Sending out an SOS


“A man is not old until regrets take the place of dreams.”

John Barrymore

“I dream of having no regrets”

John McCrarey

Sorry if I’ve used those quotes before. According to Facebook, I posted the Barrymore line five years ago. Eh, either way, it’s as true now as it ever was.

I’m not complaining about my lot in life though. Why should I? Here’s a glimpse into the 24 hours preceding this post. I report, you decide.

I started my Saturday evening by dining at one of my regular eateries, Sit-n-Bull. I ordered up one of my favorites, the large size pulled pork sandwich with a side of coleslaw, and I wasn’t disappointed. The owner, Ron, has some specials going on for the month of January–free refills on coffee (unheard of in these parts) and beers for 50 pesos. That’s the lowest price in town for beer, even Cheap Charlies has raised the price to 60 pesos.

After my meal and a couple of beers, I headed up the street to see what was happening at BarCelona. They had a decent crowd and at least one big spender was plying the staff with lady drinks. The gals were all happy of course and a few of them were drunk and loud. It was a little irritating though and the service was slow. I went out to sit on the rooftop as is my custom, but it was really breezy and chilly enough to be uncomfortable, so I moved back inside and sat at the bar.

I did get this sunset shot while I was out on the roof. That’s the ghost of the Central Park Reef hotel, still closed since the beginning of this pandemic nonsense.

One beer at BarCelona then I moved on up the highway to my beachside seat at Mangos. Quite a few customers there and judging by the parking lot, ICove hotel next door was packed again for the weekend. Almost exclusively Filipinos which seems to be the new normal. I had a few beers then headed on home. Played around on the internet some and was in bed by 9:00. On a Saturday night!

Early to bed and early to rise and all that. Up at 4:30 to catch up on the news of the world. It ain’t pretty. I’m increasingly concerned that we will either capitulate to China or there will be war. Xi’s threats against Taiwan are especially concerning. Of course, Biden is China’s bitch, bought and paid for, but it’s no sure thing when you are playing with fire. My guess is that President Duterte would side with China–he already jokes about the Philippines being a Chinese province. In the event of war, as an American living here, I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t be pretty for me. Especially if China sent their Navy to take Subic Bay. Anyway, it’s in my mind but I honestly don’t lose sleep over it. It’s beyond my ability to control, so why worry overmuch?

After the dog walk, I headed out to Baloy Beach for breakfast. Visited Blue Rock, the hotel I often stayed in as a tourist. Hadn’t been there since before the lockdown. Once again, all the hotels I passed seemed to be incredibly busy, at least judging by the parking lots. Even Mangrove, one of the most expensive resorts was packed. And the beach was full of Sunday morning revelry and the partiers were almost exclusively Filipino. I judge that to be a good thing since it appears increasingly likely that tourists aren’t going to be allowed back here anytime soon. I also like the fact that the locals are giving their government a big “fuck you, we are sick of this bullshit”. Actions speak louder than words sometimes.

My breakfast view of the beach.
And the view of my breakfast at the beach. It tasted fine, but they sure did skimp on the gravy, didn’t they?

On the menu, it was listed as S.O.S. I asked my waitress if she could tell me what that stood for and she said she didn’t know. I didn’t want to talk shit to her so I didn’t tell her.

After breakfast, I took a longish walk up the National Highway, about 45 minutes up, then back again. It’s not my favorite walk for obvious reasons but I had made a big ATM withdrawal (gotta pay the help tomorrow) and I was uncomfortable walking the backstreets with a pocketful of money. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve never felt threatened here at all, but why take unnecessary chances?

A sucky highway view.

Back home, a little more internet, some work on the dart league stats, a bit of solitaire, a nap, and here I am closing the loop with you, my faithful readers.

Alright, confession time. I honestly try to avoid engaging in political debates as I think it is pointless. Still, these past few days I’ve not been able to resist triggering my lefty friends by posting the kind of memes that I saw directed at Trump and right-thinking people like me these past few years. And it is so easy too! The hypocrisy on the left still astounds me and their only defense seems to be “whataboutisms”. It’s just so obvious to point out if it was bad when Trump did it, it is bad when Biden does. *crickets*

Anyway, here are a couple of my recent grenades:

I recall regular Joes being fired for making an “OK” sign in a non-racial context. No, I don’t think the Biden press secretary is a white supremacist. But neither were the other guys. Just more othering bullshit from the left. Have a taste of your own fucking medicine.
As Glenn Reynolds likes to say “I’ll believe climate change is an emergency when the people who say it’s an emergency start acting like it’s an emergency.”
And canceling the Keystone pipeline is going to really help alleviate global warming. NOT!

And finally, there is this which nicely illustrates why any effort to engage the left in a meaningful way is pretty much a waste of time.

Truth is, they prefer shit. Especially stirring it up. So, forgive me for throwing some shit back at them now and again. It’s all in fun, I know it won’t make a bit of difference.

Thank you for your indulgence. We’ll get back to normal around here soon. Promise!

The way it went

Today we look back on yesterday as we look forward to a better tomorrow. Hmm, kind of a play on that old saying: “Today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday”.

So, the dart league meeting. I arrived on time at the appointed hour. I didn’t do a headcount, but it appeared almost everyone was there already. I was still feeling ambivalent about the whole affair. Which is good, because whatever the outcome, I figured I’d be okay with it.

Since no one appeared prepared to take the lead, I kicked it off by saying I had no agenda but would be happy to answer any questions about what had happened and the way ahead. Espie, the newly added player, kicked things off by saying she was looking forward to playing and she hoped she would be accepted. She said it had hurt her feelings that other players were blaming her for the controversy. That prompted me to explain again how it came about that Espie was the one I chose as a replacement (she had tried to sign up prior to the start but I already had my twelve players, so I put her on the waiting list). I also reiterated that I had placed Espie in the top division because that is where she belongs. Mark then chimed in by telling the group that I had contacted him prior to placing Espie and asked if he’d be willing to drop down to the lower division and that he had readily agreed.

So, we still had a vacancy to fill. I had resigned as a player so that Espie could take my place, thereby diffusing the controversy of her placement in the upper-division. One name was brought up as being similar talent-wise as the guy who had quit. I pointed out that the vacancy was actually in the top division now since Mark had dropped down to the lower. I suggested that Mark could move back up or another good player like Gerlie could be recruited to play. At this point, Billy asked if I would be willing to rejoin. I told her I had no real desire to do so. Then she said that if I quit she was quitting. A couple of other players joined her in this stance, and suddenly all eyes were upon me. And so I caved and agreed to play out the season.

And that was pretty much it. One other player made a comment that he believed I’d misunderstood the concerns raised regarding Espie as a personal attack on my integrity. He assured me that wasn’t the intent. I accepted that explanation and conceded that perhaps I had overreacted.

The meeting adjourned, the regularly scheduled dart tournament commenced, and I participated. Finished third against strong competition in hard-fought and well-played matches. It was pretty enjoyable all-in-all.

The other news from yesterday concerns the Friday walking group. I led the pack on an 8K hike around the valley, through the Naugsol barangay, then back to my house for lunch. It was nice and mostly flat, although we had to do a bit of trailblazing at one point to detour around the still flooded rice paddies. You can Relive the adventure here:

https://www.relive.cc/view/vwq1w1wGYBO

A few photos from the trek:

Heading out with my fellow hikers Troy, Jim, and Scott.
On the trail we are.
Movin’ on out…
Coming down from as up as it got.
Making a trail where there ain’t one…
Easter mountain shows off her backside…
Of course, there were cookies for the kiddies along the way…
The smiles are sweeter than the cookies though.
Down in the valley, the valley so low…
We did have a river crossing, such as it was.
Wet from water is better than the mud of a rice paddy any day!
The long road home…
And the final push back up into Alta Vista.
When my fellow hikers rag on me for being so slow, I remind them that there are often advantages to small steps…

In unrelated news, I found this photo to be quite humorous:

Watching me, the porn, or both?

Not as funny as this one though:

Yep, we are fixin’ to get screwed good and hard.
Sorry this post is so lean. I couldn’t access Scott’s photos for some reason.

That’s it for now. Thanks for stopping by!

Give a little bit…

…even when it’s all you’ve got. Nothing much to offer up here today in the way of a post, but what I’ve got I’ll give to you!

