be the same one you use in a more formal setting.
Spelling — and here’s where it gets interesting. Thai has 44 consonants, but many of them represent sounds that appear identical to a foreign speaker. There are, for example, four consonants that all make a “T” sound, five that make a “P” sound, four a “K”, and so on. The reason this matters isn’t just spelling trivia — it’s because which consonant you use determines the tone of the word. Which brings us to:
Consonant Class — Thai consonants are divided into three classes (high, mid, and low). The class of the consonant in a word, combined with other factors, determines how the word is pronounced and toned. So, if you don’t know the correct spelling — specifically which consonant from which class is in a word — you cannot correctly pronounce it.
Tone — Thai has five tones (mid, low, falling, high, rising). The tone of a syllable is not arbitrary; it’s determined by a combination of consonant class, any tone diacritics (accent marks) present, and whether the syllable is “live” or “dead” (open or closed). Get the tone wrong and you’ve said a completely different word, possibly an embarrassing one. Plus it took ages for me to figure out the physical throat muscle requirements to achieve the correct tone.
Vowels — Thai has over 30 vowel sounds, and vowel length matters — a long vowel and a short vowel in otherwise identical words are different words. And much of the time the difference in vowel length is milliseconds. Thais pick it up, but I sure as hell don’t.
Grammar — Thai grammar is actually relatively simple at the basic level. But once you move beyond the fundamentals, the structures and patterns diverge sharply from any of my other languages, which means I can’t fall back on patterns I already know.
And then there’s prosody — the rhythm, stress, and flow of natural speech — which ties everything together and is the last thing to come, if it comes at all.
All of this, every single word, every single sentence. I am not complaining — I chose this — but when people ask me (or more often when I castigate myself about it) why Thai is taking so long, that diagram is my answer.
Turning 65 — A Full Service
I decided that turning 65 was a reasonable excuse for a thorough health review, and I’ve spent the last six weeks doing exactly that. Claude has been central to this process in ways I’ll get to in a moment.
The medical side: I’ve seen a cardiologist and a urologist. Cholesterol is not improving the way I’d like, and I suspect statins are in my near future. Next week I’m doing a stress test with EKG and CPET — which stands for Cardiopulmonary Exercise Testing, essentially a way of measuring how hard your heart and lungs are actually working under load. I’m also getting a VO2 Max measurement at the same time. VO2 Max is the maximum rate at which your body can use oxygen during exercise, and there’s compelling research suggesting it’s one of the better predictors of longevity — more so than many conventional markers. This seemed like exactly the right time to establish a baseline.
I’m also getting an MRI. My PSA level has shown a sudden increase, which warrants a closer look. Likely nothing, but worth investigating.
On the vaccine front: I’ve updated my schedule in consultation with Claude and then confirmed everything with a doctor. In the last couple of weeks I’ve received a tetanus booster, an RSV vaccine (for respiratory syncytial virus, which can be serious in older adults), Hepatitis A, and a Dengue vaccine. Kim died following a bout of Dengue and never really recovering. And I’ve had Dengue when I was about 50. I wouldn’t want to go through it again. A high-dose flu shot follows next week, with second doses of Dengue and Hepatitis A over the next six months.
Claude / Chat GPT as Medical Sounding Board
I want to say something about this directly because I think it’s genuinely useful information for anyone reading.
I’ve been using Claude extensively for health-related research and review, and the results have been tangible enough that they deserve a mention.
First example: I was taking Vitamin B complex supplements. Claude flagged, based on the dosages I described, that excessive B6 in particular is associated with peripheral neuropathy — nerve-related symptoms in the extremities. I had been experiencing numbness and tingling in my toes for a while and had no explanation for it. I stopped the B supplements. The symptoms have largely gone away. And with other analyses, I have reduced the amount of supplements I am taking to the minimum effective dose.
Second example, and this one genuinely made me feel stupid even though I know it shouldn’t: I mentioned in my Obsidian notes (and not in the health section but Claude has access to everything) — almost in passing — that I take my hypothyroid medication and a urinary alkalinizer (which I take to reduce kidney stone risk) at the same time each morning. Claude pointed out that alkaline conditions in the stomach significantly reduce the absorption of thyroid medication, and that I had likely been undermining its effect for years. I’ve been doing this for almost a decade. F!@CK!!!!!!
Within ten days of separating the two — taking the thyroid medication alone with water first, the alkalinizer later — I noticed a measurable increase in energy levels. Ten years.
I want to be clear: Claude is not a doctor and I’m not suggesting anyone use it as a replacement for one. But as a tool for reviewing your own situation, catching interactions, asking the questions you didn’t know to ask, and then bringing that to an actual physician — it has been remarkable. The key is to use it as a research and reasoning partner, not as a final authority. But the interaction thing. I’ve never had a doctor do that for me. They simply don’t have the time, even when you bring them the information. AI is gold for checking that kind of thing. Especially when I feed it the images of the vitamin or medicine labels.
I use Claude and ChatGPT although I primarily refer to Claude here for simplicity. But I use both and usually cross check the results from one with the other.
Distancing
A close friend sent me this video. It’s about why men over 60 begin cutting themselves off from people — stop calling, stop explaining themselves, quietly step back from relationships. It’s well explained and, frankly, on the nose.
I’m not going to summarize it beyond that because it’s worth watching in its own right. Nine or ten minutes.
I recognized myself in parts of it. Make of that what you will.
The condo finalization got delayed for paperwork reasons but should be done by the 28th of the month … I hope.
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