“He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.
–Epictetus

Made it! By my reckoning the trip took 32 hours door-to-door (19 hours in the air, 10 sitting in airports, and 3 hours drive time). Given the date line thing, I left on Wednesday morning and arrived on Friday morning.

The trip went with nary a hitch. Well, I was dozing in the Asiana lounge at Incheon when I was awakened by a pretty Korean woman in uniform. “Mr. McCrarey?” um yeah. “We have a problem.” Not exactly the words I wanted to wake up to. Apparently the problem was my business class seat was broken and there were no other business class seats available. She was very apologetic and told me they would give me a whole row of coach seats to myself and a $300 refund. Not like I had much choice but I told her that would be fine. She was relieved and asked if she could take a picture with me “for her boss”. Hell, I never could say no to a sexy Korean. Anyway, the epilogue to the story is that after I got to the gate and got my boarding pass changed I asked about my money. Was told it was being brought to the gate by a courier. Shortly thereafter an Asiana agent approached with the news that maintenance had repaired my seat so it all went back to the way it was before. That was fine by me.

I was a little bit nervous at customs in Clark airport because I had two heavy suitcases filled with not just dirty clothes but also the shitload of supplies I bought to carry me through another year in the Philippines. I never declare any goods and since they were all for personal use I’m not sure I have to. Still, when I saw them requiring everyone to open their bags while a customs officer took a look inside, I thought “oh shit”. As I got closer to the front of the line I observed that they were waving some folks on through, it appeared they were only checking bags carried by Koreans. Sure enough, the agent motioned me to keep on moving and with a sigh of relief that’s just what I did!

My driver Donny was waiting and my helper Tere and her friend Gina had come along for the ride. Got back home around 0400. Unpacked my bags, had a couple of beers, checked the internets, and then hit the sheets. Just as I was dozing off, I felt someone crawling into bed beside me. It was Gina! Guess I wasn’t as tired as I felt. I never could say no to an attractive Filipina.

Oh yeah, Buddy was happy to see me too. At first, he didn’t know what to do. I’m not sure he believed it was really me. When I first walked in the door, he looked at me, barked, and ran up the stairs. He came back down, looked at me again, had a sniff, then ran back up stairs. He ran back down, smelled me again, sneezed, and then was all over me. It was kind of sweet. He didn’t leave my side the rest of the night.

Me on the beach again!

Back into my regular routine this morning. Walked Buddy then did my Baloy Beach/Subic Town hike. Worked up a good sweat then came home and took a nap. Tonight I’ll head out to Alley Cats with my Pasalubong (candy for everyone!).

So, it’s good to be back. I’m trying on a new attitude in an effort to “unfuck myself”. My new book is providing some tips on keeping it that way. No excuses!

And of course, I’ll miss my family back home. They seem to be getting along just fine without me, and I’ll be back next year to see them all again.

The last supper on Tuesday night…

“Reject your sense of injury and the injury itself disappears”
–Marcus Aurelius