Alright, it is Saturday morning, and I’ve got a big Hash day ahead of me. Before I go, let me dash off a quick post about yesterday’s Hash event. The Haggis is a Scottish thing, and my ancestral roots are in Scotland. But I was drinking like an Irishman last night, and from what I’m told, it didn’t end well. Oh well, live and learn. Or not.
Where I be and how I got here.A view from the road.Over the river.Our little room.Looking down at the pool from our room.Words of wisdom on the bathroom wall.A 200 peso trike ride to the CIJ Farm, the venue for this weekend’s Haggis Hash.And so it begins.Our Haggis host and skul principal, Honeydew.This year’s theme. Not to be an arse about it, but we don’t need no education.No matter how you spell it, we McCrareys are rooted in Scotland.Each participating Hash kennel was asked to designate a Queen. Subic’s choice was Bite My Titties.The Queen on her throne.And we are On-On!The best part of Hashing out of town is that all the trails are new.Swan is such a slowpoke sometimes.Pozorrubio is mostly flat and I like that.Through the fields we go. But I don’t think I was laughing all the way.An unfamiliar Hash mark…I wonder what it means?Clouds on the mountains.Gathering for the Circle at the trail’s end down on the farm.A short and sweet trail with TWO drink stops along the way.An end-of-trail snack.Snack innards.After the circle, we returned to the farm headquarters for dinner and drinks. Lots of drinks.
And then we caught the van for transport back to our hotel. Except we had it drop us off at a local bar just down the road from our lodging.
More drinking ensued, and things were getting a little dark in my addled brain.There was live music……and Swan joined the band.
I don’t remember anything after that. Swan told me this morning that I came back from the CR and my pants were wet with pee. We took a trike back to the hotel, and I fell down getting out. Two of the hotel staff had to help me up the stairs to the third floor. And then I woke up in bed this morning.
The early morning view from my hotel room.That full moon must have followed me here.
And that’s where things stand at the moment. Today’s Hash events start at 10 a.m. with a hike, then continue into the night as we dine on haggis, sit around a bonfire, and, of course, imbibe beverages, including Scottish whiskey. I pride myself on maintaining control when I drink, and yesterday was a failure in that regard. It is rare that I get falling-down drunk, and it is an embarrassment when I do. Hopefully, I learned my lesson about over-indulgence yesterday. I’ll let you know tomorrow how that works out today.
A photo of my workstation where this post was created.
14 thoughts on “Bak 2 Skul”
That all sounds like good crack, Big John. You like poetry. Are you a fan of Burns?
But I was drinking like an Irishman last night, and from what I’m told, it didn’t end well. Oh well, live and learn. Or not.
Sigh… Your do-over life will be more of the same.
Keep in mind that people are sloppy in what they mean by “do-over.” In one sense, a do-over is an exact repetition of what had been done before—you are literally doing everything over again. In another, looser, sense, a do-over is just a second chance to go back to a certain time period or set of circumstances and try again in the hopes of greater success or fulfillment. Not a literal repeat, but merely a second chance/try in the spirit of a mulligan.
So a “do-over life,” in the first sense, means making the exact same mistakes all over again because nothing can be different: it’s a literal do-over. You’re trapped and constrained, unfree. I’m pretty sure, though, that what you’re hoping for is the second version: another chance to get things right. That would, of course, mean carrying back the wisdom you’ve earned from this life so you can look ahead with more clarity and avoid the pitfalls and mistakes you’d made this time around.
But what wisdom will you carry back with you? You insist on making the same mistakes again and again and again—the very definition of samsara, the painful wheel of repetitive existence perpetuated by unwisdom.
But hey, I’m sure others will be proud of you for making the choices you’ve already made, so congrats, I guess.
And so it begins.
Wow, that one on the right is a cutie. No ring on her finger, either (I think), but she’s got that ajumma look about her. Red flag.
Not to be an arse about it, but we don’t need no education.
This explains so much about your refusal to learn proper English.
Subic’s choice was Bite My Titties.
Did you ever see “Midsommar”? I know what happens next.
Pozorrubio is mostly flat and I like that.
Missing punctuation!
And how do you pronounce “Pozorrubio”? With a rolling, Spanish “r”? And a “z” that sounds like the English “z” and not the German “ts”?
An end-of-trail snack.
Looks like an Indian samosa. Very Scottish! Of course, in the British Isles, they do love their pasties (pronounce it “PASS-teez,” not “PAYCE-teez”). Sort of a British empanada, or a hypertrophic samosa.
Snack innards.
Potato, carrots, chickpeas… I’m still thinking Indian. But no turmeric to make it all yellow? No masala? Maybe they kept it bland for the white folks. Heh.
I don’t remember anything after that.
As I said a few weeks ago—your blackouts happen several times a year. Right on schedule. And no lessons learned. Yay!
early morning view
Missing punctuation again. What’s missing, and what’s the rule?
It is rare that I get falling-down drunk, and it is an embarrassment when I do. Hopefully, I learned my lesson about over-indulgence yesterday. I’ll let you know tomorrow how that works out today.
It’s not rare at all, and apparently, it’s not nearly embarrassing enough. I doubt you learned any lessons, but I’ll hope for your sake that you did.
A photo of my workstation where this post was created.
Just get a new laptop, you stingy bastard!
Good luck with the day. I fear you’re going to need it.
Salt and vinegar crisps when ya drink lad if ya don’t wanna be pissing yourself in public. Gotta soak up those suds in tellings ya
Btw ya spam detection filter is out of hand. How have you set it up?
>I pride myself on maintaining control when I drink, and yesterday was a failure in that regard. It is rare that I get falling-down drunk, and it is an embarrassment when I do. Hopefully, I learned my lesson about over-indulgence yesterday.
Not sure if this was an intentional or unintentional joke, but either way, I got a laugh out of it. 😛
The good thing is that when you over indulge, it is in a place where you are not a danger to others (i.e. behind the wheel of a vehicle).
How many other Hash groups attended, other than your Subic Bay group and I assume the Dagupan(?) group?
Brian, welp, I guess the joke’s on me then!
The La Union Hash is the host for the annual Haggis event. Other Hashes participating included Subic, Angeles City, Manila, and Puerto Galera. Around 160 Hashers attended.
Nigel, thanks for the tip, but my plan is to reduce the intake.
Aloysius, I’ve had Burns before and they hurt like hell!
Kevin, that second kind “do-over” life is my fantasy. Choosing a different path, knowing where the original route led me. Yeah, I’d likely fuck up on that road too, but it would be a new way of doing so. One thing’s for sure: I wouldn’t accumulate four wives along the way.
Yes, the gal you mention is one of the cutest Hashers in Subic. I don’t know her well, but she is friendly and has a great smile. Foreigner boyfriend, too.
Pozorrubio is mostly flat, and I like that. There I fixed it! Pronunciation: Pozo sounds like that clown, Bozo. And rubbio is pronounced the same way as our Secretary of State’s last name.
As for lessons learned, shit happens. Then I react. Yesterday, I limited myself on beer intake. Nothing until I finished the after-hike meal, and then one beer (they had Zero!) every 30 minutes. And none of the Scottish whiskey on offer. It worked, I climbed the stairs to my hotel room without assistance!
“The early morning view, AS SEEN from my hotel room,” sounds better. It links the dependent clause to subject predicate.
Maybe we have a different definition of rare. But I’ve had enough to last a while now.
re: “early morning view”
What’s frustrating is that you kind of know the rule, but not really, which is why you apply it so inconsistently. You did the thing right at least twice in your post:
1. end-of-trail snack
2. falling-down drunk
Do you see what you did right in both cases? You hyphenated your phrasal adjectives that came before the nouns they modified! So look again at “early morning snack.” What do you need? Yes, a hyphen! Just learn the rule and apply it consistently.
