Spreading Joy*

Posted on 31/March/2021 by John McCrarey

Hopefully, that’s all I’ve been spreading lately. I was surprised when a vehicle and driver I didn’t recognize pulled up in front of the house to take me grocery shopping yesterday. I found out later that my regular driver, Danny, isn’t feeling well. With Linda’s recently reported illness, that means everyone in the car on the trip to Angeles City has been under the weather. I can’t speak for the others, but I still don’t believe my ailment is COVID-related. Perhaps I’m being willfully ignorant in that regard, but I don’t think so based on what I’ve read. And I’m not even tempted to get a test, the accuracy of which is at best suspect.

So then, my big news from yesterday was the second physical meeting with Joy, my new friend with benefits. We’ve been chatting on a daily basis and that’s gone reasonably well. Joy has hinted around at some things I’m not comfortable with, but backs down right away when I reject her overtures. For example, she asked a few days ago if she could spend the night with me. I told her no, I was not interested in that kind of relationship. She played it off like she was teasing, and that’s fine. She seems to have got the message that whatever this is, it is never going to be more than this.

Anyway, Joy arrived at the appointed hour. I had promised her some lunch, so I asked her if she would like to eat my balls? She said she would later, but now could she have lunch please? Yeah, that really happened. She laughed when I put a bowl of meatballs in front of her. I have noticed, generally speaking, that for a purported “English-speaking” country, the level and quality of spoken English can be disappointing. I’ve noted that Joy and I often don’t understand each other, which can be a little frustrating. Says the man who speaks almost no Tagalog.

After lunch, we went upstairs. Joy offered me a massage and I, of course, accepted. She did a decent job for someone without training. When the massage was completed, she removed her clothes and laid down next to my naked body. And then nature took its course, and I must say, we synched very nicely and had a mutually enjoyable session of lovemaking. Well, it wasn’t about “love”, but you know what I mean.

Once the deed was done, we got dressed and came back downstairs and had a beer. I gave her the standard fee of 3000 pesos, then gave her an additional 2000 so she could have a nice birthday party for her daughter later this week. She seemed genuinely moved and gave me a big hug. We finished our beers and then she left to go home.

So, what is my assessment of our most recent encounter? As I mentioned, the sex was good. Better than good, actually, and I think part of that is because it wasn’t strictly a “pay for play” proposition. Also, after a month or so of low-intensity chats, we at least have a nice comfort level with one another. In that sense at least, my friend with benefits strategy paid off. I got some sexual satisfaction and Joy got the rent paid and money for her daughter. Win-win, right? Well, honestly, not quite. I mean, I have no complaints and it felt good to know that I’ve brought some, er, joy into Joy’s life. Still, truth be told it still feels a little hollow and meaningless. I’m not sure what I was expecting, but my almost perfectly executed strategy still leaves me unfulfilled. On the other hand, I’m not dealing with all the baggage that comes with having a girlfriend, so maybe I should just count my blessings and move on. It is what it is.

**I reckon that’s about all the love I need right there.**

*Hat tip to commenter Bob for suggesting the title for today’s post.

When is a trail not a trail?

Posted on 30/March/2021 by John McCrarey

How about when it is marked so poorly no one can follow it? I honestly don’t get why a Hare can’t be bothered to leave some powder and/or chalk marks at regular intervals along the chosen path. Certainly as a minimum, there ought to be clear indications of the intended directions at every junction and turning point. Yesterday’s trail, and I’m using that term loosely, was barely marked at all, which resulted in lots of missed opportunities. Hell, even us short-cutters couldn’t find the trail as intended, so we had no idea what we were unintentionally missing. Very disappointing and unnecessary.

Still managed about 7.5K on the afternoon, which was enough to wear me out. Next week is the Easter mountain climb and I’m honestly wondering if I have the strength and stamina necessary for that hike. As of now, my intention is to give it a go, I just hope I’m feeling more energetic by then. It was announced during the Hash circle last night that one of our members, Cum On My Boat, is potentially suffering from a COVID-related illness and has self-quarantined. She was one of the people I shared a vehicle to and from Angeles City a couple of weeks ago. And now she’s the second passenger in that car to fall ill, not including me. She actually didn’t start feeling any symptoms until Friday, the day after the birthday I also attended along with 50 or so other guests. That’s gonna be one hell of a contact tracing effort! Anyway, I’m still not reading much into this and I still don’t see any reason to believe I’ve got something more serious than a flu-like bug. It’s just all a little closer to home than I prefer.

To the Hash pictures then:

***This trail seems to be marked much better than the one we had to try and follow.***

***Our “sane” Hash group continues to grow each week.***

***On-On! It was mostly an urban trail. One moderate climb (we intentionally missed another) and then finding our own way down because the trail was so poorly marked.***

***Back on the streets of San Isidro…***

***“Jesus can’t go Hashing ’cause He’s hanging on a cross…” is an actual Hash song lyric. Yeah, we’re gonna burn in Hell for sure…***

***I’ve got some cookies in my bag. And I did ask mama first!***

***Our first time at this On-Home venue, Smokes and Bottles. They seemed very happy to have us there.***

***The Gash always seem to have fun wherever we are.***

***A belated Happy Birthday, Hash-style…***

Congrats to Anal Intruder on the occasion of her 69th run with Subic Bay Hash.

Anyway, I bitch and moan like the cantankerous old fuck that I am. The trail sucked yesterday, but I was outdoors in the fresh air and I still managed to enjoy myself. Of course, lots of beers afterward in a very nice establishment made forgetting the negatives all the easier.

I had an encounter with Joy this afternoon, and I’ll tell you about that tomorrow.

Stay tuned!

What are you gonna do?

Posted on 29/March/2021 by John McCrarey

Just keep on keepin’ on. What else can you do? As much as it seems that it’s all just more of the same, there’s enough different to keep it interesting. Or interesting enough for me, at least. These deep and meaningful thoughts (yes, I’m kidding) were triggered by the difficulty I had coming up with a title for this post that hadn’t been used previously. It took me like five tries to get this one. I guess that comes with the turf when you’ve been blogging for over 15 years. Can you imagine if I only posted when something new or exciting happened in my life? I’d be a long time gone for sure!

Anyway, let’s do this and see where it leads, shall we?

One of my favorite writers, Larry McMurtry, died this week. I remember seeing The Last Picture Show, a film based on one of his early novels, and thinking: man, that was really good. I wonder what they left out? So, I bought the book and was hooked. He will live on through his body of work. I don’t know that there is a better measure of success than that.

***This illustrates the madness we are expected to swallow without question. How stupid do they think we are?***

***Hard to find a better description for this twat.***

So, I guess I’ve started the house search in earnest. I’ve still not confirmed that my rent here will indeed be raised, but I have no reason to doubt it either. Hopefully, I will find out for sure today. In the meantime, a nice two-bedroom place here in Alta Vista is coming available in May. There’s an apartment upstairs and I prefer to have a place to myself. Then again, the guy who lives there is a Hasher and plays darts, so we are not strangers. We’ll see.

