Hey, Humans.
How's it going? Susan Ruth here.
Today, I'm talking with Todd Davis,
Expat American now living in Thailand.
He was a mover in shake in Los
Angeles in the tech world back in the
day,
and
he checked it all in and decided he
could live with 100 things. Well, 300 things,
but who's counting.
So off he went on a new adventure
and a new life.
An interesting story.
Maybe it's your story.
Here we go.
Hi Tab. I Susan. How are you doing?
I'm well. How are you? You I'm well.
Thank you for being here in the outside
that we're recording outside. Yeah.
Thank you being here in the world. It's
a rare, cooled day it I'm during my
stay in Nashville. So yeah. Right. Is this
cool? You this is covid. I'm wearing a
jacket. I guess.
I serious to Thailand being. This... Yeah. This
has been the whole thing. The whole
trip here, like, not only here, but in
Florida
every place I go to air conditioned. Oh,
I know. It is... It's ridiculous for me.
I mean, I'm freezing. Yeah. That's why people
get sick, You know, they go from the
outside warm hot and then they come inside
the. It's really cold and then they go
back outside in your body's. I don't know
what. What else 3 doing right now. Yeah.
Well, that's how I fell. I... Well, I
got cold... I got sick the first week
I was here. So... Oh, you did. Maybe
that was it. I... I don't know if
it was... The
because it it was, like, 20 hours. Oh.
Yeah. Like, they... The to get from
tokyo... I think I wanna do for 20
hours straight. Yeah Not even sleep. Well, that's
where Xanax and red wine comes in Andy.
Yeah.
10 a red wine. Go to sleep just
outside of Hong Kong. Can wake up in
Melee. So... Different than Ambient. Right? Ambient that
makes you hall. Yeah. Ambient can do Really
crazy. Sleep walk king and yeah Yeah. To
be kind of exciting on a plane house.
No. I'm tell folks and find folks. I
yeah. Hello friend folks.
Tad lives in Thailand, but I. But he
did not always live in Thailand. You began
your life in...
Oh, Mail, Ohio? To state with the most...
We have the most astronauts.
Are you kidding? Yeah. Ohio. Okay. I think
the most presidents too. I'm, I could be
wrong the most astronauts. The most astronauts from
our from... At least it used to be...
Who know... Do we have so many astronauts
now. Wow, because, you know, Now they've been
sent up all the scientists or something that.
I think that's changed. But I think back
in the
the astronaut days,
They're good
take off back Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Apollo and
stuff like that. I think we had the
most astronauts were from Oh ohio Oh my
goodness. I need to go to Ohio. Yes.
Exactly. You saying You Lance bass. You can...
Oh, yeah. But he doesn't play my team.
So he quit. He he quit my team?
No. He quota Yeah. I quit in sync.
I don't think he was ever wrong... No
You know he was... He paid
the the russians when they were running out
money, paid them a couple million dollars, and
then he dropped out for health,
well, yeah. It's pretty hardcore on you to
go into space. Yeah. I've been. Definitely the
muscles and, you know, it's. Yeah. I'm for
a week, though. I bad could it peak.
No gravity for a week. Got it.
Maybe you just couldn't handle the cheese or
whatever. I used to think it would be
nice to do but now, like, I'm the
40
and
you know, sometimes standing up too quickly. Yeah.
I'm like, whoa. Yeah.
Yeah. They're I I would love to try
on 1 of those anti gravity rooms sometime.
And that be so cool. You mean in
the plane where they open up and down?
Wherever it is when you get to float?
Yeah.
So eat. That's cool. Let's die Although. I
might vomit. I don't know. I who knows.
Most people do is what they say. Really?
Yeah. That is your inner ear can generally.
Yeah. Not enough drama I mean on the
planet for there.
Yeah. So, okay. Born in a while, and
Yeah. Born Ohio. We moved around a lot.
My dad was,
his job, we was with a major hotel
chains, so we moved all over the East
Coast, some a little bit in the Midwest.
Yeah.
Ended up doing high school in Florida, don't
do it.
It's Florida oh.
Lovely state. I'm sure. So...
And
went to College in Boston, ever college,
Jay Len. That's the...
Jay Len went. And he was not an
astronaut. He was not an astronaut
he's letting the team down.
I was thinking up I my miami alley
Florida the other day, I was nursing that
the at the the call sign for landing
there. Is m mia.
It's not interesting. That people go to Miami
to get lost and it Well there's
Osaka is k.
Oh, goodness news. Yeah odd. Yeah. Sort of
strange.
Know I think they've run out of letters.
No everybody gets the the the best ones.
The best ones early on. Yeah.
Anyway. See, Seattle where on from is c.
Sea. Yeah. And That's a good 1. Easy.
Always like, a bangkok is Bt k, which
I think is pretty cool. It's a good
1. Makes me think of hamburgers.
Like burger cambridge.
I front of them. Yeah. Y'all all can
send me a check. No
So you moved around. You went to. Moved
around went to school and Austin,
wanted to be in the film business moved
out to La. Was in the film business.
What a short time. And you made movies
or... Well, no. I
I studied screen writing and with the intention
of becoming a producer director.
I went out there, and I just took
the first job I could find which was
foreign building Not born. But not porn now
if that that was the last job I
could find.
It's a competitive porn.
I'm kidding... I think it is. It it
well not for men. It's not. No. I
guess. Yeah. There's the... Yeah. Men are of
dime it dozen. I think women are 2,
I just
Rash Jones and documentary Great documentary.
Everybody should watch this. Goodness. That's it's oh.
It would... That's depressing. Much that. Yeah. It
was
anyways so... Anyways... I got into the film.
I got into the film industry just building
sets for Hbo. That's pretty long. It was
cool. But, like, I felt, like I could
do better, so I quit that and what
do you mean? In... Well, just that they
were we were working 14 hour days. Oh,
6 days a week for 500 bucks a
week. Exhausting. It it is exhausting, and did
that for about a year.
And so I'd decided to quit and look
for something else and it I took a
what I thought was gonna be a
interim job. At the house of Blues, they
were opening up the new house of Blues
it was the corporate headquarters right on the
sunset strip. And it's what year was this?
This was
94 95,
I guess. U.
Let's see. I graduated. Yeah. So around 94
95.
And that when I ended up staying a
house of Blues for a number of years
because I into there.
This was before anybody knew what Internet was...
Well, we ever had a base concept of
Internet, but nobody knew what email was. It
was before the world what web was known
by anybody. Yeah. And we had a...
We're hanging out. Yeah. We were hanging out
in the... In the foundation room.
Yeah. No. It was
this 1 of the guys of the staff
talked the
Isaac Tiger. It was the man who was
also behind
Hard rock cafe. Okay. And he... So he
he had started house of blues and this...
So you were at House of blues of
the ground floor? I was at the ground
floor. I was a host. I was, like,
you know, is so amazing. I well they
had already opened
4 or 540,
okay. But this was gonna be the big
1. Yes. It's the big deal with all
the movie starting
California.
It was...
And it was a big deal. Was amazing
time to be there on the... Like, early
nineties on the sunset strip which was insane.
I mean, it's just crazy party all the
time and, you know, that was right around
what River Phoenix was 1 of the investors
a house of Blues, and he died just
like, a couple months before it opened. So
sad. Yeah And
what a talent inside? Yeah. Well, well, his
brother's done him
good. Yeah. Yeah Joaquin amazing. Yeah.
And anyway,
with the guy Was working for.
Talked Isaac Tiger into starting a new media
division, which was gonna deal with all this
stuff called email and worldwide web and
I said I know computers. So I was...
Went in
immediately
corporate management.
I just... I had computers from when I
was young.
And
I, in
college, we we used some computers, but it's
like, all the way, Ellen and I were
talking about this, Ellen, your our
jewel the acquaintance.
It's
trying to relate to kids nowadays. Like, all
the way through... I didn't... When I graduated
college, I was still working on a type
writer,
and I would do research in a library.
I know these are things this, you know
What's a love. It's people are listening to
this kids say, Other library crazy magical places.
I love libraries. I go to every library.
I'm a big fan of real books. You
cannot sniff a kindle. And I'm a big
sniff. I am a love
great. Oh Yeah. God, especially old book. Right.
So Sorry for everybody out there in the
audience who's sniffing their I ipod and not
getting anything out of it. That'd be a
good mention a scratch and snip. Just.
Pod Just sort of sprays out whatever scent.
Somebody come. Somebody will happen that
So you said I know I know computers,
so we got into this. We did the
second
streaming concert... Streaming video concert ever. Who was?
It, Spear, which Michael Front. I don't know.
I don't know who that. It was a
Charity event.
It was really cool, but we did it
2 weeks to the day after the rolling
stones did theirs.
So, of course, they get all the credit.
Sure. We got the... We had the first
Is
phone line or 1 of the first Is
phone lines in Los Angeles,
and it was, you know, Is is...
Somebody out there is gonna know what you're
talking about Yeah. I
really slow, You know that
Oh, the This was, like, the next step
up, which nowadays people would call and complain
if they had these speeds the sound that
he makes and he's calling home. Yes. On
the speaker spell. Yeah. Okay. I got it.
That's the 1.
But, yeah, this phone line, it was
you know, AAA hundredth of the speed most
people have today, and It took up a
whole closet of equipment. Well. Yeah. That with
3 guys install it, and it took 2
days and it's just ridiculous yeah.
But we did always fun
stuff. You... I can take shit on the
Internet. Okay. Yeah. Internet if
Okay. Okay. Cool. And so then I'm I
went along the Internet route,
and that was cool. And it was... Because
it was Call. Of that. It was also
entertainment. Yeah. I fell into it. And this
is just when it was taken off. I
mean, literally,
I... People did not you'd say, when I
work on websites, and they they say, what's
a website. He say, well, I have an
email address and they... What's an email. Like
just
that nobody knew this stuff. You're not even
that old. So... And No. It's not that
long ago. It's really not 20 years. How
far we've come.
Short time is phenomenal. Yeah. It's amazing. And
in the in the way... How fast things
are now. You know, this is, you know,
what my phone can do in my pocket
I used to dream about. You know, some
day, maybe my children will be able to
watch streaming video on their phones. Now here
it is.
So, yeah, I moved there, I went to,
I left house of Blues reluctant, but I
got a really good offer from Gt
interactive television where they were doing,
the first,
you know,
you with your remote, you could play quiz
shows and do all this kinda stuff that
was kinda fun, but it was really...
It was it was a 19 eighties idea.
Mh. But nowadays you would just laugh at
it, know, know, press a on your remote.
Press b on your remote.
It worked pretty well, and it... But I
don't think it ever got out of the
test market area.
And then I got hired by Aol. Time
Warner. Well, it was Aol at time.
And out for those of you who are
from, like... America on line, which... People still
use Aol. Do people say... My parents are
still aol?
I they took my email address away from
when I left it Was nearly upset about
that. Yeah.
Yeah. It's so Aol.
That was a dial up service. And it
just... So you came in at the ground
believe aol. No. No No. Aol was well
established when they hired me, but they were
opening this Los Angeles division. They had actually
bought a
entertainment asylum, which was
a website. That was already doing putting entertainment
content on the web Right? And so Aol
wanted to get into this, so they just
bought this company out outright.
But Aol
was because Aol had its own
a browser that lived on your computer and
you got all your stuff that you didn't
go... It didn't... It wasn't using websites. It
was using Aol content. Oh, sure. So they
didn't really know that much about the web.
So I was the first... This is what
they told me. I'm the first web master
that was ever hired by Aol. How my
god. Which was cool. Your picture is probably
there somewhere. Oh, yeah. Maybe. Yeah. I doubt
it. That's really cool. It one's really cool.
The time. And and they gave me
oh, I hell of a lot of money
because back then, everything
Internet was a lot of money. Yeah. So
did that for a couple years. And the
best part about that job,
looking back on it.
Is here we were in Los Angeles and
a big part of my job was talking
to people from
movie studios
and,
a record companies
and Tv production company. And you could already
speak that lingo because you were because I
had the entertainment background. Yeah. And with the
music stuff, I learned it house of blues.
And... What was that like to be in
California the boom of computers and making hand
fed's money wise. We know it. Well, it
was... It was... I wasted as much as
I got. You. You you you... There's this...
I there's gotta be AAA term for it,
but you spend what you earn. Immediately.
Immediately. It's, like, I was waste. That I
was going to stupid sushi every other night
and stuff like that. No. So I I
mean, it did... You're keeping up with the...
Keeping up with the culture. I mean, it
out there It's a it's a tried Kardashians.
