Such a lovely place…

I started a little earlier yesterday afternoon, as much out of boredom as anything. I thought having a beer and watching the beach action would be more entertaining than YouTube videos at home. So I headed out to Mango’s.

The problem with Mango’s at this time of day is the sun. It was at an angle where the roof did not provide any shade at all. And it got real hot, real quick. I finally had to move to the inside bar to finish my beer.

It was a little after four now, and that meant the rooftop area of the Central Park Reef hotel was open for business. I hadn’t been there since before the pandemic so I decided it was a good time to go and check it out again.

I have a friend who is a waitress there (one of the Treasure Island gals I partied with last week).

Anyway, as you might imagine, the best part of the Central Park rooftop bar/restaurant/pool is the views. The menu looked good, although it was too early for me to eat. Beer was cold and at 100 pesos wasn’t even the most expensive in town. I was the only foreigner there–it was a Filipino family crowd enjoying a beachy weekend.

Anyway, it was good to see Kat and also enjoy some different vistas. I promised to sponsor the next get-together with the TI girls up here on the roof.

Since Cheap Charlies is practically next door and I hadn’t been there since last year, I figured a visit was in order. As usual, I enjoyed Alma’s company. I also wound up spending over thirty bucks buying food for all the girls. Chicken wings, chicken fingers, chicken quesadillas, and a large meat lovers pizza, if you are keeping score. Also, my recounting the menu here proves I made a sober decision (but not necessarily a smart one) when I purchased the meal.

Once the food was done, so was I. Except after I was downstairs on the street I decided I should check in on Roan at It Doesn’t Matter. She’s doing fine. Sat at the owner’s table and had a nice chat with the boss men, Cliff and Bob. Even shared my bar rankings. They were of course pleased to be currently at the top of the heap. Martin (18 Kilo Ass) and his gal were there too and it was nice to socialize with the group for a bit.

I made it an early night. Need to get back into my rhythm of early to bed, early to rise.

Have a Hash run to complete in a couple of hours. I expect it will be challenging because Leech My Nuggets is the Hare and the start point indicates a climb to the top of Kalaklan ridge. That’s never easy.

I’m doing better every day, but I still have “those” thoughts. For whatever reason, I remembered this poem last night and actually looked it up on the internet while I was at the bar. I refrained from sending it to you know who though. I’d call that progress.

“Where are you hiding my love?
Each day without you will never come again.
Even today you missed a sunset on the ocean,
A silver shadow on yellow rocks I saved for you,
A squirrel that ran across the road,
A duck diving for dinner.
My God! There may be nothing left to show you
Save wounds and weariness
And hopes grown dead,
And wilted flowers I picked for you a lifetime ago,
Or feeble steps that cannot run to hold you,
Arms too tired to offer you to a roaring wind,
A face too wrinkled to feel the ocean's spray.”
― James Kavanaugh

Ah, well. Life’s a beach sometimes.

And here’s my Lucky boy just now:

Alright, time for my pre-Hash nap. Let me leave you with my new favorite t-shirt:

Oh, and it seems that things are back to normal around here at LTG:

…I hope you had fun.

My Christmas was unusual in the sense that it was basically like every other day in my life here. I had considered taking part in one of the fancy meals or buffets several of the resorts were offering, but in the end, I just couldn’t be bothered. Yeah, I’m still not quite right in my head, but I’m making progress at regaining perspective.

So, I did the bar review at BarCelona to kick off my holiday evening. I rather enjoyed myself, even though I was drinking alone. The one girl who caught my eye was already occupied. I’ll be back to try again. Maybe even tonight.

I popped into It Doesn’t Matter hoping to visit with Roan. She wasn’t working though, but Troy from the Hash was there soloing through Christmas as well. Next, I was off to see my pal Alma at Cheap Charlies. I was the only customer and so naturally I found myself surrounded by the five bargirls who were working. I actually normally find that behavior irritating. Well, it was Christmas, so I bought them all a drink. Enjoyed some snuggling and rubbing (all above the waist of course) with Alma. She told me she saw me walking back from Subic earlier when she was on her way to work. I jokingly harangued her for not offering me a ride in her trike. I’ve never actually seen her outside of work. Might be time to rectify that with a lunch date. Stay tuned.

