What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us.–Ralph Waldo Emerson

Yesterday was a full and mostly pleasurable day. It was nice to have someone with me on the hike. The group was more than a little taken aback when I came strolling up hand in hand with a cutie pie. A similar reaction when I brought her with me to Alley Cats for the darts tournament. The gals really seemed to take a liking to Lyn right away, especially the ones who are also from her home province of Samar. The guys seemed impressed as well. It’s been a long time since I had someone cheering me on during a match. I could never get my ex-girlfriend to come out and join me.

Lyn hasn’t ever been a dart player, but she showed a lot of interest in the game. During my warmup time, she joined in throwing at the board. As a complete beginner, she didn’t have much control, but with practice, I’m sure she’d develop some skills for the game. Once the tournament began, she watched the games intently and asked questions, so the interest is there.

As usual, over the course of the evening, I had moments of brilliance surrounded by demonstrations of complete ineptness. Still, I managed to come back and make it to the finals. Nancy, one of the better players participating, knocked me into the losers bracket. I met her again in the finals and took the first match 2-0. Prior to the deciding match, I asked if she’d prefer to split the money and call it a tie. She agreed.

As I mentioned above, Lyn was an enthusiastic participant in the Friday group hike. I was really quite impressed with her strength and stamina on a more difficult than usual trail and on a hot day. What I liked the most was she hung with me at the back of the pack, offering support along the way (doing things like wiping the sweat off my face and offering words of encouragement). My former Hashing girlfriend did her own thing and I rarely saw her until we were back at the On-Home venue. So again, I really appreciated Lyn’s caring nature.

We were attempting a trail that no one has tried since 2013 or so, which made it completely new to me. We went up into the hills near Naugsol with the intent to circle back around through Subic town. Things don’t always go according to plan. Somewhere early in our quest to the summit of the first hill, we lost our trail. Obviously, no one had been up that way in quite some time, so our path was obscured by thickets of bamboo and jungle-like vines and plants. The worst of the latter was covered in thorns and those fuckers were unforgiving should you have the misfortune of touching them. Pricks in my fingers and one even poked a hole in my ear. I also had a thorny branch stick its bristles in my shirt and it was a helluva battle to free myself without actually touching the damn thing. Anyway, bushwhacking is my least favorite activity on these hikes and it is something we usually can avoid. I felt bad for Lyn and told her that most of our hikes are a lot more pleasant than this one. She didn’t seem to mind, saying it reminded her of her childhood walks with her father in rural Samar.

Let’s go to the photos then, shall we?

Despite the missed trail and hard work making our way through the jungle, it was a fun hike. Thanks for joining us, Lyn.

Lyn left for home this afternoon. More thoughts to share on our time together tomorrow.

Here’s how things went down on my lazy Tuesday (lazy in the sense that I take a day off from hiking).

It’s grocery shopping day, and my driver picks me up at 8:30. Part of my weekly routine is to cash up at the BPI ATM at Harbor Point Mall. I’ve gotten into this habit because the only BPI ATM in Barretto is so predictably unreliable that I don’t trust It with my debit card. I use BPI because it allows a 20,000 peso withdrawal limit (the other banks have 10,000 max). So, since I only have the convenience of a functioning ATM once a week, I make two 20,000 pulls (around $800. total) and that’s usually enough to cover my bills and expenses for the week. The only downside is that BPI charges 250 pesos a pop, so my cash infusion costs me ten bucks. Yeah, there are cheaper ways to wire money but they have drawbacks too. Anyway, I’ve been using this method since the move here and it generally works out alright.

So, yesterday I make the first withdrawal, put the 20,000 in my wallet, and reinsert my card for the second pull. I can hear the ATM whirring as it prepares to complete my transaction, and then nothing comes out. The screen says “unable to dispense cash”, my card pops back out, and I get a receipt saying “transaction canceled.” Okay, I figure the machine just didn’t have enough money left in it. Still, I had a bad feeling so I had my driver take me to the BPI branch on the old Navy base. And when I tried to make a withdrawal there I got a “non-sufficient funds” message. As I feared, the first ATM had withdrawn the funds from my account but didn’t dispense them. Shit.