The way to find rentals here is through word of mouth and/or walking around until you spot a for rent sign. I mentioned to my waitress at Mango’s last night that I was in the market and she has a friend who might know a place. She sent some photos and it looked pretty good. They also have a thing like the key money in Korea–you pay a lump sum up front, live rent-free, then get the money back when you move out. The waitress mentioned 2.5 million pesos, which is over $50,000. I’d need a comfort level that I really would get that money back. On the other hand, after 5 years or so, I’d pretty much be breaking even. We’ll see.

***This is the house on Baloy that I have some interest in. No word yet on availability.***

***I like that it is fenced and private. I think the boys would be happy there…***

Cooked dinner at home last night.

I actually didn’t practice good grill control technique and had some grease fires to contend with. Made the meat a little more cooked than I prefer, but still satisfactory.

So, I was chatting with one of my unmet FB friends today. Wanted to show her my “good” side, so sent her this photo:

She seemed impressed, so I sent her this one:

***That was ten years ago. Everything changes.***

***And now I’ve wound up like this. What a ride it has been!***

What’s going to happen next? Well, the Hash for one thing. Hopefully, my stamina will be adequate for today’s trail. And then next week we will be doing the annual climb up Easter mountain. Oh boy!

Damn, I just ran out of gas. Gonna grab a nap before I head out for the Hash. Later, gators!

Yesterday’s hike. Nothing that exciting, but enjoy the street scenes if you are so inclined.

Sleeping around

Posted on 28/March/2021 by John McCrarey

But not in the good way. As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, it feels like Joe Biden has shut down the pipeline that delivers energy to my tired old body. By my reckoning, I had four hours of naps during the ten daylight hours when I would normally be active. Just past noon today and I’ve already had two hours of naps. So, it is kind of a dilemma. On the one hand, it would seem my body is telling me to give it a rest. But on the other, I’m thinking maybe some sweaty exercise will kill whatever this bug might be.

I had the best of intentions this morning. I got through the full thirty-minute dog walk. My routine is that I do another one and a half hours of walking afterward. I had decided to push myself today and do a long (for me) 10+K hike. Alas, once I got home with the dogs, I felt the energy drain from my body so I went upstairs and laid down. I woke an hour later and felt refreshed, so I figured it’s now or never, and off I went. I didn’t didn’t do any hills or anything difficult, but at around the 6K mark I developed pain in my right leg. So, I readjusted my route and headed for home, settling for an 8.5K walk. Still, that’s better than yesterday, so I’ll call it progress.

I had a hankering to get out of the house late in the afternoon yesterday, so I headed out to Baloy Beach.

***The Kokomo’s floating bar to be precise.***

***Where I enjoyed bay and beach views…***

The beers were cold and the gals were friendly, so I stuck around until the sun went down.

***I don’t think I’ll ever grow tired of views like this one.***

***Then I headed home under the light of a full moon…***

Once I got home, I had some work to do. Namely, taking my baby back ribs out of the crockpot and into the oven for glazing. Boiled up some corn-on-cob and Brussel sprouts as well.

It tasted better than this photo makes it look. There is an art to food photography I suppose, but my main focus was getting the food into my stomach. I’m a little surprised I remembered to get a pic.

With a full belly, I headed upstairs for some sleep. You’d think all that daytime snoozing would have kept me awake all night, but that was not the case. Thankfully!

Let’s see what happens next!

Sapped

Posted on 27/March/2021 by John McCrarey

I honestly have no idea what ails me, but I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired. Yeah, whatever it was, or is, is back. The worst aspect of my condition is that I just don’t have any energy. This morning I had to do an abbreviated dog walk, came back home, then took a nap. I was up for an hour or so, then went upstairs and slept some more. Woke up, checked the computer, then decided to watch some TV. I fell asleep on the couch. That’s not like me at all and I hope I get over this lethargy soon. I need to walk!

Speaking of which, I did manage to get my Friday group hike in yesterday. Only four of us altogether, and Troy took the lead. He’s the Hare on Monday so we did part of his trail in reverse. I think we did around 7K, but by the time we got back to Alta Vista, I was whupped. I didn’t even have the energy to hoof it over to Cheap Charlies, so I invited the group to my place for beers and chicken nuggets. It was a good finish to the hike.

***Our first climb of the day started here…***

***Trekking through a rice paddy. Thankfully, it was dry.***

**As her big day approaches, Easter mountain looms large…**

Last night I headed over to Alley Cats to play in the dart tourney. Once I arrived, I just wasn’t feeling it somehow. Not sure if that is a manifestation of my illness or something else. Finished my beer and left. I don’t think I’m going to play tonight either. Just not motivated.

I did, of course, enjoy me some Friday night beverages. Cheap Charlies to start, then over to Palm Tree, Went next door to Mango’s, and brought home some roast chicken for dinner. In bed before 9:00 as usual, but I slept poorly–a 59 sleep score on my Fitbit. I’m usually in the high 70s.

Anyway, it’s bound to get better one day soon.

***The sunset as viewed from Palm Tree yesterday. Even when things are bad, they are good. I’m blessed.***

They say it’s your birthday

Posted on 26/March/2021 by John McCrarey

So, I ventured out to Baloy Beach yesterday to help one of my buddies celebrate his birthday. Steve is an Aussie and knows how to party! He filled his house with thirty or so other like-minded souls, and the celebration was on! Lots of beer and good food made for an enjoyable afternoon.

What I didn’t know was that Steve’s wife, Viola, is celebrating her birthday today. So, it was a dual-purpose party.

I’ve only known Steve and Viola for year or so. But from all outward appearances, he’s living large and living right. He clearly loves his gal and she reciprocates. A lucky man! Oh, and in case you are wondering, Steve turned 69 yesterday. Viola is 28 today. But as the saying goes here, “age is just a number”.

***How’s that for a birthday cake recognizing 69 trips around the sun?***

I’d visited Steve’s place once before for his house-warming party. I observed then that he lives right across the street from my first-ever residence in the Philippines, a crappy one-bedroom apartment. Well, oddly enough, Viola mentioned that a house right up the street may be coming up for rent soon. From a distance, it looked like it might meet my requirements; a single-family house with a fenced yard, and plenty of room. If the price is truly what Viola said she heard (less than 30,000 pesos) I’d have to seriously consider making the move back to Baloy. There are downsides to Baloy, lacking ease of access is the one that drove me away the first time, but if I lived in Baloy I’d probably stay put most of the time. Lots of beach bars and other places to hang out and/or dine. I’d miss the views and comfort level I have in Alta Vista, but if my landlady plans to fuck me (and not in the good way) over rent, I’m outta here. Time will tell, I suppose. My lease is paid through June.

And there you have today’s installment in the tale of my so-called life.

Ten for us? Roger that.

Posted on 25/March/2021 by John McCrarey

The highlight of my yesterday was a 10K hike from the Waltermart in Subic town back to Barretto on the highways and byways and backroads between there and here. I’ve got the pictures to prove it which I’ll get to in a minute.

The other thing that happened is I met the owners of the newest bar in town. Actually, it’s an old bar known to most as T-Rose. T-Rose closed several months ago and a new bar opened in that location called McCoy’s. That venture only lasted a couple of months. In fact, it is the place I was singing in just a couple of days before they closed. Not that one event has anything to do with the other.

Anyway, I was walking by last night and noticed that the lights were on, so I popped in. I met Bob and Cliff, the new proprietors, who informed me the bar was not technically open yet, they had unlocked the doors so the dart league team (from the McCoy’s days) could play their scheduled match. Still, they invited me to have a seat and a beer and that’s what I did. It’s Bob’s first time in the bar business, but something he’s dreamed about for years. He said the deal they got on taking over the lease was too good to let pass. Bob says profit isn’t his motive, he just bored with being retired and the bar will be more of a hobby project. We did share stories of our customer experiences in other places and I think his philosophy will be consistent with what I like in a bar. I also like that he will emphasize good service. One way he will do that is by motivating the waitresses by allowing them to keep the tips they receive. This shared tip jar thing most bars use has long been a pet peeve of mine. If I can’t tip the gal who serves me, I’m less likely to tip. I think this is a good strategy which will benefit the staff and the customers. We’ll see.

I asked Bob the name of the place and he responded “it doesn’t matter”. I’m thinking that of course, it matters. When he saw my look of confusion he clarified that the name of the bar is It Doesn’t Matter. Ha! I like his sense of humor and wish him well. I’m looking forward to becoming a regular there. And anytime someone asks me where I’m going to be drinking, I will enjoy matter-of-factly answering “it doesn’t matter.”

To the hike, then:

***Our mostly paved and relatively flat stroll.***

***Gathering up at our meeting point outside Alta Vista. Six of us altogether yesterday.***

We had planned to travel out to Subic town via Jeepney. This one pulled over but didn’t have room for all of us. A few minutes later a commuter bus came by and we flagged it down. Much more comfortable for just a few pesos more.

It turned out to be an expensive ride for me though, and this picture captures that story, You can see the bus pulling away in the distance. And that’s me with my hands in my pockets realizing that one of my new vape pens must have fallen out of my pocket and onto the bus seat I was occupying. That’s $20. down the drain.

Passing by Fiesta Homes, a large subdivision of relatively inexpensive homes catering to the working class Filipino.

***On the open road, that road being the GOVIC highway..***.

***The turn-off for Naugsol. Seeing as how I’m a slow fuck, the other guys are waiting my arrival at the junction.***..

***A rare sight indeed–trash in bags! Actually, those were recyclables and this is a way to scratch out a living.***

***This may be my favorite picture of Easter mountain.***

***Another junction, another group shot of impatient hikers…***

***The last time I crossed this bridge I swore “never again!”. I kept that vow yesterday.***

***Yes, this is much more to my liking…***

Speaking of bridges, this one is a bridge to nowhere. They were in the process of building a bypass highway to Tibag. Then someone in the Transportation Department determined that such a route was “unfeasible” Hey, that’s the kind of government efficiency that makes the Philippines the Philippines.

***Another perspective on Easter mountain.***

***I never saw a purple carabao, I never hope to see one…But lots of these black ones around.***

***Time to harvest those mangoes. Biggest damn ladder I think I’ve seen…***

So, that’s the way it went down. As usual, thanks to Scott for most of these photos.

This afternoon I’ll be attending a birthday party out on Baloy Beach. Should be a good time.

Later, gators!

Nothing at all

Posted on 24/March/2021 by John McCrarey

For a man who is living a life devoid of meaning and purpose, I guess I’m doing alright. Makes it tough sometimes to meet my goal of a daily post here at LTG though. I hope you’ll indulge my journey into nothingness today. I’ll keep it short, if not sweet.

I made my debut on TikTok, courtesy of a Facebook friend who apparently has too much time on her hands. It’s me singing in a videoke joint a few weeks ago. It is really horrible, even by my low standards. I can’t say for certain that my rendition of this song was the proximate cause, but the bar closed down for good a couple of days later. You’ve been warned!

@lynmarsm2013
#thehiker #singing #bonding #goodvibes 💛💙💚🎤🎶🐾🌄👏
♬ original sound – Lynnmar – Lynnsm Brena

I must have been crazy to think I could pull this off.

I can’t believe you are still here! I promise I’ll never post something like that again!

Speaking of things that ain’t quite right, how about this sentence:

I saw a bald eagle in the wild a few years ago, and to be honest, it looked, even as it flew over the snakey river and the murmuring pines and the hemlocks—Canadian trees, according to Longfellow, whose “Evangeline,” is a poem of exile I adore—like a bigot.

That’s from a professional writer. I reckon it’s grammatically correct, but I found it grating and almost non-sensical. Yeah, yeah, I get the irony of ME complaining about bad writing. But I’m not getting paid for my drivel, so there! And no, I don’t usually indulge in the “literature” found on the Poetry Foundation webpage linked above. Althouse sent me there.

In news a little closer to home, I heard from Maria last night. She’s the one I tried to enlist in my “friends helping friends” program. Sadly, she apparently didn’t grasp the concept of give and take, and her repeated and frequent requests for money with no reciprocation drove me away. Anyway, I guess the rent is due again and NOW she wants to fuck me for money. The problem is, I never had any interest in that kind of arrangement. I wanted her to care about me and want to be with me because she cared. Or at least pretend she did. That money for sex thing is available all over town, it’s just not what I want to do. That she would make such a proposal after we had discussed the arrangement I was seeking (and she professed agreement with) is rather insulting. I was drunk when I got her message and chose to wait to respond when I was sober. I’m sober now and feeling like there is nothing left to say. I’m sorry she’s facing eviction, but if she had played along with my scheme she’d never have had to worry about the rent money again. Instead, she chose the scammer’s path, and I have no desire to violate Rule #1 on her behalf.

I’m starting to see some red flags with Joy as well, but I’ll see how I feel after our planned meeting next week. It could be that my concept of “sharing and caring” is just a pipe dream. We’ll see.

A third place finish in darts last night, about what we deserved. My partner and I didn’t play bad, but our opponents that beat us played better. Thems the breaks.

***According to Facebook Memories, it was 8 years ago today I was getting my ass kicked at a tourney in Virginia Beach. I was bigger and better back then. MUCH bigger.***

A Facebook friend posted some of her photos from yesterday’s Hash. I thought a couple of them better illustrated the difficulty of the trail than the ones I posted here did.

