Sloppy Joe’s is a small bar that offers outdoor seating–just the kind I like! It’s a relatively new bar that has recently undergone some significant remodeling.

Traffic noise can be a bit distracting, but they play good music, and most times, you can focus on that and forget about the passing vehicles. Nice close-up view of people passing by on foot, although the beggars can sometimes be a bother.

No pool or darts; what you see (and hear) is what you get. The night I was here, there were only a couple of waitresses on duty. I’m sure I could have bought them a drink if I wanted, but I wasn’t looking for company. To their credit, they didn’t ask either.

Sloppy Joe’s is known for being an after-hours hangout, often staying open until 3 a.m. or later. Not that I would ever be awake to see that happening. But it is a good bar to hang out with friends or chill on your own. Beer is cold and wet, just the way I like it!

Where things stand in my humble opinion:

1. It Doesn’t Matter
2. Hideaway
3. Snackbar
4. The Green Room
5. Wet Spot
6. Cheap Charlies
7. John’s Sushi and Steak
8. Mango’s Beach Bar
9. Hops and Brews
10. Bar Barretto
11. Whiskey Girl
12. Sloppy Joe’s
13. Alley Cats
14. Lux
15. Dynamite Dick’s
16. Mugshots
17. Alaska Club
18. Hot Zone
19. Queen Victoria
20. Blue Butterfly
21. Adam’s
22. Thumbstar
23. Voodoo
24. Rock Lobster
25. Outback
26. Rosie’s
27. Annex
28. Bottoms Up
29. Palm Tree
30. BarCelona
31. MacArthur’s
32. Redz Pub
33. Chill

Had a meeting last night with some bar owners and managers. They confirmed I’d need to put the lease in someone else’s name since I’m on a tourist visa. They also suggested I up my furnishing and equipment budget from $10,000 to $15,000. Then they asked which specific bar I was talking about. They all looked at each other when I answered and shook their heads. I was told the owner has a reputation for being crazy, is usually drunk by ten every morning, and, most importantly, has screwed over everyone he has done business with in the past. Okay, that’s what I needed to hear. The most significant risk in this whole proposition was having to trust people I don’t know. I’m glad that now I won’t have to find out the hard way. The Rite Spot ain’t happening, at least not at that location.

Otherwise, my day was about as regular as every other day around here. Some scenes from my morning walk:

And then time marched forward.

I had planned to start my imbibing at It Doesn’t Matter, but the place was packed. Apparently, a group from the VFW and the local motorcycle club were both holding court there. Seeing nowhere to sit, I crossed the highway and took up a chair in Cheap Charlies.

Later I had my meeting at Wet Spot, where I learned the fate of the Rite Spot. Then I finished the night with a couple more beers at Snackbar, where Lydell kept me company.

And that was that.

Facebook reminded me that today is the fifth anniversary of the first and only time I’ve achieved 50,000 steps in a single day (my usual output is between 15,000 and 20,000).

That’s all for now. I’ve got the SOB tonight, and we’ll see what else happens after that.

I checked out the space that could potentially become The Rite Spot On The Beach. It has potential but would require quite a bit of refurbishment and money for new furniture. That wasn’t unexpected, so the next step will be to see how willing the owners are to partner with me in getting the work done. I also want to consult with Daddy Dave on some of the legalities involved. For example, I’m here on a tourist visa and am strictly prohibited from engaging in paid work. I’m not sure whether that applies to the actual ownership of a business, but I seem to recall that it does. One option would be to put the lease in a Filipino’s name and just be the silent partner sitting in the corner, drinking a beer and keeping his eye on things. Of course, that requires finding someone trustworthy. It would suck to successfully start the business only to have it stolen away because my name isn’t on the paperwork. So, there is still a lot more to explore.

So, that’s what the space looks like, and it appears to be something I could work to develop into the kind of bar I’d like to hang out in. That’s actually my standard: would I drink here? As I said, there is a long way to go between the concept in my head and creating a reality on the ground. My interest is piqued, so I’ll see where the next step might lead me.

It was only 2:30 after my tour of “The Rite Spot,” but I didn’t feel like going back home for a couple of hours, so I declared a Sunday exception to my usual “beer o’clock” rule. Of course, it was feeding day for the Hideaway girls, so I made the trek across town. Along the way, I ordered a pizza from Shamboli’s for delivery. I didn’t have the chance to bake a dessert for the crew, so I popped into the Goldilocks bakery and bought a small cake and some baked snacks. Once I arrived at Hideaway, I sent Joy to Chooks for some fried chicken take-out. And dinner was served:

I did discover that when you bring in a cake from Goldilocks, everyone assumes it is someone’s birthday. The other customers in the bar kept wanting to buy me a shot for my special day. My denials elicited a “who’s birthday is it then?” response; I’d say “no one’s” which seemed hard to believe for everyone. Lesson learned, next time, if I don’t bake, I’ll bring a bag of cookies.

Getting there earlier in the day exposed me to a larger-than-usual group of Hideaway regulars.

I started early and stayed longer, but the time came to start making my way back to my side of town. It Doesn’t Matter is about halfway, so it seemed like a logical place to stop and “rest.” Agnes was there to take care of me, and I wound up ordering us both some food. I waved at Alan and Christine walking by on the highway, and they came in to join me. Alan used to manage the bar at Palm Tree, so I picked his brain a little. I’m thinking if The Rite Spot happens, hiring someone like him to run the place might be the best way to go. Christine is the one who hooked me up with my future landlord, and she reassured me everything was still on track for my move next year. It was good to see them.

I had intended to go home after IDM, but once I hit the road, I decided to hoof it over to Snackbar for a quick visit with Lydell and the girls. I was extra careful crossing the highway, though. My pal John, who I’d seen earlier at Hideway, was sitting at an outside table by himself, so I joined him. Had a nice chat about some past happenings and his recent move. Lydell came out and joined us, so I quenched her thirst. Which attracted Jen and Ana like moths to a flame, so I bought them a drink too. It’s weird how that works–the more I drink, the more drinks I buy. Strange. Anyway, I’d had enough (did I spell too much wrong?), so grabbed a trike and headed up the hill to Alta Vista.

