Born and raised in southern California. My career exodus has taken me to Arizona, Oklahoma, Arkansas, South Carolina, Virginia, and Washington, DC. And as of 23 January 2005, Seoul, Korea. Married with 6 grown children (blended family). First grandchild is in the oven! I created this blog to document my adventures as an expat living and working in Korea. I'm also pretty confident that I will on occasion feel the need to express my views on current events and other matters I find of interest.
Yesterday’s big adventure was taking a trip out to the mall in Olongapo. My main mission was to get my eyes examined. I’ve been having trouble of late reading text on the monitor (sometimes having to close one eye to focus) so I knew something wasn’t right. I also wanted to find a different optometrist. I’ve been going to the same shop since getting new glasses while here as a tourist in 2017. My last examination was a year or more ago and at that time I was told my eyesight hadn’t changed since the previous exam. I don’t know, but this last pair of glasses has never seemed quite right.
Anyway, I liked the optometrist this time who seemed much more thorough and organized. I didn’t like hearing that my right eye had a “growth” that needs to be removed. I guess a cataract isn’t unusual at my age but I’m loathe to have someone at a third rate clinic operating on my eyes. We’ll see. Or maybe we won’t.
I thought this sign was pretty funny, but it’s a good thing I suppose that I am, in fact, a Juan.
My new progressive lenses might take up to three weeks to arrive I’m told. This prescription is stronger than the last one, at least for that troublesome right eye.
Once I arrived back in Barretto, I popped into Cheap Charlies for some liquid refreshment. Once again, I was besieged by thirsty bargirls. That’s getting pretty irritating and I left sooner than I normally would have as a result. Moved up the road to Mango’s where they don’t have drinky and desperate waitresses.
I’d rather have the view anyway.
Another benefit to Mango’s is I like the food a lot better. Had my favorite again last night.
How do you like them chops?
This is an abbreviated post because I have a meeting to attend this afternoon. No idea how this is going to play out, but you can read all about it here tomorrow.
In the meantime, I was stunned, startled, aghast, taken aback, stupefied, confused, shocked, rattled, paralyzed, dazed, bewildered, mixed up, surprised, awed, dumbfounded, nonplussed, flabbergasted, astounded, amazed, confounded, astonished, overwhelmed, horrified, numbed, speechless, and perplexed when I saw this cartoon:
Take these past 24 hours for example. Sitting down just now to write this, I couldn’t help noticing lazy Lucky chillin’ out on the couch:
So, where’s that other lazy mutt, Buddy?
Ah, snoozin’ on the balcony. It’s a dog’s life!
I started things out with breakfast this morning at Sit-n-Bull:
Bacon, eggs, and pancakes. Damn it was good!
I eat so Kevin Kim doesn’t have to! Speaking of eating, I did my Wednesday Korean wings takeout from The Pub again last night. I’ll eat the leftovers for lunch as soon as I finish this post. How’s that for motivation to stay on point and focused?
The highlight of my night was my visit to Dive In and spending some quality time with Jessa and the girls. As I mentioned before, Jessa will be quitting the bar soon to start her new life with the boyfriend. Or more accurately, her fiancé. She showed me some photos of the house they’ll share which is currently under construction. He’s also going to adopt her daughter. It’s like a dream come true and I’m sincerely very happy for her. I couldn’t help but think that things do seem to happen for a reason. I was never really sure why it didn’t work out for me and Jessa. I think she’s a great gal but I could never seem to let myself go and be the man she wanted and needed me to be. I don’t harbor any regrets, I’ve done that married and houses thing before (four times!) and it never worked out. I’m just not willing or able to go there again. I’m really glad that Jessa didn’t waste her time on me and has now found a good man to provide for her and her daughter.
I was the only customer and I guess I was in a celebratory mood. I bought Jess and the other two waitresses several drinks. Also let them order themselves some dinner on me. They went with crispy pata, a very popular Filipino dish consisting of pork leg. It looks like this:
I didn’t partake as I was saving myself for my wing night.
So, I was a big spender in the bar last night. It’s not something I do all that often, but it felt like a special occasion. Who knows when or if I’ll see Jessa again. It was $60. well spent.
And that leaves the Wednesday Walkers hike to report on. Although it rained early in the morning, the skies had cleared by the time we departed. We once again caught a Jeepney, this time to the far side of Subic-town. We did a 5K loop trail that took us over one moderate climb and through some beautiful backcountry. Most of the hike was new to me and I always enjoy looking at new scenery. Here are some photos (credit to Scott and others for a lot of these) for your viewing pleasure:
The path we walked.The dirty dozen.We are off!Through the flat lands……and farm fields.Our destination.We got this.Moving forward with confidence and purpose!Let the climbing begin…On up.A beautiful day to be outdoors.Coming down the other side…A new bay view…Steve escaping the jungle.Country living…Cookie time!Rest stop…Do Na in the hammock.Crossing the bridge…You got this, Scott…Civilization again.On the road……and headed home.Ever wonder where all those plastic bottles wind up?That’s all for this post!
See you tomorrow for another exciting installment from my so-called life.
No really, I mean it. Tuesday is my nothing day, so not a lot to say about it. Well, there was this one thing. I’ll get to that in a minute.
One of the things I accomplished was going to the immigration office and securing an additional sixty days of legality in the Philippines. Now within that sixty days, I’ll need to manage to get my passport renewed. Apparently, I can do everything online, including payment, thus avoiding a trip to the embassy in Manila. Another option is using a local travel agent here who will handle the processing for a fee. I’ll decide on one of those by tomorrow.
Yesterday, President Duterte announced people have a choice regarding COVID vaccinations–get one or go to jail. The proclamation made headline news all the way back in the USA, including this article in the Washington Post.
Some folks are saying it’s an idle threat because there is no law requiring anyone to get vaccinated. On the other hand, there is no law allowing the extra-judicial killings of those involved with drugs, and thousands have died since Duterte took office. Also, I imagine it’s easy enough for the legislature here to pass a law mandating getting the COVID shot.
I’m not opposed to the vaccine, although I wouldn’t do the Chinese one. I know several folks who have already had their shots. I’m not in any hurry either. The stupid thing is that there aren’t enough doses available to vaccinate everyone currently. Filipinos are especially reluctant because as I understand it a while back the government promised great things from a dengue vaccine. What it delivered was death to a large number of children who foolishly received the shot. And so it goes.
I got a massage yesterday. That was a nice change of pace. Had one of the bargirls who had shown some aptitude at rubbing while I sat on a barstool perform the service. I didn’t find this gal particularly attractive, but she did a decent job. And then me being me, I started rubbing her too. The next thing I knew, she was naked and on top of me. I guess you could call that a happy ending. I suppose it was a heat of the moment kind of thing because when we were done she said “I wasn’t expecting boom-boom.” I told her neither was I. I stuck 3000 pesos in her pocket before she left and haven’t heard from her since. I hope she wasn’t offended.
