Fall Update Livestream

Hey, what's up everybody?

Uh, we'll just wait to have this thing get going.

Feel free to uh jump in.

I'm just going to do like Q&A type stuff and give everybody a fall update.

I'm back here in California and sign a job offer.

Should be starting uh later this week and just uh enjoying the fall weather.

It's um yeah, it's nice to be back in California and I'm uh looking forward to having that normal day-to-day schedule again.

Uh yeah, great question, Trucker.

So, I'm I'm actually uh renting a room right now and it's um yeah, it's a solid place to live in a good neighborhood and it's uh economical.

Um my rent is 750 per month u including utilities.

So, I don't have to pay additional on top of that for utilities.

that includes electric and water.

And uh my landlord roommate has a lot of nice like um has a really nice kitchen, so I can actually cook a lot more.

And um it's not too far from work.

It's like uh you know, 15 minutes, 15 to 20 minutes uh from work.

Yeah.

So, I'm uh without trying to get too specific on my location, you know, I'm not like uh right on the the coast.

Um but uh still, you know, California, still uh very fortunate to be getting paid what I'm going to be getting paid.

Uh which will help me to um you know, eventually return to Southeast Asia.

That's a long-term goal of mine.

I enjoyed over there a lot.

Uh, I think what I learned on this stint was that it's not perfect.

Um, but nowhere is perfect and you have really have to figure out what's best for you.

And I I think overall I'm uh enjoying life over there more.

There's a lot of things that I enjoy here.

Um, but uh part of its cultural, part of its economics, um, you know, I think the US is ain't what it used to be as far as just the economy goes.

And uh I don't know.

I think the thing one of the things I miss the most is just having time to socialize.

Like it's it's a cultural thing, but it's also economical where here like even if you're like I think successful to do.

You're kind of limited to hang out with other people, but it's like you have to work all the time.

So I I just enjoy having more free time.

Um, what was your a Jared asks, "What was your average monthly cost in the Philippines?" I think I spent probably like 800 a month uh in Dumagetti, but I had a great deal on an apartment.

Uh, I found I had a friend of mine hook me up with a really great apartment at a a very reasonable price.

Um, and that uh, you know, there's visa fees built into that, food costs built into that.

I could have gone up from there.

Uh, but you know, part of it was trying to figure out, can I live here?

And I think that if you're living in Southeast Asia, uh, you shift from tourist mode to like more normal day-to-day life.

Um, I could have spent more than that.

I think I probably could have uh had a more comfortable life in some ways on a higher amount, but I think Dumageddi is like more of a budget friendly city where if you're looking to live a a kind of a higher standard, you want to look at like a Manila, uh Sibu, um Dvau, uh let's see here.

Um where are you intending to live in Southeast Asia, sir?

Mr.

Dave, you know, I always go back to Thailand.

Uh Thailand for me it has a good mix of like uh convenience factor, infrastructure, uh culture also like I just really enjoy Thai culture.

It's not that any of the other ones are not as um good.

That's just like I've been to almost every country in Southeast Asia and that's the one that I find is a good fit for me.

Like Malaysia as well and I enjoy the Philippines too.

Uh, but I think that um I'm more introverted.

This is really like one of the biggest things is I'm just more of an introvert.

And in the Philippines, I think it's more oriented toward really outgoing and social people.

Uh, so I think that's like a big factor where uh, yeah.

Um, yeah.

So Ben, so I lived in Southeast Asia for a couple of years and I recently come back here to California to work.

So I'm living in California actually, but previously spent about nine months in um the Philippines and uh about a year in uh Thailand.

Um no, I'm not uh I I don't think I'm with my roommates here are pretty decent and um yeah, I've had some strange Airbnb experiences.

I don't blame you uh trucker.

Um no, here actually I met uh this uh landlord or like roommate situation through my channel.

So somebody had watched my channel, watched my interviews uh with some other people and they said, "Hey, I've got like a room for rent and I can also help you get started in uh your um preferred career." Uh it's all it's all good.

Um, it's all good.

Trucker.

Yeah, Trucker is great, guys.

If anybody hasn't seen his channel, uh, go check it out.

He does like this interesting kind of combination channel, uh, where he shows his life as a driver in the US and then he also does really extensive like travels in the Philippines where his, um, lady and his son live.

So, he's got this kind of interesting combo life.

I talked about and I really should talk about it more that if you're like a young guy, which trucker is than I am, uh or let's say atypical for um you know, expat life, you can there's careers you can do that have more flexibility where you do like part of the year uh in the States or or Australia, wherever your western home country is.