I had my driver take me back to the Harbor Point BPI branch so I could seek to have my money returned. Arrived at 9:20, but the bank didn’t open until 10:00. So, I went to Royal and did my shopping, then came back to the bank. Got there shortly after they opened but still had to wait my turn in the customer service line. When my turn came, I explained what happened, showed my “failed to dispense” receipt, and asked for my money back. I was given a form to fill out and when it was completed I was told I should see my money returned within two weeks. Alright, well, I guess I’ll just have to wait and see. I did report what happened to my bank in the USA too. This is not the kind of excitement I’ve been looking for in my life!

Got home and just lazed around waiting for darts time to come around. I usually try to arrive by 4:00 so I have time to practice/warm up before the tourney starts. A little after 3:00 I heard the ominous rolling of thunder. Looked outside and saw storm clouds on the horizon. Decided I’d best head for Alley Cats sooner rather than later so I could avoid getting soaked.

I hustled as fast as these old legs would carry me and almost made it to Alley Cats before the raindrops started falling on my head. I was lucky because a few minutes after I arrived there was a cloudburst with drenching rainfall accompanied by thunder and lightning. Geez, it seems like only yesterday I was complaining about the heat. Oh wait, I was.

Did my darts warm-ups and just wasn’t feeling it. I probably wouldn’t have stayed to play except it was still raining outside. Oh well, I figured I’d just get my ass kicked, get out early, and start using some of those coupons I won at the raffle. Alas, I played well enough to stay in the tourney until the end.

I’m not sure what got into me, but I was hungry and planning on doing my Sit-n-Bull thing, so I blurted out “anyone care to join me?” And the entire Alley Cats crew responded affirmatively. So, I stood by as they shut down the bar, then we headed up the highway for some grub.

I was a little nervous that I wouldn’t have enough cash for the meal. I saw owner Ron and asked if they took credit cards and he said “no, but we can work it out. If need be, come by and pay me tomorrow.” Well, okay. That’s an option. Then I remembered there was an ATM outside. I got on my bank’s phone app and transferred some money into my checking account, then went to the ATM. “Out of service”. Hmm, just not my day for electronic banking I guess. Oh well, I’d just work out any shortage with Ron later.

When the bill came I was indeed about 1500 pesos short (the total was 5700 before tip). Kevin (at the far end of the table) chipped in the difference and we were good to go. Dinner for nine for about 120 bucks ain’t bad though.

I went home alone as usual and woke up alone again. That may not be the case tonight. That gal I met from Angeles a couple of weeks back wants to come to visit again. Plans to arrive today. Not sure how long she is staying, maybe through the weekend. We’ll see how that goes.

In the meantime, I’ll just continue to live the life of a single man.

Stay tuned for more adventures!

Perhaps the standard for what constitutes a “win” has been set too high. Maybe my purpose in life is to lower that bar. After all, losing and winning is really just a point of view. Some folks might consider me a loser, but as meaningless and pointless as my day was yesterday, it had some highlights. I’ll call that a win!

I usually don’t start my afternoon routines until around 5 p.m., and by “routine” I of course mean visiting my favorites bars. I started a little early yesterday, leaving the house a bit after three. My helper had prepared a pancake breakfast that I enjoyed after my morning hike. I skipped lunch but opted for an early dinner before the serious work of beer consumption commenced.

While I was eating, Joy from Hideaway messaged me and asked what I was doing. I shared the photo from above with her and she was quite envious. It was kind of cruel I suppose because I know she loves the club from Sit-n-Bull. I hadn’t intended to visit Hideaway–it’s on the far side of town and I had just been there the previous night. But I couldn’t finish the whole sandwich, so I decided to surprise Joy with the leftover portion. I also picked up a couple of roasted chickens from Chooks To Go so the other girls had something to eat as well.

I did my usual three beers (and three lady drinks) and out routine. There was only one other customer at Hideaway, but he was another big-spending tourist, so the other girls were taking full advantage (lots of double lady drinks). They did enjoy my chicken contribution to their party though, so I was glad for that.

Next stop was It Doesn’t Matter. I had forgotten that a local motorcycle club, The 8 Deamons, holds a raffle drawing every Sunday. The proceeds go to a local charity, a burn unit in Subic, so it’s all for a good cause. One of the members made a “last call” for tickets announcement. They are 100 pesos each, or six for 500 pesos. I was just going to buy one, but the member told me the raffle jar was very empty this week. I liked those odds, so I bought six tickets. At the drawing, two of my tickets were pulled, both for discount coupons at various local bars. The other prizes were bottles of booze, so I preferred the coupons. Another winner, the guy who had sold me the tickets, also gave me his coupon pack. I guess my friend Roan won too because she gave me some more coupons.

Let’s see where I’ll be going: Hot Zone, Wet Spot, John’s Steak and Sushi, Thumbstar, The Green Room, Hideaway, Alaska Club, and Sit-n-Bull. They are all “buy 1, get 1” deals on drinks (some customer drinks, some for lady drinks) except for Sit-n-Bull which is good for a 15% discount on food. It will be a challenge, but I will find a way to consume my winnings somehow.

It’s Hash Monday, so I just did a 5K walk to Baloy Beach and back this morning.

Can you count all the wins in this post? I’m a lucky bastard, that’s for sure!

…one more time.

If you look hard enough though you’ll see things to keep it interesting.

As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, when I returned home from my morning walk I discovered I had no access to the internet. A couple of hours of being disconnected from the world later, I headed back into town and used the WiFi at Outback. Later in the afternoon, the internet was restored at my place and life was back to normal. It being beer o’clock on a Saturday afternoon, I made my way once again to Barretto.

I honestly wasn’t sure what I wanted to do or where to do it. I considered starting with some food at Sit-n-Bull, but I wasn’t really all that hungry. So, I went upstairs to BarCelona to contemplate my immediate future. I hadn’t seen Samantha for a while, so that would be another plus. Except she wasn’t there. A waitress who didn’t even know my name(!) brought me a beer and disappeared. And when I finished my beer she still hadn’t come back. I took the bottle out of the coozie so someone might notice it was empty, but no luck. When waving it around didn’t draw any attention, I gave up and went to the cashier to pay. Yeah, I could have gone to the bar to order, but why should I have to? BarCelona could be a great place to hang out, but it is very poorly managed. This is not the first time I’ve had service issues there. I doubt I’ll be back anytime soon.

Back on the street and still undecided about where to go, I started walking up the highway. Passed by It Doesn’t Matter and wasn’t feeling it, so I kept going. Hesitated at Blue Butterfly but didn’t stop. Ran into “mama” and gave her the usual100 pesos, but when another beggar approached, I rudely rejected her pleas. I was in a grumpy mood, but no excuse for that behavior. I felt bad enough to look for her later but she was gone. Shame on me.

I wound up at Hideaway and Joy gave me an enthusiastic welcome. I got one of the few seats left at the bar and Joy pulled up a stool beside me and grabbed some napkins to wipe the sweat off my neck, then gave me a nice back rub. That softened my mood and naturally, I rewarded her with lady drinks.

After three beers I was ready to move on. Next stop: Cheap Charlies. Yes, indeed, things are getting back to normal around here. Some “two-week millionaire” tourist had every girl in the bar surrounding him as he plied them with lady drinks. I noticed several of those were bottled beers that cost twice as much as the standard lady drink (I never buy doubles as a matter of principle, but will usually get the girl two singles. Yeah, that’s how I roll.) Anyway, there would be no company for me with the big spender present and I’m okay with that.

So, even with all the girls busy with their benefactor, someone would always come by to bring me a refill on my beer. That’s the way it should be and something the staff at BarCelona should learn.

In a weird coincidence, while I’m drinking at Cheap Charlies I got a message from Samantha, the gal I had looked for at BarCelona. I hadn’t heard from her in a couple of weeks. As I suspected, she no longer worked there. Instead, she is now employed at The Green Room, a bar I very infrequently visit (I prefer the next-door venue, Wet Spot). She asked if I would come by and see her there and I promised that I would later on.

My next stop though was Hot Zone. I had a “buy one, get one” coupon I wanted to use. It was nice to see the girls on stage again even if there were only a couple of other customers present. It was still early for a Saturday and Hot Zone is more of a late-night venue. Not that I ever see late-night these days. Drank my two beers and treated my friendly waitress to a lady drink, then I was off to The Green Room.

Wow. The place was packed! I felt lucky to find an empty seat. Ordered a beer and a couple of GROs (guest relations officers) approached to ascertain if I might be interested in their company. I told them I was looking for Samantha, but they’d never heard of her. Hmm. About that time, Sam came over saying she hadn’t recognized me because I’d put on some weight. Thanks for noticing! Turns out, she’d only been working two days here and that’s why her co-workers didn’t know her name. About this time, the waitress from Sit-n-Bull came by. I ordered us a pizza to eat and share.

So, did a little drinking and caught up with Sam. The circumstances of her departure from BarCelona only confirmed my poor management thesis and convinced me they have no intention or desire to improve. And screwing an employee out of wages is completely unacceptable. Fuck them!

It was time for me to go, and on the way out I popped into the CR (which is located in Wet Spot) to take a leak. As I was leaving Wet Spot, Daddy Dave (the owner of both venues) called me over to his table and bought me a beer. Always a pleasure to chat with him and get the lowdown on what’s happening in town. The big news is the SOB dance competitions will be starting up again soon. That’s always a fun way to spend an evening.

My 9:00 p.m. bedtime was fast approaching so I said my goodnights and headed home. Made a smoothie (banana/mango/pineapple) as my nightly treat and called it a day.

Oh well. Just me trying to make the best of things and doing what I do best.

And when you're looking for your freedom
(Nobody seems to care)
And you can't find the door
(Can't find it anywhere)
When there's nothing to believe in
Still you're coming back, you're running back
You're coming back for more

So put me on a highway
And show me a sign
And take it to the limit one more time

I had to make the journey here unexpectedly, but I had no choice. My internet is downunder at home. Usually, I can use my phone as a mobile hotspot, but bizarrely, my data is not working either. I didn’t realize I was so internet-addicted until I lost all avenues of access. Plus, I owe my faithful readers a post here at LTG, so here I am.

So, I brought the laptop but forgot the mouse. And using the fingerpad on the keyboard is not my thing, especially when it comes to saving photos I posted on FB to upload here. For that reason, I’m only going to be able to share one picture from the Friday hike:

It was a nice 8k hike and you can see most of the photos I’m not posting on the Relive video.

When I arrived for Friday night darts, Anabelle asked me if I wanted to play some warm-up games. She’s never done that before! I beat her three times, then bought her a beer. Pretty sure that was her real motivation anyway.

So, the tournament format is a blind draw. Basically, we all draw a number and are assigned partners based on what we pick–i.e., 1 and 2 are a team, 3 and 4, etc. In the last two tourneys, I drew Anabelle and we wound up winning both times. Against all odds, we actually partnered up again last night. It is almost as if the fates are forcing us to spend time together. Not that I mind. Well, the fates can’t dictate the winner though, and neither of us played particularly well last night.

Anyway, as I’ve said before, I had hoped to hook up with Anabelle as my GF four years ago. From my perspective, she blew me off. From hers, I gave up too easily. I’ve thought about giving it another shot but rumor has it she has a “sponsor”. If so, I don’t want to engage in that kind of drama. Take me or leave me. I’m your first choice or no choice.

Anabelle can match me beer for beer, I’ll grant her that.

After darts, I crossed the highway and made my way to Mango’s. I’d worked up a hunger and my waiter didn’t even offer me a menu: “Sir John, may I offer you grilled pork chops with mashed potatoes and steamed veggies?” If you insist.

After dinner, I moseyed down to Queen Victoria. My two favorites were nowhere to be seen. So, I asked my manager friend about them and she said they had both been fired. I didn’t ask for details. Finished my beer and left.

I wasn’t quite ready to go home just yet though. My mountaingirl friend that I’ve been supporting told me her cousin was working at Rosie’s, a bar I almost never frequent. It was nearby, so why not pop in and have a look?

I was surprised at how busy the bar was. I also didn’t remember the cousin’s name, so I sent mountain girl a message asking again. “Ann”. I asked the nearest gal I saw if Ann was around and she said, “I’m Ann”. Well, there you go. I sat her down at my table and bought her a drink. Twenty years old is out of my range though, and she looked even younger. She thanked me for the help I’ve been giving her cousin. We took a picture and I said goodnight.

