I’ll be heading out in a bit to Subic town for a meet-up with a group of Angeles City Hashers doing an outstation run today. You may recall I participated in the scouting mission for the trail last week and got my feet wet twelve times on creek crossings. I may choose a different path for myself this go-round. We’ll see how I feel about it when I get there.

In other news, I played darts again last night and threw better than my previous outing, although admittedly that’s not saying much. My partner and I were a little out of sync, but we played well enough to earn a spot in the championship round. Where we failed utterly and completely. So, the unlikely winning streak ends at four. We lost to two good players and there is no shame in finishing second. It did occur to me that wanting to win as badly as I did probably didn’t help my game. I tend to play my best when I don’t really give a shit if I win or lose. Go figure.

After darts, I visited Mango’s and enjoyed my weekly fix of pork chops. This week’s storm has moved on, but the high tides and rough waters will not soon be forgotten.

I had a bowl of cereal this morning for breakfast. Remember how reading the back of the box while eating was a thing? I was reminded of that when I saw this:

After I ate, it was dog walk time. There is a section of road here in the ‘hood with no traffic so I let the boys run free for a bit.

Anyway, not a bad morning in these parts. Here’s hoping the afternoon goes well too. Either way, you can read about it here tomorrow!

Thanks for stopping by.

There have been quite a few squalls around this past couple of days. Just when you think this storm track has finally moved on, another heavy downpour blows in and a few minutes later is gone. Until the next one arrives. Trying to decide when or if you can head outdoors is a crapshoot. I did carry my umbrella when I ventured out yesterday only to have it destroyed by the gusty wind. Talk about being tropically depressed!

Anyway, the weather is the weather. Nothing you can do about it but complain and now that I have done that, I’ll move on to something else. How about darts? Well, okay then!

I took the ill-fated (for my umbrella) stroll out to Baloy beach yesterday afternoon to participate in the tournament at Johan’s Dive Resort. That’s dive as in scuba dive, not that the place is a dump. it’s actually relatively new, and while not fancy, it is a clean and pleasant atmosphere. I kind of dreaded walking up Baloy road because I knew after all this rain the pothole-filled street would be flooded. And it was. I managed to keep my feet mostly dry by some creative maneuvering, until the umbrella fiasco. As I was trying to get the damn thing straightened out I stepped into a big puddle. Oh well.

It was the first time I’d participated in the Johan’s tourney. Their board setup isn’t ideal (people walking through to get to the restroom) and the lighting is barely adequate. It’s also an open-air type bar so the windy conditions made accurate throwing more of a challenge than normal. Which is not to make excuses, my game was off but that’s on me. I drew Vincent, a French guy from New Caledonia, as my partner. He threw somewhat better than I did but was also inconsistent. Luckily for us, when I was off, he was on and vice-versa. And that combination was good enough to prevail against all of our opponents in the tournament.

Actually, Vincent wasn’t supposed to have even been here. He left a couple of days ago to travel back home. Apparently, there is only one flight a week to New Caledonia which has imposed a pretty severe lockdown on the small island. He had a seat reserved on that flight from Japan. When he got to the airport in Manila to make that connection in Tokyo, they wouldn’t let him board. Why? Because his COVID swab test was from the Red Cross in Olongapo and Philippine Air only accepts test results from designated facilities in Manila. He’s not sure now when or if he’ll make it back home. Good luck with that!

Well, there are worse places to be stuck than here in my little town I suppose. Even when it rains you can find somewhere to play darts. Which I might do AGAIN this afternoon. Hey, I’m on a roll!

…but I’m holding on.

The relationship cycle:

When I was 13, I hoped that one day I would have a girlfriend with big tits.

When I was 16 I got a girlfriend with big tits, but there was no passion, so I decided I needed a passionate girl with a zest for life.
In college I dated a passionate girl, but she was too emotional. Everything was an emergency; she was a drama queen, cried all the time and threatened suicide. So I decided I needed a girl with stability.

When I was 25 I found a very stable girl but she was boring. She was totally predictable and never got excited about anything. Life became so dull that I decided that I needed a girl with some excitement.