Need to head out in about an hour to the singles dart league meeting. No idea what to expect from that. I’ll be fine with however it plays out. Que sera, sera, and all that.

Nice 8.5K walk this morning with the Friday group, I’ll update on that tomorrow. In the meantime, you can Relive my solitary hike from yesterday that I forgot to post if you want.

https://www.relive.cc/view/v7O9VQN8NL6

Last night it was beers at Cheap Charlies and pork chops at Mangos. And that was my Thursday.

Well, I did have the odd experience of looking out the window here at the house and seeing a snow-covered mountain in the distance.

At least it looked like snow to me. Reliable sources advise that the mountain has been cleared of trees to make way for a new subdivision. I guess that will be an ultra Alta Vista.

I promise I’m not going to do this every day, but damn, the internet is chock full of Biden memes these days.

Truthfully though, I have caught the girls here (legal age of course!) checking out the bulge in my pants. The one my wallet makes…

Yeah, I told you I had nothin’. I’ll do better tomorrow.

Seek and ye shall find

So it is written and so it must be.

The Wednesday Walkers, three of whom will be the Hares next week, made it our mission to scout ahead for Monday’s Hash trail. Scott took the lead as he already had an idea in mind. The result was a relatively short 5K hike but with two moderate climbs. The beginning and end portions of the trail haven’t been Hashed for quite some time and they bookend the familiar My Bitch route. We might look for an opportunity to extend the distance a tad when we mark the trail on Monday morning but honestly, I’m happy with it as is. I think it will prove to be more challenging than folks are expecting from us old-timers.

You can Relive the highlights here:

https://www.relive.cc/view/vMv8QeZ2eNO

Here are some photos from the hike:

Our journey as seen from on high.
This week’s iteration of the Wednesday WAlkers pausing for a rest at the famous 4 Corners intersection on the My Bitch trail. L-R: Gary, Gina, Scott, Jim, and Troy.
“Well, if it ain’t locked it means we are welcome to come in!”
Thanks for joining us, Jim…
The first up.
We are only halfway, Gina. This hill ain’t gonna climb itself!
The view from the top. Anything look familiar?
Back on flat ground for a brief interlude…
And then it’s our second climb of the day…
Now what?
Chatting up the locals.
It seems every time I want to pat myself on the back for completing a hard climb, I see something like this. Geez.
The view from our second top.

I’m sure you’ll agree this may be the best trail ever in Hash history. Or at least next week.

Let me do a quick detour into the realm of politics and religion.

I lifted this from Kevin Kim’s blog and posted it on Facebook. I figured it would ignite a shitstorm and it was an even bigger one than I expected. I was fighting back against the ignorance of my ex-wife #3 and my daughter parried the liberal dogma of her mother (ex-wife #1) like a champ. Was so proud of her.
And then there is this. Xi’s bitch indeed!

As for religion, well, I’ve been worshipping every night!

I’ll drink to that!

That’s about all for now. I’ve agreed to participate in a Singles League meeting tomorrow afternoon. Should be interesting.

I hope this post isn’t too short…

Stick a fork in me


In the desert
I saw a creature, naked, bestial,
Who, squatting upon the ground,
Held his heart in his hands,
And ate of it.
I said, “Is it good, friend?”
“It is bitter—bitter,” he answered;
“But I like it
“Because it is bitter,
“And because it is my heart.”

Stephan Crane

A challenging night of darts last night. I teamed up with Billy, one of the top players, but we both struggled early on. Kevin and Troy, a solid team but one we should have beaten, knocked us into the losers bracket. We fought our way back against some other tough opponents, before meeting Kevin and Troy again in the semi-finals. This time we managed to secure a victory setting us up for a showdown with Cristy and Gerlie for the championship. Cristy is currently the strongest darter in Barretto and Gerlie is no slouch. We had our work cut out for us and almost miraculously I finally started throwing some decent darts. We needed them to play it out all the way to the final leg of the second match. And we won!

It was a great finish and perhaps my last hurrah.

During the evening some of the dreaded darts drama reared its ugly head. Nothing related to the tourney, rather some people were complaining about a decision I made regarding the singles league. I’d been drinking of course which does reduce my ability to tolerate bullshit so I might have overreacted a bit. But I take personal attacks, well, personally. And when someone doesn’t like something I’ve done, I’m fine with agreeing to disagree. It’s over the line though to accuse me of being “unfair” when the decision I made was predicated on fairness.

In a nutshell, here’s what happened: A player quit midway through the season, which is a chickenshit thing to do to begin with. So, I needed a replacement and offered the spot to Espie who I promised could have the next opening. Now, the guy who quit was ranked last in the league. Espie is a very solid player, certainly capable of holding her own in the top tier. I was in the process of splitting our 12 players into two divisions and placed Espie in the higher group. It seemed to me that letting her play in the lower division which she would likely dominate wouldn’t be fair to that group. I did reach out to the 6th ranked player and asked if he was willing to play in the lower division rather than the spot he had earned in the top division. He readily agreed. And so it was done. And several players proceeded to attack me and my decision. I went home pissed, slept it off, woke at 2:00 a.m. unable to go back to sleep thinking about it so I posted this on our league Facebook page:


AN ANNOUNCEMENT
As most of you know, we had a player quit the league at the end of Round 1. The league format works best with an even number of players so I needed a replacement. Espie had asked to join the league at the beginning of the season but I already had 12 players. I told her she would be at the top of the waiting list. For this reason, I invited her to join the league for Round 2 Divisional play.

The player who quit finished last in Round 1. As you know, Espie is a very strong player. In my opinion, she would have an unfair advantage playing in the lower division. I asked the player who finished 6th in Round 1 and qualified for the upper division if he would object to playing in the lower division. He told me he did not have a problem with that. So I thought we were set and made the schedule and spreadsheets for Round 2 with Espie in the top division.

I have now heard from several of you that my decision to do so was unfair. I admit I was shocked to hear this. The whole purpose of Round 1 was to establish competitive divisions based on a player’s performance during Round 1. In my opinion, Espie is a much stronger player than the one who quit and belongs in the upper tier. If I’m wrong about that it is unfair to Espie, not the other players in the league. Again, to allow a stronger player to dominant the lower division is unfair to those players in my view.

I first founded this singles league format over 10 years ago. I have run the league in the USA and Korea. In Seoul, we had four divisions and 32 players. The intent of the league has always been to have fun in a competitive environment while improving our darting skills. This is the first time I’ve ever been accused of being unfair.

Therefore, I am resigning from the league. Espie can replace me which should be “fair” to everyone. I will leave it to the players to find a replacement for the vacancy in the Champs division.

I will continue to update the stats for the remainder of the season unless there is an objection to my doing so.

Good luck and shoot well.

You know, running a league is a pain in the ass under the best circumstances. I had avoided starting one after my move here because I didn’t want the headaches and hassles. But I know it really helps people improve their skills and strategies and I thought I should make a contribution to our darting community. I wasn’t looking for a thank you, but damn, I wasn’t expecting a fuck you either.

So, as of now, I’m taking a break. From the league, from tourneys, from the darts scene in general and the people who populate it. I certainly don’t want to be perceived as unfair so I think it is for the best. On the bright side, it is always a good thing when folks reveal what they truly think about you.

UPDATE: Wow! I feel vindicated:

Espie’s first match in Singles League against the top player in Barretto. She more than held her own and look at those marks! A 160 -In is pro-level. Can you imagine the shitstorm if I had allowed her to play in the lower division? Hell, she would have likely gone undefeated.

And they all lived happily ever after…

Well, I guess that remains to be seen but there was at least a happy ending to the drama I posted about yesterday. The landlord apologized to the downstairs widow and rehired her. I’m glad she came to her senses and I expect the widow will have learned a lesson about respecting private property and controlling her adult offspring.

Speaking of the children, here’s an unexpected epilog to the story. During the drinking session with the daughter and her boyfriend the other night she mentioned she was hoping to find a job. I must have been drunk because I don’t really remember telling her that the owner of Hunter’s Jo Inn was looking to hire staff. Well, what I said was that Hunter Jo’s was going to be the On-Home for Monday’s Hash and if she wanted to join us I would introduce her to the owner. My group of Hashers met me at the house and as was were preparing to head out, guess who said she was coming along? I was actually surprised because as I said, I forgot I invited her.

Meet Endai, our newest Hasher.

She did the trail without complaint, got deflowered successfully during the Hash virgin ritual, interviewed with the owner’s wife, and was given a job offer on the spot. She accepted and starts today.

As for the Hash, it went well too. As I mentioned, my group of like-minded individuals (we leave when we want, walk slow, and shortcut at will) left my place at 2:00, and then we met up with Scott on the My Bitch trail at a location we call “the old man’s house”. That was where we picked up the official Hash trail as laid by the Hare, Leech My Nuggets.

Leech always does a good job, especially with marking the trail. That was a good thing yesterday because 30 minutes prior to starting we had a heavy rain shower. That caused a lot of the powder and chalk to fade, but there was also shredded paper and strings to follow. An interesting trail as well, parts of which I had never done before. I especially enjoyed that. And as is my wont, I bypassed the last hill climb and opted to walk the rest of the way to our On-Home via the highway.

What remains of the Old Man’s House. When I first started hiking on My Bitch it was still occupied by a solitary and sad looking old man. He died a couple of years ago now and little by little his house has been scavenged. Oh well, he doesn’t need it anymore and perhaps it has provided a roof over someone else’s head.
Heading out on the official trail.
This section was new to me. Had no idea someone was living way out here in the middle of nowhere.
Come on up here, Pubic Head, the weather is fine. Actually, this part was muddy and slippery.
A stroll through the woods.
And it is always kinda cool when a new trail leads you to a place you recognize. Walked by here many times before on my way to Marian Hills. Never knew there was another way to go…
Well, here we go over the river and we’ve been through the woods–grandma’s house must be next!
I’m A Flaming Asshole.
We crossed this rice paddy and managed to keep our feet dry…
And we all passed safely over this rickety bridge.
Heading On-Home through the backstreets of Calapacuan…
1–2–3–KIMCHI!
And here we are at Hunter’s Jo Inn…
…featuring bay views like this one.

And so concluded a good day on trail. I’m pretty sure next week’s trail will be the best one ever. These three guys are going to Hare:

AKA The Three Stooges…

But wait, before I go I have this:

Or the proctologist…?

And just a dash of political humor:

Bah!
That’ll be it for today’s post.

Double down

When I first moved into my house going on three years ago now, there was a couple living in the basement area in what is commonly referred to as the servant’s quarters or maid’s room. And that is exactly what it is–one room, with a small restroom and space for a tabletop burner stove and small refrigerator. It can only be accessed from outside the house. At the time I moved in it housed Man Tony, the property caretaker, and his wife (my house is one of four in this enclave and there are several others down the street). When I asked my landlord about what would happen to the basement residents once I took the house she matter-of-factly stated “they will be evicted”. Well, I wasn’t comfortable with that and it didn’t bother me having them in the basement area I wouldn’t be using anyway. So, I let them stay.

Over time they became almost like neighbors, although I’d give Man Tony 500 pesos a week for his help around my yard. His wife also did yard work on the properties and cleaned the house where the landlord’s family stays during infrequent visits (they are from Manila). Man Tony died early last year from diabetes-related complications. She never bothers to hop over to here for assistance and does everything on her own. His wife has continued her duties but the landlord saw fit to reduce the compensation by 50%. I thought that was a sucky thing to do and I tried to help a little by upping my contribution to 1000 pesos a week. The landlord died unexpectantly a couple of months ago and I’ve seen a couple of her sons coming up periodically to check on the property, most of which is still vacant. They have been doing some maintenance work on the houses so perhaps an effort to sell or find renters is underway.

This past weekend we saw a new face, the landlord’s daughter. From the gossip I’ve heard from my helpers, she prevailed in a family feud and will now be managing the Alta Vista properties. Doesn’t matter much to me, I have a lease and my rent is paid through June. But it seems like it is going to make a big difference for Man Tony’s widow.

Since Man Tony’s passing, I’ve noticed the widow has frequent overnight visits from her adult children, their spouses, and an occasional grandchild. I had no idea where everyone was sleeping but I suspected they overflowed into the servant’s basement of the usually vacant house the landlords use when they visit. None of my business really and except when they do that loud-ass karaoke they don’t bother me. One of the daughters is actually quite attractive although I’ve confined my lust to fantasies. Thus far. I’m kidding, of course, she has a Filipino boyfriend who also stays downstairs. He’s very friendly and we’ve had beers together outside on the patio a couple of times. Although I do decline his invitations to join in the singing.

Anyway, the landlord’s daughter, well, I guess she’s the landlord now, showed up unexpectantly early Saturday morning. Entered the residence she uses and discovered one of the widow’s male adult offspring sleeping inside. She was understandably livid. The widow denied knowing her son was sleeping in the house, which may or may not be true. She apologized and said it would never happen again. I’m sure it won’t. The landlord changed all the locks and fired the widow. That last part was pretty cruel given the fact that this is probably the only job she can get at her age. And I can attest that she does work hard, out there in the yard whacking away with her bolo blade as soon as the sun comes up. She was in tears when she told my helpers what happened.

The landlord also removed most of the furniture the widow was using in her quarters. That pissed me off some. I’m renting this house, including the basement, and that includes the crappy furniture that was here when I moved in. I also made it clear that no one could evict her from the basement other than me. I reiterated that to the sexy daughter and her boyfriend last night as we drank beers and dined on the baby back ribs I’d cooked in the crockpot.

So, I’m still not sure how this is all going to play out. I’ve not seen the widow or the landlord around here today, although there is a crew of maintenance guys working around one of the houses. The daughter and boyfriend kept busy cleaning up around the yard of my house this morning. I hope the landlord relents and gives the widow a second chance. Honestly though, even if she doesn’t I expect the widow could get by on the twenty bucks a week I pay her since she’s living rent-free. Lots of folks in these parts live on less.

That’s what passes for drama in my life these days so I reckon I can count myself as lucky. I did overindulge a tad at Cheap Charlies last night. I was drinking gin and soda rather than light beer and the alcohol content kinda snuck up on me.

It may also have had something to do with my sharing company with this lovely lass named Jicel. She’s a new girl (to me at least) at Cheap Charlies and for the price of a couple of lady drinks, she sat with me and laughed at all my jokes. I’d call that a bargain!

I was actually quite surprised when Jicel sent me a friend request on Facebook this morning. Of course, I accepted. Could it be that this sexy young thing really likes me and wants to get to know me better? And then I got a message from her! Wow, this is so exciting! I opened it up and read the first words she would ever say to me outside of the bar: “will you please delete the photo of me you posted on Facebook?”. Yes, dear. Right away, dear. Sorry!

Today’s a brand new day and new adventures await. I decided to start it off right by eating breakfast out:

I clubbed my hunger into submission at the Jewel restaurant.

And of course, I’ve got the Hash this afternoon. I’m going to start the trail early and I’m going to start it from my house. No apologies! I march to the beat of my own drummer!

You’ll note that bad jokes didn’t make the list. Just sayin’.

Down and outs

The dart tournament at Alley Cats last night proved to be quite the adventure. Well, as adventurous as throwing sharply pointed projectiles in a drinking establishment can be anyway. I drew Espie as a partner once again. We’ve enjoyed our share of success in previous tourneys notwithstanding our inexplicable bouts of inconsistency.

Alright, what do I mean by inconsistency? Here’s as good an example as any. I threw a ton-80, my second of the year, last night. That’s 180 points, three triple 20s, the highest score possible in the game of 501 we were playing, and a very rare event for us amateurs. So you’d think I was on my game. But my very next throw was something ridiculous like a 26 or some such bullshit. Still, with a 200+ point lead, you’d think the game was in the bag. But in this case, you would be wrong.

For those readers who don’t know the 501 game, it works like this: You start with 501 points. You throw your three darts, add up the total of your throw (e.g., a 20, a 1, and a 5=26) then subtract that from the 501. You continue throwing and deducting until you reach zero to win the game. The catch is you have to throw a “double out” to reach zero. That’s often harder than you’d think and there are lots of strategies on how to set yourself up for the win. For example, once you get below 100 points you want to leave yourself on an even number because every possible out is even.

That’s what a 40 out, or “double top” in the parlance of the game, looks like. (sorry I was too lazy to get up and take my own photo)

In the first round of the tourney last night, Espie and I faced off against Troy and his partner, Jerlyn. Troy is a good darter but based on the Singles League stats, I can make a good argument that I’m better. Jerlyn is wild–she or no one else ever knows where her darts will land, although she does generally hit the board. Jerlyn seems to have more than her share of luck though–throws at the 20, misses wildly but hits a triple 18 for 54 points kind of thing. Espie is a much more reliable darter. So, I was quite confident we would prevail in the match.