I doubt you remember this, but the rule about phrasal adjectives has three exceptions, one of which is relevant here: if the first word in the phrasal adjective is an adverb ending in -ly, don’t use a hyphen. So “a rapidly changing situation” gets no hyphen because “rapidly” is an adverb ending in -ly. But in the case of “early-morning view,” the word early is not an adverb—it’s an adjective despite the -ly (like the -ly adjectives friendly, kindly, timely, kingly, surly, ugly, etc.), so you can hyphenate. Therefore:
early-morning view (correct)
That’s all you needed—one hyphen, no overcorrections.
Kevin, that second kind [of] “do-over” life is my fantasy. Choosing a different path, knowing where the original route led me. Yeah, I’d likely fuck up on that road too, but it would be a new way of doing so. One thing’s for sure: I wouldn’t accumulate four wives along the way.
By going back in time and making different decisions, you’d be altering more than just your own history: we’d all end up being affected, too, as your choices rippled outward to affect all of history. No, thank you. Now, if you had the chance to play out your do-over life in a separate bubble, a “pocket universe” that doesn’t affect anyone else’s history, then my libertarian feeling is that there’d be nothing wrong with that… just know that everyone around you, in that little bubble, is not a real person being affected by your new, supposedly wiser decisions. If you’re in a separate bubble, you’re basically in a fantasy realm, and we’re back to the Captain Pike scenario again (the Star Trek captain who is confined to a wheelchair but granted the illusion of health and vigor by a race of aliens able to alter other beings’ consciousnesses). So if you’re okay with your do-over life being an illusion, like a “holodeck” scenario that has no real consequences, then have at it with my blessing. But really replaying your life by plunging back into real history and affecting the lives of real people? I doubt that any god would allow that.
You’ve got just this one real life. It’s not precious if you get do-overs; it’s a mere video game: die, respawn, and continue. There have to be consequences for mistakes and transgressions, or at least, there has to be a definitive end (i.e., death, followed by nothingness). Any mulligans granted by whatever gods you’re thinking of would have to be illusory in nature. But like Cypher in the The Matrix, maybe that’s all you want or need: you’re okay with being fooled. Cyber eats his juicy steak, knowing perfectly well that the steak isn’t real, but he doesn’t give a damn because all he cares about is himself. As long as he’s wrapped in his comforting illusion, he’s fine being a slave for the machines. Reality is for chumps.
So the basic problem with your do-over scenario is that it’s reflective of the selfishness seen in other parts of your life: it’s only about what you want and never about what others might want or need, never about how your new choices might affect others around you for the worse. And a movie like The Substance teaches that, when youth returns, even if you retain your accumulated life-wisdom (as Demi Moore’s character does), that wisdom goes out the window the moment you’re in a young, frisky, energetic body: the temptations are just too seductive.
Your fantasies are giving me ideas for a short story, though.
Ugh. Sorry—
“Do you see what you did right in both cases? You hyphenated your phrasal adjectives that came before the nouns they modified! So look again at “early morning view.” What do you need? Yes, a hyphen! Just learn the rule and apply it consistently.”
Other examples of hyphenated phrasal adjectives:
a tax-paying citizen
a violent-weather seminar
a knock-down, drag-out fight (or “knock-down-drag-out fight”)
an eight-inch… pinky
some strong-smelling feet
her blood-sucking tendencies
laughable prison-reform suggestions
three twenty-car pileups in a row
my five-tiered burger of madness
the fourteen-billion-year-old cosmological problem
soul-crushing work
that seven-legged spider
Kevin, yep, I missed the hyphenation. For what it’s worth, it was an early-morning mistake.
Kevin, thanks for the refresher course. I think I’m better at recognizing when a hyphen is needed more than I am with commas.
Interestingly, I’ve had similar thoughts about the implications of the “do-over life” scenario. One change I’d make is not knocking up my 17-year-old girlfriend. But the ramifications of that are that my daughter would never have been born, and her children wouldn’t exist either. That’s even beyond my level of selfishness. So, I’ve thought about The Matrix workaround. If it’s fake but you don’t know it, it’s still better than being dead. The best fantasy option is a “multiverse” scenario…the life I lived isn’t changed by the decisions I make in the do-over life because it’s a whole other newly-created world. An all-powerful God could surely work out the logistics of making that happen, right?
Damn, the best part of the fantasy is being young again, and now you’re telling me that won’t work either? Shit. You know, in all seriousness, these fantasies are about dealing with the realization that, with old age, options become limited. There’s not much time left for me, so what I have now is all that will be. I guess I’m lucky in that what I have isn’t so bad, but all the doors being closed except for that one at the end of the hall is disconcerting. Oh, well. I’ll just keeping walking towards the light…
I’ll look forward to reading your short story!
If it’s fake but you don’t know it, it’s still better than being dead.
So being a slave is better than being dead? If you say so, but I think I’d rather die.
Kevin, no, being a slave doesn’t work for my fantasy afterlife. The alternate universe seems like the best option.
That all sounds like good crack, Big John. You like poetry. Are you a fan of Burns?
But I was drinking like an Irishman last night, and from what I’m told, it didn’t end well. Oh well, live and learn. Or not.
Sigh… Your do-over life will be more of the same.
Keep in mind that people are sloppy in what they mean by “do-over.” In one sense, a do-over is an exact repetition of what had been done before—you are literally doing everything over again. In another, looser, sense, a do-over is just a second chance to go back to a certain time period or set of circumstances and try again in the hopes of greater success or fulfillment. Not a literal repeat, but merely a second chance/try in the spirit of a mulligan.
So a “do-over life,” in the first sense, means making the exact same mistakes all over again because nothing can be different: it’s a literal do-over. You’re trapped and constrained, unfree. I’m pretty sure, though, that what you’re hoping for is the second version: another chance to get things right. That would, of course, mean carrying back the wisdom you’ve earned from this life so you can look ahead with more clarity and avoid the pitfalls and mistakes you’d made this time around.
But what wisdom will you carry back with you? You insist on making the same mistakes again and again and again—the very definition of samsara, the painful wheel of repetitive existence perpetuated by unwisdom.
But hey, I’m sure others will be proud of you for making the choices you’ve already made, so congrats, I guess.
And so it begins.
Wow, that one on the right is a cutie. No ring on her finger, either (I think), but she’s got that ajumma look about her. Red flag.
Not to be an arse about it, but we don’t need no education.
This explains so much about your refusal to learn proper English.
Subic’s choice was Bite My Titties.
Did you ever see “Midsommar”? I know what happens next.
Pozorrubio is mostly flat and I like that.
Missing punctuation!
And how do you pronounce “Pozorrubio”? With a rolling, Spanish “r”? And a “z” that sounds like the English “z” and not the German “ts”?
An end-of-trail snack.
Looks like an Indian samosa. Very Scottish! Of course, in the British Isles, they do love their pasties (pronounce it “PASS-teez,” not “PAYCE-teez”). Sort of a British empanada, or a hypertrophic samosa.
Snack innards.
Potato, carrots, chickpeas… I’m still thinking Indian. But no turmeric to make it all yellow? No masala? Maybe they kept it bland for the white folks. Heh.
I don’t remember anything after that.
As I said a few weeks ago—your blackouts happen several times a year. Right on schedule. And no lessons learned. Yay!
early morning view
Missing punctuation again. What’s missing, and what’s the rule?
It is rare that I get falling-down drunk, and it is an embarrassment when I do. Hopefully, I learned my lesson about over-indulgence yesterday. I’ll let you know tomorrow how that works out today.
It’s not rare at all, and apparently, it’s not nearly embarrassing enough. I doubt you learned any lessons, but I’ll hope for your sake that you did.
