I hope the day will be a lighter highway For friends are found on every road Can you ever think of any better way For the lost and weary travellers to go Making friends for the world to see Let the people know you got what you need With a friend at hand you will see the light If your friends are there then everything's all right
Another Saturday night out on the town. IDM and Wet Spot were my venues of choice for drowning my sorrows. In between the two, I had me some grub at Sit-n-Bull.
Had a nice chat with Daddy Dave at Wet Spot. He’s still going strong at 80+ and hasn’t let a little thing like last week’s skin cancer surgery slow him down any. He’s quite the inspiration. I mentioned that I have a birthday coming up this month, and we got a good laugh about me being nine years old when he earned his bachelor’s degree in 1964. Dave went on to have a career in medicine before building his business empire here in the Philippines over twenty years ago. He splits his time between Barretto and Manila and still maintains a residence in Amsterdam as well. Probably the most interesting character in town.
Speaking of friends, I made a new one on Facebook recently. I get friend requests all the time from people I’ve never met, but I’ll generally accept them, provided we have some mutual friends in common. Now, that’s pretty much as far as it usually goes, although occasionally, I’ll engage in some chit-chat. And so it was with “Angel,” who comes across as both friendly and articulate. We were exchanging messages this morning, and on a whim, I suggested we get to know one another better. It just seems to me a good way to break out of my current funk by meeting someone new, and who knows, maybe we’d click romantically. I’ve been thinking a girlfriend might be just what I need. I suggested we get together for lunch this afternoon, and she agreed.
“Where are we going to meet?” she asked. How about Mango’s? “Are you sure?” Um, why? Is there somewhere else you prefer? “No, it’s not that. Are you comfortable meeting me in a public place? You know I’m transgender, right?”
Oh shit. No, I didn’t know that. She pointed out that it says so on her Facebook profile, but somehow I had missed that. I told her I really appreciated her honesty and that I’m not one to judge, but I just don’t swing that way. She was gracious and understanding. I’m glad I didn’t find out she was a girl with something extra the “hard” way. And I won’t have to answer the question, “why did you think she was a real girl?” by saying, “I don’t know, I could just feel it inside me.”
So, my first tentative steps back into the dating life didn’t quite turn out the way I imagined. I’ll need to do a better job vetting potential dates in the future. “What has she gots in her pocketses?” as Gollum would have the good sense to ask.
And if dodging a bullet wasn’t exercise enough, I took a nice 6.5K walk this morning.
You can Relive the walk here:
And that pretty much is all I have to say about the way things are around here.
Dodged a bullet, indeed. I’m glad it ended amicably, though. No American-style woke drama.
Food looks good!
I am glad you avoided the potential of adding a sore ass to your list of health concerns.
Dear John,
You are right. I am indeed a legend in my own lifetime. If I wasn’t me, I’d want to be me. Shep naches.
By the way, I am still only 79 years young despite what the putzs here say behind my back. Zei gezunt.
Dave, 79, 80, who’s counting? My dream is to be like you at that age!
QP, yeah, I don’t need any butt hurt at this point in my life.
Kev, back in the states, I’d likely be canceled for refusing to be attracted to someone’s chosen gender. Guess I got lucky in more ways than one!