A nice hike yesterday with Scott and Dan. We took a new (for me) way up to Kalaklan ridge (the big mountain) and then meandered around up top before making our way back down by the Great Wall.
The hike up was moderately difficult but long. The weather was comfortable and clear but I still worked up a sopping sweat. Encountered some friendly locals on our journey and found some new smiling faces to be cookie recipients. Does it get any better than that? I’ll post the photos and you decide. (Credit to Scott for a lot of these)
The route we took…As we made our way up the highway we encountered some friends coming from the opposite direction. Kismet indeed! (I just looked up the definition of kismet and I’m probably using it wrong in this context. It wasn’t destiny, but a nice happenstance.)I hope so!The climb begins…You can do it, Scott!Dan getting his rocks on…Scott’s between a rock and a hard place.I’ve got this!Some friendly folks along the way…I didn’t ask but it appears this may be four generations of a family.I crossed this bridge to get to the other side.Dan showing us the way.Are you shitting me, Scott?Yeah, I can bitch and moan about the climb but at least I wasn’t carrying a load of water on my shoulders…Rural living defined. The only access is by foot.Finally at the top. Oh, are you waiting for me?No, a fence. Intended.Horsing around.Mountain kids like cookies too! A panoramic shot from Scott’s camera…Barrio Barretto, Olongapo City, Zambales Province, Luzon Island, Republic of the Philippines.Another view from on high.I will not be cowed!Easter mountain was far away but with the camera zoom maxed she seemed as close as ever.Excuse me, you two are blocking the view.Scott traversing the Great Wall of Barretto.Heading back down, just under the wire.About halfway down we met another friendly mountain family.It must be a hard life, but they seemed like happy folk. What else are you gonna do I suppose.Nice to meet you!A little further down the mountain, we saw an old fashioned bath in a bucket.I know it’s a long post I hope you enjoyed it!
See y’all tomorrow! Well, I won’t see you, but you know what I mean.
Luckily I have some photographs to document the interesting moments that took place. Such as they were.
I played darts in the Alley Cats tourney and drew a strong partner, Billy. We faced off against Cristy and Nancy in the first round. Now, Cristy is probably the best player in Barretto right now and Nancy is a good player, although she can be a tad inconsistent. They royally kicked our ass and sent us to the loser’s bracket. I figured maybe we’d meet them in the finals but a team with an average player with a weak partner beat them. Just goes to show you can never predict the outcome of a darts match. Sometimes your hot, sometimes it’s like you never played the game before.
Anyway, we did meet Cristy and Nancy again in the losers bracket and got our revenge. Then we beat the team that had beat them and made it into the finals. We had to beat Espie and Liza twice to take the championship and that’s just what we did.
Well done, Billy!
My new blender is back from the shop and I came home after darts and gave it a try. Loaded it up with frozen strawberry, mango, ice cream, and milk and let it rip. Those razor blades sliced and diced the contents in almost no time. The damn thing still scares the hell out of me though.
I think I might have mentioned my downstairs neighbor got a videoke (karaoke) machine as a gift. As I feared, loud and off-key singing has been the evening’s treat ever since. Last night I had to sleep with music playing in my headphones to drown out the noise. Well, that’s not gonna fly. Videoke is part of the culture here and the locals play it loud and long. One of the benefits of living in Alta Vista is you tend to be above all that noise, or at least you only hear it from a distance. When I agreed that the caretakers of the property could continue living downstairs, it was just Tony and his wife. Tony is dead now but the wife has had family, including small children, staying over frequently. It’s only a one-room accommodation, not sure how they manage it. So I’m either going to have to be a prick and evict her or move when it is time to renew my lease next month. Or maybe if I ask nicely they’ll knock off the bad singing most nights. We’ll see.
Oh, and my head is still shaking about this one. Apparently, the neighbor’s husband told her that someone told him she was fucking ME for money. What the hell? First of all, I’ve never been physical with the neighbor’s wife at all. I’ve not even heard from her since the day I took her to church last week. But why would I pay to have sex with a 40-something married woman? When I want to pay for sex, I have a couple of 20-something hotties I can call. I’m actually pretty damned offended by the accusation, it seems like defamation at a minimum. Haven’t decided what if anything to do about it. Not even sure who made the allegation, it just got relayed to me third hand through my helper. I am glad I took my reader’s advice and maintained my innocence though. Might be another motivation to move, however.
Somebody’s day started much worse than mine did:
That appears to be across the river on Sawmill Road. I’d reckon that black smoke is indicative of a structure fire.
Via Facebook memories I enjoyed this photo of me and some of my former staff at our Christmas party four years ago:
Ms. Yi, Ms. Choe, and Ms. Song. Part of a great team! Don’t it always seem to go that you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone…
A rather pleasant walk this morning with Scott and Dan. I’ll post about that tomorrow. Now it is time to prepare for another darts tournament. Speaking of darts, Facebook reminded me that eight years ago I wrote the lyrics to a song called “A Hard Darts Night” after a tough tourney loss. And yeah, I stole the tune from the Beatles, sue me!
It’s been a hard darts night And I’ve been throwing like a punk It’s been a hard darts night But at least I’m getting drunk Yet when I get to the line I think I’ll get it right this time But I still miss the out
You know I throw all day To win some money to buy my drinks And when you lose it in the final leg Well the money, it kind of stinks And so I get home and moan ‘Cause I’m to blame alone You know I can’t hit an out
When I practice, everything seems to be fine In the games, I don’t have a clue at the line, yeah, yeah, yeah
It’s been a hard darts night And I’m really having trouble It’s been a hard darts night ‘Cause I can’t hit the f’n double But I’ll be back for some more Because I’m just a darts whore And that makes me feel alright
Yeah, I won’t quit my day job. Oh, wait…
Coincidentally, today marks the 40th anniversary of John Lennon’s murder. RIP.
Yep, it was a fuck up. Something I’ve never seen happen before and hopefully, never will again. The trail wasn’t particularly well-marked but that wasn’t the worst of it. Turns out there were TWO trails, the one the Hares marked on Saturday and a different version they marked on Monday morning. Hey, nothing wrong with changing your mind but here’s a pro tip: erase the marks on the abandoned trail! Yep, you guessed it. The group I was hashing in followed the wrong trail.
It was kinda funny the way it went down. Black and Dick Her, a relatively new Hasher, was out front. We got to an intersection and she turned to the left. We called her back and pointed out that not one, but two trees, were marked with arrows pointing to the right. We teasingly chided her for not paying attention. So we headed off to the right and weren’t seeing many marks, but eventually, we’d find an indication that we were On-Trail. A bit later we encountered Anal Receptive, a very experienced Hasher, coming back towards us saying he had lost the trail. We reassured him we had just seen a trail mark and this trail was the only option, so he joined our group and we trudged on. A good bit later we did find another tree arrow confirming we were indeed on trail. And that was the last one we saw.
Luckily, we all knew where we were and took a trail that led back down to the Columban College area. On the way, we encountered another group of Hashers who had lost the trail and were taking an alternative route back to the On-Home in Alta Vista. We wished them well and continued on, not quite ready to give up yet. As we walked we discussed the best way to go and then we encountered the Hash trail mark heading towards Rizal Extension. Hmm. We all wanted to know just how we had lost the proper trail, so we decided to walk the trail backwards to see where we had gone wrong. That’s what we did and that’s how we found out that Black and Dick Her had been correct when she instinctively turned left. We also photographed the arrows indicating the right turn that we took. We continued to backtrack to the On-Home where the Hares acknowledged the error of their ways.