I hadn’t eaten yet so I figured on crossing the street and dining at Sit-n-Bull. But as I passed by Wet Spot I figured no harm in having one more beer first. The backslapper’s table was full again, so I took a nearby seat. I was immediately joined by Aine, looking every bit as lovely as she did on Thursday. Naturally, I bought her a drink. I asked if she were allowed to join me at Sit-n-Bull for dinner (it’s in the same complex (The Maze) and with the same ownership. Turns out she is indeed allowed to eat with a customer so I said let’s finish our drinks and go. Alas, we were informed that Sit-n-Bull had closed early for the holiday. Oh well, next time.

Then I was surprised to see Max, a member of our hiking groups and a Hasher, come in. He was surprised to see me as well. Turns out that Wet Spot is his regular hangout and he hadn’t seen me there before. Yeah, but I’ll be back more often. Max is a very interesting guy, a journalist by trade, and he’s from the Netherlands. So, I got to recount stories from my visit to his beautiful country back in 2002. I had a high old time there for sure. I also reminded Max that he had likely given me the COVID back in April when we traveled to and from Angeles City in the same vehicle. Max (and another passenger) actually got diagnosed, I never bothered, just suffered through my comparatively mild symptoms.

Oh, and it turns out that Max has been a reader here at LTG. I asked him how he came about finding my humble blog and he said it was simple–after we had met he just Googled my name and LTG was the first result. Glad to have you along for the ride, Max. And that’s one less person I can talk about negatively! I’m joking, of course. Max is one of the good guys in our little town.

I did, however, come across this image of the Philippines libel law. It was rather sobering, actually. I’m going to need to be more careful henceforth.

I stayed longer at Wet Spot than I intended, as I was enjoying the company of both Max and Aine. In different ways, of course. I told Aine I owe her a dinner soon.

Sometime during the course of the evening for some bizarre reason, I remembered one of the first posts I had ever read on Kevin Kim’s Big Hominid blog. I did a search, found it, and gave it a read again. It’s called Arbor Day meditation and it really resonated with my current state of mind. Give it a look, it is well worth your time.

And that was my Christmas…a worthless walk to Subic, some quality beer drinking time, and no supper. I could have done worse I suppose.

Ah, Hot Zone. One of the better go-go bars in Barretto. I don’t hang out here nearly as much as I used to in the old days. In fact, my first visit to the Zone was as a tourist in its former location on the other side of the highway. I’m also well acquainted with the owner, Jay. He was formerly the former Grand Master of the Subic Bay Hash. Jay served in the United States Marine Corps and he runs a well-disciplined bar. That includes keeping the girls in fit shape–he consistently has one of the best lineups in town. If you are looking for a hottie for the night, you’ll likely find her here.

See that pole on the dance stage? The dancing girls enter the room by sliding down that pole. And in the old days before dancing on stage was banned, Hot Zone featured showcase pole dancers and also girls performing dance routines with big old boa constrictors. Even the regular dances were well-organized and you rarely saw the girls standing around or doing a lazy shuffle instead of dancing. So, even though I’m not really a fan of the go-go/girly bar format, I used to really enjoy my visits to Hot Zone.

I counted at least a dozen girls in the bar on an early Sunday evening. It was just me and one other customer. The other guy was spending some money on the girls, I didn’t even purchase a lady drink. To their credit, none of the girls harassed me about buying them a drink which is something I always appreciate.

My beers were 110 pesos each, which is the highest price I’ve paid but also pretty standard for this type of bar. The overhead for all those beauties is not cheap I’m sure. The mamasan was the only person I recognized from the old days when I was a semi-regular here. She wasn’t pleased with me taking photos in the bar, something that is technically not allowed. She didn’t make a big deal about it but told me the bar had been raided previously based on photos and videos taken in the bar and shared on social media. I promised I wouldn’t post anything on Facebook and I don’t think my little-read blog constitutes any threat. Besides, I witnessed nothing inappropriate or in violation of Covid prevention protocols taking place in the bar.

So, that’s the low-down on Hot Zone. A good bar that will be better again when it can have dancers performing for tourists. In the meantime, here’s wishing them all the best. And thanks for the memories.