And so ended another day in my “best life.”

I got up this morning and did a beach walk on Baloy.

And this is Hash Monday, so I’ve got more steps coming. Including a return to Baloy for the ON-HOME at Da’Kudos. Look for a report on that adventure tomorrow.

You know that old trees just grow stronger,
And old rivers grow wilder every day.
Old people just grow lonesome
Waiting for someone to say, "Hello in there, hello."

So if you're walking down the street sometime
And spot some hollow ancient eyes,
Please don't just pass 'em by and stare
As if you didn't care, say, "Hello in there, hello."

Our “outstation” Hash trip to Pundaquit is in the books, and for this Hasher, it was overall the best trail I’ve ever hiked. Maybe the saddest too. I’ll get to that part in a bit.

The initial climb was long and hard, just as I expected it would be. The frustrating part was just when it seemed the summit was in sight, it turned out to be an illusion, and the uphill slog continued. That happened three or four times before the top was finally achieved. I was huffing and puffing almost as severely as I do after sex lately. Not quite that bad, though; otherwise, I’d likely have died on the mountain.

Once up top, though, it was like walking through a dream. Varied landscapes, lots of trees, and incredible views. Truly amazing. I hope the photos I share come close to capturing that magical feeling I experienced on the trail.

The down seemed eerily familiar, and as I progressed, I started to recognize some landmarks. Yes, I had been here before. Five days shy of exactly one year ago. Although on that previous visit, I was climbing up the mountain, not coming down. Looking back, that had been one of the best days of my life in the Philippines. Mainly because I had spent it with the last woman I loved. She’s gone now, and life goes on, but the hole in my soul remains. And as I walked that path we had shared in reverse, the memories came flooding back. When you are living those moments, you are just enjoying them for what they are, not worrying about what will happen next. When you are reliving the memories, knowing what the future has brought, it is hard not to feel regret. Still, I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.

The On-Home was at Monty’s Riverside View Resort, a place I had visited with the Hash in 2018. No bad memories from that one, and after more than a few beers, I had drowned my sorrows and let go of the past once again.

Ready for some photos? Let’s do it!

There was another first-ever event in my Hashing experience–a search and rescue mission. One of the Hashers had burned out on top of the mountain (probably from dehydration) and didn’t have the energy to proceed. Anal Receptive and Vienna Sausage headed back up the mountain (from the way we came down) and brought some water, Gatorade, and ice. They soon enough had him back on his feet and back at Monty’s just about the time the Hash circle was concluding. Well done, gentlemen!

Another aspect of the outstation format is the bus ride home. Imagine, if you will, fifty drunken Hashers in a bus (with more beer on board for consumption) singing their Hash ditties in a loud and obnoxious manner that is the style and custom of the Hash.

Good times!

We only had four in attendance for the Wednesday Walkers group yesterday, so Scott volunteered to drive us out to the Cawag barangay in Subic so we could do a hike in and around Club Morocco. We only make it out this way once a year, so it was nice to take in the unique views this area offers once again. As I mentioned in last year’s post about Club Morocco, the subdivision was developed by the same company as Alta Vista but is twice the size. Most of the lots have not been built on, which gives an apocalyptic feel to the empty streets. Great area for hiking, though. I’ve got lots of photos from the adventure I’ll share at the end of this post.

The feeding at Hideaway Bar last night went well, with fried chicken and brownies for the girls.

And an unusually good time at the bar too. The only other customer and I alternated picking songs to be played on the big screen, and we both seemed to enjoy each other’s selections. I upped the ante by playing a classic Marty Robbins tune I first listened to as a child sitting at my father’s feet while he drank beer and played records after work. As I sang along, I laughed inwardly at the relevance of the lyrics to my current life:

Out in the West Texas town of El Paso
I fell in love with a Mexican girl
Nighttime would find me in Rosa's cantina
Music would play and Felina would whirl

Blacker than night were the eyes of Felina
Wicked and evil while casting a spell
My love was deep for this Mexican maiden
I was in love but in vain, I could tell

One night a wild young cowboy came in
Wild as the West Texas wind
Dashing and daring, a drink he was sharing
With wicked Felina, the girl that I loved

Well, I haven’t gotten in a gunfight over a girl here. Yet. Anyway, it was fun. I had a couple more beers in Green Room later, then finished my night at Snackbar.

And that brings me to my big news. I have a dinner date tonight. I’m going to take her to Hops and Brews, the new place in town I recently reviewed. It was kind of funny because after confirming the dinner plans, she told me this was the first time someone had asked her to dinner as a date. So, in that sense, I guess I’ll be dining with a virgin. She does have two kids, though.

Well, I guess I’m never really alone. There’s always beer.

I saw this today, and all I could think was, “supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.”

Alright, enough of this nonsense. Let’s get to those hiking pictures (a group effort with Scott and Lydell):

It was a nice change of pace and, while not as easy as it appears, quite enjoyable.

Hopefully, I can say the same thing about my dinner date tonight. See you here tomorrow!

Hops & Brews is located on Del Pilar Street in the building that formerly housed Sit-n-Bull. There has been a complete renovation turning that space into something quite unique, with inside and outside bars and seating.

When I first entered, I started to sit down at this bar and order a beer. The bartender said most people prefer the beer garden out back. I told her I’d check it out.

So, I headed out back and took a seat at the bar in the beer garden.

I was quite surprised to be greeted by name by several of the waitresses, both as “sir John” and my nickname “Gwapo.” Of course, I didn’t have a clue where I’d seen them before, but I suppose it’s easy to be famous in a small town.

The manager greeted me, again by name, and asked if I remembered him from Bar Barretto. I lied and said, “of course.” I mean, his face was familiar, but I’d only been to Bar Barretto twice, so the recollection was fuzzy. The bar doesn’t stock San Mig Zero, so I was drinking San Miguel Light. The manager pointed out they had a craft beer on tap (Crazy Carabao) and a draft beer called Sapporo that I might like. Then he brought me a mug on the house. It was good.

The cook popped out of the kitchen behind the bar, and I recognized him as the former chef at Kamto, so I knew the food here would be good. I asked to see a menu and noted that they feature a variety of dishes at fair prices. I ordered the chicken quesadillas.

When I was done eating, a female cook came and asked me how my meal was, and I told her it was good. I don’t know if that is going to be a standard procedure or if it is just soliciting feedback for a new operation, but it was nice to see they had an interest in customer satisfaction.

The owner introduced himself and asked how I liked my beer, suggesting I might want to try the craft brew. I told him I appreciate a good beer, but I drink Zero to avoid carbs and calories. He laughed, rubbed his beer belly, and said, “I know. I own the gym across the street, and look at me!”

Before I visited, I asked a friend if he’d been there yet. He said, “no, it’s too expensive. All the food dishes are around 500 pesos.” Well, that’s not true. My quesadillas were 260. Some of the entrees were 500 (or more), but the majority of the food was cheaper than that. My draft beer was 100 pesos, and the bottles were 110; that’s at the higher tier of beer prices in Barretto but not unreasonable for the upscale ambiance.

So, first impressions of Hops & Brews: Very friendly staff. Beautiful venue, inside and out. Good food. In fact, the place has much more of a restaurant vibe to me than a typical bar that serves food. It was quite comfortable sitting outside, eating and drinking, and I’m sure I’ll return for a second dose soon.

Off to a good start; keep it up!

The current rankings (I still have two other newer bars to review):

1. It Doesn’t Matter
2. Hideaway
3. Snackbar
4. The Green Room
5. Wet Spot
6. Cheap Charlies
7. John’s Sushi and Steak
8. Mango’s Beach Bar
9. Brews & Hops
10. Bar Barretto
11. Whiskey Girl
12. Alley Cats
13. Lux
14. Dynamite Dick’s
15. Mugshots
16. Alaska Club
17. Hot Zone
18. Queen Victoria
19. Blue Butterfly
20. Adam’s
21. Thumbstar
22. Voodoo
23. Rock Lobster
24. Outback
25. Rosie’s
26. Annex
27. Bottoms Up
28. Palm Tree
29. BarCelona
30. MacArthur’s
31. Redz Pub
32. Chill

My hopes for an early restoration of power yesterday were dashed. There was still no electricity when I left for the Hash at one in the afternoon, and the wind and rain continued intermittently throughout the remainder of the day. Rumor had it that downed trees had taken out the powerlines and rendered all of Subic (my house is serviced by the Subic electric company) to darkness indefinitely. Well, nothing to be done but hope for the best.

When the Hash was over (I’ll get to that later in this post) I treated myself to a “last supper” at Mango’s:

With my hunger satiated, I caught a trike and headed for home, trying to maintain a positive attitude. And sure enough, as we entered the neighborhood, I saw some lighted windows and rejoiced in the knowledge that I would be able to complete my pre-trip checklist. The trike had insufficient horsepower to make it up the final hill to my place (that happens about 10% of the time), so I got out and walked the final block. I was surprised to hear one of the neighbor’s generators running but assumed they hadn’t gotten around to turning it off yet. When I opened my front gate, I saw that my helper’s bedroom window was lit up, so I was reassured that all was right in my little world. Only to be crushed with reality when I opened the door and saw the light was only candlepower. Shit.

The helper suggested I once again book a hotel room, but that wasn’t really a viable alternative. I was home and half-drunk with no transport back to town. And a place to sleep wasn’t what I required–I needed juice to charge my laptop and fire up the printer to prepare the required documents for the next day’s travel. So, I went to bed in a hot room with no fan and slept fitfully. I woke up again at 11:30 in a pool of sweat and couldn’t get back to sleep as my mind wrestled with alternatives for getting what I needed to do done. A friend had suggested I save the documents on a USB stick and take them to a print shop. A fine plan except for the fact that I don’t own such a stick, nor do I know where to purchase one. So, I started considering the logistics of having my driver pick me up in the morning and carry me and my computer and printer to some cheap hotel where I could set up to prepare my documents. As I thought through the various possibilities, there was a *click* sound, and the lights turned on again shortly before midnight. Hooray!

I got up to make sure the laptop and phone were charging, glanced at some of my favorite websites, then went back to bed. As I lay there listening to the rain pounding down, it dawned on me that one stray tree branch could once again render me powerless. So, I got up and went to work. Printed out my Cambodia visa, did an online check-in with Philippine Air, then printed copies of my itinerary and onward flight information. I slept much better knowing the paperwork was done.

This morning I finished packing, did the grocery shopping (helper and dogs need to eat while I’m gone), and bought some new clothes at the outlet store. So, I’m good to go. The driver is coming for me at 3:00, and my flight leaves Manila at 10:00. I’ll arrive in Phnom Penh just before midnight local time after a three-hour flight.

The last time I was “home” in the USA was four years ago this week. Facebook memories included this photo of me in my letter carrier jacket:

I’ve gained some weight since then, but I’m not letting that slow me down much. Should have those six-pack abs any day now:

Alright, to the Hash, then. I already knew that, given the weather, I wasn’t going to be doing any hill climbing. Most of the rest of the “sane” group shared similar sentiments, so we made our own trail.

Alright then. Almost time for me to go. My next post (assuming all goes as planned and prepared for) will be from Cambodia.

Oh, and for those of you who have any interest in what the Halloween version of the SOB dances looked like, here are a couple of samples:

The Wet Spot, this week’s champions:

And the Alaska girls, the second-place team.

Hmm, you’ll have to click on the YouTube link above to see this one. A little surprised it is “age-restricted”; there is no nudity involved. Certainly, nothing like the drag queen dances being held in elementary schools.

Oh well, I’m off to Phnom Penh. We’ll see what I see there.

My big daytime accomplishment (in addition to TWO posts here at LTG) was securing permission from the Philippines government to depart this lovely land next week.

Then the time for the weekly SOB dance competition rolled around. Last night was a special event for Halloween, and it was announced that the dancers and customers were encouraged to dress up for the occasion.

It was by far the best SOB I’ve attended in a long time. Most of the girls went all-out in creating some nifty costumes, and they were also very creative in doing Halloween-themed dance routines.

Another late (for me) night, but other than peeing my pants in the trike coming home, I was no worse for wear.

