Wow, three posts in one day. What’s up with that? Well, the other posts were about bars, and now it’s time for your daily dose of me. So here goes.

It wouldn’t be a post about me if it didn’t include me in a bar. Of course, I only visit the bars on days that end in “y,” and SaturdaY qualifies. Actually, I had intended to go to Whiskey Girl. It was raining when I left the house, so I didn’t take the dirt path shortcut; instead, I walked out to the highway. When I reached the highway, the owner of Snackbar across the road saw me and beckoned me to come over. I waved and kept on walking. But then I had a change of heart, deciding to have just “one” as a friendly gesture. I wound up staying until my quitting time, a little before nine. I honestly can’t remember the last time I stayed in the same bar for the entire length of my outing. Well, they do have a cute and friendly staff that was pampering me. In return, I ordered in some food and provided beverages in the form of lady drinks. Then, my pal Ron showed up; I got drafted as the DJ and was having a good time, so why bother leaving?

Up bright and early at my usual 0400 to face another rainy day. This latest storm has been a little tricky–the sun peaks through the clouds, and you think it’s safe to walk your dogs without bringing an umbrella. And then, once you reach the furthest point from your house, it starts pouring down rain again. Oh well, that’s the way it goes.

I baked up a batch of cranberry muffins to warm myself after the drenching.

After my carby hearty breakfast, it was time to brave the rain for my morning walk. I did arm myself with an umbrella this time. Since I needed to stay on the pavement, I decided to trek out to Subic town to empty the ATM. I got the cash without issue, but on the walk back home, my feet got soaked wading through huge puddles on the shoulder of the highway.

Got home safe and sound, took a nap, and worked on the previously mentioned posts. Now I need to bake a carrot cake as part of the feeding I have scheduled at Hideaway bar tonight.

I’m also happy to announce that all my hard work is paying off.

I’ll be back! I hope.

Another wet one yesterday, but life goes on, and into each life, some rain must fall.

The Friday walking group didn’t let a little precipitation keep us from our scheduled jaunt. We did confine ourselves to the relative safety of the pavement, dodging cars instead of raindrops. I’ll post the photos from that endeavor at the end of this post.

After the hike, I decided to try something new for lunch. It has been months since I fired up the grill, but I had defrosted some pork chop steaks, and it was time to give them a whirl.

It was a rainy afternoon, and when the time came to head to Voodoo for the SOB, I was thankful for my umbrella. Voodoo doesn’t open until 5:00, and I arrived a little after 4:00, so I hung out at Cheap Charlies while I waited.

Naturally, I took care of my regular CC girls, but I was drinking slowly, knowing I had a long night of imbibing ahead of me. As I did last week, I switched to San Mig Zero to moderate the rate of alcohol consumption. When I saw Voodo was opening, I paid my tab, said goodnight to the ladies (there were three of them), and made my dash across the rain slickened highway.

The last time I visited Voodoo was for the SOB over a month ago. Josie, the gal who kept me company on that occasion, latched onto me as soon as I walked through the door.

Voodoo is the smallest SOB venue of them all, and it was packed by the time the competition began. It was good that I arrived early to secure a comfortable seating location.

The results:

The Aftermath party was at Hot Zone. I stayed there until about 9:30, and that was all I could muster. Caught a trike outside and finished my rainy night out on the town still standing.

Up this morning, ready to tackle a new day. Had the leftover fixin’s from yesterday’s burrito, so I decided to put them where they belonged: in my belly. I was bragging in yesterday’s post about learning how to brown my tortilla in the frying pan, but my foodie commenter, Kevin Kim, pointed out I was still doing it wrong. I’m supposed to fry the whole damn burrito, not just the tortilla. Well, my problem is I like to overfill the tortilla with so much goodness that it can’t be rolled properly, and there is always some spillage. This morning, I cut back on the insides and made it look like an actual burrito.

Yesterday, commenter James suggested I map out some potential bar crawls for like-minded readers here. Sounds like fun to me. Of course, I’m going to need to learn a thing or two about making maps, but I’m sure there’s a way, even for a techno-peasant like me. The first step in that endeavor was to use my morning walk to take a picture of each Barretto bar. They are all on the National Highway, and thanks to my Map My Walk app, I know that the whole of Barretto along the highway is a mere 1.15 kilometers in length. The app also provided me with a rudimentary map that I could work with as a start. I’ll be doing a post about those efforts in more detail tomorrow.