So keeping up with the, like, Kris Brink.
I don't know it's big and Oh, but
everybody was the it's everybody
at that time in in La, Like, it
was a it was kind of a boom
time. Yeah. And everybody's making money. So it's
always a a lot of cooking bigger car.
Off. IIII
managed to dodge that bullet.
Yay. We were working so hard. Because of
the Internet business also this thing where he
you kinda had to work all time. Because,
like I was saying, part of my job,
big part of my job, was convincing these
record Tv and,
movie studios
to
put stuff on the Internet.
Because they thought we were nuts. They they...
You know, they'd say, who who's gonna listen
to,
you know, music off the Internet.
Who was gonna look on the Internet to
find out what's on Tv?
Who was gonna, you know, read movie reviews
on the Internet or watch movie trailers on
the Internet? They thought we were crazy. They
they they humor us.
They gave us stuff to, you know, the
the same stuff that they were handing out
to people in newspapers. So we have to
scan in photographs. And stuff like, no nothing
was digitized. And they just... They thought we
would be gone in a year. And so
they just kinda of, you know, rolled their
eyes and handed stuff over. Please tell me
that they gave you stock for the whole
time. Oh, I did get a lot of
stock at Aol.
That's what it at the end of the
day. I mean, this during this period so
went from
nobody...
Aol was at the time when people... Oh,
everybody knew what the Internet was, but nobody
was gonna last
to... Then by the time I left Aol,
Aol had made so much money that they
bought the largest media company in the world,
Time Warner. Right. Which set the stock through
the roof
and
was probably the... But, I think it's it
as the worst business decisions and it was
ever made in the history of... Really? Business
this is Yeah because it almost immediately started
fa because, aol well, they had no
knowledge of how to run a media company.
And,
Time warner and they were both really inflated
and then the
the
the second bursting of the Internet bubble what
happens, you know, where everybody said, hey, you
know, this company is valued at a billion
dollars, but it doesn't make anything.
Happened still there? And I was still there
when that started. Yeah. That was the thing
my, you know, the stock
it it went to really high.
Aol time warner and then in this space
of year, it went really low. Did you
sell nice I sold it an okay time
but not at the best time. I have
some friends who sold the day that they
could... The first... The day of this the
purchase,
and they made out like bandit. I'm that.
But then again, they probably spend all their
money too. Yeah. Like, at this point, I've
spent all that money. So now you're you're
at the kind of the heyday
California's
Internet stuff. You're going through the the craziness.
And yeah. So then I got Well, the
when Aol when all the value got lost,
they started laying people off.
And I got laid off,
there was belt tightening type of stuff. Did
you know that was gonna Well, we kinda
knew because there was 1 round of lay
and a lot of people left, and then
we we got wind that there was a
second round coming. And we... At that point
worked really
producing that much because we had
established such a...
Well, now there was competition. Yeah. Because it
4, nobody was doing it because they thought
we were crazy and it later on, they
saw how much, you know, money in marketplace
we'd taken advantage of. And so then everybody
started doing it. So then it was competitive.
So,
you know, we weren't as busy as we
used to be. So we, you know, you
look around and everybody's got the feet up
and hanging out. You know it's... Something's gonna
change. And it did. And I got laid
off, and they were very nice about it.
And I got a lot of money out
of it, And
but then I didn't... III
didn't wanna work because I was young and
stupid
So I just kicked back and I had
a lot of money.
So... And you had a house a car.
I had a house and a car. While,
I was still renting at that point. I
should've have bought the the house I was
renting, they offered it to me for
300000 dollars
And
My guy, He mentioned would be worth today?
It's worth about 2 and a half million
the in the spot where it is. Because
it's in the Hollywood Hills in the that...
Yeah. There's a dozen. I was talking with
my ex girlfriend just a couple weeks ago.
There... We we used to... Just for fun
go out on the weekend open houses.
And if we bought any of the houses
that we looked at, we it would have
been, you know, a huge... A great investment
because
date is through the roof. Yeah. Exactly. It's
all Su woulda. You can't try over that.
So you're laid off, you're spending you're having
a big... Taking my... I take an acting
classes. I'm
directing classes,
you know,
comedy classes. I was with the ground links
for a little mile. That was fun. That's
a that's a... That was a good time.
Acting classes were great. I was at Play
house west, which
1 of the instructors is Jeff Gold bloom.
Wow.
1 of their most famous. I mean,
Jim Carrey went there.
Wow.
Not when I was there.
Ashley Judd. Yeah. And,
but James Franco is their number 1
guy. He's... I think he's still... Oh, he's
a billion other things city he days. Yep
Rent
Franco that... Yeah. The man who doesn't sleep
I guess. Yeah. He must not. He must
not. Yeah. He's like my,
seventh grade art teacher who only slept 3
hours and Night. Really mister La. Yeah. He
only had 3 fingers on 1 hand. I
think he probably was tired. But, yeah. When
he lost the other 2 Guessing. Shopping care.
It's right halfway. Maintaining all his fingers so
far, which is good. Yeah So yeah. It's...
So wow, You're living it up. I was
living it up, and then I decided it,
and then I ran for
Hollywood City council.
Which? There wasn't 1 Then I was 33
something. Any
And I
yeah.
Maybe 32.
And
counsel of Well, somebody had this bright idea,
Hollywood's only a neighborhood.
I don't think a lot of people know
that that Yeah. A lot of people don't.
It's like...
City in the world it's not really a
city. Yes. He always figured that all the
parts all their own cities, but, you know,
Had mentioned earlier that Yeah. Los Angeles is,
like, the biggest city in the world. With,
like,
the 8 acreage wise, I guess. You can
fit.
I found this picture
the other day you can fit, like 12
major metropolitan in American cities inside the boundaries
of Los Angeles.
And so each of those like Hollywood and
Hollywood. The brand Silver. Hollywood all that stuff.
Except for, like West Hollywood is its own
city,
which is really, you know, Burbank city pasadena
in its own city. Okay. But outside of
that, everything's kind of in Santa Monica.
But everybody else is all lumped together,
and
Hollywood was putting 75000000 dollars per year into
the kitty
more than it was getting back in services.
So this idea came about. Well, let's separate
Hollywood. Well I put it up to a
vote. We'll separate Hollywood, and then Hollywood will
be its own city. We'll have 75000000
extra dollars to spend on it because I
don't know if you been to Hollywood. It's
a little ghetto.
