I am happy to report that there were no casualties during yesterday’s Hash. Well, one guy didn’t finish until after 5:00 (we started at 2:30) and we got a little worried about him. He’s one of us slow oldsters, but that’s even slower than normal. He said he’d taken three falls along the way on loose leaves and the like and needed a rest along the trail as well. I was disappointed to learn he’d been out there alone the whole time too. His girlfriend, along with most of the other females, opted to not do the trail and stick to the pavement. I felt bad for the guy, but what are you going to do?

Feedback from the other Hashers was mostly positive, so there’s that. There were a couple of places we could have made the trail markings clearer, but that’s the way it goes sometimes. The Hash circle seemed to go well, notwithstanding the time I spent on the ice as one of the Hares. My chili sold out again and I got lots of compliments on that. People even noticed that I used both pinto and kidney beans. Maybe I’ll enter the chili cookoff competition this year! (kidding)

Speaking of Hashing, next weekend I’ll be in Angeles City to help the Corona Hash celebrate it’s first anniversary. Kind of a last minute decision on my part to join a pretty large contingent coming from the Subic Bay Hash House Harriers. I’m a little nervous because the Corona Hash broke away from the Angeles City Hash in part, as I understand it, because the AC Hash wasn’t adventurous enough and had easy trails. Well, I don’t know the area very well so shortcutting might not be an option, but I’m going to give it a go anyway.

I must say though that just making a hotel reservation this morning proved to be quite the adventure in and of itself. First I went to the webpage of my preferred hotel (or at least the one most guys from Subic are staying at) and booked a room for three nights. Then I got a message that a deposit for one night’s lodging had to be transferred into the hotel’s bank by Thursday. WTF? Isn’t that what credit cards are for? Anyway, I don’t know the procedure for doing a bank transfer and I don’t plan to learn.

So, I booked through Agoda, which is how I used to roll in those long-ago days when I actually could travel and needed to make hotel reservations. Max, the guy who drinks poisoned water, is going with me and he secured a room as well through Booking.com. He shared the price he got and I wanted to compare the rate with Agoda. That’s when I realized that I had booked a room for Thursday night only–I’m arriving on Friday. Geez, not sure how I screwed that up. So, I went in a canceled that reservation and made a new one for the weekend. Then just before I left the house to go shopping, I got a message from Agoda that “something had gone wrong” and my reservation was canceled. I figured I’d deal with it when I got back home.

After finishing my grocery shopping, I checked with Agoda and still had no confirmation. To hell with that, let’s see how Booking.com does. Easy as pie! Had the booking, confirmation, and an app for my phone so I didn’t have to print the confirmation. While I was playing with my new phone app, I noticed something that seemed a little off somehow. So, I looked at the calendar. I’d been making reservations all morning for NEXT weekend, not THIS weekend when I’m actually traveling. Jesus. So, I canceled the Booking.com reservation and made the correct one this time. And it was actually about twenty dollars cheaper. Maybe I’ll use that money to get my head examined. Or change my name to Biden.

Groceries came in at $300. again, still too much, but better than $400 I was spending.

Now I’m going to take a walk to Baloy beach. Nothing too unusual about that except this time I’m going to be looking to see what’s available for rent. I think I’d rather stay in my overpriced house here than go through the hassle of moving, but I’ve made up my mind that I’m not going to suffer any rent increase whatsoever when the lease expires in June. So, if the landlady is to be believed, there’s a move in my future.

I’ve got some updated begging stories, but I’ll save those for another day.

Peace out!

Just back from a three hour jaunt in the mountains around Barretto to help mark today’s Hash trail with my fellow Hares, Pubic Head and Blow My Pipe. The regular trail is just a little over 6K with two decent climbs. By decent, I mean not insane. We also added a 1.5K loop with another climb for those who prefer a longer trail.

I’ll need to shower up then head out to the VFW for the 2:30 send-off. Then I’ll make my way back to the Alta Vista Community Center for our On-Home activities. Makes for a long day, won’t even have time for my nap!

A couple of photos from the trail:

In other news, I posted this on Facebook last night:

Carol responded: “I don’t think you have s good grasp on the concept of “Karen”.” Um, I can’t think of a better example of how Karens act. To better make my point I responded with an example I had personally experienced.

Oh, probably better than you. I posted a picture showing my dinner at a “speakeasy” that stayed open during lockdown for select customers like me. One of my facebook “friends” saw the photo and outed the restaurant by name. What a fuckin’ Karen! My being there had no impact on him while he hid like the pussy he is in his basement. I was born a free man and I choose to die as one should that become necessary.

Of course, when a lefty has no response, they just double down. Carol said: “yeah that’s not a Karen. You however are a scofflaw.” Okay, it was getting late and I had been drinking. So, I went “there” with a hypothetical: “Suedbeck [Carol’s maiden name}, that’s German right? Wonder if your ancestors had Jewish neighbors. I’m sure they wouldn’t be scofflaws and not report them. Geez, you’ve gone completely off the deep end.” Carol responded with laughing emojis and said she must have struck a nerve. Maybe I should have just let it go, but I didn’t.

That you could defend these idiotic policies makes me sad for you, that’s true. I will proudly wear the mantle of “scofflaw” whenever the government tries to impose strictures that imperil my freedom. It is what patriots do. So, run along now and keep doing what you are told by those who claim to know better than you.

Now, Carol and I have been fighting over politics since I abandoned liberal dogma shortly after 9/11/2001. It wasn’t the reason our marriage failed, but it didn’t help matters much either. What she said next was the typical crap I should expect, but it still surprises me that anyone could be so defiantly ignorant:

yeah Timothy McVey thought he was a patriot. And Benedict Arnold. And the idiots that stormed the Capitol. Being dumb, reckless and inconsiderate does not make you a patriot. It just makes you dumb, reckless and inconsiderate.

See what I mean? Oh well, it’s pointless to argue with someone who sees the world through those lenses. I closed out my argument with this:

keep telling yourself that if it makes you feel better about your surrender. That you would compare having a meal and a beer during lockdown with blowing up a building tells me there is no point in further discussion of this topic. Be a sheep if that is your lot in life. #donttreadonme #livefreeordie

And of course, Carol had to get in the last word: “baaa”. Well, at least she has embraced what she has become. Sadly, she is not alone.

Anyway, sorry for the detour into politics. I don’t engage often these days and the above exchange demonstrates the pointlessness of trying. Scary times.

Back tomorrow with more LTG goodness. Or whatever it is you call this crap.

Another Monday, another Hash run. That makes 69 in a row if you are keeping score. I’m not, but Pubic Head posts the stats every week and that number jumped out at me for some reason. Go figure. Anyway, nothing else to do each week until I can start traveling once again.

So, I left the house at 1:30 to head over to the VFW, the alleged starting point of the trail. I noticed the Hares, Vienna Sausage (Guenter), and Fuck a Duck, were marking trail here in Alta Vista. I knew that had to be the end portion so I was hopeful that I’d find the beginning of the trail marked at VFW. Nope. Just more bullshit from the Hare. Anyway, I signed up and paid my fees, then waited for other members of the “safe and sane” group to arrive. I noticed two of the Angeles City Hashers departing early (prior to 2:00 and well before the “official” 2:30 starting time), so they clearly knew where the trail began. I asked Anal Receptive, one of the runners and part of the Hare’s “in-crowd” if he knew where the trail started. He did too. Now recall that when I specifically asked the Hare where to start he declined to answer, instead telling me to wait until 2:30 with everyone else. So yeah, I was taking this crap personally.

My group arrived and we took off. I already had an alternative trail in mind, but I wanted to check out the area Anal Intruder indicated was the starting point. And sure enough, it was. Seeing as how we were there, we took it. Almost straight up–over 60% grade according to Google Earth. We did the climb at a diagonal angle for the most part, but it was a slippery and treacherous mess. We got to the top without incident or injury though. I’d been on this mountain numerous times, but never knew the up we had just taken existed. Why would I? I know of at least two other ways to the summit that are not insane.

Our group consists of older gents like me, some womenfolk, and others who prefer to enjoy a hike without dealing with Hares who want to outdo each other in making things as difficult as possible. Now don’t get me wrong, I know there are Hashers who want the kind of challenge that Guenter provides, and that’s fine. I’d say that our group outnumbers those folks though and that’s why we band together and shortcut as we deem appropriate. Yesterday was no exception.

So, it was a little ironic that after our climb we found ourselves on the trail I was planning to use as the alternative had we not been able to locate Guenter’s path. All’s well that end’s well I suppose and we were On-On! Here are some photos from the hike (I forgot to turn on my tracker so alas, there will be no Relive video):

As we passed through Alta Vista on our way to the On-Home at Queen Victoria, the group popped over to my place for a cold beer and to kill a few minutes. The Hash tradition is no drinking Hash beer before the first runner returns. We needed to give the suckers who did the long trail a chance to catch up!

After the Hash circle rituals were completed, a few of us headed over to Palm Tree for some grub.

And after beers and food, the Filipinas with us wanted to go to a videoke place to sing. The one next door was closed, so we hoofed it up the highway to McCoy’s where we enjoyed buckets of beer and I treated the audience to my croonings.

As hard as it is to believe, I stayed out until well after 9:00. That’s a very rare event for this oldtimer.

Anyway, it all turned out for the best. I did a trail that was mostly enjoyable and I did it my way and at a time of my choosing. Better luck next time Guenter!