When I left the house this morning, it was not raining, and I neglected to take my umbrella. I soon came to regret that oversight. I don’t mind walking in light rain, but a downpour is just too damn uncomfortable. Heading up the highway, the skies opened, and I rushed to take refuge in one of the two bars that are open during the morning hours–Dynamite Dick’s.

As is his custom, Dick gave me a chit for a free drink, but I respectfully declined his kind offer. The rain had let up, and it was time to complete my mission. Arizona Resort is at the end of the bar district in this direction, so I turned off my app, crossed the highway, turned on the app again, and walked back, documenting the bars on that side of the road. About the time I reached Sit-n-Bull, the skies opened up again, and I took shelter inside.

I also enjoyed a nice chat with owner Ron about the local bar scene. He’s happy to be strictly in the restaurant business these days.

Finished the last bar on this side of the road (Queen Victoria), then decided to head back home even though I was nowhere near my step goal for the day. Walking in the rain is overrated, and sure enough, it started pouring again before I reached my house. Oh well, at least I was able to put on dry clothes.

Here are some photos from yesterday’s hike: (just a reminder, as always, photo credit to Scott for many of these)

My Saturday night is rapidly approaching. I’m planless and clueless. That could make things interesting. Tune in tomorrow to find out what happens.

Since I stole some Huey Lewis lyrics, the least I can do is post the video of his song.

I just keep plugging away and making the best of each day I have left in this so-called life of mine. I ain’t complaining. Much. I do what I please when I please, and I’m getting better at not caring about the things I’m powerless to change. There is freedom in that attitude, and I’m going to embrace it as much as I am able.

Ha! Brave words, I know. And it might appear that my reality is not always in accordance with my objectives. But I take comfort in my routines, and I’m always keeping my eyes open for the next big thing. In the meantime, this is what I’ve been up to:

I only took one photo on the hike. I was doing my standard walk through the Naugsol valley when I noticed the landscape had recently changed.

A quiet afternoon at home, then it was time to see what was happening in my little town. I started out at It Doesn’t Matter, where I usually find a friendly face or two. Yesterday it was Chris and his lovely lady. As I was sitting there, my gaze turned towards the bar across the street named Chill. It opened a few months ago, and I’d never been there before. With nothing better to do, I decided I’d visit and write up a review. You can read about the experience here.

When I was done Chill-ing, I moved on to Wet Spot. They were just opening up when I arrived, so I had the honor of being the first customer. They have a promotion called the “passport,” and every time you buy a drink, you get a mark on your card. After six drinks, you get a free drink, and for the remainder of the night, all your drinks are half-price. The passport is also honored in the Green Room venue. Welp, my passport was full, so I settled in to get my money’s worth. During the course of my evening, I had a nice chat with Brett, the manager, about bands we had seen live in the 70s and 80s (he’s also a California boy). Then Jeff, the owner of Treasure Island, arrived, followed shortly after by Wet Spot owner Dave and one of my neighbors here in Alta Vista. It was a good evening of socializing with some folks other than bargirls. Although Aine, my regular who’d been missing in action during my last couple of visits, wound up making an appearance.

I went home a little drunker than normal, but at least my trike driver made it all the way to the house. I was still in good enough condition to concoct a batch of strawberry-banana smoothies that I enjoyed with my helper.

I’m still dealing with some lung issues, nothing as severe as the other day, but I did wake up at 3 a.m. wheezing, so I got up to use my nebulizer and started my day a little earlier than normal.

It was a rainy morning, and Lucky said, “fuck that,” refusing his daily walk. Buddy doesn’t care; sniffing the smells on the streets of the neighborhood is his favorite part of the day.

I still had an hour before the Friday group hike, so I decided to spend some time in the kitchen. It seemed like a good morning for a burrito breakfast.

I’ll post about the hike tomorrow. Time for me now to shower up and prepare for this week’s SOB. It’s being held at Voodoo, a smallish venue, so I don’t want to be late.

And if you said, "This life ain't good enough."
I would give my world to lift you up
I could change my life to better suit your mood
Because you're so smooth

And it's just like the ocean under the moon
It's the same as the emotion that I get from you
You got the kind of loving that can be so smooth, yeah.
Gimme your heart, make it real
Or else forget about it

Here are some of the “its” I did yesterday.