I'm assuming because I'm speaking English, that's you're from Canada, Australia, UK, one of those countries.

uh maybe like New Zealand.

Um and then the other part of the year you live in your preferred destination.

I think this channel is, you know, focused on Southeast Asia or at least that's where I've spent a lot of time abroad.

Uh so you get the best of both worlds where you're still earning, you're still saving money, you're still paying into social security, but then you also get part of the year in a more relaxed culture.

um just more kind of funloving uh easier going more work to live rather than live to work like the US seems to be a very live to work place uh people spend a lot of time just you know kind of grinding away and they don't spend so much time focused on relationships I don't know that it was always this way but that's the way it seems to be today um yeah Mr.

Dave.

So, as far as my job, I'm just going to keep that on the DL uh because I don't know who's watching this or who will watch the replay.

Um, but yeah, that's just like uh something I don't want to share at this point.

I may change my mind.

I get more settled into career and feel more confident about it.

Uh, but it's something I just want to keep on the DL for right now.

Uh, let's see.

Oh, no, Trucker, you're not wrong, man.

I've stayed with some crazy people in the past.

I've had some oddball roommates.

Uh, one roommate in particular posted adult materials all over the walls.

Uh, he would walk around in his underwear.

Uh, he was a real oddball, uh, to say the least.

And that's, yeah, that was probably one of my more, uh, extreme roommate situations, but that was in college about 12 years ago.

After that, uh, I I got my own apartment.

I made enough money working in college, I was just like, I'll just pay the extra money and get my own place.

But uh yeah, let's see.

Jared asks, "You're living off savings in Asia?" Yeah, so I got a severance, Jared, uh from a layoff at my tech job, and I used that money to go to Asia.

I expected to get back to working in a shorter time than what actually happened in reality.

Um but yeah, I had I had substantial savings built up and still do.

You know, I think some people implied that I came back to America because uh you know, I was totally destitute.

That's not the case.

Actually, I intended to stay like a year in Southeast Asia.

I ended up staying two.

And then I was like, "Okay, I'm bored.

And if I want to move here longterm, I need to be sustainable financially." So, every year I spend here now is tacking a year on to meeting to work and to make money.

I think that I could move back there permanently in like 10ish years.

Um, and that's being more financially like savvy and planning things out and not having to come back.

that's living far below my means here in the United States, working hard at my job, like trying to work as much as I can to get promotions or just stay in the good graces of my employer and also just provide value for them.

you know, it's not a great economy and I think employees have to be extra careful about how they uh how they operate at work and just making sure to do everything I can to um you know meet meet my end of the bargain because it's you know I'm so happy to get a job offer because the economy is not good right now and so to get an offer where uh I can stop burning through savings is really a relief.

Uh, I'm not an emergency situation, but it's still I think it's never a good feeling anyway here in America where it's very expensive.

Um, let's see.

What up, bro?

Hey, Ron.

Good to see you.

Welcome.

Welcome.

Good to see you.

When you travel again, are you in California?

I don't quite understand.

MK Mobile Gaming in the Philippines.

When are you coming back to the Philippines?

That's a good question, MK.

It might be a while.

I've got a lot of work to do.

you know, I haven't worked in gosh, like two years, like almost two and a half years.

So, uh, for me, I need to save for a while.

I need to, uh, make plans for a while.

I actually will continue to work on this channel because I think I can keep growing it here in the States.

I see with a guy like Trucker, you know, even though he, uh, goes back and forth, he doesn't stop his channel.

So, he makes his content whether he's in the States or he's in the Philippines.

And I think people would enjoy it.

I got a lot more outreach when I stopped posting for a few months.

Hey, you should make videos, including from Trucker.

Uh, but also like uh people um in general just like reaching out to me, hey, are you going to make more videos?

And uh so that's why I um I decided why don't I just keep posting observations, thoughts, thing.

I've got a ton of I've got three or four that I filmed that I haven't uploaded.

So, one of my plans is on the uh weekend, I plan to try to film at least five or six videos to release during the week when I'm at work because with winter coming, by the time I get off work, it may be dark outside.

So, the lighting I prefer natural lighting if I can help it.

Uh for my videos, for my streams, I guess I'm a little bit more forgiving, but for my my regular videos, I I kind of like a certain quality threshold there.

Uh but yeah, when I'm coming back maybe um might be next year.

It's I'm not 100% certain.

I do miss the Philippines.

I miss my friends there.

I've been chatting with some friends in the Philippines today.

Uh and it's um yeah, you know, I find Filipino people to be charming and I enjoy my time there a lot.

It's very beautiful country for sure.

