Ashes to ashes, dust to dust

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It’s automatic when I talk with old friends
The conversation turns to girls we knew
When their hair was soft and long
And the beach was the place to go

With suntanned bodies and waves of sunshine
The California girls and a beautiful coastline
And warmed-up weather, let’s
Get together and do it again

The beaches and girls here in the Philippines are every bit as nice as I remember from my glory days in California. Still, I’m ready and willing to do it again—if only I could.

As days go, yesterday was a good one. All the more so because it was a little bit out of the ordinary. The Wednesday Walkers group made the journey out to San Marcelino for a hike alongside the lahar-laden Santo Tomas River.

Steve generously offered to drive us the 29 kilometers so we could enjoy a change of scenery.
We arrived safely at our destination.
Here’s the rest of us: Scott, Swan, George, and Steve.
Let’s head for the river!
We had to climb the dyke to get there. Or should I say dike?
Marching up the old dirt road. Actually, it isn’t all that old. As I understand it, the dyke road was built to facilitate the mining of lahar from the riverbed.
A river view. It looks a lot different in rainy season. In fact, just a couple of months ago there was some massive flooding out this way.
There were dozens of these dump trucks being filled to the brim with the lahar diggings.
And the walking got uncomfortable at times.
I don’t know if you can see that dust cloud in the distance, but every time a truck rolled by, I had to cover my face with a handkerchief to breathe comfortably.
Oh shit, here comes another one!
And there goes another.
But other than dust, the views were nice.
At first I thought I was seeing a lake in the distance. Turns out, that’s a huge solar panel farm.
Not a lot of litter out here, but this caught my eye. Must of been that “day the music died” thing Don McLean sang about.
Swan found a shady spot.
Swan says, “I can dig it!”
Like sands through an hourglass, so are the days of our lives.
Lake Mapanuepe was formed after the Mt. Pinatubo eruption in 1991.Been there a couple of times and it is beautiful. Hope ta go back one day soon.
We took a backroad walk through a village where I encountered these words of wisdom.
Oops! I’m falling behind. Time to put away the camera.
The route of our mostly pleasant 5.5K journey.
I brought home a souvenir. I guess I’ve always been a dirty guy.

And the fun wasn’t over yet! My new Wednesday-evening routine is the nine-ball pool tournament at Alaska Club. I still suck at pool, although Swan says I’m getting better. The nice thing about the nine-ball format is that luck is a big factor. And for the first time in my new pool “career,” I got lucky and won a game!

The tourney starts at 6:30, and we got there an hour early so I could get some practice in. Our regular waitresses, Alex and Sha, were glad to assist me in that regard, and, of course, I rewarded them with a lady drink.

That’s Alex giving me a warm-up game.

Last week, there weren’t enough players to hold the tournament—I understand that 10 is the minimum—so I offered Alex and Sha a choice: a lady drink or my paying the 200-peso entry fee so they could play in the tourney. They both selected the pool-playing option. Good for them! And, coincidentally, we had enough players to be good to go. Three other expats were there as well, and damn, they were good.

I played in the first match of the tourney against this guy (forgot his name). He was good, and beat me 2-0.
Even though I lost, I played well enough to have not embarrassed myself.
Congrats to the winner!

So now I was in the losers’ bracket, and I had to wait a LONG time for my next game—right around two hours. There was nothing to do but fill that time with beer drinking, and that’s just what I did. I can’t say for sure that beer makes me play better, but when my turn finally came around, I won for the first time ever.

It was Sha I beat, one of the gals I’d sponsored.

In the next round, I played Jay, aka Simba) the owner of Hot Zone bar and the former grandmaster of the Subic Bay Hash. I’ve known him for years, but this is the first time I’ve seen him play pool (we played darts once). He is also an outstanding player and promptly dispatched me from the tournament.

That’s Jay standing in the background watching me fail. Honestly, I do think my game is improving, although I doubt I’ll ever be as good as some of the people I saw last night.

But I had a good time, and that’s all that matters. I mean, I got my beer-drinking time in, along with something different to do while imbibing. That works for me.

It was past my bedtime when I finished the tournament. Let’s go home!

And I’ll be happy with similar Wednesdays to come!

From the March 2023 LTG archives, I tell the tale of how a date with Mary went down. Damn, looking back on it now, I’m shaking my head and saying, “What was I thinking?” That photo of us makes me cringe. I’m fine with helping her out with school expenses, but as the commenters noted back then, I should have taken a hands-off approach.

My oh my, feeling ashamed all these years later.

Today’s YouTube video is a review of the Orchid Inn hotel in Angeles City. That was the first place I ever stayed as a tourist, and it was my go-to lodging for years afterward. My favorite rooms are by the pool. The lobby rooms suck. The pool bar is also a nice place to sit and drink.

Yeah, I’m going there again:

The gave him a brain scan and it came back negative.
Not technically a joke, but I took it as a sign that God was considering my “do-over life” request. I choose #1 and #6, please.
Busted! Forgive me, Father.

And that’s it for now. I’m leaving for La Union in the morning and staying for the weekend. Gonna join in the Hash anniversary there. Looking forward to getting out of town. And you faithful few readers will have something different to see as well!

It’s 1972 in our march through the music of my lifetime. I mentioned this song earlier in my post, and it turns out to be one of the top songs of the year:

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