Seeking shelter from the storm

That’s why I drink from a bottle. And can say “isa pa” (one more) in Tagalog.

Here I am riding out the storm at a cheap ass (900 peso per night) love motel with crap internet, so we shall see if this post makes it up or not. Anyway, here’s how my surviving Super Typhoon Uwan has gone so far.

Right after I left the house to feed the gals at Hideaway, the power went out in Alta Vista. And it has been out ever since. I was surprised because we went dark before the storm had hit with any real force. And knowing that, it didn’t bode well for it being restored anytime soon. I proved to be right about that. Anyway, the feeding at Hideaway went fine, then I met Swan at John’s place for dinner

Hmm, the internet isn’t working for uploading photos, even on my mobile hotspot. Must be storm-related. So, that takes a lot of the fun out of blogging. Oh well, Swan surprised me by ordering a pasta dish. I, in turn, surprised her by ordering birria tacos so she could satisfy her weekly addiction.

Okay, photo uploading is working again. That’s lemon alfredo pasta.
And the lonely birria taco I saved for Swan.

After dinner, we stuck to our Sunday routines with a stop at Red Bar.

Cheers, baby!

We normally make Jumpin’ Jacks our venue for the Sunday nightcap, but they were closed because of the storm, so we moved on to Cheap Charlies. We had to sit at the bar because the wind was slamming the plastic curtains against the counter space. There was definitely an end-of-the-world vibe going on. So, knowing there was still no power at the house, we agreed that getting a room in Barretto was our best option for the night. I figured the lights might not stay on in Barretto either, so a hotel with a generator was the main requirement. The nicer places were a wet walk up the highway, while the Anbon Hotel was just across the highway near the It Doesn’t Matter Bar. I confirmed they had a working generator and booked my cheap room. I’m not saying it’s the worst room I’ve ever stayed in, but it is in the top ten of the bad ones.

Rules and electricity. We took a trike back to the house, grabbed some fresh clothes and toiletries, and triked back to our room. Seeing as how the It Doesn’t Matter Bar was steps away, we settled in for a drink before bedtime. And sure enough, the power went out in Barretto. I heard the generator kick on at Anbon, so I was happy with my choice. I was also surprised that IDM has a generator as well. The Barretto outage lasted only about 30 minutes.

What? Ten o’clock comes TWICE a day?

Wow! The old man stayed out late last night! One good thing about going to bed later than usual was that it meant less time dealing with the discomfort of a shit bed and crappy pillows. We heard the wind and rain through the night, but there doesn’t appear to be any flooding or other visible damage here in Barretto.

Woke up hungry, so we ventured out in the rain in search of breakfast. The wind rendered our umbrellas worthless. Jewel Cafe is only a block away, but alas, they were closed, likely due to the storm. So, we moved down the highway to the Arizona Resort to eat.

Filipino-style for Swan

And I ate like a hungry American:

A sausage and egg muffin with hash browns…
And some French toast on the side…hey, for all I know, this could be my last meal.

I used to visit Arizona to eat frequently, but it’s on the wrong side of town with lots of other good options in between, so I just don’t make it here much nowadays. It was good to be back, though.

Livin’ large.
I offered Swan some toes-in-the-sand time, but she deemed the beach too wet for walking.

Walked back to the Anbon in the rain and checked on the status of power restoration at the house. It’s still a no-go. Check-out time here is noon, so it was decision time: do I stay or do I go? Welp, I’m down for spending 900 pesos to keep my laptop going and phone charged. If the power gets restored before bedtime tonight, we’ll just mosey on home. If not, it will be an easy crawl to the Anbon after the Hash.

Speaking of the Hash, I have no idea what’s in store for today. I can’t imagine it will be anything more than a street walk, and it might be even less than that (a bar crawl). Either way, I’ll be there!

Back to March 2015 in the LTG archives, and the big news in this post is that my Uncle Sam rehired me! I had retired as a GS-15 Human Resources Director and returned as a GS-13 Labor Relations Specialist — the same job I had when I first came to Korea.

Coincidentally, on this date in my history on Facebook:

Nine years ago, I was re-promoted to the Director’s chair.
Eight years ago, I was enjoying my final autumn in Korea on the streets of Pyeongtaek.

For today’s YouTube video, we’ll stick with the typhoon theme. Lots of places got hit a lot harder than we did. (I didn’t watch this, so can’t vouch for its accuracy.)

And now for these:

The truth will set you free!
But what rhymes with orange?
Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.

Damn, this post was one of the hardest to write, logistically speaking—slow internet, no mouse, and some keyboard issues. Oh well, I did the best I could with what I had to work with. Still raining outside with a brisk breeze, but things aren’t as bad as I expected. We’ll see what happens next.

5 thoughts on “Seeking shelter from the storm

  1. I suppose spending more money to stay in hotels beats buying a generator. Seems absolutely retarded and idiotic but you do you, brah.

  2. Glad that things were not as bad as expected, at least in your neck of the woods.

    Slow internet, no mouse, paying for a hotel, etc. Definitely first world problems in a third world country. LOL

  3. Brian, yeah, and next time I’ll upgrade to a hotel that doesn’t offer rooms by the hour. I didn’t even want to think about what that shitty mattress had been through…

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