It's been changed a lot in the past
the the 10 years, I was just there.
It looks a lot nicer, but at the
time, it was pretty ghetto.
And
yeah. And then we'll have a City council.
And so
they had a...
They had a... What is it? On the
it was should Hollywood would be a city.
And if Hollywood a city, who's gonna be
on City Council. Who gets a vote for
that the... Everybody in los Angeles. Oh my
god. It's the thing. And if we're outnumbered
because Hollywood a tiny little neighborhood in a
big city, and they'd used,
I learned so much about politics.
Like, they, you know, there were show or
the scare tactics were just out in style,
and they're telling people who lived in Hollywood,
you know, oh, well, you not gonna get
fire service. The police won't come... You know,
if say there's a a natural disaster the
police from the you know, ing. I'm gonna
come up to Hollywood and help you, and
it and it was all
bull. Yeah. But nobody knows this kinda is
you know, you're talking about,
California
constitutional law and stuff like this and nobody
knows that. So they can flyer in their
mailbox.
Get. It says that they're not gonna... You
won't have firefighters.
It's like, well, we're gonna have 75000000 dollars
more.
To spend on all this stuff that we
do right now. Yeah. It means including fire...
The money that are currently spending on fire
and police. That's not gonna change. Anything that
they still don't you know, scare tactics and
politics. Yes. That's right. I'm mean, glad everybody
has turned around and now they only tell
the truth and everything's fact paced.
Yeah That's really interesting coming factoring an election
years. Oh how crazy. This yeah. The rest
of the world things work. I am look
get. I'm running touch well but. Yeah. I
wanna... Never England because yeah down there because
they can't say anything. Yeah. So
so you're running for counsel.
City Council so they said should Hollywood would
be a city and if So who's gonna
be on City council. And I was 1
of the guys.
There were, I think there were 14 or
15 us us on the ballot. It was
gonna be 6 people on city council. I
came in 7.
Yeah. I know. But I beat Angel.
Ja. And
yeah. Angel and the girl the
And the girls on all of the.
The the boot and the pink corvette
last name. Yeah. I her by a couple
hundred votes of reach out very proud. Absolutely.
Because she's famous this. Yes. Exactly. Wow. So
that's that's my claim
And... And Had only killed 1 other person.
I could've had. Did Hollywood cater did they?
No. They didn't. They voted it against it.
They've they... All this this tactics worked. I
they often do. And they were funded by
the anti succession campaign was funded by
a big
well, I... I wanna say any names with
big property developers.
Got most of their money, and now you
go back to Hollywood now and you see
all these new developments going up and guess
got all the contracts. Yeah.
Yeah. Shocker. Yeah. Well,
tail as all this time. Yeah. Exactly. So
would do after that... So then I needed
a break. So I went... I took a
holiday to Asia, and I went to Thailand
because, I was told Thailand the easiest place
to
start, like, a backpack,
adventure if you've never been I have not
been. To Asia on a backpack venture. But
you... If you do,
start in Thailand. Yeah. That's it's daisy. That
they're wonderful people, Really nice. It's really geared
towards tourism
and it too. Wow. It's a really beautiful
laid back
tropical
country. Yeah. And I loved it, and I
never ended up leaving Thailand in 2 months
that I was traveling. Oh, see. Okay. Yeah.
Yeah. I was supposed to go to a
number of places, and I never left Thailand
because I was having so much fun. Next
year, I went back, and I stayed for
4 months.
And then the next year, I went back.
I stayed for 6 months.
And How were you... Oh, you had money?
I had money, and, I was I was,
you know, Yeah wasting it. They were flushed.
It was flushed. And
but I wasn't so flushed that
I could afford to pay
car payments and insurance and rent and this
I'm back home and a place this before
Airbnb. Like, nowadays, I could just rent it
out. Yeah. Sub it. But
so I'd decided, You know what? Let's take
a grand adventure,
cash out in the states
Sell Alma junk
and
move forward to Thailand. Are he's scared to
do that. I mean, Yeah. I was terrifying.
Yet. But at the same time, I... Well,
I've been there
3 or 4 times in a row. Yeah.
I established French ships.
I had a good
grounding, and I I knew where I was
gonna stay at the beginning and stuff like
that. So
it was all
it it a irrational fear. I like, oh,
no. What if it all goes wrong.
Which you could say that about anything... I.
I don't know if that's an irrational fear.
That's and a pretty... Well, I could always
just hop back and complain back in America
and get a job at Starbucks and you
like, life would go on.
They're okay with Americans coming to... Yeah. I.
They've got a lot of foreigners Yeah. Living
over their ex expat. There's a... It's a
little
bureaucratic and jumping through Hoop. Yeah. But every
time III
get frustrated with it and or you know,
complain about it. I just...
I brought my,
about 4 years ago, I brought my girlfriend
at the time who was tied here to
America.
And just for her to get a holiday
visa To come to America was
ridiculous American stuff on the American side. Americans
are really
Somebody thai person to come here and live
here. Just ridiculous. All I had to do
is fly into Thailand and get off the
plane. Yeah. And that was it. And then
I could change my Visa afterwards and establish
not residency,
but, like, temporary.
Yeah. We're not really based on letting people
come in. No. Not just can't just walk
in. Yeah. Especially And, well, this was post
09:11. Yeah. When I was going over to
Thailand. Yeah.
So you cashed in all your chips and
you... Sold the car sold all my sessions,
you know, what I could sell, Craigslist.
That must have been liberating.
It was it was really liver. Right. I
sent, like, 3 large boxes over to Thailand
ahead of myself,
but that was about it.
And
so... And that stuff since been lost.
So how do... What do you mean? Oh,
I've I've definitely sent to Thailand Yeah.
It's... I had some friends who I went
into business with,
and they were... Their business was on somebody
else's property and When I was somewhere else
they had a falling out with the people
whose business was on the... Who owned the
property. Yeah. So they got kicked off the
property, but the people own the property were
very nice to me, and they said, hey,
we kept all your stuff. Oh, don't worry
about it. And then I... The next time
I was back. I it, hey where's my
stuff Oh, it's around here somewhere, and then
it did you have months go by in
years go by and eventually, I see, you
know,
a gift that I got from an next
girlfriend is in somebody's bun somewhere.