Beers at It Doesn’t Matter and dinner at Sit-n-Bull. I ordered up some lasagna and the waitress returned and apologetically told me “sorry, lasagna not available tonight”. Okay then, I went with my old favorite, pulled pork on a bun. A few minutes later she returned again with the lack of availability bad news. Oh well, I settled for a chef salad and it was actually quite nice. I’m not ragging on Sit-n-Bull, still my favorite Barretto restaurant overall. They have an extensive menu; I’m honestly surprised they can provide all those choices on any given night, especially with the lack of tourist clientele.
A fine Wednesday walk today with the group. I’ll post about that tomorrow. Right now it is beer o’clock and I’m going to head over to Dive In and say my goodbyes to Jessa.
I didn’t do yesterday’s Hash trail. I wasn’t alone in deciding to go my own way. Seven others joined me for a pleasant hike in the rain, clocking in with a mostly flat 7K walkabout. It was the right call. By the Hare’s own admission, out of 60 Hashers, only five chose to do the entire trail. Granted, twenty+ others did the first hill, then rode the Hashmobile back to our On-Home. Still, you might say that people voted with their feet in making the rational decision that prudence precludes doing insane shit at the behest of the Hare.
I’ve seen the pictures and I definitely made the right call. To begin, the Hashmobile was jammed packed. If my group had shown up there wouldn’t have been room for everyone. I hate riding in the back of that truck anyway, but a long haul out to the trailhead over rough roads was a non-starter for me, notwithstanding the difficulty of the trail itself. The pictures showed some tough rock scaling and wading through water. No thank you!
Some people give me shit about being a wuss and say it is disrespectful to the Hare to take out a group of Hashers on my own trail. Bullshit! I Hash to have fun, not to prove how manly I am by risking life and limb by putting myself in unsafe situations. Been there, done that, and I ain’t doing it no more. I honestly don’t begrudge a Hare like Guenter doing the kind of trail he personally prefers. I just expect the same consideration when I choose to do things my way.
Anyway, no hard feelings really on my part. Last night I was awarded a new Hash patch:
Yep, 150 runs now with the Subic Bay Hash House Harriers. Let’s hope I live long enough to do 150 more!The presentation by the Grandmaster during the Hash circle.
Not many pictures this week since I was not on the official trail, but here’s a few for your perusal:
This week’s “sane” Hash group.You can see the rain heading our way…Wet with sweat or wet with rain feels about the same. Although it is nice to have some relief from the heat.Crossing bridge #4 in Naugsol and turning to head On-Home.60 Hashers at Smoke and Bottles, including a large contingent from Angeles City.
San Miguel Zero beer was not available, so I was downing San Mig Light (5% alcohol versus my usual 3%). I neglected to moderate my intake accordingly and wound up a little more inebriated than normal. Laid down on the floor for a bit when I got back home and woke up feeling just dandy this morning.
It was a rainy night with plenty of lightning and thunder. But the sun came out in the morning to greet me.
My afternoon today had a bit of twist. I’ll share that story tomorrow.
In the meantime, here’s my Buddy boy keeping an eye on things in his new digs.
I don’t know, I’ve been doing this LTG thing so long now that it’s hard to express an original thought. Over time, the blog has devolved into little more than a personal diary. Three years into retirement now and most days are like every other day. I’m not really bored, this is the life I’ve chosen–but finding something worth writing about can be challenging. I expect what I do write has even less value for a reader. The best I can do is not to worry about the meaninglessness of it all and just share my life stories even if no one cares. Heh, yet another example of my inherent selfishness. Sorry about that!
Just like smoking cigarettes permanently damaged my lungs, it may be that smoking pot has damaged my brain if this study is to be believed.
Marijuana use during adolescence may affect development of the areas of the brain that control emotions, an analysis published Wednesday by JAMA Psychiatry found.
Teens who reported using marijuana during a five-year period showed signs of reduced thickness of the left and right prefrontal cortices in their brains on magnetic resonance imaging, the researchers said.
Reduced thickness of these regions, which control positive and negative emotions, respectively, has in earlier studies been linked with increased risk for depression and suicide, as well as attention problems.
That explains a lot. I smoked a lot of grass between the ages of 15 and 25. So, I think I can fairly assert that all my subsequent fuck ups are due to brain damage. Over fifteen years of posts here at LTG provide ample evidence of my oft repeated instances of stupidity. Now I can take comfort in the knowledge that it wasn’t really my fault.
It’s Hash Monday, but I will not be doing the Guenter trail. It apparently has three climbs and is over 9K long. Hell, even one of the strong and healthy Hashers was bitching about the difficulty and says he plans to shortcut today. Welcome to the club! Me and a couple of others aren’t going to even bother with taking the long Hashmobile ride out to the starting point. We’ll just make our own “sane” trail leaving from my house.
That’s the way I like it. Living life on my terms and doing it my way. Sort of like the crap I post here.
Here’s wishing all you dad’s out there a day as good as you are. I hope that’s not bad!
My father’s father, 1935, Memphis, Tennessee.My father, 1960, Garden Grove, California.My father’s son, 1980, Prescott, Arizona.This father’s son, 1985, Poteau, OklahomaFathers and sons, 2003, Bahamas
And the wheel in the sky keeps on turning.
I treated myself to a father’s day lunch at Sit-n-Bull:
Shaved ham on a bun w/bbq sauce, coleslaw, and baked beans. As good as it looks!
After I finished eating, I sat with the owner, Ron, and had a nice long chat. Real interesting guy and probably the best conversation I’ve had in years. I really enjoyed that.
Got a surprise from my “friend with benefits” as well. Joy asked if I’d meet her at the 7/11 in Barretto so she could give me something. I agreed and she arrived by Jeepney, handed me her father’s day gift, thanked me for being her best friend, got back on a Jeepney going in the opposite direction, and went home.
She really is a sweet and thoughtful woman. I don’t think she is pretending.
I spent some time at the beach yesterday; perched as usual on my stool at Mango’s enjoying the view.
Quite a large crowd on the sand and in the water. I was the only non-Filipino around. I’m going to have to get used to this new normal I suppose.I watched the sky do its magic as the sun went down.And this is one of my favorite photographs ever. I was trying to take it with my phone camera in horizontal mode, but for some reason, it wouldn’t take. So, I turned my phone around and snapped it vertically. Meanwhile, a couple had walked into my frame and I thought might have messed things up. Instead, them walking hand-in-hand with the colorful backdrop really enhances the image.
What else? Well, I took one of those “political compass” tests to see where it said I stood. This one was a little different than the ones I’ve done in the past, the questions were much less cut and dried, apparently intended to help measure the “authoritarian/libertarian” spectrum along with the more tradition “left/right” positioning.
That seems pretty accurate. Give it a try if you are so inclined.
I started my evening at Dive In last night, planning to meet up with my hiking buddy Jim for some beers. Jessa was being entertained by a man I had seen buying her drinks on previous occasions. She confirmed later that he is indeed her new boyfriend, Wayne. Apparently, Wayne is returning back to the USA at the end of the month. Jessa is also quitting the bar and will stay at home with her daughter, presumably with the boyfriend’s financial support. I’m sincerely happy for her and hope this relationship works out better for her than the one with me did.
With Jessa occupied and Jim running late, a couple of the other girls took up stools on either side of me and started giving me a massage. I protested at first, but it did feel good. I bought them a drink and let them carry on. I chatted a bit with Wayne, who seems like a really nice guy. Retired Navy, so his Philippines experience goes much deeper than mine, having been stationed here in the early 1980s. He was also choosing the music being played and doing a fine job of it. He played Neil Young’s Down By The Riverand I commented that I had bought that album as a teen and that it was one of my favorites. I told him it was beyond my wildest imagination back then that I’d be listening to that same song 50 years later while being rubbed on by two sexy young women in a bar in the Philippines. What a long, strange trip it’s been!
After a few beers, I was feeling hungry so I said goodnight to the Dive In crew and headed out. This was the view from the highway:
That’s the problem with indoor bars…I missed most of one of the better sunsets I’ve seen lately.
I made my way to Sit-n-Bull and explored my dining options. I finally decided to give the Mexican a shot and ordered up the chicken enchilada plate.
With beans and Spanish rice of course. It wasn’t bad and certainly satisfied my hunger pangs.
Made it home in before my bedtime and woke up early to start a new day.
My life is far from perfect, but damn, I know I am blessed.
Took a refreshing morning walk and saw this:
That’s the first anti-American graffiti I’ve encountered during my time in the Philippines. I guess when it comes “down to” it and the PI is a province of China, they’ll be wishing for some good ol’ fashioned American intervention.
So, that leaves us with yesterday’s hike to write about. It was certainly much better than Wednesday’s disaster! We took a Jeepney out to Subic town and did a 7K walkabout. Limited ourselves to one hill climb and had a good look around the backroads. I’m one of the Hares a week from Monday and we are going to do our trail in this area too.
Have a look:
Our route.Waiting to catch a Jeepney, Ten of us for yesterday’s adventure.A Jollibee arrival in Subic.Let’s do this!Are you sure this is the way?Wide-open spaces…The bridge of fools?Down by the river…What we needed after Wednesday’s fiasco.Starting our only real climb of the day…On up!What goes up must come down…“Are you looking at me?”On the mean streets of Subic…That really gets my goat.A bridge too far.Edgewater.Onward!Flowers and cocks…Into the jungle.
It was a fine day to be alive.
You take my hand, I’ll take your hand. Together we may get away. This much madness is too much sorrow. It’s impossible to make it today.
She could drag me over the rainbow, Send me away.
Down by the river, I shot my baby. Down by the river.
Helped my “friend with benefits,” Joy, celebrate her thirty-second birthday yesterday. Took to lunch at Palm Tree then back to my place for dessert. Something we both enjoy.
She’s not the cutest girl around, but she is either very sweet or knows how to play the game exceptionally well.
She’s also one of the all-time bests I’ve enjoyed sharing my bed with. She went home satisfied and so was I. Win-win!
After a recuperative nap, I headed out to Cheap Charlies for some beers. It’s a little distressing when you are the only customer and your find yourself surrounded by desperate young women. I prefer to drink with one of my favorites, but lately I’ve made an exception and helped a couple of gals make some drink commissions. I also bought a little food from downstairs to share and they voraciously devoured that in next to no time.
I’ve said it before, the bars here with maybe just a couple of exceptions, are really struggling. Tourism seems to be coming back if the hotels and beaches are any indication, but those folks are primarily Filipino families, not the clientele the bars cater to. I guess the drinking establishments will either hold out until foreign tourists are allowed back in the country or they will go broke. President Duterte decreed the other day that face shields are no longer required so maybe that’s a positive sign. We’ll see.
In the meantime, I’ll continue to enjoy views like this one for as long as I can:
A cloud over Kalaklan ridge as seen from CC’s. Reminded me of our ill-fated hike on Wednesday.I also enjoyed a visual smorgasbord of full moons. The girls for some reason were fixated on watching an illegally parked car being towed from the highway below. I was glad to watch them watch that.
On my way home, I popped into Alaska Club for the first time in several months. Once again, I was the only customer. It was actually almost depressing. Alaska is the first bar I ever visited in the Philippines (back in its Angeles City incarnation) so I sort of have a sentimental attachment. The owner, Jerry, has been stuck back in the USA for over a year now. The girls told me there are many nights when they have no customers at all. There were at least a dozen gals “working” last night, so the bar must be losing money big time. Good on Jerry for keeping his staff employed during these hard times. No idea how long he can continue bleeding money though. I bought a couple of lady drinks and had a chair massage to help out a little.
Everything changes I suppose and life goes on. Until it doesn’t. Still, there is no place else I’d rather be. Things just keep getting crazier and crazier back home.
It was a beautiful day to be on the trail with the Wednesday hiking group. Until things turned just about as ugly as I’ve ever seen them. We had a general idea in mind of where we were going and how we were going to get there. Until we didn’t. That’s part of the adventure I suppose, but our chosen path led to near disaster. For some reason, we wound up climbing a mountain we never should have climbed–there was no trail and our ascent took us in the wrong direction. Once we realized the error of our ways, we should have aborted and retreated, but we didn’t. Halfway up when the climb became near impossible for some of the less hardy among us, we should have said our goodbyes to the strong ones and headed back down the way we came. It was a collective cluster fuck and a comedy of errors. Except it wasn’t funny. Perhaps we’ve learned our lesson. We had one guy nearly pass out from dehydration (he hadn’t brought enough water for our elongated hike). One guy had to literally be pushed, pulled and carried up the mountain after he collapsed in exhaustion. It was a pretty scary thing to witness. The mountain climb kicked my ass as well, but I worked my way up slow and steady, eventually reaching the ridge road. How bad were things? None of us had any desire for our traditional after-hike gathering to drink beer and eat lunch. No permanent damage, so I guess we should consider ourselves blessed.
Pictures from the day:
The red line to the left is where things went wrong.Eleven of us began the trek and eleven came back home. That’s one measure of success.Heading out.So far, so good.A quick hello to the mountain family…I used to think this was the hard part…During a rest stop, Do Na was showing off her ASSets.Don’t worry, that’s her husband.It really was a pretty day.This is why we hike…Your humble correspondent out in the wilds…Show us the way, Dan.This should have been the high point…The great outdoors.I like what I see.What’s not to like?Clueless to what lies ahead.Wait a minute, are you sure about this?We are all in it together.We’ll be sorry!Crash damage…Yeah, it turns out this was only halfway up.What running out of gas looks like. Troy and Chris somehow managed to carry/pull/drag Scott the rest of the way up.A girl and a tree.A view from our conquered mountain.Wide open spaces.Scott’s back on his feet…Splendor in the grass.The cabin in the woods.I reckon that’s just about enough for this post!
