Another Friday is in the books! A long-ass group hike, an unusual bar crawl, and some good eats. But let’s start with darts.
I had a different kind of fun 49 years ago at the high school prom. My girlfriend Karen and I are still Facebook friends and had a good laugh at this memory.
My bar crawl last night was out of the norm because I went to bars I don’t normally visit. Started out at McCoy’s, a new bar formerly known as T-Rose. I sat streetside and enjoyed my first beers of the evening.
My next stop was Dive In, another rarely visited place. As the name implies, it’s a bit of a dive. Only place I know that actually allows smoking inside. That doesn’t bother me though, I enjoy my vape indoors too. Jessa was bartending and it was nice to see her again and chat a bit. One of the guys at the bar kept buying her lady drinks so I didn’t have to. Win-win!
The nicest thing about my time in Dive In though was the other two guys in the bar. Um, that sounds a little different than I intend. Both were also named John. One guy was doing the music via YouTube and playing an eclectic mix of tunes I enjoyed. The other John was actually someone I had met before at a Hash although he is a very infrequent attendee. We didn’t recognize each other at first because it is a very dark bar and both of us are old and going blind. Still, we had some lively bar banter and some laughs. For a solitary guy like me that was a nice change of pace.
Still, it was getting late (for a guy like me) and I had baby back ribs in the crockpot at home. I said my goodbyes and headed out. One of the reasons I don’t visit Dive In much is that it is on the far end of town from my house. So, by the time I got to my side of town I was thirsty again. I popped into Outback and pulled up a seat at the outdoor poolside bar. You can even see the bay from there. Well, you could if the sun was out.
It had been a long time since I’ve been to Outback. I guess it’s safe now to mention this is one of the bars that operated as a speakeasy until I got word directly from the manager that the bar was closing. I wrote about that here and speculated at the time that perhaps it was just me being banned. I later learned that that was indeed the case. Since that time I’ve not felt compelled to support the bar after it reopened. If you didn’t want me then you don’t get me now kinda thing. Lots of other options these days anyway.
Among the options I prefer are the open-air venues. Mango’s beachside bar has been a favorite. And the Palm Tree next door has an awesome view from their second-floor deck. Of course, there is Cheap Charlies where you can watch the action on the highway below. I’ll probably add the previously mentioned McCoy’s to the rotation as well. These days being enclosed in a place like Alley Cats or Queen Victoria gives me an almost claustrophobic feeling somehow. I guess that damn COVID has changed my drinking habits forever! Oh well.
Anyhoo, there was a cute girl named Gina working the bar at Outback last night. I had had a few beers by now so I might have been a bit more flirtatious than normal. She was spunky and sassy though and gave back as much as I threw at her, so it was fun. I doubt I’ll become a regular though because of the bad history I had in the speakeasy days. So, that was my bar crawl.
On the way home my Fitbit started vibrating to announce I had hit a step milestone:
I got home around 8:00 and still needed to finish up the baby back ribs. Popped them in the over to put a glaze of bbq sauce on top and then enjoyed half a slab before bed. Got up this morning and had to decide whether to eat the leftovers from the burrito fixin’s I prepared for dinner on Thursday or the ribs from the night before. And then it hit me:
Life is good! As good as the sandwich I enjoyed after yesterday’s hike:
Speaking of Sit-n-Bull, one of the things I enjoy is their daily specials menu. Didn’t order off it yesterday because I was craving a French roast beef dip, but there were several tempting options.
Alright, I saved the hike for last this time but it was probably the best part of the day. The group met up at Barretto High School on Rizal Extension. We made our way up the mountain, picking up the part of Guenter’s Hash trail we avoided on Monday, for a steep and long climb to the ridgeline. We then followed the ridgeline all the way to where it intersected with Guenter’s “insane” trail. We weren’t totally out of our minds though, we just did one of the downhill portions. Hell, we had to get back down somehow, so why not? It worked out for us, but damn, that was a long and very steep descent. And just when I thought I had made it all the way down without a slip, trip, or fall, I stepped on a slick creekside rock and took a hard tumble. It could have been worse if I had come down on my head instead of my hand, but it stung pretty good at the time. We wound up doing close to 12K which is quite a bit longer than our Friday group of geezers normally does. Still, saw some new countryside that was very beautiful and now we can brag that we hiked the insane trail. To the pictures then:
Okay, I misled you in the title of this post. There was one butt.
And that was my day.
UPDATE: Damn, I can’t believe I used this title once before, back in November 2017. That post was about a prostate exam though.
Ah, the punctuation! It BURNS!
What error do these sentences have in common, and how can you correct them?
Everybody’s so different, I haven’t changed!
We weren’t totally out of our minds though, we just did one of the downhill portions. (2 errors here, actually)
The backside includes coming down on the tires, the only thing worse is coming up them.
Here’s your hint.
What’s the problem in these next few sentences, and how can you correct it?
I can’t imagine what life up here must be like and I have no interest in finding out.
Needs a little work and the commute would be a killer.
I dreamed of surviving another day on the mountain and that dream came true!
Alright, I saved the hike for last this time but it was probably the best part of the day.
Still, saw some new countryside that was very beautiful and now we can brag that we hiked the insane trail.
