Or so I keep telling myself. Well, being an old fucker beats the only other option available.

What yesterday was, was Tuesday, probably the least interesting day of my weekday routines. Still, you gotta do what you gotta do, and yesterday I needed to renew my tourist visa for another sixty days. That went without a hitch. In fact, the woman behind the counter actually spoke to me about something other than the renewal process for the first time in all these years, asking me if I could recommend a beach resort for an event she was planning. I suggested Treasure Island on Baloy. She pulled it up on her phone and seemed pleased with what she saw, and thanked me.

We changed things up a tad in the grocery shopping routine with a visit to the Puregold supermarket. I can occasionally find items there that are not otherwise available at Royal, and so I’ll check it out once every three months or so. No big finds yesterday, but still managed to leave them with 7000 of my pesos.

I’ve been experiencing some issues with my ATM card; none of the machines in Barretto can read the chip for some unknown reason. Luckily, it still works at the BPI machine at Harbor Point Mall on SBMA. Not convenient, but better than nothing. I need to order a new card at some point, but that’s a whole other hassle to get it delivered in the Philippines. Anyway, Swan suggested that I open an account at her bank and wire my money there, then use a local ATM card for withdrawals. So, we stopped by the branch on SBMA, but when they learned I was on a tourist visa, it was a no-go. Oh well.

No problems encountered at Royal, although I did find myself on the Dole.

Back home, groceries unloaded, and I hit the streets for my neighborhood walk.

Tuesday afternoon, Swan and some of the lady Hashers spent some time with the recently departed Jerry Rowe, aka Fucking Old Man.

Sitting around with the remains of the deceased is a thing here in the Philippines, but it is not my thing and never has been. When I lost my best friend, Linda, I visited her at the hospice but did not attend her funeral. I want my last memories to be of the person alive. The last time I saw Jerry was at the Hash On-Home at Smokes and Bottles, sipping on a beer and soaking up the Hash vibes. That’s what I’ll remember. Jerry is scheduled to be cremated tomorrow, and his ashes will be entombed at the Clark Veterans Cemetery in Angeles City.

We made plans for Swan to meet me on Baloy when she was finished paying her respects to Jerry.

Another quiet night on Baloy, even Treasure Island was devoid of customers.

So, there was a birthday celebration scheduled for the Hash Grandmaster, Buddy Fucker, at Wet Spot starting at nine. That’s a little late for my blood, but I wanted to at least stop by to offer my congratulations, so we surprised our trike driver by saying Wet Spot instead of Alta Vista.

Except the birthday boy wasn’t there. We waited around until 9:30 and then called it a night. I don’t think I’ll be changing my early bird ways anytime soon.

Meanwhile, the news on the lack of water just keeps getting worse. Neighbor Mike, who acts as kind of an unofficial neighborhood representative, went to the water department to find out what the fuck is going on. Here’s the report he sent us:

MET THIS MORNING WITH PRIME WATER MANAGEMENT…. PRIME CANNOT EVEN START TO WORK ON THE PROBLEM TILL THE WATER IN THE RIVER GOES DOWN. THEY ARE ANTISIPATING 4 WEEKS. IF IT RAINS IT WILL EXTEND THE TIME.

THERE IS STILL SOME WATER TRICKELING LATE AT NIGHT BUT ANYONE WITH PRIME WILL SEE THAT STOP SOON AS THE WATER BLEEDS OUT OF THE SYSTEM.

JT AND JOHN DID NOT GET WATER BECAUSE THE TRUCK WAS 3 HOURS LATE DUE TO THE TRUCK LEAKING ALMOST AS MUCH WATER AS IT WAS PUMPING…. THE TRUCKS HAD TO MAKE MORE TRIPS TO REFILL THAN USUAL BECAUSE OF THAT. PRIME IS FIXING THAT TODAY AND ALSO GETTING A LONGER HOSE TO FILL THE WATER.

So, the situation stinks. Or maybe that’s me. It looks like I’m going to have to get used to sponge baths and cold bucket of water showers for the foreseeable future.

I’m sure I’ll be looking for some opportunities to get away and stay at a beach resort with heated showers somewhere. Stay tuned.

From the LTG archives, in February 2013, I wrote about one of the first steps I took in my climb to the top of the government Human Resources ladder: serving as Acting Director of HR at the Roanoke, Virginia, Management Sectional Center for the US Postal Service.

It’s time to visit Smart Girl Philippines again. In today’s YouTube video, she discusses things you don’t want to do after having sex with a Filipina. Ah, I remember those days of transactional relationships. Empty, but strangely satisfying. But, I’m older and wiser (shuddup!) now.

Speaking of being old, let’s go with these today:

And that’s all I’ve got for today. A new beach bar is opening tonight, and I’m going to pop in for a look. Tell you all about it tomorrow.