Uh let's see.

Kevin Chucker says, "I like your high agency people phrase.

I'm using that one now.

I say stuff like they were low agency establishment people couldn't think outside the box." Yeah, I think people really have to take charge and like um take responsibility and like operate on the the premise that they have control over things and not like controlling and manipulative, more so like own it, you know, like I made a bad decision, I own that bad decision, not ah it was somebody else's fault.

I've got a video I'll just go and preview for you guys.

I'll mention it.

Uh where I talk about, you know, some some expats pull this I'm invisible and I you know I talk about how that's a low agency kind of way of thinking like I'm invisible.

Well, what about working on your social skills or what about working on your finances or what about you know like you know that implies that your uh your relationships with other people are out of your control.

Uh, and I think people have a lot of input as to far as who they spend time with and how much time they spend with them.

And uh, yeah, that's just I appreciate that a lot.

I think that that's where you get successful creative types is that they uh, they take charge, you know, they if you're guys, there's 12 watching, if you could give a thumbs up, that would be super helpful.

Uh, let's see.

When are you traveling again?

Um, yeah, pro I'm going to try to go for next year.

We'll see how that works.

Uh depends on how much vacation time I I am able to build up and how much money I'm able to save.

Uh actually my landlord roommate, he's planning to sell this house in six months to a year.

And so this was kind of a landing pad.

So I'll be needing to find an apartment uh here in town, which is fine.

It's, you know, it'll be more expensive, I think.

Um but it'll be within budget.

you know, I'll have the job income coming in and uh YouTube income continue to come in and um I may even decide to purchase a home in this area.

That's that's something else I've been thinking about.

Uh because that would give me a base here in the US.

Even if I want to travel, I could rent it out for a while and and live abroad and um have it as like a landing pad if I want to come back and work for a while or do something where I work half the year and travel half the year kind of like Trucker does.

Uh, let's see.

Um, Jared says, "I think a lot of foreigners regret moving to Philippines." I tend to disagree, Jared, only because I think that what, this is how I frame it, is people don't do their research and they uh don't travel around.

So, what I find with some of the people that might regret moving to the Philippines, uh, they don't visit different parts of the Philippines, right?

So, they they they go to one city and that's it.

And if that doesn't work out, it was terrible.

It's like I think a person should travel around.

They should visit like Manila, Sabu, Dvao, uh, and then medium medium-sized cities like Iloilo, um, Kagay, Deoro, uh, maybe smallish cities like Dumageddi.

And then they get a sense of what's it like to live in these different places because there's something uh, for many different types of people in the Philippines.

Um, and I think that people need to I I think people need to visit before they move because then they can find out, hey, uh, is this the right fit for me or uh, is it not the right fit for me?

I don't I think the Philippines can be a great uh, place for a lot of people, but I don't think anyone places for everybody.

Um, let's see.

David says, "What's the haps?

What have you been doing?" Mostly, Dave, I've been uh, focused on trying to get this new job started and I've been doing a lot of different things for that.

I had to get um just I had some appointments related to that this week and um did a road trip cross country.

So I drove across the country and that took about 10 days.

I stopped by my storage unit and try to throw and clear some stuff out.

I'm going to try to hopefully get rid of that by next year.

that might also uh dampen my travel plans because I need to that storage unit's costing me they just raised the price again and it's costing me a lot and so I'd like to get rid of that and not be paying that monthly fee just kind of chewing up my my income.

Um what else?

Uh you know just getting uh driving around this new area I'm in just like trying to get myself acquainted with it.

It's not uh San Francisco.

Um, so it's something new to me and I'm having to figure out just like my way around town and um, yeah, what it's what it's all about.

Uh, Ron, what's the best Southeast Asian country?

I I tend to think it differs based on individual.

Um, if you if we're talking about like economy, Singapore would technically be the most developed Southeast Asian country.

Uh, if we're talking about hospitality, I think like friendly people, Philippines is up there.

Uh, if you're somebody that's like super into dining and cuisine, uh, Thailand is is probably uh, up there.

Malaysia's pretty good, too, on that.

Uh, it depends on like what you're you're looking for, what your preferences are, what you prioritize.

you know, for some people they really prioritize uh spending time with other people and and the you know, there's and beaches and that kind of thing.

And that regard, Philippines is a great fit.

Um if you are concerned about health care, uh Thailand, you know, has really great health care.

But I think it really just depends on you and what your preferences are.

Thailand was like the first um country in Southeast Asia I ever visited.

And I think I'll always have a soft spot for it because of that.

Um, they also have an easy retirement visa situation.

