A long time since the last post, but I have been recovering from an operation that I had at Bumrungrad hospital in Thailand. Not exactly a pleasant thing to undergo or to talk about but suffice to say I'm incredibly glad that I got it done. I had been increasingly bothered for years by this and the relief is immense. It did take a significantly long time for me to get over it. Basically, three weeks instead of the four to seven days that the hospital told me. However, I holed up at a pleasant hotel in Pattaya, Thailand and just relaxed. After the three weeks I slowly started to get back to working out although I ended up, due to being in a hotel and one of my favorite towns, eating entirely too much good stuff, that is to say, bread, and I definitely put on a couple of kilos of weight during my stay. 😊You can see why below …

But honestly, at this point, I am so pleased with my general health. A year ago just when my herniated disk presented, I could barely walk. Now, one year later, I’m doing 20- 40 minutes of calisthenics per day and 20 – 35 minutes of high incline, high speed treadmill walking as well. And my physical therapist the other day in Thailand, said my back felt normal. 😊💕

It took quite a while as my therapists said, but I started slow, kept at it every single day, and slowly built up my repertoire of exercises as the time went on, and today, I realized how far I have come. My right shoulder remains problematic, but even that is improving as I incorporate more calisthenics into my daily routine. I do very little with weights any more, And when I do it is only kettle bells or dumbbells of relatively light weight. I truly believe one needs to keep up this level of activity as one gets older. It certainly seems to be paying off but one also needs to be careful to increase the level of effort cautiously. Slow is better. These are a couple of YouTube Channels I’m following. Don’t get me wrong, I am not striving to their level, just working on strength and mobility.

https://youtube.com/@Strengthside?si=DVjaXpL3U6_9hF50 StrengthSide

https://youtube.com/@PaulTwyman?si=tAw37XAy6kY_Dv7l Twyman

Once again, I have to say that I enjoyed being in Thailand a lot. I will have to speak with my partners about the fact that I might set up a household there and live there at least half the year. Well, we'll see.

It has been six months and two weeks since I did my renunciation, and I am still waiting for the certificate from the government. Richard Nixon, not exactly one of my favorite people, made, however, a very telling comment about bureaucrats. “People with small minds and a lot of power.” State Department? Perfect example of that.

I am petrified to get irritated with them because who knows what they might do to my paperwork but on the other hand what do you do after six months of basically nothing except “it's still in process”? It is ludicrous. And yet I really have no avenue of recourse. And many of the things that I need to do are in limbo. I cannot finish my final taxes, I can't apply for my retirement visa in the Philippines, I can't get my bank accounts changed to reflect the fact that I am no longer an American, etc. All those things require that stupid piece of paper.

I think, since the operation, my frame of mind has improved. However, I can tell I still feel increasingly disconnected from life and the world in general. It is a struggle even to continue doing blog posts. Although, I didn't seem to have a problem getting to it this morning. I went to one of the online mental health services and I've done one session with a lady in Europe someplace, and I've got three more left. I'm not sure how much good it's doing me. But then again, talking is never really a bad thing.

Six weeks in a hotel in Thailand. Even though I love Thailand, living in a hotel is not for me. I've done entirely too much of it in my life. It was so good to get home to my house in the Philippines where everything is arranged exactly the way I like it. So happy to sit around my house with lots of space, lots of empty places, and just enjoy what I have. I am incredibly grateful for that. The last 6 months I did get rid of several pieces of heavy furniture and my gas stove. I replaced it with a 2-burner induction unit. Looks so much better. It also allowed me to get rid of a huge quantity of cookware that I no longer needed since it wouldn’t work on the induction burners. The induction cooker is so efficient. I should have changed to that years ago. Some pictures of the house and before and after photos below.

Before …

After …

Well, that is it for the moment. I am going to be here for a couple of months. I am desperately hoping that CLN will appear in the next few weeks so that I can actually plan out the rest of my year. I still will probably go to Europe to say hi to an old friend. Regardless of the CLN I'll probably go at mid-May. After that I don't think I really want to travel much except back and forth to Thailand. But I will try to get to two new different countries while I'm on my trip to Europe I'm still thinking Poland, Georgia, or possibly, Malta. I will keep you posted.

And, while being grateful, thank you to everybody who has subscribed and reads my blog. I do appreciate it so much.