Perhaps the nicest thing about a getaway is coming home with a new appreciation of the comforts of home. I’m committed to getting out of town at least once every month, so I guess getting a change of scenery is now one of my routines.

I decided to wait until we got back home to take a shower. That proved to be a mistake.

Oh well, I chose to live in a third-world country, so this is just part of the adventure that comes with that. Still no water as of now, but I remain hopeful the new pipe will be in place soon.

I opted out of the Hideaway feeding, but I did wire Joy some money so the girls could eat. They chose to cook their own meal. Joy documented the event in photos:

I did keep my dinner date with Swan at John’s place.

Next up, our traditional after-dinner stop at Red Bar.

Finding our nightcap destination turned into a bit of an adventure. The plan was Wet Spot, but neither of our friends was working last night, so we went next door to Green Room, but it was packed, and the seats we liked (with a view of the pool table) were full. I was thinking we’d just plop down at Sloppy Joe’s, but Swan suggested we try somewhere different for a change, and suggested my friend Roan’s karaoke place. Sure, why not? It’s a pretty good trek up the highway, and when we got there, I was surprised to see it was closed. Now what? Well, the Billabong bar at Outback Resort was right across the highway, so we made the dash successfully and plopped ourselves down.

Usually, when we make the rare visit to Outback, we sit at the outdoor poolside bar. I can’t even remember the last time we ventured into the indoor bar.

I messaged Roan to find out what was going on with her joint, and she sent me this:

And so our first night back in Barretto came to an end.

And now it is January 2013 in the LTG archives. To start the new year, I did a pictorial post with the highlights from 2012. It was a good year in a life that is now gone forever.

I’m going to lighten things up with today’s YouTube video. It is one I posted on my blog thirteen years ago, but I enjoyed re-watching it today. Maybe you will too. Best of all, it’s only three minutes long.

I’m going to change things up a little bit in the humor category today in order to solicit folks to sign up for Kevin Kim’s Substack grammar improvement site.

So, be like me and go sign up for Kevin’s Substack posts. Even if I’m incapable of learning, it’s entertaining.

And now it is time to prepare for another Hash Monday. I’m going to walk the 2K to the start and take it from there. I’ll let y’all know how it goes tomorrow.

It was Thirstday, after all.

My neighbors, Jeff and Davina, had seen a map I posted on Facebook of one of my hikes on the My Bitch trail. That path runs through the hills behind our subdivision, and Jeff asked if I’d show them where to go. Of course, I agreed, and we made plans to do so on Thursday. Well, it was a rainy morning, but to my surprise, they still wanted to go. Fine by me, wet with sweat or soaked with rain, it’s all the same.

At beer o’clock, we visited my old darts haunt, Alley Cats. Owner Flor had given me a beer card for my birthday, and those six free beers weren’t going to drink themselves. I only managed four before prudence dictated I should go get something to eat.

So, we successfully crossed the highway and made our way to Mango’s.

Swan got messaged by some of her friends that they were hanging out at Annex Bar, so when Swan asked if we could stop by, I, of course, agreed to do so. They hung out in the back doing what girls do and downing tequila shots, and I sat up front enjoying the highway view, whilst sipping a cold San Miguel Zero.

We did our nightcap at Green Room, but Swan drank water there. She’s a lightweight when her peers entice her to join them in shots of the hard stuff. I would be, too. That’s why I stick to low-alcohol beer. We made it home safe and went to bed early. Right after Swan finished throwing up. She made it to the toilet, though, so good on her.

In sad news, we lost a member of the Hash, Fucking Old Man (Jerry Walsh). Jerry had the most Hash runs of any living Subic Bay Hasher. His familiar face will be missed. I recall my first-ever Hash as a tourist in Subic back in 2017. Jerry was in his 80s and looked it, but the gal standing beside him was a hottie. I knew then that I’d find contentment in the Philippines!

Our new housekeeper from Samar province is settling in.

Darts, at one time, were a big part of my life, and in this post from October 2012, I explained my cricket pointing strategy. Probably sounds like Greek to anyone who doesn’t play, but it does reflect my level of dedication to the game, even if my ability to execute was lacking.

This day in my Facebook history included:

Thirteen years ago, I was playing around making memes:

Today’s YouTube is the follow-up to the one I posted yesterday. The vlogger leaves AC and spends the next five days in Subic. He wasn’t impressed. Hey, it’s not for everyone, but I like it just fine here. The video captures the Barretto vibe. As I mentioned, I am not familiar with this vlogger’s work, but I did notice that the narration has a different accent from the AC video. That was weird. I randomly looked at a third video of his, and it is back to a more normal-sounding voice. I’m guessing they must all be AI-generated.