I’ve been here once before and overall it’s probably the best Korean dining I’ve had in these parts. I was very surprised I was able to even find it again. Just got lucky, I guess.
The wait staff is all Filipino but they’ve apparently been taught a little Korean by what I presume are Korean owners. “Annyeonghaseyo!” as you enter and “kamsamnida” on the way out. Most impressive was when I called out “yogi yo, maekju chuseyo” they knew to bring me a beer. Good times!
The occasion for visiting this fine establishment was an early celebration of Joy’s (my friend with benefits) birthday. She wanted samgyeopsal and I was bound and determined to make her wish come true. The first place I tried was a Korean restaurant I knew in Harbor Point Mall, but alas, it had gone out of business since my last visit. Wasn’t sure where to go next, but saw a place with Korean signage across the street, so we hoofed it there. It was one of those unlimited meat places, but before we even sat down the waiter explained that they were out of several of the menu options, including samgyeopsal and bulgogi. No thank you!
There’s a large Korean presence on SBMA (the old Navy base) so I figured we’d find something. I commenced to walking down a street that looked vaguely familiar and Eureka! we found the Seoul restaurant.
Here are the menu options we were presented with, but we already knew what we wanted–samgyeopsal and bulgogi–her favorite and mine.Samgyeopsal on the grill. My only real gripe with Seoul is that you have to order sides separately at 35 pesos each. There were really good though, so there’s that.I also enjoyed the hell out of the bulgogi stew–the best I’ve had outside of Korea. Could have done with a few more of those long, skinny mushrooms though. Joy thought it was “too sweet.” Fine! That leaves more for me!
We pretty much devoured every last bite of everything we ordered before departing. Yum!
I also bought Joy a new cellphone for her birthday. She’s been dropping big hints about her need for one for quite a while, and I was happy to be able to accommodate her birthday wish in that regard as well. We caught a taxi back to Barretto, and on the way, I told her it wasn’t a good time to visit my place because I had some construction workers coming to install my TV and hang some other things on the walls (solid concrete, I don’t have the tools for the job). She seemed genuinely disappointed that there wouldn’t be any “boom-boom” but we’ve made plans for that tomorrow.
I did my beer drinking at It Doesn’t Matter last night. I had seen a Facebook post that Myleen’s, a restaurant right next door, was featuring pecan pie! Now, I can’t even find pecan nuts around here, and I’ve looked everywhere. So, I had a couple of slices delivered.
A little pricey at 170 pesos ($3.50) but I guess it is fair to say it was the best pecan pie I’ve ever eaten–in the Philippines. It tasted okay, but the innards were so firm that I couldn’t cut through it with the plastic fork provided. No problem picking it up like a slice of pizza though. I prefer my pecan pie moist and tender inside, but when you have no other options, you settle for the best option available. At least I did last night.
I hope this post didn’t make you hungry, Kevin Kim. This old memory of mine from the 1980s ought to make you lose that appetite!
Pretty in pink somewhere in Oklahoma. What a long strange trip it’s been.
The first climb on yesterday’s Hash trail was insane. Hands and knees crazy. Pulling myself up by grabbing hold of the grass in front of me nuts. Definitely a once-in-a-lifetime experience–I’d have to be a lunatic to attempt that ascent again, and I’m just not that bonkers.
It didn’t have to be that way. Pubic Head, the putative leader of our “sane” Hash group, tried to warn us. But the rest of our group had already gone forward and from where I stood it looked steep but doable. Pubic Head wound up breaking his trekking pole, so turned back before the real beserk shit started. It’s good that he did. His first words when I saw him at our On-Home venue was “I told you so.” Yes, you did. I’ll listen to you next time for sure.
So, having survived that climb, the trail (or at least the part I did) wasn’t bad. A lot of it was the familiar “My Bitch” terrain, although the down was new to me. Once back on the flat ground I made the determination that I’d had enough, and we shortcut our way back to Da’Kudo’s for the Hash circle festivities. I probably completed a little over 5K of a 9K trail. No regrets about not doing more.
Here are some photos:
The climb started sanely enough…But then it went from this…..to this. Told you it was a crazy-ass climb.Looking back from half way up…Grab that grass and pull yourself up as best as you are able.This wasn’t the highest mountain around, but definitely the steepest ascent I can recall in my 3.5-year Hashing career…The view from the top…Enjoying the sanity of “My Bitch”…My kind of trail.Yes, it was harder than the notorious climb up Easter mountain.For you Preying Mantis fans…Let the shortcutting commence…The On-Home Hash circle was held on Baloy Beach for the first time since the pandemic insanity started…We had good weather for our rituals…Although the skies were threatening.Some Hash Gash for your viewing pleasure.And so ended another day beside the the lovely waters of the Subic Bay.I trust this post has served its purpose.
I’ll tell you about my Joy full day today, tomorrow.
Most men and women lead lives at the worst so painful, at the best so monotonous, poor, and limited that the urge to escape, the longing to transcend themselves if only for a few moments, is and has always been one of the principal appetites of the soul.”
Aldous huxley
It was back to Palm Tree last evening for some dinner and beers. I had the fried chicken which was okay, but nothing worth writing home blogging about. Still, the beer was cold and plentiful:
Who can resist a deal like that? The free one tasted every bit as good as the first.
And as usual, this was the view I enjoyed while I imbibed:
A quiet Sunday evening on the beach under threatening skies…
Caught a trike home and as we headed up the road towards my place I was thinking that this underpowered scooter was not going to make it up that last big hill. Through the skill or will of the driver, we did, in fact, make it all the way to the top. Good job!
The rain held off until late in the night when I was awakened by some fierce thunder and lightning. But this morning when I looked outside, all was well:
I could enhance my view by strategically cutting down some trees. My upstairs neighbor has actually suggested we do so under the cover of darkness. Nope, not gonna happen. To begin with, they are not my trees. Destroying someone else’s property is not my style. I am also a nature lover and killing an innocent tree for my selfish viewing pleasure just ain’t right. The view is what it is. If a typhoon comes through and blows one or two of them down, well, that’s God’s will, right?
A pleasant dog walk under blue skies this morning was refreshing. I’ve had to re-chart the daily thirty-minute routes from the new starting point, but the dogs aren’t complaining.
Easter mountain was looking especially nice this morning.
After walking the dogs, I treated myself to breakfast at Sit-n-Bull.
The Bull McMuffin–sausage, cheese, and fried egg on a fresh muffin. Yum!
When I got home from breakfast, my helper advised that Lucky had run away. She was taking him out for a pee break, but before she could attach the chain he took off. She chased after him and finally found him waiting to be let back into the house. The house I used to live in. He’s never been too bright, but I still love him. Maybe some drunken night I’ll wind up back there pounding on the door to be let in. I hope not!
Probably the most interesting thing, if interesting is the right word, to happen in my little cocoon was hearing from a woman who had not said a word to me for several months. She has a new name and a new Facebook profile. When she first contacted me I had no clue as to who she was and almost deleted her (as I do most strangers who contact me on social media). Something made me hesitate and then I figured out who she was. Yikes! I thought we’d both left those flirtatious days in the past. Well, I definitely have. No interest in getting involved emotionally or otherwise with a married woman. I do wish her well, of course. I don’t know why people choose to stay in an unhappy and unhealthy relationship. Regardless, I’m not going to be an escape hatch either. See how much I’ve learned in just a few short months?
It’s Hash Monday, so time for me to prepare. A Hasher from Angeles, Two Bottles, is the Hare. I’ve done a couple of his trails in the past, so I expect something of a challenge. Of course, me and the “sane” group will make adjustments as necessary. I’ll tell you how it goes tomorrow.
*MUSTARD: More Useless Situations That Are Really Dumb
**KETCHUP: Keep Expecting Things Change However Universally Pointless
(Alright, I admit the above references are extremely convoluted even by my low standards. My intent is to not have duplicate blog post titles, and that’s getting harder after more than sixteen years of writing LTG. And once I had come up with the “MUSTARD” reference (which pretty accurately describes this post AND my life, my love of puns required that I follow up with “KETCHUP.” At least I held the MAYO! *ahem*
Cheap Charlies for a couple of beers to start off my Saturday on the town As soon as I sat down I had a gal on each side of me, looking on expectantly with puppy dog eyes. I guess they aren’t allowed to actually ask you to buy them a drink, but I know that look. I don’t reward that behavior from Buddy and Lucky, and I resisted their unspoken entreaties until I ordered my third beer (I usually buy a lady drink after my first). I’m not sure why I wasn’t feeling more generous last night. I do prefer to treat one girl to drinks at a time and I don’t like feeling pressured or expected to be the big spender in the bar. On the other hand, I was the only customer on early Saturday evening, so I’m sure their desperation was legitimate. There were probably a dozen other gals looking enviously our way. Ah well, finished my beer, gave them each 50 pesos, and headed on out.
Next (and last) stop was Mango’s for my ration of beach views, beers, and food. Had some friendly banter with my favorite waitress there as well.
On the beach.
I noticed on my way to Mango’s that all the hotels I passed had full parking lots. And as I said, Cheap Charlies was empty. Barretto has become a popular destination for Filipinos these days and they spend their time on the beach, not in the bars. That’s going to be the new normal for the foreseeable future.
My grilled pork chops were outstanding as usual.
Caught a trike home after enjoying my meal. Coincidentally or not, I had the same driver as the previous night. I overpay trikes, 100 pesos for a 50 peso ride, so the drivers are on the lookout for me. Oftentimes when I’m walking past a trike stand I’ll be greeted with calls of “Alta Vista!”. Heh, better to popular with these guys than not. Besides, it’s one freakin’ dollar extra I’m paying. It makes their night (most of their trips with locals are 20 peso rides) and I don’t mind spending a little extra to get home safely. Anyway, this driver was determined to conquer the hill that had defeated him the night before, so he really revved it up, downshifted, and gave it full throttle. It was a close call, but he made it up and on over to my doorstep. Well done!
This part of the subdivision I live in now is much noisier than my former residence. The house down the hill is constantly blaring music. He started a little before six this morning, but of course, I was already up. Also lots of barking dogs around here. I hope my relatively quiet dogs don’t get blamed for that. The only thing that really bothered my sleep last night though was my upstairs neighbor’s air conditioner. It must be dripping condensation and it drips on top of my aircon which is directly below. I’m going to close my window tonight and hopefully escape that irritating sound.
I noticed my Buddy boy was having a peaceful sleep early this morning. Glad he is feeling at home now.
I had some inspiration for my solo walk today. Kevin Kim, who is well on his way to recovery from a recent stroke, did an 18k hike yesterday in under four hours. Impressive in the best of times. Kevin has always been out of my league but I wanted to see what I had in me so I pushed myself today. This was the result:
Not too bad for an old slow guy like me.
I pretty much max out at 8K in one go, and I wouldn’t have been able to resist the urge to shortcut but for wanting to see just where I stood vis a vis, Kevin. Of course, there is no comparison to the master, but I was pleased with my effort regardless.
Thanks to Scott for sending me this Google map of my trek today.
So that’s about as normal as things can be around here, I suppose. Thanks, as always, for dropping by.
And now I’ve arrived at my new residence here on a street named Shenandoah Bend.
Said street as it appears in front of my apartment.
The actual moving part yesterday was every bit as bad as I imagined it would be and more. It took three trips in the Hash truck and several more in my driver’s car. When I moved here I brought two suitcases and mailed one box of stuff from Korea. I was astounded by how much crap I’ve accumulated in just three years.
A small portion of the move.
Making things more difficult was that it rained periodically during the move, necessitating pausing to wait for a break in the storm before making a dash up the hill to my new place. I hired four Filipino helpers to lug my heavy shit out to the truck then offload it in my new place. That included a refrigerator, stove, freezer, bed, washing machine, grill, and TV.
I was exhausted just supervising the operation.
Of course, the unpacking has been just as tedious and tiring. I’m probably 90% done now, but I’m going to need to get better organized I think. One of the big differences between here and my old house is that I have much less storage space available. It will all be fine once I get settled in and used to everything.
The boys are adapting to their new environment as well. I’m sure they don’t have a clue about what the hell is going on. After the dog walk this morning, Buddy tried to tug me back in the direction of the old house with a look of “where you going?” on his face.
As tired as I was yesterday I still went out for a few beers at Palm Tree. Took a trike back home and experienced what I expect will be a regular occurrence–the trike didn’t have enough power to make it up the big incline leading to my house. So, I guess I’ll be walking/stumbling the last couple of blocks home from now on.
There is a backway/shortcut I can take up to my place when I’m walking. Wouldn’t try it in the dark though.The backside of my apartment as seen from the shortcut path.
This morning I went into Olongapo and had keys made. I needed extras for the front gate, front door (keys), and the maid’s room, which is now occupied by Inday and her boyfriend.
So, that’s what I’ve been up to. Sorry I couldn’t squeeze out a post yesterday. I did sleep great last night, hope that becomes a trend.
The way things look from my balcony just now.Say wha? The way things were looking fourteen years ago. I didn’t have a clue then about what was in store for me. I still don’t, but I’m much better at living in the moment.
Alright then, we’ll try to get on with the new normal around here starting tomorrow. See you then.
