Glad to hear from ya, bro. Life sure throws curveballs once in a while, eh?

I tell you stories to get your mind back on track. We've all faced trials and tribulations. My life has been an endless series of such mind fucks, but so what?

The pussy is hot, the beer's cold and my pecker still jumps at the sight of a skirt.

What more can a man ask for?

i haven’t made any decisions about leaving, just about selling. this gov continues to do some impossibly stupid things (read the latest issue of the panama news), making investment in panama much less attractive.

i expect it will take at least a year to sell anyway. so i’ll be around. i read panama’s visa rules change all the time. so yeah, maybe it’ll change back before i have to leave again.

ive also read that if we wait long enough by the toilet the bodies of our ememies will get flushed by. but i think the toilets down here have smaller openings. they’re always getting backed up.

My thought and prayers are with you for your GF and calebs family….here's some words of wisdom…

"The world aint all sunshine and rainbows.It is a very mean and nasty place and it will beat you down to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it.

You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life…….But it aint how hard you hit: its about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward…How much can you take and keep moving forward.thats how winning is done" – Rocky Balboa 2006

Tom – i misread one word in your post (worn – worm) lol. i think my mind is going. i've edited my response because of that.

but really, my problems are nothing next to caleb's, his mom and brothers, or alex's and her family. really, i've been very lucky in my life. i may have lost some people i've cared about. i may be confused, and flu ridden. but i know i've had it good. and i'll figure it all out.

i'm with you patriccio. i have great respect for the seals. my bro did seal training. he's told me how hard it was. i really think it changed his life.

Sorry to hear about your misfortunes. My heart is with you. You're resilient and smart, though. You'll get through it.

Meet me on the other side – the mantra of the sick instructors who put me through hell. Whether it was underwater swims or jumps from helicopters, these bastards always said the same thing. Shit, those SEALS could kill your ass. Apparently they did.

I went to SAR (search and resue) school way back in 83 in Jacksonville, FL. The instructors were all SEALS and they had no time for nonsense. They put us all in the deep end of an olymic size pool and they told us to tread water without our arms for 10 minutes.

Sound easy? Try it some time. The guy next to me gave up after about 5 minutes and swam to the side of the pool and was in the process of hoisting himself out of the pool when an instructor came over and literally kicked him in the face. This guy flopped back in the water and the SEAL instructor was yelling "you don't quit until we say you can quit". My hands went way up and I survived.

Underwater swims. I still have nughtmares about these. Every day the herd would be culled by one. Every day we would jump (not dive) into the water and swim underwater to the other side. After everyone had performed this trick a few times, the sharks would move in. If you were unable to continue, the "sharks" would grab you and hold your head underwater until they deposited you on the other side.

The SEALS were tough as hell. They fucked with more than your mind – they fucked with your will to live. They were relentless and they epitomized the best of the Navy.

I survived that. I went on to work with the SEALS down in Panama. I have great respect for the SEALS.

Res Ipsa Loquitor.

Patriccio

It seems that something else is making Panama less important for you.

Maybe you're a little worn down by all the crap that's landed on you. This too shall pass.