Today I applied for my e-visa to Cambodia and booked a hotel room for the first two nights in Phnom Penh. I’ll look around and see where I want to spend the rest of the week once I get there.

It was raining this morning, so I just did a neighborhood walk.

Looks like it’s gonna be a rainy Saturday night in Barretto. I guess I’ll have to think of some indoor activity I can engage in to pass the time. Hmm, maybe I’ll visit a bar!

UPDATE: Photos of last night’s winners:

Another lazy Tuesday is in the books. I call it my lazy Tuesday because I go grocery shopping instead of hiking. This week Royal featured three items I was interested in at significantly discounted prices. I kept them together in the cart and then paid close attention as the cashier ran them through the scanner. All came out with the reduced price, so I’m happy to report that Royal didn’t try and scam me this week.

My mountain mama came to collect her weekly allowance and also gave me one of her great massages. Maybe the best ever. Sometimes I fantasize about building a hut up on her mountaintop and living that life with her. Of course, the reality is that I’d likely go stark raving mad after a week or two isolated up there.

In the afternoon, I got bored waiting for beer o’clock to roll around, so I decided to take a walk on Baloy beach. One of my reasons for doing so was that I’d been reading about the resolution of a property dispute, and the “rightful owners” were having the “squatters” removed from the land and their buildings destroyed. In my mind, I was picturing a few dilapidated shacks and shanties being dispensed with, but Wowza, it was a three-block stretch of destruction, including several beach resorts that catered to low-income Filipinos. When I walked by, it looked like someone had dropped a bomb.

My other reason for visiting Baloy yesterday was to check out rumors that the Kokomo’s floating bar was once again anchored offshore.

In the meantime, I’ll have to settle for taking in beach views like this:

I walked on up the beach and noticed it was now beer o’clock, so I popped into McCoy’s for a cold one. It has been several weeks since my last visit here, and I was warmly greeted by the friendly bartender.

I wound up staying for three beers, then headed back up Baloy Road to Barretto. And since Snackbar is right at the intersection of Baloy and the highway, it was perfectly logical that I should pay them a visit while I was in the neighborhood.

I had a few more beers here and bought a round of lady drinks for the staff. The sad thing is that with the sister resto now closed, no food is available at the inaptly named Snackbar. I suggested to the owner that she get a Sit-n-Bull menu since they deliver, but she insisted she is going to find a new location for her kitchen. I wish her good luck with that effort.

Being hungry, I wandered up the highway to Wet Spot and had a big El Padre burrito delivered from Sit-n-Bull next door. It definitely hit the spot and filled a void. I washed it down with a couple more beers, then called it a night. According to my Fitbit, I was asleep shortly before 9 p.m.

That’s the way this old man rolls on a lazy Tuesday. Tonight I’ll be feeding the girls from Hideaway, and we’ll see what happens from there.

Oh, and let me leave you with this TikTok snippet of gals dancing to Dylan’s “Like a Rolling Stone.” And just so you know, I don’t normally indulge in TikTok at all (although the Chinese probably get a full account of my activities from Google anyway), but it was posted on the Althouse blog, and I did rather enjoy it. So here you go:

Hmm, the video doesn’t embed, so you’ll have to click on the link. Sorry!

I started my Tuesday with a trip to the immigration office to renew my tourist visa. Everything went as it normally does, except that when I got my paperwork back, it included instructions for leaving the country and a handwritten “last extension.” I guess I’ve just about worn out my welcome.

Right now, I’m in the initial planning phase for a trip to Cambodia next month. I was disappointed to see I’m going to have to fly out of Manila instead of the much more conveniently located airport in Angeles. Provided the Philippines allows me to re-enter the country, my tourist visa clock resets for three years. Returning shouldn’t be a problem now that I’ve been vaxxed, but there are several paperwork hoops I need to jump through before I can get back in. Hopefully, there won’t be any problems with that.

No excitement at the grocery store unless you find steadily increasing prices exciting. The only saving grace is the dollar continues to gain strength.

Jen, one of the Hideaway girls, had a birthday yesterday, and Joy asked me to bring her a cake.

After I departed Hideaway, I wasn’t sure where I wanted to go. I had half a mind (shuddup!) to enjoy the vistas from BarCelona, but as I passed by It Doesn’t Matter, it occurred to me that I shouldn’t let my disappointment with being a bad judge of character impact my choices on where to enjoy a cold beer. Time to let the past go and move on, so IDM it was.

I actually spent more time than I usually do there, almost two hours. I greeted all the familiar faces, then settled into my outdoor seat to watch the world go by. And guess who was sitting next to me, keeping me company?

In case you are wondering, yes, Agnes was my waitress. I was, of course, polite, and she was friendly. That’s the way it should be.

By the time I departed IDM, I was feeling no pain. The usual trike stands were empty, so I hoofed it up the highway all the way to Queen Victoria. Popped in there and had one more for the road, then found a trike for home.

I woke up this morning to a Facebook reminder that I was hanging out in Pattaya, Thailand, six years ago.

There is a boy I love, though, right here in Barretto:

A nice hike with the Wednesday Walkers I’ll post about tomorrow. It’s feeding night again at Hideaway, and I baked up a batch of carrot cupcakes to share with the girls for dessert (I’ll order a pizza for the main course).

Alright, that brings y’all up to date in my corner of the world. See you here again soon!

A pretty mundane Thursday, but then, a day without drama is a good thing.

After eating, I took a walk to the end of Baloy road, then back on the beach.

Came back home and napped, then wrote TWO blog posts to satiate the hunger of my faithful readers.

I’d mentioned thinking it was time to change my routines where I’d rely less on unreliable bargirls for my entertainment. One idea is to start playing darts again, so yesterday, I took my arrows with me when I went into town for my daily dose of beer. I picked Johansson’s as my practice venue because they have nice boards, very few customers, and no bargirl distractions.

It had been months since I’d touched my darts, and it showed. My first few throws were off the board. Yeah, I don’t recall being that bad, even as a rookie. The longer I threw, the better my accuracy became, but it was still nowhere near the level I need to achieve to be competitive.

In one hour of practice, I threw one 6-mark, two 5-marks, and a 3-bulls shot.

