I was feeling a little flat, so I convinced my fellow Friday hikers to take a pleasant stroll in and around Subic town. No hills or thrills, but a peaceful, easy feeling as we marched along.
When beer o’clock rolled around, I took Swan to the beach.
It has a ground-floor beachside restaurant/bar that has not yet opened. My friend Jessa advised me that the upstairs bar was serving customers, so we climbed the stairs.
We only stayed for one beer, then hit the beach for a stroll. We’ll be back, especially after the food place downstairs opens.
We walked to Kokomo’s to see what was happening there. Still no floating bar, but we’re told it will be anchored late next week. We had a pleasant visit with the staff, bought them both a drink, and then headed over to Treasure Island for some grub.
Another early night, home by 7:30. Is that going to become the new normal? Not if I can help it! But the diet plan calls for a reduction in beer intake, and the easiest way to achieve that is to spend less time at the bar. At least for now.
Eight years ago, I was in Shenanigans, my favorite Itaewon hangout, celebrating the first time Donald Trump was elected President.
Six years ago, I got a welcome back to the Philippines after my journey to the USA from my pals at Alley Cats bar:
Setting politics aside, it only seems appropriate to wish Kamala well in her future endeavors.
Today’s YouTube video from the Filipina Pea talks about the “Love Scam” industry here in the Philippines. It’s like all those Nigerian Princes on overdrive. There are actually call centers set up where Filipinas work to make lonely foreign men fall in love with them. And send money, of course. Back when I was living in Korea and “meeting” Filipinas from the dating sites, I got burned once or twice. The worst example was the time I sent a woman airfare to come visit me. The fact that I didn’t just buy the ticket myself shows how naive I was. Anyway, lessons learned the hard way. My rule after that was never send money to anyone you have never met in person.
Here’s something to smile about:
To the future, then! There’s a Maze bar hop tonight in honor of Daddy Dave’s 83rd birthday.
Swan and I will dine at Jewel Cafe before the aMAZEing fun begins. Check back here tomorrow for all the gory details!
You seem like one of those “Trump will just do stuff liberals won’t like” guys. How about thinking about that rotten attitude a bit, eh?
Trump’s actions on abortion rights will lead directly to the death of women. In fact, they already have. That’s not “stuff liberals won’t like.” That’s women bleeding out from sepsis or dying alone in a hotel room from trying to give themselves an abortion.
Trump gave a massive tax cut to billionaires and he’s made it clear he’ll do it again. That’s not “stuff liberals won’t like.” That’s the ultra-wealthy getting even richer while everyday Americans get kicked to the curb and struggle just to pay for food and housing. That’s poor families being trapped into a cycle of eternal poverty while corporations rake in more and more profit.
Trump wants to kill the ACA and gut healthcare. That’s not “stuff liberals won’t like.” That’s 30 million people without health insurance. That’s tens of thousands of people, per several studies, who will die over a five to ten year period because they don’t have health insurance.
Trump has floated abolishing the Department of Education. That’s not “stuff liberals won’t like.” That’s thousands of schools shutting down across the country. That’s every school that’s left standing having to cut counselors, classes, teachers. That’s 800,000 kids who will lose early learning, preschool, kindergarten opportunities.
Trump wants to decimate nutrition assistance programs. That’s not “stuff liberals won’t like.” That’s millions of children going hungry in the richest country in the world. That’s families pushed over the brink from poverty to extinction because they can’t afford to feed themselves.
Trump will throw Ukraine under the bus and let Russia massacre more innocent people. That’s not “stuff liberals won’t like.” That’s the Bucha Massacre– the one where women were raped, children summarily shot, people thrown in mass graves– over and over again.
He’ll also let Russia recolonize its former imperial holdings in Eastern Europe and in Western and Central Asia. That’s not “stuff liberals won’t like.” That’s Moldovans, Poles, Lithuanians, Kazakhs, Georgians, Armenians who will die fighting Russian imperialism without any help from America.
Speaking of Armenians, multiple reports have suggested Azerbaijan may launch an invasion of Armenia itself because they don’t believe America under Trump would do anything to stop them. That’s not “stuff liberals won’t like.” That’s a virtually guaranteed second Armenian genocide. That’s hundreds of thousands, maybe millions, of Armenians slaughtered, forced to flee their homes, turned into refugees.
Nah, buddy, that’s not “stuff liberals don’t like.” This is people dying. This is people being forced into poverty. This is the already insane wealth gap in our country potentially reaching the point that it can never, ever be fixed. You’re welcome to your own perspective, think what you want, but don’t pat yourself on the back because you think you’re above “the theatrics.”
And passed by a leaning tree
Impressive. Is this one you’ve photographed before? I seem to recall a few leaning-tree shots in the past.
I hadn’t noticed that the center pillar is looking a little bit dicey.
Yeah, it looks as though the pillars and their foundation are not long for this world. Quality construction!
Another life shorter than mine
Those banner-sized tributes are practically a cultural trope. How long are they up for, do you reckon? Do you ever come across old, moldy ones? What gets done with the banners after they’re taken down? Do any ever wash up on shore?
The Drunken Sailor. Technically open, but not quite ready for customers.
And every Wednesday, it’s Talk Like a Pirate Night!
The bar affords the bay views Swan longs for.
Is it possible to do a coastal walk of your entire island? If not, is it possible to dodge inland on occasion and do a mostly coastal walk of the island?
Chicken fajitas for Swan
“Chicken vaginas.”
Damn, I was almost skinny back then. I want to go there again!
And there’s Garfield off to the side, thumbs-upping your future!
My rule after that was never send money to anyone you have never met in person.
Some of us know this through common sense; others of us need to learn about human nature via the school of hard knocks. Live and learn. Of course, we’re all stupid about something, so none of us is really exempt.
You might want to abort that diet
“Lethal Weapon 2” ends with a silly “decaffeinated” joke based on a South African racial slur. Can you fix the comma problem(s) at the top of the meme?
Don’t make a pig of yourself, Pooh
Finally, one that makes me laugh out loud!
It’s a heartbreak
And what three (or arguably four) bits of punctuation are missing here?
I guess it won’t be an early night this time…finishes at 9:00! OMG!
I can see how you go from 1 to 2, and from 2 to 3… but how, on that maze, do you go from 3 to 4 without passing through 2 or 5?
@secret: grow up. we are a bunch of stupid animals trying to believe we do have a specific mind because we can speak – most of the time for nothing useful at all – and so our everyday is about nothing but having a car – some of us are making good with art and science and we all take that for food thinking we did invented these art & science but we are totally unable to understand and far from being able to make any sort of computer device or even let’s say a hammer
so we do accept massive control under what some call voluntary servitude, trying to make it coming from divine thing (for whatever this means) and this control is FAR stronger han when La Boétie wrote that just by the power of COMPUTER which is the stupidest tool ever created (it’s like a very consuming ressource feed of a kleenex but too much complexe for we could think its stupid) and a large amount of modern layers such as global consuming services
so everything which is not only food is dangerous, books are entertainment but these ones with strange thinking are dangerous, science is tool for confortable life but this one philosophical is dangerous
we do are sheep, nothing else
no more grass ? that’s probably because of this bird there let’s kill it
Antoine, Um, if you say so.
Kev, I have indeed posted a photo of that leaning tree in the past. I’m impressed you remember that!
I rarely see a banner up long enough to get moldy. Swan says the usual time frame is one week. People treat the banners with respect (I’m even shy about photographing them if anyone is around), and I’ve never seen them trashed. Similar banners are hung to celebrate positive events, like graduation from college. A joke I sometimes tell is: “My friend got fired from the banner shop—he accidentally put “Congratulations” on a death banner.
Pirate night at The Drunken Sailor? Aye, matey, good plan! I’ll bring the wench and hang out with the scallywags and landlubbers. We’ll plunder us some grog, toss around some pieces of eight, and have a jolly good time of it. Shiver me timbers; sounds like fun!
As to the island walk, Luzon is the largest island of the 7000+ in the Philippines. So, maybe that crazy guy in Korea could plot a months-long circumnavigation. Otherwise, it ain’t happening. Thinking about doing a more localized beach walk is also problematic. It’s hard to do the 5K to SBMA without climbing over rocks, wading through rivers, and detouring around sections with no beach. Going the other direction to Subic town is stymied by sections where bayside shanty towns block passage. I’ve taken relatively longer beach walks in Pundaquit and San Narciso, but even there, you encounter obstacles like rivers and cliffs.
I prefer chick vaginas, thank you very much!
Yes, I must have been very happy back then, ignorance being bliss and all. In my defense, I’d been video chatting with the woman I sent the airfare for a year. So, at least, she had to work to earn the money she scammed. The epilog to that story is that she contacted me again after several months to apologize, telling me she was very desperate for money. I graciously responded, “fuck off.”
I had to go look up the “Lethal Weapon” joke. Good one! Regarding the meme punctuation, all I see is that the comma needs to be after “Century,” not farmers. Did I miss something else?
I’m glad you FINALLY got a chuckle from my humor section. Can you imagine going through life being called “Pooh”? What a shitty name!
As for the missing punctuation, it’s a billboard–I don’t think it is available. If you can buy commas and periods, I’d write it like this: To some, marriage is a word. To others, it’s a sentence.
The bar hop graphic is a mess, but the reality is that La Oficina (#3) is upstairs from Alaska (#4). You can, in fact, visit each bar without walking through another. Wet Spot has doors to Alaska and Green Room. Sloppy Joe’s, Green Room, and Alaska have doors to a lobby area. The stairs to La Oficina ascend from the lobby.
Secret, sorry to disappoint, but I’m one of those guys who simply wants what is best for the good ol’ USA. Thankfully, the majority of my fellow citizens feel the same way. And by the way, I put my name on everything I write here–I don’t need to be “secret” about it.
Your comment listing all the things Trump will do is an amazing portrait of your ignorance or indoctrination. Or both. You make these wild-ass claims but offer zero facts to support them—typical lefty tactic.
“Trump’s actions on abortion rights will lead directly to the death of women. In fact, they already have.”
That’s about the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard. The Supreme Court said that each State has the right to pass its own abortion laws. Trump says to leave it to the states to decide. It sounds like you are not a fan of the American Constitution.
“Trump gave a massive tax cut to billionaires”
Where do you come up with this bullshit? Trump lowered taxes for everyone. Keeping more of the money I earned is a good thing. And that song and dance about the poor is a hoot, especially in light of the fact that we’ve been flooded with illegals crossing the unsecured border for four years now under Biden.
Do you really believe the Department of Education has anything to do with keeping schools open? Local governments and school districts have always been responsible for that. I worked at DepEd for four years, and it may be the most worthless government agency ever. I don’t think Trump will abolish it, but I hope efficiency expert Musk will recommend gutting it.
You know what? Everything you have said is unsupported by any facts whatsoever. Unless you can produce some evidence to support your claims, I won’t waste my time responding. My advice to you is to move to Ukraine and support the folks you love more than America.
Oh, and thanks for sharing your liberal tears. Very tasty!
John (and @Kevin), A while back, I came across the Cebu Highlands Trail, which is a 400 km trail that goes end to end on the island.
With nothing but time, maybe that is in your future……………. LOL. Kevin could come down for a change of scenery, etc.
Brian, Kevin is allergic to heat and humidity. And my get up and go has got up and went. Perhaps in one of my “do-over” lifetimes…
If Kevin is allergic to heat and humidity mate why does he live in Korea cheers mate
Aaron, at least Korea has four seasons, and is not hot year-round like the Philippines. During the summer season, Kevin does most of his walking at night.