A photo of my workstation where this post was created.
Just get a new laptop, you stingy bastard!
Good luck with the day. I fear you’re going to need it.
Salt and vinegar crisps when ya drink lad if ya don’t wanna be pissing yourself in public. Gotta soak up those suds in tellings ya
Btw ya spam detection filter is out of hand. How have you set it up?
>I pride myself on maintaining control when I drink, and yesterday was a failure in that regard. It is rare that I get falling-down drunk, and it is an embarrassment when I do. Hopefully, I learned my lesson about over-indulgence yesterday.
Not sure if this was an intentional or unintentional joke, but either way, I got a laugh out of it. 😛
The good thing is that when you over indulge, it is in a place where you are not a danger to others (i.e. behind the wheel of a vehicle).
How many other Hash groups attended, other than your Subic Bay group and I assume the Dagupan(?) group?
Brian, welp, I guess the joke’s on me then!
The La Union Hash is the host for the annual Haggis event. Other Hashes participating included Subic, Angeles City, Manila, and Puerto Galera. Around 160 Hashers attended.
Nigel, thanks for the tip, but my plan is to reduce the intake.
Aloysius, I’ve had Burns before and they hurt like hell!
Kevin, that second kind “do-over” life is my fantasy. Choosing a different path, knowing where the original route led me. Yeah, I’d likely fuck up on that road too, but it would be a new way of doing so. One thing’s for sure: I wouldn’t accumulate four wives along the way.
Yes, the gal you mention is one of the cutest Hashers in Subic. I don’t know her well, but she is friendly and has a great smile. Foreigner boyfriend, too.
Pozorrubio is mostly flat, and I like that. There I fixed it! Pronunciation: Pozo sounds like that clown, Bozo. And rubbio is pronounced the same way as our Secretary of State’s last name.
As for lessons learned, shit happens. Then I react. Yesterday, I limited myself on beer intake. Nothing until I finished the after-hike meal, and then one beer (they had Zero!) every 30 minutes. And none of the Scottish whiskey on offer. It worked, I climbed the stairs to my hotel room without assistance!
“The early morning view, AS SEEN from my hotel room,” sounds better. It links the dependent clause to subject predicate.
Maybe we have a different definition of rare. But I’ve had enough to last a while now.
re: “early morning view”
What’s frustrating is that you kind of know the rule, but not really, which is why you apply it so inconsistently. You did the thing right at least twice in your post:
1. end-of-trail snack
2. falling-down drunk
Do you see what you did right in both cases? You hyphenated your phrasal adjectives that came before the nouns they modified! So look again at “early morning snack.” What do you need? Yes, a hyphen! Just learn the rule and apply it consistently.
I doubt you remember this, but the rule about phrasal adjectives has three exceptions, one of which is relevant here: if the first word in the phrasal adjective is an adverb ending in -ly, don’t use a hyphen. So “a rapidly changing situation” gets no hyphen because “rapidly” is an adverb ending in -ly. But in the case of “early-morning view,” the word early is not an adverb—it’s an adjective despite the -ly (like the -ly adjectives friendly, kindly, timely, kingly, surly, ugly, etc.), so you can hyphenate. Therefore:
early-morning view (correct)
That’s all you needed—one hyphen, no overcorrections.
1. end-of-trail snack
2. falling-down drunk
3. early-morning view
Check out BOE #12, BOE #19, and this post.
Kevin, that second kind [of] “do-over” life is my fantasy. Choosing a different path, knowing where the original route led me. Yeah, I’d likely fuck up on that road too, but it would be a new way of doing so. One thing’s for sure: I wouldn’t accumulate four wives along the way.
