It started off with a message from Scott suggesting a hike out Castillejos way. We’d both given up on Günter’s walking group, preferring a saner approach to communing with mother nature, i.e. avoiding 3-hour treks up and down mountains. Scott is a couple of years older than me and we share a philosophy that one good climb a day is plenty. With that in mind, I readily accepted his invitation and we agreed to meet up at Angel’s Bakery at 10:00 on Saturday. Werner, one of the regular Saturday guys, wanted to join us, so we all caught the bus for the 30 minute trip to barangay Pamatawan.

Now, I don’t know if it was karma or irony or both, but the day took a turn that would have surely pleased Günter. It had been several years since Scott had attempted this path and as it turned out we wound up on the wrong trail.

That was quite the hike! The uphill portion was definitely a once in a lifetime experience. But I’m seriously thinking about going back up the downhill path with a backpack full of sardines, noodles, and other staples for that Aeta family we encountered. They’re the kind of people I’d feel especially good about helping out some.

I was pretty bushed after the hike (and the beers) but I still had some business to attend to. When I got home I baked up a batch of brownies and after a short nap and a shower, headed out to the Captain’s Arms bar. I’d promised the manager, