Here are some of the “its” I did yesterday.

Fixed me a Sunday breakfast to start the day. That’s newsworthy because lately, my lazy ass has just been pouring milk over cereal.

Then I got a message from Julie asking if she and her friend could join me on my morning hike. Sure, the more, the merrier. My standard Sunday hike is a flat valley walk, but Julie said they preferred the hills but with beginner-level difficulty. I deemed the My Bitch trail pretty much fit that description. We met up at the entrance to Alta Vista and headed for the hills.

I gave the gals the option of going down to the valley, which would likely require getting their feet wet, doing another moderate hill climb, or walking the pavement on Rizal Extension back to town. They opted for the latter. I treated them to lunch at Sit-n-Bull, and when I turned off my tracker, I saw that our hike was exactly 7K.

Once I got back home, I did a couple more episodes of Manifest. Almost to the end of Season 3 now, and there is no resolution in sight. There will be a fourth and final season, but it is not yet available. I’m interested enough to want to see how they pull this together for a logical conclusion. It’s taken a bit of a turn into religion, with the US government playing the role of Satan. That’s my take so far, at least. Stay tuned.

And then it was time for my workout.

But I also had promised myself a steak dinner for my birthday, so John’s place was my first stop. John was there, and we had a nice chat. He was running a weekend steak special, but it was New Zealand beef. I wanted a good ol’ American ribeye. I got to pick out my steak; John weighed it, added the 350 peso cooking charge, then gave me a 10% “birthday discount.” Thanks for that! It still came out to almost 2000 pesos, $35.00 at the current exchange rate.

I also ordered the fish tacos at John’s for takeout. Got those for Joy and stopped at Chooks To Go to get a box of fried chicken for the other girls at Hideaway.

After Hideaway, I made a stop at the Green Room. Marissa has just started working as a waitress there. I welcomed her with a couple of lady drinks and wished her well. The hours are 4:00 p.m. until closing (usually around 2 a.m.), so I don’t envy her that.

I woke up this morning, and there was a male lying in bed next to me.

Did my Monday morning 5K beach walk on Baloy.

And now it’s time to get ready for another Hash Monday. Today’s trail is starting out in Subic, and I’ll be taking a Jeepney to get there. I know where the trail begins, but several others don’t, so they’ll be meeting me at 7/11 to tag along. I just hope we can find room in a Jeepney for us all.

I’ll tell you how it goes tomorrow.

When you know she's no high climber
Then you find your only friend
In a room with your two timer
And you're sure you're near the end
Then you love a little wild one
And she brings you only sorrow
All the time you know she's smilin'
You'll be on your knees tomorrow

You go back, Jack, do it again
Wheel turnin' 'round and 'round
You go back, Jack, do it again

And so do I. I completed my 67th journey around the sun today. My plan is to make that trip a few more times before I give it a rest. Wish me luck!

I’m happy to report I’m having a pain-free birthday. Even got off my lazy ass and walked almost 10K today. I’ve still got my evening bar crawl steps to add in, so I’m back on track in that regard.

Everything went fine at the SOB. I’ll share photos once the sponsor posts them. This week the top three were Wet Spot, Alaska, and Hot Zone. At least, as far as I recall. I made it a beer night again to make sure I maintained the proper amount of control. And balance. It must have worked.

UPDATE: Here are some photos:

Marissa has moved back to Barretto from Manila, and I invited her to see the show. Seemed a little bit like old times. Turns out she knows the manager from Green Room, and he’s wanting to hire a couple of waitresses. Looks like she’s found a job, and that made me glad I extended the invitation.

Otherwise, everything is what it always is around here. I’m planning to treat myself to a steak dinner at John’s place to start my evening, then hit a few of my favorite bars. I heard from one of the gals at Snatchbar that they have a cake for me, so I’ll need to make that one of my stops tonight.

I’ve been surprised by all the birthday greetings and messages popping up from my Facebook friends, almost 100 so far. I guess I’m not as alone as I sometimes feel. Now, if I could just find a worthy girlfriend. Luckily, I’m still young (at heart) and gwapo. I just need to give it some time.

So the years spin by and now the boy is twenty sixty-seven
Though his dreams have lost some grandeur coming true
There'll be new dreams maybe better dreams and plenty
Before the last revolving year is through

And the seasons they go round and round
And the painted ponies go up and down
We're captive on the carousel of time
We can't return we can only look
Behind from where we came
And go round and round and round
In the circle game

I didn’t do my walk routine yesterday. I used my toothache as an excuse, but I’m sure it wouldn’t have hurt more if I’d gone out and done something healthy. Instead, I binge-watched Manifest. I’m well into season three now. It’s okay enough that I continue to watch, and I understand that telling a consistent story in an episodic fashion is a complex undertaking. That’s probably why I like movies better; you get the whole shebang from beginning to end in a couple of hours. Anyway, watching filled the hours with something besides the pain in my mouth.

I did have an afternoon visit from Joy, who helped distract me from my misery.

After Joy left, I headed into town. First stop was a drop-in visit to my dentist. I told him the Advil wasn’t doing much to dull my pain and asked if he could prescribe something more potent. He gave me a prescription for two different painkillers–one to take in the morning and one before bed. He also gave me the name of an over-the-counter pill I could take as needed between the other meds. I stocked up at the pharmacy and then began my self-medication journey.

Had a couple of drinks at It Doesn’t Matter, waiting for 6:00 p.m. to roll around. My friend Bhel joined me there and then accompanied me to Whiskey Girl to help me use my 500 peso voucher (it was the last night before it expired). We accomplished that mission, but it was still too early for me to go home, so we crossed the highway for a visit with Queen Victoria.

Bhel knew one of the waitresses there, so I invited her to join us at the bar and bought her a lady drink.

I knew a waitress too, and it only seemed fair for her to join me too.

I left Bhel in the safekeeping of her friend and headed home to take the bedtime painkiller. I woke up at 0300 with the pain flaring again and gave up trying to sleep more.

