Shortcut

Are you back for more? Alright, let’s get to it.

My lazy Tuesday shopping day. Royal is STILL out of Coke Zero. Three weeks now. I was able to clean out the local 7/11 which will get me through the week, but damn. [My Grammarly app says no comma after week, but I like it that way.]

I’m okay with with the meaning of words, but my grammar and puncuation is subpar. Well, if it weren’t for spell check I’d really be screwed.

After completing my shopping excursion I took an abbreviated nap. Abbreviated because during my slumber the power went out and without a fan blowing on me it didn’t take long to become a sweaty mess. So I decided I may as well take a walk to the vape store on the far side of town. I completed my purchases there, then headed over to Sit-n-Bull for lunch.

The shaved ham sandwich was one of the daily specials. I went with double meat and honey mustard sauce with a side of coleslaw. As usual, it was all quite delicious.

Right about the time I was finishing up my meal a big thunderstorm blew through. Lots of lighting and heavy rain, then the power went out. I sat there for a while waiting for things to calm down, then finally just said fuck it, paid my bill and headed out.

Damn, there was a six-inch deep river flowing where the street used to be. As I was wading my way back to the highway a beggar accosted me for money. I gave him 50 pesos and then he asked for more. WTF? I was not a happy camper to begin with but I let his ingratitude of my generoisty get the better of me. I’m ashamed to admit that I blasted him with some choice curse words. I need to do and be better than that.

So, that’s my day up to this point. Now, about yesterday’s Hash. It was a Günter trail so I was expecting the worst and was prepared to deal with it by shortcutting his trail at the first sign of trouble. The first climb of the day was steep, but not too long. So far, so good. I was on familar terrain and had the new girl Hashers and one other guy with me at the back of the pack. When the trail took a turn down into what appeared to be a creek bed, I said no thanks! The girls were happy to keep it easy, the guy kind of wanted to follow the trail. I told him to go for it, but he didn’t want to do it alone so stayed with us.

My plan at this point was to circle back to the four corners intersection on the My Bitch trail. But before I got to that point I was surprised to see that Günter’s trail was once again crossing our path. It looked sane enough so I opted to follow it and see where it might lead. And it really wasn’t bad at all. Still, when we got back down and his trail began another climb, I wasn’t feeling it. Unfortunately, I no long had a clear idea where I was. I looked for alternatives but finally had to concede that going up as Günter intended was the only option. Again, it wasn’t that bad a climb, and the down, while steep, was manageable. But when he started a THIRD up, I told the group no way I’m doing that. It was vaguely familiar and I knew it was going to suck big time to go that way. I also knew where I needed to go from here (back to my subdivision) but wasn’t exactly clear on how to get there. I led us to one deadend, then retreated and took another path. Eureka! I found the way and we made it back On-Home safely. I’d call that a successful afternoon!

Here’s some pictures from the trail:

The trail as the Hare intended. You can see the Alta Vista subdivision in the lower left. I deviated from Gunter’s trail where the orange line on the far left comes closest to Alta Vista. That was one long ass miserable climb at the end we had the good sense to avoid.
The first up. Steep it was. In one place for every step I took up, I slid back two in the mud. Finally overcame though and made it to the top.
Harder than it looks.
And steeper than it appears. Not sure why my photographs rarely capture the inclines…
It wasn’t so bad up top though.
Except for the ubiquitous thatch grass…
Poor rural living…
…featuring rich vistas…
I did encounter a group of some of my biggest fans. They greeted me with shouts of “Chocolate! Chocolate!” Luckily I had some in my backpack.
I burst out laughing when I saw this. That’s my Hash name on the post. I assumed Gúnter figured I’d never make it that far on his trail. He told me later though that he knows I like to post posts on Facebook…still funny though.

I’m keeping my eye out for low branches these days!
The requisite view of Easter mountain.
After we left Alta Vista and headed to the On-Home venue at Queen Victoria, I chuckled when I saw that we were once again back on the trail the Hare intended us to take.
During the Hash circle, I was recognized for completing my 111th run with the Subic Bay Hash House Harriers. Leech My Pussy was required to assume a deferential position while being honored for her 55 runs. Damn, I’ve got to do something about that beer belly! And just to be clear, that’s sweat on my shorts.
Hanging out with my posse after the circle…

And a good time was had by all!

4 thoughts on “Shortcut

  1. Great pics of the Hash.

    Regarding this:

    “My Grammarly app says no comma after week, but I like it that way.”

    Grammarly has a decent blog/website, but the app sucks. You’re right to put in the comma. Your “but damn” is shorthand for an independent clause (e.g., “I’d never seen her before, but damn she was hot.”) As explained in Lesson 1 of my comma series, using a comma-conjunction to separate two independent clauses is A-OK. It’s required, even.

    As for the sentences with the heteronyms…

    “5. He could lead if he would get the lead out.”

    That’s supposed to be a second-conditional sentence (if-clause in the past tense, main clause in conditional [would] tense), such as “If I were rich, I’d buy a car.” Notice that sentence (5) above has the if-clause in the conditional tense. Wrong! Rewritten:

    “5. He could lead if he got the lead out.”

    If-clause in the past tense, if you please.

    And then there’s number 18:

    “Upon seeing the tear in the painting she shed a tear.

    Something crucial is missing. What is it, and where does it go?

  2. By the way, I thought you were doing a completely different trail from Guenter’s. (When you can’t type a U-umlaut in German, a “ue” is acceptable, with the “e” functioning as a replacement umlaut.) Are you still under his Teutonic thrall despite swearing off his paths?

    Oh, yeah: ALT-0252 is the U-umlaut. Let’s try it:

    Deutschland über alles!

    It works! Ausgezeichnet!

  3. “Upon seeing the tear in the painting she shed a tear.

    Something crucial is missing. What is it, and where does it go?

    Well, you didn’t close the quotation mark. I don’t think that is crucial though. 🙂 I believe the comma that is missing after “painting” is pretty crucial though.

    It is pretty hilarious that an article on the difficulty of English has so many errors.

    I normally wouldn’t even mess with the umlaut but since I accidentally discovered that it happens when I use the quotation mark key without a space I get the umlaut, I figured why not?

    When I saw that Günter was going up the mountain behind my subdivision (as opposed to the big mountain off Rizal Extension) I figured I knew the terrain and would be able to bail as needed. I had never been up the way he chose (and I doubt I’ll go that way again) but I was curious. And the bad part at the end I was able to successfully bypass, so it was a win-win.

  4. re: lack of a close quote

    Ya’ got me. And, yes: the comma’s the thing.

    The German had come for McCrarey, but this was terrain that McCrarey knew well, and the American would use that knowledge to his advantage.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *