Things change and sometimes in unexpected ways.

Yesterday started out in typical enough fashion. It was raining heavily most of the day, and coupled with some gusty winds I just decided to give up on taking any extended hikes. Not walking does put me somewhat out of sorts though, and I just felt “off” for most of the day.

I did plan to keep my Saturday night date with darts however. But seeing as how I hadn’t had a shower in two days, I needed to book a hotel room first. Luckily, I had a 50% off coupon I won at the SOB raffle on Friday. Got the room for a mere 850 pesos ($16). Had dinner at Dryden’s (a not bad cheeseburger with fries) and took a box of takeout chicken wings for the staff at Alley Cats.

Had a great time at darts. Managed a second place finish in a hard fought and well played finals match. And also had fun interacting (and buying drinks) with the bar staff and customers. My tab was a whopping 2200 pesos ($44), the most I’ve heretofore spent at Alley Cats. I put lots of smiles on the bargirl faces there. Funny thing is back in Korea that was what I’d usually spend on a solitary and depressing night in Anjeong-ri where each of my own beers were costing me $7 or $8 bucks (versus less than $2 here). Glad to spread that windfall savings around.

Marissa was working last night, and after darts I asked if she would like to join me back at the hotel. She was up for that so off we went. It was the first time we had actually spent a whole night sleeping together. I enjoyed that. Had to get up early though and get back to the house to let the construction workers in to do their thing. And it is all coming along nicely. Even got my dart board hung today!

And then guess what happened? I turned on the tap in the kitchen and by God I had running water for the first time in almost two weeks! I can’t begin to express just how exciting that was for me.

And so hopefully last night was my last night in Paradise!