Where things stand as of now:

1. It Doesn’t Matter
2. Mango’s Beach Bar
3. Alley Cats
4. Adam’s
5. Blue Butterfly
6. Out Back Billabong
7. Dynamite Dick’s
8. Palm Tree
9. Hideaway
10. Hot Zone
11. Alaska Club
12. Thumbstar
13. Bottoms Up
14. Rosies
15. Rock Lobster
16. Queen Victoria
17. Voodoo
18. Annex
19. MacArthur’s
20. Redz Pub
21. Whiskey Girl
22. Finger Monkey

I debated whether to include Palm Tree in this series of reviews, but in the end, I decided it does qualify as a bar. I used to visit here semi-regularly, but for reasons unrelated to the bar, I stopped coming. Alright, a guy I know who worked there got fucked by management and as a result, I chose not to continue to be a patron of Palm Tree. Last night was the first time in months I’d been there. Stayed for one beer and left. No plans to return. But to be clear, there is nothing wrong with the bar itself. In fact, it is usually a nice place to hang out.

Palm Tree seems popular with the European expat crowd, perhaps because of the sports on TV. I used to see the German Hashers in there quite frequently, and the former manager was an Englishman.

Service is generally good. The waitresses are strictly waitresses. Food is available and usually nicely done. My beer last night was 85 pesos, which is on the high end. So, as noted above, I don’t come here for personal reasons, but the bar itself is normally quite enjoyable.

Accordingly, I am going to rank Palm Tree without regard for my non-bar issues.

1. It Doesn’t Matter
2. Alley Cats
3. Adam’s
4. Blue Butterfly
5. Out Back Billabong
6. Dynamite Dick’s
7. Palm Tree
8. Hideaway
9. Rosies
10. Queen Victoria
11. Annex
12. MacArthur’s
13. Redz Pub
14. Whiskey Girl

“Always and never are two words you should always remember never to use.”

I always check to make sure I haven’t used a post title previously because I never want to duplicate it. So, I had in mind a sarcastic “what a life” title but was pretty certain that at some point during these past fifteen years of blogging I must have used it. Instead, I tried going with something stupid, “who’d a thunk it” and was surprised that I had just used that header last year. It was kind of interesting in a sad way to read again how things came to an end with Jessa. Coincidentally, today is her birthday and I sent the appropriate greeting via Facebook for which she thanked me.

Oddly enough, when I checked I discovered that I had NOT, in fact, used “what a life” previously. And now I have. What a life, eh? Maybe it isn’t exactly sarcasm, because an exclamation of “what a life!” can connotate both good and bad. Like everyone, I have moments in both realms but most of my time these days seems to be consumed in my meaningless routines and rituals. That’s the life I’ve chosen and I’m not really complaining. I can imagine other lifestyles and places, but I don’t imagine I’d be any happier than I am now. A long way from perfect, but smack dab in the middle of good enough.

I began my Saturday night at the tiny bar called Marick’s. That cute little 23-year-old bargirl was waiting for me. In fact, she had been sending me “where are you?” messages since early in the afternoon. She seems to be a sweet girl, gentle and caring. Sits close and rubs my hands or massages my legs in the manner a loving girlfriend would. It is easy to get lost when I gaze into those big brown eyes and imagine how nice it would be to have a woman who enjoyed taking care of me. Of course, she’s not the one–too young and with two young kids to boot. She’s not much of a talker either. So, we just sit there and enjoy the music and some beers together. There are worse ways to kill an hour or two.

Speaking of music, when I’m there at Marick’s they like to plug into my Spotify playlists (the bar doesn’t have wifi). At one point while I was enjoying the attentions of my bargirl, an old song by the Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) came on. I’d seen them in concert back around 1975 and it was probably the best live rock show I’ve ever experienced. The band was unique in that it featured an acoustic string instrument section backing the vocals and guitar work of Jeff Lynne. And here I was 45 years later hearing it in the Philippines. I couldn’t help but wonder what the 20-year-old me would have thought if he could see the life he’d be living as an old man. Knowing me, I would have said, “go for it, pops!”.

Three more guys arrived and the bar felt uncomfortably crowded, so I paid my tab and headed out into the Saturday night. As I walked up the highway I felt the first drops of rain. Luckily, I was just around the corner from the It Doesn’t Matter bar. I made it inside just before the skies opened up for a downpour accompanied by lightning and thunder.

