So, let me kick things off today by telling you about my return to the darting scene after a two-year hiatus. I made my way to the Alley Hideout (aka Alley Cats) dart bar an hour earlier than I usually head into town so I’d have some time to practice before the 5 p.m. dart tournament kicked off. Upon arrival, I ordered some aiming fluid (in the form of beer), then I broke out my new darts for the first time and started chucking them at those lighted cork circles hanging on the wall. After a few minutes, I announced that I’d be returning the darts I’d purchased because they were obviously defective and unable to hit the numbers I was aiming at. Someone pointed out that the darts might not be the problem, so I kept on throwing. And little by little, I did start seeing some improvement.

One of the waitresses, my old friend Agnes, asked if I’d like to throw a practice match with her. Sure, why not? Having a competitor does improve focus and is more fun than just aimlessly throwing at numbers. I won the diddle (closest dart to the bullseye) and chose cricket for our first game. I won. Next, we played 501, and she took a close game. For the final leg, we played 301 dido (double in, double out). Agnes beat me again, so I bought her and the scorekeeper a beer, then rejoined Swan at our table.

Despite losing the practice match, I played much better than I expected after my long layoff, so that was encouraging. I wasn’t sure I was ready for tournament competition just yet, especially if my poor play would disappoint whoever I might draw as a doubles partner. So, when Billy, who runs the tourney, asked if I was joining, I told her, “Not this time.” When Billy announced it would be a singles tournament, Swan encouraged me to play, and with no one to embarrass but myself, I agreed.

So, I won my first match in the winner’s bracket, then got defeated by Cristy to get knocked into the losers’ bracket. Won my first game there before getting knocked out of the tourney by Pierre. I went 2-2 on the night, not bad for a kinda-rookie.

Anyway, I had fun, and that’s the important thing. There is still no Zero beer available, so I’ll need to do better at pacing myself with the San Miguel Light beers. Alley Cats hosts dart tourneys on Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday. My thinking as of now will be to come out and play twice a week, probably on Tuesdays and Fridays. We shall see.

After departing from the tournament, I wanted to check out the recently opened Adams Bar right across the highway. They didn’t have wine for Swan, and I wasn’t too impressed with the vibe during our visit. I’ll try it again another time and see if that was just an off night. After one drink, we re-crossed the highway (always an adventure) and popped into Gold Bar.

We did a nightcap at Queen Victoria and then headed home after a LONG night (by my low standards) and too many beers. But it was a nice change of pace to toss the arrows again, and I’ll look forward to the next time.

For those of you wondering about the Friday group hike, here’s how that went down. Only five participants, so Scott drove us out to Castillejos so we could enjoy a change of scenery while we walked. It looked like this:

And now you know as much about my Friday as I do.

It’s February 2017 in the LTG archives, and in this journey through the past, I tell the story and share photos from one of the best days I ever had as a tourist in the Philippines (back in 2008).

Does anyone else miss the SOB? Well, today’s YouTube video features the Hot Zone pole dancer from 8 years ago. It was taken by John Brant, one of my first friends here in the PI (I met him through his YouTube channel). Sadly, John was struck by Parkinson’s disease shortly after this, and he is no longer able to get out and about. My understanding is that he lives in the province with his Filipina wife and her family. He’s missed!

Humor time:

And that’s all I’ve got to say for today.