That's another thing that's really appealing about Thailand is if I work for the next 20 years and I I retire in my like early to mid-50s, then um you know, Thailand would be would be great for that.

But uh you know, I think it's good too to visit them all, right?

Like I think part of what helped educate my decision or make me think through things is I visited almost all the countries in Southeast Asia.

Haven't visited Myanmar.

It's not safe right now unfortunately.

Haven't visited Lao.

I just haven't gotten around to it.

It's definitely on my radar.

Probably my next trip to Southeast Asia, I'd like to include Lao.

Uh and then uh Brunai is just really small.

It's more of like uh it's not necessarily I don't know that they even have like a retirement visa or the normal kind of visa situations that I'd be using.

Hey Paulo, good to see you.

Welcome.

Welcome.

Yeah, I hope to see you again someday in the Philippines.

Uh I really had a great connection with a lot of people in the Philippines and uh I still talk to some Filipino friends like all the time.

every week, you know, people are messaging me and asking me how things are going and I'm trying to, you know, keep to myself how much I miss the Philippines because uh it's, you know, it can you might describe it, you be a bit melancholy to be in the US where life is um has its there's a lot of wonderful things about the US, but the social climate in the Philippines, I've never felt lonely a single day in the Philippines.

I had so many different friends to hang out with and people to connect with and uh that's something that's just hard to find here in the US.

There's other things that are nice about the US, but uh the Philippines it's um yeah, it's it's a wonderful place.

Fortunately, one of my roommates is Filipino.

Um I'll respect his privacy, but that's that's you know, something kind of nice that reminds me of of my time over there.

And there's uh there's I'll be I think I'll be working with some Filipino people.

Um so that'll be really cool too to just like be able to hang out with them and I know that they miss the Philippines too.

So we kind of have that shared experience of having time spent over there and and being here.

Um it's we're very fortunate to have access to the US economy and and all the opportunities it provides but also it can be kind of lonely over here just to be honest.

I think most Americans have felt lonely at one time or another uh just due to the social climate.

Uh Philippines can grow on you in time.

I agree Ron there's certain things that I just um I don't know there there's something endearing about a lot of Filipino people.

they they kind of have um there's a warmth and a kindness and a generosity and an inclusivity of a lot of the people there that is harder to find in the world.

It reminds me of America when I was a kid where people were like more more socially connected I think.

Um, that's what I think a lot of Americans like about the Philippines is that, you know, you go over there and the people are very welcoming and they're I found not judgmental.

I mean, at least I didn't feel judged.

I felt like people wanted me to um to be in their groups and I got invited to fiesta and gettogethers and barbecues and it's uh yeah, I reflect on my time there positively in a lot of ways.

What do you think of college?

is a good thing or bad.

Uh it's another one of those things.

It depends like if you're going to a name brand college or you're going for a good discipline where you're going to get a marketable skill, it's good.

If you're going for something that's not marketable and you're going to no name university, it's bad.

A lot of people go fall somewhere in the middle.

Um, I I went to not a a well-known university and I didn't really study anything super valuable.

So, I probably should have gone to a better university or chosen a different discipline or both.

I am looking at going back for nursing here uh locally.

I thought about going back in the Philippines, but here I can work and cover my bills where in the Philippines I'm not permitted to work.

So, I wouldn't be able to work uh to cover that.

Plus, here I could get like a a CNA and get some experience before becoming an RN as opposed to going straight to RN.

And also in the Philippines, I just find it hard to focus.

I mean, people are so nice and inclusive and funloving that I just find it's harder to get my responsibilities handled there.

Uh because I'm looking, you know, I'm looking forward to the social element where here I don't really have as much of a social life.

Uh so it's easier to focus, right?

The US is built for industry and like getting things done.

I think the Philippines is more oriented toward having fun and spending time with people that you care about.

But yeah, guys, feel free to chime in with any questions or thoughts you have.

I just uh thought I'd do kind of a Q&A and um what it's like what's it like being independent, responsible?

It's it's stressful.

Um, Ron, it can be very stressful in the United States.

I think that there's, you know, it's it's kind of an atomizing or atomized society.

People feel very isolated here.

A lot of people, not everybody, but a lot of people feel very isolated.

Um, very stressed out, kind of like Army of One.

You don't really feel like you get a lot of support.

There are a lot of people, I think, feel like they don't really get a lot of support.

uh you could cultivate that if you go to a church, if you're part of like a community group or something like that.

Uh but then I think a lot of people are skeptical of churches and community groups.

So, uh it's very difficult.

You know, in the Philippines, I always had somebody to talk to.