Anyway, I’m not averse to goading my lefty friends and watching their heads explode. But sometimes they make it too easy. I posted the meme below yesterday, but my target was the Facebook “factcheckers” who are notoriously dishonest. Welp, Facebook hasn’t banned me (yet), but my open minded liberal friends didn’t like it much.

***Here’s an actual comment left on this post: “Fake news, he didn’t fall, far right media lying as normal”.***

Oh, well. I’m sure he’s a happy guy, ignorance being bliss and all.

That’s it for today. Thanks for dropping in and putting up with my nonsense. Engaging with y’all is one of the highlights of my day.

Are you hungry, man?

Posted on 23/March/2021 by John McCrarey

I thought I was, so I looked in the freezer to find something quick and easy to prepare. Then I remembered I’d bought a TV dinner, sort of on whim (was surprised to see it in Royal), and figured now was as good a time as any to pop it into the microwave.

***Thanks for giving this blessing today, Lord…***

***Wait a minute! That’s not how it looked on the box!***

It didn’t taste as good as I remembered, either. Oh well, sometimes those strolls down memory lane don’t go as planned. Best to leave the past in the past, I suppose.

Speaking of strolls, had a good one at yesterday’s Hash. And when I say good, I mean, good and hard. The “sane” group I hike with sliced about 1.5K off a 6K, Leech My Nuggets, trail. But that still left us with three climbs and two steep and slippery downs. (If you are wondering about the disparity between the number of ups and downs, the hike ended in Alta Vista after the third climb). And when I bitch and moan about the DOWNHILL more than the ascent, you know it had to be wicked bad. It wasn’t just the steepness going down, although that was tough, damn it was slippery as hell too. The grass and leaves are always something to be reckoned with, but yesterday there were loose rocks and pebbles underfoot as well. Gave a whole new meaning to “rock and roll” and I was moving along, kinda like a rolling stone.

Obviously, I lived to tell about it. I had also been worried about how my recent illness would impact my durability and stamina, but once I finished the first climb, it felt like I’d gotten my second wind. Leech My Nuggets always lays a tough trail, so it feels like a special accomplishment to make it to the end. The end was at Leech’s newly constructed house, and he threw a nice On-Home party, including a tasty spread of food, for his fellow Hashers.

Here’s the story in pictures (most of which aren’t mine):

***The first climb of the day began here…***

***Enjoy that level path while you can…***

***The first down actually wasn’t too bad..***.

***Leech is known for his always well-marked trails.***

***Marching towards our second climb of the afternoon…***

***Oddly enough, sometimes it seemed more slippery going across, rather than down, the hillside…***

***Keep your feet firmly planted on the ground.***

***It appears that Pubic Head (behind the tree) is on all fours. Again.***

***Oh, a portion of the trail included walking through a creek bed. That’s never a good time!***

***No broken bones. That leg looks fine to me. Almost tasty…***

***Greetings to you, Easter mountain.***

***Commencing the final climb of the afternoon.***

***Helping to deflower our virgin Hasher…***

***Thanks for having over to the house, Leech (that’s him on the right in yellow).***

Man, I thought maybe I’d sweated out the last of this bug that’s been bugging me, but I still have almost no energy. I took a nap before sitting down to write this post, and I’ll be damned, but I feel like I need another one now. Ah well, one of the benefits of being I retired I suppose–time is my bitch. At least until I run out of time. No time soon I hope.

R.I.P.

Posted on 22/March/2021 by John McCrarey

Resting in place, that’s about all I’ve been doing these past couple of days. I’m a wuss when it comes to being sick, so I reckon I should just be thankful that whatever it is that ails me is relatively minor. My temperature this morning was back down to the normal (for me) 36.4. The cough is also diminishing in frequency. The two main symptoms that remain are some body aches (shoulders and arms) and a lack of energy that leaves me feeling lethargic. Aspirin works for the pain and I have an excuse for being lazy–win-win!

So, based on my reasoned self-diagnosis, I’ve decided to participate in today’s Hash. At least as best as I am able. I’ve got a streak of 71 consecutive runs, currently the best in the pack, and I’m loathe to break that string. Well, at least until I can get on a fucking airplane again. Anyway, I’ll be prepared to shortcut/bail as necessary. Leech My Nuggets is the Hare and the On-Home is at his newly constructed house which just happens to be on the next street over from me. I won’t have any trouble getting home tonight!

Just how boring has my self-quarantine been? Well, I watched TV for the first time since being locked down last year. Okay, technically I watched TV shows, but I did so on my laptop. Yep, a 53-inch smart TV in the living room, and I was too damn lazy to move my sorry ass in there to watch on the big screen. Hey, I blame whatever it is that ails me. So, I went old school and watched some Alfred Hitchcock Presents and a couple of episodes from One Step Beyond. I’m so old I remember those series from when they were on the air. Both shows have held up pretty well I reckon, and it was cool to see the world from a late 50s perspective. And they were free on YouTube, although the frequent 5-second ads were annoying. It was a pleasant enough way to fill the time when I wasn’t napping, though.

A commenter on yesterday’s post, Kevin Kim, inadvertently reminded me of another of my unmet Facebook friends. I’ve not written about Bherna previously. We chatted for a while, and like the others, she was keen on setting up an in-person meeting.

We never did wind up getting together. Turns out she was just a little too honest. Why might that be a problem? Well, she let me know that she was a girl with something extra. That something being a penis. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t judge a person based on their sexual orientation or gender identity. But I’m a pussy bigot, it’s all I like, and all I want. In an effort to change my mind, Bherna sent me a video clip of her eating a banana. She does appear to be talented, but not enough to tempt me. Reminds me of the story about a guy who was dating a bakla (ladyboy). His friend asked him, “what makes you think she is a real girl?” He answered, “I can feel it inside of me”. Ouch!

That’s all I’ve got for today. Assuming I survive the Hash I’ll be back with more of this nothingness tomorrow.

Eat my balls!

Posted on 21/March/2021 by John McCrarey

***I didn’t need no stinkin’ cookbook to make my crockpot meatballs.***

***Of course, it is hard to go wrong with my recipe. So simple even I can do it!***

***But be careful out there. Things are not always as they appear..***.

I played my singles league dart match against Jocelyn last night. Eked out a 9-7 victory, and was probably fortunate to have done so. A very frustrating night. I was off my game for one thing, but I was also handicapped by my darts not sticking properly in the dart board. I had lots of fall outs which are real game changers. Not sure what to do about it. I’ve recently replaced the points on my darts, but that doesn’t seem to have corrected the problem. Well, I’m to blame as well, I suppose. I don’t throw hard to begin with which just exacerbates the problem. I tried tossing my darts more forcefully, but that just caused me to lose accuracy (of which I have little to spare). I’m not making excuses, even when my darts stuck in the board I was playing like shit. Jocelyn keeps getting better and better, and I was down 2-5 before clawing my way back.