And that’s the latest news from this iteration of my so-called life.

Jesus never made it out of the Mideast, so that’s progress! Happy Easter!

It was like old times last night at Alley Cats. The place was packed and we even had enough players to have a doubles tournament. It’s great to see some of the old faces returning from exile.

I honestly wasn’t that close to Alan before he left. He used to get on my ass about vaping in the bar (which I had the owner’s permission to do) and I just blew him off as another whining liberal Yankee (I believe he’s a New Yorker). So, I was somewhat taken aback by his “let’s go, Brandon!” shirt. Good to know he’s on the right side! And since I don’t vape anymore we should get along just fine.

I had a good warm-up session prior to the tourney and was hopeful that my mysteriously disappeared ability to throw a decent game had returned after a two-week vacation. I did throw much better than I have been. My partner wasn’t particularly strong, but she had some big throws now and again. So, I was pleasantly surprised to make it through the night undefeated.

I met Anabelle playing darts as a tourist before I moved here. I actually tried dating her shortly after my arrival as a resident. Went out once and then she blew me off. I still don’t know why. I asked her again last night what happened and she insists it was just a misunderstanding. Hmm.

After the tournament, I hustled down to Sit-n-Bull to pick up my reserved pecan pie. It was there waiting for me. It was starting to drizzle a little and there were no trikes outside waiting, so I decided to pop into Wet Spot for a beer. Owner Dave was there so we exchanged pleasantries and he provided my second beer on the house. I was also joined by my “regular” Wet Spot girl.

By the time I made it home my helper had already emptied the crockpot and put the pot roast in the fridge. Oh well, I wasn’t that hungry anyway. And I still had my dessert:

As far as I know, there is no law against having pot roast for breakfast. So that’s just what I did.

I did a short 6K walk this morning, mostly in the Santa Monica subdivision. It’s been a while since I’ve hiked those streets.

I’ve been invited to my neighbor’s house for Easter dinner this afternoon. Ed told me I was in charge of dessert. That can only mean one thing: brownies!

Everything is ready for my Easter except me. I’d best shower up and roll on out of here. Thanks for coming by!

After all, it can’t get much gooder than Friday, right? Alright, I’ll leave my punniness be and get to the real stuff. And I’ve got lots of pictures to share, so let’s do it:

The dart bar was closed last night, so I decided to visit my friend Joy at the Hideaway Bar. She’d been sending me sad messages about not having money for an Easter meal with her family. So I figured she could use some lady drink commission. How do you get to Hideaway? Glad you asked!

I stayed long enough to buy her three drinks and tipped her enough to buy the food for her Easter meal. Mission accomplished!

My next stop was Cheap Charlies. I arrived in time to watch the sun pull its disappearing act.

It being Good Friday and with the local Catholic church located just up the highway, I guess I should not have been surprised to see an Easter-themed procession pass by on the street below. I didn’t really have a good angle for taking photos, but here is what I managed:

I had my beers, bought the girls some dinner, then headed on out. Next stop, Alaska Club. Not real busy there, but nothing really happening either. Some big spenders had brought all the dancers down from the stage and were plying them and the waitresses with lady drinks. I watched that shit show until I finished my beer, then said my goodbyes.

I finished my night out at Queen Victoria.

So, I successfully completed my beer quest while traversing Barretto from one end to the other. Not bad for an old guy, eh? It was indeed a good Friday.

So far today I have completed my morning jaunt, doing a 7K walkabout in San Isidro.

I’ve got a pot roast cooking in the crockpot. Been a long time since I’ve done one of those. Also made some cornbread to accompany the meal I’ll enjoy later this evening. I also got a message from Sit-n-Bull saying they had made a batch of pecan pies and asked if I wanted to reserve one. I responded affirmatively, so tonight’s dessert is taken care of too. That’s a nice benefit of being a regular customer and a Facebook friend of the owner.

Since I couldn’t play darts last night, I’ll make a rare appearance at the Saturday night tournament. Baking up a batch of my popular brownies for the girls as an Easter treat.