Humor time:

Alright, it is time to head out to Angeles City, courtesy of our neighbor Jeff and his lovely wife, Davina. I’m not a big AC fan, but I do like an occasional change of scenery. Jeff has some places in mind to show us, so we’ll see how it goes. At least you will have something different to read about here.

Wednesday and walking go together like a foot in a shoe, so I put them on and headed out.

We discussed options under the threatening skies and opted to do the Matain-Calapacuan-San Isidro street walk.

For the evening out, I had planned to kick things off at Red Bar. Alas, a biker club had the same plan and beat me to it. All the outdoor seats were filled, so we just continued up the highway and popped into John’s place for the dinner we missed on Sunday.

I was surprised to see several dart players in the second-floor dining area, then I remembered that John’s now has a team in the dart league. They had just finished winning their match against Sloppy Joe’s and were enjoying some post-game beverages. It was nice chatting with some of my old darts buddies.

Then a group of several young non-Filipino people (early thirties, I’d judge, including one hot female) came in. I suspect they are crewmembers from one of the merchant ships I’ve seen anchored in the harbor. Seeing the crowd filling the dining area, they started to turn around to leave. One of the dart players said, “You should stay, this is the best food in town.” I added that the upstairs area had lots of seating, and so they all headed up. I watched the solitary waitress carrying trays of drinks and plates of food, so it was a big night for John’s customer-wise.

John’s daughter came in and took over serving the downstairs folks, which was just me and Swan after the darters departed.

With dinner out of the way, I suggested we give Red Bar another try. As we exited John’s, the rain was coming down hard, so we dashed into the bar next door, Dempsey’s. They don’t serve wine by the glass there, so we don’t stop by often, but otherwise, it has a nice, relaxed vibe. I had a beer and then the rain let up, so we hit the highway again. The Red Bar patio was still full of bikers, so we kept moving and went to Jumpin’ Jacks instead.

We once again enjoyed the vibe and music at Jumpin’ Jacks, then made our way back home.

We’ve hired a new house helper, and she arrived from the province last night. She is the aunt of our neighbor’s helper, so at least it isn’t a blind hire. She’s been busy all morning with the chores, so, so far, so good.

It’s now October 2012 in the LTG archives. I’m back for another few months of my Korean retirement life, and in this post, I share the adventure of a visit to Naksan. It was a good life while it lasted.

I’ll be heading out tomorrow for a weekend in Angeles City with my neighbors, Jeff and Davina. Today’s YouTube video is from a new (to me) vlogger sharing his four-day experience in AC. Like me, he’s not a big fan of the nightlife scene there, but the video will give you a good taste of what’s in store for us. At the end of the video, he’s on a bus for Subic, so I’ll need to look to see if he enjoyed that more.

On to the funny business:

And so it went. Let’s keep it going!

September, I remember. Time flies, and I ramble on. I’ll keep it brief, though. Sometimes less truly is more.

The only other photo I took on our 5K trek was this:

Swan surprised me by volunteering to cook for the Hideaway feeding.

The normal Sunday routine is for me to meet up with Swan at John’s place for dinner. But Swan messaged me saying she wanted to join our neighbors, Davina and Jeff, to eat at Hops and Brews. The hell with routines, this is the 70s!

After we finished our food, we loaded up in Jeff’s car and headed to Red Bar. I don’t usually sit inside there, but we did last night and had a good time. Jeff suggested we do a nightcap on the way home. Queen Victoria is closed on Sundays, so we popped into the seldom-visited Nipsey’s Bar instead.

Jeff noted that eight o’clock was nearing, and he knew that’s what time I turn into a pumpkin, so we paid our tab and headed for home. I was a little ashamed at being such a lightweight. We are going to Angeles City this coming weekend with Jeff and Davina, so I’ll try to up my game some while we are there.

So, there you have it–a routine Sunday with a twist or two.

September has arrived, and coincidentally, it is September 2012 in my journey through the LTG archives. In this post, I come clean about my criminal past. Well, the only crime I got arrested for, anyway. I got away with lots more serious shit, including grand theft auto. I’m not sure if I ever wrote about that one; if not, I will do so as part of The Story of My Life.

Some Facebook memories from this day in my history:

In today’s YouTube video, Reekay talks about expats who get sucked into supporting the family of the Filipina they are with. I have been suckered like that in the past, but I’m blessed that Swan doesn’t expect me to take care of the family. I give her a generous allowance that she is free to spend in whatever manner she chooses. And if there were ever a real emergency in the family, I would trust her judgment on how best to respond.

Let’s get these out of the way:

And now it is Hash Monday again. The trail starts here in Alta Vista, so that’s convenient enough. There are long (8K) and short (4K) options. I’m considering something in between those extremes. I’ll let you know how that works out for me.