On the wall. And, yeah.
And but that was also liberating In all
the stuff I felt, like desperate. This was
I had whittled everything down, like, to only
the things that were the most important and
most necessary. And then those were And those
were taken away and they everything life went
on.
I think it's such a huge lesson in
that. Is that we're so... And my parents,
for example, they have, I think 3 store
lockers packed. Yeah. Pull of crazy.
I mean, it's a cold here and Been
like, you know, their lives are in there,
but being in here now.
Is just nuts. Yeah. Like because I still
have really minuscule amount of stuff. Yeah. I've
I've even thought about. You seen this thing
on hey that they Internet. I don't know
if it's on the Internet or Fixed right.
Yeah.
Let me explain it to you.
You wanna advertise with us.
That the hundred
hundred things.
Is this kind of philosophy
life?
You need is this thermos volume remote control.
Exactly. Yeah. And it's a hundred things
The. They're saying,
just whittle your life down to a hundred
things. Just a hundred material positions. Go through
everything you own and pick out. What does
your house things Well I suppose? No. I
don't know. It's just material possession. Just things
you can pick up and move out. So
and and including clothes. So maybe you have,
like...
About this. I think there was a guy
on a podcast I listened to was talking
that. Yeah. Yeah. I've thought about doing it,
but I I think I'm... I'm probably down
to
300 things, and I'm happy with that. I
don't wanna
I I kind of like the little bit
of convenience, but it just goes to show
you how little of this consumer culture, you
must have it now.
Oh, it's so... We don't need. It's such
brainwashing. It is crazy. Isn't buying new cars
every Yeah. Year or 2 and, yeah. Oh
it's ridiculous. Right. We're, from the day we're
born, we're told why we're not good enough
that we don't have enough stuff why our
stuff isn't as good as is that guy
stuff. Why we should look like this or
be like like this or own this or...
Nowadays, I I think I find it even
more insidious, and I don't think it's a...
I don't think it's planned this way,
but, marketing is an advantage of this is,
everything
in
news seems to me
to be be be afraid. Be afraid be
afraid agree with. Time's going down, but still,
you know, there's 4 murder reports That some
purpose. I definitely that's Well, And then for
a speaker all. I I really know I
I think it's... What's a means of control.
Yeah. Absolutely. And and then the marketing side
of it is... Oh, this this will make
it better. It's to make it better. Sure.
I are you stretched anxiety? Yeah. It the...
I remember
you know,
8 years ago when I came back.
To America. To America from living overseas, and
I don't even living there a couple
seeing
every other ad on Tv was... Do you
have nervous lake syndrome and while you're sleeping?
And you buy this and there were 2
or 3 different products out there to treat
your nervous leg syndrome. What happens to that
epidemic of nervous like syndrome?
Because I don't see any ads for that
stuff now? But apparently, it was like the
worst thing ever happening.
And it... It's just...
You if you buy this. Right. Everything will
be better. And thing ever is. It's no
Because it's the... As dealer chuck canon, some
writer. He's it hit some in town,
you wrote a song called God shaped hole.
If that you can't fill a god shaped
hole. In other words, you know, we... We're
constantly on the outside of everything trying to
make ourselves to to pla kate and to
soothe and to solve and
it's to go within. I mean he's very
buddhist and they
to go within and be like, you know
what? I I don't... I don't need this
latest greatest thing to feel better about myself,
but it... It's a real thing. I mean...
It it is and that if people are
making... Somebody's make killing. When I was 20
and would get depressed I would go shopping,
and I would feel so much better done
by shopping. Your releases is Dopamine. I mean
it's an actual factual things. The hunting gathering.
Yeah.
Yeah tapped into that. Yeah.
That's why Amazed so many shopping malls are
going out of business. But now you can
do it from
you know, with your fat ass on the
big couch. Maybe they should combine the hunting
with the shopping mall, so you, like, they've
released Gaze down the the
be I some of these place. Is really
king. Very awesome.
We just solved have the world's from. This
no. It's the homeless. See. Just hunt the
homeless. Oh, we got plenty of them. The
movie was that. That was moved be. Oh,
that's a
man bunch. Yeah. Very dystopian future where you
on the. It's not just... Oh, how even
get me started about... Oh, it's it's very
horribly we treat. We're in this d.
I know. A age with the social media,
and You don't have to go anywhere. We
were talking today
about how kids don't really, it's not a
big deal to get your driver's license. Right?
Because they're not going anywhere. Yeah. They interact
with everybody online. They don't ever have to...
We used to we used to walk 4
miles to to beat our friends. I used
to ride the bus. Yeah. I was in
Los Angeles. I I had a I had
I have, my, credit card. I had some
snap
that... But I had reserved this rental car.
When I arrived at the airport, and they
wouldn't give it to me because my credit
card had some sort of problem. So I
had to take
2 subway trains and then but, I need
to take 2 buses
and
3 subway connections to get from L lax
to Hollywood. We're Staying with a friend.
And it was... This is fascinating.
Great people watching. Great. Well, not just that.
But and this is something I... I've ever
seen anywhere else in the world. There there
were... I saw 3 conversations between strangers started.
Because yeah, yeah. You barred you're just like
Bar. Yeah. I'm a bartender or 2. Have
you ever worked to bubble on these yeah.
Yeah. On the subway. I love that. Guy
with his bike started talking to me. I
was on the phone with my dad and
he overheard me said where are you coming
from? You just got off the 12 hour
plane flight. And we start we talked for
10 minutes. And I saw a bunch of
people who... I feel like think we're desperate
for human interaction. I... Will see. I think
these people
who are on public transport are I they're
they're in it. They're they're living their lives
and every person that all my friends in
Los Angeles who would come and pick me
up in their or and you pick me
up from the train station for that whole
week. I just used public transport for to
get around different parts of La. And they
would all tell me how impossible it was
to get around La. I'm transport Night. I
just did it. Yeah. People do it. People
do it all the time. Sure. And
but we can't... It's... Yeah. Well we've been
told we can. Yeah. It's back to that
marketing thing. We've been told that... Only core
people do it. Yeah. I...
That's
now I don't I don't think my friends
think that way. But, yeah, it's
your car so much more comfortable. Yeah. You
sit people in their cars are hilarious because
they... They're, like in a bubble of solid
tube. They don't realize that you can see
them pick in their nose,
and scratch in so... But we're driving on
the 01:10. I know is people.