I had had a few beers by now so I might have been a bit more flirtatious than normal.
Still, it was getting late (for a guy like me) and I had [baby-back] ribs in the crockpot at home.
Jessa was bartending and it was nice to see her again and chat a bit.
Hint here.
I don’t think that, in my series on commas, I’ve discussed the error seen in this sentence:
We wound up doing close to 12K which is quite a bit longer than our Friday group of geezers normally does.
(Ah—I did discuss the error elsewhere.)
The following sentences and phrases all have the same error in common. What is it, and how can you correct it?
That post was about a prostate exam though.
Or attempting to anyway…
Great views though!
To the pictures then:
I’m not sure about that though.
She was spunky and sassy though and gave back as much as I threw at her, so it was fun.
I doubt I’ll become a regular though because of the bad history I had in the speakeasy days.
Finally: all of these sentences need at least one (more) comma:
So, by the time I got to my side of town I was thirsty again.
Since that time I’ve not felt compelled to support the bar after it reopened.
If you didn’t want me then you don’t get me now kinda thing. (This sentence has other issues related to the “kinda thing” at the end.*)
Lots of other options these days anyway.
That doesn’t bother me though, I enjoy my vape indoors too. (this needs 2 commas and one change of punctuation)
*Regarding this:
If you didn’t want me then you don’t get me now kinda thing.
Some possible improvements:
1. “If you didn’t want me then, you don’t get me now” kinda thing.
2. If-you-didn’t-want-me-then-you-don’t-get-me-now kinda thing.
3. If you didn’t want me then, you don’t get me now kinda thing.
Whichever method you use, you need to make the phrase before “kinda thing” stand out somehow. Otherwise, your sentence reads as a run-on. The above methods are all plausibly used by different writers. Further examples:
It was a You scratch my back; I’ll scratch yours situation.
It was a “You scratch my back; I’ll scratch yours” situation.
It was a You-scratch-my-back-I’ll-scratch-yours situation.
Note that, in the hyphenated example above, you no longer need the semicolon.
Anyway, I’m sorry to read about your having slipped while crossing a creek. I hope you’re okay.
Quite the walk, but some beautiful scenery to make it worthwhile.
Kev, my attempted corrections:
Everybody’s so different; I haven’t changed!
We weren’t totally out of our minds, though; we just did one of the downhill portions. (2 errors here, actually)
The backside includes coming down on the tires; the only thing worse is coming up them.
(The first example is from a song lyric by Joe Walsh. He wrote it with the comma. Just sayin’. 🙂 I guess I should have read that NY Times article on semicolons after all!)
Next attempted corrections:
I can’t imagine what life up here must be like, and I have no interest in finding out.
Needs a little work, and the commute would be a killer.
I dreamed of surviving another day on the mountain, and that dream came true!
Alright, I saved the hike for last this time, but it was probably the best part of the day.
Still, saw some new countryside that was very beautiful, and now we can brag that we hiked the insane trail.
I had had a few beers by now, so I might have been a bit more flirtatious than normal.
Still, it was getting late (for a guy like me), and I had [baby-back] ribs in the crockpot at home.
Jessa was bartending, and it was nice to see her again and chat a bit.
(I should have known better; I guess I just got lazy.)
Alright, read (again) the post on restrictive and non-restrictive clauses. Needed the comma before “which”. Got it!
Next group of fuck-ups (you didn’t give me a hint for these):
That post was about a prostate exam, though.
Or attempting to, anyway…
Great views, though!
To the pictures, then:
I’m not sure about that, though.
She was spunky and sassy, though, and gave back as much as I threw at her, so it was fun.
I doubt I’ll become a regular, though, because of the bad history I had in the speakeasy days.
(you know, I guess I’m kind of a minimalist. Assuming I got the commas right this time, I really don’t like them. I didn’t like putting the comma in after “spunky and sassy”, but to be consistent with what I assume is the requirement to use a comma before “though”, I did. That made me need a comma after “though” as well, right? And making a declarative statement such as “To the pictures then” seems stronger without the comma. Doesn’t a writer have some discretion in that regard? I could call it “creative license”!)
Final set of fuck-ups:
So, by the time I got to my side of town, I was thirsty again.
Since that time, I’ve not felt compelled to support the bar after it reopened.
“If you didn’t want me then, you don’t get me now” kinda thing.
Lots of other options these days, anyway.
That doesn’t bother me, though; I enjoy my vape indoors, too. (this needs 2 commas and one change of punctuation)
(Damn, my brain hurts now. How did I do, teacher? Oh, and the check is in the mail.)
John,
All the corrections look good!
As for creative license, I’d say:
1. Let’s master the basics before we move on to the creative stuff.
2. For creativity in punctuation, it’s probably better to leave that to poets like Emily Dickinson.
You remarked that there were moments when you balked at adding a comma. That comes from having developed a set of “rules” in your head that don’t match the actual rules determining comma placement. Learn those rules, and you’ll feel more comfortable about when, where, how, and why to use commas.
There is indeed some stylistic leeway, such as when it comes to putting a comma before “too.” But if you’re in doubt, it’s often better to add the comma than to leave it out. All hail the old school!