I've devoted 30 years of my life to that eventuality. With the 7th largest economy on the planet, its own space programs, high-tech industries, its own nuclear weapons, its own gold bank, and enough petroleum and other energy sources to supply itself. It is also the largest producer of helium on the planet. The only thing holding Texas back is habit.
I'm with you on that one. I'll be happy to help build the new state department and foreign missions. A cause worth fighting for, and who knows, Musk may end up helping that effort.
There are only 10 kinds of people in the world. Those who understand binary notation and everyone else.
We live in a time of war. Those who have power have abdicated government, placed us out of their protection, and make war on the people of the world. The chief war profiteer sits in Buckingham palace when he isn't vacationing in Balmoral and call himself some variation on upChuck the third. There won't be peace until his usurpation is ended. My ancestors knew it in 1746 when we were cleared off our lands in the Scots Highlands.
Well, that pretty much puts it in a nutshell. My work here is done! :) Yes, Chuckles the Turd is part of the pyramidion. Folks interested in learning more about it should see my discussion with Joseph Farrell called "Princes, Persons and Power". All will be revealed.
This is the way. I enjoyed this piece because it partly mirrors my own step off the cliff in moving to the Philippines. A lot of tourists come and go, but only the travellers have the 'right stuff' to stay. For years I avoided other expats, hoping not to inadvertently run into some YouTuber Behaving Badly. But then I met a few other Americans in my local tip of the island and discovered a funny thing: we are all pretty compatible, and with similar stories. It is as if a giant Life Filter were applied and shaken, and we are the ones who fell through the screen, ending up in this particular place at this particular time. Uncanny.
Only been to Indonesia once, but it was to Bali if that counts. There too, I sensed a familiar vibe. 'Yeah, I could live here,' I thought. Too many Westerners get all wonky and out of their element the moment a Starbucks is not available, and that is a real shame. I've felt that same vibe in places as diverse as Curacao, Sierra Leone, Samoa, Jamaica, even Taiwan. We can't discover what is out there if we remain forever in the Bubble, and life is just too short for that.
As JFK said, "We chose to go to the Moon...not because it is easy, but because it is hard." Big risks get big rewards. Bail, like any tourist trap, is a mixed bag. If you stay in Denpasar, you get little bubbles of Australia or Russia or Europe, but if you go up in the mountains or along the northern coast, you get a real taste of what made the place famous with mariners centuries ago.
I know several folks who have settled in the Philippines, including my cousin. I've always wanted a Jeepney as a hobby car. Like Indonesia, there is a severe disparity between the concentration of wealth in a few pockets, and crushing poverty next door. I've tried balut (not a fan), pinikpikan (not bad, similar to Chinese dish), and kamaru (not bad if I don't think about it). Heck, the French eat raw hamburgers, so who am I to complain?
Some of my greatest experiences have been far off the beaten path. I can't imagine being a tourist who go to great lengths to stay in a bubble and never get outside their comfort zone. That seems like such a sterile life. Like the repeated theme in Jennings' book, I don't want to be on my deathbed wishing I had gone there and done that.
That's the kind of thing that built America (not the US). My mother was a big fan of Os-Cal, too. Great story about vision and perseverance....and good managers. I also think vesting employees is a great way to focus people. When folks directly benefit from the rewards of hard work, it's hard to go wrong with that.
My first experience with tourists was in Munich. I was sitting at a small cafe waiting for the Glockenspiel to go off, when several American Express buses pulled up and hordes of locusts disgorged from them. Like something out of a Terry Gilliam film, the wads of tourists shuffled over in front of the Rathaus, watched the clock do its thing, then waddled back to the buses and disappeared, leaving trash all over the plaza, which is basically spitting in the eyes of Germans. I vowed from that moment never to be a tourist.