My big concern is that the lack of consistency is compounded by the fact that my darts are frequently “leaners” (not going into the board straight) which can result in fallouts and blocked shots. Anyway, it was only day one of practice; we’ll see how it goes on Saturday.

Where to next? I’m taking a break from several of my usual haunts for now (Snackbar, Cheap Charlies, It Doesn’t Matter, and Blue Butterfly), leaving me twenty-something venues to choose from. Well, I needed some exercise (that was my excuse), so I hoofed it across town and paid an off-schedule visit to Hideaway Bar. What can I say? I’m comfortable there.

When it was time to move on, I made my way to BarCelona for a couple more beers. Service was marginally better, and I do enjoy the atmosphere that comes with sitting outdoors on the rooftop.

And then, as I made my way home, I decided to live dangerously, and I popped into Sloppy Joe’s, the scene of the robbery I posted about yesterday. No one tried to steal my necklace (probably because I wasn’t wearing one). I did wind up buying a lady drink. My waitress there remembered me from the pre-scamdemic days when she worked at Man Cave. Don’t worry; I have no interest in engaging in the bargirl game and the chicanery associated with it; this was just a “nice to see you again” drink. In fact, I left before she finished drinking it.

I participated in a very nice hike today that I’ll post about tomorrow, but we did finish at Dynamite Dick’s where Dick updated us on the stabbing incident I mentioned in yesterday’s post. So it seems the culprit, ironically named Cutter, is a guy from Seattle in his mid-30s. Dick wasn’t there at the time of the incident, but he told us Cutter’s victim (the wife) is still in the hospital recovering from her wounds. The actions of Cutter were entirely out of character and resulted from some kind of mental breakdown, which may or may not have been fueled by drugs (meth is pretty popular with some folks here).

The wife declined to press charges against her husband, so police released him to the custody of immigration officials who transported Cutter to Manila for deportation. Apparently, Cutter had another breakdown, and then authorities gave him a shot of something to calm him down. Cutter then went into cardiac arrest and died. So, I guess that’s the end of the story.

This evening I’ll be attending the SOB at Hot Zone. And that’s where things stand as of now.

One of the few Tagalog words I recognize, mostly because I hear it all the time.

Baliw [noun]  crazy person; deranged person; psycho; lunatic

[adjective]  crazy; nuts

At first, I thought they were commenting on the color of my eyes; it sounds a lot like “blue,” if blue had two syllables. Why the girls call me crazy is a mystery. Kind of.

Anyway, things didn’t get too crazy last night. Fed the Hideaway girls pizza, and for dessert, I baked up a batch of cupcakes.

I stayed a little longer at Hideaway than usual (I think Joy had four lady drinks instead of the usual three), but I always start craving a change of venue, so I headed up the highway.

I spent the early hours of darkness at The Green Room, where I had TWO coupons from the SOB to expend: “buy a lady drink and get two customer drinks” and the usual “buy one, get one” bargain. I also had dinner delivered from Sit-n-Bull– a most excellent burrito. A pleasant enough evening, then I was home shortly after 8:00.

For breakfast this morning, I did some leftovers from yesterday’s baking exploits:

This is Hash Monday, so I didn’t want to expend my limited quantity of energy on a long morning walk, but I did take a stroll through the neighborhood. My future residence was on my mind, so I took some photos from various perspectives.

Yep, this post was even lamer than usual. But on the bright side, future posts will seem more thrilling by comparison. Guenther is the Hare today, and I expect the usual life-threatening excitement. I will see how far I get before the inevitable bailing out.

Come on back tomorrow; it’s bound to get better.

Our Wednesday Walkers group traveled out to Castillejos yesterday to hike the GOVIC bypass highway (basically a 7K loop around the city).

The trek was all on pavement, but a lot of it was through sparsely populated countryside, so it was a nice change of pace. As usual, I’ll share photos from the adventure later in this post.

Speaking of hiking, my pal Kevin Kim, a notorious distance walker, began his journey circumnavigating Jeju island in South Korea. You can follow his journey on his blog, Kevin’s Walk 6. Good luck, Kevin!

So, about last night. I went to Mango’s again, hoping to score some pork chops for Joy’s dinner, but alas, once again, they were out of stock. I couldn’t resist giving the manager a little advice: It’s your most popular item on the menu. If you are always running out, you should consider ordering more. He thanked me for the sage advice.

Plan B was John’s place, and he didn’t disappoint. I ordered the bulgogi with rice and sixteen Korean-style chicken wings for takeout.

Mission accomplished. When my time at Hideaway was done, I headed back up the highway to my side of town. I stopped at Bar Barretto, but I was one beer and out there. It’s a nice place but boring for early birds like me. I understand it gets hoppin’ when the band is playing. Next up was a new bar that I still need to review, Sloppy Joe’s. When I arrived, I was the only customer and sat down in the outdoor seating area. It doesn’t appear they have a bargirl staff, and the solitary waitress served me my beer and didn’t seem interested in the usual chitchat that leads to a lady drink. Suit yourself.

There was one incident that stems from the downside of drinking in a ground-floor bar facing the National highway. I’m not talking about the noise (which is pretty bad) but the beggars buzzing around like hungry mosquitos. One woman had a rather unique method for trying to extract money from my pocket. She just stood on the shoulder, ten yards away, and didn’t say a word–just stared at me. I tried to ignore her for a while, playing with my phone, but when I looked up, she was still there staring. I finally said loudly, “stop staring at me!”. She responded with words I didn’t understand, but the tone was angry. So there would be no misunderstanding, I answered with the universally understood words, “fuck you, bitch!” She said, “fuck you, too,” and walked away.

I paid my bill shortly thereafter (had to go inside, my waitress never came back) and was thinking about popping into Queen Victoria for my “one for the road” before going home. Then I remembered that I had a pot roast overcooking in the crockpot, so I grabbed a trike and headed back to Alta Vista.

A strawberry-banana-pineapple smoothie for my sweet tooth and I called it a night.

Alright, which of these two memes is funniest:

Yes, they are both good. I’d call it a tie.