On the to-do list: 1. practice, practice, practice. 2. look for a replacement set of darts.

Here’s a quick update on my FB lady friends. Elley continues to message me with irritating regularity, despite my trying to ignore her. For example, last night:

Hello Can I sleep over to you ? I will take care of you sweetie Message me please

I willing to stay to you forever sweetie I hope you understand my feelings for you sweetie

Hello sweetie can I sleep over there now I’m little bit drunk I hope I stay with you at least this Night

Geez. No thank you! Well, she’s also asked a couple of times to bring her cousin over with her. Um, that gets my imagination humming, but I think prudence dictates that I stay far away from this one.

Now, Joy, on the other hand, seems to be normal enough that I may want to maintain a friendship with her. I’ve already committed to seeing her prior to her daughter’s birthday on April 2. That way she’ll have the funds for a celebration. But I’ve appreciated that Joy seems to genuinely care about my well-being (or at least does a good job pretending). She also volunteered to come over and take care of me while I’m under the weather. I declined of course, but I thought it was sweet of her to offer. She has also suggested some home remedies for my symptoms. And next time we meet she wants to give me a massage. She can also hold her own pretty well in a conversation. So, basically, Joy is offering to do the kind of things that I’d like to have done for me. In return, of course, I’ll give her the cash she so desperately needs. Depending on how things go I may “adopt” her as my charity project. Meaning I’ll go beyond the quid pro quo of money for sex and perhaps do some other things to make her life easier. We’ll see. What I don’t want to happen is for Joy to start acting like Elley–I’m not looking to get into a boyfriend/girlfriend relationship with anyone. If I start getting those vibes, I’ll head for the hills.

Concerning my health, I seem to be doing somewhat better today. I had a rough night last night, body aches made it hard to get comfortable and sleep. My cough is still here, but I’m hacking up phlegm, so that’s not consistent with COVID symptoms. I had a bowl of cereal for breakfast this morning and I could taste it just fine. When I take my temperature, it is normally around 35.8. I watched it creep up throughout the day yesterday, and it peaked at 37.4 this morning. Just checked it again now, and it has dropped to 36.7. So, whatever this is, it seems like perhaps it has run it’s course, Or at least things are moving in the right direction. I’m staying close to home and taking it easy, just to be on the safe side.

***Here are the latest COVID numbers for Olongapo City. We are doing quite well, it appears. Certainly, no big outbreaks like they are experiencing in Manila.***

And that, dear readers, is just about all I’ve got for you today. Well, I found this both funny and sad

It makes you wander

Posted on 20/March/2021 by John McCrarey

***See what I did there? Yeah, it’s an intentional play on words,*** ***not a screwup. Granted, with me you*** ***never can know for sure***.

A rather typical Friday around here. A hike that featured some exploration and the adventure that seeking out new trails provides. Only 5.5K, which is on the short side for us, but damn, we are in the midst of “hot” season, and our trail was ample length to reduce us all to a sweaty mess. It won’t take many hikes like this one before I’m looking forward to rainy season. I’ll post some photos from the hike down below.

I didn’t play darts last night, opting instead for the ambiance that is uniquely Cheap Charlie’s. Beers, lady drinks, and some Foodies for dinner. The girls seemed to enjoy themselves, but then again, that’s their job I suppose.

***That’s the bartender, Jona. She’s got a grace about her that I find quite attractive.*** ***Alas, that feeling does not appear to be mutual***.

***Luckily, I was able to drown my sorrows.***

***Watching the sun go down while the beer goes down is a synchronicity I rather enjoy.***

What else have I got? It’s getting tough to leave comments on some blogs that require you to prove you aren’t a spambot.

***Or maybe I’m just not “woke” enough…***

Oh, and this is what I posted on Facebook to provoke my lefty “friends”:

Alright, enough of that nonsense. Here are some photos from yesterday’s hike. As usual, photo credit is shared with Scott and Linda.

***As I understand it, a lot of the path we hiked will be incorporated in*** ***Simon’s Hash trail on Monday…we just did it in reverse.***

***We left from my house. This flowering tree in the neighborhood is more stunning than I was able to capture with my limited photography skills.***

***A couple of uphill climbs that were quite manageable. One steep-ass downhill was potentially a killer. Well, we all survived, but it was a pain in the ass…***

***Six of us adventure seekers were present.***

***Kids in Marian Hills playing in the water from the well.***

***These girls were collecting some kind of wild nuts on the mountain. They also found some cookies.***

***Making my way back to civilization.***

***Turning the creek bed outside your house into a personal landfill. Only in the Philippines!***

***Linda crossing that bridge when she came to it.***

***Dynamite Dicks for liquid refreshment and lunch after our hike…***

***Sharing the cookie bounty with our friendly wait staff…***

That was how my day went down. Today I’m feeling like shit. Have a cough and more lethargy than normal. My temperature is still under 37, but barely. I’m trying not to be paranoid. I am supposed to play darts this afternoon. I don’t want to cancel my match, but I also don’t want to be spreading bad news, if this is indeed bad news. We’ll see how I feel in an hour.

UPDATE: Alright, my temperature seems to be holding steady at 36.7, so I’m going to go ahead and play my darts match.

Floating away

Posted on 19/March/2021 by John McCrarey

The exciting news in these parts is that the Kokomo’s floating bar on Baloy beach has reopened. Surprising really, given that the ridiculous COVID restrictions are still in place. Not sure how they pulled it off since only restaurants, not bars, are allowed to operate. Well, you can get food delivered from Treasure Island and Da’Kudos, so maybe that works.

Anyway, I spent an enjoyable evening on the water yesterday for the first time in over a year. Kokomo’s used to be one of three floating bars (along with Arizona and Blue Rock) and was my least favorite back in those glory days. Like I told the gals last night, Kokomo’s is now the best floating bar in town and has the prettiest women. There is something to be said for being the only game in town I suppose.

***The floater as seen from the beach…***

***I wound up buying the crew dinner…***

***And then the sun set on another day in paradise.***

It almost felt like things were back to normal. Today’s news, however, brings reports that Pamapagna, the next province over, has re-imposed draconian measures, including a ban on alcohol sales. Good thing I made it to Angeles last week! Anyway, don’t get me started on how completely idiotic this lockdown crap truly is. So far at least, the powers that be in Olongapo City and Zambales province have not seen fit to take similar actions limiting the freedom of the citizenry. Hopefully, that will remain the case. I wish there was a vaccination available that would cure the ignorance of elected officials, but until then, I’m going to keep on keepin’ on.

I reckon I better head out now for some beers while I still can!