When I was 28 I found an exciting girl, but I couldn’t keep up with her. She rushed from one thing to another, never settling on anything. She did mad impetuous things and made me miserable as often as happy. She was great fun initially and very energetic, but directionless. So I decided to find a girl with some real ambition.

When I turned 30, I found a smart ambitious girl with her feet planted firmly on the ground, so I married her. She was so ambitious that she divorced me and took everything I owned.

I am older and wiser now, and I am looking for a girl with big tits.

Bada bing! That’s an oldie, hope I haven’t used it here before.

So, there was a little break in the storm yesterday afternoon and I opened that window of opportunity and made my way to Alley Cats in time for the dart tournament. My partner, Nancy, and I played well enough to take home first place money. That’s back to back wins for me, but who’s counting? Little by little I’m getting my game back. Still nowhere near where I was in my prime, but not as bad as I recently have been either.

After darts, I braved the weather and took up my regular perch on the back patio of Mango’s.

Then the wind kicked up a notch and blew me back inside. Well, not literally, but you know what I mean. It was windy inside the regular bar too. It felt kinda like sticking your head out of the car window at 30 m.p.h. or so. One beer in those conditions was quite enough so I made my way home.

I’ve mentioned before that what I don’t like about these early afternoon dart tourneys is that they throw me off my rhythm. Starting my beer regimen at 2:00 versus 5:00 makes a world of difference. I was knackered when I got home and after a great strawberry-banana smoothie, I hit the hay before 8:00. And then I woke up at 2:00 a.m. and couldn’t get back to sleep. Came downstairs and noticed Buddy was sleeping just fine:

I went back to bed around 3:00 and I’ll be damned if that fucker Darius Rucker wasn’t singing “Wagon Wheel” yet again inside my head. It pissed me off that despite seriously trying to control my own brain I couldn’t turn it off. I finally had to go back downstairs for my headphones and play other music to drown him out. Weird shit.

It rained most of the night but this morning there was a respite right around dog walking time.

Back home and ready for breakfast. Well, a couple of days ago I had another order of American ribeye steaks delivered. They had been marinating since yesterday so I fired up the grill, waited a few minutes, then slapped on the meat.

After breakfast, I waited out another rain shower then hit the street. A commenter on yesterday’s post wondered why they didn’t use underground utility lines here to lessen service interruptions. So, I set about to document why:

Anyway, I’m not one to complain. Much. In a country with a well-defined rainy season and persistent flooding issues, the fact that they haven’t mastered a simple drainage system tells you all you need to know I suppose.

Alright then, I’m going to play darts again this afternoon. Hey, I’m on a roll. The tourney is at Johan’s on Baloy Beach so I can get my afternoon steps in as well. I’d call that a win-win. Well, hopefully, a win-win-win.

Whether you like it or not. Actually, as far as rainy seasons go this one has been quite mild, certainly less rain than I’ve experienced since the move. One difference this year has been a lack of tropical storms/typhoons passing through. In fact, I do believe today is the first time we’ve felt the full impact of being in the direct path of a storm. The difference is not so much the rainfall, we’ve had our rainy days, but rather the winds that accompany a tropical depression.

Speaking of electrical power, mine has gone out three times today so far. The first time was at 0300 when I was trying to get back to sleep after a pee call. I remember thinking “oh, shit. With this wind and rain, I’ll be lucky to see power again before noon.” I was actively contemplating which hotel would be a good place to escape to should the outage last longer than that. And then like magic, power was restored after only a 40-minute outage. It went out again around 5 a.m. while I was surfing the ‘net but this time it was only dark for about ten minutes. Just before I went out for the dog walk we lost electricity yet again. When I saw the downed tree above I figured I was screwed this time. I was pleasantly surprised to see the fan blades twirling when I got back home though.

I guess it says a lot about the reliability of utilities here when you talk in terms of only three outages. But I am duly impressed they’ve avoided the all-day blackouts I’ve experienced in the past. Coincidentally or not, the power company workers were here in Alta Vista yesterday trimming trees that might entangle the powerlines during a storm like the one we are currently experiencing.

Here’s the stormy morning view from my upstairs balcony:

Life goes on. And with life comes hunger. This morning I assuaged those pangs with these:

Yesterday was grocery shopping day and I was disappointed, but not surprised, that Royal STILL doesn’t have any frozen fruits.

Since I’ve decided to call Tuesday my day off from walking, I’m going to incorporate darts into my afternoon routine. That meant playing in the Alley Cats tourney yesterday.

Speaking of darts, I’ve started putting together a Facebook group for the singles league I hope to start here soon.

Since the rain appears to have voided my afternoon walk, I might just play in today’s tournament as well. Getting there should be interesting. An umbrella is pretty much useless when the wind is blowing the rain sideways. We’ll see.

And finally, some sad news. Brownie, the neighborhood dog I mentioned in a recent post, is no more. I’d been bringing him some scraps but then didn’t see him again for a few days. So I asked one of the maintenance guys if he’d seen Brownie around and he said he was dead and buried.

You were the sunshine, baby, whenever you smiled
But I call you Stormy today
All of a sudden that ole rain’s fallin’ down
And my world is cloudy and gray
You’ve gone away
Oh Stormy, oh Stormy
Bring back that sunny day

UPDATE: Power is out AGAIN. Been well over an hour now. That meant I had to take a cold shower. Damn, I hate that. The rain is really coming on strong now too. Not sure I’ll venture out for darts after all.

Good morning and welcome to another Hash Monday. Today is especially challenging because as one of the Hares I need to help mark the trail this morning. We are meeting up at 0900. The Hash starts at noon. Not much margin for error, although our trail is not all that long or overly challenging. One goodly climb at the beginning though.

So, to catch you up on my so-called life there’s this:

I actually played in a dart tourney outside of Alley Cats for the first time in a long time. The tournament was held at the Lagoon Resort out on Baloy beach road. The downside was it started at 2:00 p.m. which is way too early for my liking. But I made the best of it by incorporating the getting there and back into my afternoon walk, so I still got my steps in. Another downside was being first-out (finishing last), but that’s on me. In a perverse way, playing poorly is going to motivate me to play more often. In fact, I’m putting out some tentative feelers to start up a singles league here like the one I founded in Seoul. I’m also going to try and participate in a Tuesday and Thursday tourney. The more you throw the better you get. Or so I hope.

Had a few beers during the tourney, including a couple of freebies from the manager of Lagoon as a welcome back. Then I headed into Barretto in search of “mama” and found her at one of her usual spots. Right across the street from Cheap Charlies so of course I went upstairs for a cold one. Then I decided I was hungry so I went around the corner to Sit-n-Bull and had the taco special:

After my meal, I headed over to Mango’s for a nightcap. Or should I say duskcap?

Now, I normally don’t go out for my daily dose of beer until 5:00 p.m. With darts yesterday, I started at 2:00. So you can probably imagine what condition my condition was in come quitting time. Suffice to say I was in bed before eight. And up at four this morning. And for whatever reason, the power has gone out. Ah, life in the third world. Glad I have my phone for an internet hotspot.

Speaking of the internet, here are some things I saw there that I found worthy enough to share with you:

Oh well, that’s enough for now, doncha think?

Next Sunday a group of Angeles City Hashers is coming to town for an “outstation” run. So the Friday walking group was tasked with scouting a trail for our out of town brethren to enjoy. And that’s just what we did. If pressed, I’d characterize the hike as wet and wild. Not all that long (5K or so) and the one climb wasn’t too harsh. But by my count, we did twelve stream crossings all of which required wading. The rocks and boulders were moss-covered and precariously slippery. The trail is on the far edge of Subic town and I was surprised by how different the vegetation was compared to what we are accustomed to in Barretto. Didn’t see a strand of thatch grass, but the vines were growing up and over some tall ass trees creating a jungle-like feel. Here are some photos from the adventure:

Here’s hoping the guys from Angeles like our trail. And wet feet.

Pubic Head, Blow My Pipe, and I are the Hares for tomorrow. We are just going to do the same trail we hiked a couple of Wednesdays ago. It’s been a while for most of the others so it should feel almost new.