I took one of the daytime painkillers, did my internet routine, and then swallowed one of the “in-between” pills. That dulled the pain enough that I was able to catch a morning nap. I bailed on the Friday hike, though, again as much out of laziness as pain. Watched a couple more episodes of Manifest and suddenly realized my tooth wasn’t hurting. I’m not sure if it is the antibiotics or the pain pills, but I hope the hurt is gone for good.

It’s another SOB Friday. Tonight’s contest is being hosted at Wet Spot, so I reckon I’ll be spending some time (and money) with Aine as I enjoy the show.

Here’s hope that I’m feeling normal again tomorrow. Someone is turning 67 on Saturday.

My yesterday began in the wee dark hours of the morning when I woke with a painful tooth. I took some aspirin and went back to bed. The pain subsided enough for me to sleep until my regular 0430 wake-up time. I knew I’d have to get that tooth checked out by my dentist before it got worse. I’m a very low tolerance for pain kind of guy.

In the meantime, I went about my regular Tuesday routines.

Next up on my “to-do” list was the weekly shopping excursion to the Royal supermarket.

My sweet tooth has been causing me problems as well, and I decided to stymie my lack of willpower by refusing to purchase ice cream this week. But when I walked by the ice cream freezer, I was surprised to see a new brand in stock: Sunnyside Farms. Wow. That had been one of my favorites back in the USA. Then I noticed it was priced at “only” $6.00. The Bryers ice cream cartons displayed right next to it were selling for $9.50.

On the way home, I had my driver stop by my dentist’s office to see if I could do a walk-in appointment. The receptionist told me to have a seat, so I waved for my driver to go on without me. After about twenty minutes, Dr. Barrera finished with his scheduled client and had me come back to his office for a consult. I described my issue, and he had me sit in the dental chair for a look-see.

When I indicated which tooth was causing the pain, he said that that tooth had a crown. Hmm, well, I knew that all my crowns had been preceded by a root canal, so where was the pain coming from? He said, let’s do an x-ray and find out. The x-ray showed that a small portion of the nerve was still present, hence the pain. The swelling around the tooth was consistent with an infection which was likely responsible for the pain. He prescribed a week’s worth of antibiotics and told me to continue taking ibuprofen for the pain as needed. If this doesn’t work, he’ll go back in and do another root canal. Alrighty then.

Dr. Barrerra’s total charge for the appointment, including the x-ray, was 500 pesos (ten bucks). The pharmacy charged me 95 pesos per tablet of the antibiotic (3X a day=21 pills), so the meds were almost forty dollars. It seemed weird paying so much more for the medicine than I paid the dentist. But $50. all in is still a bargain. Here’s hoping the pills work.

My dentist is practically across the street from John’s place. I’d hit the ATM, so I had a pocketful of money and a hankering for some quality beef. It was still early, and John wasn’t in yet. One of the staff showed me some ribeyes that looked good, but she couldn’t tell me if they were US or Aussie beef. At 2300 pesos a kilo, I wasn’t settling for anything less than prime USDA meat. I’ll have to go back another time.

It was still raining hard, but I was able to catch a trike right in front of John’s to whisk me home. My helper prepared a dory fish and mixed vegetable lunch for me.

I ate, I blogged, and then I settled in to watch a couple more episodes of Manifest. I’m getting deep into season two, and I’m concerned the story may be going off the rails. I’ll watch some more to find out if my sense of direction is correct. But some things the writers have done are just plain stupid. For example, the main antagonist is a female character everyone calls “the Major.” I’ve been thinking that’s a pretty low rank for someone running a major operation on behalf of the military or government or whomever it is. I decided it was probably more of a nickname than a military rank. And then it was revealed that she had been (she’s never depicted in uniform) at one time a Major General in the Army. Hmm. No one calls a Major General “Major.” In fact, all flag officers are referred to as “General.” (Brigadier General (BG), Major General (MG), Lieutenant General (LTG), and a 4-star General (GEN). You mostly say “sir” or “ma’am” when speaking to them directly, but regardless of rank, you’d say General Jones in casual conversation or by the actual rank in more formal settings. But you would NEVER call a Major General “Major” unless you were trying to be insulting. A stupid mistake that is distracting to me. I’ll stay tuned for a while longer, so you don’t have to.

When it was time to head into town, I took my umbrella and the coupons I’d won at the SOB, including a 500 peso voucher at Whiskey Girl bar. On my way there, I saw “mama” sitting in front of the 7/11, so I crossed the highway to give her my standard 100 peso donation. Of course, the ladies at Snatchbar saw me, and I felt compelled to have a drink before continuing on my mission. I limited myself to one (and a lady drink each for the two waitresses at my table). I paid my tab and left despite the pleas for me to stay for “one more.”

I guess I could have, I arrived at Whiskey Girl shortly before 5:00, and they weren’t open yet. I had a coupon for Queen Victoria, so I crossed the highway again and had a free drink. It seems rude to accept the freebie without buying one also, so that’s what I did. When I returned to Whiskey Girl, they were STILL closed. Damn, I guess they don’t open until 6:00. Now what? Well, one thing for sure is I wasn’t going to stand out in the rain, so I headed up the road and popped into Mango’s.

Drank slowly and kept an eye on my watch, and when 6 p.m. arrived, I departed. I was relieved to see a couple of gals around the door at Whiskey Girl when I got there. Alas, they told me, “sorry sir, we are closed for cleaning.” Apparently, during the heavy rain, the water level on the street rose enough to allow seepage into the bar. And my plans for the evening were foiled.

I was near another bar I hadn’t visited in quite some time, Adam’s. I was the only customer, but one of the girls there knew me and greeted me by name. I had no recollection of who she might be. She said, “I’m Shantelle; you saw me at Bottoms Up.” Hmm. I hadn’t been to Bottoms Up since I did my review back in November of last year. Looking at the review now, I see that she was featured in the write-up. Shantelle also reminded me that we had first met when she was a waitress at Treasure Island on Baloy. “Oh yeah, I remember now,” I lied.