Really... Oh, yeah. I've seen that 1 for
a while. Wow. Yeah See that's when 4
g becomes a problem. I think
I you think this gonna be masturbating bidding
in that car. Talk about a distraction
me and drive me to work. You're just
jacket it. Right?
Well, man I think about the self driving
cars. I get... I say 10:20
years at most with all gonna be self
driving cars, and then, yeah, people are gonna
be jacking it all the time. Yeah. Well,
they'll probably have a special thing in the
car that... You can close. You can
Yeah. Looks like it just sort of.
Protein rich. There you go, baby
cell. There you. Yeah. Genius. We should. We
should we should be along the highway for
looking. I just want to apologize to my
mother right now for... Susan dirty mouth. If
you're listening mom,
you're that's great because you figured out how
to work the computer. Your mother, it knows
my mouth. Tries I have been many of
the dinner at Ellen alex for your mom
has been there. That's alright. Don't... It's not
even go. My best friend, Ellen is ted's
cousins. So Yes.
So
congratulations. Talk about...
I love I love.
So talk about Love too.
You're you're now in Land. You've you've become
Yeah. So I moved over there,
I did. You a hundred things or so
3 everything thing. I had the best job
when I moved to Thailand. Doing?
Censoring
European porn for Japanese
port.
Pardon?
Yes. But
in Japan,
porn is censored. It's... Yeah. It's
pixelated. They... Yeah. They're the kin people the
world that they don't, well, maybe the germans.
But but... Yeah. But they don't try.
They just yeah. Really.
They
they pixel all the the naughty bits. Wait.
That people are watching. Yeah. Oh, yeah Yeah.
Yeah. You can go on online and trend
look for Japanese poor nowadays.
Picks up... Except for export. Like, they can
show it, but anything inside of Japan. I
didn't know that. Is completely pixelated. Wow. So
This is the place that sells panties and
vending machines. Yeah. Oh, all that's... Yeah. I
just came from Japan. I could tell you
a story. But maybe on a different pot.
Maybe different vodka.
But I...
This
company from Europe, it's the largest porn company
in the world. They make a lot of
American importance of of that. But they're trying
to
export the the European pork to Japan and
the Japanese are like, what, we can unless
it's pixelated.
So is bangkok cock. It's just the bits.
It's a it's just the the bikini area.
Shall we say. On both the man man
and the woman which are okay. Movies are.
Right. Everybody loves.
Yeah. But, you know, any place that the,
you know other stuff. The... Yeah, The Pan
or the... I don't know what that works.
The
Ko coupe.
Yeah. The thanks. Yeah. None of these.
Oh, it's gonna be pixelated, but, you know,
and I thought it was the goal. This
is awesome. Was close traveling in the world.
They did it in Bangkok because Bangkok labor
cheap.
And but it's got Internet, and it's a
high speed technologically advanced city for the most
part. So years. And it's close to Japan,
so they hired me. I Craigslist. Craigslist once
again I... Yeah. You signed out a frame
computer. In 1 frame at a time, I
pixelated European porn. And you would think. Whoa.
So best be to work ever. Yeah. Yeah.
No. No. Because we're in a room that
that's 20 of us, You know? So
everybody's doing the same thing sense? No it
is the... No. It's the least sexy thing.
You've ever... It's, you know, of what watching
porn a frame at a time. Yeah. Is,
like, watching a surgery. Yeah. I. Yeah. It
is and you have to make sure it's
all covered up. So you're looking at that
stuff. Right?
It's a little squares. So... You do it
with Photoshop. Okay. You know, you just draw
a circle, and there's a pixel pixelated to
filter anything. Yeah. And you get paid for
that an more.
Let's see. I made...
Well, this is Thailand, So I think I
made about 500 dollars a week. Still, that's...
That's pretty good in Bangkok. But bangkok was
expensive.
Maybe we'd,
it might have been 500 dollars every 2
weeks.
First job he... Yeah. It was nuts. That's
No pun intended
yeah
It's...
Oh my god. I didn't know. And so...
But that was just... I have this little
island that I live on, and it was
the 1 of the first places that I
went when I moved to Tyler were when
I've visited Thailand originally. But where you live
now? And it's where I live now. Yeah.
It's the same place. And... But I thought
I'd move up to Bangkok and make a
lot of money in bank cock with some
high
at this point porn century job. And then
I'd save that money and moved down to
the island.
But a big butter.
The... Yeah. It doesn't work out. It's the
same as los Angeles. You spend what you
make. Yeah. Bangkok a big City. There's nightlife
life. There's lay 80 boys boy. 80 but
boys. Yeah. I didn't spend IIA
lot of money on Lady boys. But... They're
beautiful. They're they're are looking than the women
Most of the time. That's how you could
tell. If if a thai woman is really
good looking. She's probably not. A girl. Yeah.
Not a girl. Or not born girl. Not
born girl. Yeah. They're update 5
I watched a...
And lady boy is what they call themselves.
Right? Yeah. Lady boy. Not derogatory. That's... All.
That's the and it's...
I think it's Southeast Asian. Okay. Because beautiful
yeah. South like, all southeast.
And they have
the I watched a beauty pageant, a lady
boy beauty pageant, and I stunning herbs the
miss tiffany fed. You would never a billion
years been the tell that that's a guy.
It is national Tv that pageant. Is it?
Yeah. Yeah Prime time on what 1 of
major networks in Thailand.
Yeah. We could learn a lot. It's not
it's it's a beauty pageant.
Not. There's nothing sal suspicious about it. And
then there's the prostitution into things, but,
lady boys are out in
public in Thailand. They Thailand and they don't...
Like, if a little kid shows an affinity
for dressing like a girl, they Like, yeah.
Yeah. Go ahead. Yeah. And they don't... They
have, you know, transgender bathrooms crazy idea. I
know.
In schools.
Yeah
and these
lady boys are everywhere. They're working at 07:11,
and they're working in of, you know, transgender
and Thailand just by a fluke
Is very interesting are because it's such an
accepting society, all the people they say in
America where we're so rep proud. This is
some... Somebody told me something interesting.
Where where the tie are very accepting of
transgender.
U. They're not so open about gay.
Oh. So, like, at home with sexual males.
