u/19puppylove99

Would need to be shipped to Montana. I've been saving up for about 2 years now and really hoping to find a decent starting pedal steel.

if you know of anyone selling, please send me a dm, thanks

Honestly never thought I would see something like this happen. We are in a small town in rural montana, and it's been hard to imagine a scenario where they would actually do something that would favor the workers.

For years we've been understaffed and over-worked. High turnover rate, low pay, etc...

I'm just really stoked. Will have 3 full days off each week and not lose any of the pay or benefits. Just wanted to share some good news

For me, I'm about equally interested in ceramics (throwing pottery especially), painting, stained glass, and music writing/recording, poetry/short stories, cyanotypes, film photography, etc.

I often spend my entire evenings and days off doing one of these, and I feel lucky to be able to bounce between them if I start feeling bored or more drawn towards another medium.

What's wild tho is trying to fit all this into my second bedroom lol... it's pretty cramped and hard to stay organized.

I'm looking to make some cyanotypes on silk that like light can shine through in a nice way, but still get that strong deep blue. I'm considering habotai (8 momme or 12 momme), as well as silk organza.

anybody try either of these before? I'm gonna order some this week and give it a shot, will update later

I am planning to spend about 9 months in China to do an intensive langauge program. After the first year, I will plan to relocate to Jingdezhen and study ceramics for at least a couple of years, as this is a great passion of mine.

But first I want to experience one other city on a deep level before jumping in to Jingdezhen.

The cities I've been considering include: Hangzhou, Dali, Suzhou, and Chengdu.

My monthly budget is around 7,000 Yuan (roughly $1,000 USD).

Just for some context, I really enjoy contemplative life, monks, temples, traditional arts, architecture, poetry, philosophy, and nature. It would be nice to be in a place where I could easily leave the city and spend time camping in nature every couple of weeks, and I prefer not to be in a place that places so much emphasis on consumerism/status/commercialism etc.

Can handle all kinds of food, and really love listening to live music when available.

any insight into which of these may be best for me, I'd really appreciate. any other recommendations as well, thanks

Around the age of 15 I picked up a book called Irrational Man by William Barrett, which began a years long interest in philosophy and existentialism specifically. I explored high and low intellectually, but it was actually a couple of direct experiences that got me more into spiritual life; the first was experimenting with all kinds of mind-altering substances, the second was my mom dying in a really horrific way when I was 18, and the last was the discovery of meditation.

towards the end of my university years I ended up in Greece for a year taking classes in phenomenology, human consciousness, classics, and psychology. The more I learned, the more I became increasingly disillusioned with western philosophy. I began to get a sense that the nature of 'ultimate reality' had to be beyond words, logic, reasoning, etc.

At this point I had been reading a lot of buddhist literature, but didn't really start meditating seriously until around the age 22. It transformed my life over the course of several months and I became determined to go to the east myself to find some answers.

I have lived in thailand now for 4 years and studying with monks in a local buddhist university. Part of our curriculum required 120 documented days of silent meditation, although I've probably sat closer to 200 during these years. Layers and layers peeled away. There were moments of extreme bliss, despair, angst, realization, embodiment of emptiness, pure awareness of existence, and states of non-existence as well. I honestly cannot put into words everything that I went through during these years. I lived with very little, and spent most of my time either in meditation or alone exploring the surrounding nature.

The last major experience was thru-hiking alone in Nepal for 40 days, during which I was completely alone and in nature for most of the time. It was brutal, and probably the most physically and mentally challenging thing I've ever done. I would not do it again, although it was immeasurably valuable to be put into situations where I easily could have died alone.

What's really fascinating now, is that I am back in the U.S. this summer for some seasonal work, and have a lot of time for reflection (living on a boat for 2 months). Something has completely changed in me, where I feel no longer interested whatsoever in 'cracking the mystery' of consciousness, or of having any more realizations about ultimate reality. When I listen to teachings that used to move me deeply, it just sounds like words that don't resonate anymore.