Fixed me a Sunday breakfast to start the day. That’s newsworthy because lately, my lazy ass has just been pouring milk over cereal.

Then I got a message from Julie asking if she and her friend could join me on my morning hike. Sure, the more, the merrier. My standard Sunday hike is a flat valley walk, but Julie said they preferred the hills but with beginner-level difficulty. I deemed the My Bitch trail pretty much fit that description. We met up at the entrance to Alta Vista and headed for the hills.

I gave the gals the option of going down to the valley, which would likely require getting their feet wet, doing another moderate hill climb, or walking the pavement on Rizal Extension back to town. They opted for the latter. I treated them to lunch at Sit-n-Bull, and when I turned off my tracker, I saw that our hike was exactly 7K.

Once I got back home, I did a couple more episodes of Manifest. Almost to the end of Season 3 now, and there is no resolution in sight. There will be a fourth and final season, but it is not yet available. I’m interested enough to want to see how they pull this together for a logical conclusion. It’s taken a bit of a turn into religion, with the US government playing the role of Satan. That’s my take so far, at least. Stay tuned.

And then it was time for my workout.

But I also had promised myself a steak dinner for my birthday, so John’s place was my first stop. John was there, and we had a nice chat. He was running a weekend steak special, but it was New Zealand beef. I wanted a good ol’ American ribeye. I got to pick out my steak; John weighed it, added the 350 peso cooking charge, then gave me a 10% “birthday discount.” Thanks for that! It still came out to almost 2000 pesos, $35.00 at the current exchange rate.

I also ordered the fish tacos at John’s for takeout. Got those for Joy and stopped at Chooks To Go to get a box of fried chicken for the other girls at Hideaway.

After Hideaway, I made a stop at the Green Room. Marissa has just started working as a waitress there. I welcomed her with a couple of lady drinks and wished her well. The hours are 4:00 p.m. until closing (usually around 2 a.m.), so I don’t envy her that.

I woke up this morning, and there was a male lying in bed next to me.

Did my Monday morning 5K beach walk on Baloy.

And now it’s time to get ready for another Hash Monday. Today’s trail is starting out in Subic, and I’ll be taking a Jeepney to get there. I know where the trail begins, but several others don’t, so they’ll be meeting me at 7/11 to tag along. I just hope we can find room in a Jeepney for us all.

I’ll tell you how it goes tomorrow.

When you know she's no high climber
Then you find your only friend
In a room with your two timer
And you're sure you're near the end
Then you love a little wild one
And she brings you only sorrow
All the time you know she's smilin'
You'll be on your knees tomorrow

You go back, Jack, do it again
Wheel turnin' 'round and 'round
You go back, Jack, do it again

And so do I. I completed my 67th journey around the sun today. My plan is to make that trip a few more times before I give it a rest. Wish me luck!

I’m happy to report I’m having a pain-free birthday. Even got off my lazy ass and walked almost 10K today. I’ve still got my evening bar crawl steps to add in, so I’m back on track in that regard.

Everything went fine at the SOB. I’ll share photos once the sponsor posts them. This week the top three were Wet Spot, Alaska, and Hot Zone. At least, as far as I recall. I made it a beer night again to make sure I maintained the proper amount of control. And balance. It must have worked.

UPDATE: Here are some photos:

Marissa has moved back to Barretto from Manila, and I invited her to see the show. Seemed a little bit like old times. Turns out she knows the manager from Green Room, and he’s wanting to hire a couple of waitresses. Looks like she’s found a job, and that made me glad I extended the invitation.

Otherwise, everything is what it always is around here. I’m planning to treat myself to a steak dinner at John’s place to start my evening, then hit a few of my favorite bars. I heard from one of the gals at Snatchbar that they have a cake for me, so I’ll need to make that one of my stops tonight.

I’ve been surprised by all the birthday greetings and messages popping up from my Facebook friends, almost 100 so far. I guess I’m not as alone as I sometimes feel. Now, if I could just find a worthy girlfriend. Luckily, I’m still young (at heart) and gwapo. I just need to give it some time.

So the years spin by and now the boy is twenty sixty-seven
Though his dreams have lost some grandeur coming true
There'll be new dreams maybe better dreams and plenty
Before the last revolving year is through

And the seasons they go round and round
And the painted ponies go up and down
We're captive on the carousel of time
We can't return we can only look
Behind from where we came
And go round and round and round
In the circle game

I didn’t do my walk routine yesterday. I used my toothache as an excuse, but I’m sure it wouldn’t have hurt more if I’d gone out and done something healthy. Instead, I binge-watched Manifest. I’m well into season three now. It’s okay enough that I continue to watch, and I understand that telling a consistent story in an episodic fashion is a complex undertaking. That’s probably why I like movies better; you get the whole shebang from beginning to end in a couple of hours. Anyway, watching filled the hours with something besides the pain in my mouth.

I did have an afternoon visit from Joy, who helped distract me from my misery.

After Joy left, I headed into town. First stop was a drop-in visit to my dentist. I told him the Advil wasn’t doing much to dull my pain and asked if he could prescribe something more potent. He gave me a prescription for two different painkillers–one to take in the morning and one before bed. He also gave me the name of an over-the-counter pill I could take as needed between the other meds. I stocked up at the pharmacy and then began my self-medication journey.

Had a couple of drinks at It Doesn’t Matter, waiting for 6:00 p.m. to roll around. My friend Bhel joined me there and then accompanied me to Whiskey Girl to help me use my 500 peso voucher (it was the last night before it expired). We accomplished that mission, but it was still too early for me to go home, so we crossed the highway for a visit with Queen Victoria.

Bhel knew one of the waitresses there, so I invited her to join us at the bar and bought her a lady drink.

I knew a waitress too, and it only seemed fair for her to join me too.

I left Bhel in the safekeeping of her friend and headed home to take the bedtime painkiller. I woke up at 0300 with the pain flaring again and gave up trying to sleep more.

I took one of the daytime painkillers, did my internet routine, and then swallowed one of the “in-between” pills. That dulled the pain enough that I was able to catch a morning nap. I bailed on the Friday hike, though, again as much out of laziness as pain. Watched a couple more episodes of Manifest and suddenly realized my tooth wasn’t hurting. I’m not sure if it is the antibiotics or the pain pills, but I hope the hurt is gone for good.

It’s another SOB Friday. Tonight’s contest is being hosted at Wet Spot, so I reckon I’ll be spending some time (and money) with Aine as I enjoy the show.

Here’s hope that I’m feeling normal again tomorrow. Someone is turning 67 on Saturday.

My yesterday began in the wee dark hours of the morning when I woke with a painful tooth. I took some aspirin and went back to bed. The pain subsided enough for me to sleep until my regular 0430 wake-up time. I knew I’d have to get that tooth checked out by my dentist before it got worse. I’m a very low tolerance for pain kind of guy.

In the meantime, I went about my regular Tuesday routines.

Next up on my “to-do” list was the weekly shopping excursion to the Royal supermarket.

My sweet tooth has been causing me problems as well, and I decided to stymie my lack of willpower by refusing to purchase ice cream this week. But when I walked by the ice cream freezer, I was surprised to see a new brand in stock: Sunnyside Farms. Wow. That had been one of my favorites back in the USA. Then I noticed it was priced at “only” $6.00. The Bryers ice cream cartons displayed right next to it were selling for $9.50.

On the way home, I had my driver stop by my dentist’s office to see if I could do a walk-in appointment. The receptionist told me to have a seat, so I waved for my driver to go on without me. After about twenty minutes, Dr. Barrera finished with his scheduled client and had me come back to his office for a consult. I described my issue, and he had me sit in the dental chair for a look-see.

When I indicated which tooth was causing the pain, he said that that tooth had a crown. Hmm, well, I knew that all my crowns had been preceded by a root canal, so where was the pain coming from? He said, let’s do an x-ray and find out. The x-ray showed that a small portion of the nerve was still present, hence the pain. The swelling around the tooth was consistent with an infection which was likely responsible for the pain. He prescribed a week’s worth of antibiotics and told me to continue taking ibuprofen for the pain as needed. If this doesn’t work, he’ll go back in and do another root canal. Alrighty then.

Dr. Barrerra’s total charge for the appointment, including the x-ray, was 500 pesos (ten bucks). The pharmacy charged me 95 pesos per tablet of the antibiotic (3X a day=21 pills), so the meds were almost forty dollars. It seemed weird paying so much more for the medicine than I paid the dentist. But $50. all in is still a bargain. Here’s hoping the pills work.

