So yesterday was a bit out of the ordinary. Here’s how it went down:

I was feeling out of sorts to begin with, so after taking Buddy for a walk I just wasn’t motivated enough to get back on the road for another hour. Took a nap instead.

Having exhausted my supply on some of my prescription meds I needed to see a doctor so I could get refills. My recollection was that the clinic hours at Lourdes hospital were 1-5 p.m. No appointments, you see the doctor on a first come first served basis. Not ideal, but what are you gonna do?

While waiting for one o’clock to roll around I heard from Marissa via text. Not that unusual really. Since our breakup I get a “good morning” or “how are you?” type message almost everyday. Anyway, she told me she was feeling stressed. Her sister in Manila needed money for her sick child, but Marissa couldn’t help her and in fact she said she hadn’t even paid her own rent yet. Long story short, I offered her the equivalent of $100 to help get her through the crisis. I do have a “charity” budget and lately people I know in need have been the recipients. In a way I feel a little responsible for Marissa’s financial woes. When I had “boyfriend” status and was hanging out at Alley Cats all the time, her regular customers weren’t inclined to buy her drinks, the commissions from which is the sole source of her income. In fact, her best customer actually told her she was “fired” from him ever buying her drinks again. What a jerk! Anyway, one of my reasons for taking a break from Alley Cats was to give myself some space and for her to be able to re-establish some customer relationships. I hope that works out for her.

Made it to the hospital a little after one. I brought my helper Tere along to help me navigate through the getting in to see a doctor process. There were quite a few folks waiting in the lobby so I was afraid it would be a long wait, but I made it inside with the doc in less than an hour. The doctor was pleasant enough. Asked me if I was American and I acknowledged the fact. He told me he saw the name “McCrarey” and was hoping I wasn’t another Australian because he couldn’t understand their English. That made me chuckle. Anyway, we talked about my meds and their purpose (COPD and enlarged prostate). He changed one of my inhalers to a higher dose, saying it would work better for me in the humid climate of the Philippines. In fact, I had noticed that lung/breathing issues were somewhat exacerbated lately so hopefully this will help.

The hospital pharmacy had none of the three medications their clinic doctor had just prescribed, so I walked back into the major drug store in Barretto. They had two of the three, so I’ll need to find a bigger drugstore for the third I reckon.

Having completed my tasks for the day (I had a pot roast already cooking in the crockpot) I messaged Marissa to arrange the money handover. Decided to meet her at a nearby bar called Toucan which has a nice outdoor seating area. This was my first visit to this particular bar. I had seen on one of the internet forums that it had been for sale. Apparently, there is a new American owner now. Anyway, I’m sitting out there alone at one of the big tables, and several gents from inside came out to smoke. I was surprised they chose to sit at “my” table (there was another empty one) but hey, the more the merrier. They commenced to talking amongst themselves and an Aussie guy was saying what an asshole the new owner of Toucan was. An American (the owner of another bar called Dive Inn) responded that he was there in fact to warn the Toucan owner to tone it down before he wound up dead. Yeah, you don’t want to piss off the wrong people in this town, that’s for sure.

So about this time Marissa arrives and it turns out the Aussie knew her from her days working at a bar called General’s. I also learned that the Aussie bitching about the new Toucan owner was the former owner of Toucan. And the American Dive Inn bar owner used to own General’s. And he had previously fired Marissa and they hated each other. Fun times! Oh, and our waitress was trying to recruit Marissa to work there, bragging that she had made 1500 pesos for a one hour “barfine” (that means leaving the bar and fucking the customer, you know, prostitution). Understandably, Marissa preferred another venue so we moved on to Cheap Charlies for more beer.

A couple of beers later I was getting hungry but not feeling like going home for the pot roast I had prepared. So, off to Mango’s we went. I had some grilled Mahi Mahi which was quite excellent. Marissa had a Filipino dish–sizzling sisig. That was overcooked to the point of being blackened and ruined. Oh well, the beers were good. And we had a good talk about the issues that led to our relationship’s demise. I was feeling about finished at this point, but Marissa practically begged me to go with her to Alley Cats for “just one more beer”. Against my better judgement I finally relented and agreed.

I’m going to need to continue this story in part 2, either later tonight or tomorrow. I’ve got a “date” with the Treasure Island gals (Jessa, Kat, and Ru Ru) for dinner and a movie. Part 2 will be the most interesting part of my day, I promise!

See you here soon!