Monthly Archives: February 2025

Another drunken SOB

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I woke up Friday morning to this view from my patio. And so began another day.
And the day ended pretty much like this. That’s why I blog in the afternoon!

In between those bookends, here is how I filled the hours. It being Friday and all, that meant there was a morning group hike to be enjoyed.

Gathering at the Baloy 7-Eleven as is our custom
Crossing the highway is usually the most dangerous part of the hike

We got a Jeepney out to Calapacuan and started our trek from there.

Off we go!
The lowdown getting under the bamboo stalks
Today’s tree I liked
An arduous climb on a little-used path
A different angle on Easter Mountain
Calapandayan is in the foreground, Black Rock is in the middle, and way off in the distance, you can see a bit of Alta Vista.
A handy bench to rest on near the top of our climb
Oops! Tim was the last one to use this bench. Just wasn’t up to American-sized standards.
The view of the bay from on high

Swan took a video of a portion of our hike:

And I did a short (two minute) video of a rickety bridge crossing:

Back on the pavement
A rare Beetle sighting
A walk on the mild side

As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, I decided to join Tim and Scott for this week’s SOB dance competition at Alaska Club. Swan opted not to attend, so it was the rare (for me) guys night out.

Judge not lest ye be judged. We collectively rated the performances and picked all four winners.
Scott and Bob worked for the same company back in the 20th century
The Alaska crew kept us entertained before the competition began
The Alaska team strutting their stuff
The Voodoo girls finished first for the fourth week in a row.

After the SOB is an event called The Aftermath. I very rarely attend because I’ve had enough of drinking by the end of the SOB. I made an exception last night and attended the first hour of The Aftermath at Voodoo. Tim was enjoying his last night in Barretto for a while.

And he seemed to like what was on the Voodoo menu.

It was a good Friday.

A dozen beers didn’t break the bank this time.

Facebook helped me remember my best dart game ever:

Ten years ago, I tossed four tons and an unlikely 101 out for a fifteen-dart finish.
The final three darts: I hit the triple 17 leaving a 50 out. I took a shot at the double bull for the win but missed and hit an 18, leaving a 32 out. A double 16 gave me the victory!

Oddly enough, I don’t miss my darting life all that much these days.

In today’s YouTube video, Reekay talks about why waiting to retire may be a mistake. My original plan was to retire as soon as I became eligible at 55 (that was back in 2010) and move to the Philippines. But then I changed my plans and decided to share my life with Jee Yeun. I retired in January 2011, and we moved back to the USA with a plan of spending six months in the States and six months in Korea. I was a happy camper with that life, but something happened with Jee Yeun that I still don’t understand. In 2015 she declined to return stateside, so I found part-time work as a contractor back in Korea. I spent a year trying to change her mind, but in 2016, she said she wanted a divorce. I was devastated (it still hurts to be honest). Then I got an offer to come back to work in my old job with 8th Army, and I took it. I worked for two more years and then packed my bags for the Philippines. I don’t really regret those wasted years, but I’ve seen too many people who keep working until they die. I’m glad I wasn’t one of those.

Maybe you’ll like these:

I don’t have a drinking problem. I drink, I get drunk, I fall down. No problem!
When one door closes…
That shit will make you seasick

Yeah, those were worse than usual. Sorry ’bout that! I’ll try to do better tomorrow.