Oh, I forgot to mention that I had a package delivery:

Alright, here are the photos from Wednesday’s hike I promised. As always, Scott gets the credit for many of these:

And after lunch, we walked back to the vehicles and made the drive to Barretto. It was a very nice hike overall, and it is always good to see some relatively new scenery (we had last done this trail on New Year’s Day in 2021).

You can Relive the hike here if you’d like:

Turning back the pages to the times I love best
I wonder if she'll ever do the same
Now the thing that I call living is just being satisfied
With knowing I got no one left to blame

Carefree highway, got to see you my old flame
Carefree highway, you seen better days
The morning after blues from my head down to my shoes
Carefree highway, let me slip away, slip away on you

The photo above also reveals that when the house below my unit is completed, my view of the bay will be all but obliterated. As I was lamenting that fact, I heard from a friend asking if I was interested in moving to the Grand Canyon next year. I told her I was open to the proposition, and she invited me to come and check it out. And so I did.

Actually, this house was featured in my streets of Alta Vista series.

The house is practically a landmark because it sits high and stands out for miles around when you are looking up from the valley. I’ve always thought it looked small, but the landlord gave me a tour yesterday, and it is bigger inside than it appears from the outside. Only two bedrooms upstairs, but they are decent sized, and both have their own bathroom with shower. A comfortable living room and functional kitchen with a pantry. The best thing about the house is its panoramic 360-degree views with balconies on three sides and a large ground-floor patio. The owner is also in the process of adding a ground-floor master bedroom which would be perfect for my helper. It has a huge fenced yard that would be ideal for Buddy and Lucky.

The house owner is moving to the UK to be with her husband early next year. My lease isn’t up until June, but she’s willing to be flexible with me, and I think we have a tentative deal worked out. I’m looking forward to the change of scenery, all this construction noise around me (four fucking houses!) is wearing me out, and once my view is gone, there is no point in staying here.

So, that was a nice surprise just before I headed out for my Sunday evening in town. I had promised Joy the Mango’s grilled pork chops but warned her they were “out of stock” about half the time. And sure enough, I got the “sorry, Sir John” response when I placed the order. **deep breath. relax. accept the Filipino way** Okay, then, give me the lasagna with a side of mashed potatoes.

I brought fried chicken for Chooks to Go for the rest of the crew. A few beers for me and lady drinks for Joy, Jen, and Ken, and then it was time to go.

After my meal, I popped into Cheap Charlies. Most of my regulars weren’t there, but that’s okay. I was shocked a bit later when my favorite, who wasn’t working, came in with her date, a hefty old foreigner (yeah, like me). Hmm. I don’t think it is good to parade a new boyfriend around during your off time. I get how it works on duty, but I didn’t like seeing it last night for some reason. Knowing her history (she has a husband) made me feel sorry for the sucker she was with as well. Adultery is a criminal offense in this country. Needless to say, she is no longer my favorite.

So, one of my newer Facebook friends is a woman named Marga. She sent the request because we have a mutual friend named Joy (no, not one of the Joys I’ve written about recently). It turns out that Joy recently died at age 28. Sadly, I did not recollect who she was or how I knew her. I went back and searched my messenger and saw a conversation I had with that Joy back in June. I met her once (she did a massage with no happy ending) and never saw her again. Marga says she died of a heart condition. Sad to hear, and if I recall correctly, she had a couple of young kids.

Anyway, Marga works at Wet Spot, and I told her I would stop by last night so we could meet.

Everyone has been anticipating the big typhoon scheduled to blow through town last night. I woke up around 0100 to the sound of wind and rain. I got up and went into the living area to check things out and saw that the sliding doors to the balcony were open. I do that so the dogs can pee out there during the night. Well, the wind had blown the rain inside, soaking the floor, coffee table, and couch. Oops! At least it didn’t reach my laptop. I closed the doors and went back to bed. I couldn’t get back to sleep, and about thirty minutes later, the power went out. So, no lights in the bathroom, no fans, and no running water (this house pumps my water up from a tank in the basement). My concern was that the power might not be restored for god knows how long, which would be a major pain in the ass. Surprisingly, it came back on about an hour later (yeah, I was still awake for some reason).

Anyway, as far as I can tell, other than some flooding in the usual places, the storm didn’t do a lot of damage. Well, I noticed this morning that my place wasn’t unscathed.

It’s been raining all morning, but it appears it’s going to clear out in time for us to have a relatively dry Hash. The Hares say it is going to be a mostly paved trail today, so it sounds doable.

I’ve cooked up a batch of chili in the crockpot, and I’m baking some cornbread, so I’ll have a hearty lunch before I head out for today’s hike.

And that’s all I’ve got for now.

The wild and windy night, that the rain, washed away
Has left a pool of tears, crying for the day
Why leave me standing here, let me know the way

Another day and I lived to tell about it, so here goes.

I started my morning by doing my usual SSS (Saturday Solo Street) walk on the mean byways of Barretto (National Highway, Abra, Rizal, Columban, Jasmine, Gomez, Dagupan, Jolo, and Del Pilar). I finished at Sit-n-Bull, where I ordered some take-out food to reward my dedication to exercise and a healthy lifestyle (COCI–calories out, calories in).

I began my evening activities at It Doesn’t Matter, where I interacted with a new waitress named Juliet. She really tripped my triggers, so I introduced myself as Romeo and bought her a couple of lady drinks. She told me right up front that she has a boyfriend, Aussie, I think she said, and they have been together for several years. Just my luck. Juliet had heard of “Romeo and Juliet” but wasn’t familiar with the details of Shakespeare’s famous play. I did a quick Google search to make sure I got the sequence of events correct, then did a brief retelling of the sad tale for her enlightenment. It didn’t end well for the original Juliet and her Romeo, and here in the real world, our tragedy never got started. Just as well, the IDM Juliet has a happy life (and three kids), and I wouldn’t dream of intruding on that.

The next stop was the seldom-visited BarCelona. I had two beers while waiting for Hot Zone to open so I could use my “buy one, get one” coupon. When I arrived at HZ, my friend, the door girl, followed me in, and of course, I satisfied her desire for lady drinks. The Sit-n-Bull waitress also came in with menus (SnB services the neighboring bars), so I ordered up some chicken wings and chicken fingers. While waiting for the food to arrive, I regaled two of the waitresses with my lame jokes, and their polite laughter earned them drinks as well (I told you those discount coupons wind up costing me big time!). When the food arrived, I shared the bounty with the gals, and they were appropriately appreciative.

