The consecutive win streak in the Alley Cats dart tournaments has come to an end. And it was all my fault. I drew Jerlyn as my partner. She’s a cutie but was probably the weakest player in the tournament. That’s no excuse, but I just had no expectation of winning. My initial thought was that we would likely be the first team eliminated from the tourney–that’s a shame everyone hopes to avoid. But that’s the luck of the draw, and there’s nothing to be done about it but play it out and try to have some fun.

In the beginning, I wasn’t throwing particularly well. And Jerlyn, bless her heart, was all over the board and sometimes even missed it completely. But my oh my, she might be the luckiest player I ever did see. Throwing at one number and hitting a double bullseye, for example. Or throwing for a single 20 and hitting a triple 18. She was doing that all night, and it was driving the other players wild. Hey, I’ve heard it said that it is better to be lucky than good. I had my moments as well, and by golly, we were beating some teams that should have kicked our ass. The only team we couldn’t quite overcome was Mark and Jocelyn, both very strong players.

We came back from the losers bracket to meet them again in the finals, and after a back and forth battle, we took the first match 2-1. Of course, we had to beat them again to win the tourney, so we set about getting it done. They won 501 and we took the cricket game. So it came down to one last leg of 501 for the championship.

Jerlyn left me a 32 out. I missed and hit an 8, leaving us with a 24. Jerlyn shot a 12, leaving me with a double 6 out. Not my favorite, but I can and have hit it in the past. Three shots at it, but I failed to take care of business. Jocelyn hit her out on the next throw. My failure left us with a second-place finish. Sorry about that, partner!

Anyway, it turned out to be a longer night than I anticipated and I was hungry after the tourney. Just so happens that The Pub is almost next door, so I popped in to grab a sandwich to take home with me.

I managed to get a lot of steps in yesterday, the most in quite some time, in fact. Of course, I did it over the length of an entire day, so it wasn’t quite as impressive as it might appear. Plenty of breaks, even a nap, between steps.

I did get a goodly portion of those steps in during the Friday group hike. I led the group, more or less by default, on a trek that included a highway, a beach, and a mountain. The actual trail came in around 8K. Here, let me show you the pictures

And speaking of resting, I must have the laziest dogs in town.

I love them though. They’re my good boys!

Looks like I’ll be heading back to Alley Cats this evening. My intention is to do something else with my Saturdays (don’t worry, it will still involve beer), but today is Flor’s birthday, and she specifically invited me via text to come help her celebrate. No, it’s not what you think, she is in a same-sex relationship with the owner of Alley Cats. Nice gal, so I couldn’t say no. I’ve got some brownies in the oven for her.

See y’all here tomorrow for the next installment!

That makes two in one day! Not bad for an old fart like me. The pleasure I got from the second one was of a different nature than the first–it was the joy that comes from taking an unexpected first-place finish in a darts tournament. Don’t ask me which one I liked best, it’s apples and oranges. I will say that winning money is more fun than spending money, although what you get for your money can certainly put a smile on your face.

Anyway, I was paired up with Jocelyn as my partner in the tourney. She’s a solid player, but we had some real tough competition to face. Going in, I figured Billy and Espie was the team to beat and that’s the way it turned out. Surprisingly, we dropped them into the loser’s bracket winning two straight legs (501 and cricket). They came back to face us in the finals and returned the favor with a 2-0 victory in the first round, setting up the decisive final match. They won the 501 leg and we took the cricket leg. We did a coinflip to determine the third leg, they won, and chose 501. That proved to be a mistake as we hit some big darts for an early lead. My partner left me a 12 out (double 6) and I hit it on my first shot for the victory.

It’s always more satisfying somehow when you don’t expect to win but somehow manage to pull it off. All our matches were hard-fought and close, so it felt especially good to finish the night on top.

I’ll be taking the night off from darts tonight, having made the decision to limit myself to Tuesdays and Fridays. It’s only fair that I give other folks a chance to win. *ahem* Instead, I baked up a batch of brownies to share with the brown knees at It Doesn’t Matter.

A few minutes ago I stepped out on the balcony to see what I could see…

There are things I like about the new place, and this view is one of them. Also, some things I don’t much care for, like the long uphill walk to get here, and it not being as dog-friendly as the old place. We are adjusting though. When the lease expires next year I’ll weigh my options, but will most likely remain where I am.

I guess I ought to finish this post with something happy. How about what you see under a young woman’s skirt?

Actually, that photo popped up in my Facebook memories from like six years ago. I didn’t take it and I likely posted it here at LTG back then. Still funny though, at least to my warped and somewhat perverted way of thinking. Almost all the bargirls here wear what I call “liar skirts”–sexy miniskirts with SHORTS underneath. I guess they don’t want to show off their kitten.

My return to the darting scene last night proved triumphant as my partner and I went undefeated en route to a first-place finish. Seeing as how I hadn’t touched a dart in over six weeks, I was quite surprised by my performance. I even threw the rare and coveted 9-mark, the best you can do in cricket. I actually checked the blog’s archives to see when I had thrown my last one–July 2016. Good stuff!

As of now, my intention is to go back to playing in the Tuesday and Friday night tournaments and skipping the Wednesday and Saturday outings. That’s enough. I don’t expect I’ll ever return to my darting glory days anyway. And I really don’t like the vibe in Alley Cats that much. There are places I’d rather be.

Speaking of places to be, I rather enjoyed our hiking group’s adventure out to Balon Falls in Subic yesterday. Interestingly, Facebook reminded me that we had last visited that area exactly one year ago. This time we hired a van to carry us out for the hike which was a nice and comfortable way to get there. Our trail was short at just under 5K, but some of the group went for a swim after the hike and others sat around drinking beer. I’ll let you guess which group I was in. Always nice to get out of town and see some seldom visited sights. Here are some pictures from the journey:

Just another day in paradise.