I was lazing around the house this morning when the Asian Vision (cable/internet) truck rolled up. They were here to move my internet to the new place. Just yesterday I’d been told it would be 5-10 days before that happened. Oh well. They disconnected here and we headed up the road to my apartment. Had my internet hooked up in next to no time. What about the cable TV, I asked. Sorry, sir, there is no cable available here. What? We don’t have this section wired yet. Okay, I guess I don’t have to worry about the “fee” for downgrading my package. And the apartment already has a satellite dish installed that I can get turned on for TV.
The downside to this surprise was that I hadn’t even begun to pack, nor had I made arrangements to move my stuff. So, I called my neighbor Ed who is in charge of the Hash truck and he’s available tomorrow. Asked my new helper, Inday, about having her boyfriend bring a couple of friends over in the morning to do the heavy lifting. That leaves the packing.
My full-time helper, Teri, started packing up the kitchen…And I started packing out my bedroom.
It’s a pain in the ass, but by this time tomorrow I should be blogging from my new digs.
I also had a surprise when I visited the doctor today to review my test results. Every thing on the blood tests came back normal. Doctor Cayabyab also had no concerns with my chest x-ray, saying my lungs were consistent for a man of my age. Well, they’ve been consistently bad for several years, so I guess I was just ahead of my time. The only test outside of the normal range was my PSA screening, which came in at 4.2. Under 4 is considered acceptable, and over 4 can be a sign of prostate cancer or something else. Well, the last time I had a finger up my ass was before I left Korea, and back then I had an enlarged prostate that I’ve been taking meds for ever since. My doc here wasn’t concerned about the above normal reading, saying it was “close enough”. She did suggest I do another PSA screen in December to make sure it’s not climbing higher. Okay, then. You’re the doctor.
Oh, and the blood pressure thing–Kevin Kim was saying he doesn’t trust his BP machines reading. When I took mine at home this morning I got a 140/85. Took it again, and this time I was 127/73. Go figure. Then, right when I arrived at the doctor’s office they took my BP, and it was130/85, which’s normal for me. Then they took it again–131/81, almost same-same. Then they took it a THIRD time and it came out 123/71. So, I asked the doctor what was up–do they just take your BP until they get a number they like? She said they always take three readings and use the last one. She explained that when people first arrive they need time to relax and calm down from any outside activities which may elevate BP. That’s her story anyway. I do my own checks daily but look at my overall weekly average to see how I’m doing consistently.
But enough about me. I’ve got photos from Friday’s hike to share with y’all. We changed it up a bit by taking a Jeepney out to Olongapo City and hiking up the back side of the mountain to the ridge line. A short but challenging 6K trek.
Our toute up the mountain, across the ridge, and down the other side.Are we going to hike or to rob a bank? Hard to tell these days.Jeepneys aren’t the most comfortable mode of transportation, but it got us there after a 20-minute ride.Hooking up with the rest of our group (they had taken an earlier Jeepney).Let the climbing commence!It was a tough stair climb, made more difficult by the fact that the steps were uneven and randomly spaced. Made it hard to find a stepping up rhythm…And they went on and on……and on and on. Reminded me of the steps to Seoul Tower, although those steps were easier because of being properly engineered.Once the stairs gave way, we still had some climbing to do.Kinda missing those stairs now…Pushing on up.Reaching the top at last!See you next time Olongapo!Walking the ridgeline…Taking a break before heading down.Sisters…Sheryl and Jailbait (I don’t recall her real name, but I know she is just 17…)Some shade and some water hit the spot…A cookie delivery…Down we go…A Preying Manits in the wild…her real name is Do Na.Pretty as a picture though…A couple of distinguished gentlemen…the one in back is Do Na’s husband.Indistinguishable…You coming, Jim?Posers…Back on the pavement and headed for some beers…Some well-earned liuid refreshment at the end of our hike.
And that brings you up to date! Tomorrow’s post will be the first from my new venue. See you then!
It is better to give than receive, I’m told. So, I made a donation of urine and O+ blood at Baypointe Hospital yesterday. In return for my generosity, I’m being provided a slew of test results that may shed some light on how my soon-to-be 66-year-old body is holding on against my daily over indulgences of walking and drinking. Also got a chest x-ray that might reveal how much longer I’ll be capable of breathing. Sent my helper to pick up the results this afternoon and I’ll schedule a visit with the doctor for her insights into the state of my health.
That hospital visit was pretty much the highlight of my lazy Tuesday. Did some limited grocery shopping with the idea that the less I buy now, the less I’ll have to move later. When that later might be remains unresolved. I’m trying to time the move to coincide with the transfer of my cable TV/internet service. They want me to move first, then schedule a technician. Nope, when the technician calls to say he’s on his way I’ll carry the modem and wifi transmitter with me to the new house. Duh. Oh, and I want to downgrade my television service to basic since I rarely watch TV, and when I do, it’s on the internet. The cable company said there is a 1000 peso fee to change service levels. Bullsht. If push comes to shove, I’ll just cancel altogether and then call to establish service as a new customer. I’d tell them to fuck off completely but they are the only provider here in Alta Vista. We shall see how this plays out.
A typical evening out last night. Started at Cheap Charlies, then moved on to Mango’s.
Some stormy skies left the beach pretty much deserted.I was entertained watching this lass bury her boyfriend in the sand…Not sure why I found her performance so entertaining. Maybe I’m easily aroused amused.Had the Mango’s roast chicken with coleslaw for my dinner. Plenty left over to bring home to the help, too.
That’s about it from here. I’ve got Dive In on my radar for tonight and I’ll report on today’s Wednesday Walkers excursion tomorrow.
See you then! And oh yeah, Fuck You, Fauci!
The chickens are coming home to roost, you fraudulent bastard.
That’s the way the sane group did yesterday’s Hash. We completed a goodly portion of the first climb on the Hare’s trail, but when we reached the part that is aptly named “Motherfucker” we chose to take a different path. Worked out just fine. A challenging, yet enjoyable, 6K hike.
Our Hash circles are getting more and more out of control, and are also getting longer and longer, which makes them less and less enjoyable. At least for me. I’ve taken to giving myself some time-outs when it gets to be too much, but last night when the circle finally concluded I was in a bad mood. That’s no way to finish an otherwise good day. I’m going to need to take a new approach I reckon. I’m not sure what that will be, but I’ll think of something.
To the photos then:
The Subic Bay Sane Hash House Harriers.We are On-On…And the climb begins…Tired yet?On-Up!It’s bound to get easier. Eventually.That’s more like it.ISD takes a tumble. The trail was wet and slick in places.Onward!Our virgin Hasher enjoying the trail. Well, maybe enjoy is too strong a word.A village in the woods.Heading for our On-Home at Derelick’s house.Watch your step!A Preying Mantis drinking water.One more bridge to cross…A bay view.A carabao blocking my path. I went around him.For you Easter mountain fans…The virgin initiation. You have to Down-Down a full beverage without it leaving your lips. As we say, this process is like a blow job because what doesn’t go in you……goes on you!And so concludes another Hash post…
I fool around some on the Quora website. What can I say? I guess I have too much time on my hands. Mostly I’m just a reader, scrolling past the vast majority of questions/answers for which I have no interest. That includes most of the political posts because I learned long ago that arguing with strangers over politics is pointless. Still, occasionally I will answer a question directed my way. Especially when I’m bored. So, a while back the question posed was, “Am I lucky living in the Philippines?”. This was my answer:
There is no place else I’d rather be at this time in my life. No, it is far from perfect, but what place is perfect? I’m an American, but there is no way I’d want to be living there with all that craziness going on. Do I get frustrated sometimes with things that happen here? Of course, I do. But then I take a walk in the mountains or on the beach, and I remember what’s important in life.
This just happened today—I watched a documentary on Bangladesh and realized that even the poor people in the Philippines live a much better life than many people do elsewhere in the world.
Yes, I feel lucky to be here.
That’s about as innocuous it gets. Just my personal opinion based on my own experience here. So, I was shocked when the Quora team advised me today that they’d shared my response with two million members. It’s been viewed 142,000 times and received 647 upvotes. Wow, I wish LTG was that popular! It’s also generated a few dozen comments, almost all of them positive. That’s also pretty amazing for the internet. But yesterday this comment came along from someone who calls himself “Hung Lo”:
Yea, they’re so happy there that’s why millions of them are dying to come here to the U.S In fact Philippines makeup the largest if not the largest Asian group living there, but yet we have the poster here and others claiming that the people of the Philippines (or atleast insinuating) are happy and content with life in their native country which can’t be further from the truth.
Stop projecting and assuming that just because life has dealt you a better hand, living in a developed country one with stability and opportunities that there aren’t others such as the natives of the Philippines aren’t yearning for the same.
Let me ask you this. What makes the Philippines so great that a more developed country doesn’t have? If I had to guess I’d bet all my marbles that it has something to do with the very young/youthful and all the pleasures it brings for the old, the forgotten and the perverted. *Sicko
I found this response both ignorant and irksome. I decided to just let it go as unworthy of a response. But then I read it again this morning and didn’t want Mr. Hung Lo to get the impression that my silence was an acknowledgement that he was right in his assessments. So, I wrote this:
Millions you say? In the USA Filipino immigrants represent the fourth-largest origin group after the foreign born from Mexico, India, and China. Of course, like all immigrants (and the USA was founded on immigrants) people here look for opportunities to better themselves and live a more comfortable life. That doesn’t mean they are unhappy. In fact, I’ve not seen any of the violence and hatred here that is occurring in the USA. Nope, not one city burned or looted. Go figure. The happiness of the Filipino people is not about money, it is about the love of family. You have to see it to believe it.
You shouldn’t bet all your marbles on anything, because it appears to me you have already lost them. Your racist and sexist comment assuming that all young Filipino women are whores makes you the “sicko”. Crawl back into your hole now, snake.
Probably shouldn’t have bothered, I know. But I’m glad I did anyway. Here’s another comment that disagreed with me, but I actually respected his viewpoint:
As a Filipino citizen (born and raised here), I wish I could say the same. It’s only ever fun to be here as an outsider/foreigner, from my perspective, since that’s already somewhat of a privilege. The economy is a headache, the extremely conservative mindset of a significant portion of the population is equally frustrating, and I won’t even dare touch the topic of politics and justice.
Being happy in spite of all that’s happening isn’t much of a good thing in my perspective too, going back to my point regarding conservative mindsets and such. Resilience in hardships is praised here a lot, as well as by foreigners I think, but I truly can’t cope with that. Resilience and staying happy isn’t always good, especially in such a fragile and hostile political environment (again, not diving deeper into that but I hope the point gets across). It’s quite defeatist in my eyes and I don’t think I can stomach living the rest of my life seeing this resiliency mindset “thrive” so much.
Again, it’s just a matter of perspective but I really can’t help but post my opinion.
Now that is how you agree to disagree without being disagreeable. He makes a fair point that if people remain accepting of the status quo and resilient in the face of the hardships that result from incompetent and corrupt political leaders, nothing will ever change for the better.
Anyway, putting Quora down for now and moving on, let me tell you about my breakfast. Pizza! Other than leftovers, I can’t recall ever having a pizza so early in the day (or seeing one on the breakfast menu). This one was topped with egg and sausage, so I figured, why not?
It was actually pretty tasty. Don’t think I’ll make it a habit, but a pizza breakfast was a nice change of pace.
It’s another Hash Monday and I’ll be heading out soon to climb a mountain. The “sane” group I Hash with has determined there are better ways to do so than the Hare (Guenter) has planned, so just like the Burger King, we are gonna have it our way. Stay tuned for a full report tomorrow.
It’s bee a while since I’ve shared the lyrics to one of our Hash songs here, so let me leave you with this:
(sung to the tune of “If you’re happy and you know it”)
If your girlfriend tastes like shit, roll her over If your girlfriend tastes like shit, roll her over If your girlfriend tastes like shit, It’s her asshole not her clit If your girlfriend tastes like shit, roll her over
And now you know why I infrequently share Hash songs here. Sorry!
I might have mentioned that one of the repercussions associated with my upcoming move involves the folks currently living in my basement room. The mother, who is employed as a caretaker for the property owners, will be moving into the basement of the house next door. I’ve been supplementing her meager wages with a 1000 peso ($20) a week bonus, so she will be losing out on that after I’m gone. The real impact is on her daughter, Inday, who won’t be permitted by the landlord to join her mother when she moves. Inday is in her late 20s and unemployed. Her boyfriend, who has also been staying in my basement, is minimally employed in the construction trades. Inday is also a Hasher (Cum In My Basement) and we are Facebook friends. I’ve seen her increasingly desperate posts asking for leads on affordable housing in the area. Of course, with very little income there ain’t much they can afford. Although it is not my responsibility, I do feel bad about her situation.
I also probably mentioned that my part-time helper, Gina, left my employ a couple of months ago. And when I was checking out my new digs yesterday, including what is actually a pretty nice basement maid’s room, a thought occurred to me: I could offer Inday the part-time job, pay her the P1000 a week I was giving her mother, and let her (and the boyfriend) reside in my basement. I mentioned that possibility to Inday and she seemed grateful (her English isn’t that great). I saw her mom later and she thanked me profusely. So, it looks like I am going to have another helping hand around here.
Otherwise, not much else is going on. The rain has put a, um, damper on my walking activity, or at least provided a handy excuse for my laziness. One of those. I took advantage of a break in the storm yesterday and hustled down to Cheap Charlies.
The view from my stool. Those mountains (the Kalaklan ridge) in the background will be the destination for tomorrow’s Hash. Guenter is the Hare, but to his credit, he posted a map and possible shortcuts for those not up to the challenge of climbing up to the top, then down to Olongapo, then back up and down to Barretto again. I’ll do the first climb, walk the ridgeline, then come back down on a safe and sane trail.
