Hi Winston

[fretfrek]

I don't think I need to introduce myself. Not to you at least. How's Philippines treatin' ya? I heard you're happy there. I'm glad to see that.

Armen

[Winston]

I don't think I need to introduce myself. Not to you at least. How's Philippines treatin' ya? I heard you're happy there. I'm glad to see that.

Armen

It's been great. And how have you been? I miss hanging out with you. I'm glad you came back and visited my site.

Where are you now? How is the new house?

Is your email still the same? I haven't heard from you in a while.

Regards,
Winston

[fretfrek]

We (me and my wife) are doing fine thanks for asking. I wanted to reply to you through email, but I don't know if your email is full or if you ever check your email.
I am still in LA and living in the same apartment and my email is still the same. You have been in LA, you know how stressful, dirty and expensive this city is. To compound that, I have been laid off from my job more than 4 months ago due to corporate takeover. Since then, I vowed I will never again get another corporate job, but we are living in corporate amerikkka and it's the only game in town. I'm trying to do my own gig. That is to open my own agency.
This is a really stressful time for me. Doing all this while supporting a wife who's young and new to the country is really tough. I feel like I betrayed her trust when I brought her over here. I don't like to see her struggling to balance her work and education at the same time. I did this when I was a teenager and new to this country and I know how stressful it is to try and fit in to a society completely different from your own.
On the bright side, my unemployment gave me opportunities to explore activities which I enjoy. Namely, sailing and photography. It's amazing how we bury human creativity in meaningless corporate and stressful jobs all so that we can all be "successful." Success is almost always defined in terms of material wealth in a business run society such as ours.
As you may imagine, all this stress creates extra tension in a new marriage. Luckily, I have a lovely wife who is very understanding and supportive of me. This despite the fact that I give up at times and lose hope. If it wasn't for my wife, I wouldn't be doing any of this and I would be out of here in a heart beat! There have been many a times when I just felt like selling whatever little I own and getting away! Getting away from the good old US that is and going to live in another country. To Thailand for example, or anywhere where there are pristine beaches/nature and living is cheap. I have been mesmerized by images of pristine beaches in Thailand ever since I watched the movie "The Beach" starring Leonardo DiCaprio. Hey, I am a beach bum after all!
Unfortunately, we can't have it all as you know. My wife would like to get a proper education and advance her carrier first. However, she's willing to share the good and bad times wherever we may be. I also realize my wife isn't a US citizen yet and this will create problems. She will be by the summer of 2008 though.
Armen

[Winston]

We (me and my wife) are doing fine thanks for asking. I wanted to reply to you through email, but I don't know if your email is full or if you ever check your email.
I am still in LA and living in the same apartment and my email is still the same. You have been in LA, you know how stressful, dirty and expensive this city is. To compound that, I have been laid off from my job more than 4 months ago due to corporate takeover. Since then, I vowed I will never again get another corporate job, but we are living in corporate amerikkka and it's the only game in town. I'm trying to do my own gig. That is to open my own agency.
This is a really stressful time for me. Doing all this while supporting a wife who's young and new to the country is really tough. I feel like I betrayed her trust when I brought her over here. I don't like to see her struggling to balance her work and education at the same time. I did this when I was a teenager and new to this country and I know how stressful it is to try and fit in to a society completely different from your own.
On the bright side, my unemployment gave me opportunities to explore activities which I enjoy. Namely, sailing and photography. It's amazing how we bury human creativity in meaningless corporate and stressful jobs all so that we can all be "successful." Success is almost always defined in terms of material wealth in a business run society such as ours.
As you may imagine, all this stress creates extra tension in a new marriage. Luckily, I have a lovely wife who is very understanding and supportive of me. This despite the fact that I give up at times and lose hope. If it wasn't for my wife, I wouldn't be doing any of this and I would be out of here in a heart beat! There have been many a times when I just felt like selling whatever little I own and getting away! Getting away from the good old US that is and going to live in another country. To Thailand for example, or anywhere where there are pristine beaches/nature and living is cheap. I have been mesmerized by images of pristine beaches in Thailand ever since I watched the movie "The Beach" starring Leonardo DiCaprio. Hey, I am a beach bum after all!
Unfortunately, we can't have it all as you know. My wife would like to get a proper education and advance her carrier first. However, she's willing to share the good and bad times wherever we may be. I also realize my wife isn't a US citizen yet and this will create problems. She will be by the summer of 2008 though.
Armen

W: Armen, wow that sounds tough, lots of hard decisions too. Sometimes, you can't just know what the right thing to do is. You have to go with the flow and the right choices come along and manifest them later.

Yes my email is still the same, but I use wwu777us@yahoo.com. You can find it on my welcome page. Do you still get my posts to the list?

Can't your wife just get an education somewhere else? Aren't there colleges everywhere? Maybe you can go to Europe?

[fretfrek]

Europe is out of the question. It's too darn expensive and now that the value of the US dollar (what a joke) is less than the Canadian one, the exchange rate compared to the Euro is almost 1:2! and it's going to get worse. I tell my wife that this country is going to be in a catastrophic socio-economic and political turmoil in the next few years to come. You can thank the Bush regime for that. Oh well, at least I don't have to worry about that since I don't have any assets such as a house, stocks, big savings, etc and I can get the hell out of here anytime!
Armen