What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us.–Ralph Waldo Emerson
Yesterday was a full and mostly pleasurable day. It was nice to have someone with me on the hike. The group was more than a little taken aback when I came strolling up hand in hand with a cutie pie. A similar reaction when I brought her with me to Alley Cats for the darts tournament. The gals really seemed to take a liking to Lyn right away, especially the ones who are also from her home province of Samar. The guys seemed impressed as well. It’s been a long time since I had someone cheering me on during a match. I could never get my ex-girlfriend to come out and join me.
Lyn hasn’t ever been a dart player, but she showed a lot of interest in the game. During my warmup time, she joined in throwing at the board. As a complete beginner, she didn’t have much control, but with practice, I’m sure she’d develop some skills for the game. Once the tournament began, she watched the games intently and asked questions, so the interest is there.
As usual, over the course of the evening, I had moments of brilliance surrounded by demonstrations of complete ineptness. Still, I managed to come back and make it to the finals. Nancy, one of the better players participating, knocked me into the losers bracket. I met her again in the finals and took the first match 2-0. Prior to the deciding match, I asked if she’d prefer to split the money and call it a tie. She agreed.
As I mentioned above, Lyn was an enthusiastic participant in the Friday group hike. I was really quite impressed with her strength and stamina on a more difficult than usual trail and on a hot day. What I liked the most was she hung with me at the back of the pack, offering support along the way (doing things like wiping the sweat off my face and offering words of encouragement). My former Hashing girlfriend did her own thing and I rarely saw her until we were back at the On-Home venue. So again, I really appreciated Lyn’s caring nature.
We were attempting a trail that no one has tried since 2013 or so, which made it completely new to me. We went up into the hills near Naugsol with the intent to circle back around through Subic town. Things don’t always go according to plan. Somewhere early in our quest to the summit of the first hill, we lost our trail. Obviously, no one had been up that way in quite some time, so our path was obscured by thickets of bamboo and jungle-like vines and plants. The worst of the latter was covered in thorns and those fuckers were unforgiving should you have the misfortune of touching them. Pricks in my fingers and one even poked a hole in my ear. I also had a thorny branch stick its bristles in my shirt and it was a helluva battle to free myself without actually touching the damn thing. Anyway, bushwhacking is my least favorite activity on these hikes and it is something we usually can avoid. I felt bad for Lyn and told her that most of our hikes are a lot more pleasant than this one. She didn’t seem to mind, saying it reminded her of her childhood walks with her father in rural Samar.
Let’s go to the photos then, shall we?
Despite the missed trail and hard work making our way through the jungle, it was a fun hike. Thanks for joining us, Lyn.
Lyn left for home this afternoon. More thoughts to share on our time together tomorrow.
Sounds like a very nice start. No complaining is always a good sign, especially when the going gets a little tough.
Looks to have been a tough trail, and I learned something new: the term “bushwhacking” can simply mean “moving through the woods.” I had always thought that bushwhacking involved actual whacking, e.g., with a machete. The term has other meanings as well (e.g., ambushing, killing/assassinating), but I knew those already.
Ice cream on the trail is always good.
Learn to play pool! Then give us a progress report on your eight-ball prowess in six months.
Kev, I knew the guys called it bushwhacking, but the context was always just pushing a way through the overgrowth. So, it struck me as kind of an exaggeration since nothing was getting “whacked”. Good to know it technically applies to what we do too.
I actually know “how” to play 8-ball–the rules, the strategies, etc. My problem is execution. I shoot lefthanded but I’m right-eyed. At least that’s my excuse for sucking. I see the shot, understand the geometry required to get the ball in the pocket, but just can’t seem to make that happen with any consistency.
True story: When I first moved to Korea in 2005 I had never experienced a bar scene like the one that existed in Itaewon. I had also never played bar games like pool and darts. Anyway, I got drafted to play pool at my favorite hangout, Dolce Vita. That first year there were 502 players in the Seoul Pool League. I was ranked 498. My nickname on the team was “Better Than A Forfeit”. One night I’m playing doubles with our team captain (and owner of DV) and I scratched on the 8-ball, causing us to lose. The captain looked at me and said, “Better than a forfeit? Not so much. Go play darts!
That is also the story of how my darting career began. I fared a little better at the oche.
DS, yeah, she has some nice qualities. We’ll see where (if anywhere) this goes.
Tough trail!!! I enjoy hiking a lot, but going through stuff like that is just no fun!!
It does take the fun out of it, although I suppose the sense of accomplishment when you finally make it through is worth something.