Taking a tumble

Posted on 18/March/2021 by John McCrarey

Not to be confused with a roll in the hay. But I had one of those too. So, here’s the ups and downs, ins and outs, and the lowdown for the past 24 hours.

I changed my mind at the last minute and played in the Alley Cats darts tourney. Another big turnout which makes for a long night. Me and my partner made it to the finals but could not overcome the superior dart throwing of Billy and Nancy. No shame in second place though!

Max, one of the guys in our hiking groups and a fellow Hasher, didn’t join us yesterday. He reports having a cough, a fever, and generally feeling like shit. Given those symptoms, he has wisely chosen to self-quarantine for a while. Did I mention he was also in Angeles City last weekend? And that he rode with me in the car getting there and back? In what I’m sure is totally unrelated news, our hotel in AC was being used to house quarantined passengers arriving at the airport. Of course, we didn’t know this until we saw suspiciously placed chairs outside room doors where meals in Styrofoam containers were placed each morning and evening.

Just checked my temperature–36.4. No other symptoms except lethargy, but that’s not unusual for an old geezer like me. 17,000+ steps so far today. Let’s hope I’m just spreading good cheer!

So, I met Joy today. She seems very sweet, actually. Sexy too. She claims to have never eaten a burrito before and said she enjoyed the one I made for her. It might be true, she wanted to take home some leftovers to share with the family. Gave her some cash after we ate, but she still wanted to come upstairs with me. She’s a cuddly thing, and I like that. We got down to business, and being the gentleman that I am, I finished quickly so she could head back home. She seemed disappointed and had an “already?” look about her. No idea what’s up with that. She expressed some interest in getting together again sometime prior to her daughter’s birthday on April 1. I was non-committal, but I’d probably be willing to give her another go.

Oddly enough, I didn’t feel guilty at all. We both got what we came for. More or less. Today I received yet another unsolicited entreaty from another FB “friend” I’ve never met. So far the desire to respond is non-existent. Guess I am feeling satisfied.

Yesterday’s walking group hike went fine for the most part. Troy led us on a surprisingly difficult trail with two ups, and the first was a long-ass climb. Apparently, he’s scouting some possibilities for the trail he is gonna Hare soon. As seems to be the norm on our hikes, we lost the trail at one point and had to blaze our way down a steep hill. It was tough going, and about halfway down I lost my footing and took a pretty big tumble. I don’t recall ever having my hat and glasses come flying off during a fall. Luckily, I found both items in the grass and leaves. No injuries either, but it is that kind of crash that I fear when I hike alone. Anyway, I lived to write this post. You’re welcome!

The Hare (Vienna Sausage/Guenter) for our Easter trail is gearing up for that hike and posted this heads up today:

***Well, I’ve done Easter mountain once, and there is no easy way. So, the “normal” trail is going to be hard. I don’t even want to think about what Guenter is calling the hard way up.*** ***Props on his nice artwork though. I understand he is a video game designer in real life.***

If you want to see some photos from our Wednesday hike, here they are:

***A tad*** ***over 7K all told.*** ***Most of it was flat other than that monster climb*** ***at the beginning and shorter moderate*** ***climb in the middle***.

**Only five of us on the hike this time.**

***The steps finally ended, but not our climb.***

***Getting there, one foot after the other.***

***Yes, kids. That’s what a German looks like…***

***Back on flat ground again. Anyone recognize that mountain in the background?***

***The beautiful Matain river in all her glory…***

***Beer time at Cheap Charlies.*** ***You can see the mud on my shirt from my tumble down the mountain…***

A new hobby?

Posted on 17/March/2021 by John McCrarey

Or maybe just a new pastime. I report, you decide. But before I get to that, here is how my lazy Tuesday went down:

As usual, I went to Royal for my weekly grocery shopping. I am happy to report that my tab was just a little over my $250. goal. I’d call that progress. $150 less than two weeks ago. That’s how much I’m saving without bringing my helpers along to fill the cart.

Back at home, I had to invoke Rule #1 again. This request was a bit more twisted than usual. A female Hasher, who is in a relationship with another Hasher, gave me her sad story and asked me for a “loan”. Seems her long-term boyfriend has put her on a budget and she can’t abide by that. Well, I sure as hell ain’t getting in the middle of that kind of domestic situation. And since she is in a relationship with someone I know, I can’t do my standard quid pro quo offer. I responded in my normal fashion to this type of request. Silence. I thought it was funny when I saw that an hour or so later she had deleted her message. Guess she was afraid I’d show it to the wrong person or something. Ah well, these are hard times for many but I’m working hard to lose my reputation as a sucker.

So, if I’m not a sucker, what does that make me? Here’s the latest weirdness to happen in my life. I’ve accepted several Facebook friend requests from women I’ve never previously met. The only connection we have is some mutual FB friends. A couple of them have been sending me messages since then asking me to meet them. For a while, I just ignored them. They persisted though, and I eventually sent some brief responses along the lines of “not today, busy”, “sorry, going out of town”, but they didn’t take the hint. It got me wondering about their motivation. Which led me to engage with Elley, just to see what her deal was.

Elley asked again to meet me. I asked her what she had in mind. She said I want to come see you at your house. I asked what she wanted to do. She said just drink with you. I told her I don’t drink this early in the day. She responded, okay we just boom-boom (local parlance for having sex). Well, pervert that I am I told her that sounds good. She said she would hop in a trike and come right away. I told her I paid P3000 for short time and she was happy with that amount. I asked how old she was and she told me 20.

She came, so did I, and then she left. I gave her some cookies to give her kid. This morning she sent a message that she wanted to go hiking with me on Sunday and see the mountains. I didn’t respond. This afternoon she asked if she could come over with her cousin. I asked why and she said they were bored. I told her I was busy today. She is not my type to be honest, although I did appreciate the offer to go hiking. The sex was okay, but nothing special. This is probably a one-and-done situation for me and Elley.

This afternoon I had a long and surprisingly enjoyable chat with the other new FB friend, Joy. She is 31 with two kids and is also in financial distress. During the course of our conversation I invited her to lunch tomorrow and she accepted. I’m going to make burritos. I made it clear that I was not looking for a relationship, but that I hoped we could be “friends with benefits”. She was shy about the sex for money thing, but I explained it wasn’t really like that. She needed help that I could provide. The sex was simply her way of saying “thank you”. That concept seemed to ease her mind. I might actually enjoy spending time with this one. We shall see.

Am I taking advantage of these gals? Should I feel guilty about it? You know, they are free to accept or reject my offers. They want and need my help, they have something I want and need in return. Seems like a win-win to me. Tomorrow with Joy I am going to take the same approach I did with Maria. I’ll give her the money at lunchtime. She can stay with me or go if she wants. I actually don’t like paying for sex, but I’ll gladly accept some intimacy’s offered in gratitude for my “generosity”. That’s what I keep telling myself anyway.