Like, a lesbian females, they they view that
as a phase. Oh, And like, a like
college? Like college. Yes. And and you know,
when if the girl goes on with it,
Well, okay. We lost her anyway. Because it's
a very patriarch society. So the man Is.
Yeah. Big deal. Sure. Sure.
So sexual man who I know male? Well,
that this is me. What a friend of
mine is told me is it the prevalence
of, like boys in Thailand. A lot of
it has to do with, you can't be
not can't be, but it's harder to be
an out game man. Oh, that it is
to be out transgender
man.
So there are gay guys who are very
feminine,
and they'll do that extra little bit. Of
dressing out. So they can live openly and
their chosen sexuality. Sure. And That's really interesting.
Dressing like a woman makes that easier for
them.
It's that crazy. Yeah. It's fascinating. Yeah. Someday
we'll get to a point in the world
where nobody will care about any of that.
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I'll play another thousand
years. And we'll probably help me dead.
I mean, we'll be dead for
day. I've no. I plan to live forever.
Do you? Yeah. I think that's something exhausting.
And that. I know. Really do.
Probably.
But living swear living in Thailand, I'm gonna
can use longer. Yeah. Because the stress is...
They don't...
It's about quality of life over there, or
not. Yeah. Quantity of possessions. It's starting to
creep in. The western modernization, and all that
is starting to erode away
this whole idea of
you know, wow, Just living be happy. You
don't really need all this crap. But now
we've got
some of the largest shopping malls in Asia
in Bangkok.
The Bangkok somewhere where you live. I don't
live in Bangkok. I live. I I did
the I did the
my time in, in Bangkok. This that's prison.
But I lived in Bangkok for about a
year and a half,
and then I decided, you know, screw this.
I'm just kind of
you know, spinning my wheels. I wasn't go...
I wasn't going back, but I wasn't moving
forward.
So
just
decided to move down to the island of
Ko, which is where I live. Right. It's
a little bit off the beaten path, but
it's really close to a couple of well
known tourist destinations.
Outside my my front porch,
I'm, I have a house on the beach,
and from my the rent there.
230 dollars a month, and
I can see P islands.
If they would retire
p. And there's a c cool too for
the children
vpn
Laugh Yeah. No.
Yeah I am toilet No We do too
it we we... It's at people say, I
I need to go to the bathroom. Do
you have a ticket?
So the to p? 50 P. But I
can see it from house. And that's where
the Leonardo cap, the the beach was filmed.
So I probably getting crazy. It's well. If
you go there and it's you and, you
know, it's the most beautiful beach in the
world or whatever, and it's you and 10000
other people. That doesn't selling like no. I
don't really like know. Yeah. I'm not big
on the crowd thing. It's... I don't blame
dig it to be top list?
Nope. No. No. It the area I'm in
is
pretty muslim.
Oh, which is Southern Thailand is
is majority Muslim in a lot of places.
Oh, okay. Yeah and my island is 80
percent Muslim. Okay. And
lovely people. I have some dear friends that
are muslim. Oh no. They're great. You know
what This. You know what in America, we
have this sort of idea that that means
you're probably gonna Yeah. That's. Well, they had
weird ideas about me when I moved down
there as an American.
They're keeping an eye on me. I thought
I was a plant from some government an
agency well. You probably are. Yeah baby. Who
knows? Yeah.
So you... All in my cover. That's so
you would to Ko.
Yeah. And you said I'm gonna... What am
I gonna do? Now I
And I did nothing for long time. You're
gonna that. Yeah look. I'm it's gonna love.
Like my prime skill in a couple years.
No. I started with
the filling people's ipod with music?
This year your job. But that that was
my first business. Oh, okay. But that only
lasted did a year because then everybody started
filling their own, then we had the Internet.
When I first moved to where I moved
where to where I live in my part
of Cola,
we didn't have
Internet. We didn't have telephone.
We didn't have cell. That sounds amazing. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. It was. It but it was
also kind of a pain because if you
need to say somebody to go up the
island yeah. But there was Internet, but it
was settle like Internet, and you had to
pay...
So the equivalent of, like, a penny
a penny for every 10 minutes. Okay. I
mean, it wasn't that expensive.
Sorry for that car horn in the background.
Somebody
Probably gonna go insane. Yeah. Yeah.
Modern convenience on the speech. Right? I mean,
you have... Well, at that time they didn't.
But now... Well, yeah. We had electricity.
Stuff. I mean, I'm thinking like self
or something. Oh, no. Holly.
There were workplaces that didn't that chose not
to have electricity early on. But now it's...
Now we've got a 07:11
and And fiber. I've got fiber optic Internet
and my little beach hut. It's really it's
ridiculous. Yeah. And we've got everything. We got...
I've got 4 g intern it on my
phone. Wow. All this kind of stuff. So
and that happened just in the space of,
like, 8 years. Amazing. So you started doing
the ipod thing.
Searching the ipod thing, but then went in
a year, everybody had Internet and everybody had
iphones.
So they're downloading their stuff their itunes.
They don't need to get it off a
hardware anymore. Yeah. But I got out of
it right before that happened because it was
boring. Sitting watching somebody sit on your computer
for
3 hours while they check out the 5000
songs they want is a awful job. Yeah.
So open to clothing store, also an awful
job. Oh, why watching people try clothes. We're
not watching them tres.
You know, waiting for somebody to show up
all day. And then when they show up,
they, you know, what kinda of clothing did
you sell? We...
My girlfriend and I
went up to Bangkok and we would go...
Clothing because Bangkok does have a huge...
What's the... Where would you call the industry
fashion industry.
Before
export,
there are a lot of young designers Who
will open up their own t shirt shots
something like that. So you could go down
there and get your average f ball now
knock off t shirt from any place, but
we went to
young artistic
designers and would buy stuff from them and
sell that. So everything we had was different.
Yeah. And when year we went to Indian,
bought a bunch of stuff. Yeah. Ill. Don't
never go to India.
I'll let's. I apologize to my Indian friends,
but... Yeah,
thanks again, I'm not big on the crowds,
so I probably wouldn't.
That's not top so I
culture is fascinating to me. I'm fully and
actually, 1 of my
it's a fascinating culture. Now they just pee
on it.
Oh All day lot of people.
Yeah. But they can find a hole Someone...
I don't... Oh, I'm not even on in
India. I just said.
I I I'm not
not a fan. We were there for holiday,
and I... Did not enjoy it. Yeah. III
decided that, like, there's a reason the Comedy
came from India.