Um often had people willing to help me out and people will like stop on the side of the road and offer to give me a ride home in the Philippines.

I had people invite me to gettogethers.

Uh so, it's, you know, it's there's some advantage.

There's a lot of advantages here in the US, but it it can be an isolating life.

What's your honest opinion on Charlie Kirk?

Uh, you know, that's a great question.

I I try to steer away from politics on this channel, but um I think any kind of situation like that is tragic, um unnecessary, unfortunate.

I um I'm keeping his family in my thoughts because I know what it's like to grow up without parent or parents and it's very very stressful and difficult and uh you know I um I just keep them in my thoughts and I hope uh in spite of the dramatic tragedy in their lives that um you know people rally around them and and try to support and help out as much as they can.

I don't I don't celebrate anybody suffering like that and I don't care to me what politics they're involved in or not involved in.

I just um I just, you know, I think it's really sad.

It's unfortunate in the United States that this is becoming more commonplace and it's a big reason a lot of people want to move abroad is they see things like this and uh it's very you know it's just very tragic.

Would you go to Africa?

Uh probably not for a while because the the main problem with Africa is the expense.

Um there's kind of a misnomer that Africa is cheap.

Most of the desirable places to go in Africa can actually be quite expensive.

Like I visited Morocco three years ago, two years ago, two and a half years ago, my hotel was 50 bucks a night.

Uh meals were easily 10 $15 a piece.

There's not really much street food.

Um I saw some snails that were street food, but that's not really my preference to eat.

Uh so yeah, I mean it it's uh it's expensive.

I'm not going to say that it's not worth it.

It's just like for me, I'm still kind of budge oriented as a traveler, so it wouldn't be my my first choice just due to cost, you know.

I think um I think that's just a big part of it because Yeah.

And the flights are expensive too.

Like the flights to Africa can be really really pricey like more so than um even Southeast Asia.

Like here in from here in California, I could fly to Southeast Asia for probably pretty low prices, but to fly to Africa, um I'd have to fly to Europe and then fly south.

And so those flights can easily be um over $1,000 round trip.

I priced out South Africa.

It was like 1,500.

So it can really get pricey um flying to Africa.

I think uh Mr.

Dave had some experience.

I don't know if Mr.

Dave is still watching, but he visited Tanzania and he really enjoyed it.

And there's another traveler, a guy from New York City, I can't think of his name, um, Kid Greatness, I think, and he likes Kenya a lot.

He likes Nairobi a lot.

He's really, um, done some great vlogs there.

I've enjoyed some of that, some of those um, some of those discussions.

What's everybody doing this weekend?

Anybody have anything fun um happen over the weekend or uh get into anything interesting.

[Music] I may go for another half hour or so.

The sun's going down.

So, I'm probably wind down like about a half hour and then Where are you, Ron?

Are you here in the States or are you in um are you in Asia?

Oh, you're in Sacramento.

Okay.

Wow.

Very cool.

Um, yeah.

I I'm not uh I'm not uh minding the nice weather here at all.

It's um it's Yeah, California is really nice weather.

I'm I'm enjoying the weather a lot.

It's the fall weather.

It's cooling off.

Um and it's uh yeah, it's just really I don't know.

So, it's kind of got that cozy feeling where you can wear your jacket and uh your heavier clothes.

Yeah, I've been to Canada and Mexico.

I like uh both.

I've been to Canada once and Mexico maybe three or four times.

Canada.

I went to Windsor, uh, which is near Detroit.

And, uh, I'd like to go to Vancouver at some point.

Now that I'm back on the West Coast, maybe at some point I can do a Vancouver trip.

My friend in Seattle was wanting to do one.

Last time I was up there, uh, it's about, I think, a three or four hour drive each way to Vancouver from Seattle.

Uh, so that hopefully that'll happen at some point.

uh in Mexico.

I have been to East Coast of Mexico a couple times and I've been to the west coast of Mexico once and uh both were enjoyable trips or all three I should say all three were enjoyable trips.

I like Mexico a lot.

I'd like to go see more Mexico specifically like Guadalajara and also Mexico City.

Two of them like more of the city environments as opposed to coastal Mexico.

Uh, just chilling right now and busy packing for my October 4th vacation.

Oh, where are you going, Paulo?

That sounds really fun.

That's right around my birthday.

How about you, Ron?

Have you been to Oh, in Vancouver with the Philippines.

I'm not familiar with that situation, Ron.

I'll have to look it up.

Um, oh, wait, you know what?

I did hear about that.

I remember.

Okay, now I remember about that.

Was very, very unfortunate.