Anyway, no great tragedy and it did add an element of adventure to our hike. I saw the map of the second half of the trail we didn’t take and I’m not sorry I missed it. Here are some photos from the day, most of them taken by Pubic Head:
We are ON-ON!On the trail. Or are we?I’m not seeing any marks here guys?Pubic Head and Snap-On Jarhead carrying on.Still no marks…what kind of trail is this?Now we are backtracking the trail. See that powder on the tree root? That’s how you are supposed to mark the trail and there should be a mark at every possible intersection.Living in the sticks. She actually knew my name. I’d met her when she was visiting the mountain family on My Bitch trail.I did a post on erections, but get a load of this ‘cock!Some ups and downs along the way.Back to the scene of the “crime”. We followed this arrow……and this one. Whoops! Ah well. Safe and sound at the community center in Alta Vista.The Hares: Bum Burglar and Almoranus. Shooting the shit with the guys…Circle up!The Hares on ice right where they belong.It’s all about perspective I suppose. This Husky LOVES spending time on the ice. Imagine that! Pubic Head did a nice photo collage of Flaming Asshole getting a Hash-style birthday cake…
I wound up getting drunker than normal and went straight home after the Hash. Up earlier than usual since I was in bed before eight. Yeah, no shit, that’s just sad.
But it was nice to see the sun come up from my desk.Inspired me to make a healthy breakfast.If yesterday’s trail was a post, it would look like this one.
How’s that title work for clickbait? No worries, this is not about my erection (I don’t have one) and all of the photos are safe for work.
Another Hash Monday is upon us and with it comes a morning-time post about the events that occurred in my so-called life in those very few hours since my last update. Not much to say about the gin and sodas I enjoyed at Cheap Charlies other than to report that my reduction of beer and bread seems to be working. Down seven pounds now and nine more to go to reach my 195-pound goal.
I also visited the Palm Tree hotel for dinner, which is right next door to Mango’s. I’m afraid my days of being a regular at Mango’s may have come to an end. The big attraction there for me had always been sitting beachside and enjoying the view. But the reopening of the floating island with all its residual impacts has completely blocked the view of the mountains and sunsets.
Yeah, Palm Tree is responsible for this erection but at least their bar is on the second floor allowing me to, ahem, overlook the mess they created.
In other news, some cunt has reported to the government that bars are operating again in Barretto. Technically, bars are prohibited under quarantine rules but restaurants can operate and serve alcoholic beverages along with food. So, the bars in Barretto all became restaurants and life has gotten a little closer to normal. The mayor has called for a meeting with the bar restaurant owners on Tuesday. Hopefully, they won’t be forced to shut down again.
I don’t want to be normal.
As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, I confined my afternoon walking to the neighborhood. I can walk all the streets in about an hour. To make it a little more interesting I took some photos of all the erections I saw along the way. There’s a bit of a housing boom taking place in Alta Vista these days. Several new homes have just been completed and I counted eleven more in various stages of construction during my walk. Even at that, I’d guess less than 20% of the available lots have been built on.
This one is probably 99% completed now. In fact, when I walked past this morning I saw people moving in.This one has a long way to go yet. It’s being built to Western standards though with poured concrete instead of hollow block construction.Another one almost completed now. This is the construction that blocked my access to the My Bitch trail. Lately, I’ve taken to walking along the outside of that fence on the left to reach the trail. Hopefully, I’ll be able to continue to do so once the house is occupied.They were going like gangbusters on this one but I’ve not seen a worker on-site for a couple of weeks now. Maybe the owner has run out of money?This one has been making slow but steady progress for going on a year now. It’s getting there.On the other hand, this house right across the street has not had a nail pounded since the COVID insanity started in March. Don’t know if those two events are related…This one is also getting close after a year’s work. It’s the largest house I’ve seen in Alta Vista and has a million-dollar view. In fact, it takes two photos to give you an idea of the scale…See what I mean? Wow! I can see some great parties on that terrace…This is probably the newest start and they are making good progress…Another gigantic house almost completed. I like the looks of the place but it doesn’t have the great vistas of some of the other houses here.And finally, this will be my new neighbor and is being built by a Hasher–Leech My Nuggets. Welcome to Alta Vista!
Speaking of Alta Vista, today’s Hash will be starting and ending at the community center. My crew will be providing the foodservice once again. I’m contributing a double batch of slow-cooked chili con carne.
Twice the ingredients, twice the goodness? I hope!Frankfurters on fresh buns from Angel’s bakery…Pork kebabs…All at a fair price!
And here’s the secret to great BBQ:
My food is great when you are drunk…
All right, that’s it for now. Got to prepare myself for today’s adventure on the Hash trail. I’ll be back tomorrow with a full report!
Not that it matters, all my days are pretty much the same around here. Well, there’s no darts today but that’s okay. I didn’t feel like playing last night but I wound up doing the tourney anyway. My first instinct proved correct. Oh well.
I’m actually feeling low energy today for some reason. No fever or other physical manifestations. Blood pressure is higher than I like (146/87) but I don’t worry until I break the 150 barrier. I had planned to do the beach walk to the old Navy base and back but then decided I’d just do the streets of Barretto for my 10,000-morning steps.
Came back home still feeling lethargic. Got a message from Nikole the masseuse saying she was in town. I told her I wasn’t feeling well. She said she could make me feel good. I declined which is probably the best evidence of my mood today. I took a good nap and feel a little better now. Will probably stick to the neighborhood for my afternoon walk though.
So this is a nothing day and nothing post, even by my low standards. Here’s a couple of photos from Friday’s walk I never got around to posting to tide you over.
I never tire of the bay views……and the valley views are pleasing as well.A flowery vine-covered shack was visually appealing.And my favorite from the hike. It almost feels like a metaphor for my life, but I can’t explain why.I guess that’s enough selfie reflection for one post.
It will get better. It always does.
In the park I saw a daddy With a laughin’ little girl who he was swinging And I stopped beside a Sunday school And listened to the song that they were singing Then I headed back for home And somewhere far away a lonely bell was ringing And it echoed through the canyons Like the disappearing dreams of yesterday
On the Sunday morning sidewalk Wishing, Lord, that I was stoned ‘Cause there’s something in a Sunday Makes a body feel alone And there’s nothin’ short of dyin’ Half as lonesome as the sound On the sleepin’ city sidewalks Sunday morning coming down
I’m not a believer so I don’t really believe that. It’s probably just sheer coincidence. Still, it makes you think.
The first incident took place 43 years ago in 1977. I was a mailman in Anaheim, California at the time. I doubt if I ever would have even thought of the event if something I read on Quora hadn’t yanked me back in time to that fateful day. Here is the question that was posed:
I wasn’t the boss but had it happen to me. Back when I was a letter carrier with the USPS we had to “bid” on vacation dates based on seniority. Only a certain percentage of employees were allowed to be off at any given time. Anyway, I had the first week in June and another guy had the second week. A few days after the bidding was over, the other carrier came to me and said his plans had changed and would I mind switching with him. I didn’t have anything going on that week so I said sure, let’s clear it with the boss. So we approached the supervisor and told him what we wanted to do. He replied, no problem and instructed us both to fill out a leave form canceling the approved time off and then fill out another form requesting the new dates. And so we did just that.
Once he had our cancellation forms he took our names off the board showing approved leave. And then he DENIED our new leave requests saying another carrier was on extended leave and so the maximum number of carriers was already off. In other words, both of us lost our planned leave. He was gleeful as he told us and it was obvious he had suckered us into canceling our prior approved leave.
So, all these years later I just want to say thank you, Mr. Frank Nathan. Your actions that day caused me to join the union and later become a shop steward and eventually the president of the local union branch. My work with the union impressed the HR Director and she promoted me into my first management job. I had over 35 years of government service when I retired as a GS-15 Human Resources Director and I’m now living a happy life on my pension in the Philippines.
I honestly never really thought about how that incident may have played a role in changing my life. I recall being very pissed at the time and talking to my union steward about it. He agreed that the supervisor was being an asshole but he was also technically within his rights to deny our leave requests after we had canceled the previously approved leave. It was a lesson learned and one that helped me become a better leader. I’m sure you are long dead by now Mr. Nathan but you are proof of the old saying that no man is totally worthless–he can always serve as a bad example.
And then there was the thing that happened this morning. My neighbor’s wife had asked if she could join me on one of my hikes. Well, I’ve been following the advice of my commenters to the post linked above and maintaining my distance from “Judy”. But it’s nice to have company when I’m walking and really, it’s an innocent thing so I figured no big deal. We had agreed on Sunday but she sent a message saying she needed to go to church on Sunday and asked to join me today. Fine, let’s go. She wanted to meet up the road a piece, I guess so her hubby wouldn’t see us walking together. Anyway, we met up and set out. I took her out the back way from Alta Vista and then down through Marian Hills. We had to avoid some dogs and do some puddle jumping but she was a good sport about it. She really was surprised seeing some of the sights that have become old hat to me, so that was pleasant. I thought she might get tired out early on but she was a good trooper.
As we walked, we talked of course. She said her husband hasn’t been feeling well so this walk was a break for her. She told me of her efforts to gain legal status in her husband’s home country of Switzerland that has been stymied by the logistical restrictions due to COVID. Then she talked about her church. She told me she had resided in the church for several years serving as a missionary. They would go on missions to convert Catholics to the true “born again” faith. As she went on and on I asked if she were trying to evangelize me. She laughed but didn’t deny it. I asked where her church was located and she told me Olongapo City. She mentioned the name but the only part that stood out was “4th Watch”. I didn’t recall hearing that before, but it was still vaguely familiar.
About an hour and a half into our walk, along a route I take on a regular basis, we turned a corner and I saw this sign:
Over the course of several months I had observed this church being constructed but otherwise paid it no heed. But that was where I had seen that “4th Watch” term.
When I pointed it out to “Judy” she was both shocked and excited. She had no idea a branch of her faith was out here in the sticks of San Isidro. Of course, she wanted to go in and have a look-see. And this is where it got a little weird. Everyone in the building appeared to know her! They beckoned me inside and I reluctantly entered so as not to appear rude. Then we got invited into the parsonage where Judy engaged in banter with an older woman and I accepted a chair offered by a cute young woman. And then the “bishop” came in and we exchanged introductions and some small talk. The usual where are you from, are you a believer type talk (my standard response is I raised in the Pentecostal faith) you’d expect in this situation. They did comment on my Biblical name, so I dutifully recounted John 3:16 from memory. They all seemed quite impressed. Anyway, it wasn’t unpleasant and they all seemed warm and welcoming like any good Christian should be.
It was all news to “Judy” that the Olongapo church was now closed and all these people she knew from there were assigned to this new mission building. I was invited to join them for Sunday services and I was non-committal, but of course, that’s not going to happen. Not sure if “Judy” is going to make it, but it’s an easy trike ride from here. She also took pictures with me and the Bishop which made me a little uncomfortable. I asked her after we departed how she was going to explain my being there with her. She already had told them the “truth”–I was a neighbor and a friend who had graciously shown her the way to the new church building which I had discovered on my many walks through the area. Okay then.
Anyway, for the remainder of the walk, it was all about “God’s plan” and how He had used me to guide her to the new church. I finally had to make it abundantly clear that I did not now, nor would I ever, be sharing in her religious beliefs. Things got a little quiet after that. As we neared the highway, a trike driver offered a ride. I declined, she accepted. So I walked the rest of the way home alone and haven’t heard from her since. Perhaps I never will again. That would I guess be God’s will.
Although I was now walking alone, I did encounter this cutie walking in front of me:
I wasn’t sure if her shirt was yet another message from God.
And oh yeah, as I was entering my neighborhood I met “Judy’s” husband as he was walking out. We exchanged nods in greeting. It was a weird end to a rather bizarre hike.
Okay, well that never happened to me. Although Se Hwa did break up with me by email. Ah, memories!
But this DID happen to me yesterday:
Final score: Billy wins 9-7
I started out on fire, leading at one point 6-2. And then the wheels came off. Went into the final leg tied at 7 and the match on the line and couldn’t pull it out. Very disappointing. Be careful what you ask for I suppose. I was striving for consistency. I was consistently good in the beginning and consistently sucked in the end. And no, I was not suffering from alcohol-related hand/eye coordination issues; I intentionally limited my beer intake during the match. I think my performance issues are mostly in my head–I need better focus and concentration. Anyway, I’ll keep working on it. At least I lost to a very good player who was throwing excellent darts throughout the match.
Ah, well. Life goes on. And there is more to life than darts. Like taking the dogs out for a walk and a pee.
Not sure why that toilet was there, maybe somehow related to the house being constructed next door.
Over on the Subic Hash Facebook page, Pubic Head posted photos from run #1276, which was held on January 1, 2018. That’s an important date in history because it was my first ever Hash experience. Yep, I lost my virginity that day. Here are a few photos from that event:
All loaded up and ready to roll with my first ride in the Hashmobile. Gem was with me for my last visit to Barretto before making the move. I enjoyed her company but sadly she turned out to be a liar and a scammer. Another hard lesson for me.My first Hash trail. Sure could have used my trekking pole that day!My first Hash circle.The deflowering ritual.Drink it down down down down…
And now I have 121 runs completed with the Subic Bay Hash House Harriers. Glad I joined!
After my disappointing darts performance yesterday, I came home and made dinner. Roast chicken, pumpkin soup, cauliflower, garlic bread, and fruit salad! It was all good. Or I was drunk. Or both.
I’m no Richard, but sometimes I can be a dick:
Bada Bing!
And as long as I’m on a roll, how about this:
Alright, I’ll stop for now. Planning to throw in the dart tourney at Alley Cats tonight. Yes, I said tonight. They have finally changed the start time to a more reasonable 5:00 p.m. in recognition of the new midnight curfew. That works so much better for me.
Here’s the latest installment of happenings in my so-called life. Sorry if you have heard it all before. I spend my hours engaging in activities that revolve around my walkaholism and alcoholism, and lately, I’ve been working on becoming a dartaholic. Take yesterday for example:
Walking: Hooked up with the Wednesday Walkers group for a pleasant enough 6K hike, a goodly portion of which took place on the My Bitch trail. We were doing some preliminary scouting for next week’s Hash trail that one of our group members will Hare. I’m not real keen on this activity, notwithstanding its necessity. Scouting is like exploring in the sense that you are never sure what you are getting yourself into until it is too late to do anything about it. We found a new way up the mountain (I wouldn’t call it a path as that would be disrespectful to the true paths that people actually trod), but if indeed that is part of Monday’s Hash I’ll be taking an alternative route.
Making like Lewis and Clark on Wednesday’s walk. I’ll throw up some more pictures later in this post.
Darting: I won my singles league match 11-5 but it was much closer than the final score might indicate. I was surprised at how well my opponent who is relatively new to the game played. Every leg was hard-fought and could have gone either way. Nina actually won the 501 set by a 3-2 score and I won both the cricket and 301 sets 4-1. I prefer cricket because it requires both more skill (fewer lucky shots) and involves some strategy and gamesmanship. I was impressed that Nina picked up on my pointing methods and started incorporating them into her play. The real purpose of the singles league is to help folks improve their game. Nina is going to be a very skillful player by the end of the season. I’m happy about that.
The scoresheet from our match. I was a bit more consistent which is one of my goals. I was also happy that I was hitting the bullseye with some regularity. I’ve got a long way to go to get back to being the player I once was though.
Drinking: After my match, I headed over to Cheap Charlies for some more beer and vittles. Had the beef stew from Foodies downstairs delivered and bought a new bargirl a couple of lady drinks. As I watched the world pass by outside I had to shake my head at one of the remaining vestiges of stupidity being enforced in the Holy name of COVID.
There is a checkpoint on the highway right after you cross the bridge to Subic town. I have no idea what the purpose is. I walk through all the time and never get questioned. The few times I’ve gone in a vehicle we just say a random destination like “Waltermart” and get waved through. But the result of this idiocy is a traffic jam that backs up all the way through Barretto.
Here’s how it looked last night. The actual checkpoint is about 2K down the highway. And the traffic was backed up as far as I could see in the other direction too.
The worst part is that it makes it incredibly dangerous to be a pedestrian. If you are foolhardy enough to walk on the side of the road that has the traffic backup you’ll be dodging jeepneys, trikes, and scooters the whole way as they use the shoulder to try and bypass the stopped cars. I usually do the other side of the highway but even there, scooters and trikes drive on the shoulder in the WRONG direction to avoid the traffic jam. It’s really disconcerting to have these guys coming up from behind with no warning a whizzing past you.
The mess these idiots have created is far worse than the virus they are allegedly trying to prevent. Certainly more dangerous. Okay, rant over.
I got home around 7 and almost immediately the power went out. I sat around in candlelight for a while then said fuck it and headed up to bed. It gets damned uncomfortable without even a fan to move the air around. I was still tossing and turning and sweating when the power was restored.
And that was my day. Yesterday was also a special anniversary:
The day I broke the 50,000 step barrier. I don’t expect I’ll ever do that again.The face you make when you take that step that puts your right on 50,000.
Alright, here’s a few shots from yesterday’s walk:
My fellow travelers: Scott, Dan, Troy, and Jim.This is like the stump that tripped me up and cut me up on Monday’s Hash. Sneaky bastards!The rarely seen egg tree.Somebody’s Home Sweet Home.And as always, Easter mountain was keeping a watch over us.
That’s all for today. I have another singles league match to play today. My opponent is a much stronger and experienced player so I expect I’ll have a real battle on my hands.
Well, one of my helpers still has the ol’ Christmas spirit:
The house is lit up like a Christmas tree…And the gnomes that live out front year-round have magically transformed into elves…Buddy and Lucky are wondering what kind of madness this is.
But of course, Jesus is the reason for the season:
I felt driven to say that.
Anyway, whatever your beliefs, here’s hoping we can all…
…Cum Together.
First out in the dart tourney yesterday, and the way I threw I deserved it. I have a singles league match this afternoon and hope I play better. My darts of late have been akin to a roller coaster ride.
Now it is time for my Wednesday Walkers hike. See you on the other side!
It pains me to say this but yesterday’s Hash proved to be, well, interesting. And not necessarily in a good way.
Things took a turn for the unexpected when I arrived at the meet-up location only to be told that a large group had already departed. I checked my watch and it was only 11:40. The run was supposed to begin at noon. What got my goat though was that the group of female Hashers I “sponsor” (pay their $7.00 entry fee) had left without me. I’m not sure why that bothered me so much, I guess it just made me feel like a chump. So I started the trail in a foul mood.
I can’t say that my state of mind was a contributing factor, but early in the climb up Black Rock mountain I somehow got distracted and tripped over a stump in the trail. The resulting loss of balance caused me to fall over sideways and onto another tree stump. My pride was hurt as much as anything, but I did spill some blood on the trail.
The scratch was long and deep, but it cleaned up just fine.In addition to earning some time on the ice for my crime, I’ve earned another one of these badges.
I was still pissed when I arrived at the On-Home venue and made it clear that I wouldn’t be paying sponsor fees in the future Yeah, I can be an asshole like that at times. One of the girls left in tears. It was probably as much a matter of misinformation as bad intent I suppose. I’m over it now. Mostly.
Anyway, here are some pictures from Subic Bay Hash Run #1421. As usual, I pulled these off our Facebook page so not all of them are mine. Credit where it is due and all that.
A high-flying birds-eye view of the trail. Easy to spot the Black Rock climb.And it’s On-On!And On-Up!The steps at the beginning of the climb were tall and uneven making it all the more challenging.That’s more like it!A little rock climbing along the way.Some eye candy to enjoy…A bay view from on high.This tree caught my eye.Almost to the top!Not sure if you can make it out in this photo, but those houses in the center on the far side of the valley are in the Alta Vista subdivision where I reside.A Filipina in the wild. Probably the most dangerous thing encountered on trail. I like it!The view is great from here.Black Rocks Matter!Getting down was a whole other kind of challenge…Luckily the rocks were not particularly slippery. Wouldn’t want to do this descent in the rain though.There are only two ways down…this one or the quick one. The quick one won’t kill you, but the sudden stop at the bottom might!And what would a Hash post be without the obligatory photo of Easter mountain?
I skipped the last portion of the trail and took the highway. Just didn’t have another climb in my tired old body. Plus, I had lost a lot of blood. Yeah, that’s my story! Actually, I did hear that one of the Hashers had to go to the hospital for stitches after taking a fall coming down Black Rock. I guess I got nothing to complain about.