I would still say I am a Buddhist through and through, and meditation will continue to be a large part of my life. I am continually trying to soften my heart, develop compassion, and see things more clearly. There is still a sense of curiosity towards human existence, but it doesn't feel important anymore. So much of my identity was tied up in being a 'good buddhist,' and just a spiritual person in general. The more layers that peeled away, the less I was left with anything to hold onto. It feels like I've come back full circle to the person who I was before, except more empty, softer, and less sure of anything. Everything that was once so profound now seems flat.

Before, I had imagined myself becoming a scholar-monk, living tucked away in a cave somewhere writing poetry becoming some kind of 'realized' person who could teach others how to be free from their suffering. Now, I find it to be all so grandiose and self-centered. I could honestly envision moving back to my original home in the U.S. now, taking up a regular job, having a T.V. and a cat, and just making friends again and living a 'normal' life.

Before I went through all this, I felt like I had so much to offer the world, so much that I could teach. Now if somebody asked me what I knew about spiritual matters, I probably wouldn't have much to offer.

I’ve been living in Thailand for the last four years and have a pretty good situation where I only have to work two months of the year in a seasonal job back in the US, and can spend the rest of the year doing whatever I want. This usually involves riding motorcycles through the mountains, making art, hanging out with friends, and doing some volunteer work.

My dad recently retired, and spent a lot of his life behind bars so only is receiving $800 monthly retirement. He’s barely scraping by month to month living in a tiny trailer, and is 64 years old.

My sister lives a few hours away from him, has cerebral palsy, lives alone, and is about halfway through a pregnancy. She gets about $1600 monthly which is just barely enough to cover bills even without a child.

Lately, i’m really struggling to decide whether or not I should give up the life that I’ve built to go home and make some better money to help them get through these hard times.

They both have always been great to me and I only have love for them.

As for my current life situation, it’s very enjoyable but honestly I don’t see much of a solid future in Thailand. I speak the language well enough, but theres not much work for foreigners available and I’ll be done with my education visa in the next year or two, not really sure what I’d do with myself there after that.

I mean, I’m sure I could find a way to stay, but wouldn’t have that much of meaningful goals to be working towards while living there. It’s just that I really love the culture, natural beauty, food, and society much better than at home in the US.

I feel like the better part of me would want to go home and pick up a job that pays well so that I could afford to send them some money each month at least for a while until they both are in a better situation . But that would involve living where I don’t really want to be, and sort of throwing away the life that I’ve built the last four years

If anybody has a similar situation that they’ve been through, we just generally advice on how to deal with the feeling of responsibility towards their family, let me know, thanks

Started studying on my own about 3 years ago, and have probably averaged about 2 hours a day of interacting with thai either through private lessons, group language events, writing in a notebook, reading, watching movies/documentaries, listening to podcasts, and talking to people IRL, etc.

I'm at the point where I can listen to everyday conversation and know about 80-90% of the vocab, although sometimes the grammatical structure can throw me for a loop. Most podcasts are decently within reach unless they're about a highly detailed topic like history, politics, etc. If I had to put it on the CEFR scale, I'm probably around B2.

I can chat pretty well about a wide variety of topics, but of course speak slower than a native and probably err on the side of speaking too formally. I'm doing a degree in buddhist studies at a local university (taught in english), and recently asked if I could sit in on a few of the Thai classes to practice.

the first one I sat in on, students were giving presentations about their thesis proposals, and...wow. I probably only caught about 40% of what was being said. It was super confusing and I was surprised by how much vocabulary I was unfamiliar with.

I know 3 years isn't all that long for a language this different from English. That being said, I would love to continue living here many years in the future and want to eventually reach a point of full integration, where I could comfortably walk into any situation and hold my own with speaking/listening. I wanna be able to comfortably watch the news and have complex conversations with the thai people in my life.

I'm wondering if anybody who has lived in thailand long-term has actually gotten to a point where you can handle highly complex and rapid conversation/information with relative ease...and if so, how did you overcome the long intermediate stage?

The answer is probably time and effort right? but yeah...curious of any thoughts you may have. thanks so much

from 7:00min to about 27:00min.
It's only in thai, no eng sub. but clear speaking and not too difficult of vocabulary.

I just got my first synth (microfreak) and have been having a total blast. I bought it around 2pm yesterday, went home and plugged it in and started messing around...looked up and it was 1am. It's so fascinating and fun.

I really don't know much about the history of synth music, or many albums that would be considered 'must listens'

I've listened to quite a bit of boards of canada, mort garson, aphex twins, and some other ambient records on bandcamp, but i truly don't even know where to start beyond this.

What albums were important for you when you first started out? Thanks : )

I usually use these headphones with my tascam model 16 and it does a great job amplifying.
The thing is I recently got a Arturia Microfreak synthesizer, and I want to take it on a boat with me for a couple of months. I will have power so no worries there... but would like to get what I play into my iPad also so that I can record songs.

I thought about just getting an amp, but then I still wouldn't be able to get the audio into the iPad. Somebody in another thread recommended just getting an audio interface instead because it would kill two birds with one stone.

What would you recommend so the headphones would be loud enough, and that I could also get the sound into my iPad?

My apologies if this is a really simple or dumb question I just don't know much about this stuff.

I've only had 3 partners in my life. Have only slept with those 3.

the first of was a girl when I was 16/17 (thought I was bi, eventually ended it after discovering I wasn't sexually attracted to women),

the second was a guy when I was 18, barely lasted a year

the third was when I was 24, only lasted about 6 months.

Other than these, I can count the amount of dates I've been on on one hand.

Been single for many years now, and if I'm being honest the main factor is fear, the other being general shyness and introvertedness. As time goes on, I really want to get back into searching for a solid partner. Before, I think they didn't work out because I just stayed with the first person that showed any interest in me, and didn't have much discernment of their character before committing. These days though, I think I really know who I am, what I want, and what I'm able to bring to a relationship.

Last week I went on a date and the other guy was really interested to keep going, whereas there wasn't much of a spark on my end. I politely declined another date. We were both mature and straightforward, and it turned out fine.

On the date itself, I was amazed to see myself moving and speaking with confidence, and feeling calm. For most of my life I just imagined I had some kind of curse on me that made me unable to date... but I just learned that's totally untrue!

Feeling super excited to start exploring this part of my life, and I wanna know if anyone has gone thru a similar experience.

I also want to ask if it's unreasonable for me to put up the boundary of not having sex with anyone until we've gotten to know each other well and decided to be in a committed relationship. One of my gay friends mentioned that a lot of guys will be turned off by that and consider it prudish. Sometimes I find myself wishing that I was more open-minded towards casual intimacy but it's just not how I'm wired or what I'm looking for.

EDIT: just wanna add that of course the number that would be considered high for having dated or slept with is relative. what's low for me might be high for you, and vice versa. I'm more looking to hear your opinions and experiences rather than comparing the numbers of partners we've had in the past

I have had zero dates in the last 2 years. I finally got on tinder and met an interesting guy. Over text, things honestly felt pretty good. He's handsome, mature, funny, has good taste in art, dresses well, etc. On paper there are a lot of things I like about him.

But after meeting in person, something started feeling off. The chemistry wasn't terrible, but it felt kind of flat. One thing that stood out was that I kept trying to create little moments of connection (warm eye contact , questions about his life/goals/personality, trying to feel each other out a bit) and I just felt... nothing back. Not nervousness, not excitement, not warmth, not curiosity. His eyes honestly felt kind of blank and I walked away feeling like I cared more about the possibility of a connection than he did. He also mentioned just getting out of a 3 year relationship a few months ago, so that might have played a part.

It's ironic because if he had shown more presence or investment, I'd probably still be excited. But instead I started feeling like I was the one carrying the emotional energy, trying to create something that wasn't naturally happening.

I've also noticed that when I try to ask more emotionally open questions over text, he often deflected or changed the topic. He once told me he wished he could care less in relationships and be more cold-hearted. he was clearly afraid of getting hurt again, which i totally understand...but i was too.

The thing is, I'm not casual with dating. I don't date just for entertainment or temporary attention. If I don't see long-term potential or feel something growing, I lose interest pretty quickly. I told him this morning that I wasn't really feeling the connection and wished him all the best. He replied something along the lines of 'there's never a perfect match out there waiting for you...it's something you have to build over time, adapting to one another etc..'