Um it's very unfortunate anytime uh something happens to the um the Filipino community, any any community, it's really tragic.

uh subject.

Uh I'm not certain what you mean, Ron.

Oh, you're going to Bead.

Oh, I enjoy Beolad.

I know quite a few people are have visited um Beolid uh lately.

I think uh Trucker, Captain Trucker is actually based near Bead City.

He'll probably land there or he's probably actually there right now or has recently landed in Beolid also.

Um who else is a fan?

Gio lived in Beak for about a year.

Uh I and yeah Bead seems to be an upand cominging place.

I know one of my friends um he uh Buick he is also a fan of Beak.

He likes to spend time there when he comes to the Philippines and he's been coming to the Philippines for decades.

Uh in college um I liked uh I like math and English.

I think math and English are two of my favorites.

How about you Ron?

Yeah, but it's supposed to be great.

I I think you'll have a great time, Paulo.

And uh do you know anyone from Dumagedi, famous YouTuber?

Yeah, I knew um I met several.

I was fortunate to meet uh Paul and Mike and Gio and who else did I meet?

Uh, I'm Yeah, I met quite a I ran also ran into Filipino P.

Filipina P.

Um Oh, great.

You're going to meet Trucker.

That's wonderful.

Yeah, he's great.

He's um he's a lot of fun.

Really interesting guy and uh a creative thinker for sure.

He's got a lot of creative talents and I look forward to seeing how his channel continues to grow and evolve and just like the different um content he'll be covering in the Philippines.

I intended to to collab with Mark uh Ron, but I changed my mind when I heard about some of the challenges that he was involved in.

I tend to try to not be around like legal u stuff in the Philippines just because I want to respect the law, the rules and I just try to be very careful about who I associate with uh in the Philippines.

Yeah.

Unfortunately, Mark did pass um I think it's been he passed right around Christmas last year.

I think it may have been Christmas Eve, but it was really really tragic and unfortunate and uh just, you know, uh yeah, it was really tragic.

You know, there it seems like there's been a lot of tragedy in the last year.

Uh hopefully things improve.

Um but yeah, does anybody have any other thoughts or uh you know things to share or think about?

um goal, you know, I think probably just like keep doing media uh work and save my money as much as I can.

And then eventually I'd like to move to uh move back to Southeast Asia just through content uh for the rest of uh my time, you know, just entertaining people, hopefully inspiring some people, uh informing people more important than anything else.

Um yeah, I've been to South America, Ron.

Actually, I've been to I did a trip to Peru and Colombia.

Uh I'd like to go back at some point, but my I think my preference is Asia because it's so so different from the US versus South America has some of the American vibes.

Not all, but it's like uh closer.

I'd like to go back to Peru.

I'd like to visit Argentina um and Chile.

Those are two like really high on my list.

Brazil as well.

Uh, so those three are high on my list as far as places I'd like to visit.

Hopefully I can make that happen in the coming years.

Guys, please give us a thumbs up if you can.

We've got 14 watching and six thumbs up, so that would be great.

How was Bahrain?

I've never never been uh there.

What was that like?

Tell us about that, Ron.

Did you do any activities or uh mostly focus on shopping and relaxing?

Oh, you were with the Navy.

Okay.

Thank you for your service.

Very cool.

Very very cool.

Um I was looking into going the military route.

Uh and I don't know that it made sense for me uh at the moment, but um yeah, it's you know that that's really cool that you got to to travel with the military.

I always think that's got to be the best of both worlds, right?

You're getting paid, but you're also getting to travel.

What are um Oh, yeah, the GI Bill.

Yeah, that's excellent.

What did you study, Ron?

Oh, very cool.

You studied nursing.

Uh, excellent.

Uh, maybe maybe if you'd like, you could uh if you'd want to be cool if you could send me an email.

I'd love to chat about that.

Uh, you know, learn more about your experience because I thought about uh studying nursing.

It seems like it's a great career and um it's in high demand and it will you know maintain um maintain stability.

It's a great opportunity here in California.

Nurses make a lot of money out here and can live a very comfortable lifestyle right now.

probably healthcare because tech is like tech industry is getting a lot of outsourcing and layoffs and automation and consolidation to the industry.

Uh, so I think right now probably healthcare is your like a ner, you know, if you're talking about a four-year education, uh, nursing, if you're talking about like graduate school, like a doctor, a nurse practitioner, um, physicians assistant, uh, that kind of work I think you could do very well with.

Uh yeah, I think AI will take uh unfortunately will take a fair amount of jobs.