Indonesia has a weird kind of deference built into the culture from the Dutch colonial days. The "bule" (white folks) are assumed to be both rich and the boss. In fact, even now folks I meet are surprised when I speak Indonesian, and shocked when I speak Javanese. That's just not something "bule" do. We expect everyone to speak English (or Dutch), and we give orders. I try to break that mold right up front when someone asks me where (what country) I'm from. "Texas," I say, "It's between the US and Mexico," I explain to their puzzled looks.
As a manager, I've always made it clear that I am there to clear the path so the experts can work, not to have everyone scurrying around bringing me coffee and (literally) bowing and scraping. It takes some time for my teams to get their heads around this concept. I never ask anyone to do something I would not do (and will do) myself. I am about as egalitarian as anyone you'll ever meet.
All that said, I still cannot go to the bazar with Mrs. FarSide, even after 14 years living in this neighborhood. She complains that all the prices go up and negotiations get exponentially more difficult due only to my presence. Being able to use a few phrases in the various local dialects, though, is usually enough to let folks know I'm not a tourist. One particularly hard thing to learn was how to shake hands in the local custom, which is rather graceful and delicate by my "grip of death" Texan habit. The Javanese are generally very polite and refined, and are genuinely offended by the typical loud and brash American.
Touring is a hobby, but travelling is a way of life.
It takes a while for Indonesians to get used to it. Some see it as a weakness, but they soon learn better. I may be egalitarian, but I can be Ruf-less if my good nature is taken for granted. I clear the path for work, but I expect the work to be done on time and budget, and with quality. :)
I've heard of Marion, I think through a KC girl I know who did gig work for them. In any case, management makes or breaks companies. You can have the best crew in the world, but if the manager is a louse, all is for naught. The part that always gets respect is that I stand between the experts and the execs, who are universally jerks. I deflect the BS so my crew don't have to. In return, they give me great results. Fair trade, as I see it.
We can only hope that Texas returns to being a country instead of a state.
I've devoted 30 years of my life to that eventuality. With the 7th largest economy on the planet, its own space programs, high-tech industries, its own nuclear weapons, its own gold bank, and enough petroleum and other energy sources to supply itself. It is also the largest producer of helium on the planet. The only thing holding Texas back is habit.
If all that is true, I feel my support for TEXIT ebbing.
TX sovereignty is one of the only things that could tempt me back to the former U.S. !
I'm with you on that one. I'll be happy to help build the new state department and foreign missions. A cause worth fighting for, and who knows, Musk may end up helping that effort.
Texas is not the former U.S.
There are only 10 kinds of people in the world. Those who understand binary notation and everyone else.
We live in a time of war. Those who have power have abdicated government, placed us out of their protection, and make war on the people of the world. The chief war profiteer sits in Buckingham palace when he isn't vacationing in Balmoral and call himself some variation on upChuck the third. There won't be peace until his usurpation is ended. My ancestors knew it in 1746 when we were cleared off our lands in the Scots Highlands.
The war continues. Peace is coming. Soon.
Well, that pretty much puts it in a nutshell. My work here is done! :) Yes, Chuckles the Turd is part of the pyramidion. Folks interested in learning more about it should see my discussion with Joseph Farrell called "Princes, Persons and Power". All will be revealed.
Yes, well, we did what we could in Texas back in the day.
This is the way. I enjoyed this piece because it partly mirrors my own step off the cliff in moving to the Philippines. A lot of tourists come and go, but only the travellers have the 'right stuff' to stay. For years I avoided other expats, hoping not to inadvertently run into some YouTuber Behaving Badly. But then I met a few other Americans in my local tip of the island and discovered a funny thing: we are all pretty compatible, and with similar stories. It is as if a giant Life Filter were applied and shaken, and we are the ones who fell through the screen, ending up in this particular place at this particular time. Uncanny.