My favorite waitress was occupied playing pool with another customer, so I spent an hour or so drinking alone, watching the rain, and contemplating my somewhat solitary life. Once Roan was free, she joined me and we shared a couple of beers and our usual banter. If I could put that brain in the other gal’s body, I might have the perfect girlfriend. See how shallow I am?

The rain eventually let up some and I made it an early night. Got up this morning with every intention of doing my standard Sunday stroll. But it didn’t work out that way. I got a couple of kilometers up the highway and just wasn’t feeling it. So, I walked the streets of the Matain barangay instead. As I was going back towards home on the highway I decided to go the back way to Alta Vista to add some distance to my walk. And for the first time ever, I got stopped at the checkpoint as I entered the Santo Tomas barangay.

“Where are you going?” San Isidro. “Why?” I live there. “Let me see your ID.” I gave him my ACR card, which says Alta Vista, barangay Barretto. Although technically my residence is in San Isidro. The checkpoint official looks at it and says “Oh, Alta Vista. This isn’t the way to Alta Vista”. I told him I was taking the back way home. He gave me back my ID, told me to wait, then went and consulted with two police officers. A couple of minutes later he waved me on. How’s that for excitement? I guess they figured that COVID doesn’t know about the back way to Alta Vista.

Took a nap, watched some old episodes of One Step Beyond on my big screen TV (via YouTube), and also saw a video from The Filipina Pea about “10 things all Filipinas say” that often lead to misunderstandings. Heh, I learned a couple of new things to use myself when I talk to the ladies. Here it is:

And that brings you pretty much up to date on where things stand in my world. I’ll leave you a little music from ELO to enjoy before I go:

Even when you think no one is watching you say it.

It is easy falling into the trap of thinking that the handful of folks that read my online diary have been with me for years and that none of them are local folks. There was a time when I actually promoted LTG by linking to Facebook. I consciously don’t do that now because I want to enjoy the freedom that comes with anonymity. Of course, it doesn’t always work out that way. Back in my working life, I caused a ruckus by making reference to the “Pedophile Mohammed”. Someone complained, I got summoned to the EEO office, and my boss gave me a stern talking to. The lawyers got involved and determined that my opinions, while “churlish”, were my own and since I didn’t express them at work they were covered by the first amendment to the United States Constitution. I also pointed out in my own defense that my statement was factually and historically true (the Prophet married a 9-year-old).

Something similar occurred recently and I wasn’t so much in the clear. A friend of a friend here in Barretto had come across my posts about one of my Friends With Benefits participants. Some of the things I said about her past were not factually correct. I felt bad about that because I do strive for accuracy here and I’m also quite fond of the person in question. So last night I did a search through my archives and changed the name of the person in question. I also deleted identifying photographs. I need to remember I live in a small town where it seems everyone knows just about everyone else. I can tell my stories without invading someone’s privacy I think. I’m going to try and change my ways.

Coincidentally or not, I did see a recent uptick in unique visits to the blog. My “normal” is around 160 or so. This past week I averaged over 200. No idea why, and I won’t be surprised if the numbers drop back down to where they usually are. But as the above incident shows, there is a likelihood that new readers here may very well be my Barretto neighbors. In the recent past, I’ve had a couple of complete strangers approach me and say they’ve been reading my blog. I asked one how he found it and he responded “a Google search of bars in Barretto.” Yep, that would do it I suppose.

Anyway, hopefully, you won’t notice any significant change. Any name will work for the storytelling, not sure what I’ll do about the photos at this point. Stick with me!

No photos from yesterday’s Hash because I didn’t do the trail–long or short. I barely have the energy to walk up the road to my house lately. I don’t know if that is related to the eye surgery (or meds I’m taking post-surgery) but I’m a little concerned. I’ll discuss it with the doc during my follow-up visit on Thursday morning. I did do about 5K on the flat streets of Barretto, so there’s that.

I’m not anti-vax, but I’m definitely against vaccination mandates.

Now, if they want to treat getting vaccinated in the same manner as they do voting, maybe I could support the idea.

Alright, enough of this madness! For today anyway.