Because I've never wanted to
kill so many people in in my life.
So not that's that I can understand why
the non violence movement Yeah. You know, started
their out of.
It's... And it's not and I don't mean
like, I don't like indian people
It's just the way that the the the
culture runs over there is just, oh, it's
grading. Yeah.
It should be chill down thailand to go
to India must be. Yeah. And insane. But
I know people love it. And God bless
him, and I'm just not going back in
Hollywood. And I and I love I love
Indian people. I love Indian food. I just
can't stand being in in India, and Most,
like, I know a lot of indian people
who feel the same. Sure. That's why they're
here. Most... Yeah. Most of my Indian friends
live here instead of an India so. They
probably agree with you maybe I don't know.
So we had this clothing clothing store, and
then
girlfriend, she is a chef and she has
restaurant, so I worked with her for her
restaurant for a number of years,
and then, we parted ways.
And... You got a new girlfriend. Yeah. Okay.
Yeah. It's working...
So free advice for anybody living and working
together for 24 hours a day is... Yeah
not a good recipe for a a free
relationship. Yeah. So young people really love that.
Some people yeah. Some people are crazy too.
I don't know. I, it's yeah. We... It
worked for a while. Yeah. It works for
a while, but Okay. It just... Yeah. So...
But we're we're we're we're good friends now
and we're happy and we and right across
the street from her restaurant. I've have opened
my bar. Did that happen right away?
Yeah. Within the space of 6 months. Oh,
I had to do something. K. I wasn't
at the restaurant anymore. And The bar like
a a cliche fit. Well, I had had
the building the whole time Because it it
was the building that was originally the ipod
shop and then the clothing store. Okay. Now
transformed it into a bar. And that's been
great. The bad penny if you're out there
on Facebook. Look it up.
I think it's the bad penny dot com.
We...
Yeah. It's...
That been really interesting. It's cliche, though. I
think I put it off by opening a
bar for so long because of an American
who who retire to a tropical island in
it's a bar. Is same
about that. And
Yeah. It but people come in and they're
still
Oh. This is so cool. You it America's
as far is it a... Well, I I...
It's it's it's American.
That mean, it's really like an English pub
or is it? I think it's got a
style of its own. Okay. It's kind of
like a pub. Okay. It's the only bar
bar in this area.
Everything else is attached to a hotel. Oh,
okay. Yeah. And either has live music or
is,
a, beach thing, and they do fire shows
every night, and this is the only kind
of bar bar. It's a regular bar. And
I did it specifically for... There are a
lot of people who are like me living
over there 4 owners. Yeah. And they wanted
a place to go where they weren't in
the tourist crush. Sure. So it's telling come
all my friends. Yeah. So it's like a
local saying. Out. Yeah. And then we get
tourists. They bring in their customers because they're
all working in different industries like restaurants or
mostly scuba diving and stuff like that out
and they'll bring in their customers who are...
And we get... We've got the... 1 of
the top resorts in Thailand is just down
the beach. Oh, see. They're overflow? Well, we
get the the people are slum.
You know, they're... I mean, these rooms started,
like, a thousand dollars a night. Holy moly.
Yeah. They're... They have rooms there that go
for 10000 dollars a night when it comes
to the private butler and the Princess of
Thailand stays there, and,
you know, I've seen oliver her stuff and
there's other people. But they never tell us
who the celebrities are, because that's what the
celebrities wanted... Yeah. Exactly.
But you'll get people, you know, who wealthy
people who are looking for a real feel
of the island, and they come in, and
that's cool too. And they're it's just... Everybody's
So. People are people. It's like cheers.
Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. But it can be...
I don't know if if you've ever run
a bar but have never our center. I'm
never it can be rough It's It's hard.
On just.
Yeah. Well wouldn't no. It's the drinking. Oh,
drinking. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah Not your don't. But
you're not in Sam. Alone. You're not the.
Not able but Sam malone is starting to
become my
my goal. Yeah. Because he's sober. He's so
very.
It's hard to do though. Yeah. It's really
hard to do because everybody wants to buy
drinks. Yeah. So I... There's that drink Also
everybody's tearing. Yeah. And have it be like
so and there's around a shots or something
like, yeah. The
Your head... I did that for a month
this year. III didn't drink for a home.
Month and that worked out well. Yeah. You
got a little bit of really ridicule from
the friends and whatever. Right. But at the
end of the day, it was all fine
and good. And
that was the best I've felt the whole
year. Yeah.
Because... It's in Thailand, you work 7 days
a week. Like you... Especially if you own
your own business.
It's more chill.
It is more chill, but we have... We're
seasonal. Yeah. So we get 6 months within
to make our money. Oh. So you gotta
make it. Yeah.
But I think in the future, I'm gonna
just take that down to to not 7
days a week, put down to 6 days
a week. Which day will be off? Monday.
Sounds like a museum. Like.
Yeah. I think Air is off on Monday.
Yeah. Yeah. There you go. Yeah. So...
Yeah. It's That's. Alright. So
looking back now over your life thus far.
What do is the the pros and the
cons of doing what you did becoming this
sort of this A x expat and just
saying, sting grit it sell my crap,
get rid of everything and... Well, that's a
big pro.
I I feel like... I've kind of,
like we said, earlier liberating?
Yeah. I don't...
I hope Feels so tied into this
rat race.
Alan Watts talks about this. Love. You know,
they hear kitty kitty kitty, you know, in
school. They oh, here kitty kitty kitty. You
go up to the
elementary school, and then they say, oh, you
do this well. Here getting Kidding, you go
to high school, and then you go to
university and you graduate university and you get
a job, and then and you get a
job and then you retire. And and then
at the end, you'd, like, been through your
whole life and there there was no...
That that thing that you were chasing was
never... You never got it, and it was
never there. It was all just... Oh, if
you do this, it'll be better. If you
do this, it'll be better. Yeah. So now
I feel more like I'm just living my
life. Yeah. I'm not chasing Sarah you're not
manufactured concept. Yeah. A dangling carrot. Dangling carrot.
Yeah. So,
cole,
the... Bad man. Bad any. You're on Facebook.
I'm on Facebook. And on the internet's dot
com. Yeah. Right? And single. The bad
girls. Yeah.
On pixelated women apply. Yes
Thank you.
Thank you, Susan. This is So.