Only been to Indonesia once, but it was to Bali if that counts. There too, I sensed a familiar vibe. 'Yeah, I could live here,' I thought. Too many Westerners get all wonky and out of their element the moment a Starbucks is not available, and that is a real shame. I've felt that same vibe in places as diverse as Curacao, Sierra Leone, Samoa, Jamaica, even Taiwan. We can't discover what is out there if we remain forever in the Bubble, and life is just too short for that.
Bravo, fellow traveller.
As JFK said, "We chose to go to the Moon...not because it is easy, but because it is hard." Big risks get big rewards. Bail, like any tourist trap, is a mixed bag. If you stay in Denpasar, you get little bubbles of Australia or Russia or Europe, but if you go up in the mountains or along the northern coast, you get a real taste of what made the place famous with mariners centuries ago.
I know several folks who have settled in the Philippines, including my cousin. I've always wanted a Jeepney as a hobby car. Like Indonesia, there is a severe disparity between the concentration of wealth in a few pockets, and crushing poverty next door. I've tried balut (not a fan), pinikpikan (not bad, similar to Chinese dish), and kamaru (not bad if I don't think about it). Heck, the French eat raw hamburgers, so who am I to complain?
Some of my greatest experiences have been far off the beaten path. I can't imagine being a tourist who go to great lengths to stay in a bubble and never get outside their comfort zone. That seems like such a sterile life. Like the repeated theme in Jennings' book, I don't want to be on my deathbed wishing I had gone there and done that.
That's the kind of thing that built America (not the US). My mother was a big fan of Os-Cal, too. Great story about vision and perseverance....and good managers. I also think vesting employees is a great way to focus people. When folks directly benefit from the rewards of hard work, it's hard to go wrong with that.
My first experience with tourists was in Munich. I was sitting at a small cafe waiting for the Glockenspiel to go off, when several American Express buses pulled up and hordes of locusts disgorged from them. Like something out of a Terry Gilliam film, the wads of tourists shuffled over in front of the Rathaus, watched the clock do its thing, then waddled back to the buses and disappeared, leaving trash all over the plaza, which is basically spitting in the eyes of Germans. I vowed from that moment never to be a tourist.
Indonesia has a weird kind of deference built into the culture from the Dutch colonial days. The "bule" (white folks) are assumed to be both rich and the boss. In fact, even now folks I meet are surprised when I speak Indonesian, and shocked when I speak Javanese. That's just not something "bule" do. We expect everyone to speak English (or Dutch), and we give orders. I try to break that mold right up front when someone asks me where (what country) I'm from. "Texas," I say, "It's between the US and Mexico," I explain to their puzzled looks.
As a manager, I've always made it clear that I am there to clear the path so the experts can work, not to have everyone scurrying around bringing me coffee and (literally) bowing and scraping. It takes some time for my teams to get their heads around this concept. I never ask anyone to do something I would not do (and will do) myself. I am about as egalitarian as anyone you'll ever meet.
All that said, I still cannot go to the bazar with Mrs. FarSide, even after 14 years living in this neighborhood. She complains that all the prices go up and negotiations get exponentially more difficult due only to my presence. Being able to use a few phrases in the various local dialects, though, is usually enough to let folks know I'm not a tourist. One particularly hard thing to learn was how to shake hands in the local custom, which is rather graceful and delicate by my "grip of death" Texan habit. The Javanese are generally very polite and refined, and are genuinely offended by the typical loud and brash American.
Touring is a hobby, but travelling is a way of life.
It takes a while for Indonesians to get used to it. Some see it as a weakness, but they soon learn better. I may be egalitarian, but I can be Ruf-less if my good nature is taken for granted. I clear the path for work, but I expect the work to be done on time and budget, and with quality. :)
I've heard of Marion, I think through a KC girl I know who did gig work for them. In any case, management makes or breaks companies. You can have the best crew in the world, but if the manager is a louse, all is for naught. The part that always gets respect is that I stand between the experts and the execs, who are universally jerks. I deflect the BS so my crew don't have to. In return, they give me great results. Fair trade, as I see it.