No post at all…

or this? Assuming something is better than nothing, here we go.

Last night:

A first-place finish in the darts tourney. Had a good partner and threw well most of the night. Good enough to go undefeated anyway…

After darts, I hurried across the street where an acquaintance, Palm Tree manager Alan, was celebrating his 60th birthday.

Well, he wasn’t celebrating when I arrived. Final preparations were taking place for what turns out to have been a surprise party…
The lucky man and his lovely lass, Christine. Happy birthday, Alan!

And this pretty much sums up how I feel about COVID:

I’ll take my chances, thank you very much!

Sorry for the shittier than normal post. Things will be back to normal around here tomorrow. I promise!

4 thoughts on “No post at all…

  1. Congrats to Alan on his “hwan-gap” (i.e., five times around the twelve-year zodiac cycle). His woman’s a cutie! (Wife? Girlfriend?)

    Again, I have to wonder: how does a foreign gringo end up managing his own place if he can’t even legally own property? Filipino/a partner?

    Congrats to you, as well, on the occasion of your latest darts victory! Maybe I was wrong about the consistency thing.

    Given your lord-of-the-Sith levels of proficiency, have you ever thought about making a humorous video starring you as some kind of unerring darts ninja, always nailing enemies precisely in the middle of the forehead, scoring bullseyes with no effort at all?

  2. Yes, Christine (girlfriend for 15 years) is a sweetie…inside and out. I was first introduced to her when she was looking for food donations for her charity work with the native Aeta people in our area. The owner of the Palm Tree is a Brit like Alan, and as I understand it, Alan has worked for him for years both here and in some of his other business ventures. You can own a business or property in partnership with a Filipino, so I guess that’s the case here.

    HaHa! The quality of my darts has perhaps risen to the levels of the local competition, but that doesn’t make me a master. I thought I was good back in my Korea days, or at least good enough to try the pro circuit in the USA when I retired. I quickly learned there is a huge difference between bar leagues and playing in big money tournaments. These days I just try and keep it fun…

  3. Same type of business arrangement in Thailand. I know a foreign guy who has a bar, and he cannot even be seen behind the bar, because if the police come in and see him behind the bar, he is thought to be “working”, and could have his visa revoked, etc. I have heard stories about a foreigner “owning” a bar, but everything is in their partners name. Partnership/relationship goes south, and oops, there goes the bar/restaurant.

    I believe that if you employ a certain number of full time Thai staff, you can then have a stake in the business.

  4. Brian, Similar here, but not quite so draconian. Owning the property is difficult, but leasing a building and running a business is very common. But yeah, if the lease isn’t renewed for some reason you’d be screwed. As they say, the best way to become a millionaire in the Philippines is to start with two million.

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