My dentist is practically across the street from John’s place. I’d hit the ATM, so I had a pocketful of money and a hankering for some quality beef. It was still early, and John wasn’t in yet. One of the staff showed me some ribeyes that looked good, but she couldn’t tell me if they were US or Aussie beef. At 2300 pesos a kilo, I wasn’t settling for anything less than prime USDA meat. I’ll have to go back another time.

It was still raining hard, but I was able to catch a trike right in front of John’s to whisk me home. My helper prepared a dory fish and mixed vegetable lunch for me.

I ate, I blogged, and then I settled in to watch a couple more episodes of Manifest. I’m getting deep into season two, and I’m concerned the story may be going off the rails. I’ll watch some more to find out if my sense of direction is correct. But some things the writers have done are just plain stupid. For example, the main antagonist is a female character everyone calls “the Major.” I’ve been thinking that’s a pretty low rank for someone running a major operation on behalf of the military or government or whomever it is. I decided it was probably more of a nickname than a military rank. And then it was revealed that she had been (she’s never depicted in uniform) at one time a Major General in the Army. Hmm. No one calls a Major General “Major.” In fact, all flag officers are referred to as “General.” (Brigadier General (BG), Major General (MG), Lieutenant General (LTG), and a 4-star General (GEN). You mostly say “sir” or “ma’am” when speaking to them directly, but regardless of rank, you’d say General Jones in casual conversation or by the actual rank in more formal settings. But you would NEVER call a Major General “Major” unless you were trying to be insulting. A stupid mistake that is distracting to me. I’ll stay tuned for a while longer, so you don’t have to.

When it was time to head into town, I took my umbrella and the coupons I’d won at the SOB, including a 500 peso voucher at Whiskey Girl bar. On my way there, I saw “mama” sitting in front of the 7/11, so I crossed the highway to give her my standard 100 peso donation. Of course, the ladies at Snatchbar saw me, and I felt compelled to have a drink before continuing on my mission. I limited myself to one (and a lady drink each for the two waitresses at my table). I paid my tab and left despite the pleas for me to stay for “one more.”

I guess I could have, I arrived at Whiskey Girl shortly before 5:00, and they weren’t open yet. I had a coupon for Queen Victoria, so I crossed the highway again and had a free drink. It seems rude to accept the freebie without buying one also, so that’s what I did. When I returned to Whiskey Girl, they were STILL closed. Damn, I guess they don’t open until 6:00. Now what? Well, one thing for sure is I wasn’t going to stand out in the rain, so I headed up the road and popped into Mango’s.

Drank slowly and kept an eye on my watch, and when 6 p.m. arrived, I departed. I was relieved to see a couple of gals around the door at Whiskey Girl when I got there. Alas, they told me, “sorry sir, we are closed for cleaning.” Apparently, during the heavy rain, the water level on the street rose enough to allow seepage into the bar. And my plans for the evening were foiled.

I was near another bar I hadn’t visited in quite some time, Adam’s. I was the only customer, but one of the girls there knew me and greeted me by name. I had no recollection of who she might be. She said, “I’m Shantelle; you saw me at Bottoms Up.” Hmm. I hadn’t been to Bottoms Up since I did my review back in November of last year. Looking at the review now, I see that she was featured in the write-up. Shantelle also reminded me that we had first met when she was a waitress at Treasure Island on Baloy. “Oh yeah, I remember now,” I lied.

I, of course, bought her a lady drink. When I was done with mine, I headed back out. I was feeling a tad hungry, so my next stop was Cameltoe. I was just getting settled in when my pal Johnny arrived, so at least I had some male company for a change. (Don’t worry, I bought Lydell a drink and some food too).

I ate, I drank, I chatted, and then it was time to call it a night (8:30), so I headed home.

On the trike ride home, I remembered I had some special ice cream in the freezer. When I arrived, I gave the dogs a treat, then walked to the freezer and grabbed the carton of Butterfinger ice cream. Took a spoon from the drawer, sat down at my laptop, and wound up eating the whole damn carton. Again. I told you I had no willpower. I blame it on the rain.

Tuesday, afternoon
I'm just beginning to see
Now I'm on my way
It doesn't matter to me
Chasing the clouds away

Something, calls to me
The trees are drawing me near
I've got to find out why
Those gentle voices I hear
Explain it all with a sigh

I'm looking at myself, reflections of my mind
It's just the kind of day to leave myself behind
So gently swaying thru the fairy-land of love
If you'll just come with me and see the beauty of

Tuesday afternoon