I see your point. Even in class, we avoid the tones, as it seems impossible to learn about them without going into advanced studies.
And since you can are at least bilingual, with knowledge of various other languages, I'll accept the fact that you do indeed know what you are talking about.
Anyway, I'm just glad to learn a bit of Thai, and hopefully be able to understand / speak with Thais when necessary. But I to am rather anti-social and definitely a loner, so when I don't wanna speak with anyone, I just retreat to my home, or go to a bar where I'm anonymous.
I'd seen "Learn Thai with Mod" when I was starting to learn. Maybe I'll check her out again, and see if she can help me a bit.