Besides the Hash, which I’ll get to in a minute, I spent some time in the kitchen yesterday. I made the usual double batch of crockpot chili and it sold out again. A captive audience of hungry Hashers helps in that regard I suppose. I also baked a carrot cake, and that turned out to be a real treat. Now, I’m no Kevin Kim–I make hardly anything from scratch. I was very surprised to find a carrot cake mix at the grocery store, it’s been literally years since I’ve seen one. It was a brand I’ve never heard of, Maya, but what the hell, pseudo-bakers like me can’t be choosers.

I wasn’t sure what to expect, being a Pillsbury/Betty Crocker kind of guy, but I was pretty damn pleased with the results. The only real difference from the American brands I’m used to was that the contents did not include the carrots. Grating 1 3/4 cups of fresh carrots would be a real pain in the ass, but luckily, I have a domestic helper to do the jobs I don’t want to do.

Alright then, are you ready to Hash? Leech My Nuggets was the Hare and he’s another one of the guys who prefer a very challenging trail. Always marks them well though and that’s something I really appreciate. He also gives our “sane” group a map of the route in advance, which facilitates our shortcutting. Yesterday’s trail had three big climbs (and of course, three descents). Our group did the first up, and then came down the mountain on the path that was Leech’s third up, thereby avoiding the worst part of the trail (anytime there is a rope involved to get over a rock, I ain’t interested!).

So, I’d never done the up we took at the beginning, most of the middle was over the familiar My Bitch trail, and we modified the end to avoid having to cross a wet rice paddy. I’d call that a win-win–the trail was as hard or as easy as you wanted to make it. I’ve got some pictures, of course.

What time is it? I have darts tonight.

Sometimes you come across something and think, yeah, I can relate…

Can hardly wait to see what happens next!

Yeah, that’s really a thing here in the Philippines. The BER months (September, October, November, and December) are celebrated as the holiday season. Last night I heard someone playing Jingle Bells. And this morning I got a message from a friend wishing me a Merry Christmas. I shit you not.

Yesterday morning found me at Baypointe Hospital having the required tests administered so that I might be able to schedule my much-needed cataract surgery. An electrocardiogram, blood work, and a chest x-ray are apparently necessary to ensure I won’t die during what the eye doctor described as a fifteen-minute procedure under local anesthesia. I’m sending my helper to pick up the results and provide them to the cardiologist on Friday. Hopefully, I can get the operation next week. It really sucks not being able to see clearly.

I played darts for the first time in a week last night and didn’t lose a leg–defeating all of my opponents in the winner’s bracket 2-0. I wore my old Seoul International Dart League shirt and I guess it still had some of that old good luck in it.

I was very surprised to see that Jessel is once again working at Alley Cats. She told me she resigned from her position at the hotel. I was friendly and bought her a welcome back lady drink, but I didn’t feel a thing. Well, that’s not entirely true. I felt sorry for her not getting to experience the life I had fantasized about us sharing. I felt lucky for myself that she proved her unworthiness before I took things to the next level. I still can’t figure her out, but I realized last night she is just not who or what I thought she was. Her ability to communicate, at least in English, seems to be close to nil. Not sure why I didn’t realize that before, but I guess in my heart I was making excuses for her. I am happy to report my brain is once again in full control and I have let go of any and all emotions I recently felt for her. It was definitely a winning night!

I guess we’ll see what happens next in my so-called life. Stick around!

Actually, it’s a Hash Monday–how manic can that be?

Changed things up a bit and took the dogs for a walk on the beach at Baloy this morning. Probably won’t do that again any time soon. Too many strays to fend off. My secondary purpose was breakfast at Treasure Island, which was fine once it was served. It took WAY too long though. Ah well, how bad can things be when that’s all I’ve got to complain about?

Started my evening yesterday at It Doesn’t Matter. Enjoyed some more laughs with Roan. I like her company so much I decided to ask her out for lunch on her day off tomorrow. She accepted. So, I guess it’s a date. We even discovered something we have in common last night. Her “real” name is Rochelle and that’s the name she went by in school. But at home, everyone knows her as Roan. So, when friends from school came to visit and asked for Rochelle, confusion ensued. When I was growing up, I was John at school and went by Mark in the neighborhood. Long story, but my parents couldn’t agree on my name so dad called me John and mom and my brothers called me Mark. It’s no wonder I’m borderline schizophrenic.

Anyway, I don’t think of Roan as a potential girlfriend. She’s fun to be around, that’s enough for me. We are going to eat at Arizona. It’s on her side of town and she’s never been there for a meal, so it will be a new, and hopefully nice, experience for her.

