While those in Thailand are finishing off the official Songkran holiday (today, the third day of Songkran is New Year’s Day), Americans are celebrating an event equally as wet, though in our case it’s from all the tears being shed as tax filers realize just how much of their money the government says they owe. Today is tax day in the U.S. and procrastinators are busy trying to come up with creative deductions while rushing to beat the filing deadline. It’s a somber day in the U.S.; if the government cared about the mood of the people it’d be flying the flag at half mast.

Usually I celebrate any special day with an eye candy post. Accountants are never sexy and the IRS has never gotten anyone hard. That seemed to mean there was only one other way to go, but then photos of dead people – even if they were once breathing hunks of hot Asian male flesh – just didn’t seem right. Besides, there’s already a blog for those into sick and dying people if that’s your thing. Which, considering the recent spat of gay Thailand message board threads devoted to the art of dying, should be a much more popular corner of the internet.

That the average age of poster on the boards is ancient is no surprise. That so many gay men over the age of 50 spend so much time thinking about, talking about, and preparing for death is. As the scales in my life tip to the ‘time is running out’ side, rather than take a defeatist attitude I tend to think of all the things I still want to accomplish. And all the guys I still want to do. I’m too busy enjoying life to deal with death. Taxes are, as they say, one of the two constants in life. Short of going off the grid you just have to deal with them. Or hire an accountant to shoulder that burden on your behalf. Death, on the other hand, is not something you have to prepare for. It’ll happen to you someday whether you acknowledge its existence or not. It’s one of the few things in life that is best approached by channeling Scarlett O’Hara.

Maybe the preoccupation with death is just a mind-set of sexpats, though a lot of posters who have orgasms in Thailand instead of living there chimed in on those threads too (discussions, which btw, are still active. I love the irony of threads about dying being the most lively subject on the boards these days). Still, the rumors that large portions of Sunee Plaza will soon be torn down to make way for high-rise buildings does then begin to make sense. Provided those buildings all have handy balconies.

LMTU’s impending death – which may or may not be greatly exaggerated – is a popular thread across the boards, finally bringing him the degree of popularity he has always craved. At least two board owners are busy preparing for the end of their mortal coil, and sharing the details with their membership. Sickness, illness, and those whose future is now in the past have all become topics of great interest. And the brain trust over at Baht Stop is trading tips on the best way to kill yourself. Even if that is a discussion that’s a decade too late. That little nugget would have escaped my attention, if not for one member of the gene pool having posted a How To video. I dunno, but maybe when you start watching videos on how to knock yourself off instead of gay porn, you are in fact on the right track.

Which brings me back to my original dilemma: suitable eye candy to celebrate the day. According to the clown car at Baht Stop, overdosing on helium gas is the best way to go. And even though I fear they have not yet stopped to consider the festive occasions that brings to mind – which may be just a bit too appropriate considering the source – their handy suicide tip did serve as muse for today’s eye candy post. And for that I thank them.

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