Throwing darts at home yesterday, I did much better than in my previous practice sessions. The main improvement was being more consistent in my throws, with even my misses being close to the intended target. So, I was feeling pretty confident when I headed out for the Tuesday tournament at Alley Cats. Alas, when I was doing my warmup tosses, it was back to being all over the place. No idea what was up with that.

So, there were enough players to hold a doubles tournament, and I agreed to participate. Almost hilariously, the partner I drew apologized before I could, and then we both agreed just to let the darts fly as they will and have fun. So, in the first round, we played Alley Cats owner Dean and the waitress Mengie. We had a shot at the out in 501, but couldn’t hit our number before our opponents did. The next round was cricket, and Dean was on fire. We were dispatched to the losers’ bracket in short order. When our turn came up in the losers’ bracket, we once again had our asses handed to us in both legs. So, that made it a 0-4 evening of darts. I’m not giving up yet.

There was a guy at the bar I didn’t know wearing a shirt that caught my eye. It’s unlike me to talk to a stranger, but I approached him and asked if he’d mind me taking a pic of his shirt. He shrugged, introduced himself, and said, “Sure.”

After darts, we moved up the highway to Green Room. I used my Sit-n-Bull discount coupon to order a roast beef dip sandwich and had it delivered to my table. Another beer or two later, and it was time to go home. We’ll see if it goes better for me at Friday’s tourney.

Here’s a random shot of my ballcap wardrobe:

Facebook memories was once again full of photos I’d posted from the distant past:

It’s October 2017 in the LTG archives, and I’m making my first and last visit to Boracay. I helped my tour guide/caregiver, Loraine, celebrate her 50th birthday there. There were clues about what was to come on the horizon, but I foolishly ignored them.

I can’t seem to shake this feeling of impending doom, so today’s YouTube video about how Buddha saw death caught my eye. There was nothing concerning the do-over I fantasize about, but it sounds better than nothing. Or maybe he meant that Nirvana is nothing. Or something.

Let’s end this with a smile.

Now to get back to livin’ while I still have time.

“Like sands through an hourglass, so are the days of our lives.” Here’s what yesterday’s pebble looked like:

It being Friday, the group hikers gathered at the appointed hour.

I had considered taking them up to Black Rock for the views, but not knowing their capabilities and fearing that steep descent might prove hazardous, I decided to play it safe and introduce them to My Bitch instead. I’ve done that trail so often it’s a little boring now, but for newcomers it offers a relatively easy and scenic hike.

My afternoon delight included practicing darts at home. I threw marginally better than before, but was still way too inconsistent. The dartbot on my app beat me twice again. Then it was off to Alley Cats to see if the Friday tournament was in my future. One of the waitresses, Mengie, volunteered to help me warm up with a practice match. She won. I wasn’t feeling very confident (or competent), but when only five other players showed up, I was up for participating in a singles tournament. At least no one would get stuck with having me for a partner.

In the first round, I drew a guy named Tobias, who had just beaten Mengie. It took him three legs (I won in cricket) to drop me to the losers’ bracket. I won my next two matches there, then faced Tobias again in the finals. Now, here’s the strange part: the tourney had been going on for over two hours at this point. Naturally, I’d been drinking beer throughout, and it seemed the more I drank, the better I threw. We darters jokingly refer to our alcoholic beverages as “aiming fluid,” but that proved to be the case for me last night.

So, the match began with 501, and I won that leg. Then it was cricket, and I won that as well. Since Tobias was previously undefeated, I had to win another match to win the tournament. And thanks to those San Mig Lights, good luck, or suddenly remembering how to throw darts again, I pulled off the victory.

Maybe I should quit while I’m ahead. It was nice to win, of course, but damn, I was feeling my age by the time it was over. So, we arrived at Alley Cats around 4:30. The tournament started at 5, and it was close to 8:30 before it was all said and done. And I hadn’t had anything to eat yet. Everything seemed a little off-kilter, I mean, it was practically my bedtime!

I needed some food, so we crossed the highway and popped into Mango’s.

And when dinner was over and done with, so were we. Grabbed a trike and headed on home.

I may need to incorporate pizza delivery into my dart tourney routine. Or quit playing again. We shall see.