It started off well enough, with us winning the first leg (a tourney match is the best of 3 games, aka “legs”). In the second leg I threw my ton-80, Espie was hitting big, and we were sitting on a 32 out (double 16). Troy and Jerlyn were still in the 200s at this point. Now, strategically a 32 is one of the most popular outs to strive for because you have some margin for error. If you throw a fat 16, your next out, a double 8, is right above it. Miss that, you’ve still got one dart left to throw at the double 4. Anyway, despite our numerical and strategic advantage my partner and I failed to throw the outshot on several consecutive throws thereby allowing our opponents to close the gap and eventually win the leg. In the third leg, Espie and I both went cold simultaneously which ultimately led to our defeat and banishment to the losers bracket.

Darts is a funny game sometimes. As we fought our way back through the losers bracket we faced off against opponents that seemed much stronger than Troy and Jerlyn and defeated them all rather handily. Meanwhile, Troy and Jerlyn continued to play well and made it to the finals undefeated. And that’s where we met them again in the championship round. Except we would have to beat them twice to win. And that’s exactly what we managed to do.

Congratulations, partner! I think the key for us in the finals was we balanced out our hot and cold streaks. When I was off, Espie picked up the slack and vice-versa. Also, that old saw about it is better to be lucky than good might have come into play. And it appeared that poor Jerlyn might have used up all of her lucky darts earlier in the night.

Well, I’ll be damned. When is the last time I devoted a whole post to darts? I guess it’s an indication of some of that old enthusiasm creeping back into my life. I spent the morning preparing the schedules and spreadsheets for the upcoming second half of the Barretto Singles League. I’m also going to have some custom shirts designed and made for the players. I’ve got my shirts for the previous iterations of the league in Columbia, SC, and Seoul. Yes, this singles league format is something I created from scratch and I admit I’m kind of proud of it in a daddy-like fashion.

And as if I didn’t feel guilty enough about blowing off my walking yesterday because of a little rain, Facebook reminded me of what I was enduring three years ago in Pyeongtaek.

The wind chill was -13 that day. Heh, it was a good feeling getting rid of all those winter clothes before I made the move.

No rain today though so no excuses.

I did a 6K morning walk through the mean streets of Barretto. I’ll hopefully get another 6K this afternoon as I stroll out to the other side of the river.

So yeah, doing 12K in two bites is just about my speed. I was kinda bragging here the other day about doing that 12K Friday walk and then Kevin Kim posted about his 27K hike as if it were nothing. I bow before the master!

The puns on me!

I’ll be back.

The dirty dozen

Another rainy morning here in my neck of the woods. Nothing to be done but make the best of it. So I did an abbreviated dog walk and the boys didn’t seem to mind coming home early to get dry in dog fashion:

Rolling around on the pad in front of my dart board. Good boys!

The rain lightened up some, so I hoofed it out to Arizona.

The one with a beach.
And I broke my fast while I was there… I told the waitress I wanted the ferme la bouche toast. She looked at me not understanding, so I repeated myself. She asked me to show her on the menu. I pointed and she said oh, French toast. I said, yes ferme la bouche is French. She just laughed. Yeah, I’m funny when you’re drunk.

Walked back home and have been fooling around with the Singles League stats. Round 1 is now complete and it ended like this:

Christy beat me out of first by two points. We actually had the same number of wins overall, but she won 11 matches versus my 9, and that turned out to be the difference.

Now I’ve got some work to do to prepare for Round 2 Division play. I’m taking the top six in one division and putting the bottom six in another. Should be competitive for everyone that way.

The big event for me yesterday was the Friday walking group. I was tasked with leading the trail and I opted to go long and mostly flat. Headed out to Naugsol barangay to explore the remaining portion of the Hash trail I missed two weeks ago. We left from my house and finished up at Cheap Charlies. A solid 12K hike, which is about the limit of my endurance for a single continuous hike. Why yes, I do have some photos. Thanks for asking!

Just four of us this time–the cutie Jessa, the German Dan, and the boyfriend Troy. And yours truly of course.
Our trail took us through Marian Hills, a small village constructed in the 1980s by a group of volunteers from the Navy base.
I’m not sure what to make of Jessa’s retreat…
Turns out she was hungry and took advantage of the opportunity to make a purchase from this vendor…
Easter mountain on an overcast morning. Our trail would have us circumnavigate around the mountain.
Ah, ain’t they sweet?
Some of my regular cookie recipients…
There is literally only a couple of inches or so to spare when a trike ventures across the bridge we call number 4.
We finally arrived in Naugsol…
The path I wanted to explore was behind this gate. The gate had been open during the Hash. It was unlocked now, so we opened it and continued on our way…
Show us the way, Dan.
I’m shy about taking a photo of someone’s shack. But as background for another group shot…
We followed the path through a rice paddy and saw another side of Easter mountain.
Eventually, we wound up back on Govic highway and began the long walk around the mountain and home to Barretto.

It was actually quite an enjoyable hike if I do say so myself. You can Relive it here if you want another view:

https://www.relive.cc/view/vAOZPMLxVoq

Adding in the steps I took prior to and after this hike I had an unusually productive day.

Well, damn. I had planned to get some steps in this afternoon but here comes the rain again. Shit.

I hate to end this post with broken plans, but that’s the way it goes sometimes I suppose. The pile of shit is pretty symbolic though…

More darts on tap tonight. I’m starting to get back into the routine and enjoying it a little better lately. Still not throwing the way I’d like but I guess I’m doing alright for an old guy.


Here comes the rain again
Falling on my head like a memory
Falling on my head like a new emotion
I want to walk in the open wind
I want to talk like lovers do
Want to dive into your ocean
Is it raining with you?

Nada thing

Did you miss it?

I’ve had better days but on the spectrum of my life, yesterday wasn’t anything to complain about. Not much to write about either though. I was feeling a little blah and uninspired. Took a shorter than usual morning walk and did a one-hour afternoon walk all within the confines of the neighborhood. A little internet and some blogging and that was just about it.

Damn it! I hate when that happens!

I did go out and enjoy a few beers at Cheap Charlies last night. Then moved up the highway to Palm Tree for a couple of more. Ran into one of my neighbors, a guy named Tony, there and he shared his story with me. He’s a Brit who first visited the Philippines while he was working in Hong Kong. When Tony returned home to the UK he met a Filipina in the grocery store where he shops. They dated and then married when she was 40 and he was 45. She almost immediately got pregnant for the first time in her life. Shortly before giving birth, she was diagnosed with some form of bowel cancer. She had a son and then died three years later. With the help of his family, Tony raised the child. When Tony turned 56 he took early retirement and moved to the PI with his son. The boy is 13 now and doing well. Tony also told me tales of being scammed by Filipinas since moving here, but honestly, I think I’ve got him beat in that department.

I’m pretty sure I’ve posted this here before, but I like it so here it is again.

We had a night full of thunderstorms which is quite unusual for this time of year. The rain had stopped by the time I took the dogs out for a walk this morning.

I’m pretty sure that is smoke from the locals burning shit, but maybe it is some amazingly low clouds. I do like the way it looks though.

And it looks like we are in for another erection.

This banner just went up near the community center. It is kind of unusual to build a one-story house in this neighborhood. I can only think of one other one. Seems to defeat the purpose of living in a place called Alta Vista. Still, if I built here (and I won’t) I’d go small too. I’d probably build it on top of a garage with a deck on the roof or something though.

What else? Oh, Fitbit emailed me my stats from 2020 this morning:

MOST ACTIVE DAY: March 28. You logged 34,568 steps on this day. Nice work!

TOTAL STEPS: 6,450,022. That’s like walking the length of a cruise ship 16,266 times.

TOTAL MILES: 3099. That’s like crossing the English Channel 148 times

Well, thanks for letting me know Fitbit. I just did the math and see that I failed to achieve my goal of a daily average of 20,000 steps. I only managed 17,671 a day. Damn it. Well, I’ll consider it motivation for this year. And I don’t give a shit about the English Channel but I did walk enough miles to have traveled coast to coast in the USA. So there’s that.

