Thank you to everyone who supported my last ulog post with upvotes, comments, and so much encouragement. Since I wrote that post, a lot has changed. Most of it is for the better thankfully, but I am still in quite a mess.

Here are updates about what is going on now.

My stay and bill at the hotel where I am now

As I was writing my ulog yesterday, I also gave my one English speaking Thai friend the number of the cell phone for the best English speaking worker here. My friend is a manager at one of the other hotels I stayed at. This is how I know her and her wonderful family who have treated me like their own.

These are the people who have been feeding me for months and you have seen many posts about them on my blog. They are the closest I have to family aside from my son @bxlphabet, and leaving them is the worst part of leaving Thailand. Their warmth and generosity can never be replaced.

My friend offered to try to help and get more information about what is going on here with my bill. She made the call and then refused to discuss it with me unless I came over to eat!

Here is my skinny hand in my friend's photo. The meat is not all for me, but it is all in front of me because they know this is what I like the best.

And here is some of the rest of the table without my hand in the way. I had to reach to get the yummy vegetables and there are also some fantastic steamed fish on that plate. The som tum papaya salad can stay over there and I am not tempted by the sauce that will blow your head off with spiciness.

Here is the startling news I got at dinner.

If I do not pay the bill in full, "The Boss" (I have not met) will take the money from the employees that have been helping me.

Again - The employees will have to pay for me if I do not!

Yes, this is true.

I asked my friend if this would happen to her at the hotel where she works, and she said:

"Yeah, sure. The owner trusts me to collect the money. If I do not collect it, I would have to pay it myself. This is the way it is here."

So I have to pay this money. The people who would pay it for me are low paid workers who have treated me so kindly. I cannot let this happen.

This also explains why the guy who fixes the wifi kept asking for my passport yesterday. He told me he would pay the money, but he would need to have my passport "for collateral". I did not understand at the time, that someone has to pay "The Boss" if I do not. This wifi guy was trying to be nice and help the other workers. I kept telling him I did not want him to pay for me because I did not understand the system.

My Thai friend tells me that all of the workers who have taken payments from me or dealt with my bill in the last year will have to get together and pay the money. The wifi guy is not one of them, but he would be if I had let him pay money yesterday. He is only involved now because he can speak limited English and was trying to help.

So my friend told me that I can stay until July 31 as originally planned. The only difference in what I owe now and what I will owe then, is the extra water and electricity charges. The staff will also try to convince "The Boss" to reduce some of the service charges, but I will not hold my breath for such a miracle.

So I sent this to my friend today I asked her to call the lady from this hotel again and see if this will be acceptable.
= =
Hello my friend, can you please call the lady at the hotel again and tell her this information?

1. I had no idea that the staff would be required to pay the money if I did not pay it. I will not let that happen. I cannot have them pay for my problem. They have been so nice to me and I feel terrible about this. It would be illegal for the hotel to take money from the staff in the United States, and I was not aware of how you handle this in Thailand.
2. I thought the rent would be cheaper if I left early, but now I understand it will not be.
3. I will pay 1500 thb tomorrow, Monday morning.
4. I will stay until July 31, and leave by noon on that day. I will pay the new amounts for electricity and water on the meters at that time.
5. I will have more money on Wednesday or Thursday. I am not sure how much yet, but I will keep them informed.
6. I will keep working to get more money so the staff will not have to pay for me.

Can they please try to have the boss discount the amount for late fees? If they can reduce that, I will be able to make the payment better before I leave. But no matter what, I do not want the staff to pay any money to "The Boss" for me.
= =
Now I have heard nothing back and the lady came up here to ask me what is going on. She also offered me food and asked if I was ok, which makes me feel even worse.

So hopefully this will work out at least. I have only packed a little bit today and I do not have a train ticket anyway. The 1500 thb I will pay them tomorrow would have been partially used to pay that fare.

My Phone is Dead Now

I found out why my phone does not work now. My phone number "expired!" (WTH) Yes, this is how it goes in Thailand. I found out something else I did not know.

Last night I took my phone to dinner and my friend looked through the many texts (all in Thai) to find that I was notified this would happen a couple of months ago. I did not do whatever I had to do, so now the phone is dead. I will not try to re-activate it until I get to Malaysia. I'm sure that will go smoothly lol.

So now, in order to make reservations for the train on July 31, one of my Thai friends will help me and somehow we will make it work. I may just have to give them cash and they do the reservation. None of them can believe I would let my phone die since all of them use theirs 24/7.

I have only spent 300 thb in two years for phone service and never use it. It is too little for my bad eyes and too heavy for my bad hands. I still had 60 thb on it when the number expired. So I spent $7.20 in phone minutes over the course of two years.

My son @bxlphabet

Ah, my son. I am so worried for him. Today, on July 22, I have not paid his July rent of $700 usd including the exchange rate. His landlord is being very kind and understanding, but I do not know how long this will last.

If you follow my story, you know that @bxlphabet has severe PTSD from the experiences of his mom (me) being constantly carted off in ambulances, falling over all the time, and being generally near death for most of his childhood and early teens.

My obesity caused my son's PSTD and it is the biggest regret of my life that I did not get healthy until he was in late high school. I know from my weight loss work that he is not the only kid with this problem and this is what drives me in my work.

By the time I got thin and healthy, so much damage was done. My son was homeless for 5 years and somehow survived that, but many bad things happened during that time to make his PTSD worse.