It is now September 2017 in the LTG archives. I have to say, reliving the depression I was experiencing while living in Pyeongtaek has been painful. Oh, the photos from my bike rides and hikes are nice. Lots of time spent in the bars as well. But my mindset was almost pure misery. So, this post, where I share the story of Loraine, the gal I had hired in advance to take care of me when I moved to the Philippines, was refreshingly upbeat. Of course, I haven’t forgotten what was to come, but that’s still a month away.

For today’s YouTube video, let’s see what the Filipina Pea has to share about ten funny Filipino traits that most foreigners don’t grasp.

Humor time:

Sorry for all the lameness. It’s bound to get better. Or not.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Humor time:

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

The adventure continues, if you can call it that. I revisited the past at my old darts venue, Alley Cats. It had been long enough since I attended my last tournament that it all felt almost new and fresh. It was great to see some familiar faces and reflect on the good times we shared during my darting days. I didn’t participate in the tournament, but I enjoyed watching the competition. My Korea buddy, Jay, played and went through the bracket undefeated. He’ll be back for more today with the league and follow-on tourney. I’ll be back to my usual life in the bars of Barretto. And life goes on. (The only point to this post is the tip of the dart. Get it?)

At beer o’clock, we headed to Alley Cats to meet up with Jay. I brought a batch of brownies for the girls like I used to do in the good ol’ days.

Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. My neighbors, Jeff and Davina, stopped by to join the fun near the end of the tournament. Alley Cats has a beer card offer: six beers for the price of five. I bought a card upon arrival. And then I bought another. Not knowing when I might return to the Alley, I finished all the drinks on the card before departing. A twelve-beer night!

In the LTG archives, I came upon a post called “Transitions” that was mostly as boring as my current drivel, but ended with my recitation of a rather amusing encounter with some Koreans in an Itaewon bar called Sweet Caroline’s. My then-wife’s comment was funny, too. These days, I’m happy, but I’m still not gay.

Via Facebook, a memory from this day in history:

Today’s YouTube video talks about aggressive child beggars in the Philippines. I had trouble once as a tourist in Manila when a group of kids surrounded me and started getting grabby. I ran away. I’ve never had anything like that happen since. I never give money to kids because I don’t want them to think that begging is a viable income option. It is also my understanding that giving money to children is against the law in the Philippines. I help out a couple of adult street dwellers when I see them, but that’s it. My other charity projects assuage my guilt at ignoring the pleas of beggars I encounter.

How about these?

And that’s all he wrote. For today, anyway. I’ve got a couple of SOB coupons I need to expend before they expire, so I’ll work on that this evening. I’ll let you know how that turns out for me tomorrow.

No Wednesday walk for me this week because I got drafted to sub for the VFW dart league team. Our match was at Johansson’s this week, and I understand they are currently the top-ranked team. I hadn’t picked up the darts since the last time I subbed a couple of months ago, and I played embarrassingly badly in that match. I warned my teammates that about all I had to offer was being better than a forfeit, and they agreed that was good enough. I arrived early to get some practice in, but the rust in my throwing capabilities was apparent. Oh well, nothing to done but take the beating and hope I won’t be asked back.

To my surprise, I played better than I expected. Still nothing near my old standard of play, but I managed to go 2-2 in my matches, and we won the beer round (team game), which is always a nice consolation prize. Imagine what I might have done if I could find the motivation to get off my lazy ass and start practicing again. Well, I do have it in mind to do so, so we’ll see if I follow through.

Even if I decide to start playing competitively again, it won’t be in the dart league. The 2:00 p.m. start messes up my schedule, and as undisciplined as I may be, I do like to stick with my routines. I’m usually not home from the Wednesday hike until noon, and that doesn’t leave enough time to shower, nap, and blog before dart league, as is my afternoon custom. Plus, I’m not a fan of drinking that early in the day, and for me, at least, beer and darts go hand-in-hand. In fact, I call beer my aiming fluid. Still, I can see myself participating in a couple of the evening tournaments each week. I hang out in a bar during those hours anyway; I may as well be doing something productive while I’m there. Anyway, it is something for me to consider.

After darts, I made my way to Hideaway for the Wednesday feeding.

After Hideaway, I stumbled up the highway and chose The Green Room for my nightcap. Had a couple of beers, but then saw some Hash buddies at Sloppy Joe’s, so I popped in and had my last beer of the day there. Again, the dart league messed up my rhythm, and I found myself home just after seven and in bed by eight. Not good, even by my low standards.

Ready for today’s punny jokes?

How about a Trekkie twosome?

