How I see it

The big news in town is that the price of beer has gone up. A new “sin tax” has been imposed on alcoholic beverages with the money generated earmarked for a universal healthcare program. Hey, glad to do my part! The tax increase amounts to about 5 pesos (10 cents) per bottle, so it is rather significant. And some of the bars have tacked on a bit more like a bunch of greedy capitalist pigs to increase profit margins. The most I paid last night was P95, so that’s still under two bucks a beer. For perspective, I was paying seven or eight dollars for the same type of beer in Korea.

There’s been a lot of gnashing of teeth and bitches and moans on the internet forums. I’m really not all that sympathetic though. If you can’t afford to pay a bit more for your beer you can stay home. It will have no impact on my consumption, however. If anything, I might be less inclined to buy the ladies a drink. But honestly, I don’t see that happening either. I guess I have the good fortune to not have to be price conscious when I’m out on the town. I worked hard so now I can play hard. Thanks, Uncle Sam!

Here’s some stuff I saw while out walking yesterday:

There’s a couple of dogs in my neighborhood that I’ll bring my dinner leftovers to when I stumble home at night. But I can’t feed them all. I’m honestly surprised this little guy is still alive. I actually thought he was dead last week, but I guess he was just sleeping.
Maybe there is a hidden Korean presence here that I just don’t see. Or maybe Filipinos are really into Korean stuff. This little store just opened right outside my subdivision.
I made my first preliminary steps in finding potential trails to Hash. Climbed these seemingly endless steps–felt a little like Namsan.
At the top, I was rewarded with a new perspective of Easter mountain.
I always find it “interesting” when I come across a shrine to Mother Mary out in the middle of nowhere.
Finding a way back down proved to be a little tricky. If there ever was a path it was buried under leaves. I pressed on and then encountered a fenced yard blocking my way. I was preparing to turn around and backtrack when the resident came out, opened the gate, and pointed out the path back to the road. Salamat!

Last night I enjoyed the fruits of my crockpot’s labor:

The pork chops were quite pleasing to my drunken palate. Tender and tasty!

This morning for breakfast I enjoyed egg, bacon, ham, and toast at Sit-n-Bull:

Oh, and baked beans on the side. Welcome to the Club!
As seen on my after breakfast walk. That the new fancy hotel in the distance–Central Park Reef.

Such is life as I see it.

2 thoughts on “How I see it

  1. I’m glad that at least someone is worried about “syntax.”

    Nice club sandwich, by the way, and nice crock-pot pork!

    Cute little shrine for the Blessed Virgin. Here are some pics of Korean sanshin-gak, i.e., mountain-spirit shrines.

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