Anyway, it was Saturday night so I played the role of big spender–lots of lady drinks and food for the girls. That’s kind of a once-a-week undertaking for me; I’m not rich, after all. Why all that generosity last night set me back a whopping $60! Yeah, I must be crazy, I know.
This morning on the dog walk I took the boys to see their new place. They didn’t pee on anything, so I’ll take that as a good sign. I’m going to need to rearrange some furniture to get everything to fit. It should be cozy (that’s the nice way to say “cramped”, right?). It’s gonna be a bit of an adjustment, but it will be fine once I’m settled in.
This is another not from my new house view, but I will be living on that street in the foreground. Close enough, right? I just liked the way the clouds looked floating there below the mountain.
I took myself out for a French lunch today at The Pub.
A French Dip sandwich served au jus and French fried potatoes. John Kim only uses quality ingredients and the beef was outstanding. To me, the au jus makes the sandwich, and I was not disappointed in this flavorful concoction. My only quibble was the lack of cheese on the sandwich. I saw you could order a cheese of your choosing for an extra 50P, but I assumed the French Dip would automatically include the cheese. My fault for not asking.
And that’s today’s installment from the story of my life. Thanks for dropping by, and remember, don’t let those masks slip! Right Dr. Fraudci?
The rent-paying saga has now come to an end. But there was one last gut-wrenching episode to that story. In yesterday’s post, I mentioned that Western Union had extracted nearly $3000. from my bank account as I had authorized for my move-in expenses at the new apartment. They also attempted a duplicate withdrawal which my bank rejected for non-sufficient funds and charged me a $29. fee for my failure to let WU rape me. Regardless, the rent money was out of my account and presumably on its way to my landlady’s bank account.
Not so fast! Late in the afternoon I received an email from Western Union advising:
We’re sorry to let you know that we canceled your recent transfer. We needed additional information from you to complete it but were unable to reach you at Not-A-Number(false).
Are you f’n kidding me? They unhelpfully provided a US 1-800 number to call if I had any questions. I was livid and drafted a nasty email response, then noticed that the fine print advised that responses to this email would not be seen and suggested contacting a customer service representative via their webpage. I went to the webpage and no email addresses were provided. You could call, mail a letter (people still do that?) or chat with someone online. So, I tried chat. After waiting a few minutes, I got connected with someone named Adhar. He took my basic information, asked me what the problem was, and after I explained he told me to hold while he looked into the issue. When he returned he told me I would have to call a 1-800 number. I explained that I was in the Philippines and couldn’t call a toll-free number in the USA. He came back and gave me a number that he claimed would work from here. It didn’t. That was thirty minutes of my life I’ll never get back.
Now what? I asked a local techy friend if there was a way to contact a toll-free number from my mobile phone. He said, “just add three zeros before the one”. Seriously? I tried it and it worked! So now I’m “talking” to some AI voice that assures me it will understand my responses. It took my name, my transaction number, and my issue–then told me to hold while I was transferred to an appropriate customer representative. Moments later I’m connected to a young-sounding woman speaking in accented but understandable English. She asked what my problem was and I let her have it–with both barrels. Yeah, a week’s worth of frustration came spewing out. In essence, I said, “you tell me the transfer was canceled because you need more information. And yet, you had enough info to withdraw the funds from my bank and are now refusing to send that money on to its final destination. Then you have the audacity to say I provided a false phone number. I’m talking to you from that non-existent number right now!” I was using my “BIG VOICE” which I’ve been told is both loud and intimating. I actually felt bad about it afterward and semi-apologized. To her credit, the CSR simply said she was sorry for the misunderstanding and proceeded to try and rectify the issues.
First, she said she needed to call me at the number I provided. “You want me to hang up?” I asked incredulously. “No,” she said, “stay on the line. I’ll be right back.” I’m not sure what she did, maybe dialed and go a busy signal. Anyway, when she returned she said that there are many fraudulent transfers to the Philippines and therefore it was necessary that I provide additional information about my transaction. Fine, fire away.
What is the money being sent to be used for? Paying two months rent and two months security deposit.
Who is the recipient? Karen van Scheck, the owner of the property.
Have you ever met her in person? No, I’m dealing with her agent who is a personal friend of mine.
How do you know this person owns the property? Um, because I know other tenants in the same building who have not encountered any issues with her or their wire transfer services. *Ahem*
Hold on, sir. Okay, I’ve submitted your responses and your wire transfer is now approved. When will the money arrive? It is there now, sir.
Thanks. Have a good day. *click*
Anyway, I get what they are trying to do–prevent me from ripped off. I still contend if my transaction was flagged as potentially fraudulent they should never have taken the money from my account. The landlady emailed me this morning saying the money was indeed in her bank account. And oh yeah, my bank responded to my message about the insufficient funds notice and said the $29 fee was being waived. Another victory!
This morning I met with Heidi, the landlady’s rep, and we did an inventory of the house contents. Then she gave me the keys:
I shit you not, these keys are how you access the locks in a two-bedroom (well, three, counting the maid’s room) apartment. One for the outside gate, two for the front door, one for every other door in the house, except the sliding door to the balcony which takes THREE separate keys to open! I’ve never seen anything like it.
I’ll figure it out. I’m going to need to get duplicates made to the essential doors–for the helpers and to hide outside for the inevitable drunken night when I lose mine. Ain’t life grand?
The view as I walked back to my old place from my new place. This is NOT the view I’ll be seeing from my apartment, however.
I’m going to start a slow transition to my new digs. Need to get the internet transferred before I move for one thing. I’m tentatively looking at Thursday next week for using the Hash truck to move my larger items. I don’t like moving, but doing it piecemeal might make it a little less burdensome.
In other news, Facebook reminded me of a painful memory from three years ago:
My first Hash crash resulted in stitches. Tripped over some ground level barbed wire.
Speaking of hiking, there was a Friday get-together yesterday. Given the recent heavy rains, we stayed down low and mostly on paved ground. One of the gals with us said the hike was “long and hard, just the way I like it!” You are welcome. Here are a few pictures:
At our meet-up location, the 7/11 on Baloy road.Only six of us braved the threatening weather. Only a few sprinkles during the hike and they were actually quite refreshing.“Watch out for the rocky road!” I scream.Black Rock ridge…Hey, wait for me!That’s better…There they go again. I was definitely the slowest walker in this herd. Plus, I was the only photographer this time.Back into Alta Vista and headed for lunch…Chillaxin’ at the Palm Tree resort.
As I mentioned, we didn’t get much rain during the hike. But right as we finished lunch the sky opened up and rain fell in torrents. I chose to walk home anyway and was soaked to the bone. Damn, I miss those sunny hot days! Kidding, I’ll take the rain for now. Ask me again next month!
Anytime this old fart can log 20K, it’s been a good day!
