Well, more and more these days, I’m glad to be able to remember my name. That and my ATM card PIN. Anyway, here’s what I remember about yesterday:
Kicked off the morning with a hike to the Subic Marketplace to buy this week’s supply of sweets for the Candy Walk. It’s a pretty dull highway walk most of the way, but we did hand out some goodies to the kinds we encounter. Here are the most interesting things I saw along the way:
Early in our trek, we encountered a caravan of emergency vehicles/fire trucks with their sirens blaring and full-blast horns blowing loudly. The occasion? Reminding Subic citizens that fireworks aren’t allowed for New Year’s Eve celebrations. Okay, noted.‘Tis the season of Christmas litter. To hell with gloves!That wooden sofa-bench hanging precariously over the pristine river water caught my eye. Ain’t no way I’d sit on that!The only portion of our hike that wasn’t on pavementA ship on the bay framed by tree bookends.Walking the highway in Calapandayan I saw this gate. The bar building is gone, and this is all that remains. Scott told me the Hash had an On-Home there in 2006.Just shy of 8K when we arrived at the market.
Triked back home with the candy stock, dashed out a post, took a shower, and then we made our way to Baloy Beach to attend the It Doesn’t Matter end of year party.
I’d never been to this venue at the very end of Baloy Beach Road before. I teased Swan about owning a beach place I didn’t know about (Christine is her given name).Beachside under a straw roof is definitely Filipino style. I like it!These kinds of parties always include games among the staff. This one involved picking up rice on a playing card with no hands, carrying the card back to your teammate, transferring the rice, and then the next player repeating until everyone had participated.I found this game to be the most impressive. The gals had to carry a straw held between their pursed upper lip and nose and then deposit it in an empty beer bottle. Several of them proved to be quite good at it.The balloon carrying event required some good timing and teamwork.A nice day to be hanging out at the beach
When we lined up for the mealtime buffet, there was a smorgasbord of food choices. Many of them were Filipino dishes that I didn’t really recognize. I put several items on my plate, and most of them were good.
Since I was mostly clueless about what I was ingesting, I just calculated this plate to be 500 calories worth.
San Miguel Zero wasn’t one of my drink options at the party, so I was ingesting SM Light (more calories, more alcohol). So, as the sun began to fade away, we said our goodbyes and took a stroll on the beach.
That’s one of Swan’s favorite things to doWe paid a brief visit to Laharnyz along the wayThen finished our evening out with a stop at Treasure Island to enjoy the live music. My neighbor Mike was there, so we joined his group’s table.
When we arrived back home, I wasn’t in the mood for pudding, so I made a batch of blueberry smoothies. That should have been enough, but oh no, I couldn’t resist having a bowl of vanilla ice cream to end the night. My New Year’s resolution is to demonstrate a bit more self-discipline.
My worst day in a week of failures. Wait till next year, then I’ll show ’em!On the plus side, I did step it up some. Technically, I burned more calories than I ingested, so hopefully, the damage is minimal.And my Fitbit had this to say for encouragement.
In the memories department, Facebook reminds me that seven years ago, I was on my last trip to the Philippines before my move. One of my objectives was to scout around for a place to live.
That search led me to Alta Vista for a looksee. I do believe this was the first photo I took of Easter Mountain.
And there was this:
I’ve been losing Facebook “friends” a lot longer than that, almost always over differences of opinion regarding politics.
Okay, today’s YouTube video is something special–the first one I ever created. It all began with a request from commenter Ginger that I recite a poem and post it here on LTG. I had no clue about how to do that, and my pal and commenter Kevin Kim sent me some info on ways to create and upload videos. So, I thought, why not give it a try? Now, I didn’t put any real effort into this–I just turned on the video recorder on my phone and recited a Sara Teasdale poem from memory. I didn’t attempt to edit or do more than one take. What you see is what you get. Of course, if my reader(s) demand I recite other poems I like, your wish is my command. Anyway, this one’s for you, Ginger!
I suppose if you haven’t laughed enough already, you might like these:
Yeah, that’s pretty much what happened to me last night with the ice cream.I remember a long-ago Christmas (around 1960) when my drunken father decided to undecorate the tree by shooting the ornaments with the BB gun my older brother got from Santa. My grandmother called the cops. As my father told the tale later, the police officer asked if he had any mental health issues. My dad (allegedly) responded, “No, but I have a hole in my pocket. I don’t feel crazy, but I sure feel nuts.”I posted this one on Facebook twelve years ago. It is still a part of my bad joke repertoire.