Hmm, I posted on Facebook about Biden canceling the Keystone pipeline and the usual liberal heads exploded. I started to engage the debate, actually writing a response, then thought why bother? And so I didn’t.
This one made me smile and brought back memories of my days as a mailman.

One cold winter’s day in December I was putting mail through the door slot of a house on my mail route. A woman opened the door and invited me in for a hot chocolate. Well, damn, that sounded good so I said yes, thank you! As she was serving me, her robe came open and I could see her smoking hot body through the negligee she was wearing underneath. One thing led to another and we wound up in the bedroom doing the deed. When we had finished, she smiled and hand me a dollar. I asked her what is this for? She responded “I don’t know. I asked my husband what to give the mailman for Christmas and he said fuck the mailman, give him a dollar!”

Alright, that didn’t really happen. It’s just an old letter carrier joke. I did have some nice adventures and encounters with customers on my route, but always after duty hours.

This made me laugh too. I really hate talking on the phone these days. I hardly ever understand what is being said.

Alright, I suppose that’s just about enough of this nonsense. More to come tomorrow, maybe even something of substance! Well, comparatively anyway.

This made me think of you, Kevin Kim.

Time for darts!

Eight is enough

Eight hearty hikers and eight scenic kilometers. The stars aligned, the gods smiled, and for those brief moments in time, the world was in balance. Okay, perhaps I’ve engaged in some hyperbole. It was an interesting hike though, and documenting that journey here hopefully fulfills my obligation to post something “interesting” today.

We began our trek with a longish jeepney ride out to Philseco in Subic town. Then we commenced walking through the scenic countryside and didn’t stop until we reached our destination–The Roadhouse in Castillejos. We opted not to do a big climb, irking a couple members of our group, but it was a pleasant walk and plenty enough challenging for me.

You can Relive it here:

Our path as seen from above…
This week’s Wednesday Walkers.
Didn’t see anyone paddling up this creek.
Heading for the hills…
Leaving the pavement behind for a while…
Hello there children…
We didn’t do a big climb, but that’s not to say our path was flat either…
But we had enough altitude for some pleasant vistas.
Only one water crossing but most of us managed to muddy our shoes…
There’s humor in this photo. For whatever reason, the cows and carabao are attracted to Gary. At least he’s been chased a couple of times. He gave this one a wide berth, but you can see the cow giving him the eye.
Another cookie delivery. You can tell by the dark skin and curly hair that these are native Aeta children.
Those kilometers aren’t going to walk themselves!
On and on we go.
Mountain views…
Water views…
Rice paddy in bloom…
After the harvest…
And still we march.
I think these are mango trees…
This always cracks me up. Drying the rice on the road. Hey, maybe that’s why there are two lanes…one for the farmer and one for everyone else…
After the Mount Pinatubo eruption in 1991, the native Aeta were moved to several resettlement locations, including here in Castillejos.
Posing in front of a local resort that might be an option for an outstation Hash run someday…
I loved how they constructed this fence right up against the trunk of this tree…
I just liked this tree for some reason.
I guess you could say the proverbial writing is on the wall.
Over the river…
What’s bugging you, Scott?
And finally, we made it to Roadhouse. It’s been a long time since we’ve been out this way.

I truly do enjoy our out of town walks. Mostly because I like walking new paths and seeing new views. It enhances the adventure. So, it was a good day in that regard.

After a couple of brews at Roadhouse, we caught a bus back to Barretto. That was just a matter of good timing. We were waiting for a jeepney empty enough to accommodate us when the bus rolled up. The fare is not much higher and the ride is way more comfortable. We got off at Cheap Charlies, our traditional watering hole, for more beers and lunch. I took some flak for ordering a Hawaiian pizza. Hey, pineapple needs love too!

Came home and took a much-needed nap, then it was time to get ready for darts. Didn’t finish in the money though. Hey, win some, lose some.

And that was another day in the life. It may not be much but I’m glad to have it.

A lazy Tuesday

A nothing kind of day leads to a nothing kind of post. But I will not be deterred! I take the day off from walking on Tuesday so there’s not even that. But today was much busier than normal which is why this post is going up so late. I’ll post about today tomorrow.

So, Tuesday is grocery shopping day and I got that accomplished. Changed that activity up a little by visiting Pure Gold supermarket to try and find the things that are always out of stock at Royal. Then went to Royal for the things they do have that Pure Gold doesn’t. Exciting stuff, eh?

I did see this sign in Royal that I hadn’t noticed before. It made me feel good that crazy people from all over the world could come together in Aisle 4.
I also scored some coveted kimchi. Not the brand from Korea I usually buy which has been out of stock. This was made here in the Philippines but it went well (or better than nothing anyway) with the Korean chicken wings I brought home from The Pub resto last night.

What else did I accomplish? Well, I managed a second-place finish in darts, so there’s that. And that’s pretty much all there was. But I did spend some quality time on the internet and came away with these gems:

Via Facebook memories comes this photo taken of me 30 years ago. I’m not as young as I once was but I’m as young now as I’ll ever be…
Four years ago this was the view from my apartment in Seoul. I miss Korea but not so much the winters.
And oh, by the way, FUCK YOU Facebook!
Happy Birthday, Martin. I’m sure you would be disappointed with the newest version of racism from the Democrats.
I have my doubts that Shakespeare really said this, but I do appreciate the sentiment.
Saw this in a bar and I have to admit it resonates…
Sad but true…
Well, I did pay in advance for future services from Catherine. What am I gonna do when she shows up at my door with her young daughter claiming to be hungry? Since then she has been messaging me daily to fulfill her promise. So far I have not bothered to respond. I guess you might say I can’t be fucked to meet her.
And I’d also like to thank my loyal readers for putting up with bullshit posts like this one.

I’ll do better tomorrow. I promise!

A good day on trail

Here is the report concerning my participation in the one thousand four hundred twenty-eighth running of the Subic Bay Hash.

As the title of this post suggests, it was a good trail overall. It began with a climb from hell though. I’d done that up once before so I knew what I was in for and I wasn’t disappointed. Chants of “never again” with each step up did seem to give me a helping push. I guess it’s kinda like that story “The Little Engine That Won’t”. Yeah, I’m being a little overly dramatic. It was harder and steeper than I like but I did make it to the top so there’s that.

Once the initial climb was completed it was pretty much smooth sailing. The trail was well-marked and familiar (we’d done some of it a couple of months ago on one of our group hikes). There was a second uphill portion but that was a breeze compared to the first one. It was a relatively short trail at just over 6K, although I had an additional 2K walk from my house to the starting point.

This was the first Hash with the newly established starting time of 2:30. A few of us said fuck that and started at 1:30. I’m a slow old fart and I don’t like starting later and always being among the last to finish. It took us around two and a half hours to complete the short trail, so we got back On-Home a little before 4:00 p.m. The runners and others started arriving shortly thereafter. So, the early start worked out well for us. I don’t want to be stuck up on the mountain with dusk falling and I hate when the beer supply is exhausted before I can drink my money’s worth. So I expect early departures are going to be the norm for me.

Alright, let’s let the pictures do the rest of the talking, shall we? I’ll start with the Relive video to give some context. This one is from Pubic Head’s (Scott) app because I thought his turned out better than mine. Most of the photos are his as well.

You can follow the elevation gains with the graph at the top left corner.
The route we took. The yellow line is the long trail we didn’t take. It adds another 1.5K or so and another big climb.
Here is where it all began.
And we are On-On!
What madness is this?
Come on Pubic Head! If I can do it, you can do it!
That’s my not happy with this climb face.

But then there is this. 3/4 of the way up and people are living here. That climb is just another routine part of the harsh conditions that come with the territory.
At least they have nice views. That’s the National highway way down there.
More civilization a tad further up the trail…
…and cookies to dispense.
Then we came to a fork in the trail and made the left turn…
Made it to the top and enjoyed a brief respite walking along the ridgeline…
Marching onward!
I’m A Flaming Asshole and Black And Dick Her trying to decipher a trail marking. After much discussion, it was decided to go straight.
Our group for the afternoon…
Another mountain home.
I’m not sure what’s going on here…maybe Pubic Head had gas…
Even caught a fleeting glimpse of Easter mountain out on the horizon.
Good job from the Hares! We always knew which way to go…
That’s me at the Great Wall of Barretto.
The view from The Wall.
Time to head back down. Show us the way, Gary.
Got to get under that barbed wire fence first though…
About halfway down we passed through the yard of our old friends the Rolly family.
Friendly folk who always give us a warm greeting…
Burn it down! Burn it all down!
We were all *ahem* tired by this point… (you can see the re-purposed tires I hope)
30 minutes later we arrived On-Home at Queen Victoria…
Beers were drunk…
…and bullshit was dispensed.

And a good time was had in true Hash fashion.

And so concludes another Hash post.

A decade without you

Today marks the tenth anniversary of my mother’s passing. No great insights to share–everything changes, yet life goes on for those of us left behind. Perhaps being remembered is enough. My love for you will live on as long as I do.

Bonnie Rose before she was known as mom.
With her second-born son. The special one!
I made her a grandmother for the first time.
She loved my dad for over 50 years.
A mom and her sons.
Mom with her sisters for the final time. The last picture I ever took of her.

You will always be missed by those who loved you.

Meanwhile, in the world of the living, I changed things up some and drank my beers at Palm Tree yesterday.

It’s right next door to Mangos. I actually stayed here on my last trip to the Philippines as a tourist.
The bar is on the second floor with a nice balcony overlooking the beach.

This morning I decided to make supper for breakfast.

The ribeye, while thin, was so tender I could almost pull it apart with my fork. I think I’ve mastered the searing process too as the meat was juicy and medium-rare on the inside.

I guess I’m in a beachy kind of mood as I decided to take a morning stroll to Baloy.

Well, in the event of a tsunami I’m already ideally located in the evacuation area–Alta Vista. Ain’t nowhere to run from an earthquake though.
Once you get past the resorts, Baloy Beach Road is almost serene.
Some nice bay views this morning…
With the weekend crowds gone the beach felt almost deserted.

We’ve got the Hash this afternoon. The new starting time is officially 2:30, but I and a few others are going to head out an hour earlier. That should get us back On-Home before all the beer is gone. I’ll let y’all know how that goes tomorrow.

Now, should I take a nap or exercise? Hmm, perhaps I’ll do both!

Works for me. #6 is my personal favorite.

White line fever


You know that old trees just grow stronger
And old rivers grow wilder every day
Old people just grow lonesome
Waiting for someone to say, “Hello in there, hello”

–John Prine

Life continues apace, moving forward step-by-step. And so do I!

Last night I took a third-place finish in the darts tourney. Not bad considering the competition was strong, my partner was clueless, and I was off my game. There is peace in not caring!

For whatever reason, I had a craving for bulgogi last night. So after darts, I popped into John Kim’s The Pub restaurant and ordered me up some. I was disappointed that there was no kimchi available. The waitress said the price of the ingredients made it too expensive to serve as a side. That’s not the first time I’ve heard about a spike in the cost of veggies here lately. Not sure what’s going on with that. Coincidentally or not, the Royal supermarket has been sold out of kimchi for a couple of weeks now too.

The bulgogi was quite tasty even without the kimchi, although I prefer it in that soup/broth with the string mushrooms like I’d find in Korea. I also got a side of Korean-style wings which are always excellent.

For today’s walk, I decided to hike to the old Navy base via the highway and return to Barretto on the beach. It’s been quite a while since I’ve done this route because frankly, walking on the highway is a pain in the ass. The cars, trucks, and jeepneys tend to take the curves by intruding onto the shoulder where I’m walking. So you always have to be alert and ready to jump into the drainage ditch beside the highway should survival dictate such drastic action. Luckily it didn’t today. The walk back on the beach is a little shorter but not without its perils. There are a couple of seawalls you have to scale and also some pretty big rocks to climb up and over on the way home. I used to sometimes go both ways on the beach route but lately, all the access points want to charge an entrance fee. I can’t abide that bullshit when I’m just passing through.

On my way out of town, I popped into Arizona Resort for breakfast. It’s been some time since I’ve been there. The waitress still remembered me though. No other customers were there either. Sad, not sure if the place is going to make it. The owner had been advertising on Facebook about showing the football games today and opening early, but there were no eyes on the televisions. Mine included, I don’t give a shit about American football anymore.

I had an English muffin with sausage, egg, and cheese. It was good.
Outside on the beach, it was more crowded than I’d seen even in the pre-COVID days. And this is at 8:00 in the morning! They appeared to be all Filipinos and I’m guessing the Arizona is a bit pricey for the locals.
Not so up the road at the ICove hotel, at least judging from the parking lot. The ICove is next door to Mangos and I’ve noted before how packed it is on weekends. Again, almost exclusively Filipinos. It’s a good sign though that people are coming out and moving on with their lives. Places like Arizona are going to have to hold on until foreign tourists are allowed back in the country.

Alright then, so on with the walk! Once again, I recorded the adventure on Relive. Well, technically, I recorded the hike on the Map My Run app, and Relive pulls that data and uses it to do their thing.

https://www.relive.cc/view/vdORWYXGer6

Oddly enough, this time Relive didn’t sort the photos into the proper sequence. I think the reason is that my highway route out and beach return didn’t have enough separation between them for the Google Earth coordinates to differentiate whether I was coming or going. No big deal I suppose. I also discovered that I can only post ten photos on the free version of Relive. I’m not quite ready to go premium yet though.

No worries, here are all the photos in the order I took them:

On the National highway headed towards barangay Kalaklan…
These trees were literally growing sideways out of the mountain. Never noticed that before. A little eerie…
There’s a wall along the highway with a dozen or so murals. They appear to be government propaganda and most seem to be COVID-related. This one caught my eye. I guess the message is there is freedom in being forced to wear a mask. I’m sure George Orwell would approve.
I see dead people. Or at least where dead people are buried. Well, not buried, interred I guess is more accurate.
I crossed the highway and took this path down to the beach to begin my return journey.
The beach of which I spoke.
Stopping to smell, er, photograph the flowers…
Man oh man, I would not want to be living here at high tide. Or using that toilet anytime!
Some of those rocks you have to scale if you don’t want to wade into the bay to go around them.
Was I ever in for a surprise as I crossed the rocks. Sitting there like an old mermaid watching the sea was the homeless woman I call mama. That gal gets around!
The view from up top of the rocks.
Here we see a beached whale. I’m not sure what that big white thing is…
And then an uneventful walk along the highway through Barretto leading to home sweet home.

Another day, another hike is in the books. Well, on the blog anyway. There was something unusual along the way this time though. When I’m out walking alone I wear my headphones and listen to music on the Spotify app. I do have the premium version to avoid commercial interruptions. I’ve made several playlists on my own but Spotify also offers up a “Daily Mix” of songs the algorithm thinks I might like. I listened to one of those today. And while most of the songs and artists are familiar, sometimes I hear something completely out of the blue that resonates enough that I’ll actually stop and open the app to see what I’m hearing. That happened twice this morning and both times the artist was John Prine. Now, I had a vague recollection of that name but had never been a fan and don’t really recall knowingly listening to his music before. So, to be wowed twice in one walk was pretty impressive. I was sad to read in the link above that he died of a COVID-related illness last April. Rest in Peace!

The songs I liked were Ain’t Hurtin’ Nobody and Hello In There. Give them a listen if you are so inclined.

A song that didn’t come up on the playlist today but came to mind as I walked along the highway and provided the title for this post is an old favorite from the Flying Burrito Brothers.


White Line Fever a sickness born down deep inside my soul
White Line Fever the years keep flying by like a high line pole
The wrinkles in my forehead show the miles I’ve put behind me
They continue to remind me how fast I’m growing old
Guess I’ll die with this fever in my soul

I wonder just what makes a man keep pushing on
Why must I keep on singing this old highway song
I’ve been from coast to coast a 100 times or more
I haven’t found one place that I ain’t been before
White Line Fever a sickness born down deep inside my soul
White Line Fever the years keep flying by like a high line pole

Out scouting

For yesterday’s group hike, we did a little scouting around for a potential trail when we Hare the Hash on February 1. Scott had some ideas but they didn’t really pan out this time. That’s part of the process–eliminating possibilities gets you a step closer to finding a suitable path. Anyway, it was a mostly pleasant 6K hike, just a couple of rough patches. Always good to be out and about with friends on trail!