Ain’t life grand?

Over the top

Posted on 16/March/2021 by John McCrarey

It was good to be back on familiar ground at yesterday’s Hash. The trail technically started at the VFW, but since we knew it was going through Alta Vista a group of us just met up at my house. It was actually a nice and pretty easy hike up and over Black Rock mountain, then on out to our On-Home at Hunter Jo’s Inn in Calapadayan.

There was a second hill we bypassed. The Hare’s had provided a rope to assist with the climb, but we said nope to that and took the long way around instead. Afterward, the Hare asked if we had done the rope climb and we admitted we hadn’t. He said he had considered marking the way went as an “easy” version of the trail, but realized anyone inclined to take the easy route would already know which way to go. He was right about that!

I don’t recall ever doing three Hashes in a row before, but I have now for sure. Today is my off day so I’m getting recharged for tomorrow’s hike with the Wednesday Walkers. Here are the photos from yesterday:

***Gathering up and getting ready to head out from my house…***

This is only a three-foot drop, but that’s a bit more than I’m comfortable jumping. After contemplating my options and considering possible consequences, I sat on my ass and scooted down. All that I hurt was my pride.

***A brief jaunt on the GOVIC highway.***

***Beyond that gate lies the steep climb we bypassed.***

***Courtesy of someone else’s Facebook page, here’s what that climb looked like***.

***This is the way we chose to go. Can you see the difference?***

***Almost to the top of Black Rock.***..

***Taking a rest and enjoying the best views in the Subic area.***

***Selfie time. What do you mean I’m blocking the view?***

***Looking back from whence we came. That’s Alta Vista on the hill on the far side of the valley. And yes, I can see Black Rock from my upstairs bedroom window.***

***Alright time to head to the bottom. Our way up was not nearly as steep as this way down.***

***Steady as she goes. Actually, when it is dry out this rock face provides much better footing than a lot of surfaces. Not slippery at all.***

***Still, unless you can defy gravity it’s a bit tricky in places.***

***Cookies for the family living at the bottom of the hill.***

***A hop, skip, and a jump over the creek.***

*The neighbors shouted “one at a time!” at this crossing.*..

***But this bridge was sturdy enough for us all.***

***Deflowering some virgins. The one in yellow was my favorite. Damn my imagination!***

***And then the sun set on another day of Hashing.***

I’ll be back tomorrow with some tales about the latest weirdness in my life. In the meantime, there is this:

***I’m really not an anti-vaxxer and will be willing to get the shot(s) if it restores my freedom to travel. But still, I don’t get how the left says this isn’t okay…***

I’d walk a mile for a Camel

Posted on 16/March/2021 by John McCrarey

Toe. Although I guess technically I walked a little over two miles to see a camel toe show.

Different Hash kennels have different personalities it seems. At the Subic Hash, we are irreverent and not PC at all. La Union, on the other hand, bills itself as a family Hash. They would never countenance some of the songs we sing in Subic. In fact, they asked some of us with crude names to not use them when we participated in one of their Hashes. This Corona group is WAY out there on the spectrum when it comes to sexual innuendo, and dare I say it, exploitation. The camel toe contest was an example of that. They also did a “big dickus” thing that I thankfully didn’t stick around for. Anyway, I’m no prude and I wasn’t offended, but some of the shenanigans were tiresome and made the circle last much longer than I like.

With that said, I’ll share some pictures I took of the camel toe event. It was hard to get good shots from where I was standing and the girls seemed more inclined to show their butts than their pussies, but here’s what I got:

*and side…didn’t manage a front shot on this one.*

Everyone has their own idea about what’s hot or not, but damn, #6 tripped my triggers. I’d actually noticed her long before the contest started and wished that…well, never mind. The other thing that stood out to me was her boyfriend, a guy who looks older than me and not in good physical shape, forced her to participate. She resisted and refused until he physically pulled her out of the chair and into the circle. Not a pleasant thing to see. Having said that, once she was in the competition she put forth some effort to win. Not in the slutty way some of the gals tried, i.e. twerking and the like, she just strutted her stuff with dignity. Let that hot body do all the talking as it were. Well, she did pull those shorts up some I guess to emphasize the feature that was being judged. It looked good from my perspective!

And the majority of folks in attendance apparently agreed, as #6 won the contest.

And there you have the promised camel toe post. You know, it seems to me cameltoe should be one word, But my spellchecker says that ain’t right. Sorta like this I guess:

***I leave that answer up to the grammarians.***

Things can always be worse

Posted on 15/March/2021 by John McCrarey

Back home safe and sound. Well, as sound as I’m ever gonna be anyway. Now that I’m done with the Corona Hash weekend, it is time to gear up for today’s Subic Hash. So, let me do a quick down and dirty about yesterday’s happenings in Angeles.

We all gathered at the appointed time and place, the Premiere Hotel in AC. There were three Jeepneys parked in a lot and one nearby parked on the street. There was no one around from the Corona Hash to provide any guidance. At the appointed departure time of 1:30, a Hasher from La Union went over to the Jeepney on the street and the driver was heard to have said “this Jeep is for the easy trail”. So, the Hasher came back and relayed the information that anyone doing the short trail should board the street parked Jeepney and everyone else in the other three. About eight folks boarded the easy Jeep and five other people got in with me and my driver. I told my driver to follow the street-parked Jeepney to the trail. And so we waited. And waited.

As 2:00 p.m. neared I went over to the Jeepney and spoke with the driver. His English was very hard to understand, but I thought he said “waiting for 2 more”. That pissed me off, why should we wait on folks who couldn’t arrive on time? Still, nothing I could do about it, and not knowing where the “easy” was starting, we had to follow the Jeepney driver. When 2:00 passed I went over to a couple of Hashers sitting outside the sign-up venue. I asked if they could shed any light on the situation. They said we are Angeles City hashers and the Jeep is for Angeles Hashers, not the Corona Hash. Apparently what the driver had told the La Union Hasher was “this is for AC trail”, not easy trail. Well, fuck! I went and told the unhappy folks waiting in the Jeep that we were screwed. Now what? Went back to my car and discussed the situation with my riders. We had the GPS coordinates for the Corona Hash On-Home location, for all the good that did me with my non-existent tech skills. Well, not a problem for the Dutchman, Max (Nosy Bastard). I gave him my phone and in just a couple of minutes, we had a map to where we needed to go. I gave the paper with the coordinates on it to the other stranded Hashers and suggested they see if a cab could take them there. We pulled out and thirty minutes later arrived where we should have been 40 minutes earlier.

So we took off to do the short trail, which was incorporated into the long trail as was done on Saturday. There was steep, but not real long, climb to the top of the ridge. What made it more difficult for me was that the trail was covered in a powdery volcanic dust (Mount Pinatubo was only 11km away). Breathing that shit in got my lungs into full-on coughing mode. For the first time in a long time I needed to use the emergency inhaler that I carry for situations like this. A couple of squirts did seem to help, as did reaching the top relatively quickly.

