The wrath of typhoon Kristine is upon us. Not much rain, but lots of wind. And naturally, the power has been out for hours now. My mission is to finish today’s post before my laptop battery expires. Let’s do this!
Another lazy day yesterday, but at least I can blame the weather for my failure to exercise.
The rain didn’t stop me from donning an umbrella and heading for town with Swan by my side when beer o’clock rolled around.
I was surprised to see that my waitress friend, Jenn, from Whiskey Girl, is now employed at BarCelona. She says the pay is better, and there is less drama. It’s nice to have a familiar face here, even if I infrequently visit this bar.
The news from BarCelona is that the bar has finally changed hands. The new owner wasn’t around yesterday, but hopefully, he can find a way to attract more customers. For our first hour or so, we were groovin’ to the classic rock sounds being played on a quality sound system. And then, out of the blue, some crappy rap (but I repeat myself) began blaring. I told Swan if I had heard that noise when coming up the stairs, I would have turned around. Well, one rap song is one too many, but I can tolerate the discomfort. And then the next song was rap. And so was the one after that. I told Jenn it was time for us to go. While she was getting my bill, the only other customer in the bar (he’d actually been out on the rooftop deck) came in to pay and leave for the same reason. As we left, I told the cashier to consider who the customer base was when picking a playlist. She denied changing the music and claimed not to know how to resolve the issue. Whatever.
Wet Spot wasn’t open yet, so we made Green Room our next stop. Business as usual there, and we enjoyed drinking our drinks and watching the pool players.
We brought sandwiches from Sit-n-Bull home with us for our dinner.
Not much of a Wednesday, but we made the best of it.
- Part-time helper salary: 1000 pesos
- Trike: 100 pesos
- Dinner: 1200 pesos
- Tips: 340 pesos
- Alcohol: 800 pesos
- Lady Drinks: 680 pesos
- Total for October 23: 4220 pesos
The rare day of spending less than 5000 pesos!
Today’s memories don’t come from Facebook; instead, I found them in the dark archives here at Long Time Gone. This post from 2009 was a good reminder that there was a time when I occasionally wrote something of substance on the blog. I had recently signed up on Facebook and reconnected with a high school classmate who worked with me on the school newspaper. He was working as a journalist for a major paper in the Pacific Northwest and was lamenting the declining economics of the newspaper industry. I had been a fellow liberal brother-in-arms back in our youth but had outgrown that mindset. I pointed out some reasons why the left-wing reporting bias was hurting the news business. I guess he disagreed, and like many of my lefty acquaintances, he unfriended me. Oh well, at least his echo-chamber world view was preserved. Probably one of the better posts in the almost twenty-year history of LTG.
The other memory was a photo I posted on the blog from my days as a cross-country skier in the mountains of Northern Arizona circa 1982. That post contained just the photograph and one of my favorite Sara Teasdale poems:
Forgotten as a fire that once was singing gold,
Let it be forgotten for ever and ever,
Time is a kind friend, he will make us old.
If anyone asks, say it was forgotten
Long and long ago,
As a flower, as a fire, as a hushed footfall
In a long forgotten snow.
Man oh man, a good reminder that we don’t appreciate what we have until it is gone. I hadn’t thought about those long ago days in a very long time, and seeing that picture again brought back a flood of memories. Damn, I’d like to be a time traveler and whisper some wisdom in that guy’s ear. But knowing me, I probably wouldn’t have listened.
Speaking of fools, here are some updates on that guy I posted about who was kidnapped a few days ago. The more I learn about this young man, the worse it gets. A white guy’s body washed ashore in the region, but it has not been positively identified as being him yet. Anyway, either way it is doubtful he is still alive. You can read a news account here, and today’s YouTube videos have two different vloggers weighing in with the latest details of this guy’s final days. I found it both interesting and sad that he had converted to Islam and taken the name Muhammed. A lot of good it did him.
Time to cleanse the palate with some humor:
Well, the good news is I made it through this post on low batt. The bad news is the storm has just hit with full fury…heavy winds and rain. And now this just happened:
Oh well, nothing I can do about it. I’m leaving tomorrow morning to spend the weekend in La Union. It’s on the ocean so hopefully this storm has blown through by then. We shall see. I’ll update tomorrow if I have the power to do so.
But I grew up on this version:
Swan is a good cook!
And yet, you somehow don’t look happy.
Good luck weathering the storm!
Nobody’s thought to make domed houses that survive wind and storms, plus collection moats to take in all the water, purify it, and have a near-infinite water supply? No? So just like Florida, then.
I trust you enjoyed the home cooking. It looks sumptuous.
Did you place the tip in Chu’s brassiere or underwear? I understand that is the custom there.
Do you plan to go surfing or just rambling in La Union with your kennel, weather permitting I would imagine? I hope you enjoy your mini-break either way.
Digory, yep, it was as good as it looks.
Nope, I just handed Chu the tip. Some places don’t allow individual tips, so I’ll slip the tip in a pocket as needed.
It is the La Union Hash anniversary run, so we are going up to participate in that event. I foresee some beer drinking as well. My surfing days are over, but I’ll enjoy looking at the waves.
Yeah, some folks just don’t grasp the whole “you’re not here to be entertained, but to keep paying customers reasonably happy” thing.
Rap has been such a terrible influence on the Philippines (not to mention the US). Worse than warm beer over ice.
Kev, Posed pictures are nothing to smile about!
The storm is still in full fury mode, and I’m still in the dark.
For a tropical country with lots of rainfall, it is shocking how little drainage infrastructure is in place. And what little there is doesn’t seem very effective.
Drain, Indeed! I asked the staff if I looked like the type of person who would enjoy the music being played. Blank stares. Like it or not, the customer base in these parts is grumpy old white guys. And we have lots of bars to choose from. I was enjoying my visit to BarCelona and then they ruined it.
I’ll take beer on ice over rap shit any day.