It seems to me that you are ultimately only as good as your partner. I’m talking about darts here, not life. Although, come to think of it… Nope, not going to go there.

Anyway, tournament last night at Alley Cats. As is the norm, it was a luck-of-the draw (aka “blind draw”) format. This means each of the participants draws a number and the two folks who draw the same number are paired up as doubles partners for the night. Sometimes this results in a disparate impact when two strong players are drawn together or two weak players are forced to compete. Still, it’s really the only fair way to treat all the players as everyone has an equal chance to get a partner of their liking.

I make mention of this process because last night I drew my nemesis, Steve the Englishman who doesn’t drink, as my partner. Now, Steve is currently the best player in town. I’m probably in the top 5 when I bring some game with me. So there was a fair amount of whining as folks figured the best they could hope for was a second place finish. I do understand those feelings, but the only way to find out is to play the match. And that’s what we proceeded to do.

Oddly enough, being favored to win puts a whole other kind of pressure on you. Conversely, your opponents have nothing to lose and so play more relaxed. At least it felt that way to me last night. In our first match we lost the first leg, won the second handily, and had a nail biter in the the final leg before prevailing. Steve was throwing outstanding darts all night, I had my typical inconsistent game going on, but did hit some out shots and a few big scores.

As expected by everyone in the bar, we reached the finals undefeated in the winners bracket. We had another tough match that went all three legs before we took the victory and the 1000 peso first place money. It wasn’t easy at all though and really I have more fun when I don’t give a shit about winning or losing.

Enough about darts. Let’s talk about walking! I did my morning 10,000 steps on pavement, taking my Abra street route. I’m always aware when I’m up in the mountains about the hazards that surround me and how easy it would be suffer serious injury with one misstep. On the street you need to of course be careful of vehicular traffic and the like, but their are other perils as well.

The streets stay wet all the time during rainy season. And in areas where there is not much traffic a green algae-like substance grows. And that shit is just about as slick as a sheet of ice. This morning while I’m walking I’m faced with either stepping out into the street, walking through a puddle, or getting up on what passes for a sidewalk. The space was actually angled 20 degrees or so as it was also a driveway entrance. Well, I knew right away I had made a mistake because it was covered in the green slime. I tried to retreat but too late–I was down on my ass. All I hurt was my pride, thankfully. Oh, an my watchband broke. I sat there stewing in my stupidity when a trike driver stopped to see if I was okay. I assured him I was, but he helped me stand up anyway. Nice guy!

I made it back home without further incident. After a brief rest and a change of shorts, I walked to Lourdes hospital for my scheduled eye doctor appointment. Afterwards I walked the length of Baloy Beach road and returned home with nearly 22,000 steps before noon!

I like my ophthalmologist, you might say we see eye-to-eye on things. *ahem*. The good news is my infections have cleared up so I don’t have to keep putting the antibiotic gunk in my eyes. He did say I’m showing early signs of cataracts. Not a problem now, but something to keep an eye on (there I go again!). The Doc suggested I wear my sunglasses when I’m outside as somehow bright sunlight can exacerbate cataract growth. I’ll come back in six months for another checkup.

What else? Well, apparently someone at Divimart read my post mocking their signage and abbreviations.

I hope they carry slow cookers. My efforts to find a replacement have been unsuccessful thus far. For whatever reason they are just not a popular cooking method here. I even did the big online shopping service, Lazada (the PI Amazon). An lo and behold, they had one listed just like the one I have (well, I have half of one now, but you know what I mean). I experienced some sticker shock at 6250 pesos ($125), more than twice what I paid for mine. But what are you going to do? Started filling out the shipping information and it turns out I can have it flown in for $100 and get it the first week in September. Or I can ship it by sea for $40 dollars and receive it at the end of October. I opted for the “fuck it, I’ll keep looking” option.

Meanwhile, the Philippines has passed a law that makes most of my drunk jokes illegal. Bastos means “rude” in Tagalog.

In other news, it turns out I’m an “extreme lark”. I wake up every morning between 5 and 6 a.m. I’m almost always in bed by 10 p.m. Pretty interesting article at the link, give it a read. I kind of like that according to neuroscience I’m a lark. All this time I figured I was just a tired old man!

And finally, in the category of one less thing to worry about–remember those ISIS terrorists I mentioned a while back? Turns out it was the father of one of the female suspects who made the accusation. Not because she’s a terrorist, but because he didn’t like the boy she was dating. It’s a crazy world out there, that’s for sure.

I did such a damn fine job getting my steps in today I think I’ll reward myself with a nice massage. Then I’ll drink some beers. Life is good!