By going back in time and making different decisions, you’d be altering more than just your own history: we’d all end up being affected, too, as your choices rippled outward to affect all of history. No, thank you. Now, if you had the chance to play out your do-over life in a separate bubble, a “pocket universe” that doesn’t affect anyone else’s history, then my libertarian feeling is that there’d be nothing wrong with that… just know that everyone around you, in that little bubble, is not a real person being affected by your new, supposedly wiser decisions. If you’re in a separate bubble, you’re basically in a fantasy realm, and we’re back to the Captain Pike scenario again (the Star Trek captain who is confined to a wheelchair but granted the illusion of health and vigor by a race of aliens able to alter other beings’ consciousnesses). So if you’re okay with your do-over life being an illusion, like a “holodeck” scenario that has no real consequences, then have at it with my blessing. But really replaying your life by plunging back into real history and affecting the lives of real people? I doubt that any god would allow that.
You’ve got just this one real life. It’s not precious if you get do-overs; it’s a mere video game: die, respawn, and continue. There have to be consequences for mistakes and transgressions, or at least, there has to be a definitive end (i.e., death, followed by nothingness). Any mulligans granted by whatever gods you’re thinking of would have to be illusory in nature. But like Cypher in the The Matrix, maybe that’s all you want or need: you’re okay with being fooled. Cyber eats his juicy steak, knowing perfectly well that the steak isn’t real, but he doesn’t give a damn because all he cares about is himself. As long as he’s wrapped in his comforting illusion, he’s fine being a slave for the machines. Reality is for chumps.
So the basic problem with your do-over scenario is that it’s reflective of the selfishness seen in other parts of your life: it’s only about what you want and never about what others might want or need, never about how your new choices might affect others around you for the worse. And a movie like The Substance teaches that, when youth returns, even if you retain your accumulated life-wisdom (as Demi Moore’s character does), that wisdom goes out the window the moment you’re in a young, frisky, energetic body: the temptations are just too seductive.
Your fantasies are giving me ideas for a short story, though.
Ugh. Sorry—
“Do you see what you did right in both cases? You hyphenated your phrasal adjectives that came before the nouns they modified! So look again at “early morning view.” What do you need? Yes, a hyphen! Just learn the rule and apply it consistently.”
Other examples of hyphenated phrasal adjectives:
a tax-paying citizen
a violent-weather seminar
a knock-down, drag-out fight (or “knock-down-drag-out fight”)
an eight-inch… pinky
some strong-smelling feet
her blood-sucking tendencies
laughable prison-reform suggestions
three twenty-car pileups in a row
my five-tiered burger of madness
the fourteen-billion-year-old cosmological problem
soul-crushing work
that seven-legged spider
Kevin, yep, I missed the hyphenation. For what it’s worth, it was an early-morning mistake.
Kevin, thanks for the refresher course. I think I’m better at recognizing when a hyphen is needed more than I am with commas.
Interestingly, I’ve had similar thoughts about the implications of the “do-over life” scenario. One change I’d make is not knocking up my 17-year-old girlfriend. But the ramifications of that are that my daughter would never have been born, and her children wouldn’t exist either. That’s even beyond my level of selfishness. So, I’ve thought about The Matrix workaround. If it’s fake but you don’t know it, it’s still better than being dead. The best fantasy option is a “multiverse” scenario…the life I lived isn’t changed by the decisions I make in the do-over life because it’s a whole other newly-created world. An all-powerful God could surely work out the logistics of making that happen, right?
Damn, the best part of the fantasy is being young again, and now you’re telling me that won’t work either? Shit. You know, in all seriousness, these fantasies are about dealing with the realization that, with old age, options become limited. There’s not much time left for me, so what I have now is all that will be. I guess I’m lucky in that what I have isn’t so bad, but all the doors being closed except for that one at the end of the hall is disconcerting. Oh, well. I’ll just keeping walking towards the light…
I’ll look forward to reading your short story!
If it’s fake but you don’t know it, it’s still better than being dead.
So being a slave is better than being dead? If you say so, but I think I’d rather die.
Kevin, no, being a slave doesn’t work for my fantasy afterlife. The alternate universe seems like the best option.