The path we walked.
The ones I walked with–Dan, Troy, Jessa, and Scott.
Not a bad start…
…but then things got a little bit dicey. The down was steep and the up was worse. I don’t think we are going to try this again for the Hash.
The thatch grass STILL hasn’t given up the ghost.
Looking towards Baloy beach…
…and overlooking Barretto.
We wound up doing the My Bitch trail and it was good to see Olivia of the mountain clan family again.
I dispensed some sweets to commemorate the moment.
Easter mountain from afar…
The rarely seen facemask tree was in full blossom…
Making my way, surely but slowly.
Thanks for waiting. These pictures aren’t gonna take themselves you know!
Look out, Scott! There’s a big dropoff ahead!
Oh well. We all had to come down that section on our ass.
Heading on down…
A little closer to Easter mountain now…
Love those smiles!
Dan and Scott upfront…
Troy and Jessa bringing up the rear.
A roof over their heads…
How did I manage to lead the pack? Must have smelled the beer!
I hosted the group at my place for some lunch and liquid refreshment. Good times!

Scott posted his pictures from the hike (most of which are included above) on an app called Relive. I thought it was pretty cool how it incorporates the photos into the section of the trail where they were taken. So I thought I’d try it out on my morning walk. This is the result:

https://www.relive.cc/view/vxOQnPjM4M6

Oh, cool! It actually embeds. Wasn’t sure it would. Nothing special about my walk today. I basically did the photo every thousand steps or so thing again, but I got distracted a couple of times. Anyway, when I uploaded the photos it somehow knew where on the trail I took them. That is both impressive and a little scary! Another thing I like is that it has an elevation bar at the top of the video screen. My trail was mostly flat today though. I still need to learn how to insert elevations at various points in the trail. Give me some feedback on how you like the app. I’ll probably still use photo posts like usual anyway so I can add my witty commentary. Anyway, something new to play with.

And that’s the way it is with me.

Beers and darts

Darts and beers. Filling in the hours, however comfortably and well.

Yesterday I completed my final match in Round 1 of the inaugural season of the Barretto Singles League. For Round 2, I’ll be taking the top six finishers for one division and the bottom six for the other division and everyone will play the others in their division twice. That’s the real season, this first round was essentially just to let people play into the division where they belong so things are fair, balanced, and competitive.

That said, I will either finish first or second in Round 1 play–Cristy has one more match to play and could still catch me. Not that it matters, I’ll be in the top division regardless. Actually, Cristy is throwing great darts of late and I consider her to be the top player in the league skills-wise. I’m still not satisfied with my consistency but I’m maybe needing to lower my expectations a bit. I remember being better than I am now but then again, my memory ain’t what it used to be either.

So, here’s an example of what I’m talking about. Yesterday I played Nancy. She’s a solid player but struggles at times (don’t we all?). I expect she will also finish in the top six. This is how our match came down:

So yeah, 12-4 is a big win for me and I’m happy to have done better in that regard than I expected. But the real indicator of how well you are throwing is how many marks you throw. Throwing tons (100 or more) in 501 and 301 generally means you are hitting your target with all three darts. Same with the cricket marks–a 7 mark will close two numbers and give you some points to boot. And 3 bulls in one shot is usually a game-winning throw. Yesterday I had 14 marks in 15 legs (games). Not bad, although my goal is at least one mark per leg.

On Tuesday I played Jo, another very good player. She has really impressed me with the improvement in her game I’ve witnessed this season.

I somehow managed to beat her 12-4, but I’d call that more luck than anything. Again, looking at the marks shows we were both off our games, only hitting 5 each in 15 legs. The final score could just as easily been reversed. So, that’s what I mean when I talk about how inconsistent I’ve been throwing. Anyway, I need to stop overthinking it, remember to relax and have fun, and just let the darts fly.

And enjoy the beers that I call aiming fluid!

After darts, I had my weekly fix of pork chops at Mangos and watched the sun go down on another day.

Life is good.

I was in bed at 7:30 last night, exhausted from all those beers I drank darts I threw. Up a little after 4:00 a.m. to start another day. Coffee and the internet, what a combination! I saw this and liked it:

I may not have all the answers but that won’t stop me from asking the questions.

And I posted these quotes from Martin Luther King to honor his birthday. A man who was clearly ahead of his time. The unity he devoted his life to achieving is exactly what is now being dismantled for reasons I honestly cannot fathom.

He dreamed of a day when a man would be judged by the quality of his character rather than the color of his skin. Saying that now would probably get him banned on Twitter.

But here in my world called the Philippines, there are other questions to consider:

Probably not enough!

Well, I’m kidding of course. After all, age is just a number. All the girls tell me so.

As I enjoyed my breakfast at Harley’s, looking out over the bay, it occurred to me–I am one lucky son-of-a-bitch. Perhaps I am finally beginning to grasp the concept of living in the moment and enjoying life for what it is.

Alright, time to head out for the Friday dart tournament at Alley Cats. I’m going to try and enjoy my game for what it is at the moment too!

Update: Cristy just finished her last match and sent me the scoresheet. It appears we are going to finish Round 1 tied. That’s pretty awesome!

Taking care of unfinished business

Yesterday my walking group tackled the mountain Scott and I had missed on Monday’s aborted Hash. It proved to be a challenging hike, with two moderately difficult ups and one very steep descent. It took nearly two hours to do a 4K trail on the mountain which gives some indication of the tough terrain. Or maybe I was just slower than normal. One of those.

So the Hare, I’m A Fucking Cupcake, got quite a bit of negative feedback for his efforts in setting this trail. In my opinion, most of it was unfair. Given that so many people had gotten lost on the mountain I assumed it was because the trail had been poorly marked. That proved not to be the case. The problem was likely with the method he used to mark the trail. Most Hares use powder and chalk. Cupcake did most of his marks like this:

Pieces of orange yarn tied to the trees and shrubs. The problem for many Hashers is they customarily look down at the ground for trail markings and so unless they looked up they would miss the mark.

Yes, there were some places where the markings were ambiguous and it would have been better to use more powder and chalk along the way, but I didn’t have any real difficulty following the trail. Some of the guys said that’s because I move so fucking slow I have more time to see shit. Maybe so.

Now, Cupcake does warrant some legitimate criticism. For one thing, the purported 9K trail was closer to 11K. I was so happy I didn’t attempt to walk the entire trail on Monday. Especially with the hard climbing coming during the last portion of the hike. The other complaint I had was with there being two confusing checkpoints on the trail. I’m not a fan of these anyway, but if a Hare is going to insist on using them, it needs to be done right.

This is the second checkpoint. As you can see from the arrows, it shows three possible directions. The Hashers have to explore each trail and if they don’t find any marks, turn around and go to the next trail. I hate that, especially because I’m already last on the trail and don’t like to waste time with such bullshit.

Dan (Bum Burgler) is pictured above and it was at this checkpoint that he and several others wound up taking the wrong trail. Why would an experienced Hasher not notice there were no marks and turn around? Well, because there were marks–from a trail used a few weeks previously. At a minimum, the Hare should have made sure there was only one trail marked. What I’m going to suggest for the future is that Hares use the “false trail” mark (three horizontal lines) within 50 yards or so for all options other than the true trail. Or just don’t do the fucking checkpoint at all.

Anyway, other than that it was quite enjoyable. Props to Cupcake for finding new paths. Even Scott, who has been Hashing here for 15 years, hadn’t seen parts of where we hiked previously. That’s quite the accomplishment. Being a Hare is can be a thankless job, it takes a lot of time and effort to lay the trail, and it is impossible to please everyone. I’ll be Hareing again along with Scott and Jim on February 1st and I’m already thinking about how to pull off a good experience for the Hashers.

Here are the photos from yesterday’s adventure (credit to Scott for most of these):

Closing the loop as it was intended by the Hare.
We took a jeepney to the far side of Subic town to begin our trek.
My fellow hikers on the journey were Jim, Scott, and Dan.
Let’s roll!
We walked about 1.5K to reach the spot where the trail we had missed began its climb up the mountain.
No, this is not hard. Much.
In the shadow of Easter mountain. Well, not really. But I can see it from here.
It seems I’m always in slow motion…
So, about the point where I’m feeling sorry for myself, this guy comes along dragging a bunch of 12-foot long bamboo poles behind him. Nothing like a little perspective on what is truly hard…
We let him pass by and caught up with him a little further down the trail.
Hard and honest work being a bamboo harvester. His little girl was there to keep him company.
And of course, she got some cookies.
A bit later we came down into a small village…
Where more cookies were dispensed…
Life can be hard.
And so was our trail, right Scott?
Keep on keepin’ on!
We did see some chalk along the way…
I got this!
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death…
As seen from the top of the mountain…
Time to head on down…
…and down…
We got this, Scott!
Back to civilization.
They got the last of the cookies…
Alright, that’s enough monkeying around…

Took a jeepney back to Barretto and got dropped off at Cheap Charlies for some lunch and beers. And lo and behold, guess who was sitting outside:

The homeless old woman I call mama. I try to give her 100 pesos a day but sometimes she is hard to find. So this was a nice surprise.

