And life is a treasure. A Treasure Island, if you will. Here are some gems from my Saturday.
Swan joined me for a Saturday morning stroll. Naturally, that involved her handing out candy along the way. Hey, it’s what we do! I made an eight-minute video of the first portion of the walk if you are curious about what the local terrain looks like.
Towards the end of the hike, I did a two-minute video of another village we passed through.
Our Saturday evening entertainment was provided by the live music we enjoyed at Treasure Island on Baloy Beach.
Hear for yourself:
Hmm, it sounded better in person. Go figure.
Back home at the usual time and finished Season Two of “Squid Game.” It still leaves me shaking my head in disbelief at times, but I’m all in for the concluding episodes in Season Three. Kevin Kim has a fine review of the second season here.
I was a bad boy last night and couldn’t overcome my urge for a bowl of vanilla ice cream with a crumbled Oreo cookie on top. Damn, it tasted good!
No Facebook memories worthy of note today, but there is this old post from twenty years ago about my first big case in Korea, representing management in a dispute with the American union. We couldn’t resolve our differences, and the case was scheduled for binding arbitration. At the last minute, the union withdrew. I had some court precedents on my side. For one thing, a curfew doesn’t entitle you to pay for the hours you aren’t allowed out on the street. “Stand-by pay,” which is what the union was asking for, only applies when you have to be ready and able to report for duty when called. That wasn’t the case with the curfew; you could be drunk on your ass in a motel room, just not outside. Also, it was well-established that the Commanding General, in this case, a 4-Star, has broad authority to invoke actions deemed necessary to protect the individuals under his command. I wound up getting promoted after this victory.
Welp, it is Groundhog Day, so you can guess what today’s YouTube video is about! I probably need to watch the movie again; I really enjoyed this clip.
And now for some humor:
I don’t know; it seems weird that I have nothing exciting to post about here, yet I’m still enjoying my life. Maybe acceptance comes with old age. I’ve got an upcoming Hash event in La Union next weekend, so there’s that to look forward to. In the meantime, I’ll just keep doing what I do. Today, that means a Hideaway feeding, some time with my girl on the Arizona floating bar, dinner at John’s place, and then a nightcap somewhere or other. Damn, am I living my own Groundhog Day?
There’s more of her to love.
Damn, you could crawl into that belly button (or under that flap of flesh) and never be seen again.
re: first video
Nice footage, but you’ll need to angle your camera up a bit so we can see ahead better and so that you don’t seem to be focusing obsessively on Swan’s ass (esp. at the video’s beginning). The angle you hit around the 2:50 mark is good. Also: is it possible for you to zoom back a bit so we get a wider, clearer shot of the houses you’re passing by (e.g., 7:30 onwards)? If your camera is already zoomed back to 1.0 magnification, maybe try hanging back a bit to capture the buildings from farther off. It feels as if we come upon everything rather suddenly. The sequence with the little girl from 8:08 was really good, though—well composed, sort of over Swan’s shoulder while the girl timidly then excitedly descends. Thumbs-up for that. But I’m not sure why you panned away at 8:20 before we had a chance to see the girl get her snack. Let the moment unfold!
Filming is a matter of understanding the beginnings and endings of complete moments. These are all little stories playing out before you—beginning, middle, end. If you’re always moving on to the next thing before the previous thing has played itself out, the result looks and feels hasty and impatient.
I do like your narration/commentary, which often marks off moments and reminds me a bit of a commercial-airlines pilot who get on the PA and tells people to look starboard as the plane passes over a famous mountain range. Even the ending/sign-off comment that you do is a good idea: you’re at least leaving us with a good-bye and not merely stopping the video all of a sudden. Veteran vloggers like Reekay still need to learn about the need for more “intro/outro” stuff than just the title cards they use.
I enjoyed the zoo-like feel of these kids lined up on the other side of the fence for some sweets.
Look at those little political prisoners!
I was a bad boy last night and couldn’t overcome my urge for a bowl of vanilla ice cream with a crumbled Oreo cookie on top. Damn, it tasted good!
Just one Oreo? Come on. Well, you seem (seem!) to have come in under budget, so congrats, I guess.
re: Groundhog Day
Happy February 2, for what it’s worth. I should rewatch that movie and write a review that goes into its religious/metaphysical implications. I thought Bill Murray and Andie McDowell had great chemistry in that film.
Damn, remember when adult video stores were a thing? An absolute, um, Blockbuster!
In that photo, there are two signs: “Adult Video” and “Jesus is Watching.” Does this mean, “Be careful when you get adult videos because Jesus is always watching,” or is it more like, “Even Jesus watches adult videos”? I remember how some of our local video stores had special, curtained-off sections where they kept the naughty movies. I ducked in more than a few times to gawk at those over-the-top videocassette covers. Ah, youth.
re: 9 alcoholic drinks in a week
You’ve talked about having 12 beers in a single session! And when someone points that out, you normally deflect with a “But they were all San Miguel Light!”
Damn, am I living my own Groundhog Day?
May your life never become too samsaric.