…but let’s ketchup!

Anyway, yesterday was pretty much a cluster fuck. The power went out around 8:30 a.m., and I was hoping it would just be one of those short one-hour outages that occur occasionally. So, I headed out for my regular Thursday solo walk, and the power was still out when I returned home two hours later. And then I found out it was a “scheduled brownout” and would last until 4 p.m. Damn it. I have no water without power, so I can’t even take a cold shower. No electricity means no internet and no ability to charge my phone and laptop. Almost like being poor, except my cupboards weren’t bare.

My new phone’s wifi hotspot wouldn’t connect to the internet. I just got my old phone back from the repair shop, so me and the helper struggled to take the sim card from the new one and reinsert it into the old one. That took longer than it should have (it was like fitting the pieces into a jigsaw puzzle). The old phone did connect me to the internet but at an incredibly slow speed. Uploading the photos for yesterday’s post was at an excruciating crawl, and my laptop was running out of juice, so I finally just gave up and posted what I had. So, here’s the rest of the story.

I had a dandy trek with the Wednesday Walkers. In the interest of brevity, I’ll just share the Relive video of the hike:

https://www.relive.cc/view/vPOp3xMJ9Ev

My nighttime activity was limited to one stop–Hideaway Bar. I rarely spend an entire evening without a change of scenery, but Wednesday was the exception to the rule. I guess the reason why is that there was a good vibe happening. Only one other customer that I recall, and I had control of the music machine so I could play songs that fit my mood (feeling sad as I remembered the anniversary of my mother’s passing). Joy was also providing some comfort, and someone kept buying me drinks. Everything just came together for a one bar night.

I splurged on tasty treats from John’s place for the bi-weekly feeding of the girls.

I drank away my blues and made it home safe and sound. Success!

In addition to having no power yesterday, I received three pleadings for assistance to resolve financial emergencies. My friend in Bohol required 3500 pesos to pay for her business license renewal (she runs a little eatery). I deemed that request worthy and managed to wire her the money despite my glacially slow internet. Another person I’ve been acquainted with since moving here needed 2500 pesos to obtain the required health certifications to begin work at a new restaurant in Olongapo. I agreed to provide the requested assistance and gave her the cash prior to this morning’s hike. The third request came from my favorite at Alaska Club and was the strangest I’ve ever had and also for the smallest amount–300 pesos. I’ll call her Pam for the purposes of this post.

I’m looking forward to getting the details next time I see her in person, but a female friend of Pam’s had asked that Pam accompany her on a visit to Bataan. Pam told her she didn’t have the funds to make the journey, and her friend agreed to cover the expenses. Yesterday morning, Pam awoke to discover her friend had abandoned her without a word. So, there she was, a stranger in a strange land with no money in her pocket to get back home. She sent me a message pleading for help, and there was no question I would provide it (the equivalent of six bucks for chrissakes). I just didn’t know how to get it to her. I usually do wire transfers, but Pam said there were no pick-up outlets where she was located. She asked me to send it via GCash, which is a big deal here in the Philippines–a mobile wallet–that I’ve never used and know nothing about. I asked my helper if she had a GCash account, and she did not. Pam advised the funds could be sent to her account from a 7/11 store, so I sent my helper out on a mercy mission. I’m happy to report that Pam made it home safely, and I will hopefully see her at tonight’s SOB. Oh, and I hope Pam’s “friend” keeps her distance so as to avoid being murdered–Pam was livid when we chatted.

In other news, either I’m famous, outed, or maybe both. My friend Kevin has been looking at his blog stats and noted that he had over 7,000 visitors one day. My little diary of a blog gets 250 hits on a good day, and I’m of two minds about that. I mean, I feel an obligation to post something every day for the loyal few who follow me here, and I’m always wowed by the feedback I sometimes receive in the comments. So, increasing regular readers would be a good thing, I suppose, in a “the more, the merrier” kind of way. On the other hand, there is a certain freedom that comes with anonymity. It may sometimes appear that I write as if no one is reading, and sometimes it does feel that way. So, I’m always surprised when I encounter an LTG reader in person, especially here in my little town. A reminder that I’m not as anonymous as I choose to believe. And then, yesterday, someone (one of my readers) sent me a link to this post on Facebook:

Now, there was a time I would post links to my blog on Facebook, but I stopped doing so several years ago. I post things here about my life that I wouldn’t dream of doing on Facebook. Even so, I’ve gotten negative feedback from family members saying my lifestyle here in the Philippines is inappropriate reading for my grandchildren, who are now old enough to Google my name and discover their perverted grandfather. Well, I guess I can always serve as a bad example. Nevertheless, it is somewhat disconcerting to know my local community may be reading my rantings and ravings. That won’t stop me from writing the truths as I see them, but I will strive not to invade the privacy of the people I know. So, as I go forward, I’ll be changing the names of people like “Pam” and may alter some details without changing the factual basis as necessary in future posts.

Back in the real world, at 4:30, I gave up on power restoration, sprayed on some extra cologne, and went out unbathed last evening.

I assuaged my hunger by ordering a plate of honey barbeque chicken wings from Foodies, the restaurant downstairs from Cheap Charlies.

The wings were good; the drinks were cold, and the company was thirsty. Everyone was happy!

Later, I dashed across the highway and had a couple more at Wet Spot. Then headed home, where I was relieved to see that the power had been restored but distraught when I discovered that the water pump was not functioning. Nothing to be done about it in my drunken condition, so I went to bed. This morning before the hike, I gave my helper some money to have someone repair it. When I returned from the hike, I once again had running water. The helper told me she had remembered how to reset the pump. I’m lucky to have her! (I hope she doesn’t read that and ask for a raise!)

And that should just about cats u up. I’ll be back tomorrow with more!