And now a radical Muslim is the mayor of NYC. And another terrorist sympathizer who thinks the USA deserved the WTC attack is running for the Senate. We’ve come a long way, haven’t we? I’m old and will likely be dead when the real shit hits the fan, but you never know. Here’s the post I wrote on the twentieth anniversary of that fateful morning. I was working in DC that morning and felt the Pentagon attack in an up-close and personal way. It changed me and put me on the path that led me to work for the US Army in Korea.

I’ve also been remembering to honor two of the heroes of 9/11 every year:

May all those Americans who perished that day rest in eternal peace.

I’m a long way from my homeland here in the Philippines, and the life I’ve chosen to live goes on. Yesterday had some unusual elements, including a morning without rain. We took advantage of that rare opportunity to undertake an umbrella-free hike.

Another unusual happening yesterday was me making up a batch of my Aunt Pat’s World Famous Fruit Salad. It’s been quite a while since I’ve done that, and the inspiration was finding a bag of flaked coconut at the Royal Supermarket. It’s the first time I’ve ever seen it in the Philippines, which is weird, because coconuts grow wild here. In the past, I’ve had to use diced fresh buko (what they call the coconut innards here) instead. It’s okay, but not as sweet, and the purpose of the coconut is to sweeten the salad.

We caught another break in the rain late in the afternoon, which made the walk into town more pleasant than usual. We parked our butts at Sloppy Joe’s and enjoyed the street-view ambiance. Across the street, the new Voodoo Bar was preparing for its grand opening, and at the appointed hour (6 p.m.) we headed over for a looksee.

I was shy about taking photos, but everything inside is new and fresh. The CR has a single toilet and no urinal, which is a little unusual for a male-oriented bar. The bar’s interior is on the smallish side and features a pool table near the entrance, six customer tables, and a stage in the middle. The stage is smallish, but they had six gals crammed on it, and they were all slender and fairly attractive (which is a rarity these days). They also had a bunch of waitresses/GROs, and I couldn’t help thinking that even if all the tables were full of customers, the girls would still outnumber the menfolk. I’m not sure how this arrangement will impact profit margins, but maybe making money isn’t important to this owner, who has now purchased seven bars in the notoriously slow Barretto bar market.

So, I’m going to refrain from judgement until the bar has been up and running for a while and I’ve visited again. That said, my first impression was poor. I was hoping for something like the old Green Room vibe (Jim, the Voodoo manager, used to manage the Green Room), but alas, it comes off as just another girly bar. Sadly, they elected to play crap disco music at high volume, one of my pet peeves. As I say, I’ll give it another chance, but it doesn’t appear to be my kind of place.

Oh, the dancers were good and actually dancing. So, I knew they weren’t first-nighters. Jim told me they all moved over from the Lux Bar, which closed down on Saturday. Now, I didn’t visit Lux often, but it was definitely better inside (larger, more comfortable seating, nicer ambiance) than what I saw in Voodoo. So, Lux couldn’t stay in business with all those advantages. I’m not sure how Voodoo will do better. But as they say, when one bar (door) closes, another bar (door) opens. Good luck with that!

We had our nightcap at Rum Jungle (the former Green Room). It was odd, but after my time at Voodoo, Rum Jungle was better than I remembered it being. The biggest difference I noticed was the music. Even with dancers on stage, they saw fit to play songs suited to the bar patrons. Yeah, we are a bunch of old fuckers who like music from the 70s in our 70s, but we’re spending the money, so cater to our tastes, damn it! I wound up splurging during our visit, buying three gals (waitress, GRO, mamasan) two lady drinks each. Hey, I was in the mood!

Then it was time to head for home and a heaping helping of my Aunt Pat’s recipe fruit salad. Yep, I’m a lucky bastard.

Moving on to December 2021 in the LTG archives, and me and my new love have hit the first bump in the road in our relationship. Alas, there were more bumps to come, and the woman I thought was perfect for me didn’t share that feeling towards me. The thoughtful comments on that post meant a lot to me back then, and I enjoyed re-reading those words of wisdom today. Coincidentally, she was in the parking lot at 7/11 with her new flame this morning and didn’t even acknowledge my presence. Time moves on.

Today’s YouTube video shares ten shocking cultural differences foreigners discover in the Philippines. Yeah, I’ve experienced them all, and I’m glad to be here.

Time for a smile or three:

Okay, I’ll stop now. We’ve had a nice break in the weather so far today. Let’s see how long this one lasts.

Okay, this is the song “Only Time” by Enya. It’s beautiful on its own, but it is especially moving with the 9/11 background photos. The pussies at YouTube don’t want your feelings to be hurt, so you have to watch it there. Go ahead and give it a click to remember the day we’ll never forget.