Like yes of course I know this is true, but my heart was just telling me this isn't quite right. I don't know that we really understand each other, and i didn't feel like he was making much of an effort to get to know me. It felt like I could have been literally any warm body talking to him to make him feel less lonely and it would have been okay for him.

This is getting long but I do wanna just add: I'm really happy I tried this anyway. I learned that a relationship isn't out of my reach like I thought it was, and that I can actually go on dates and be confident, curious, and charming to somebody.

So I guess my question is... am I asking too much by wanting to feel like someone is genuinely interested in me after a week of consistent contact? I wasn't expecting exclusivity or anything, just a baseline level of care and emotional receptiveness. I kind of regret stopping this situation, but at the same time I just didn't feel interested to go on a second date or get any closer with him.

otherwise any tips are appreciated for getting back into the game after a long time away

about 3 years ago, I moved to nothern Thailand, basically on a whim. I had finished university and wasn't happy with my job opportunities back home in the U.S., as well as the social and political climate.

I decided to throw a hail mary when I came here, and spent a couple years teaching in a private school, and now am halfway thru a MA buddhist studies program at a local university. I worked my ass off to learn the language (still not fluent but can make conversation fairly easily), made friends in the community, and have people i consider to be like family.

Financially, I'm in a position where I go back home for 2 months a year to do a seasonal job that I've been steadily rising in for the last 8 years. I've gotten to the point where I only have to work those two months, and can spend the rest of the year just doing whatever I want every day. I usually spend my time riding motorcycle through the rainforest, going on hikes, doing meditation retreats, writing music, reading, etc. It's very chill and relaxed.

If I were to work again, pretty much the only job available to foreigners is teaching, which i just don't wanna do anymore.

I always had this dream of becoming a therapist, and getting really into doing inner work with people, helping others work through their traumas and process the arc of their life. Even recently I had a couple of months away from here (in Nepal) where I was convinced that I should go home and get trained as a therapist and possibly return once I'm licensed and could open a private practice... but that would take at least 4-5 years from now.

Honestly, I just wanna know if it's okay to just enjoy my life here, or if I'm going to regret years down the road if I didn't 'make more of myself' or accomplish something great.

Not only is this place very affordable, I also really love the culture. I am fascinated endlessly by the architecture, plant/wildlife, the diversity, and religion (buddhism). People here are so community focused and live harmoniously. The food is filled with produce and so tasty. I just love the personality of people here more than at home, and feel like it more aligns with my values and preferences in basically every way.

So... is it okay to just live a quiet simple life where I don't have to work much, but also may not accomplish much of anything either?

tldr; in a very comfortable place abroad, don't wanna go home but also I know it's not going to be easy to have an actual career or accomplishments of any kind here

I’ve been in Thailand 3.5 years now, firstly as a teacher and then did a MA in Buddhist studies. Theres really not much I can do here for work other than teaching again and I’d rather die than do that again.

I have a BA in psychology, thinking to go home to get my MSW and become a licensed counselor. The idea is that I could work telehealth from Thailand in the future but it would likely take 4 years or more to get fully licensed and able to open a private practice.

I love this country to death. I’m pretty solid in the language and no place has ever felt like home as much as it does here.

I know 4 years is a crazy long time and so much can happen in that time… but I just don’t see any other viable career or visa path to stay long term at this point.

Has anyone encountered a similar situation, and how did it go?

Thanks

I know Thai post isnt servicing to US anymore so I’ll have to do private courrier Im assuming.

Need to ship a piano keyboard, mixing board, studio speakers, and a few clothes/books. I don’t mind if the wait time is long

Any advice would be appreciated, I know DHL exists but wanting to hear if there’s any cheaper options

I need to arrive to Anchorage Alaska on June 8, flying from Bangkok Thailand.

All the flights Im finding now are pretty damn expensive.

Im not sure if I should fly into Seattle, San Francisco, Phoenix, etc… and on which airline for the cheapest price. I don’t care about long traveling hours.

Once I get to US I have some miles stacked with Alaskan air so will use that to get to Alaska.

Any insights would be awesome… thanks much