Darts can be a funny game sometimes. It is one of the few sports where you are not in direct competition with your opponent, by which I mean, you have no control over or “defense” against what the other player does. Ultimately, it is you against the board. The way you beat someone is to throw better and smarter than they do. And yeah, at least at the amateur level, luck can also be a factor. I have often said that the mental aspects of darts are every bit as important as the physical act of tossing the arrows. When I’m throwing poorly, rather than think about my mechanics, I tell myself to “focus”.

So, I say all of the above as a prelude to recounting what occurred at last night’s dart tournament. It’s a standard “luck of the draw” format–everyone picks a number and gets paired of with the person who drew the corresponding number; one plays with two, three plays with four, etc. Sometimes the results might not appear “fair”, for example, when two top players get paired up to play together. But that’s the luck of the draw. Everyone has a chance to draw a good partner, sometimes you do, sometimes you don’t. I learned early in my darting “career” not to complain about the player you wind up with–what’s the point? I’ll try and mentor a beginner or offer advice on strategy, but I try not to disparage the skills of the person I’m paired with. Now, that’s not to say that I enjoy playing with certain players. Sometimes it’s a personality conflict, other times I find their lack of situational awareness frustrating. Again, my reaction is on me and I don’t fault my partner overtly, it just messes with my head sometimes and throws me off my game.

For example, on Tuesday night I drew Bhae as my partner. I don’t really know her, but I’ve seen her around and I have always thought she’s the ugliest Filipina I’ve ever seen. Yeah, that’s how shallow I can be sometimes. But don’t get me wrong, when the game is on i don’t give a shit what my partner looks like. In fact, a hottie can be distracting, especially if I start thinking about the dart in my pants rather than the ones in my hand. But back to Bhae, I’d say she is an average darter at best. Very inconsistent though in her throws, sometimes even missing the board altogether. She does tend to get lucky more often than others (for example, throwing at a 20 and hitting a triple 18). Anyway, I can deal with a partner like that. You throw, you miss–that’s just part of the game. What drives me crazy with Bhae is that she seems clueless sometimes when it comes to what to aim for. In 501, you have to finish with a double out–so you want to leave your partner an outshot, or at least an even number to work with. Strategy is even more important in cricket and luck is less a factor. When to throw at certain numbers and when to go for points are critical aspects of the game. I have much more success in cricket than in ’01 because I usually have a better understanding of the strategic opportunities than do my opponents.

Bhae oftentimes doesn’t appear to know where, when, and what to throw at. One example–we were down on points in cricket. Our opponents had all of their numbers closed and we still had the15 open. Now, you can’t win if you are behind in points, and the only way we could get points was to throw as many bullseyes as possible. Bhae chose to go for the meaningless 15. After her throw, I asked her in frustration “why do you think the 15 is important in this situation?” She just gave me a blank look. I immediately regretted calling her out that way, reminding myself it was just a game. A game played in a bar where we are supposed to be having fun. It was stupid darts, but who cares? Yeah, we lost the game and lost the tourney and I hate to lose, but so what?

Which (finally) brings us to last night. We picked our numbers and were waiting for the teams to be announced. I’m thinking to myself “anyone but Bhae, please”. Then they called out Billy and Espie as a team. Damn, they are both outstanding (finishing #3 and #4 in the upper division of the singles league), I figured they were going to be a shoo-in for first place. And then came “John and Bhae”. Damn. Well, I figured it was going to be an early night of darts. Started thinking about where I might go after my exit from Alley Cats. Maybe Mango’s for dinner or It Doesn’t Matter for beers. Or both. In the meantime, I had a tournament to lose.

Except it didn’t turn out that way. Surprisingly, we won our first match. And then we won another. Bhae was throwing her usual darts; occasional incompetence, periodic luck, and sometimes hitting what she aimed at. I was having a good night at the line–lots of bulls and even the coveted 180 (best possible score). I’m not saying luck wasn’t a factor as well, it just seemed the stars aligned for us. Well, I knew that we still had to play Billy and Espie, but the idea that we might actually finish in second place seemed attainable. Then came the head-to-head with the strongest team in the bar. I don’t know how, but we managed to beat them two straight. We were in the finals!

Not surprisingly, Billy and Espie came back up from the losers bracket to play us for the championship. And they were out for revenge! They won the first set and I figured it had been a good ride, let’s get this over with. We won 501, they won cricket, so it came down to the third and deciding leg. I won the coin toss and surprised the bar by choosing to play 501 again, despite cricket being my best game. Well, I knew my partner was better suited to 501 and we were a team, after all. Both teams played a great game and in the end, we both had an outshot. They missed theirs. I hit mine. We won the tourney!

Luck of the draw, indeed!

or this? Assuming something is better than nothing, here we go.

Last night:

After darts, I hurried across the street where an acquaintance, Palm Tree manager Alan, was celebrating his 60th birthday.

And this pretty much sums up how I feel about COVID:

Sorry for the shittier than normal post. Things will be back to normal around here tomorrow. I promise!

A busy day yesterday. Started with a goodly long (for me) solo walk, back home for a nap and shower, then off again to do my duty as the leader of the Barretto Singles League.

It was the end-of-season playoff tournament for the Champs Division of the league. I play in the Stars Division, and we have our playoffs this coming Saturday. Yesterday I was there to make sure everyone understood the format and handle any glitches or issues that might arise. We actually have two tourneys; the top three play for the championship, the other three players compete for the “Best of the Rest” honor.

There was, in fact, a glitch to deal with when only two of the three players showed up for the championship bracket. Easily fixed, the no-show (who had a death in the family) was deemed to have forfeited, leaving the remaining two players to compete for first place. What was supposed to have been a round-robin format (each player plays the others) in seven-leg matches, became a head-to-head best of seven event. It was also husband versus wife, which made for a bit of added drama. Mark dispatched his sweet wife 4-0, so at least the pain didn’t last long.

All three players showed up for the Best of the Rest tourney, bless their hearts! So we got to play it out as it was intended. And it turned out to be a very nice tourney. The first two players up were Kevin and Dorie. Kevin finished fourth in Champs and Dorie was dead last by a long shot. I was surprised at how well Dorie played though, finishing her match with Kevin with a 4-3 lead. Next up for Dorie was Troy, who has also been coming on strong lately. He took the first four legs and appeared to be headed for a sweep, but Dorie came back to win the last three legs. So Dorie finished with a total of 7 wins.

The final match then was Kevin and Troy going head-to-head. Since Troy already had four wins, he would take the tourney if he won four more against Kevin. Kevin started with three wins, so he had to win five of the seven legs against Troy for a victory. That didn’t seem likely to me. Troy took the first leg and then Kevin caught fire, winning five legs in a row to earn the crown of Best of the Rest.

Facebook memories shared this video I “created” nine years ago about Hitler finding out his dart team was playing my team, Ride it In. The names of teammates mentioned brought back a flood of memories, especially involving my now deceased friend and team captain, Bridget Werner. Those were my good ol’ days for sure.

After the dart tournament was completed, it was just a little after 4 p.m. I hoofed it over to the It Doesn’t Matter bar for a couple of more beers. Then I decided I needed to drop in and say hello to the gals at Cheap Charlies. Some more beer and lady drinks purchases, then it was time to head on home.

I had some meatballs stewing in the crockpot waiting on me, so I got down to business. Shared some with my basement neighbors as well.

I made a tasty strawberry-fruit cocktail-yogurt-peanut butter-vanilla ice cream-and milk smoothie for dessert. That hit the spot!

And then I ran out of gas and hit the sack at 8:30. I really think I need to find a way to stay up a little later every night. I’m thinking firing up the TV for an hour or so might be the way to go. I can lay stupefied on the couch and be entertained without thinking too much. For some reason, I remembered the old Addams Family television show today and saw that full episodes are available on YouTube. Get Smart too! Yeah, traveling back to the 1960s every night sounds like a great new routine (rut) for me!

Well, time to get ready to Hash. Stay tuned for more of my shenanigans!

Oh wait, I almost forgot this:

Buday died yesterday. She’s the dog who “adopted” me, and I came to think of her as my step-dog. One of the sweetest animals I’ve had the pleasure of knowing. I’m not sure of her breed, but damn, she could run and jump like a gazelle. So, for the last several months she’s been hanging around my house more and more frequently. One of the subdivision maintenance guys was technically her owner, but it didn’t appear that he ever took any interest in her. Buday would always show up in the morning when it was dog chow time for Buddy and Lucky, so I took to feeding her too. Then she would accompany us on our walk through the neighborhood. She loved playing around with my boys, and they enjoyed her company as well. Sometimes in the afternoon, she would be sleeping on my front porch when I headed out for the evening. She would also be waiting when I came home, hoping I was bringing her scraps like pork chop bones.

I guess it was about a week or so ago I noticed Buday was not her usual self. Not running around and jumping into the bushes. She still did the dog walk thing, but didn’t seem to have much energy or enthusiasm. Most concerning was she had a cough and would throw up frequently. I considered taking her to the vet, but she’s not my dog and I felt weird about that. I told her owner that she seemed sick, he just shrugged and said she was probably pregnant. I guess I thought she would get better on her own, but obviously, I was wrong about that.

When I came home from my walk yesterday I saw Buday laying on the neighbor’s front porch. I’d never seen her do that before and I had a bad feeling about it. I remember my previous dog went off down the street when it was time to die. Found her under a porch. I’ve heard dogs want to be alone when they die. I don’t know, maybe just a coincidence. When I got home last night my downstairs neighbor said Buday was dead–they found her where I had last seen her, on the neighbor’s front porch.

I feel really bad that I didn’t do more to help her. I honestly didn’t think she was going to die or I would have found a way to take her to the vet. I know you can’t save them all, but she was a special dog. My basement neighbors were kind enough to dig a hole in my back yard so we could give her a proper burial at least. It was really sad to walk the dogs today and not see her waiting for us. At least her suffering is over. Rest in Peace, Buday!

I was having a pretty good night out until I came home to the bad news. Only seven people at the darts tournament, so we played singles. Cristy was there, so this would be my opportunity to demonstrate my supremacy (not the white kind, I’m brown now). When we met head-to-head in the first round,, Cristy took the victory in a hard-fought match, sending me to the losers bracket. I was able to claw my way back to the finals where I’d have to beat Cristy in two matches to win the tourney.

I was throwing pretty well, but so was Cristy. Still, I managed to win the first match 2-0, setting us up for the winner-takes-all, do or die, final match. I won the first leg, Cristy took the second. The third and final leg would determine the winner. I won the coin toss and chose cricket, my favorite game. It was a battle and a struggle, I was behind most of the game, but managed to stay within striking range. It came down to Cristy needing one bullseye to win, and me needing three bulls. I stepped up to the line and let my first dart fly–bullseye! I tossed my second dart and it too found its way to the bull. Now, with two darts already in the bullseye, there wasn’t much room for a third. I was also afraid that with my darts not sticking in the board very well (although I did sandpaper them up which helped a lot) I was just as likely to knock one or both of my bulls out as I was to hit another one. On the other hand, if I didn’t hit that third bull now I may never get another chance against a strong opponent like Cristy. So, I mentally shrugged, focused on my target, and went for the bullseye. And by golly, I hit that motherfucker for the win!

After my victory, I decided to reward myself with a nice pork chop dinner at Mango’s. I got there later than usual, around 8 p.m. When my order hadn’t arrived by 8:30, I told the waitress to box it up for takeout. Hell, it was nearly my bedtime and I was tired. And I had a few beers under my belt as well.

So, that’s life in a nutshell I suppose. You experience a high, and then you hit a low. Hopefully, the lows are rare and serve to make the highs all the more satisfying.

Speaking of highs and lows, yesterday also included a hike with the Friday walking group. Scott had an idea about finding a new way up to the Kalaklan ridge, so off we went. We wound up taking a path to the top we had used before, and honestly, it’s about the best way up I know. There’s no easy way, but this trail took a more diagonal route than most, avoiding those steep climbs that are such ass-kickers. The route we took back down, on the other hand, was quite a fucker. I intentionally did not call it a path or a trail because there wasn’t one most of the way. Lots of loose leaves on a steep descent made for some treacherous hiking. We made it though, so there’s that.

Here are some photos from our adventure:

Quite a day, all in all. Gonna take a break from darts today. I think sipping some cold beers on the floating bar may be in my near future. I’ll leave you with this thought:

Well you only need the light when it’s burning low
Only miss the sun when it starts to snow
Only know you love her when you let her go

Only know you’ve been high when you’re feeling low
Only hate the road when you’re missing home
Only know you love her when you let her go
And you let her go

I’m always riding life’s roller coaster it seems, but it’s nice to be on top for a change. And yeah, I know what that means is coming next but I’m going to enjoy this part of the ride as long as I can.

Undefeated in last night’s dart tournament. Some strong competition, but I threw consistently well all night. The highlight was probably an unlikely 99 out (triple 19, single 10, double 16) for a key victory in the finals. One of my better nights of darts in quite some time.

After darts, I popped into The Pub to get some take-out dinner to bring home. Had a craving for the Philly cheesesteak sandwich, but couldn’t resist getting some bulgogi as well.

What else? Well, this morning Facebook greeted me with a memory for eleven years ago:

I remember some of the anti-marijuana propaganda from my high school days would be captioned “why do you think they call it dope?”. Look how far we’ve come today:

Alright, I’ve got some photos from yesterday’s hike with the walking group to share. It was a relatively short (6K) but challenging trek up to the top of Kalaklan ridge and back down again. Good times!

It was a good day. Hope you enjoyed the HIGH lights…

Yesterday’s singles league dart match against Billy didn’t go as expected. She’s one of the top players and I was anticipating a hard fought battle and a close match. I was only half right. I started out by winning all five legs in 501. And then I swept the cricket legs as well. I won the first leg in the 301 competition to take an 11-0 lead. Billy won the next 3 legs in a row, and I took the last 301 game for a final score of 13-3.

After darts, I headed out to what is rapidly becoming my new favorite bar–It Doesn’t Matter. I like the friendly neighborhood pub vibe, a place where like-minded locals hang out and shoot the shit. I spend all my time sitting in the outdoor portion of the bar. I just don’t like sitting inside to drink anywhere these days it seems. I enjoy the street views and watching people walk by, that’s much more entertaining than the indoor activities (pool and bargirls).

About that dinner, IDM doesn’t have a kitchen but food delivery from Myleen’s, conveniently located just around the corner, is available. Myleen’s is a relatively new place in town that I hadn’t had a chance to try yet, but it gets consistently good reviews. Mexican and pasta dishes are their specialties. I decided to save the Mexican for another night and wasn’t feeling like lasagna, so I did a sweet and sour pork dish.

Anyway, it was a pleasant afternoon and evening out on the town. Not that it matters.

Fallin’ and spinnin’
Losin’ and winnin’
Keepin’ my head

Watchin’ for signals
Wearisome vigil
Was I misled
I remember you said that you
Don’t want to forget me
It doesn’t matter
Which of our fantasies fled

Lonely and winsome
Calling for someone
Living right now

Something is shallow
Ugly and hollow
Doesn’t even allow
You to want to know how you might
Live for the living and
Give for the giving. Living
Moment by moment
One day at a time
It doesn’t matter
It’s nothin’ but dreamin’ anyhow

I played my singles league dart match against Jocelyn last night. Eked out a 9-7 victory, and was probably fortunate to have done so. A very frustrating night. I was off my game for one thing, but I was also handicapped by my darts not sticking properly in the dart board. I had lots of fall outs which are real game changers. Not sure what to do about it. I’ve recently replaced the points on my darts, but that doesn’t seem to have corrected the problem. Well, I’m to blame as well, I suppose. I don’t throw hard to begin with which just exacerbates the problem. I tried tossing my darts more forcefully, but that just caused me to lose accuracy (of which I have little to spare). I’m not making excuses, even when my darts stuck in the board I was playing like shit. Jocelyn keeps getting better and better, and I was down 2-5 before clawing my way back.

On the to-do list: 1. practice, practice, practice. 2. look for a replacement set of darts.

Here’s a quick update on my FB lady friends. Elley continues to message me with irritating regularity, despite my trying to ignore her. For example, last night:

Hello Can I sleep over to you ? I will take care of you sweetie Message me please

I willing to stay to you forever sweetie I hope you understand my feelings for you sweetie

Hello sweetie can I sleep over there now I’m little bit drunk I hope I stay with you at least this Night

Geez. No thank you! Well, she’s also asked a couple of times to bring her cousin over with her. Um, that gets my imagination humming, but I think prudence dictates that I stay far away from this one.

Now, Joy, on the other hand, seems to be normal enough that I may want to maintain a friendship with her. I’ve already committed to seeing her prior to her daughter’s birthday on April 2. That way she’ll have the funds for a celebration. But I’ve appreciated that Joy seems to genuinely care about my well-being (or at least does a good job pretending). She also volunteered to come over and take care of me while I’m under the weather. I declined of course, but I thought it was sweet of her to offer. She has also suggested some home remedies for my symptoms. And next time we meet she wants to give me a massage. She can also hold her own pretty well in a conversation. So, basically, Joy is offering to do the kind of things that I’d like to have done for me. In return, of course, I’ll give her the cash she so desperately needs. Depending on how things go I may “adopt” her as my charity project. Meaning I’ll go beyond the quid pro quo of money for sex and perhaps do some other things to make her life easier. We’ll see. What I don’t want to happen is for Joy to start acting like Elley–I’m not looking to get into a boyfriend/girlfriend relationship with anyone. If I start getting those vibes, I’ll head for the hills.

Concerning my health, I seem to be doing somewhat better today. I had a rough night last night, body aches made it hard to get comfortable and sleep. My cough is still here, but I’m hacking up phlegm, so that’s not consistent with COVID symptoms. I had a bowl of cereal for breakfast this morning and I could taste it just fine. When I take my temperature, it is normally around 35.8. I watched it creep up throughout the day yesterday, and it peaked at 37.4 this morning. Just checked it again now, and it has dropped to 36.7. So, whatever this is, it seems like perhaps it has run it’s course, Or at least things are moving in the right direction. I’m staying close to home and taking it easy, just to be on the safe side.

And that, dear readers, is just about all I’ve got for you today. Well, I found this both funny and sad

I’ve said before that when it comes to darts, it’s often better to be lucky than good. That rings especially true in tournament play where the format is usually a “blind draw” or “luck of the draw”. Basically, all the players participating draw a number and are paired up based on that number. For example, last night I drew number 2 which meant my partner would be the player who drew number 1. That’s how it came to be that I teamed up with Cristy last night.

For those of you following my darts “career” here at LTG, you know Cristy is probably the top player in Barretto right now. And based on singles league stats, I’m in the top three. Anyway, once the teams were announced everyone assumed we would be unbeatable. I knew better though. There’s a different kind of pressure when you are expected to win which can adversely affect your game. And opponents who feel like there is nothing to lose often relax and throw better than they normally do. That’s why you have to play the matches to find out what’s going to happen.

Cristy and I won the tournament. It was a struggle at times. Two teams took us to the third and deciding leg, but in the end we finished the night undefeated. Neither of us threw our best darts, but we threw well enough together to bring home the money.

Speaking of luck, I did some walking around Baloy beach area looking for potential rental properties. I didn’t find anything. Well, there was this one:

I’ve got mixed feelings about Baloy anyway. I lived out that way for the first couple of months after making the move to the Philippines. The main road is rough and full of potholes, and when it rains it floods. I think they have made some improvements since that time, but not sure I want to deal with that again. We’ll see.

The potential house I was thinking about here in Alta Vista probably ain’t gonna happen either. Turns out my dart partner Cristy’s ex-boyfriend used to live there. She told me the owner of the house is a crazy Filipina who is trying to get her foreigner husband deported. When Cristy’s boyfriend made the mistake of taking the husband’s side, she went after him too. So he wound up moving out and leaving town. Don’t want that kind of drama in my life. So, the search continues for now.

More darts on tap tonight. I’ll tell you about my 10K walk today, tomorrow.

And here is how misunderstandings happen in today’s world:

But good enough I reckon. I played Billy in Singles League action yesterday and came away with a 9-7 victory. That’s as close as it gets, tied at 7 going into the last leg of a 15-leg match. Winning the eighth leg is worth two because you are awarded an extra point for winning the match. Billy and Cristy were the only players to beat me in the first round and now I have achieved my revenge against them both. Of course, I still need to play each of them one more time before the season is over, so I ain’t bragging (much) yet.

Here are the current standings for the league if you have any interest in that kind of thing:

I’m not sure if I mentioned that I had some custom dart shirts made in commemoration of the inaugural season of the Barretto Singles League. I have a singles league jersey from Columbia, SC, and one from Seoul, the previous venues for the league I created (yeah, I’m a little proud of my “baby”). Here’s how they came out:

What else? Well, I briefly met the daughter of my deceased landlady the other day. She didn’t say much but what she did say didn’t please me. She told me her mother had failed to institute the standard annual rent increases, but she intended to do so. She said “we’ll talk about it later though so as not to ruin your day”. I shrugged and walked away. I’m already overpaying for this house and if she really tries to raise the rent I’m outta here. Not sure how her mom could have done the increase during a three year lease anyway. Oh well, I’m paid up until June and I’ve already initiated a tentative search routine. You have to walk around and ask around, there is no central repository for finding rentals here. I did learn of a house here in Alta Vista that may be available and that I hope to get a look at soon. The bizarre thing in all of this is that this house I’m renting had been vacant for years before I moved in. A couple of other houses owned by my landlady have been vacant since I’ve moved in. I’ve done repairs and improvements here on my own and think I’ve been a model tenant in all respects. Why she would run off a paying customer and have this house sit vacant again for God knows how long makes no sense. But then again, this is the Philippines, and sense, common or otherwise, is not part of the culture as far as I can tell.

I’ve been eating more frequently at The Pub restaurant, run by Korean-American John Kim. He’s quite the foodie, sorta like that other Kim guy I know in Korea. The other day John announced on his Facebook page a major acquisition:

I just received 200 pounds of tenderloin this morning. I don’t think even many meat shops in Barretto has that much of Tenderloin. Yes, I am getting ready to make the most tender roast beef in town. Our rub came out really good, we wanted make it ourselves because we don’t like MSG and all other chemical contents in pre-made meat rubs. We should be able to come up with roast beef soon and will make whatever you guys miss the most: a. Beef and Cheddar, b. French Dip, c. Roast Beef Dinner.

I voted for the French Dip and stopped in after darts to see if I could get one for take-out. I could and I did:

Now if I could only find a Monte Cristo sandwich. Maybe I’ll put a bug in John’s ear.

Facebook also reminded me that I’ve been a proponent of gun control since at least 1973. And I’ve got the photo to prove it:

Did a solitary 9K hike this morning that was quite pleasant. Only took one picture though:

I’m probably forgetting something. Maybe it’s the age or maybe it’s the beer, but damn, I never used to be so absent minded. I try to do a mental checklist whenever I leave the house; phone, vapes, wallet, but invariably it seems I leave something behind. The other afternoon I made brownies for the girls at Alley Cats, and was halfway down the street before I realized I’d left them on the kitchen counter. Geez Louise.

That’s it for now then. I’m one of the Hare’s for tomorrow’s Hash trail and we are marking it in the morning. We’ve already done our scouting so it shouldn’t be difficult. It will definitely be safe and sane, that’s for sure.

Oh, I almost forgot. Stay safe out there everyone!

My name ain’t Heinz, but let’s do some catch up anyway.

Tuesday morning I went grocery shopping without my helpers. Had to push my own cart, but the tab was $100. less than last week. That’s still too much, but I had some unusual items on my list this week. If I can get it down in the $200-250 range consistently, I’ll be happy.

I had partied harder than normal on Monday night, so was feeling like shit and pretty much unmotivated all day Tuesday. I showed up for darts anyway, but decided I wasn’t feeling up to playing. Then it turned out that there weren’t enough players for doubles, so they did a singles tourney. Well, I liked that better. Figured I’d get my ass kicked and be out of there early. It didn’t go as planned though. I didn’t throw particularly well, but I seemed to throw the big darts when I needed them most.

And while we are on the subject of darts, I played in last night’s tournament as well. Drew a decent partner, but we both experienced one of those nights. As usual, I was either on fire or as cold as ice. Bizarrely, my partner was riding the same rollercoaster. Stranger still, we’d both go cold at the same time and then get hot together. Eh, well in a strictly platonic way of course. We got knocked into the loser’s bracket in the first round but we kept on scratching and clawing and eeking out wins until we found ourselves in the finals. A very tough match ensued (we had to beat them in two sets) and in the end, we prevailed.

As soon as I finish this post I’m heading out for my singles league dart match. My opponent is a strong player and it is her birthday, so the odds could be stacked against me. I’m bringing some brownies to try and appease the dart gods and hopefully gain some positive dart Karma. We shall see.

So, that covers the alcoholic and dartaholic portions of my life. I satisfied my walkaholic urges with the Wednesday walking group yesterday. One of the benefits of the group walks is the exploration aspect. We go places I wouldn’t attempt alone and actively seek out new trails and ways to get there. I mean, there are only so many mountains, but the ways to climb them are seemingly limitless. Of course, the downside is not knowing what you are getting into until you are into it. We almost never turn back. Hey, we have some pride! So, in that spirit, we attempted a new way up an old mountain yesterday. It was a steep and painful climb that I doubt any of us will want to repeat anytime soon, but we got to where we wanted to go. We stuck to more familiar ground for the rest of the hike, which is not to say it wasn’t challenging in places.

Fuck, the power just went out. I heard what sounded like a transformer exploding. Damn it. I’ll finish this post using my phone’s wifi hot spot. To the pictures then:

Alright, I’m running late. Don’t want to keep my opponent waiting. I’ll be back tomorrow with more.

Well, it’s the sharp end of the dart that sticks into the board after you throw it.

My darts are a few years old now and over time the points wear down. I tried sharpening the tip and putting a patina on the stem with sandpaper, hoping to get a better grip on the board. All to no avail. My darts were falling out of the board with increasing regularity and a dart that falls out doesn’t count. This phenomenon actually caused me to lose a couple of games recently. At first, I blamed the dartboard but then someone told me I needed to replace my points. Who can do that, I wondered? Ask Cristy was the response. So, that’s just what I did. She had the equipment to do the job and an extra set of points, so the deal was done. And the best thing about it was she did the work in time for my singles league match yesterday. Against Cristy.

Speaking of Cristy, I’m sure I’ve mentioned before that she is currently the best player in Barretto. In fact, through 13 weeks of the inaugural singles league season, she has never lost a match. Until yesterday, that is.

A game starts with a diddle (some call it a cork) to determine who throws first. The closest dart to the bull gets that privilege. My first dart was a bullseye. So was Cristy’s. I threw again and hit another bullseye. So did she. My third throw (I’m the black darts) was just above the bull and Cristy’s was a bit further away, so I got to start. Not that going first makes a big difference at the amateur level of play, but our battle for the right to start was indicative of how we would fight each other throughout the afternoon.

In other news, I rented a place for “mama” today. It’s 3000 pesos a month and includes electricity and water. It’s off Baloy beach road in an area where “mama” has been known to frequent. In fact, the landlady and one of the neighbors I’m friends with both know of her. My friend has promised to help keep an eye on “mama”. There is an eatery on the corner that “mama” has visited as well, so hopefully she’ll feel at home in the neighborhood.

Anyway, I’m getting some extra keys made. I’ll leave one with the neighbor and I’ll keep one. I’ll get a cushion to go on top of the wooden bed frame and a shower curtain for the CR. Probably pick up a plastic chair while I’m at it. I expect “mama” will still spend most of her time on the street, but at least she’ll have a safe space to sleep in. If she adapts well and actually uses the place as intended, I’ll spring for a small refrigerator and any other appropriate creature comforts. Commenter Kevin noted when I mentioned this plan that when it comes to housing the homeless, good intentions are rarely enough. People become homeless for a reason. That may very well prove to be the case with “mama”. Still, I saw her on the street last night and told her I was looking for a place and she was very excited at the prospect. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. I’m not out much if she winds up preferring the street life.

Speaking of rentals, I’m not sure how serious I am about moving when my lease expires. I like the Alta Vista lifestyle and I’m comfortable enough where I am, I suppose. But there is a house for sale up the street that I think I’d like to live in if the owner (who I understand lives in the Netherlands) is willing to do a long-term lease. I’ve got his email address now so I’ll shoot out an inquiry and see what happens.

I’ve never been inside, but I’m sure it has at least three bedrooms and all the space I need. And the view from that deck must be spectacular. There’s a house under construction across the street that I walked through this morning, and this is the view from upstairs:

Well, it’s nice to dream. We’ll see what happens.

That’s about it from here. Except for the crap I’ve been posting on Facebook.

Nothing like having the freedom to post what you want, just to get the dialog going. Right, Wokesters?

I’ll be back with more tomorrow. Thanks for dropping by!

A great night of darts yesterday. I threw a coveted 180 (highest possible score), which by my reckoning, makes four this year already. That’s usually my annual output. Even rarer and more unusual than a 180; we made it through the entire tournament without losing a single leg (a match is best of three, we never lost once). A special night indeed!

I treated myself to a Sunday morning breakfast out today at the Jewel restaurant. I was faced with a dilemma: banana pancakes or French toast? This was my solution:

Sometimes you’ll see something on the internet that just really hits home in an “if the shoe fits, wear it” kinda way.

Congratulations to Donald Trump on beating the impeachment rap for the second time. Even more impressive is that he did it once as President and once when he wasn’t even in office. Amazing! Of course the whole thing was a farce as this video makes abundantly clear:

Anyway, I’m glad I am so far away from all the madness. I honestly can not imagine ever living in the USA again. I probably wouldn’t in the best of times either, but I ain’t about to be woke. Or even pretend to be. What I have been enjoying is throwing the occasional grenade out at my lefty Facebook friends just to give them a taste of the bullshit they dispensed for the previous four years.

I stole the above meme from Kevin Kim’s blog. Speaking of Kevin, I’ve been a long-term project of his when it comes to improving my grammar. Especially punctuation, and commas in particular. You may have noticed his comment to my post yesterday for example. I am trying to improve, but my failure rate is still quite high. I struggled mightily trying to get the first paragraph of today’s post right. Not sure that I succeeded.

Anyway, I mention this because a friend had posted this video on his Facebook timeline this morning. I’d actually seen it before but it was still enjoyable to watch it again, especially if dark humor is your thing. I did check to see if I had posted it here on LTG previously and didn’t find it. Now, Kevin proudly wears the mantle of “grammar Nazi”, so this one is for you!

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

The dart tournament at Alley Cats last night proved to be quite the adventure. Well, as adventurous as throwing sharply pointed projectiles in a drinking establishment can be anyway. I drew Espie as a partner once again. We’ve enjoyed our share of success in previous tourneys notwithstanding our inexplicable bouts of inconsistency.

Alright, what do I mean by inconsistency? Here’s as good an example as any. I threw a ton-80, my second of the year, last night. That’s 180 points, three triple 20s, the highest score possible in the game of 501 we were playing, and a very rare event for us amateurs. So you’d think I was on my game. But my very next throw was something ridiculous like a 26 or some such bullshit. Still, with a 200+ point lead, you’d think the game was in the bag. But in this case, you would be wrong.

For those readers who don’t know the 501 game, it works like this: You start with 501 points. You throw your three darts, add up the total of your throw (e.g., a 20, a 1, and a 5=26) then subtract that from the 501. You continue throwing and deducting until you reach zero to win the game. The catch is you have to throw a “double out” to reach zero. That’s often harder than you’d think and there are lots of strategies on how to set yourself up for the win. For example, once you get below 100 points you want to leave yourself on an even number because every possible out is even.

In the first round of the tourney last night, Espie and I faced off against Troy and his partner, Jerlyn. Troy is a good darter but based on the Singles League stats, I can make a good argument that I’m better. Jerlyn is wild–she or no one else ever knows where her darts will land, although she does generally hit the board. Jerlyn seems to have more than her share of luck though–throws at the 20, misses wildly but hits a triple 18 for 54 points kind of thing. Espie is a much more reliable darter. So, I was quite confident we would prevail in the match.

It started off well enough, with us winning the first leg (a tourney match is the best of 3 games, aka “legs”). In the second leg I threw my ton-80, Espie was hitting big, and we were sitting on a 32 out (double 16). Troy and Jerlyn were still in the 200s at this point. Now, strategically a 32 is one of the most popular outs to strive for because you have some margin for error. If you throw a fat 16, your next out, a double 8, is right above it. Miss that, you’ve still got one dart left to throw at the double 4. Anyway, despite our numerical and strategic advantage my partner and I failed to throw the outshot on several consecutive throws thereby allowing our opponents to close the gap and eventually win the leg. In the third leg, Espie and I both went cold simultaneously which ultimately led to our defeat and banishment to the losers bracket.

Darts is a funny game sometimes. As we fought our way back through the losers bracket we faced off against opponents that seemed much stronger than Troy and Jerlyn and defeated them all rather handily. Meanwhile, Troy and Jerlyn continued to play well and made it to the finals undefeated. And that’s where we met them again in the championship round. Except we would have to beat them twice to win. And that’s exactly what we managed to do.

Well, I’ll be damned. When is the last time I devoted a whole post to darts? I guess it’s an indication of some of that old enthusiasm creeping back into my life. I spent the morning preparing the schedules and spreadsheets for the upcoming second half of the Barretto Singles League. I’m also going to have some custom shirts designed and made for the players. I’ve got my shirts for the previous iterations of the league in Columbia, SC, and Seoul. Yes, this singles league format is something I created from scratch and I admit I’m kind of proud of it in a daddy-like fashion.

And as if I didn’t feel guilty enough about blowing off my walking yesterday because of a little rain, Facebook reminded me of what I was enduring three years ago in Pyeongtaek.

No rain today though so no excuses.

So yeah, doing 12K in two bites is just about my speed. I was kinda bragging here the other day about doing that 12K Friday walk and then Kevin Kim posted about his 27K hike as if it were nothing. I bow before the master!

I’ll be back.

Yesterday I completed my final match in Round 1 of the inaugural season of the Barretto Singles League. For Round 2, I’ll be taking the top six finishers for one division and the bottom six for the other division and everyone will play the others in their division twice. That’s the real season, this first round was essentially just to let people play into the division where they belong so things are fair, balanced, and competitive.

That said, I will either finish first or second in Round 1 play–Cristy has one more match to play and could still catch me. Not that it matters, I’ll be in the top division regardless. Actually, Cristy is throwing great darts of late and I consider her to be the top player in the league skills-wise. I’m still not satisfied with my consistency but I’m maybe needing to lower my expectations a bit. I remember being better than I am now but then again, my memory ain’t what it used to be either.

So, here’s an example of what I’m talking about. Yesterday I played Nancy. She’s a solid player but struggles at times (don’t we all?). I expect she will also finish in the top six. This is how our match came down:

On Tuesday I played Jo, another very good player. She has really impressed me with the improvement in her game I’ve witnessed this season.

And enjoy the beers that I call aiming fluid!

After darts, I had my weekly fix of pork chops at Mangos and watched the sun go down on another day.

I was in bed at 7:30 last night, exhausted from all those beers I drank darts I threw. Up a little after 4:00 a.m. to start another day. Coffee and the internet, what a combination! I saw this and liked it:

And I posted these quotes from Martin Luther King to honor his birthday. A man who was clearly ahead of his time. The unity he devoted his life to achieving is exactly what is now being dismantled for reasons I honestly cannot fathom.

But here in my world called the Philippines, there are other questions to consider:

Well, I’m kidding of course. After all, age is just a number. All the girls tell me so.

As I enjoyed my breakfast at Harley’s, looking out over the bay, it occurred to me–I am one lucky son-of-a-bitch. Perhaps I am finally beginning to grasp the concept of living in the moment and enjoying life for what it is.

Alright, time to head out for the Friday dart tournament at Alley Cats. I’m going to try and enjoy my game for what it is at the moment too!

Update: Cristy just finished her last match and sent me the scoresheet. It appears we are going to finish Round 1 tied. That’s pretty awesome!

…and yesterday’s gone.

Luckily I have some photographs to document the interesting moments that took place. Such as they were.

I played darts in the Alley Cats tourney and drew a strong partner, Billy. We faced off against Cristy and Nancy in the first round. Now, Cristy is probably the best player in Barretto right now and Nancy is a good player, although she can be a tad inconsistent. They royally kicked our ass and sent us to the loser’s bracket. I figured maybe we’d meet them in the finals but a team with an average player with a weak partner beat them. Just goes to show you can never predict the outcome of a darts match. Sometimes your hot, sometimes it’s like you never played the game before.

Anyway, we did meet Cristy and Nancy again in the losers bracket and got our revenge. Then we beat the team that had beat them and made it into the finals. We had to beat Espie and Liza twice to take the championship and that’s just what we did.

My new blender is back from the shop and I came home after darts and gave it a try. Loaded it up with frozen strawberry, mango, ice cream, and milk and let it rip. Those razor blades sliced and diced the contents in almost no time. The damn thing still scares the hell out of me though.

I think I might have mentioned my downstairs neighbor got a videoke (karaoke) machine as a gift. As I feared, loud and off-key singing has been the evening’s treat ever since. Last night I had to sleep with music playing in my headphones to drown out the noise. Well, that’s not gonna fly. Videoke is part of the culture here and the locals play it loud and long. One of the benefits of living in Alta Vista is you tend to be above all that noise, or at least you only hear it from a distance. When I agreed that the caretakers of the property could continue living downstairs, it was just Tony and his wife. Tony is dead now but the wife has had family, including small children, staying over frequently. It’s only a one-room accommodation, not sure how they manage it. So I’m either going to have to be a prick and evict her or move when it is time to renew my lease next month. Or maybe if I ask nicely they’ll knock off the bad singing most nights. We’ll see.

Oh, and my head is still shaking about this one. Apparently, the neighbor’s husband told her that someone told him she was fucking ME for money. What the hell? First of all, I’ve never been physical with the neighbor’s wife at all. I’ve not even heard from her since the day I took her to church last week. But why would I pay to have sex with a 40-something married woman? When I want to pay for sex, I have a couple of 20-something hotties I can call. I’m actually pretty damned offended by the accusation, it seems like defamation at a minimum. Haven’t decided what if anything to do about it. Not even sure who made the allegation, it just got relayed to me third hand through my helper. I am glad I took my reader’s advice and maintained my innocence though. Might be another motivation to move, however.

Somebody’s day started much worse than mine did:

Via Facebook memories I enjoyed this photo of me and some of my former staff at our Christmas party four years ago:

A rather pleasant walk this morning with Scott and Dan. I’ll post about that tomorrow. Now it is time to prepare for another darts tournament. Speaking of darts, Facebook reminded me that eight years ago I wrote the lyrics to a song called “A Hard Darts Night” after a tough tourney loss. And yeah, I stole the tune from the Beatles, sue me!

It’s been a hard darts night
And I’ve been throwing like a punk
It’s been a hard darts night
But at least I’m getting drunk
Yet when I get to the line
I think I’ll get it right this time
But I still miss the out

You know I throw all day
To win some money to buy my drinks
And when you lose it in the final leg
Well the money, it kind of stinks
And so I get home and moan
‘Cause I’m to blame alone
You know I can’t hit an out

When I practice, everything seems to be fine
In the games, I don’t have a clue at the line, yeah, yeah, yeah

It’s been a hard darts night
And I’m really having trouble
It’s been a hard darts night
‘Cause I can’t hit the f’n double
But I’ll be back for some more
Because I’m just a darts whore
And that makes me feel alright

Yeah, I won’t quit my day job. Oh, wait…

Coincidentally, today marks the 40th anniversary of John Lennon’s murder. RIP.