razor55red

That sounds fantastic.

I know there's a book board, but I think this fits here better. Just finished "Music From Big Pink", from John Niven. Excellent portait of the rise of The Band and the period when they were all living in Woodstock along with Bob Dylan and a host of others. It's told from the perspective of a fictional drug dealer and is a super snapshot of the era. I remember - and miss - those times, but was too young to really appreciate it (born in '59). Great read, as are the rest of Niven's books. Check it out.

Thanks for saying that much better than I could. The only worry here is having to go through some exhausting bureaucratic procedure to prove no taxes were owed or facing fines and/or some kind of sanctions. We're all retired now and don't need the headache. I think my friend will just take his chances on staying under the radar. As far as I know, no other country requires this of their citizens living/working abroad. I read a while ago there was a wave of expats in Europe giving up their citizenship because of the time and expense of fulfilling this requirement.

I appreciate your input, thanks.

A friend has lived overseas going on 40 years now. He filed once, in his first year, because he worked for the Army as a civilian a few months. Since then he's worked on the local economy and was unaware he was required to file. Now he wants to draw Social Security; he worked some years in the U.S. before moving to Europe. Now it seems Social Security will inform the IRS of his Social Security income. Are the gates of Hell going to open up on this guy when the IRS sees this info after hearing nothing from him for almost 40 years? He's really worried, and I know there are specialized tax firms for expats that he could contact, but we think we know what they'll say, something like "We can take care of that for you for a hefty fee."...

If anyone here has any experience in this, I would really, really appreciate some information about what to expect. Are red lights going to flash, alerting them to come after this guy? Thanks a million in advance.

I used to teach English here in Catholic Bavaria. One of my students worked in a nearby diocese. She told me a story: Many priests here live in a parsonage (sp?) and have a housekeeper. These housekeepers sometimes get pregnant. The department in the diocese, where my student worked, was responsible for the financial support of the results of these pregnancies. As long as the mother kept quiet about the identity of the father, the support continued. If she ever publically revealed that the father was a priest, the support was discontinued.

Now I'm not indicting the Catholic Church, or religion in general, at all. After all, religions are made up of people, who aren't perfect. There are often reports in Thailand of monks involved in sex, money, gambling, alcohol, and drug scandals. Anything else would surprise me greatly.

I'm truly sorry about what happened to your friend and glad you got out unscathed. I was raised in a boring Methodist church and never heard anything of this nature, but I'm sure it exists in any denomination.

I was about to say exactly this. All Quiet... was amazing.

That fits the bill. I lived in Dallas during my reggae phase. Not long afterward I got to see Black Uhuru at the Paradiso in Amsterdam; unfortunately Sly and Robbie weren't with the band.

"Incredible Journey" from Disney was a film from 1963 featuring 2 dogs and a cat in this exact scenario. I remember watching that in the theater as a child.

I saw their writing desk at Expo 2000 in Hannover. It was pretty awe-inspiring.

Saving Grace
Her husband dies, leaving a mountain of debt. An expert gardner, she turns to growing weed to get out of debt. Craig Ferguson in an early role. Funny as hell and recommended.

But Up in Smoke has to be number one, if for only nostalgic reasons. We smoked so much weed at the midnight showings of that movie. Back when we were free...