Die birria | Long Time Gone

***Actions are louder and don’t need to be punctuated!***

Alright, I’ve got an agenda to attend to today, so I’m going to keep it short, if not sweet. Swan left the house at 0300 for a tour/hike on Mount Pinatubo with her girlfriends. I’ve filled the morning hours in the usual walkaholic manner. Next up, I’ll head into Olongapo City for a phone repair and a little clothes shopping. Of course, I hope to be home by beer o’clock. We shall see.

What can I say about yesterday? Well, we had a nice enough group hike circumnavigating the Naugsol Valley. In the evening, we made It Doesn’t Matter our pre-dinner stop. And then we stayed because Swan ran into some of her friends she is hiking with today. We had some birria tacos delivered from Myleen’s (which is practically next door) and ate them at IDM. We then did a nightcap at Nipsey’s Bar, and Swan’s friends came along. We didn’t stay long because of the pending early morning travel. I did bake some brownies when we got back home for Swan to enjoy with the mountain hiking group.

And that was the day. Here are some photos you may or may not enjoy:

***My fellow travelers for the Friday group hike.***

***Dispensing sweetness along the way.***

***The two gals enjoying yakety-yak as they walk.***

***It was another hot day, and there wasn’t much shade in the valley.***

***Easter Mountain as seen from the valley floor.***

***The final push back up into Alta Vista near the end of our hike.***

Did I mention it was hot?

***According to CNN, I died from the heat yesterday. Or CNN was as wrong about the actual temperature as everything else.***

Shirel couldn’t resist getting up on stage at Nipsey’s and showing the dancers how it is done. Oh, and I had the DJ play “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy” and “In the Mood,” two classics from the 1940s. The gals didn’t have a clue what to do, so I pulled Swan out and did a little swing dancing.

***My drinking companions at the end of our night on the town.***

So, it is the time of year I bitch and moan a lot about the heat. But it won’t be long now until I’m complaining about the rain.

***I live in the red zone. Wet with sweat or wet from the rain. I won’t let it dampen my enthusiasm.***

Oh, and about the title of today’s post. Yep, I woke up to liquid shit in the bowels. All I ate last night was one damn birria taco, so that’s where I pointed the finger. Swan was fine, though, so I suspect Ozempic might be the real culprit. Still, so far at least, the good is outweighing the bad, so I’ll keep it up for now.

Eight years ago, I dropped off my work clothes for the last time:

***At the thrift store on Camp Humphreys.***

From the February 2019 LTG archives: “Today makes nine months since the conception of my retired life in the Philippines. Thankfully, throughout this gestation period, there has been no cause to abort my decision to move here. I’ve been born again! And life goes on.” And now coming up on 8 years here, I still have no regrets.

Today’s YouTube video is from a guy who moved here and learned some hard lessons the hard way. I’ve made my share of mistakes, but nothing I couldn’t recover from.

And there’s always time for a smile or three:

***Why do you make it so hard on him?***

***I’ve got to hand it to you, Johnny. See you in hell…***

***I wonder how much the books on punctuation run?***

All that matters in life is living free and happy. I’m getting pretty good grades with that these days.

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