Anal Receptive (my neighbor Ed) is the Hare today. I ran into him at Mango’s Saturday night and he described the trail that he’s plotting. I expect I’ll be shortcutting again.

I’ll let you know how it goes tomorrow.

I guess I never really left but I did take a detour to explore a dead-end road called Love. So, I still have my darts, my walking, and my drinking adventures to post about. That’s probably best for you readers and me.

Another third-place finish in darts last night, but no complaints about it this time. I threw better than I did on Friday and we lost to superior teams. That’s the way it goes. After darts, a group of us went across the street to Mango’s and enjoyed a late dinner. I devoured my pork chops favorite. The other end of the table had roast chicken and baby back ribs. No one was disappointed in their meal. Kevin and I split the $70. tab. Not bad for seven diners, eh?

In other news, the canteen I’m sponsoring for a friend is making progress towards opening. She’s had a crew out cleaning, painting, and fixing things up. I wish her well. Tough times to be opening an eatery, but the business model she plans doesn’t rely so much on foreigners. Hopefully when the lockdowns are lifted there will be lots of Filipino tourists back in town to enjoy the beach and her Filipino delicacies.

And here’s a public service announcement:

A long (for me) 10K solo hike this morning. I snapped a photo every kilometer or so…

You can Relive the hike here if you so desire:

And that’s where things stand in my loveless world.

The river flows
It flows to the sea
Wherever that river goes
That’s where I want to be
Flow river flow
Let your waters wash down
Take me from this road
To some other town

All he wanted
Was to be free
And that’s the way
It turned out to be
Flow river flow
Let your waters wash down
Take me from this road
To some other town

I do my weekly grocery shopping at the Royal Duty Free supermarket on SBMA (the old Navy base). There is a premium to be paid for the experience, especially when your purchase imported goods. I also allow one of my non-resident helpers to accompany me and fill her personal basket with miscellaneous items as well. Today she added a $35 rice cooker to the mix, but that’s the exception, she is normally reasonably frugal on my dime.

And that’s how I spent my morning. I feel a nap coming on soon. And they said retired life can be boring. No way!

I had mentioned before that I was going to be an investor like Jimmy John Shark in a friend’s business endeavor. She wants to do a canteen-type place featuring the Filipino foods she enjoys preparing. We had looked at a place that was formerly a small bar called Generals. It had been closed for several months but had a kitchen and a small seating area. We offered the asking price and then our offer was rejected. I figured it was all a scam, but today I happened to be walking by and it was the grand re-opening, except now it’s called MacArthur’s.

So, my friend kept looking for another option. And it looks like it is going to be this:

Her business model is to provide meals for the bargirls working around town. She will also provide food to the hungry customers at Beach Please. And of course, the passerby on the highway out front. It could work, especially since the rent is only 12,000 pesos ($240.) a month. She signed the lease today. I was trying to give her some advice and she said “leave it to me”, so that’s what I’ll do. Good luck!

I’m going to play darts tonight. Facebook shared this memory today of me and my sweet friend Sohee after a victory in 2017. She was a special woman but took her own life two years later. What a waste.

Google maps sent their monthly update showing me everywhere I traveled in July.

And that’s the news from here. The day started off nice enough:

Still, the Friday group got a nice hike in without getting too wet. I’ll call that progress.

More on that tomorrow.

A relatively easy 7.5K trail at yesterday’s Hash, but totally appropriate for the weather conditions. Mother Nature certainly does seem to have a sense of humor though. The clouds were breaking up and the sun was shining through as I headed out to our starting place at the VFW. Then, almost as soon as we started our hike, the skies opened up and gave us a good soaking. Ten minutes later the rain stopped and we marched on. Later in the hike we got drenched again, but once you are wet, what difference does it make?

It’s still raining today. And I’ve got a date of sorts this afternoon. I’ll fill y’all in on the details tomorrow.

I’m bound to wander.

And now I’ve arrived at my new residence here on a street named Shenandoah Bend.

The actual moving part yesterday was every bit as bad as I imagined it would be and more. It took three trips in the Hash truck and several more in my driver’s car. When I moved here I brought two suitcases and mailed one box of stuff from Korea. I was astounded by how much crap I’ve accumulated in just three years.