I had my “one for the road” drink at the nearby Green Room, then called it a night.

I slept in until almost 0500, then went about my morning rituals.

My cash supply was running a bit low, and as usual, the BPI ATM in Barretto was out of service. In those circumstances, I usually do the highway walk to Subic-town (around 5K each way), but it’s an ugly trek. So, instead, I had the bright idea to walk the highway in the opposite direction and use the ATM on the old Navy base. And that’s just what I did.

Since I hadn’t walked this way for a while, I decided to do that “one photo every 1.6 KMs” in sync with the notifications from my Map My Hike app.

I successfully withdrew the desired cash. With the money burning a hole in my pocket wallet, I walked a bit further into Olongapo proper and visited the SM Downtown mall in search of some new Merrell hiking shoes (the Merrell store in Harbor Point remains closed).

You can Relive my trek if you so desire:

I wear size 11, which always seems to be out of stock. I guess that is unnaturally large for most Filipino men. Hmm, I wonder what else is smaller? Anyway, sure enough, no Merrells in my size. For street shoes I wear every day, I’ve been satisfied with Skechers. They had some I liked at 40% off the regular price, and surprise, surprise, they even had two pairs in my size. So, I bought them both.

Seeing as how I had two shoe boxes to carry, I took a cab back home.

It looks like tomorrow’s Hash may be a wet one. A couple of us have already been discussing doing an alternative pub crawl if we get hit with a typhoon. The storm’s center is supposed to be south of us, but we are bracing for whatever residual impact it may have. Hold on to your hats!

Now I must go and prepare for the scheduled Sunday feeding of the Hideaway girls. Whatever it takes to keep them happy, I suppose.

Thanks for dropping by.

Everyone survived yesterday’s Hash which is always my primary goal as a Hare. A handful did the entire trail, and as I expected, the “die-hards” found it boring for the most part. Eh, you can’t please everyone. We tried to incorporate a hill climb but found the conditions too slippery for the group’s safety. So, sorry to disappoint, but not sorry.

Now, we did have a part of the trail early on that was pretty challenging. I had wanted a new way out of Alta Vista, and my co-Hare (and neighbor) Anal Receptive found a pretty rugged path that has been little used of late. In fact, he had to go out with his machete and do some whacking in places to make the path passable. There were also some rocks to be climbed, and he sprayed them with a bleach solution to kill the algae. All credit to him for that effort.

Let’s go to the pictures, which I obviously didn’t take. Thanks to Pubic Head and some other Hashers for documenting their journey. The fact that no photos from the “long” version of the trail exist says a lot. We had 39 in attendance; I’d wager no more than 5 of them did the whole trail. Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining. Hell, I’m notorious for my own shortcutting!

S-H-I-T-T-Y T-R-A-I-L
Shitty trail, (it sucked!)
Shitty trail (it really sucked!)
The Hares have laid another shitty trail
I would rather drink this beer 
Than run your shitty trail
S-H-I-T-T-Y T-R-A-I-L

I drank my share of San Mig Zeros, then hitched a ride back home with my co-Hare. It was an early night, even by my standards, but I’d had enough. Besides, there is always tonight.

A more natural-sounding title would be “stuff about things,” but I’ll be damned if I haven’t used that FIVE times over the years. These days I do a check to make sure I have not repeated myself. I guess it doesn’t matter, but it’s important to me for some reason. So, that’s one thing.

I did my regular Tuesday grocery shopping thing without incident. Prices haven’t dropped any, but the dollar is now worth over 57 pesos, a new record.

I received a nice email from Grammarly with a link telling me what a great writer I am and bestowing on me this award:

Oh, I’m laughing out loud right now. My Grammarly app says to remove the comma after “acclaimed” and to replace the period with a question mark after “masterpieces.” Who am I to believe, Grammarly or Grammarly?

Anyway, Grammarly says I’m more prolific than 95% of their users, having written over 60,000 words last week and 1,632,000 since joining the site in January 2021. In a hard-to-believe stat, they claim I’m more accurate than 74% of their users. I’ve also used more “unique” words (whatever that means) than 98% of my fellow Grammarlyarians (yeah, there’s a unique word I just made up).

It is not all good news, though: My top three mistakes are double periods (?), missing commas in compound sentences (where have I heard that before, Kevin Kim?), and missing articles (I’m not sure what that even means, but it is probably because I tend to write very informally .) My top two spelling mistakes are “wa” for was and “htis” for this. That reflects the increasingly frequent disconnect between my brain and my fingers.

Oh, well. Grammar never was my thing, and if Grammarly is to be believed, a whole lot of others are doing a worse job.

Looking for an easy way out on crafting a Barretto bar crawl map, a Google search led me to this one:

I’m mainly curious to see if this will expand when clicked on once I publish this post. If it does, I’ve at least got a starting point. Technology really isn’t my thing, but I’ll do my best to come up with something useful.

Speaking of bars, I visited a couple of them last night. I’m sure that comes as a big surprise to my readers. The owner of Snackbar sent a message saying the girls were waiting for me and being the gentleman that I am, I didn’t want to disappoint them. I only stayed for about an hour though, because I had other business to attend to. That business was a “buy one, get one” coupon for Whiskey Girl bar.

Jen’s a little older than most bargirls at 40, but she has a very pleasant personality and was fun to hang out with. She’s cute, in a matronly kind of way, but it is her inner beauty that most attracts me. The SOB is being hosted by Whiskey Girl this week, and I’ve already arranged for Jen to keep me company during the show. I guess I have a thing for her, at least when I’m at Whiskey Girl.

Speaking of Whiskey Girl, it is the first venue to receive an updated bar review. They’ve come a long way since the previous write-up. Give it a read if that’s your thing.

After Whiskey Girl, I had some hunger pangs, and Cameltoe was the nearest place to eat.

Made it home at my usual pre-nine p.m. hour. I ate WAY too much ice cream again, then went to bed and had a fitful sleep. I’ve got a hacking cough I’m dealing with of late. Reminds me of my pre-COPD diagnosis nights when I’d put a towel on the floor bedside so I could spit out all the phlegm I was coughing up. I’m not sure what’s up with that. My blood pressure has been up in the low 150s/80s all week as well, so something is going on. I’m going to see the doctor about these things and see if some changes in my medications are in order. Oh, and I was supposed to get my second does of the Sinovac vaccine today but decided to wait until I’m feeling better before getting that thing.

In the meantime, life goes on. I’ll be one of the Hares for next week’s trail, and I went out with Ed and his lovely Helen to do some trail scouting this morning.

We still have some more work to do this weekend to finalize our intended trails. Yes, we are going to have an “easy” version for the Hashers who desire that, and if climbing is their thing, we’ll have a mountain path as well. Should be something for everyone.

And speaking of the Hash, I found a meme featuring my Hash name.

Well, that brings y’all up to date on the things I’ve been doing. I’ll start my evening at Hideaway Bar since the Wednesday feeding has become a regular thing for me to do. The girls can have chicken, pizza, or tacos, and I’m bringing a box of Choco Pies for dessert. Just didn’t feel like baking today. I’m also hoping to visit Lux Bar, one of the new venues, and do a review. We’ll see if I make it that far.

My first beers in my 67th 68th year went down smooth and easy. Yep, I said beer. That was my gift to me. I’ll go back to soda and gin tonight.

My original plan was to start out with dinner at John’s, which is on the far side of town. But the girls at Snackbar were impatient for my arrival, so I started there. And after my beers and cake, I wasn’t hungry anymore. I’ll do John’s tonight instead. I have to be on that side of town anyway for my Sunday bargirl feed at Hideaway.

After leaving the Snatchbar, I walked up the highway and popped into Cheap Charlies for a visit. The girls all wished me a Happy Birthday, and I bestowed gifts in the form of lady drinks.

Next, I dashed across the highway and paid a visit to Wet Spot. Owner Daddy Dave bought me a drink for the b-day, and we shared a nice chat. He also gave me some pain reliever advice, although my toothache appears to be in remission.

Came home to a Facebook inbox full of messages wishing me a happy birthday from friends all over the world. One that made me feel especially good was from my high school sweetheart Karen:

Ain’t she sweet?

I guess I’m not as alone in this life as I sometimes feel. A shout out to my readers and commenters as well. Let’s keep this thing going as long as we can!

The rain didn’t stop the Wednesday Walkers. At least it didn’t stop the three of us who showed up for an “umbrella walk.” Turns out, we didn’t need an umbrella after all, thanks to a break in the storm. Everything was wet, though, so we decided a street hike was the prudent course of action. Walked from Barretto to Subic town the back way through Naugsol, a 7.5K jaunt. I’ve got a slew of pics I’ll share at the end of this post.

Before I headed out for the walk, I threw the ingredients for a batch of chili in the crockpot. When I got back home, I also baked some cornbread muffins. I added a can of corn to the batter, and that proved to be a tasty addition.

It was feeding the girls at Hideaway bar night, so I baked up some brownies for their dessert.

I took a small container of chili and a couple of muffins along for Joy’s enjoyment but didn’t have enough to share with all the girls.

After completing my duty at Hideaway, I headed out with the intention of using my drink voucher at Whiskey Girl. It’s on the other side of town, and about halfway there, rain began falling again. I thought the storm was done, so hadn’t brought my umbrella. I needed to find shelter from the storm, and Voodoo was the closest venue available. I hadn’t been in there since the SOB last month, but the girl I sat with that night was quick to latch on to me again.

When the rain finally relented, I made it at last to Whiskey Girl. I was the only customer on this wet night and had a lot of female company at my table. I was also drunk enough to go a little bit crazy buying lady drinks for them all. Well, they have to make a living, and my jokes were all new there, so I guess that’s a win-win. And I STILL have that 500 peso voucher to use (it wasn’t good for lady drinks, and I was too far gone to even attempt to drink 500 pesos worth of gin at that point). It expires today, so perhaps I’ll give it one more try tonight.

Alright, that was the night. Here’s the morning:

And so it goes, and so it went.

…some rain must fall. I get that, but why does it have to fall in torrents when you are hiking way up in the mountains on a path that is already wet and muddy? That was our fate yesterday during the Hash run. Nothing you can do about it but slog along. Well, actually, some of us sane Hashers did take matters into our own hands and shortcut the trail. Regardless, we were still soaked to the skin and in peril of a slip, trip, and fall all the way back to our On-Home at Johansson’s. But I lived to tell about it, and that’s what I’m doing now.

Other than the rain and mud, it was a good trail. The meet-up location was about a mile out of town on the National Highway. Getting there was on each individual Hasher. Initially, I was going to walk but reconsidered because Leech My Nuggets lays a hard enough trail without me adding to it, so I took a trike. We started with a long, hard climb on a path none of us had used before. Later we merged onto a more familiar trail, and the up was done via concrete steps for a while. The steps ran out, but our climb didn’t. It was three-quarters of the way to the top when the sky let loose with the first rain squall of the afternoon. There were two more before we were back On-Home.

I managed to only fall once. It was kind of funny because shortly after the rain began, I told my fellow hikers there was nothing we could do but make the best of it. Within seconds I was sprawled flat on my back after my feet slid out from under me. Karma may be a bitch, but so is Mother Nature.

Here are a few photos that people managed to take before stowing away the phones during the deluge.

So, that’s how our Hash went this week. I actually left before the circle was over. I was soaking wet and almost shivering under the fans. Trust me; it’s very rare to feel cold in the Philippines. Home by 6:30, if you can imagine that. Felt good to be in dry clothes again.

It’s been raining all day today too. I guess there is a tropical depression passing through. I can attest that it is indeed pretty depressing. It takes the fun out of going out. Not that that will stop me.

Into each life some rain must fall
But too much is falling in mine
Into each heart some tears must fall
But some day the sun will shine
Some folks can lose the blues in their hearts
But when I think of you another shower starts
Into each life some rain must fall
But too much is falling in mine