Two years ago he got into the subsidized place he lives now. As much of his trouble was focused on me, I thought my leaving for Thailand would let him recover and do better, and in some ways it has. But now, he is facing homelessness again, and this is my fault.

All I can do is pray for him and try to help and understand. He is so worried, angry, and upset now, that I it is all I can do to keep him posting on steemit, and trying to take care of himself.

Good news at qurator

My son is much more talented in art than me, and his talent is the only reason I got the courage to try it myself. He started getting complements on his art from the ago of two and when I would see what he did, I would think, "This is like what I used to do as a kid, but no one ever told me it was good!"

This week @bxlphabet is nominated in the Photo Friday contest which one of his wonderful photos. If you are a member of qurator, please go take a look. Only votes from qurators count and your vote only needs to be at 1% to count. Even if you do not vote for @bxlphabet, please vote for someone to show support for all they do for us on the qurator blog.

And I nominated my own post in the Toss up Thursday Contest where the same rule applies. You only need to vote and 1%, and I will be so grateful if you do.

If either one of us wins, we get Tier 5 upvotes from qurator for 30 days, so these are very meaningful contests right now.

Weight Loss

I am posting out my weight loss coaching on steemit now and so disappointed in myself for not making a good enough success of this work. I have helped people for eight years now, and I do help people today, but it is not enough. My work does not support me and obesity statistics keep rising.

I read a post from a friend and fellow weight loss coach today with the exact same sentiment. My friend coaches in the "super-morbidly obese" category. Her post today said, "I wish I could just help people to move in their beds so that one day they may walk again."

When obesity is so life threatening, it is really hard for both of us to have people decline our help. I have to do better.

Malaysia

Every plan I have is up in the air except for the fact that I will cross the Thai border into Malaysia on or before August 1, when my Thai Visa will expire. I have a post coming about all of the options and questions I have for this launch into the unknown, and I hope you will see it tomorrow.

Am I really going to another country where I know almost no one, have no destination, and have almost no money? Yes. I am.

Good grief, Sharon.

Money

I don't know what to say about my financial situtation except that it is dire and ridiculous. I am a degreed accountant(!) an MBA, and used to make really good money doing this work. I never actually had any money since I lived in California as a single mom with no child support, but I was paid well and did not feel undervalued. I could always pay my bills even if nothing much was left.

Now I am thrilled to see three of my posts on the @trufflepig list of undervaled posts at steemit! I am on this list a lot, but never three times in one day.

Number 2 Weekend Market MRT Sutthisan Bangkok Thailand Non Food Items (estimated worth of 23 SBD and 184 votes)
Number 9 ULOG 11 Crashing and Burning (estimated worth of 14 SBD and 101 votes)
Number 14: Weight Loss Food Fixes (estimated worth of 9 SBD, 171 votes)

On the one hand, I am so proud to keep making these lists. It tells me that my work here is on the right track. But in another way, I feel like I do when people tell me I am an inspiration for weight loss. Who cares? If you will not work with me to lose weight for yourself, my inspiration means nothing.

When I was The Fat Lady in Accounting, I knew who I was and I felt competent. I tell people that when I lost my weight, I lost everything else. It is time a new life to take hold.

Thank You!

For once in my long list of @trufflepig wins, one of my posts actually got the rewards it was "supposed to" based on the @trufflepig algorithm. As a matter of fact, my ULOG 11 Crashing and Burning post blew through the projection of an estimated worth of 14 SBD and 101 votes, and now stands at $43.97 for the reward and 391 votes!

This thrilling high value is mostly due to large votes by @surpassinggoogle and @canadian-coconut for which I am so humbly grateful. But there are many more good votes on that post from others of you. This gives me so much hope to carry on and I am very grateful to all of you.

Thank you for everything my steemit friends, and anyone else who reads this far. I am committed to staying here and attainingm the success I so need right now.

I am blogging about weight loss to help others get thin and healthy like I did. If you or anyone you know is struggling to beat obesity, please follow along and you can do this too.

Let's Pretend to Lose Weight - Deciding to track your weight and face reality
Yes, You CAN Lose Weight! - Finding out your BMI and getting over excuses
Weight Loss - Let’s Get Started Today - First steps to successful weight loss
Portion Sizes and Nutrition How big is a portion of food?
Weight Loss Bad Ideas Don't try these!
Easy Exercise - Stretching and Walking If you are fitness walking, stretching before and after will help you in many ways.
Weight Loss Food Fixes Start here for some ideas about improving your food.

Help Us Stay on Steemit

If you would like to help my son @bxlphabet and I stay on steemit, but your upvote is just not enough, here are my wallet and PayPal addresses where I will be so grateful for any help. Any input or ideas will be so welcome.

BitcoinCash - BCH

1Bmcyk8Fk9micU3RWjWu3H1P2fvHyj71d6

Bitcoin - BTC

362ncqbi6qJn1daB8mrRrjYYWJ2HwpvcPZ

Dash - DAS

Xs7xdJHeRHRqdwF8RQuo6tPHUdXPm7viZp

Litecoin - LTC

Lhuh274DFkS6CNq4SJjhNem242QYwcTu59

Byteball

6IMJINL2UG3XPT2WJDUGNGBDC4HUCOXL

PayPal Thailand:

[email protected]

PayPal US:

[email protected]