Anyway, I’m working hard to adopt this philosophy:

And now for today’s closing number courtesy of Mr. Elton John:

I’m trying not to sweat the small stuff, but we are in the midst of the scheduled brownout now and I’m sweating like a motherfucker as I sit down to write this post. Y’all are the only fans I have at the moment!

While not completely resolved, the traffic situation I mentioned in yesterday’s post has at least improved quite a bit. I was able to get to Royal for my groceries without much trouble. Getting off the base to the highway going home, there was a back-up in traffic, but only about a fifteen-minute delay, not the hours folks experienced earlier in the week.

My appointment with Dr. Jo went well. We discussed the dosage of some meds I’m taking because they aren’t as effective at the lower levels I’ve been trying. She agreed to a brief two-week increase to try and clear my sinuses. Still, she reiterated that the problem would persist until I submitted to the necessary surgery to remove the nodules in my nose. She understands my reluctance to undergo general anesthesia with my COPD but reassured me with a quality anesthesiologist, I would be fine. Dr. Jo will assist me in finding a good doctor and said she’d stand by during my surgery if needed. So, that’s the way ahead.

And now for the big news. After my appointment, I walked to Alley Cats bar. It was just a little after three in the afternoon, and I was the only customer at that early hour. The girls were surprised to see me, but the shocked look on their faces when I pulled out my darts was priceless. Yes, it has been over a year since I retired in June 2022, and yesterday was the first time I’d thrown since then. Suffice it to say the time away did not improve my game. The gals asked if I was resuming my darting life, and I told them that was not my intention. Troy talked me into filling in for an absent player on his team in today’s Dart League match. I guess I’m better than a forfeit. So, I’ll be throwing in a competition this afternoon at the VFW. The Alley Cats crew asked me to stay for the Tuesday tourney, but getting beat in practice games was all my pride could handle. I do plan to install my dart board after I move, so hopefully, I’ll be motivated to start practicing at home again. Stay tuned.

After my darts excursion, I had dinner at Sit-n-Bull, then hung out at Wet Spot until it was time to go home. I had a “buy one, get one” coupon, and I really did try to make it have some value. But Aine plopped down next to me as soon as I took my seat, so any potential savings were devoured in lady drink commissions.

And that was how I spent my Tuesday. Well, goading my lefty Facebook friends was part of the fun:

And speaking of dumb:

Completed the lease process with my landlord this morning. Well, I still need to transfer 308,000 pesos ($5000+) to her bank account, but I’ll get that done soon.

So, dart league, and then I will stumble over to Hideaway to feed the girls. I reckon it will be an early night since I’m starting before 2:00 p.m. this afternoon. Even if I take up darts again, I will not be playing in the league. It just doesn’t fit into my 4-8 drinking window.

…and I’m tired of darts today. I guess that makes me re-tired of darts. But hopefully, I’ll never grow tired of bad puns!

Anyhoo, I am officially on a darts hiatus. I don’t know when or if I’ll recapture the desire to play the game, but there is no point in going through the motions until then. I did intend to go out with a bang and play one last tourney yesterday, but the start got postponed, and I didn’t feel like waiting around. I probably wouldn’t even have gone at all, except I had four beers left on my Alley Cats beer card (it’s a buy five, get one free deal). None of my fellow darters appeared to give a shit when I announced I was taking a break. Well, truthfully, I can’t say that I would either if I heard that from someone. Still, a “good luck” or “see you around” would have been warmer than a shrug of the shoulders and “so what” look. Yeah, I can be oversensitive sometimes, I suppose.

Heh, I came across this old post from June 2005 documenting the day my darting “career” began.

In my personal life, I am just filling time these days. Last night my Air Force buddy Jeff called and interrupted a game of CIV so we could meet a Caroline’s for a couple of beers. We wound up playing darts. I can’t remember the last time I’ve tried to hit a dart board, but it has probably been over 20 years ago. I assumed my darts would be worse than my pool, but surprisingly I played pretty well. Not well enough to win (Jeff is really good), but most of the time, it came down to who got the last bullseye first. I really enjoyed myself, and I’m thinking with some practice, I might actually be a decent player. Although practice has not done much for my pool game yet, and league play starts again next month.

Well, seventeen years of darting was a pretty nice ride. I’ve earned a break, I reckon.