Stick around!

I believe home is a place that I will get someday
If someone just will hold me
I believe hope is a thing that I will find some time
If someone just will show me
I believe love is given, going, gone
Come back to kiss me on the forehead
And I believe moss on a rolling stone
Is better than the rust that’s growing on my home

I’ve got a friend in Cambodia who is making a difference. A big and lasting difference.

That’s quite the legacy. Now granted, I don’t know anything about his financial resources other than to say he worked for me on and off for the past twenty-five years or so. Which is to say, he didn’t get rich working for Uncle Sam. He’s no Biden after all! So, his generosity is all the more impressive. Well done, sir!

Now I on the other hand like to pretend to be a caring and giving person. Sure, I’ll help someone I know out of a tight spot occasionally. Throwing out the equivalent of fifty or a hundred dollars now and then isn’t going to change the world though. Hell, it doesn’t even make a lasting difference for the people I’ve helped. It makes me feel good to know that I fed “mama” for the night or that Ester won’t be getting evicted (this month anyway). But that’s chump change really and I’ve acknowledged before that what I’m really doing is selfishly buying some peace of mind for myself.

But it gets worse, or should I say that I do. Lately, I’ve been losing patience with some of those continually begging for my assistance. One of the downsides of my beachside stool at Mango’s is that there is nothing separating me from the souvenir vendors who ply the sandy shore searching for suckers tourists. I try to be friendly and polite with them but I’ve made it clear I have no interest in the trinkets they are selling. I’ve helped one guy out a couple of times when he said he needed milk money for his daughter because after walking all day he had found no customers. I’ve given him advice along the lines of the tourists won’t be back anytime soon and that you are a healthy young man and need to pursue another line of work. Hell, he could ask the hotels if he could rake the littered beaches for them. He nods and says he understands, but every day he is back. So, I gave him another 100 pesos ($2.) last night but told him not to expect me to continue doing so. It is not my responsibility to feed your daughter. He smiled and took the money then went on his way. I’m sure I’ll be seeing him again.

Not long afterward yet another vendor comes and obstructs my view. I didn’t recognize this one but he didn’t want to take no for an answer. I finally had to get up and move to the inside bar to avoid a confrontation I knew I’d regret. I told the bartender they should really not allow the vendors to harass customers but by then the guy had moved on. When I came back to my regular stool I saw him a bit down the beach and he waved and smirked at me. I raised my hand to give him the finger but then lowered it again. He ain’t worth it.

So, what is my problem really? What’s a dollar or two to me when I’m dealing with people who from all appearances have nothing? The best I can come up with is I don’t like being played for a sucker. I gave the one guy some pesos, he tells his friends, and the next thing I know they are swarming around the fool who gives away money for nothing. I don’t want to be that guy. When I give it is in a time or place of my own choosing. I don’t want to be shamed or guilted into giving money to people whose true needs I can’t be sure of. Mostly, I want to be left alone to enjoy my beer, and once you have outed yourself as an easy mark that ain’t gonna happen.

But wait, there’s more. Not long after the vendor incident, I got a message from Nikole, the woman he does my weekly massage. She told me her daughter was sick and she needed a 1000 peso advance to buy medicine. I responded that I was sorry to hear that but I had no way to get her the money. She said I’m in Barretto now. So I told her I’d meet her out in front of Mango’s. This was the third time she has asked for money from me, both of the previous requests I declined. Harder to say no when a sick child is involved (if that was truly the case). Still, it pissed me off. So, when she walked up I handed her the money and told her, this is not an advance, it is your severance pay. She asked me what I meant and I told her it means you are fired. Then I turned and walked away. She messaged me later that she was very hurt to be fired and that she was crying. That working for me was a big help for her kids. I haven’t answered her messages.

I do feel shitty about it though. I overpay for the massage as it is, I don’t want to be hounded for money when I’m out trying to enjoy myself. Now, my friend Ester had hinted around that she would like to add meat products to the vegetable stand she opened but didn’t have the money to do so. I ignored her hint. She also said she is hoping to be called back to work at Alley Cats soon. Well, last night I found out that Alley Cats has hired a new girl which is reprehensible when you have at least three women thinking they will be getting their job back “soon”. That pisses me off and makes me not want to patronize the bar again. I’m planning to go for darts today but that may be my last hurrah there. I’m also toying with the idea of starting up some darts tourneys in a different bar. Just out of spite. We’ll see.

Anyway, I’ve been feeling guilty today so I sent Ester a message asking how much she needs to add the meat business to her stand. Yeah, I need to buy myself another dose of peace of mind.

I know I promised photos from yesterday’s hike but I think this post has gone on long enough. I’ll share them with you tomorrow though. I promise.

She calls out to the man on the street
“Sir, can you help me?
It’s cold and I’ve nowhere to sleep
Is there somewhere you can tell me?”
He walks on, doesn’t look back
He pretends he can’t hear her
Starts to whistle as he crosses the street
Seems embarrassed to be there

Oh, think twice, ’cause it’s another day for you and me in paradise
Oh, think twice, ’cause it’s another day for you
You and me in paradise
Think about it

…off the cuff, and on the road. Here we go:

The ribs came out just the way I like them. Tender, but not falling off the bone like my last few batches. Could pull the meat off with a fork though. Cooked them a little longer than usual, about 10 hours on low in the crockpot. Luckily they didn’t lose any flavor from overcooking and were certainly much tastier than my last batch that came out tough after 8 hours. I brazed them in the oven to bake on a coat of barbeque sauce for about 30 minutes which provided the final touch of flavor. Definitely my best batch in a very long time. I attribute a lot of the success to some quality meat. I got these ribs from the same lady who sold me the ribeyes. These weren’t tiny like the ones I had at Sit-n-Bull the other day but weren’t real thick like the batch I bought at the grocery store last time either. Anyway, I was very happy with the result.

They also came out drier than I like and not very flavorful. I’ll need to change something up for the next batch. The cauliflower was good though.

Now that dinner is out of the way, here’s some random-ass shit I found on the internets:

What? Y’all are still here? Well, let me entertain you with some shots from yesterday’s hike. (credit to Scott for a lot of the photos)

A good 24 hours straight of water falling from the sky. Last night I got an Orange rain alert on my phone. Looked outside but the rain was still the same color it always is. *ahem*

Seriously though, it was bad enough that I voluntarily stayed home for the first time in I don’t know how long (excluding those lockdown days when I had no choice). Luckily, I had a good stock of beer here at the house. And my helper Gina invited some of her girlfriends over so I didn’t even have to drink alone. I’ll tell you one thing, Filipinas know how to party!

It has stopped raining now. I was able to walk the dogs and then take a short walk for me. Hopefully, the rain won’t be back until after the Hash this afternoon. We are starting at 2:00 p.m. today which I guess is okay since we have the later (9:00 p.m.) curfew now.

Facebook memories reminded me of a long-ago post from my daughter claiming she thinks it’s cool that her dad looks like Tom Selleck. This was her evidence:

I used to get that a lot. But honestly, Selleck ain’t nearly as handsome as I am. Or was.

Facebook also reminded me that four years ago I was enjoying myself in Pattaya, Thailand.

In other news, we recently had another expat pass away. I didn’t know Steve at all but he was very active in the community and engaged in some legendary charitable activities. He owned a business on SBMA (the old Navy base) and also resided there. The other morning Steve was rushed to the hospital and the doctors were unable to revive him. The official cause of death was listed as cardiac arrest. He had previously suffered a heart attack a couple of years ago. Here’s where it gets interesting–a day or two later a post-mortem COVID test was performed and guess what:

What’s the motivation for such a blatantly false claim? Well, it probably has something to do with money. Or power Or both. This whole COVID charade is wearing thin so I guess those folks in the know want to get as much out of it as possible before the people wise up.

This is not to say there haven’t been a fair number of COVID related fatalities. On my morning walk today, I took some time to document them:

So, there you have proof that COVID is indeed a killer. And that’s just along a 2K stretch of highway in Barretto. Things are getting better but damn, the leaders here need to open this country back up before more business fail.

But at least I have my dogs.

Stay safe everyone!

My Saturday evening didn’t turn out quite the way I expected. Sometimes you just have to go with your gut and change things up. It was still as good a night out as it gets for me these days. At least I enjoyed myself.

So, I had every intention of playing darts in the Alley Cat tournament. I arrived right around 2:00 p.m. to get some practice time in before the three o’clock start. Only a couple of other guys in the bar when I got there so I set up camp at my regular table. One of the gals was celebrating a birthday so I had brought along some freshly baked brownies and a Korean-style white envelope gift for her. Shortly thereafter the other girls arrived bringing in trays of food for the traditional birthday feast. It seemed like a fine evening was in store. And then things started going wrong.

They were out of my preferred beer, San Mig Zero. Then, while I was at the dartboards getting some throws in, a guy showed up that I don’t particularly like. He doesn’t usually throw darts (or didn’t before I went on hiatus) but he had brought his arrows. He had another guy with him I hadn’t seen before. And they both plopped down at “my” table. Okay, I don’t own the table but I was there first. And yes, it seats four and it wouldn’t be unusual for some others to join me, although they would usually ask first. In the old days, they bargirls would take care of me and say, sorry why don’t you sit here instead. Not this time though. I guess I lost my regular status and the benefits that come from that. So, I went back to my seat and figured I’d make the best of it. Me and “the guy” didn’t even exchange pleasantries.

Okay, the bad blood I have towards him happened a year or so ago. Same type situation, he arrived late and there was limited seating left open. He asked if could join me and I said sure. So he sits down and after a few minutes, he starts rudely complaining about my vaping. To be clear, vaping is allowed in Alley Cats (and most other bars) and I’ve been vaping there since day one. Hell, I was vaping when the asshole asked to sit with me. Then he expects me to stop? Fuck him. And so here I am again in that situation. Yeah, I took a few puffs but the vibe was decidedly uncomfortable.

And then a third friend of this guy arrives and takes the last remaining seat at my table. Okay, I had been expecting a friend to join me later but I guess these days it is first come, first served. And I sat there and looked around. Alley Cats is a very small venue (picture a two-car garage). My table is full of people I either don’t know or don’t like. The bar is also filling up. I’m thinking if there was ever going to be a COVID breakout, this situation is the perfect breeding ground. The more I sat there feeling out of sorts the more I realized it was unlikely to be the fun time I originally anticipated. So, I decided fuck this. Gave the birthday girl her brownies and envelope, texted my friend that I was leaving, paid my tab, and hit the street.

Now what? Well, it just so happens that yesterday was the grand re-opening of a famous old bar, Voodoo. It’s been moved into the space formerly occupied by Lollipop in Dave Fisher’s Maze of bars. I figured I’d give it a look-see, even though it hadn’t been one of my favorite venues in the past.

It still isn’t. It remains a girly bar but with the COVID social distancing requirements, there are no dancers. Instead, the gals sit at tables on the stage. My waitress asked me if I saw anyone I’d like to invite down to join me for a drink. I didn’t. It was just me and a couple of other customers but I guess these past few months have changed me somehow–I still felt claustrophobic. Sitting in a windowless room looking at women who don’t particularly appeal to me just ain’t my idea of fun nowadays. Give me the fresh air and mountain/bay views instead. That’s just the way I roll. Two beers (at 110 pesos each, more than twice the price of Cheap Charlies) and I was out of there and bound for, you guessed it, Cheap Charlies.

Felt better about things immediately. Greeted by name and offered a Zero before I could even ask. Took my usual seat overlooking the highway (with the mountains as a nice backdrop) and proceeded to enjoy myself. The peanut vendor came by and I bought eight small bags of nuts for 100 pesos to give to the gals. My crush Heidi came over to say hello and I offered her a drink. She accepted and joined me on the next stool. Lovely was my waitress again so of course, I bought her a lady drink too. Then I noticed the bartender with a “what about me?” look on her face, so I let her join the party as well.

As I chatted with my company I noticed a guy carrying two big baskets go into the bar across the street. He came right back out which told me the bar was devoid of customers. When he crossed the highway I figured he was coming my way. He was. I had heard of this guy actually–the chocolate man. He’s from Belgium and makes his own candy. Apparently, he is a fixture in the Angeles City bars, but since most of them are now closed he spends a lot more time in Barretto. This was the first time I had ever actually seen what he was selling. He had regular chocolates and others infused with alcohol. Odd as it may seem, I’ve never liked mixing booze with sweets. Always hated rum cake for example. So, I stuck with the kinds I like–a sampler of milk and dark, with nuts and plain. He had a deal going where you buy one large and get one free. So, I purchased two large for 1000 pesos ($20.) and had plenty of chocolate to satisfy the sweet cravings of all the bargirls present.

I wound up buying the gals I was treating three lady drinks each. Now, it is usually not my style to play the big spender in the bars. That’s what tourists are for! But I was having fun, there weren’t many customers, it was Saturday night (well, evening) so why not splurge a little? I know the girls appreciated the commissions they earned. I also gave them an individual 50 peso tip (placed in the cleavage so they didn’t have to share). My bar tab was a whopping 2000 pesos ($40). Yeah, it’s cheap to be generous in the Philippines!

I wasn’t quite done yet though. I still hadn’t found “mama”, the homeless woman I try to give supper money to every day. As I walked up the highway checking her usual hangouts I came upon the Palm Tree Resort and felt the urge for a nightcap. In some ways, I enjoy this bar more than Mango’s next door. Being on the second floor enhances the views and keeps the souvenir vendors a safe distance away. The bar itself was actually pretty crowded, something I hadn’t seen there before. Some type of rugby match on TV might have brought them in, but still good to see folks out again. I enjoyed the back deck and bay views as I downed two beers.

That was pretty much my limit for the night, so back down to the highway and my quest for mama. In due course, I spotted her familiar umbrella, handed her the customary 100 pesos, then splurged on a trike ride back to my house. I fixed myself a dessert of a brownie with vanilla ice cream and chocolate syrup on top. Come to think of it, I must have forgotten to have dinner last night. Oh well.

Skies were cloudy this morning but that just provided a little change to the normal scenic perspective.

And then I stopped for a refreshing RC Cola.

The rain held off until I was just a couple of blocks from home. And it’s been raining ever since. That didn’t stop Nikole from coming over to provide my weekly massage. She’s good at her work, I’ll grant her that.

And that’s the way things are in these here parts. At least for me.

…but which way is best?

I am literally speechless as I write this.

Experimenting a little with the phone camera yesterday afternoon. I have the Samsung A50 which purportedly has a quality camera. So, it must be me. Scott’s photos always seem to come out crisper and clearer than mine though. He made an adjustment to the pixel count or something on my phone (it’s all Greek to me) and he says it makes it easier when he manipulates my photos for the Hash Facebook page.

Anyway, yesterday I took these two photos back-to-back:

My Facebook commenters preferred the first photo. It still looks fuzzy to me somehow. Or maybe I have a problem with my eyes. Oh well.

Nothing else worthy of note since then, beers and dinner at Mango’s then home for a smoothie. As usual, in bed before 9:00. Yeah, yeah, I don’t know how I handle the excitement either.

I was somehow drafted to choose a trail, probably because we started out from my house. I opted to do My Bitch with the extra loop/hill that we did when I last was the Hare. Scott wasn’t able to make it so I apologize in advance for the poor quality of the photos today.

Made it back down without incident and headed to Cheap Charlies for some liquid refreshment.

And that’s how my Friday went down. Gonna do some darts this afternoon so I best get to practicing.

The government powers that be, at least for the moment, have lifted their heavy boot from the throat of us oppressed citizens. Well, in my case, expat on a tourist visa. The bars are open again and in exchange for wearing masks, shields, and keeping our distance, we are allowed to stay out until 9 p.m. every night. I have adjusted my lifestyle accordingly and I’m making do with the way things are for the most part.

One thing I can’t get used to is the inability to conveniently travel. Oh, I could jump through the hoops required to board an international flight back home to the USA, but why would I want to go there? And if I did I wouldn’t be allowed back in the Philippines until some unspecified date in the future when the travel ban is lifted. Worse yet, I can’t travel much within-country either. Well, I can if I’m willing to be quarantined for 14 days at my destination. No thank you!

One aspect of my retired life planning was reasonably frequent excursions both domestic and abroad. Since arriving here over two years ago I’ve only managed Palawan, Baguio, and Manila. I’ve been itching to get out to Bohol and even have an internet friend willing to be my tour guide. But I’m not going to risk getting caught up in the system that’s currently in place. I know one guy who got COVID tested to travel, they said he was positive, and slapped him into a quarantine facility. He was later retested and it turns out he didn’t have the virus after all. Sorry about that, here’s your bill. Yeah, it sounds like a typical government-sponsored scam to me.

As for international travel, some places won’t take me or have onerous entrance requirements that would take the fun out of travel and empty my wallet. I’ve got a friend currently stuck in Cambodia, a country I enjoy and would like to see more of, and he says life is about as normal as it gets there. Of course, they want to keep it that way so they don’t make it easy for outsiders to visit. Most other potential destinations are also off the table for now at least. Especially since I can’t come back home to the PI.

It’s hard to find a silver lining in this situation, but I’ll try. For example, Kevin Kim is about a third of the way on his hiking trek from Incheon to Busan (you’ve been following along on his blog, right?). Well, last night he got attacked in his motel room. By a gang of hungry mosquitos. Luckily, he was able to kill the bastards (be sure to read how) but not until they had drawn some blood. I get an occasional bite here but I’ve been pleasantly surprised that the mosquitos are not nearly as bad as they were in my previous homes in Korea or South Carolina.

Speaking of mosquitos and Cambodia, maybe I’m lucky I can’t visit there right now. This poor fucker got bit on the leg and look at what happened:

I slap on a good coat of mosquito repellant every day after showering. Dengue is pretty prevalent here and I’d like to avoid both that and COVID. But a leg like that would impair both my walkaholic and alcoholic lifestyles. Yikes!

I’ve been accused of talking in my sleep (sometimes in Korean, even though I don’t speak the language much). I’m also a big fan of The Lord of the Rings books. Thankfully, this has never happened:

No other real news from here. I had a nice hike with my Friday group this morning. I’ll post some of my pictures from that tomorrow. And there is this:

I considered playing in the Alley Cats tourney this afternoon. But that 3:00 p.m. start time is just not to my liking. I’ll give it a go tomorrow though.

Let me leave you today with a little pun-kin:

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

I’m always careful to never do that.

All is well (as far as I know) in my little piece of the world. And I’ve got pictures to prove it! Where to start? Let’s go backward in time, shall we?

Anyway, we decided to do our after hike beers at Dive In, a bar I very rarely frequent. And wouldn’t you know it, Jessa showed up to work. Haven’t seen or heard from her since our “breakup” a few months back. She wasn’t rude but wasn’t friendly either. Go figure. We finished our hike with lunch at Sit-n-Bull. It was a good day.

We are surrounded by blessings. Take some time to count them once in a while.

Tuesday is shopping day so I give myself a break from the long walks. As usual, I was disappointed that Royal still is out of quite a few items I want, especially in the frozen food section. I suspect that a combination of COVID-related shipping issues and general incompetence is to blame. Such is life.

I did receive another meat delivery yesterday from the woman who sold me those tasty ribeyes last time. This go-round I requested a beef roast and some short ribs.

What else? Well, it was sad to hear Eddie Van Halen passed away. I wasn’t a big fan (never bought one of his albums) but didn’t mind hearing his rock and roll on the radio. He was 65 years old, the same as me. And when people die at such a tender age it sure does make mortality loom larger in your thoughts. All the more reason to live large and happy while you can.

Life goes on for the rest of us. Beers at Cheap Charlies last night. Across the street from where I was seated, I could see my friend “mama” settling in for the night.

That’s it for today. I’ll post about my beach walk tomorrow. And my pot roast!