Making things more difficult was that it rained periodically during the move, necessitating pausing to wait for a break in the storm before making a dash up the hill to my new place. I hired four Filipino helpers to lug my heavy shit out to the truck then offload it in my new place. That included a refrigerator, stove, freezer, bed, washing machine, grill, and TV.

Of course, the unpacking has been just as tedious and tiring. I’m probably 90% done now, but I’m going to need to get better organized I think. One of the big differences between here and my old house is that I have much less storage space available. It will all be fine once I get settled in and used to everything.

As tired as I was yesterday I still went out for a few beers at Palm Tree. Took a trike back home and experienced what I expect will be a regular occurrence–the trike didn’t have enough power to make it up the big incline leading to my house. So, I guess I’ll be walking/stumbling the last couple of blocks home from now on.

This morning I went into Olongapo and had keys made. I needed extras for the front gate, front door (keys), and the maid’s room, which is now occupied by Inday and her boyfriend.

So, that’s what I’ve been up to. Sorry I couldn’t squeeze out a post yesterday. I did sleep great last night, hope that becomes a trend.

Alright then, we’ll try to get on with the new normal around here starting tomorrow. See you then.

So help me, God.

I fool around some on the Quora website. What can I say? I guess I have too much time on my hands. Mostly I’m just a reader, scrolling past the vast majority of questions/answers for which I have no interest. That includes most of the political posts because I learned long ago that arguing with strangers over politics is pointless. Still, occasionally I will answer a question directed my way. Especially when I’m bored. So, a while back the question posed was, “Am I lucky living in the Philippines?”. This was my answer:

There is no place else I’d rather be at this time in my life. No, it is far from perfect, but what place is perfect? I’m an American, but there is no way I’d want to be living there with all that craziness going on. Do I get frustrated sometimes with things that happen here? Of course, I do. But then I take a walk in the mountains or on the beach, and I remember what’s important in life.

This just happened today—I watched a documentary on Bangladesh and realized that even the poor people in the Philippines live a much better life than many people do elsewhere in the world.

Yes, I feel lucky to be here.

That’s about as innocuous it gets. Just my personal opinion based on my own experience here. So, I was shocked when the Quora team advised me today that they’d shared my response with two million members. It’s been viewed 142,000 times and received 647 upvotes. Wow, I wish LTG was that popular! It’s also generated a few dozen comments, almost all of them positive. That’s also pretty amazing for the internet. But yesterday this comment came along from someone who calls himself “Hung Lo”:

Yea, they’re so happy there that’s why millions of them are dying to come here to the U.S In fact Philippines makeup the largest if not the largest Asian group living there, but yet we have the poster here and others claiming that the people of the Philippines (or atleast insinuating) are happy and content with life in their native country which can’t be further from the truth.

Stop projecting and assuming that just because life has dealt you a better hand, living in a developed country one with stability and opportunities that there aren’t others such as the natives of the Philippines aren’t yearning for the same.

Let me ask you this. What makes the Philippines so great that a more developed country doesn’t have? If I had to guess I’d bet all my marbles that it has something to do with the very young/youthful and all the pleasures it brings for the old, the forgotten and the perverted. *Sicko

I found this response both ignorant and irksome. I decided to just let it go as unworthy of a response. But then I read it again this morning and didn’t want Mr. Hung Lo to get the impression that my silence was an acknowledgement that he was right in his assessments. So, I wrote this:

Millions you say? In the USA Filipino immigrants represent the fourth-largest origin group after the foreign born from Mexico, India, and China. Of course, like all immigrants (and the USA was founded on immigrants) people here look for opportunities to better themselves and live a more comfortable life. That doesn’t mean they are unhappy. In fact, I’ve not seen any of the violence and hatred here that is occurring in the USA. Nope, not one city burned or looted. Go figure. The happiness of the Filipino people is not about money, it is about the love of family. You have to see it to believe it.

You shouldn’t bet all your marbles on anything, because it appears to me you have already lost them. Your racist and sexist comment assuming that all young Filipino women are whores makes you the “sicko”. Crawl back into your hole now, snake.