And here it is, another Sunday afternoon. I’ll be heading out soon to feed the Hideaway crew; then, I’ll meet Swan at the Arizona floating bar to enjoy some on-the-water ambiance. We’ll follow that up with dinner at John’s place, and then we’ll see what happens. Tell you all about it tomorrow.
And here’s the “first time hearing” it take:
4 thoughts on “Let It Be Forgotten”
Whenever a firework “holiday” comes around, I am reminded of the meme:
Today, someone will be celebrating their last day with ten fingers!
Lots of dilapidation in today’s post.
I teased Swan about owning a beach place I didn’t know about (Christine is her given name).
So we finally have a real name for Swan, eh?
This one involved picking up rice on a playing card with no hands…
You sure that’s rice and not cocaine?
Since I was mostly clueless about what I was ingesting, I just calculated this plate to be 500 calories worth.
A rare foray outside of your comfort zone. You didn’t simply ask someone to explain your food?
And my Fitbit had this to say for encouragement.
I had to look up what “cardio load” was. I guess this means you’re pushing yourself twice as hard as before. Good for you! But with all the extra eating…
Okay, today’s YouTube video is something special–the first one I ever created.
I was wondering why you did it as a video. You can also just not train the camera on yourself but instead on some part of your room, or you can put up some kind of still image while the audio plays. It was a good first effort. If you decide you want to get deeper into the whole podcasting thing, you can start looking into a better audio system—high-fidelity microphones, decent sound-recording apps, soundproofing for your room, etc., to eliminate echo and heighten sound quality. Putting the mike closer to your mouth will also help others to appreciate the deep resonance of your voice.
It’s all up to you. Podcasters like Styxhexenhammer666 don’t bother with audio quality; Styx just sits in front of his camera and hits “record” with almost no special equipment at all. If that’s your style, too, then okay.
Kev, yes, that’s her legal name. She uses her middle name, Miel, most of the time. Her nickname is “Tin,” which I assume derives from ChrisTINe.
There were so many dishes, and only things like the roast chicken looked familiar. Once it was on my plate, it didn’t matter. There was nothing that I hated.
Regarding the video, I didn’t really think about it. I had just read your email guidance and spontaneously grabbed my phone, turned on the camera, and recorded the poem off the top of my head. I doubt I’ll be doing enough videos to warrant buying quality equipment, though. Yeah, Styx-style works for me!
Yes, that’s always been an issue, especially with firecrackers and other explosives. Anything that makes noise here is popular and the skyrockets are ubiquitous. I’m not sure the reasons behind the ban, but I assume it is the potential for injuries and fires.
Whenever a firework “holiday” comes around, I am reminded of the meme:
Today, someone will be celebrating their last day with ten fingers!
Lots of dilapidation in today’s post.
I teased Swan about owning a beach place I didn’t know about (Christine is her given name).
So we finally have a real name for Swan, eh?
This one involved picking up rice on a playing card with no hands…
You sure that’s rice and not cocaine?
Since I was mostly clueless about what I was ingesting, I just calculated this plate to be 500 calories worth.
A rare foray outside of your comfort zone. You didn’t simply ask someone to explain your food?
And my Fitbit had this to say for encouragement.
I had to look up what “cardio load” was. I guess this means you’re pushing yourself twice as hard as before. Good for you! But with all the extra eating…
Okay, today’s YouTube video is something special–the first one I ever created.
I was wondering why you did it as a video. You can also just not train the camera on yourself but instead on some part of your room, or you can put up some kind of still image while the audio plays. It was a good first effort. If you decide you want to get deeper into the whole podcasting thing, you can start looking into a better audio system—high-fidelity microphones, decent sound-recording apps, soundproofing for your room, etc., to eliminate echo and heighten sound quality. Putting the mike closer to your mouth will also help others to appreciate the deep resonance of your voice.
It’s all up to you. Podcasters like Styxhexenhammer666 don’t bother with audio quality; Styx just sits in front of his camera and hits “record” with almost no special equipment at all. If that’s your style, too, then okay.
Kev, yes, that’s her legal name. She uses her middle name, Miel, most of the time. Her nickname is “Tin,” which I assume derives from ChrisTINe.
There were so many dishes, and only things like the roast chicken looked familiar. Once it was on my plate, it didn’t matter. There was nothing that I hated.
Regarding the video, I didn’t really think about it. I had just read your email guidance and spontaneously grabbed my phone, turned on the camera, and recorded the poem off the top of my head. I doubt I’ll be doing enough videos to warrant buying quality equipment, though. Yeah, Styx-style works for me!
Yes, that’s always been an issue, especially with firecrackers and other explosives. Anything that makes noise here is popular and the skyrockets are ubiquitous. I’m not sure the reasons behind the ban, but I assume it is the potential for injuries and fires.