Righting a wrong

This week, the mission of the Wednesday Walkers group was to find the portion of the Hash trail I missed on Monday and hike the bastard. My plan was to start at the finish and walk the trail backward. Ed, who hadn’t missed the turn, advised against this, saying it was a steep and long down that would not be much fun to climb. I didn’t argue the point, and after hiking it myself, I was thankful we had followed his wise advice. We weren’t ready to stop once we’d hit bottom, so I led the group on a path I had recently discovered. We finished the hike with a little over 6K behind us, and then some of the group did a bit of R&R at The Rite Spot. It was a good morning on trail!

This week’s edition of the Wednesday Walkers
Heading for the hills
A pause to refresh at Four Corners
Into the grass we go
Thankfully, it was a brief interlude
That’s better
The Easter Mountain view
The turn I missed. I can’t blame it on the lack of trail marks.
In my defense, I’d never come down this way before and didn’t know there was even a trail here.
The view from here
Much better going down than climbing up
At the bottom
Back in the familiar territory of Marian Hills
Now, it was my turn to show the group a new path.
This is the route I discovered when the temporary bridge was gone, and I wanted to avoid wading the river or retreating the way I’d come.
Goat block ahead
Through a field of yellow flowers
Standing proudly upright, even in death
Ed didn’t realize he’d lost a sunglass lens until I pointed it out
The final climb up to my street
Guests at The Rite Spot
A Rite Spot view
The route we walked

When it was time to head into town for some evening entertainment, we kicked things off at It Doesn’t Matter. I was thinking we’d have some liquid refreshments, then head over to Myleen’s for dinner. Oddly enough, when the dinner hour arrived, neither of us felt particularly hungry. So, instead, we paid a visit to Alaska Club. The place was pretty busy with a pool tourney in progress and several other customers. One was a big spender who called all the dancers down from the stage for lady drinks—saved me from my usual fifty peso tip per dancer, so thanks for that! We treated our waitress and the new mamasan (someone Swan knew from years ago) to a lady drink, and I had cookies and lollipops for the other gals. One unique aspect of the Alaska Club experience is they provide a free bowl of freshly popped popcorn at the table. We all snacked on that until it was time to go home, and I was able to successfully skip dinner calories. I did enjoy my pudding dessert, though.

My best day of dieting so far

And now for a stroll down memory lane:

I don’t believe I’ve topped that step count since this day four years ago.
This from six years ago remains my unbroken record for steps in the Philippines. I wasn’t sure how I managed that, so I checked the blog archives and saw that I had done a three-hour hike that day with the now-defunct Sausage Walkers.

These two memories are significant based on something that happened today. But that’s a story for tomorrow!

And seven years ago, back when my life had purpose and meaning, I was doing this:

The SOFA negotiations between the US and Korean governments
What’s that say?
I represented the Americans dealing with issues related to our Korean workforce at USFK.

It was cold that morning, too:

What a dripping faucet does below freezing.

Good times!

Today’s YouTube video is a little different. It talks about why, after three hundred years of Spanish rule, the Spanish language never took root in the way English did after the Americans took over. It’s less than five minutes long, but it explains something I’ve wondered about since moving here. Spanish is my second language (well, I passed the required courses in college), but it is as useless here as my limited Korean vocabulary. Actually, because of the love of K-dramas/K-pop and the influx of Korean tourists, my “kamsamnida” is recognized more often than a “muchas gracias” is. Oh well, I’ve learned to say “salamat” as well.

And now for some humor:

I guess the jokes on me
They actually have a word in Tagalog for when Filipinas give you the silent treatment: “tampo”
Sounds right!

I’m going to take Swan along for a foot spa and a haircut (for me). We’ll have dinner at Myleen’s, and then we’ll see where the beverages are flowing. Come back tomorrow for a report on my solo walk this morning.

4 thoughts on “Righting a wrong

  1. What’s that say?

    “US Labor Subcommittee Chairman,” I think. You can thank Google.

    I guess the joke[‘]s on me

    Given that guy’s striped shirt, I guess that’s what happens when you take too long to find Waldo: he grows old while he waits, then he starts drinking. Oh, and where does the comma go in that image?

    They actually have a word in Tagalog for when Filipinas give you the silent treatment: “tampo”

    Tampo sounds like being pissy and on the rag.

  2. Highly surprised you haven’t considered buying John’s Place, John, seeing as how you wouldn’t even need a name change. You can serve yourself all your favorite dishes and drinks, too. I really think you should consider it.

  3. Scott, nope. I have no interest whatsoever in interrupting the joys of retired life. Besides, I don’t have the foodie skills needed to maintain John’s quality standards. I’m not sure how the place will fare without him, although John’s wife did most of the cooking. I think it will come down to finances.

  4. Kev, Or maybe he found Waldo in a bar, joined him for a beer, and then never left. The comma goes after “day”–just don’t ask me why! 🙂

    Yep, tampo is like being on the rag and usually lasts about the same amount of time. The big difference is Filipinas go silent. Some guys enjoy it when their gal is in tampo mode.

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