After that, it was a nice hike along the ridgeline, then back down a not too steep path leading to the road that took us to the On-Home camp. Around 4.5K for the short trail Whatever temptation I may have felt to do the long trail was canceled by our late start. Probably a good thing because even the fastest of the Subic Hashers on the long trail arrived a good bit after we finished the short one, notwithstanding our late start.

And it the all’s well that end’s well category, those unfortunate Hashers we left behind in Angeles were able to contact the Corona Hash leader by phone. He sent a Jeepney to pick them up and they arrived in time to tackle the short trail as well.

The Hash circle on the other hand was another tiresome affair; longwinded, egotistical MC’s dragging things out much longer than necessary. My fear that this would happen is why I had my driver come a day early. By 6:30 I had had enough and bailed out early, forgoing the already paid for dinner portion of the Hash. There was one highlight, a camel toe contest, that I’ll cover in a subsequent post.

Here are some photos from yesterday’s adventure:

***We are On-On! Everyone else was long gone, so just the 5 of us on trail***.

***No pictures from the climb, it was all I could do to breathe.***

***That’s Leech My Pussy making her way along the ridge***.

***Goats on a hillside. Ain’t life grand?***

***One of the mountain views I enjoyed.***

***You can perhaps see the powdery dirt we encountered in places. Felt like walking on a sandy beach. Each footstep kicked up a small cloud of dust which my lungs did not appreciate.***

***The majority of the trail was good old fashioned packed dirt, just the way I like it.***

***There was some tall thatch grass in places too.***

***Alright, you already know which direction I turned…***

***The long trail was reported to be extraordinarily scenic. Our trail wasn’t bad though…***

***I rather fancied this flowering tree…***

***A banana farm in the middle of nowhere.***..

***None of us had ever walked through a gully quite like this one befor***e.

***We speculated as to whether its formation may have somehow been related to the volcanic eruption in 1991. None of us being geologists, the question went unanswered.***

***The Subic Bay Hashers in attendance to help the Corona Hash celebrate it’s first anniversary.***

***The long and mostly boring Hash circle in progress…***

***Here’s a little teaser–the camel toe contestants. I’ll let you speculate on who one for now***. ***More pictures and commentary tomorrow!***

And that was the day. I’m told the circle continued after the meal and the proceedings finally finished around 10 p.m. So glad I planned ahead. And now it is time to do it again here with the Subic Hash.

Good and bad

Posted on 14/March/2021 by John McCrarey

The title of this post pretty much sums up my first experience with the Corona Hash House Harriers here in Angeles City.

First to the good–I rather enjoyed the trail. I took the shorter version and found it to be just about right for me; one climb, a somewhat challenging creek side portion, and an interesting walk through a village of the Aeta native people. I *almost* regretted not taking the turn for the long trail until I learned later that it included a knee-high river crossing. Who wants wet shoes for today’s hike?

The bad part came after the actual Hash hike. The circle started late, and was overwrought and over long. Apparently, there is some bad blood between the breakaway Corona hashers and the original Angeles City Hash. So we had to listen to songs and commentary bashing the latter for a good portion of the circle. There were four other Hash groups in attendance (La Union, Subic, and two from Manila) and they all took turns doing their shtick, which rapidly became quite boring. And it just went on and on and on. I grew increasingly agitated because I was tired and hungry. When the circle FINALLY concluded, we had to walk up a steep hill to reach the Jeepneys for transport back to town. No fun after a few hours of drinking–I was pissed under two definitions of the word. Almost three, as I really had to pee during the ride back.

Anyway, we’ll see how it goes today. I had my driver arrive early so he can provide transportation back to town if I can’t endure another Hash circle reaching it’s conclusion. This is the big one-year anniversary event for the Corona Hash and will include an on-site after-circle dinner. Could make for a long day, let’s hope they keep it fun and interesting. Yes, I know I sound like a grumpy old man. I’m afraid that shoe might just fit.

Here are the photos from yesterday’s adventure:

**The unique comfort of riding in a Jeepney.**

***The Jeepney in which we rode. There were three all together.***

Written instructions left by the Hare. The long trail split off at about the 3.5K point. The junction wasn’t marked as well as it could have been. Some people did the long trail because they didn’t see the markers for the short trail.

***It’s always nice to have some new vistas to enjoy.***

***A traffic jam at the first of several creek crossings. Jumping rock-to-rock made for some slow going…***

***Once across, we followed the creek bed for quite some distance, crossing over from one side to the other frequently.***

***The rocky banks were indeed slippery in places.***

***The babbling brook in all her glory.***

*Buddy Fucker, Fuck Buddy, and Jessa (no Hash name yet)*.

***…then we left the creek behind for good.***

***We climbed back up to the ridgeline…***

***The native children were very friendly.***

***Burn, baby, burn! ‘Tis the season.***

***We didn’t miss this critical turn…***

***And finally the On-Home is in sight.***

***…standing around waiting for the circle.***

***And at last the circle finally began. Then it seemed like it would never end.***

***When the circle finally did end, we had to climb a big ass hill to catch a ride.***

So, there was a group dinner back in town that I skipped. Had a mediocre chicken sandwich at a sports pub near my hotel instead. As usual, I was in bed by 9:00 p.m.

Time to grab some lunch now and get ready for today’s trail. I’ll try and keep a positive attitude and have some fun. If not, I’ll bitch and moan about it here tomorrow. Fair enough?

The AC is not working

Posted on 13/March/2021 by John McCrarey

Or at least not working as well as it once did. I’m not a big fan of Angeles City, but it made me a little sad to see what the impact on the government’s response to COVID has done to the once-thriving bar district here. Almost all the hotels on Walking street were closed down. More than half the bars were shuttered as well. I guess that really shouldn’t come as a surprise since almost all the businesses here cater to an international tourist clientele. When even the Korean-owned bars and restaurants aren’t functioning, you know times are indeed hard. In a way, it is ironic that Barretto, always AC’s ugly little sister, is comparatively thriving now. The difference is that Filipinos are flocking to the Subic Bay beaches, there is no similar attraction to draw the locals here. Once international tourism is restored I expect Angeles will make a comeback.

In the meantime, I’m here and enjoying the change of scenery, sad though it may be. My hotel is probably somewhere between 2 and 3 stars, which is adequate. A little over $100. for three nights ain’t too bad I suppose. Signed up for the Hash activities which included a bar hop last night, a 7K hike today, and the big anniversary event tomorrow. I’m still a little nervous about being transported way out of town into unfamiliar territory, but I know several of my fellow Subic Hashers are old and slow like me, so if we stick together, things should be fine.

Here are a few photos from the trip so far: