Black Rock, that is. Yesterday, the Friday hiking groups took a climb up to Black Rock Mountain, then down the other side, circling back to Barretto on a 7+ kilometer trek that looked like this:

Not a bad morning’s work. You can Relive it here if you like:

A drama-free night, which is always nice.

I was feeling unusually generous and ordered some food from Sit-n-Bull for delivery: chicken wings, chicken fingers, and shanghai lumpia. All the Alley Cats gals got a lady drink to wash the food down.

I popped into Alaska Club for a nightcap and was surprised and sad to see that I was the only customer on a Friday night. There were six dancers on stage with no one to dance for, so I gave them each a 50 peso tip to say thank you for the effort.

Then I called it a night and caught a trike home. In bed at the appointed hour and ready for whatever action today may bring. You’ll hear about it here, so come on back!

Well, what I mean is that yesterday I got stood up. Samantha, the young woman attending school for a degree in HR management, had agreed earlier in the week to meet me at Sit-n-Bull at 3 p.m. for a meal prior to her going to work. I arrived a few minutes early and sent her a message asking “are you coming?” She promptly responded, “where?” Um. I reminded her that she had agreed to meet up with me, and sent screenshots of our messages to that effect. She said she was still at school. “Aren’t you going to work?” I asked. She replied, “maybe I’ll go late or maybe not at all because I’m tired.” I just answered, “all right. Good luck.”

The purpose of the meet-up was so I could get a feel for whether she was legit and worthy of my support. Assuming she would prove to be, I also wanted to get some clarity on how much her education was costing and what kind of assistance she required. I guess in a backhanded way I got my answer. Maybe she just forgot our “date”, but damn, she didn’t even offer any apology. And to say you are just going to blow off work because you are tired does not sound like someone who has much future as a human resources professional. Pretty disappointing really. She sent me a message this morning asking if I would see her at work today and I told her I have darts tonight. I’ve kind of lost interest in this project now.

So, there I am sitting alone like a fool in Sit-n-Bull. I stayed until 4:00 but decided to go somewhere else to eat. John’s place is always a good option, so I took the longish walk across town and climbed the steps to the third-floor bar. I had a “buy one, get one” drink coupon to use there as well. I ordered the pulled pork sandwich and bought the girls behind the bar some fish tacos to share. It was all good as usual.

After finishing my beers I was ready to move on. It had been a while since I’d visited Cheap Charlies, so I made that my next stop. I sat down, ordered a beer, and was soon joined by a lovely young lady on either side of me. And yes, they were thirsty. So, we all drank together and watched the sun go down.

And then I saw the full moon.

After drinking my fill, I was ready to head out. The final coupons in my wallet dictated my destination–Thumbstar. This is a bar I don’t usually frequent, mostly because I don’t like the manager. And that dislike has nothing to do with the fact that he married my crush, Heidi. I believe the last time I visited this venue was when I did the Bars of Barretto review. My, how times have changed! The place was packed. I found a place along the wall to sit my lonesome behind down and take in the scene. My coupons (I had two) were “buy one lady drink, get two customer drinks”. That’s actually a pretty damn good deal, certainly good enough to get me in the door. But I’d have to find a worthy lovely to share in the bounty. I ordered up a beer and looked around to see what might be available. Heidi passed by and briefly greeted me before returning to a big spender’s table. I contented myself with watching the dancers on stage. One of them noticed me looking in her direction, grabbed her friend, and came down to join me. Problem solved I guess.

I’ve been coming to the Philippines since 2008 and have never experienced what happened next. The girls were both very aggressive in trying to spark my interest in spending time with them outside of the bar. Hands rubbing me below the waist, pulling down their tops and showing me their tits, lifting the skirt for a panty shot, and then pulling the panties aside for a pussy view. No thanks. That’s just not my style. Their efforts were having the opposite impact on me so I had no problem declining their entreaties to book a short time room upstairs, come home with me, or just go barhopping. I politely told them I wasn’t in the mood but did reward them with a second lady drink.

With the free drinks consumed, I headed out the door with my integrity (such as it is) intact. Did want to cleanse my palate though, so popped into Outback for one more before heading home. It was my first visit since being rudely treated by my “friend” the bartender. She wasn’t rude last night, but she wasn’t particularly friendly either. One of the waitresses was though and I enjoyed sharing a drink and some banter with her. That’s the difference between a regular bar and a girly bar. The girls aren’t available for “take out” in Outback so they have no reason to be aggressive in the pursuit of a customer. They are very happy to get a lady drink though and will laugh at your jokes in return. That’s a win-win in my book.

There was one strange thing that happened. This Filipino couple comes in to play pool. Both fully masked, which is not that unusual. The girl pulled hers down almost immediately, but the guy left his on (not even a true mask, a totally worthless bandana wrapped around his face). I probably wouldn’t have even noticed, but he came over to the bar for his beer, pulled the mask down, took a swig, and then pulled the mask back up. What an ignorant fool. The bar wasn’t even crowded.

Anyway, to each his own I suppose. It is nice to see the stupid self identify.

I had a solitary and pleasant enough flat walk of 9.5K to start my Thursday. I’ll let Relive tell that story.

Well, I guess I ought to give you the Easter mountain shot at least.

And yes, I did take time to stop and smell the flowers.

And that was my day. Not so typical, but not so bad when it was all said and done.

Made it through another whacked Wednesday. Pleasant enough hike with the Walers (pictures to follow), a 9-4 dart league victory, and then a drunken aftermath. Yeah, just another typical day in the life, right?

Our team is currently in first place in the standings. It occurs to me I shouldn’t be playing on a team because I honestly don’t give a shit about that. My teammates do though, and they get stressed over rolling up big numbers as we play a series of weaker teams in the coming weeks. So, by that standard, our 9-4 victory against Harley’s yesterday was a disappointment. Worse yet, it appears to me that this self-imposed domination goal is affecting the quality of our overall play. I keep telling my mates to just relax, have fun, and the victories will come on their own. So far the message doesn’t seem to be taking hold. Oh well, next season I will just be a substitute. I really don’t enjoy playing in the league all that much and it always makes for a stressful Wednesday to get there on time after the hike.

Yeah, that Jessa. A former girlfriend. I somehow managed to fuck that relationship up too. It was funny in a sad way when one of my teammates nodded toward Jessa and said, “you should go for that, she’d be perfect for you.”. Been there, done that. But honestly, I wouldn’t mind it if Jessa gave me another chance. I’ve put out some tentative feelers in that regard but she doesn’t appear interested in trying again. I don’t really blame her for that.

After darts, me and Kevin went across the street to Da’Kudos for some dinner. The place was deserted. Even the familiar faces of the waitresses I know were missing.

There was a guy behind the bar, so we sat there. I had a club sandwich which was okay, but not as good as Sit-n-Bull. After our meal, Kevin left to go play in the Alley Cats tournament. So I moved next door to Johan’s for a change of scenery. Reyna, one of the gals from the Hash, was there so I joined her at the bar and we enjoyed some beers and banter together. She’s a nice gal and a widow who has dropped some pretty big hints that she’s interested. The attraction isn’t mutual, but I like her as a friend.

Jessa asked if I was going to stop by Lagoon on the way home and I told her I would. Not sure why she wanted me to because she pretty much ignored me. There was a female singer on the stage who was quite talented. I had her sing “I will always love you” and dedicated it to Jessa. Yeah, I was pretty drunk by this point. The best thing for me to do was to catch a trike and go home. I did get a trike but had it drop me off at Queen Victoria. Hey, I had a beer card to finish using. My favorite, Tin-Tin, is no longer working there. I asked the manager why and was told “she didn’t follow the rules”. He later said she came in late and left early. Okay then. But none of the other girls gave me the time of day during my visit. A friendly gal can always get a lady drink or two out of me. That’s money in the bank for the bar. Too bad. I don’t have much reason to go back there now.

So, that was my night. Drunker than usual, but again, I blame darts. Starting at 1:00 just throws me off schedule. Here are the hike photos I promised:

That’s it for now. I’m supposed to have an early dinner with Samantha, the college student I mentioned, before she goes to work today. We’ll see if she shows up.

I hope life treats you kind
And I hope you have all you've dreamed of
And I'm wishing you joy and happiness
But above all this, I wish you love

And I... will always love you

Yesterday’s Hash began and traveled through the hillside cemetery in the Kalaklan barangay near the old Navy base. It’s a big place filled with crypts and tombs of the dearly departed.

We climbed the steps and crawled up and over some of the crypts in our journey to the top. Of course, reaching the top was only the beginning of our hot and hard Hash trail, courtesy of an Angeles Hasher named Two Bottles. For the folks who did the entire trail, it came in at over 12K. My version was a still tough 7K.

After exiting the cemetery and hiking the Kalaklan ridge road, I shortcut back down the mountain and through the streets of Barretto before making my way to our On-Home at the Viking Resort on Baloy Beach. It was a tough trail, but at least it didn’t kill me.

And so it goes and so it went. Today’s another day, let’s see what happens next.

That’s what I’ve been reduced to. Or at least I was yesterday. But I went home with some money in my pocket, so I guess I was successful in my efforts.

The fiasco with the ATM last Tuesday left me short on my weekly funds. I was just about out of cash yesterday so I decided to hike the highway to Subic town and visit the BPI ATM there. Sunday sucks for both being on the highway and using the money machine. After a hot 5K walk dodging traffic, I was confronted with a line of several people waiting to withdraw money. I think I’ve mentioned before that generally speaking, Filipinos are the slowest I’ve ever seen operating an ATM. Most of the people in front of me would insert their cards and do a “check balance” transaction, with a printed receipt. Then they would re-insert the card and do a money withdrawal. Some of them actually would pull out a second card and repeat the process. Makes for a frustrating wait for a man of little patience. I was also afraid the machine would run out of cash before it was my turn. That didn’t happen though, and I walked away with a wallet full of pesos.

I’ll confess that the hike out to Subic was so unpleasant that I took a Jeepney back to Barretto. A quiet afternoon at home and then I was ready to roll out and use up some bar coupons. First stop was Hideaway. It’s on the far side of Barretto so I was able to make up some of the steps I had wimped out on earlier in the day. On the way, I stopped at Shamboli’s Pizza and ordered a large Hawaiian (don’t look at me like that, it was for the girls and they love pineapple on their pizza) for delivery.

The pizza came and the girls were pleasantly surprised. It was disappearing from the box so fast I barely managed to get a picture.

I had also promised Joy that I’d help her pay for a PhilHealth insurance plan for her and her kids. 1500 pesos buys the first three months, so she’s covered for now.

Since it was Sunday I wanted to once again participate in the raffle at It Doesn’t Matter. Hey, I’m kind of addicted to those bar coupons now. Got there in plenty of time to purchase my tickets (6 for 500 pesos) and wait for the drawing. And wait I did. I guess the time is kind of fluid because six o’clock came and went and no tickets had been pulled. I went inside to see what was happening and got a look at this week’s prizes–5 bottles of booze and NO bar coupons. What the hell? So, I told my waitress friend Agnes she could have my tickets and keep any prize she won in the drawing. I saw later that none of my tickets had been drawn anyway. Oh well, the money collected is for a good cause.

After leaving IDM, I popped into The Green Room. I still had two tickets to expend there and I got down to business. My “friend” Samantha was nowhere to be seen, so I tried to send her a message on Facebook. That’s when I discovered she had unfriended me. Hmm. No idea what that’s all about, but I didn’t shed any tears either.

In due course, a young gal came to my table and asked do you remember me? I kinda did. Last time I was here I had asked for “Samantha” and she had responded, “I’m Samantha”. The wrong one then, but the only one now, so I asked her to join me. I had a lady drink coupon I need to use anyway.

We did have an interesting chat. This Samantha is only 18 years old, which is kinda scary, but she turns 19 in June. Still a teenager though. In the course of our conversation, she told me she goes to school during the day and works at the bar to pay her tuition. Naturally, I asked what she was studying and she told me Human Resources Management. Hey! I’ve heard of that! I told her I’d retired as an HR manager and to let me know if I could help her in any way. So, now I have a new Samantha as my Facebook friend.

We chatted a bit this morning and she seems legit. Don’t get the wrong idea here. I am not interested in dating or even fucking a teenager. One thing I’ve wanted to do since moving here was to find a worthy student to sponsor. And a chance meeting with someone who wants to be an HR professional is pretty cool. It must be hard to go to school all day and work all night. Once I get a feeling that she is trustworthy I’ll consider providing some tuition assistance so she can focus more on school than the bar. Right now it is a wait-and-see situation. Might try and arrange a lunch meeting with her to discuss how we might proceed. Stay tuned.

I moved next door to Wet Spot to use my last coupon in that venue. I had it in my mind that Aine was off on Sunday so I was surprised when she almost immediately showed up at my table. That’s okay, I bought her a drink and we chatted. The waitress from Sit-n-Bull came around so we ordered a light dinner (a burrito for me, nachos for her). Daddy Dave wasn’t there but the manager, Brett, sent a free beer to my table. A good strategy, because I wound up staying long enough to order another lady drink for Aine while I finished my beer.

Just another night in paradise, and I’m glad to be here enjoying it.

Hash Monday coming up next. Not sure what to expect, but it does involve a truck ride to Olongapo and that means we’ll be climbing the Kalaklan ridge at some point. On-Home is at Viking on Baloy, so it is going to be a long walk for sure. More about that tomorrow.

What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us.–Ralph Waldo Emerson

Yesterday was a full and mostly pleasurable day. It was nice to have someone with me on the hike. The group was more than a little taken aback when I came strolling up hand in hand with a cutie pie. A similar reaction when I brought her with me to Alley Cats for the darts tournament. The gals really seemed to take a liking to Lyn right away, especially the ones who are also from her home province of Samar. The guys seemed impressed as well. It’s been a long time since I had someone cheering me on during a match. I could never get my ex-girlfriend to come out and join me.

Lyn hasn’t ever been a dart player, but she showed a lot of interest in the game. During my warmup time, she joined in throwing at the board. As a complete beginner, she didn’t have much control, but with practice, I’m sure she’d develop some skills for the game. Once the tournament began, she watched the games intently and asked questions, so the interest is there.

As usual, over the course of the evening, I had moments of brilliance surrounded by demonstrations of complete ineptness. Still, I managed to come back and make it to the finals. Nancy, one of the better players participating, knocked me into the losers bracket. I met her again in the finals and took the first match 2-0. Prior to the deciding match, I asked if she’d prefer to split the money and call it a tie. She agreed.

As I mentioned above, Lyn was an enthusiastic participant in the Friday group hike. I was really quite impressed with her strength and stamina on a more difficult than usual trail and on a hot day. What I liked the most was she hung with me at the back of the pack, offering support along the way (doing things like wiping the sweat off my face and offering words of encouragement). My former Hashing girlfriend did her own thing and I rarely saw her until we were back at the On-Home venue. So again, I really appreciated Lyn’s caring nature.

We were attempting a trail that no one has tried since 2013 or so, which made it completely new to me. We went up into the hills near Naugsol with the intent to circle back around through Subic town. Things don’t always go according to plan. Somewhere early in our quest to the summit of the first hill, we lost our trail. Obviously, no one had been up that way in quite some time, so our path was obscured by thickets of bamboo and jungle-like vines and plants. The worst of the latter was covered in thorns and those fuckers were unforgiving should you have the misfortune of touching them. Pricks in my fingers and one even poked a hole in my ear. I also had a thorny branch stick its bristles in my shirt and it was a helluva battle to free myself without actually touching the damn thing. Anyway, bushwhacking is my least favorite activity on these hikes and it is something we usually can avoid. I felt bad for Lyn and told her that most of our hikes are a lot more pleasant than this one. She didn’t seem to mind, saying it reminded her of her childhood walks with her father in rural Samar.

Let’s go to the photos then, shall we?

Despite the missed trail and hard work making our way through the jungle, it was a fun hike. Thanks for joining us, Lyn.

Lyn left for home this afternoon. More thoughts to share on our time together tomorrow.

Here’s how things went down on my lazy Tuesday (lazy in the sense that I take a day off from hiking).

It’s grocery shopping day, and my driver picks me up at 8:30. Part of my weekly routine is to cash up at the BPI ATM at Harbor Point Mall. I’ve gotten into this habit because the only BPI ATM in Barretto is so predictably unreliable that I don’t trust It with my debit card. I use BPI because it allows a 20,000 peso withdrawal limit (the other banks have 10,000 max). So, since I only have the convenience of a functioning ATM once a week, I make two 20,000 pulls (around $800. total) and that’s usually enough to cover my bills and expenses for the week. The only downside is that BPI charges 250 pesos a pop, so my cash infusion costs me ten bucks. Yeah, there are cheaper ways to wire money but they have drawbacks too. Anyway, I’ve been using this method since the move here and it generally works out alright.

So, yesterday I make the first withdrawal, put the 20,000 in my wallet, and reinsert my card for the second pull. I can hear the ATM whirring as it prepares to complete my transaction, and then nothing comes out. The screen says “unable to dispense cash”, my card pops back out, and I get a receipt saying “transaction canceled.” Okay, I figure the machine just didn’t have enough money left in it. Still, I had a bad feeling so I had my driver take me to the BPI branch on the old Navy base. And when I tried to make a withdrawal there I got a “non-sufficient funds” message. As I feared, the first ATM had withdrawn the funds from my account but didn’t dispense them. Shit.

I had my driver take me back to the Harbor Point BPI branch so I could seek to have my money returned. Arrived at 9:20, but the bank didn’t open until 10:00. So, I went to Royal and did my shopping, then came back to the bank. Got there shortly after they opened but still had to wait my turn in the customer service line. When my turn came, I explained what happened, showed my “failed to dispense” receipt, and asked for my money back. I was given a form to fill out and when it was completed I was told I should see my money returned within two weeks. Alright, well, I guess I’ll just have to wait and see. I did report what happened to my bank in the USA too. This is not the kind of excitement I’ve been looking for in my life!

Got home and just lazed around waiting for darts time to come around. I usually try to arrive by 4:00 so I have time to practice/warm up before the tourney starts. A little after 3:00 I heard the ominous rolling of thunder. Looked outside and saw storm clouds on the horizon. Decided I’d best head for Alley Cats sooner rather than later so I could avoid getting soaked.

I hustled as fast as these old legs would carry me and almost made it to Alley Cats before the raindrops started falling on my head. I was lucky because a few minutes after I arrived there was a cloudburst with drenching rainfall accompanied by thunder and lightning. Geez, it seems like only yesterday I was complaining about the heat. Oh wait, I was.

Did my darts warm-ups and just wasn’t feeling it. I probably wouldn’t have stayed to play except it was still raining outside. Oh well, I figured I’d just get my ass kicked, get out early, and start using some of those coupons I won at the raffle. Alas, I played well enough to stay in the tourney until the end.

I’m not sure what got into me, but I was hungry and planning on doing my Sit-n-Bull thing, so I blurted out “anyone care to join me?” And the entire Alley Cats crew responded affirmatively. So, I stood by as they shut down the bar, then we headed up the highway for some grub.

I was a little nervous that I wouldn’t have enough cash for the meal. I saw owner Ron and asked if they took credit cards and he said “no, but we can work it out. If need be, come by and pay me tomorrow.” Well, okay. That’s an option. Then I remembered there was an ATM outside. I got on my bank’s phone app and transferred some money into my checking account, then went to the ATM. “Out of service”. Hmm, just not my day for electronic banking I guess. Oh well, I’d just work out any shortage with Ron later.

When the bill came I was indeed about 1500 pesos short (the total was 5700 before tip). Kevin (at the far end of the table) chipped in the difference and we were good to go. Dinner for nine for about 120 bucks ain’t bad though.

I went home alone as usual and woke up alone again. That may not be the case tonight. That gal I met from Angeles a couple of weeks back wants to come to visit again. Plans to arrive today. Not sure how long she is staying, maybe through the weekend. We’ll see how that goes.

In the meantime, I’ll just continue to live the life of a single man.

Stay tuned for more adventures!

Perhaps the standard for what constitutes a “win” has been set too high. Maybe my purpose in life is to lower that bar. After all, losing and winning is really just a point of view. Some folks might consider me a loser, but as meaningless and pointless as my day was yesterday, it had some highlights. I’ll call that a win!

I usually don’t start my afternoon routines until around 5 p.m., and by “routine” I of course mean visiting my favorites bars. I started a little early yesterday, leaving the house a bit after three. My helper had prepared a pancake breakfast that I enjoyed after my morning hike. I skipped lunch but opted for an early dinner before the serious work of beer consumption commenced.

While I was eating, Joy from Hideaway messaged me and asked what I was doing. I shared the photo from above with her and she was quite envious. It was kind of cruel I suppose because I know she loves the club from Sit-n-Bull. I hadn’t intended to visit Hideaway–it’s on the far side of town and I had just been there the previous night. But I couldn’t finish the whole sandwich, so I decided to surprise Joy with the leftover portion. I also picked up a couple of roasted chickens from Chooks To Go so the other girls had something to eat as well.

I did my usual three beers (and three lady drinks) and out routine. There was only one other customer at Hideaway, but he was another big-spending tourist, so the other girls were taking full advantage (lots of double lady drinks). They did enjoy my chicken contribution to their party though, so I was glad for that.

Next stop was It Doesn’t Matter. I had forgotten that a local motorcycle club, The 8 Deamons, holds a raffle drawing every Sunday. The proceeds go to a local charity, a burn unit in Subic, so it’s all for a good cause. One of the members made a “last call” for tickets announcement. They are 100 pesos each, or six for 500 pesos. I was just going to buy one, but the member told me the raffle jar was very empty this week. I liked those odds, so I bought six tickets. At the drawing, two of my tickets were pulled, both for discount coupons at various local bars. The other prizes were bottles of booze, so I preferred the coupons. Another winner, the guy who had sold me the tickets, also gave me his coupon pack. I guess my friend Roan won too because she gave me some more coupons.

Let’s see where I’ll be going: Hot Zone, Wet Spot, John’s Steak and Sushi, Thumbstar, The Green Room, Hideaway, Alaska Club, and Sit-n-Bull. They are all “buy 1, get 1” deals on drinks (some customer drinks, some for lady drinks) except for Sit-n-Bull which is good for a 15% discount on food. It will be a challenge, but I will find a way to consume my winnings somehow.

It’s Hash Monday, so I just did a 5K walk to Baloy Beach and back this morning.

Can you count all the wins in this post? I’m a lucky bastard, that’s for sure!

…one more time.

If you look hard enough though you’ll see things to keep it interesting.

As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, when I returned home from my morning walk I discovered I had no access to the internet. A couple of hours of being disconnected from the world later, I headed back into town and used the WiFi at Outback. Later in the afternoon, the internet was restored at my place and life was back to normal. It being beer o’clock on a Saturday afternoon, I made my way once again to Barretto.

I honestly wasn’t sure what I wanted to do or where to do it. I considered starting with some food at Sit-n-Bull, but I wasn’t really all that hungry. So, I went upstairs to BarCelona to contemplate my immediate future. I hadn’t seen Samantha for a while, so that would be another plus. Except she wasn’t there. A waitress who didn’t even know my name(!) brought me a beer and disappeared. And when I finished my beer she still hadn’t come back. I took the bottle out of the coozie so someone might notice it was empty, but no luck. When waving it around didn’t draw any attention, I gave up and went to the cashier to pay. Yeah, I could have gone to the bar to order, but why should I have to? BarCelona could be a great place to hang out, but it is very poorly managed. This is not the first time I’ve had service issues there. I doubt I’ll be back anytime soon.

Back on the street and still undecided about where to go, I started walking up the highway. Passed by It Doesn’t Matter and wasn’t feeling it, so I kept going. Hesitated at Blue Butterfly but didn’t stop. Ran into “mama” and gave her the usual100 pesos, but when another beggar approached, I rudely rejected her pleas. I was in a grumpy mood, but no excuse for that behavior. I felt bad enough to look for her later but she was gone. Shame on me.

I wound up at Hideaway and Joy gave me an enthusiastic welcome. I got one of the few seats left at the bar and Joy pulled up a stool beside me and grabbed some napkins to wipe the sweat off my neck, then gave me a nice back rub. That softened my mood and naturally, I rewarded her with lady drinks.

After three beers I was ready to move on. Next stop: Cheap Charlies. Yes, indeed, things are getting back to normal around here. Some “two-week millionaire” tourist had every girl in the bar surrounding him as he plied them with lady drinks. I noticed several of those were bottled beers that cost twice as much as the standard lady drink (I never buy doubles as a matter of principle, but will usually get the girl two singles. Yeah, that’s how I roll.) Anyway, there would be no company for me with the big spender present and I’m okay with that.

So, even with all the girls busy with their benefactor, someone would always come by to bring me a refill on my beer. That’s the way it should be and something the staff at BarCelona should learn.

In a weird coincidence, while I’m drinking at Cheap Charlies I got a message from Samantha, the gal I had looked for at BarCelona. I hadn’t heard from her in a couple of weeks. As I suspected, she no longer worked there. Instead, she is now employed at The Green Room, a bar I very infrequently visit (I prefer the next-door venue, Wet Spot). She asked if I would come by and see her there and I promised that I would later on.

My next stop though was Hot Zone. I had a “buy one, get one” coupon I wanted to use. It was nice to see the girls on stage again even if there were only a couple of other customers present. It was still early for a Saturday and Hot Zone is more of a late-night venue. Not that I ever see late-night these days. Drank my two beers and treated my friendly waitress to a lady drink, then I was off to The Green Room.

Wow. The place was packed! I felt lucky to find an empty seat. Ordered a beer and a couple of GROs (guest relations officers) approached to ascertain if I might be interested in their company. I told them I was looking for Samantha, but they’d never heard of her. Hmm. About that time, Sam came over saying she hadn’t recognized me because I’d put on some weight. Thanks for noticing! Turns out, she’d only been working two days here and that’s why her co-workers didn’t know her name. About this time, the waitress from Sit-n-Bull came by. I ordered us a pizza to eat and share.

So, did a little drinking and caught up with Sam. The circumstances of her departure from BarCelona only confirmed my poor management thesis and convinced me they have no intention or desire to improve. And screwing an employee out of wages is completely unacceptable. Fuck them!

It was time for me to go, and on the way out I popped into the CR (which is located in Wet Spot) to take a leak. As I was leaving Wet Spot, Daddy Dave (the owner of both venues) called me over to his table and bought me a beer. Always a pleasure to chat with him and get the lowdown on what’s happening in town. The big news is the SOB dance competitions will be starting up again soon. That’s always a fun way to spend an evening.

My 9:00 p.m. bedtime was fast approaching so I said my goodnights and headed home. Made a smoothie (banana/mango/pineapple) as my nightly treat and called it a day.

Oh well. Just me trying to make the best of things and doing what I do best.

And when you're looking for your freedom
(Nobody seems to care)
And you can't find the door
(Can't find it anywhere)
When there's nothing to believe in
Still you're coming back, you're running back
You're coming back for more

So put me on a highway
And show me a sign
And take it to the limit one more time

I had to make the journey here unexpectedly, but I had no choice. My internet is downunder at home. Usually, I can use my phone as a mobile hotspot, but bizarrely, my data is not working either. I didn’t realize I was so internet-addicted until I lost all avenues of access. Plus, I owe my faithful readers a post here at LTG, so here I am.

So, I brought the laptop but forgot the mouse. And using the fingerpad on the keyboard is not my thing, especially when it comes to saving photos I posted on FB to upload here. For that reason, I’m only going to be able to share one picture from the Friday hike:

It was a nice 8k hike and you can see most of the photos I’m not posting on the Relive video.

When I arrived for Friday night darts, Anabelle asked me if I wanted to play some warm-up games. She’s never done that before! I beat her three times, then bought her a beer. Pretty sure that was her real motivation anyway.

So, the tournament format is a blind draw. Basically, we all draw a number and are assigned partners based on what we pick–i.e., 1 and 2 are a team, 3 and 4, etc. In the last two tourneys, I drew Anabelle and we wound up winning both times. Against all odds, we actually partnered up again last night. It is almost as if the fates are forcing us to spend time together. Not that I mind. Well, the fates can’t dictate the winner though, and neither of us played particularly well last night.

Anyway, as I’ve said before, I had hoped to hook up with Anabelle as my GF four years ago. From my perspective, she blew me off. From hers, I gave up too easily. I’ve thought about giving it another shot but rumor has it she has a “sponsor”. If so, I don’t want to engage in that kind of drama. Take me or leave me. I’m your first choice or no choice.

Anabelle can match me beer for beer, I’ll grant her that.

After darts, I crossed the highway and made my way to Mango’s. I’d worked up a hunger and my waiter didn’t even offer me a menu: “Sir John, may I offer you grilled pork chops with mashed potatoes and steamed veggies?” If you insist.

After dinner, I moseyed down to Queen Victoria. My two favorites were nowhere to be seen. So, I asked my manager friend about them and she said they had both been fired. I didn’t ask for details. Finished my beer and left.

I wasn’t quite ready to go home just yet though. My mountaingirl friend that I’ve been supporting told me her cousin was working at Rosie’s, a bar I almost never frequent. It was nearby, so why not pop in and have a look?

I was surprised at how busy the bar was. I also didn’t remember the cousin’s name, so I sent mountain girl a message asking again. “Ann”. I asked the nearest gal I saw if Ann was around and she said, “I’m Ann”. Well, there you go. I sat her down at my table and bought her a drink. Twenty years old is out of my range though, and she looked even younger. She thanked me for the help I’ve been giving her cousin. We took a picture and I said goodnight.

And that’s the latest news from this iteration of my so-called life.

Jesus never made it out of the Mideast, so that’s progress! Happy Easter!

It was like old times last night at Alley Cats. The place was packed and we even had enough players to have a doubles tournament. It’s great to see some of the old faces returning from exile.

I honestly wasn’t that close to Alan before he left. He used to get on my ass about vaping in the bar (which I had the owner’s permission to do) and I just blew him off as another whining liberal Yankee (I believe he’s a New Yorker). So, I was somewhat taken aback by his “let’s go, Brandon!” shirt. Good to know he’s on the right side! And since I don’t vape anymore we should get along just fine.

I had a good warm-up session prior to the tourney and was hopeful that my mysteriously disappeared ability to throw a decent game had returned after a two-week vacation. I did throw much better than I have been. My partner wasn’t particularly strong, but she had some big throws now and again. So, I was pleasantly surprised to make it through the night undefeated.

I met Anabelle playing darts as a tourist before I moved here. I actually tried dating her shortly after my arrival as a resident. Went out once and then she blew me off. I still don’t know why. I asked her again last night what happened and she insists it was just a misunderstanding. Hmm.

After the tournament, I hustled down to Sit-n-Bull to pick up my reserved pecan pie. It was there waiting for me. It was starting to drizzle a little and there were no trikes outside waiting, so I decided to pop into Wet Spot for a beer. Owner Dave was there so we exchanged pleasantries and he provided my second beer on the house. I was also joined by my “regular” Wet Spot girl.

By the time I made it home my helper had already emptied the crockpot and put the pot roast in the fridge. Oh well, I wasn’t that hungry anyway. And I still had my dessert:

As far as I know, there is no law against having pot roast for breakfast. So that’s just what I did.

I did a short 6K walk this morning, mostly in the Santa Monica subdivision. It’s been a while since I’ve hiked those streets.

I’ve been invited to my neighbor’s house for Easter dinner this afternoon. Ed told me I was in charge of dessert. That can only mean one thing: brownies!

Everything is ready for my Easter except me. I’d best shower up and roll on out of here. Thanks for coming by!

After all, it can’t get much gooder than Friday, right? Alright, I’ll leave my punniness be and get to the real stuff. And I’ve got lots of pictures to share, so let’s do it:

The dart bar was closed last night, so I decided to visit my friend Joy at the Hideaway Bar. She’d been sending me sad messages about not having money for an Easter meal with her family. So I figured she could use some lady drink commission. How do you get to Hideaway? Glad you asked!

I stayed long enough to buy her three drinks and tipped her enough to buy the food for her Easter meal. Mission accomplished!

My next stop was Cheap Charlies. I arrived in time to watch the sun pull its disappearing act.

It being Good Friday and with the local Catholic church located just up the highway, I guess I should not have been surprised to see an Easter-themed procession pass by on the street below. I didn’t really have a good angle for taking photos, but here is what I managed:

I had my beers, bought the girls some dinner, then headed on out. Next stop, Alaska Club. Not real busy there, but nothing really happening either. Some big spenders had brought all the dancers down from the stage and were plying them and the waitresses with lady drinks. I watched that shit show until I finished my beer, then said my goodbyes.

I finished my night out at Queen Victoria.

So, I successfully completed my beer quest while traversing Barretto from one end to the other. Not bad for an old guy, eh? It was indeed a good Friday.

So far today I have completed my morning jaunt, doing a 7K walkabout in San Isidro.

I’ve got a pot roast cooking in the crockpot. Been a long time since I’ve done one of those. Also made some cornbread to accompany the meal I’ll enjoy later this evening. I also got a message from Sit-n-Bull saying they had made a batch of pecan pies and asked if I wanted to reserve one. I responded affirmatively, so tonight’s dessert is taken care of too. That’s a nice benefit of being a regular customer and a Facebook friend of the owner.

Since I couldn’t play darts last night, I’ll make a rare appearance at the Saturday night tournament. Baking up a batch of my popular brownies for the girls as an Easter treat.

And that’s where things stand as of now. As promised, here are some photos from the Friday group hike for your enjoyment:

And that was that. You can Relive the hike here if you’d like:

That’s all I’ve got for now. I’ll be back like a bunny for Easter.

Greetings fellow travelers. Here are the latest happenings from my little corner of the world.

A nice hike this morning with the Friday group. I’ll share the photos from that adventure tomorrow, but here are a couple of things I saw relevant to the holiday.

Last night was my “first date” experience with Grace. She’s an interesting person, that’s for sure.

We met at John’s place. That was a bit of a problem logistically. Traffic was backed up for miles and there was a lack of Jeepneys available for some reason. I surmise they were taking the holiday off as well. Grace wound up taking a trike to and from Olongapo City.

The friends (one of mine, one of hers) who introduced me to Grace showed up and joined us. That was unexpected. It was fine but did add an element of weirdness to the evening.

So. I like Grace as a person but felt no attraction to her physically. She is a large woman, although she is taking steps to try and lose weight, including intermittent fasting. Am I really this shallow that the physical appearance of an otherwise perfectly fine woman would put me off having a relationship? I’m afraid so. I do hope that we can nurture our budding friendship though.

On the flip side of that coin, Marie, a woman I have no intellectual connection with, sent me a desperate message this afternoon. She says she has no food for her children and asked if she could see me. I guess I felt sorry for her, or horny, or both, and I agreed to let her come for a visit.

Maybe this is as good as it gets and I just need to embrace the shallowness of my life. I imagine some folks might even envy the freedom of a no strings attached lifestyle.

Alley Cats is closed for the holiday so there will be no darts in my immediate future. I guess I’ll celebrate the crucifixion of Jesus by turning beer into urine. It’s what I do best.