And that’s where things stand as of now. As promised, here are some photos from the Friday group hike for your enjoyment:

And that was that. You can Relive the hike here if you’d like:

That’s all I’ve got for now. I’ll be back like a bunny for Easter.

Greetings fellow travelers. Here are the latest happenings from my little corner of the world.

A nice hike this morning with the Friday group. I’ll share the photos from that adventure tomorrow, but here are a couple of things I saw relevant to the holiday.

Last night was my “first date” experience with Grace. She’s an interesting person, that’s for sure.

We met at John’s place. That was a bit of a problem logistically. Traffic was backed up for miles and there was a lack of Jeepneys available for some reason. I surmise they were taking the holiday off as well. Grace wound up taking a trike to and from Olongapo City.

The friends (one of mine, one of hers) who introduced me to Grace showed up and joined us. That was unexpected. It was fine but did add an element of weirdness to the evening.

So. I like Grace as a person but felt no attraction to her physically. She is a large woman, although she is taking steps to try and lose weight, including intermittent fasting. Am I really this shallow that the physical appearance of an otherwise perfectly fine woman would put me off having a relationship? I’m afraid so. I do hope that we can nurture our budding friendship though.

On the flip side of that coin, Marie, a woman I have no intellectual connection with, sent me a desperate message this afternoon. She says she has no food for her children and asked if she could see me. I guess I felt sorry for her, or horny, or both, and I agreed to let her come for a visit.

Maybe this is as good as it gets and I just need to embrace the shallowness of my life. I imagine some folks might even envy the freedom of a no strings attached lifestyle.

Alley Cats is closed for the holiday so there will be no darts in my immediate future. I guess I’ll celebrate the crucifixion of Jesus by turning beer into urine. It’s what I do best.

It’s Holy Week in the Philippines, and that’s a big deal here in this predominately Catholic country. I remember my first time visiting I made the mistake of arriving during Holy Week. Landed in Cebu, checked into my hotel, went out scouting around, and was surprised to see that almost everything was closed. Asked the hotel receptionist what was going on and she said matter-of-factly “it’s Maundy Thursday, sir.” I’d never even heard of it, and I was raised as a church-going Christian, albeit Protestant. Maybe they had a different name for it. And of course, the next day was Good Friday so almost everything remained closed. I did find a couple of open bars, but it wasn’t the weekend I had in mind.

I walked the highway this morning and the traffic was insane. This area has become the go-to beach destination for the big city folks down south and with the arrival of a long holiday weekend, they are coming in droves.

Our team won the dart league match against The Curve bar, 9-4. My game didn’t improve much as demonstrated by the fact that I played a role in three of the four losses. I have no idea what’s going on with my darts, I’m just going to have to play through it and hope it improves soon.

After darts, I had dinner with a teammate at John’s place. I had the pulled pork sandwich and it was excellent–a little moister than the last one I enjoyed. Also got a double order of Korean-style chicken wings for takeout. Shared those with the gals at Hideaway bar and they were pleased.

I’ll be back at John’s later this afternoon as the venue for my first date with Grace.

And that brings us to the Wednesday Walkers hike yesterday. We did a nice 9K walk around Easter mountain. We’ll be climbing it on Monday so it was a good opportunity to get a view of all sides and speculate how the Hares will get us to the top and back down again.

That was my Wednesday. Let’s see: Walk? check. Darts? check. Beer? check. Seems I did everything. Except get laid. Well, there’s always tonight. Stay tuned.

Yesterday’s adventure was journeying back out to the FRA in San Antonio to witness the competition to be crowned Miss Fralics. I actually knew three of the contestants which made it a little more interesting.

Let’s take a look around before the show begins.

Alrighty, y’all are here to see some hot Filipinas in various stages of undress. Let’s get on with the show!

Then we had the talent contest. Not surprisingly, most of the gals had some kind of dance routine as their talent.

Okay, time to get to the most important event–the swimsuit competition!

That was how I spent my afternoon. Drank a lot of beers during this event. Hungry when I got back to Barretto so I had my driver drop me off at Sit-n-Bull. This morning I couldn’t remember what I had to eat there.

And now it is Hash Monday and time for me to get my lazy ass up and about. Come back tomorrow for some more wholesome goodness.