Probably shouldn’t have bothered, I know. But I’m glad I did anyway. Here’s another comment that disagreed with me, but I actually respected his viewpoint:

As a Filipino citizen (born and raised here), I wish I could say the same. It’s only ever fun to be here as an outsider/foreigner, from my perspective, since that’s already somewhat of a privilege. The economy is a headache, the extremely conservative mindset of a significant portion of the population is equally frustrating, and I won’t even dare touch the topic of politics and justice.

Being happy in spite of all that’s happening isn’t much of a good thing in my perspective too, going back to my point regarding conservative mindsets and such. Resilience in hardships is praised here a lot, as well as by foreigners I think, but I truly can’t cope with that. Resilience and staying happy isn’t always good, especially in such a fragile and hostile political environment (again, not diving deeper into that but I hope the point gets across). It’s quite defeatist in my eyes and I don’t think I can stomach living the rest of my life seeing this resiliency mindset “thrive” so much.

Again, it’s just a matter of perspective but I really can’t help but post my opinion.

Now that is how you agree to disagree without being disagreeable. He makes a fair point that if people remain accepting of the status quo and resilient in the face of the hardships that result from incompetent and corrupt political leaders, nothing will ever change for the better.

Anyway, putting Quora down for now and moving on, let me tell you about my breakfast. Pizza! Other than leftovers, I can’t recall ever having a pizza so early in the day (or seeing one on the breakfast menu). This one was topped with egg and sausage, so I figured, why not?

It’s another Hash Monday and I’ll be heading out soon to climb a mountain. The “sane” group I Hash with has determined there are better ways to do so than the Hare (Guenter) has planned, so just like the Burger King, we are gonna have it our way. Stay tuned for a full report tomorrow.

It’s bee a while since I’ve shared the lyrics to one of our Hash songs here, so let me leave you with this:

(sung to the tune of “If you’re happy and you know it”)

If your girlfriend tastes like shit, roll her over
If your girlfriend tastes like shit, roll her over
If your girlfriend tastes like shit,
It’s her asshole not her clit
If your girlfriend tastes like shit, roll her over

And now you know why I infrequently share Hash songs here. Sorry!

Once again I failed to make it out to Baloy, but It Doesn’t Matter suited my purpose just fine. I’m rather fond of the camaraderie with the friendly expats who also hang out there. A nice change of pace from drinking exclusively with the bargirls.

I had dinner waiting for me at home in the crockpot:

Another rough night of trying to sleep with itchy hands and feet. Hopefully, I can get a doctor’s appointment tomorrow.

It’s been unseasonably warm these past few days. I’m sweaty even after a brief early morning dog walk. I keep hearing rainy season is imminent and I’m looking forward to having something different to complain about.

Yes, the Hash On-Home today is at the Alta Vista clubhouse and I’m contributing a double-sized batch of chili to help assuage the after-hike hunger of my fellow Hashers. There is really nothing special about my chili, but I do appreciate the positive feedback I get from the customers. A couple of folks even ask for takeout. If my bar-owning fantasy ever came true (it won’t!) I’d keep a pot of chili on the stove every day. The house specialty and it goes down easy when accompanied by an icy cold beer. I’d rather dream about it than do it, though.

That’s it for today. Hopefully one day soon I’ll have something exciting to post about. Hmm, maybe I I should be careful what I wish for.

Or maybe recovered is the better word. Either way, I overcame whatever it was that ailed me yesterday, and have now rejoined the land of the living. It’s good to be here!

Obviously, I wasn’t all that sick. It just seemed that my get up and go, got up and left. I baked brownies in anticipation of visiting the floating bar, but when it came time to shower, I just didn’t have the energy to make the effort. So I sat on my lazy ass and watched some TV. I was surprised to find Lonesome Dove, the Larry McMurtry Western series, available on YouTube (I’ve canceled Netflix and Amazon Prime). Been years since I’ve watched that program and I enjoyed seeing the first part of Part One again.

It was the first night in a very long time that I hadn’t gone out to enjoy a beer at one of the many fine venues available in my sweet little retirement town. Here’s to hoping it’s a long time before that ever happens again. I’ll be doing Friday night darts at Alley Cats today, so that will hopefully get me back in my groove.

What else have I got for you?

Here are just a couple of photos from my Wednesday Walkers group hike I was too lazy didn’t have the energy to post yesterday:

And that’s all I’ve got for today. I joined the Friday hiking group for a trip out to Tibag this morning. I’ll post about that tomorrow.