So, after leaving Alley Cats and my dart life behind, I wandered up the road to It Doesn’t Matter. Agnes, my regular waitress, gave me a hug and a warm greeting, making me feel a little better. A few beers (and lady drinks, of course) later, I moved on to Cheap Charlies. Once again, I was treated poorly by the staff, this time Jicel. By that, I mean she walked away from her half-finished lady drink without a word. I’m done. Well, I might be back to Cheap Charlies, but I won’t be buying drinks for the likes of her in the future.

The day began better than it ended; the Friday group hike took us out to Subic town for a walkabout. We never left the pavement, but my tired old lungs appreciated not having any serious hill climbing to do. Even out here on unfamiliar streets, we encountered two people I’m acquainted with–a bargirl named Sally from The Green Room and Julica, a former Hasher I crushed on briefly a few years ago (until I took her to Angeles, and she dumped me for what she considered a better prospect. Lucky me!).

A pleasant walk and always nice to change things up a bit.

[man, using past and passed can be so confusing. I’ve used one of each and think I’ve got it right, but if not, I’m sure I’ll hear about it in the comments.]

And that was how our Friday hike went down.

I’m going to do my Saturday night at that new place in Calapadayan, Poseidon. Look for a full report on that event here tomorrow.

We defeated the hapless It Doesn’t Matter in yesterday’s darts competition 13-0. We are in first place heading into the last few weeks of the season. It will likely come down to how we fare in our match-up with the second-place team in three weeks.

Hung around IDM for a bit after the match was concluded. Bought a drink for my waitress, Agnes, and as we were chatting, that young girl with the bad teeth I mentioned in this post came by selling her lumpia. I asked the girl her name, and she told me “Dimple.” Ah, that’s sweet. Then I asked how old she was and she said “eighteen.” I told her bola bola (a polite way of saying bullshit in Tagalog). She just smiled shyly and looked down at the ground. I wound up buying some of her wares for the IDM girls to share. Agnes told me she lives near the girl’s family in San Isidro. So, I told Agnes my thinking about wanting to help this kid out with her teeth and maybe her education but that I didn’t want to be directly involved–just the money man behind the scenes. Agnes agreed to investigate a bit and talk to the mother on my behalf. So, we will see what happens with that.

I had a hankering for the Maui chicken burger from Sit-n-Bull, so I headed up the road to get one.

I went next door to Wet Spot for some more drinking and sat at the “backslappers” table with manager Brett and owner Dave. Of course, my bar sweetie Aine was there by my side, earning her drink commissions. Aine did chide for how long it had been since my last visit, and I reminded her that the bar had been closed on Sunday and Monday. She also wants me to “take her out.” At some point, maybe I will, but I’m not really feeling it now.

I stuck pretty well to my “diet” on Day 2 of my weight reduction efforts: lower beer intake with the void being filled with gin and soda. I’m snacking less, not eating ice cream, and that chicken sandwich was my only real meal for the day. The only downside is I haven’t quite balanced out the more potent content of the gin drinks than the beer they replaced. I got a little drunker than usual last night. I vaguely recall stopping at Queen Victoria on my way home but I don’t remember what I did there. Anyway, I’ll figure out how to maintain the right balance. Practice, practice, practice!

An enjoyable morning hike with the Wednesday Walkers group. Around 7K (I forgot to start the tracker right away, so I only recorded a little over 6K), with two moderate climbs and a pleasant stroll back to Alta Vista on the My Bitch trail.

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

Let’s see what today will bring that I can write about tomorrow.

You gotta make the best of each day, and things turned out pretty well for me yesterday.

A very nice trek with the Wednesday Walkers group. Hiked from Olongapo City up to the Kalalkan ridge, then back down to Barretto. When I say nice, I mean nice and hard. I’ll put up the photos from that adventure at the end of this post.

As usual, after the hike I had to get myself ready for the dart league competition, We were playing our arch-rivals from Viking at our home venue, Lagoon Resort, on Baloy. I didn’t throw well but somehow managed to eke out victories in both of my singles matches and a 2-1 showing in doubles. So, I made my contribution to our surprising 7-6 victory. Yay, us!

I did experience a bit of a runny nose, but I came up with a quick fix that impressed my cricket opponent, Cristy.

After darts, I made my way to McCoy’s for a little beachside relaxation.

As evening approached, I decided to make my way back into Barretto. I hadn’t had quite enough beer yet to soothe my loneliness, so I headed into Cheap Charlies.

Home by eight o’clock and in bed before nine. That’s how I roll these days.

In the memories from Facebook department, here I was eight years making my way up Seroksan in Seoul:

It was five years ago I attended a meeting with the Ambassador at the American embassy and kind of messed up the photo op.

The sewage disposal construction is in full swing here outside my house.

To the hike then:

Well, that was my day and I’m thankful for the experience. Got some more excitement coming up this afternoon. It will be a Joy to tell you about it tomorrow! Stay tuned.

I heard he could really hit the target with his arrows. He’d often get a standing overture. *ahem* My darts were flying pretty fine last night too. At least nobody could beat me.

She’s a sweet young thing…twenty-four I think. I asked once before if she’d like to be my girlfriend and she responded “I think of you like a daddy”. Ouch! She’s into K-dramas and I’ll toss some of my limited Korean vocabulary into our conversations. Last night I said “pajee bosoyo” and she answered “anio”. Anyway, it’s all in good fun.

After darts, I was feeling a little hungry so I hoofed it over to Sit-n-Bull. Decided to go light and just had a sandwich with no sides:

Then I climbed the steps to BarCelona for some after-dinner brews. My favorite waitress there, Samantha, had sent me a rather cryptic message earlier in the day and I wanted to check on her. I didn’t see her though, so I messaged her and she responded she hadn’t been working for several days. Well, thanks for letting me know! One beer and out. I briefly considered trying another venue but decided I’d had enough for one night and headed home.

And here we have another Saturday to fill. After my morning rituals, I took one of my standard Barretto street walks. Nothing really interesting to report, but you can Relive it here and decide for yourself:

Back from the walk and just hanging out.

Via Facebook memories, I was reminded of a special moment during my visit to Istanbul in 2004.

Speaking of memories, Google sent me an email saying I was once again in danger of exceeding the allotted storage capacity. The solution they wanted was for me to buy more space. I was thinking deleting shit I will never look at again was a better option. So, that’s what I proceeded to do. And once again I discovered a treasure trove of photographs from a visit to Angeles City back in 2008. A lot of them are in the NSFW category so I won’t be posting those here. Here are a few that are rated PG:

It looks like I had a good time though. I sure wish I could remember more about it. I guess I owe Google a big thank you for bringing these photos to my attention again. Shortly after I met Jee Yeun she deleted everything Philippines-related she could find. And yet, here I am making new memories.

And I’ll finish today’s post with this punny little item:

I’ll be back with an update on this adventure I call life in the Philippines tomorrow.

At least I wasn’t one last night. Went through the winner’s bracket without a single leg lost. As is my custom, I offered my opponent in the finals a “tie” and we’d split first and second place money 50-50. She readily agreed (she would have had to beat me twice to win). It was Cristy though, so it was possible. I just prefer to end the night early and not bother with fighting it out. Either I’ve lost my competitive spirit or I don’t give a shit. Or both. Either way, I’m a winner!

No other news of note. Well, the new signage went up at Paula’s place. My friend and blog reader Maria did the design for the coasters and it is now the logo for The Snackbar.

Another whacked Wednesday is in progress now. Just finished the hike, now I’ll eat, shower, and head out for dart league. I asked our team captain who we are playing today and he said It Doesn’t Matter. Well, I guess it doesn’t but I still wanted to know. Yep, it’s a thrill a minute around here.

Turns out maybe I am an asshole. Or at least I occasionally act like one. For the second week in a row I lost my temper during our dart league match. I felt especially bad because it happened at Alley Cats and in front of people I’ve known for years. What triggered me was an allegation that my foot was over the throw line when I tossed my darts. The accusation came while I was playing which was more than a little distracting. And it was a false assertion to boot.

Alley Cats has mats on the floor in front of the boards. I recall when they were installed that they were the standard distance from the board to the throw line–7 feet, 9 1/4 inches, to be precise. So, it has been my habit to “toe up” against the edge of the mat. My accuser claimed the throw line was at the far edges of the tape holding the mat down. I told her that was wrong–loudly. She responded “don’t yell at me”, and I, of course, was triggered and yelled even louder. I wanted a measurement done then and there, but eventually I calmed down enough to continue playing from behind the newly imposed throw line.

After the match, a measurement was done and I was vindicated–the proper throw line is the edge of the mat. Doesn’t change the fact that I was an obnoxious asshole though. I bought my victim a drink and apologized when we had finished playing. We hugged and made up, but that doesn’t excuse or change the way I acted. Ah well, I will definitely strive to be a better person in the future.

We did win the match 12-1 though, so there’s that.

A nice hike with the Wednesday Walkers in the morning hours. Here are some photos of that event:

And oh, look! They are playing my song!

Another damned whacked Wednesday, so I’m going to need to keep it short and sweet today. Well, short anyway.

Yesterday was my “lazy” day–grocery shopping instead of hiking. I also intended to renew my visa, but the immigration office had a lazy day too–closed for the Lunar New Year. No issues getting into Royal without a vax card, so that’s something to be thankful for I suppose.

Played in the dart tournament last night. Played just well enough to win, but I reckon that’s all you need to do. I honestly don’t even care that much about winning or losing. In fact, if I reach the finals I always offer my opponent a “tie” and just split the pot 50-50. We played doubles last night and reached the finals from the loser’s bracket. Our opponent did not offer the tie option, so we played it out. That motivated me to play hard for the victory and I threw my best darts of the night.

There was a time when I was a much better darts player. Facebook reminded me that it was only seven years ago that I threw my best game of 501 ever.

A few of my fellow players joined me at the Car Wash resto-bar for food and beers after the tourney. A nice way to end the evening.

Had breakfast with the GF at Sit-n-Bull this morning, then I did the Wednesday Walkers group hike. I’ll post some photos of that tomorrow.

Dart league this afternoon. In fact, I need to hit the shower now and get my ass ready to play.

Today is also my younger brother Greg’s birthday.

Gotta go, back with more tomorrow I hope.

An interesting night of darts yesterday, all the more so because we played a singles tournament and all the matches were competitive. Oh yeah, I went undefeated which is always special. I like playing the Tuesday and Friday tourneys because the format includes cricket–my favorite dart game. What I like about cricket is that it is more strategic than other games, like 501. Playing a smart game of cricket can result in victory even if your opponent is throwing better than you. Way back in 2012 I wrote about this phenomenon in a post called “Pointing is Cricket”. The pointing strategies I outlined there came into play last night and ultimately led to my victory.

A brief recap: I was playing against Billy, always a tough competitor. It was the third and deciding leg of our match. Billy had all her numbers closed and was up on points. All she needed was three bulls to win. I still had my 15s open, but since I was behind on points, I needed to score some bullseyes to get ahead. Now, rather than close her bulls, Billy kept throwing for more points at my open 15. I’m not sure what triggered it, but all of the sudden I was hitting bulls like crazy. I hit 4 bulls on one throw, good for 100 points, which closed the point deficit Billy had created. Even when Billy just needed one more bull to win, she kept throwing at the 15. She’d hit a triple 15 for 45 points, I’d answer with a double bull for 50. This went on and on until finally she missed and I didn’t. A bull for points and then I closed the 15 for the victory. I was shaking my head at the outcome and afterward asked Billy why she didn’t close her bulls? She responded, “I wasn’t feeling it.” What? You know you can’t win until you do. A blank stare was her response. Oh well, worked out fine for me.

I had a good morning as well. The usual leaders of the Friday hike were absent, so it fell upon me to pick the trail. I opted to do an end-to-end trek on My Bitch, then come down into the valley, and walking back to Barretto from there. Made for a nice 8K hike. Here are some photos from the journey:

You can Relive the hike here:

That’s all for today’s installment. Thanks for dropping in!

I guess that’s as good a description as any for my busy Wednesday. Did my hike with the Wednesday Walkers group. Scott led us on an exploration of a trail we will potentially use when we are the Hares on the 15th. It had a long and challenging uphill at the beginning, but overall it seems to be a realistic possibility for the Hash. I’d like to find a better way back down, it was too overgrown in places. I stepped into a hole I couldn’t see and that could have been a disaster. Anyway, I made it back home in one piece and avoided having my ass kicked. So there’s that. Pictures of the hike to follow.

I didn’t have time to join the guys for beers at Dynamite Dick’s since I had to get ready for dart league. I did pop into Sit-n-Bull to get a sandwich to go.

Showered up and got dressed and had twenty minutes left for a quick catnap. Then I headed out to our team’s home bar at the Lagoon hotel on Baloy. We were playing VFW and to be brutally honest, it appeared some of them had never played darts before. We wound up kicking their ass 12-1. Our captain took our only loss of the day in a singles match and we gave him a world of good-natured shit for ruining our perfect afternoon of darts. He did redeem himself somewhat by hitting the winning dart in the beer round (team game).

We sat around the bar shooting the shit after the match. I don’t really engage much in politics, but my English teammate wanted to talk about Biden. He mentioned the shitting his pants incidents(s), his falling asleep at the climate conference, and his general incompetence. He asked if there wasn’t a procedure for removing him from office. I explained how the 25th amendment to the Constitution works, but then noted that leaves us with Harris as President, probably not much better and potentially worse. I also pointed out that the third in line is Nancy Pelosi. He agreed we are truly fucked. Best hope is that Republicans take both the House and Senate next year and at least block the most damaging bullshit coming from the White House. We were all encouraged by the Virginia gubernatorial outcome. Anyway, fuck politics. The American people are getting their ass-kicked and there ain’t much we can do to stop it. Let’s go, Brandon!

After I left Lagoon, I crossed the street to Johan’s. The 43-year-old I mentioned here was there playing pool and later joined me at the bar. I bought her a beer and she gave me a nice back and shoulder massage as I sat there. I ordered some dinner and she joined me. When it was time to go, she didn’t join me. That suited me just fine.

I wasn’t alone at home though. These guys were waiting for me:

Alright, here’s those Wednesday hiking pictures I promised:

That was my kickass Wednesday. Time to shower up now and do another bar review. The sacrifices I make for my readers! Well, someone has to keep these bars in business, right?

I made my re-debut in the Barretto dart league as a member of the Lagoon team yesterday. It didn’t go all that well, as we lost the match against Viking 8-5, despite our starting out 3-0. In the previous match-up, Lagoon had won 7-6, so I guess maybe the difference this time was me. I wasn’t thrilled with my performance, that’s for sure. Worse, I made a mental mistake (throwing for points on a closed number) at a critical juncture in the game, contributing to our defeat. That’s the worst sin in darts in my opinion. Ah well.

So, the league starts at 2:00 which is the primary reason I quit playing a couple of years ago. Wednesday is a hiking day for me, and rushing home after the morning trek to shower and change clothes, then hurrying back out to the dart venue pretty much ruins the day. I opted to not hike with the group yesterday, doing something shorter on my own, but I don’t like that option long-term either. Well, I’m not sure what long-term is going to be at this point. Without me, the team will forfeit (heh, that can be my nickname–“better than a forfeit”). I agreed to play again next week, but I’m actively looking for someone to recruit as my replacement. We’ll see how that goes.

Lagoon and Viking are both hotels/bars out on Baloy Beach, so at least it gives me the motivation to get out that way more often for a change of pace. After darts yesterday, I went to Da’ Kudos and then finished my evening with beers at Johan’s. While I was at Da’Kudo’s, the 43-year-old woman I mentioned (and pictured) a few days ago walked by with a friend, so I invited them in to join me. It turns out she’s in the dart league too. We had some beers and some food, then they headed off for home. Nope, still not feeling it.

It’s been quite a while since I’ve done a darts post. Then again, it’s been quite a while since I’ve played. I threw pretty well for a guy who hasn’t even touched his arrows in over two weeks. One thing I have noticed is that those players dedicated and motivated enough to play often and practice have really improved their game. Nancy is a prime example of that. She destroyed me in our first-round match dispatching me to the loser’s bracket. There was a time when I pretty much owned Nancy when it came to darts. I wasn’t playing bad though and fought my way back to meet Nancy once again in the finals. This is a double-elimination format tourney, so I had to beat Nancy twice to be champion. Our first match in the finals was a hard-fought and closely played battle that went all three legs before I finally prevailed.

So, there we were. Nancy had beat me once early in the tourney and I had beat her once here at the end. One more match to play to see who was going to take home first place money (500 pesos for 1st, 200 for 2nd). I was tired and hungry and didn’t care about winning or losing at this point. So I suggested to Nancy that we call it a tie and split the first and second place money 50-50. She agreed and so that is what we did.

One of the irritating side effects of whatever this is that ails me is that I frequently have a runny nose. It’s a little embarrassing to have someone hand me a napkin and indicate I’ve got a visible booger on my face. I decided to take some proactive action to rectify this situation last night:

I had a “date” yesterday with a sweet 23-year-old. She’s a sexy girl, but damn, she’s so young it makes me feel a little creepy being around her. This afternoon I’m doing a first-time meet-up with a 43-year-old. She looks pretty good in the pictures she sent me:

I’ll be sure to update y’all as things develop. Gonna be a busy weekend with Hash events, including a trail that starts at noon tomorrow. Stay tuned!