And that was my day. A third place in the darts tourney last night and a singles league match on tap for this afternoon. What a life, huh?

A guilt-free white man

Or maybe I’m just an asshole.

So, I posted this on Facebook:


I just canceled my Amazon Prime membership. Just like they canceled Parler.

I admit that may appear to be me engaging in virtue-signaling, but I’m powerless to do much else about it. It generated the usual pushback from my leftie friends which I expected and ignored. But there was one comment that really made me go “wow!” This is a person I’ve known for years and I consider her to be a good friend. She’s also a liberal, but back when we worked together (she was my Deputy) we would engage in long and thoughtful political discourse about the issues of the day, rarely agreeing, but at least gaining some insights and understanding. Oh, did I mention she is African-American? Not that that should matter, but this comment left me shaking my head:


Whatever! Wypipo are a trip!

You know, I’m a lot of things but one of them isn’t racist. I grew up in those long-ago days when we were taught to judge a person by the content of their character and not the color of their skin. The woman who made that comment certainly knows I’ve never acted in a racist manner. Trust me, I could not have had a successful career with the Federal government otherwise and I certainly never had a complaint filed against me. Well, except for that comment I made here at LTG about Muhammed being a pedophile. And the lawyers said I was free to express my opinion as a citizen, however “churlish”, as long as I didn’t do it at work.

Anyway, I looked up the definition of wypipo just to make sure I wasn’t misunderstanding her intent:


Wypipo is an abbreviation for “White people” that is typically used as a derogatory term to refer to racist white people. It is often used by people of color (POC) or woke white people aware of racist actions by other white people.

Ouch. Well, I didn’t respond. My simple test is to change the color to determine if what someone says is racist. So, if I were to say for example that all black people “are a trip”, I could and should be called out on it. But it is good to know what people really think of you when they slip up and let the truth out. Still shocking and painful though.

And whether I agree with you or not, I will support and defend your right to say it. Even on Facebook!

Speaking about white people, one of them has apparently purchased the property right outside the front gate to Alta Vista. It used to contain a squatter village. Now the shacks have been torn down and a barbed-wire fence erected.

The first thing he tore down was the basketball court. I saw kids playing there every day since moving here. No idea where they are now or what they are doing.

I guess I’m of two minds on this. A property owner certainly has the right to sell his land. And the buyer is free to use that land in any legal fashion. The squatters really have no “rights” in this situation. Still, I feel bad to see their already difficult lives disrupted in this fashion. A Filipina friend told me that often times in this situation the squatters are paid to leave, thus giving them the money to build a hovel somewhere else. That might be the best possible outcome I suppose. But I wouldn’t want to be that white guy building his fancy new house on this land surrounded by angry people he’s displaced. But perhaps that’s just me.

Last night I enjoyed a pulled pork barbeque dinner from the crockpot for the first time in a long time. And it was good. I made up a batch of cornbread too. Put a can of whole kernel corn into the mix. Pretty tasty!

Not bad for a white guy, huh?

Today I climbed the mountain I missed on Monday. I’ll give a full report on that adventure tomorrow. Now it’s time for darts.

Facebook reminded me that three years ago I climbed a mountain in Asan, South Korea. Don’t remember the name of the mountain now though. Haven’t seen snow like that in a long time!

We all gotta die of something I suppose, but until I read this I hadn’t considered dying of HPV as a possibility:


Having more than 10 oral sex over a lifetime partners quadruples a person’s risk for human papillomavirus-related mouth and throat cancer, a study published Monday by the journal Cancer found.

Shit, I might have ten a year! I may be doomed, but what a way to go!

Scrape it together

Yesterday’s Hash didn’t quite go the way I planned. For one thing, I spilled a little blood on trail. I get scratches pretty frequently and once I got stitches after a run-in with barbed wire. But this time I managed to get a rather painful scrape on my elbow. Nothing like keeping things fresh and new, right?

It hurt worse than it looks. Or maybe I’m just a pussy. It has been interesting to discover just how many things there are to bump your elbow against during the day.

Another thing that happened was that despite my best intentions, I did not complete the 9-kilometer trail as planned. The way it was set up was that the Hashmobile would drop you at the start of the 6K trail, or you could walk the 3K to that point for a longer hike. Well, I hate riding in the truck enough that it made the additional distance palatable. So, off we went.

My group included the usual suspects–oldsters, Hash virgins, and folks who just prefer a pleasant hiking experience. And on flat ground, I can do a 9K without much problem. I was aware that there were two climbs between the start and the On-Home but I figured I could always bypass them if I wasn’t feeling like doing a hill when I got there.

So we are On-On!

Right after we had begun the trail the Hare, I’m A Fucking Cupcake, caught up to us to ask if we realized we were doing the long trail. We assured him that this was our intention. He appeared genuinely surprised, then shrugged and wished us well. We continued on and then maybe ten minutes into the hike along the riverside we hit a wall. Literally.

The wall of which I speak.
The problem came here. We had to scurry down a five-foot or so embankment then scramble up the other side. I couldn’t get a good footing for the up part and don’t possess the upper body strength to pull myself to the top. I eventually lost my grip and slid down backward scraping my elbow in the process.

After that incident though, the trail was actually quite enjoyable. I was familiar with the area, in fact, I had been in the vicinity for my Sunday stroll, but had never walked these particular paths before. I really enjoy the seeing something new aspect of Hashing.

At around 4K there was a water stop. The Hare and the truck were there and cold water was provided. That was a nice touch. We were given the opportunity to ride back to the On-Home from there, but everyone (including the virgins who appeared tired) opted to continue on. And that’s just what we did. Until we didn’t.

We were on the trail another kilometer or so from the water stop when once again the Hare appeared seemingly out of nowhere. He seemed a little concerned for our well-being and suggested we make a turn further on up the trail and then meet the truck on the highway. I figured we could see how we felt once we reached that point and then decide what to do. Maybe the virgins would be ready to ride by then at least.

Apparently, there was some misunderstanding because we made the turn, hit the pavement, but there was no truck in sight. So nothing to do but continue on up the road. And then a couple of kilometers later we spotted the truck parked up ahead.

There you are! Well, not quite. The Hare had gone out looking for us. Turns out we weren’t supposed to turn when and where we did. Oh well.

I walked on up the trail where the Hare had gone for a way but saw no sign of him. My Fitbit advised me that I had reached my daily step count goal of 20,000 so I shrugged and headed back for the truck. Which while in the process of turning around had stalled and wouldn’t restart. Luckily we were able to push it to the downhill part of the road where the driver, Cunt Hunter, was able to do a clutch start. So we all loaded up in the back and went to pick up the Hare who had ended his search for us further up the highway.

And then we drove back to the On-Home which was the long and uncomfortable ride I had hoped to avoid to begin with. Ah well, the best-laid plans and all that. Anyway, Pubic Head and I plan to take the Wednesday walking group to the portion of the trail we missed yesterday and give it a try.

Here are some more photos from the day:

To be continued tomorrow! We did maybe 3/4 of it…
That’s me waiting to get started.
Some of the others milling about our meet-up location.
Onward we march!
I’m A Flaming Asshole and I Suck Dick. (not me, that’s their Hash names).
Here’s a twofer…my ass and Easter mountain in the same shot. You are welcome!
Crossing the river the easy way…
Left to right: our two virgins, Black And Dick Her, and Western Union Sperm Bank.
Living in the middle of nowhere illustrated.
It was a mostly enjoyable, albeit abbreviated, hike.
What are you looking at?
A babe in the woods…
Shootin’ the shit with Pubic Head at the On-Home.
Cum On My Boat did the mountain trail and got an injury…
Initiating our virgins. I wonder if they’ll be back? My money’s on no.
When the Hash circle was completed and the beer ran out, I headed to Mangos for a dinner of roast chicken and coleslaw.
And so ends another Hash post…

On-On!