It's already starting to take some jobs and I think that will just continue because uh that's that's what the industry wants.

They want the the most efficient for the least price.

And uh you know I'm using it somewhat like I'm using it to do some design for my thumbnails and uh that's you know that's going well like making some fun thumbnails with it.

saves me from having to hire a marketer.

And yeah, um it's unfortunate, you know, I suspect, and this is something Elon Musk has talked about, is that we'll have to have universal basic income.

Um that we have we'll have a lot of people that they're not going to be able to support themselves and AI, you know, will will basically make their their career irrelevant.

And uh you know we yeah anybody else feel free to chime in.

Ron you know Ron's very very uh kind with his words and sharing his opinions and thoughts.

Uh but everybody is welcome to chime in and and discuss if anybody has any opinions or uh questions or discussion topics.

I'd like to go for uh another 20 minutes if I can.

My voice doesn't give out.

I recorded for a solid 40 45 minutes before I even started um started this stream.

I'll probably stop around 7:20.

I'd like to get a shower and uh brush my teeth and um like work on some other ideas because I I need to work on some other uh video ideas and I need to prepare for tomorrow.

Um tomorrow I've got to do stuff related to my new job.

How about you, Ron?

What?

Uh oh, it's it's just an office job, man.

Nothing too wild.

Just like a standard kind of office job.

Uh paper pusher.

Um what what about you, Ron?

Like uh how many days per week do you work as a nurse?

I know some people they like to work on the weekends.

They work long shifts and they they have off during the week.

Other people prefer to work during the week and they um they have the weekends off.

I'm just curious to learn about your uh job as a nurse.

Oh, your supply logistics.

Oh, I see.

Your friend was a nurse.

You're in a different uh line of work.

I see.

Very cool.

I I don't know much about supply and logistics, I'll be honest.

Um I'm not super super familiar with that uh industry, but um yeah.

Uh, I tend to not be as much of a fan of driving for Uber or Lift, Ron, just because I think it can wear out the car and I think you can really put a lot of wear and tear on your car.

I think when you subtract out your costs of driving for Uber and Lift, the rates just don't pay a lot anymore.

I think they paid a lot when the companies first came out.

Uh, but now they've got a lot of drivers.

And so, um, I just I tend to think and a lot also with insurance, you have to have special insurance to drive for Uber or Lift because your insurance company, they're they're ensuring you thinking you're going to have typical usage of like a commuter where for the Uber or Lift driver, they're driving uh in a commercial like sense.

So, they're putting a lot more miles on.

They're taking a lot more risk as far as getting an accident.

Uh, so I think, you know, if you if it doesn't math out for most people, maybe some people maybe they drive like a Prius and uh they've got a deal on electricity or charging their Prius and uh it's supplementary, it's not full-time, I think it can make sense.

But I, you know, maybe if you're in a high cost of living area like Bay Area where the trips might be shorter or higher paid.

Uh, but I think most people it's just doesn't make a ton of uh uh financial sense.

Uh, grab is fine, you know.

Grab grab is fine.

Grab is uh kind of like the Uber of the Philippines and it's um you know the price is reasonable and it's the drivers are generally pretty good.

Uh I think it's it's a popular way to get around in um some cities.

Some cities it doesn't have it.

So Dumageddi doesn't have Grab so you have to take a trike where you do have Grab in Manila.

Um Sibu I've used it mostly in Manila and Sibu.

Um, and it's it's solid.

It can be a little confusing because of the population density, but overall it's necessary, I think, if you want to travel in comfort.

Joyide and other moto taxis are cheaper and faster for big cities.

Yeah, I'm not familiar with those, but happy to look into them.

uh though uh you know I do I definitely think if you're budget conscience conscious uh you know it's good to shop around um if there's alternatives I I don't blame anybody for trying to find a cheaper alternative.

I also used Bolt.

Uh there is Grab in Thailand.

Vietnam I'm I think yeah Vietnam had has Grab.

I yeah both Thailand and Vietnam have Grab as well.

So if you're moving from country to country, I know some of the apps like I think pass app is Cambodia only.

Some apps are limited to one country where uh with Grab you can go from country to country.

I am a shareholder in Grab so I am biased.

I have some stock in Grab.

I like to um use the service that I'm invested in.

But uh yeah, I'm I'm I don't I don't blame people for shopping around.

Co cost of living is is high these days.

People got to be budget focused.

Uh let's see.

Would you go to China in Korea?

Haven't been to China except for layovers.

I have been to Korea.

Korea was fine.

You know, I don't feel compelled to go back.

Um the food was good, but it's just kind of stressful.

That was just my honest opinion.

