Old routines die, new ones are born. And Sunday is still a fun day. We’ll get back to our candy walks next week after we restock the chocolate supply, but yesterday we did a Barretto street stroll and handed out lollipops to the children we encountered.

At the appointed hour, we headed for the beach…the one in Barretto.

Shortly after we boarded the Arizona floating bar, a motorboat appeared and tied up alongside.

It was nice to share drinks and the floating vibe with people we know.

We said our goodbyes to Frank and Ligaya and made our way to shore. Back in the olden times, our next stop would be John’s place for dinner. Now what will we do? I’ve decided the new Sunday routine will be dining in places we seldom visit. And since we were already at the Arizona Resort, we started there.

Back in my Barretto early days, the Arizona was one of my favorite places to eat. Ownership changed, and things went downhill (I understand it is for sale again), and I pretty much stopped going there for anything other than the floating bar. After perusing the menu, Swan and I both made selections from the Mexican section.

After dinner, we moved up the highway to Jumpin’ Jacks and got a warm welcome back from the staff. I was invited to play pool with one of the girls, but initially declined. Swan kept encouraging me to participate, so I relented. To make things more interesting, I told my opponent we’d play for twenty thousand. And I won, twice! It was actually the best pool I’ve played in a very long time. So yeah, maybe I’ll make playing an occasional game one of my new routines.

Oh, and about that 20,000…even though I won, I reached into my wallet and pulled out this:

Of course, I’m not a total cheap Charlie. I asked if she preferred a tip for playing with me or a lady drink. She chose the lady drink. It is one of those oddities of working as a bar girl. She makes a 70-peso commission on a lady drink, and I was offering her 100 pesos in cash, but since if they miss their LD quota, their pay is reduced, the drink is the better option.

We left Jumpin’ Jacks and caught a trike home to maintain our routine sleep schedule. And so went another Sunday.

Onward to November 2016 in the LTG archives. The first post of the month resolved the Eun Oke mystery. She even left a comment, which surprised me because I didn’t know she read the blog. In a weird twist, I got a message from Eun Oke a few weeks ago asking if she could come for a visit. Of course, that ship sailed long ago, but reading about her reasons for leaving (the age gap) made me smirk. She’s 52, and I’m 70 now. My new love is 40. Go figure. The post also recounts a sad Facebook memory from Jee Yeun. But life goes on. Until it doesn’t.

Today’s YouTube video is an interesting discussion on beggars in the Philippines. I NEVER give money to kids begging because I’d heard that was illegal. It was surprising to learn that giving to anyone who begs violates the law. Yikes! Well, I started giving to Mama, in part because she never asked. I guess maybe that makes it a donation. The other person I give to, I call the “crazy guy.” Rumor has it he is a druggie. I never give more than 50 pesos, so if he is drug-addicted, that ain’t gonna buy much dope. I wish I had never started with him, but now, when he sees me, he looks so desperate, I just want him to leave, so I pay him to go away. In addition to the lack of litter in Vietnam, I never saw one beggar or homeless person. The government there must be doing something right.

I know you’ve been begging to see today’s humor installment, so here it is:

So, it’s back to the Hash after missing the last two runs. The trail starts and finishes at the end of Rizal Extension, my least favorite location because of the inconvenience of getting there and then getting back down (not many trikes can make it that far uphill). So, I’ll be doing my own thing: walking from my house to the On-Home via the My Bitch trail, and then after the Circle starts, I’ll bail out and walk back to town before it gets dark. I’ll let you know how that works out for me tomorrow.