I, of course, bought her a lady drink. When I was done with mine, I headed back out. I was feeling a tad hungry, so my next stop was Cameltoe. I was just getting settled in when my pal Johnny arrived, so at least I had some male company for a change. (Don’t worry, I bought Lydell a drink and some food too).

I ate, I drank, I chatted, and then it was time to call it a night (8:30), so I headed home.

On the trike ride home, I remembered I had some special ice cream in the freezer. When I arrived, I gave the dogs a treat, then walked to the freezer and grabbed the carton of Butterfinger ice cream. Took a spoon from the drawer, sat down at my laptop, and wound up eating the whole damn carton. Again. I told you I had no willpower. I blame it on the rain.

Tuesday, afternoon
I'm just beginning to see
Now I'm on my way
It doesn't matter to me
Chasing the clouds away

Something, calls to me
The trees are drawing me near
I've got to find out why
Those gentle voices I hear
Explain it all with a sigh

I'm looking at myself, reflections of my mind
It's just the kind of day to leave myself behind
So gently swaying thru the fairy-land of love
If you'll just come with me and see the beauty of

Tuesday afternoon

And I’m passing time. It’s my pastime.

I’ll get to my Saturday in a minute, but first, let me post the winners from Friday’s SOB. A commenter reminded me I had neglected to do so. It’s past time that I did so. (Alright, I’ve murdered that pun enough; I’ll stop now. I promise!)

Okay, now that the old business is taken care of, let’s get to the new stuff. And by that, I mean more of the same old, same old. Ready?

I did a walk up the National Highway, which I almost immediately regretted. Not much fun dodging motorbikes and other vehicles intruding into the shoulder where I was walking. I hollered at a couple of them for all the good it did me.

I continued on the highway for a couple more kilometers so I could walk through a little beach village I like. Turned out to be a real hassle getting there because the dirt road was full of muddy lakes you had to find a way around.

Then it was back to the highway going in the opposite direction. The Saturday traffic leaving Barretto wasn’t as bad as what I had faced on the walk out (I always walk facing traffic, so the Saturday tourists coming into town were the ones driving like maniacs).

Once I was back in Barretto, I stopped by Sit-n-Bull and got a pulled pork sandwich to take home with me. Sorry, no pic. I was hungry!

A shower, a nap, and some more Manifest (up to episode 15 now) filled the afternoon hours. When it was time to head into town, I started out at IDM. A nice surprise to see Scott and Chris there after their golf outing. It was good to have some familiar faces to drink with for a change. I just stayed for a couple though; I had work to do.

I got a message about a meet-up with Johnny at Cameltoe (Kamto), so when I finished at Bar Barretto, I headed to the other side of town.

Two or three more drinks, then it was time to head on home. At least my tab was under 2000 pesos this time. I guess that’s a bargain for good food, good music, and good people to hang with.

Time for a little TV before I head out to my Sunday rendevous at Hideaway. As always, thanks for reading.

Not as crazy as I was at last week’s SOB, though. At least I remember everything that happened, and other than being stupid with money, it was nothing bad. I did, in fact, switch to San Mig Zero beer for the night, and that seemed to help me keep my wits about me.

I picked the friendly door girl to be my companion during the show.

The Aftermath event was held at The Green Room this week. When I arrived, all the usual customer tables were already full. The waitress cleared some of the working girls off the table they were seated at, and one lingered around, so I invited her to sit down and join me.

Before long, another gal I kinda know (or, more precisely, she knows me) showed up. I guess I bought her drinks back when she worked at Rum Jungle. She knows my name, but I don’t remember hers. The funny story is we were hiking way out by the shipyard in Cawag a while back, and I heard a girl calling out, “John!”. Turns out it was her, and we were walking past her house. I gave her kids cookies, of course.

These two were enjoying their drinks, and I asked if they were hungry. They were, so I ordered a take-out pizza from Sit-n-Bull (they have a waitress right there in the bar). I got up to take a pee (the comfort room is next door at Wet Spot), and on my way back to Green Room, Aine grabbed me. What could I do but invite her to join us?

One thing about buying all those lady drinks is that you get two raffle coupons for every drink you buy. I had a nice big stack of them but, amazingly, didn’t have my name drawn. A little disappointing, but what are you gonna do? At the end of the event, I tipped my three fans and my waitress 100 pesos each and headed back home with an empty wallet. (Fact of the matter is I spent “only” 5000 pesos ($100) or so on the night, 2000 at the SOB and 3000 at the Aftermath. How do you put a price tag on having a good time? And four gals went home with a little extra money in their pocket, so it’s a win for everyone. I can’t and won’t be that generous all the time, but once in a while, why not?

Earlier in the day, I led the Friday group hikers on a trek over the My Bitch trail, then down Rizal Extension, and back to Barretto at Dynamite Dick’s for some lunch and liquid refreshments.

All told, we did right around 7K, start to finish.

Speaking of milestones, this morning, when I responded to a comment on my post entitled “Comment Tarry,” it turns out that it was the 13,000th comment in the history of this blog. I think it is funny that it was on a post about comments. I just did the math, and there have been 4,304 posts here at LTG. That means each post has averaged three comments. The reality is, though, that in the early days, my posts were besieged by spam comments. I’ve got some spam blockers now that prevent that.

There are a few new bars that have opened since my Bars of Barretto series, so tonight, I plan to visit at least one of them and do a review.

Sees ya tamale then!

It’s been made clear to me that regular readers know my routines about as well as I do. I may have to change things up just to keep things interesting. Ha! I’ve failed at that for over seventeen years now, but 200 or so of you keep coming back for more every day! Thanks for that, and here is today’s installment.

I had a nice enough morning walk, but I cut it short at 6K because of some pain in the ball of my right foot. Not sure what that was about, but it was fine on today’s hike.

It was just a little further up the road where I caught a trike for home. When I got there, I was hungry, so I went to work in the kitchen.

This Facebook memory is something I wrote back in 2015:

Sometimes we wait awhile to begin our journey, but in due time we move on towards our destination. Along the way, people come, and people go, but the reality is we are all solitary travelers. And then the ride is over, and it is time to pay the piper. And the damn fare machine won’t accept the only paper money in your wallet. And so goes another morning subway commute.

Ah, I miss those carefree days in Seoul. Although, looking back, I guess they weren’t all that carefree after all. My wife was destined to break my heart a couple of months down the road.

Facebook also took me back to a photo I had posted of me and my first love:

I watched a couple of more episodes of Manifest, which puts me up to thirteen now. Still in season 1 and still interested enough to keep watching and see what happens next. Way too much time is spent on the relationship aspects of the characters. The unresolved question for me is who is the bad guy, the Feds or a private corporation? Hell, it could be both, I suppose.

A nap, some ab exercise, a shower, and it was time to head into town.

I had a free drink coupon for the Green Room, so I used it, then moved next door to Wet Spot.

So, that was my day and night. Another SOB is on tap for tonight. I’ve decided to drink San Mig Zero (low alcohol) beer this time to ensure there is no repeat of my drunken behavior last Friday.

Wish me luck!

Only one other person showed up for the Wednesday Walkers group hike yesterday. That might have something to do with the downpour that occurred about an hour before our scheduled hike. I actually didn’t expect anyone else to show, so was surprised when Brian walked up. We’d never met before, but did our introductions and headed out for a flat stroll on wet roads.

It was nice meeting Brian. A comparatively young man (mid-forties), but he’s lived in the PI for twenty years or so. He’s relatively new to Subic, so all the paths we walked were new to him, and he seemed to enjoy them. I took him up Sawmill road, across bridge #1, through a San Isidro village, crossing over the river again at bridge #2, then a couple more kilometers on Sawmill before another crossing on bridge #4, then through the Naugsal valley, into Marian Hills, and back to Alta Vista.

We were so busy yakking and getting to know one another that I didn’t think to take any photos (it’s a regular hike for me, so nothing was new). Brian took this one in the valley:

Got home, rested some, then watched another episode of Manifest. I’ve seen ten now, and it is holding my interest, but I’m also thinking, how the hell are they going to drag this out for three more seasons? It would be a good two-hour movie, but I guess we have to explore all the intricacies of every character’s relationships. Ah, well. It passes the time.

I baked up a batch of blueberry muffins (the good kind with real blueberries) to share with the Hideaway Bar girls. Stopped in at Sit-n-Bull and bought Joy some lasagna (her favorite) and some chicken fingers and lumpia for everyone else. The food seemed to be a hit.

Joy had a nice surprise for me as well–a new wallet to replace the one I lost a couple weeks ago.

After Hideaway, I dropped into Blue Butterfly to say hello to Tanya. She didn’t show up to this week’s Hash, so I wanted to check up on her. Turns out she had arrived a few minutes late, and she had the good sense not to try and hike the trail alone.

My next (and final) stop for the evening was at Cameltoe. My friend Johnny was there, and we enjoyed a nice chat and the music from my Spotify playlist. Of course, I wound up emptying my new wallet by buying multiple lady drinks and food for the girls.

It was a pretty nice day.

'Cause I've got friends in low places
Where the whiskey drowns
And the beer chases
My blues away
And I'll be okay
I'm not big on social graces
Think I'll slip on down to the oasis
Oh, I've got friends in low places

Here’s how my lazy Tuesday went down.

Oh well, life goes on. I tried out a new blueberry muffin mix yesterday.

Completed my weekly grocery shopping at Royal without incident. Bought less than usual and still spent $200. Can’t think of a better definition of inflation.

School begins here on August 22. How do I know, and why do I care? Well, I don’t particularly care, but I know because I’ve received several desperate pleas from mothers saying they need to buy school supplies, uniforms, etc., for their kids. I helped a couple that I thought were worthy. That includes the one who pleaded not for a donation but begged to give me a massage in order to earn money to outfit her son for school. I respected her willingness to work for the money rather than have it just given to her. She came over yesterday afternoon and rubbed me the right way. She sent this photo later, thanking me for helping her.

The other recipient just sent me this photo:

Facebook memories reminded me that I first met this woman six years ago:

I am reminded of the trip we made to the Philippines in September 2016. Eun Oke had a great time, but at the end of our vacation, she woke me up early one morning and said, “we don’t have a future together.” I asked her why and she told me, “because you want to retire and move here. Who wants to live in a poor country?” I responded that you could live in your rich country and pretend this world doesn’t exist, or you can live here and try to make a difference for some people. That’s what I want to do.

We wound up staying together for a few more months, but it didn’t work out for us in the long run. But she did render this drawing of me before we broke up:

Everything happens for a reason, I suppose. I enjoyed her company while it lasted. Most of the time, anyway.

I thought for sure I would be in a relationship here, for one thing. Actually, I had trained Loraine to be my caregiver, masseuse, helper, and companion. She dumped me, too, a few months before I arrived. And as regular readers know, I haven’t had a successful relationship in the four-plus years since I moved. Saw this today and thought maybe I’m going about it all wrong:

During my internet wanderings, I came across this map showing the degree of poverty in different parts of the Philippines:

I guess I’ll start calling my bar crawls charity runs. Last night’s efforts to improve the lives of thirsty bar girls included stops at It Doesn’t Matter, Cheap Charlies, Outback, and Cameltoe (Kamto).

I also took a dinner break along the way at Sit-n-Bull.

And there you have the story of my Tuesday thoughts, ramblings, and activities. It may not be a perfect life, but it is the best life I have. I’m going to enjoy it while I can. Thanks for coming along for the ride.

I visit the Hideout Bar on Wednesday and Sunday. It’s become my tradition to feed the girls and to give drinks to Joy during my visits. They all seem to appreciate it, and it’s a nice diversion from my regular routine. Hmm, I just asked myself how it’s different, and the best I could come up with is that I don’t usually buy dinner in other bars. Although sometimes I do. But not on a regular schedule, so it is a little bit different.

I had a tab to pay at Kamto, so once I finished at Hideaway, I made the walk across town to take care of business. I wound up finishing my night there. A couple of friends were there to chat with, I was handling DJ duties, and the staff was kind, attentive, and thirsty. Paid the 3000 pesos from Saturday and another 2000 for last night. Plus, what I’d spent at Hideaway. That’s big spending for me, but not really in excess of my budget. How do you put a price tag on a good time?

It’s Hash Monday, so I’m gearing up for today’s adventure. I didn’t do my usual Monday morning walk to Baloy, just wasn’t feeling it. I’m still working my way through season 1 of Manifest. It’s holding my interest so far, so there’s that. I am curious about what is causing the supernatural/paranormal events being experienced by the story’s main characters. The other relationship stuff is a little boring to me. Naturally, the story is being drawn out to fill in the episodes for the three completed seasons, with one more to come soon. We’ll see if I can hold out that long.

And oh yeah, I found this as an ad on Facebook:

Back tomorrow with a Hash report.

Sunday is feeding day at Hideaway Bar. The last time I brought the Chooks to Go roasted chicken, Joy suggested I get the fried chicken version next time instead. So yesterday, I just gave her the money and told her to get whatever the girls like.

Nothing else of interest about my night. Drinks at IDM, Outback, and Queen Victoria as I made my way home. Yawn.

This morning I got bored with taking naps, so I turned on the television. I randomly scrolled through the Netflix offerings, then clicked on a show called Manifest. Probably too soon to call it my destiny–I watched one episode of what is a three-season (so far) series. We’ll see if I get around to the second episode. I have a notoriously limited attention span. An interesting concept, though–a planeload of folks suddenly reappeared after being missing for five years, but for the passengers, time had stood still. The lead actress is a hottie, so there’s that going for it.

It’s a rainy Hash Monday, so that should make for an interesting trail. I did a neighborhood walk this morning and noticed trail markings here in the neighborhood. We’ll see what the Hares have in store for us. Hopefully, nothing too steep and slippery.

That’s all I’ve got for you today.

I hope the day will be a lighter highway
For friends are found on every road
Can you ever think of any better way
For the lost and weary travellers to go

Making friends for the world to see
Let the people know you got what you need
With a friend at hand you will see the light
If your friends are there then everything's all right

Another Saturday night out on the town. IDM and Wet Spot were my venues of choice for drowning my sorrows. In between the two, I had me some grub at Sit-n-Bull.

Had a nice chat with Daddy Dave at Wet Spot. He’s still going strong at 80+ and hasn’t let a little thing like last week’s skin cancer surgery slow him down any. He’s quite the inspiration. I mentioned that I have a birthday coming up this month, and we got a good laugh about me being nine years old when he earned his bachelor’s degree in 1964. Dave went on to have a career in medicine before building his business empire here in the Philippines over twenty years ago. He splits his time between Barretto and Manila and still maintains a residence in Amsterdam as well. Probably the most interesting character in town.

Speaking of friends, I made a new one on Facebook recently. I get friend requests all the time from people I’ve never met, but I’ll generally accept them, provided we have some mutual friends in common. Now, that’s pretty much as far as it usually goes, although occasionally, I’ll engage in some chit-chat. And so it was with “Angel,” who comes across as both friendly and articulate. We were exchanging messages this morning, and on a whim, I suggested we get to know one another better. It just seems to me a good way to break out of my current funk by meeting someone new, and who knows, maybe we’d click romantically. I’ve been thinking a girlfriend might be just what I need. I suggested we get together for lunch this afternoon, and she agreed.

“Where are we going to meet?” she asked. How about Mango’s? “Are you sure?” Um, why? Is there somewhere else you prefer? “No, it’s not that. Are you comfortable meeting me in a public place? You know I’m transgender, right?”

Oh shit. No, I didn’t know that. She pointed out that it says so on her Facebook profile, but somehow I had missed that. I told her I really appreciated her honesty and that I’m not one to judge, but I just don’t swing that way. She was gracious and understanding. I’m glad I didn’t find out she was a girl with something extra the “hard” way. And I won’t have to answer the question, “why did you think she was a real girl?” by saying, “I don’t know, I could just feel it inside me.”

So, my first tentative steps back into the dating life didn’t quite turn out the way I imagined. I’ll need to do a better job vetting potential dates in the future. “What has she gots in her pocketses?” as Gollum would have the good sense to ask.

And if dodging a bullet wasn’t exercise enough, I took a nice 6.5K walk this morning.

You can Relive the walk here:

And that pretty much is all I have to say about the way things are around here.

It does. What a fucked up piece of shit yesterday turned out to be.

My Fitbit died. Not even six months old. That’s the third (and last) Charge 5 I’ve purchased, and they all wound up dying for no explicable reason. I’ve been a loyal Fitbit customer since I first started walking back in 2015. I do believe the time has come for me to give Garmin a try.

Of course, that’s nothing compared with what was to come. No one else was up for a walk on Friday, so I headed out on my own. I was suffering from a serious lack of motivation, but I did manage to do the Baloy Beach walk. Even avoided the temptation to catch a trike on the way back home. Only about 5K all in, but that was better than the nothing I felt like doing.

I spent the rest of the day being lazy, taking several naps, and not doing much else besides posting on the blog. Well, I did do my ab exercises, so I wasn’t a total zero.

And then, it came time to shower up and get ready for my Friday night, featuring the SOB dance competition. I put on a fresh pair of shorts and, as usual, transferred the contents from the pockets of the previous day’s shorts. Keys, inhaler, hanky, wallet…wait a minute, where the fuck is my wallet? Okay, no need to panic. It made it home with me (I paid for the trike), and I had it that morning (gave my helper cash for meds), so it had to be around here somewhere. Except that it wasn’t. It made no sense. I thought back to the only time I’d been out of the house, my morning walk, but the wallet had never left my pocket. Oh, wait, yes, it did. I had seen “mama” on the Beach road and gave her the usual 100 peso donation. I must have somehow failed to make sure the wallet was securely back in my pocket before walking on. Well, if I had any hopes that some honest passerby would try to return the wallet, I know now that was just a foolish dream. It’s gone for good.

The contents included around 3000 pesos, my Chase credit card I use for grocery shopping, my alien registration card, and some other less valuable items. I’ve canceled the credit card (no one had tried to use it, at least) and will have to figure out the best way to get the replacement mailed here. I’ll go to immigration next week and see what the process for replacing the ARC involves–the card also doubles as my ID. Luckily, I wasn’t carrying my debit card, so I still have access to cash via ATMs.

Needless to say, losing my wallet was a real kick in the nuts, and given my current state of mind was especially painful. I just need to suck it up and deal with the inconvenience my own stupidity has brought about.

Despite my crushed spirit, I headed on out to the SOB at Queen Victoria. I was the first to arrive, which is good because that allows me to choose a seat with the best view. Except EVERY table surrounding the stage had a “reserved” sign. WTF? I mean, I get having a VIP table, but to relegate everyone except the “in crowd” to the second-tier seating is pure bullshit. I called a waitress over, but she just shrugged it off, saying they had “called ahead.” Hmm. I was there an hour early and would have spent that time drinking and spending money; they opted for empty tables instead. I told them the lack of front-row seating was unacceptable and left. So, the bad day just got worse. No SOB for me this week.

I had no idea what to do next except try to kill the pain with copious amounts of alcohol. Cheap Charlies would work for that. I had a pretty gal seated on each side of me and plied them with drinks while I sucked down my gin and sodas. My plan succeeded better than expected, and I was drunk before 8 p.m. So, I went home and went to bed.

Today I seem to have a bit more energy and maintained a brisk 12-minute kilometer pace on my morning walk.

My sinuses have also cleared up, which is quite a relief. I’m so impressed with these doctors I’ve found; they healed with meds and vitamins what another doctor wanted to handle through surgery. It pays to shop around.

So, now it is time to put these setbacks behind me and move on to the next big thing. I’m not sure what that might be, but this morning I found myself contemplating the wisdom of dating again. I really think some (unpaid-for) female companionship may be just the thing to get me out of my head. Hey, what could go wrong?

Why wouldn’t it? Yesterday was pretty much like every other day around here. We’ll see about changing things up one day soon. In the meantime, I continue to plod along. I did an 8K walk out to Naugsol and back. I was ready to bail and catch a trike about halfway through, but I somehow managed to talk myself out of doing so. As I alluded to in my post yesterday, I’ve come to realize that this “no energy” symptom may not be physical after all–it might be all in my head. Not sure just how you go about fixing that, though. Today every time I’ve felt tired, I’ve gone and laid down for a while. It hasn’t helped much; I’m still exhausted when I get up again. I’m definitely tired of this bullshit, that’s for sure.

Nothing special about my night out on the town either. Other than it seemed more boring than usual. IDM for a couple, then across the highway to Cheap Charlies for a few more.

Finished up at Wet Spot again.

It’s SOB Friday, so at least that will be something different. Tonight’s event is at Queen Victoria for the first time ever. I assume they will use the band stage (it’s a live band venue normally) as the dance floor. I’ll let you know how it goes.

So, yeah, I need to pick my ass up and find some new ways to start enjoying my life again. Travel is something I want to do for sure, and I’m thinking my first trip in-country will be to Bohol. I’m also running out of time to leave the country to renew my visa, so it looks like a worthless vaccination is in my near future.

Ah, well. It’s all part of the adventure, I suppose.

I want a new drug
One that won't make me sick
One that won't make me crash my car
Or make me feel three feet thick

I want a new drug
One that won't hurt my head
One that won't make my mouth too dry
Or make my eyes too red

One that won't make me nervous
Wondering what to do
One that makes me feel like I feel when I'm with you
When I'm alone with you

I want a new drug
One that won't spill
One that don't cost too much
Or come in a pill

I want a new drug
One that won't go away
One that won't keep me up all night
One that won't make me sleep all day

One that won't make me nervous
Wondering what to do
One that makes me feel like I feel when I'm with you
When I'm alone with you
I'm alone with you, baby

I want a new drug
One that does what it should
One that won't make me feel too bad
One that won't make me feel too good

I want a new drug
One with no doubt
One that won't make me talk too much
Or make my face break out

One that won't make me nervous
Wondering what to do
One that makes me feel like I feel when I'm with you
When I'm alone with you
I'm alone with you

Another day, another step forward. I actually had two acquaintances inquire as to my well-being–my state of mind rather than my physical health. Apparently, I’ve been wearing my heart on my sleeve of late. Yeah, I’m borderline depressed these days, which might explain some of the issues I’ve been dealing with. Not to worry, I’ve been in deeper and darker places. Just one more hole to crawl out of.

Nothing particularly noteworthy about my evening out. Fed the crew at Hideaway bar and finished my night at Wet Spot, where I drank alone. My regular gal had treated me rudely during my previous visit, so I told her last night I had no interest in her company. She seemed taken aback, but I’m in my grumpy phase and have a lack of tolerance for BS. I had the same amount of fun for half the money!

On my walk this morning, I heard a song by Townes Van Zandt for the first time: To Live Is To Fly. I see now that it was recorded in 1972; I must have been busy being a senior in high school or something. Anyway, it spoke to my weary brain all these years later.

Living's mostly wasting time
And I'll waste my share of mine
But it never feels to good,
So let's don't take to long.
You're soft as glass
And I'm a gentle man;
We got the sky to talk about
And the earth to lie upon.

Days, up and down they come
Like rain on a conga drum
Forget most, remember some
But don't turn none away.
Everything is not enough
And nothin' is to much to bear.
Where you been is good and gone
All you keep is the getting there.

To live is to fly
Low and high,
So shake the dust off of your wings
And the sleep out of your eyes.

Our Wednesday Walkers hike was an 8K endeavor, mostly on pavement, with a long stair climb. I was plenty tired at the end. Here are some photos:

And that’s the way it went down yesterday. Stick around and see what happens next!

Life keeps moving forward, and as long as you are on that train, the best you can do is enjoy the ride.

Facebook reminded me today of a different train I used to ride: The Virginia Railway Express (VRE). During another version of my life, I used to commute from Quantico in Virginia to L’Enfant Station in DC to my job at the US Department of Education.

I did my grocery shopping at the PureGold supermarket this week. It’s good to change things up occasionally, and sometimes I can procure some otherwise hard-to-find items that Royal doesn’t stock. Not so much yesterday; one item I needed was some dental flossers. For some unfathomable reason, Royal never has them. Up until yesterday, I’ve always been able to stock up on floss at PureGold, but nope, none to be found. Yeah, I know; if that is my biggest complaint, I’m doing pretty damn good.

After shopping, I had my driver take me and Buddy to visit the vet. Buddy’s been scratching his ears and walking around shaking his head like a crazy person for a couple of weeks now. Figured it was time to get it checked out. The vet diagnosed an ear infection and provided some droplets and pills. And this:

In the afternoon, I had a massage but declined the offered “happy ending.” I guess that illustrates that I’m still feeling out of sorts better than anything else I might say. I’m just not in the mood.

As a quick update, all the physical symptoms are gone–no more fever and no more aches and pains. Now I’m just tired. How tired? I’m taking naps throughout the day. Up at five this morning doing my internet routines, and by six, I felt the need to lay back down and rest. So, it’s not even an issue of being physically tired. Just mentally fatigued. I did an 8K walk this morning, which wasn’t easy, but the hardest part was forcing myself to get out there and do it. My body is capable; my mind isn’t willing. My plan is just to walk it off.

One bright note which may or may not be related is that I don’t have much appetite these days. Or at least I don’t feel hungry much. Weigh-in this morning finds me at 206.9. I’ve lost more weight in the one week since I’ve been sick than I did in the three previous weeks of my diet. So, there’s a silver lining, at least.

Last night I did some water with gin at IDM, Cheap Charlies, and Hot Zone. I was the only customer at Hot Zone, and when I left, I gave the dancers and waitresses 50 pesos each to remember me.

I finished my night at Outback, where once again, I was the only customer in the place. The girls were all looking at me thirstily, and I eventually relented and bought them a round of drinks. Yeah, I’m a soft touch, but I don’t mind. Getting a drink commission means a lot more to them than the money does to me.

There you have another snapshot from my so-called life. I’m hoping I get over this being tired thing soon. I’m tired of it. Now I need another nap.

The march to normality continues. I did a 3.5K neighborhood walk, then hoofed it to the far side of town to give the gals at Hideway their Sunday dinner–pizza and brownies this week. One of the waitresses mentioned that it looked like I’d lost weight. She said my face was skinnier, like I’d been sick. Well, it’s my belly I want to lose, but it seems to be holding out just fine.

It had been a while since my last visit to Cheap Charlies, so I made that my next stop. I was happy to see my new old favorite Roseanne was working. She was cheerful and friendly and full of laughter at my lame attempts to be funny–in other words, she was doing her job the way it is supposed to be done. She confided that the other girls were afraid to join me because I looked grumpy. Yeah, matter of fact, I have been grumpier than normal. While I was at Hideaway, my former love was texting me about her new love. Not the one she dumped me for; that didn’t work out, either. Not that it matters, I was always going to be her second choice, and that will never be good enough for me. And while I appreciate her honesty, I’m understanding why it is hard to maintain a friendship with an ex-love.

I also got a text from an old friend who wants to move back to Barretto and needs some assistance with getting a place to live. I was happy to agree to help.

One of the things I like about Cheap Charlies, besides the view, is the music is a good mix played at an appropriate volume (loud enough to be heard and enjoyed, but not so loud as to impede conversation). And an old Creedence song, Hey Tonight, caught my ear. It was a popular song back in the day, but not a huge hit like Proud Mary or Fortunate Son. You hear those songs often over the years, but it had been maybe thirty years since I’d listened to Hey Tonight. It’s probably the closest to time travel I’ll ever get, but hearing it again carried me back to the wild times I spent in the 1970s. It was a good trip to go there again.

Just as I was fixin’ to call it a night, the skies opened up, and a downpour ensued. Nothing to be done but order up another round of drinks. As I was sipping my soda water with a dash of gin, a stranger approached and said, “you’re McCrarey, right?” He was in town for a visit and had Googled ‘Barretto bars,’ and my humble blog was one of the featured results. Nice to meet you, Dan. Hope you enjoy your visit. These encounters with readers I don’t know are rare, maybe once a year or so, but it is a little disconcerting to be reminded I’m not as anonymous as I imagine myself to be.

I rather enjoyed this FB post from my younger brother:

Still feeling blah this morning, but I did my dog walking duty on a rainy morning.

Hash Monday is upon me, and I’ve still not adequately tested my ability to endure. I’m going to wing today and see how it goes. I’ll bail whenever it feels like “too much, too soon.” That’s the best I can do. Assuming I survive, I’ll be back with a full report tomorrow.

Hey, Tonight,
Gonna be tonight,
Don't you know I'm flyin'
Tonight, tonight.
Hey, c'mon,
Gonna chase tomorrow
Tonight, tonight.

Gonna get it to the rafters,
Watch me now.
Jody's gonna get religion
All night long.

I’m not sure what’s going on. All the other manifestations of my recent illness have receded except for this lack of energy–the old “my get up and go, got up and went” saw. Well, I’m still having mushy brain syndrome, an example of which is my fingers don’t push the keyboard letters in the order my mind tells them to. My nasal sinuses, which have been clogged for months, are finally beginning to open up–I’d say maybe as much as 50%. That makes breathing more convenient, but I’m also regaining my sense of smell. That’s not always good. And I have no idea what this is related to, if anything, but all of a sudden, Coke Zero doesn’t taste good to me anymore. Weird times.

Yesterday afternoon I headed into town, but I was surprised by my own lack of enthusiasm for doing so. Well, the rain dampened my mood, but it was more than that; I just wasn’t feeling it. I went anyway because I wanted to drop into Alaska Club and wish owner Jerry a happy birthday. I arrived before they opened, so I kept walking until I reached IDM. There were people I knew to meet and greet, and once I settled in, my negativity evaporated. I had three drinks (the way I mix them, it is water with a splash of gin) and headed for Alaska.

I wished Jerry a happy birthday and bought him a beer, and ponied up to a table. A few more dancers than usual, and one them kept giving me an “I know you” look. I looked back and shrugged, and she was like, “C’mon!”. This pantomime continued for several minutes until I finally called her down for a drink. She did look vaguely familiar, but I had no idea why. Turns out she used to work at IDM and would sometimes drink with my crush Roan and me. Waitresses come and go constantly there, and honestly, while I remembered her, she didn’t stand out in my mind.

We had a nice chat, and she could hold her own in the witty repartee exchange. She is not the cutest girl around by a long shot, but she has a pretty hot body. Especially when you consider that she’s pumped out SIX babies! Mind-boggling.

Jerry had a nice buffet brought in. He blew out some candles, we sang him a song, and chowed down. I finished my third drink and said my goodnights. I did achieve my daily step goal (15,000), so I took that as a good sign. Was in bed before 8:30 and woke up refreshed and ready for action after an 8-hour sleep. Or so I had hoped.

I couldn’t even make it through my morning internet ritual before I felt the need to lie down and rest my weary head. Thirty minutes later, I was back at it until the urge to put my head on a pillow overwhelmed me once again. I did get up to feed and walk the dogs, and I had grand plans to push myself on my morning hike in preparation for tomorrow’s Hash. Then it started raining, and I knew the walk I had in mind wasn’t happening. I did have an alternative plan, and it involved sleeping some more. Maybe that’s why I’m so tired?

So, that’s where things stand. I’ll do a neighborhood stroll this afternoon before I head into Barretto. I hope I turn the corner tomorrow and can do the Hash. I’ll play it by ear, but I’m sure I can find an alternative route if the trail is too tough for my weak old body. I’ll be glad to put this behind me. I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired.

This illness has certainly been a roller coaster ride thus far. Yesterday afternoon, my thermometer said my temp was close to normal. But when I woke up this morning, my temperature was 39.1, higher than ever. I woke up from my nap just now, and I’m back in the normal zone again.

What gives me the confidence I’m truly getting better is that the body aches are gone, and I’m not feeling dizzy and lethargic anymore. I still think this is a minor case of Covid. I considered having a test done by my new doctor, but now that I’m feeling better, I’m not going to bother with it.

Haven’t been out of the house for two days now, so I don’t really have anything else I can write about. Hopefully, I’ll be able to escape for a while tomorrow.

But the symptoms I’ve experienced this morning are eerily similar to those I had when I caught the COVID last year. The first thing I noticed was feeling cold–I was actually shivering. I don’t run the aircon in my room, but I did have the ceiling fan and a floor fan blowing the air around. I turned those off and put on a second shirt. I felt dizzy walking into the living room, so I sat down and grabbed my thermometer–38.6 degrees–that’s in the fever zone. I went back to bed and tried to sleep it off but didn’t have much luck with that. In addition to the shivers and fever, I have no energy and feel completely lethargic. Whatever this is has hit me hard.

My helper, who is actually a certified caregiver, has been plying me with tea and feeding me various pills. I stayed in bed until noon, and now I’m sitting at my desk writing this post. I guess the drugs might be working because I just took my temperature again, and it is down to 37.6. Maybe it’s not COVID after all.

I was fine last night, maybe slightly inebriated at the end of my bar crawl, but that’s not unusual.

As I was sitting there enjoying my drink, I got a message from a restaurant waitress I’m acquainted with saying it was her birthday and she didn’t have a cake. She’s the sister of a friend’s girlfriend, and she said he had told her to contact me to buy a cake because he is currently out of the country. Yeah, it seemed a little shady, but on the other hand, I don’t mind helping to make someone’s day special. So, I left Hideaway and bought a cake at the local Goldilocks store. Got some ice cream to go with it too.

When I dropped it off, I got a weird vibe and not much of a thank you, either. It was a little off-putting, but I kept my word, and hopefully, she enjoyed the cake. Next year she’ll be on her own, however.

My next stop was Wet Spot, and of course, Aine was there to greet me.

I’m not sure what I said or did, but I somehow managed to piss her off. I’d just bought her another lady drink, and the next thing I know, she walked away from my table. I went to the CR, and when I passed the stage, she was up there dancing. Very weird. I paid my tab and left. I think I will find me a new favorite next time I’m in Wet Spot.

I made Queen Victoria my last stop of the night. Had a free drink coupon to use and then stayed for another. It was all pretty hazy at that point, but I made it home alive.

I did have some success on my grocery shopping excursion to the Royal supermarket. Fresh milk was back in stock, and for the first time in about six months, they had cream cheese frosting available. There is going to be a carrot cake in the near future.

Alright, I somehow managed to sit here and do this post without collapsing. Actually, with the fever down, I’m not feeling the waves of dizziness. I think I’m getting my energy level up a notch or two as well. Not nearly as lethargic as I was this morning. Maybe I’ll be “normal” again tomorrow. Or as normal as I get, anyway.