Korea is like stressful and very like hyperconsumeristic where it seemed like most of what there was to do was shopping and eating and drinking and uh that was just like my experience.

Um yeah, I'd go to China.

Um did you ever look at high dividend ETFs provide monthly income?

I I'm happy to look at at those.

Uh I I've been picking individual dividend stocks.

Um, but you know, those ETFs can take a lot of the kind of guesswork and research out.

I'm a fan of um Jason, you know, Jason Feieber.

He uh does picks and he releases his picks every time he picks something new.

Uh he tends to be decent at it.

Uh but, you know, he certainly doesn't know everything.

And there's value in um in ETFs where you're having somebody else.

Uh, what do you think of cryptocurrency and XRP?

I don't know much about it to be honest, Ron.

I have some Algarand, but I I'm uh I'm more focused on like the kind of the standard investments that are uh I feel I can understand more easily.

It's kind of a big regret because I I I didn't understand finance back when crypto came out.

I knew about crypto, but I was dissuaded from purchasing it.

I allowed myself to to be talked out of buying it by um a family friend.

And that was that's a big regret in my life.

Uh because I I could have been very very wealthy and um it's just going to take a lot longer to get there uh based on my mistakes, poor decision- making in the past.

I was in Bangkok.

Uh Ron, I was actually in u in Bangkok, Thailand and I was uh this was March 2020 and uh you know it city slowly closed down.

I remember going out with some friends a few times and we had a great time.

It's um it's such it's like my probably my favorite city in the world is Bangkok.

It's just such an iconic city.

It's uh the sounds, the sights, the smells, like the people packed together.

It's there's so much like it's sensory overload.

I look forward to my next trip to Bangkok.

It's just such a an eclectic and fun city.

I'd definitely go back to Japan again.

So, I'm part of Japanese.

I'll always have an affinity for Japan.

I'd love to go back at some point um in the future.

It's just uh you know, there's something special about Japan.

It's very clean.

It's very uh safe.

Um, yeah, I definitely would like to go back to Japan at some point.

I think I'd go back uh to go somewhere a little bit different.

So, last time I did Osaka, Kyoto, and uh Fukuoka, the south.

I think next time I go, I'd prefer to do something like um Tokyo.

I'd prefer to visit uh Tokyo.

But yeah, guys, Ron's the only person talking.

We got like 13 people viewing.

Please chime in if you can.

I'll probably wrap up in the next 10 minutes just to give Ron a break because uh he's been great to uh to engage with the stream.

Yeah, I'd go back to Europe.

I went to Europe about two and a half years ago.

I did Spain.

I did the UK, Spain, and Portugal.

Uh, next time I'd like to do Italy, Greece, maybe Georgia.

That would be kind of cool.

Georgia is like Eastern Europe.

A little bit different from Western Europe.

Well, a lot of bit different than Western Europe, but uh that's supposed to be a digital nomad hot spot.

Georgia is um Australia and New Zealand are lower on the list to be honest, just because uh they're both very expensive.

That's a big part of it.

It's very expensive to travel in Australia and New Zealand.

Um, and yeah, that's that's probably just a a big thing.

Plus, they're they're more like similar to the US, uh, as far as just being western countries, high level of development, uh, expensive, you know, kind of the same advantages and same similar advantages, similar problems, uh, as as the US.

Caribbean.

I haven't really visited much.

I'm I'm open to it, but it's uh lower on the priority list, I think.

But guys, anybody else have any questions or thoughts?

Um this might not be the best time for people.

I know people probably getting ready for work tomorrow and uh starting their week if if we're talking about people in Asia right now.

So, um yeah.

Anybody have any extra thoughts or I may may wind down just a few minutes early because my throat's starting to get sore and um when you go online, what day or week?

It's not really specific or scheduled yet, Ron.

It's just kind of random.

Um just when I have time, I'll be working full-time and um I'll be focused more on putting out videos.

Uh but happy to stream again soon if you know if there's interest or desire in it.

I would hope more people engage so that you don't have so much you don't feel so much pressure to um be the only person engaging but I also know just timing is everything and and people are busy so Yeah.

Well, anyways guys, I think I'm going to wind down.

Thank you so much, Ron.

I appreciate you engaging.

Uh, it seems like a lot of folks uh are busy and anyway, it's been great to chat with you all.

Um, I hope you have a good evening and yeah, um, feel free to send me an email, Ron, and that way I'll have your email.

We can, um, we can connect.

Happy to to link up near Sacramento.

And, um, yeah, everybody, have a good night.

I'll talk to you soon.

Bye bye.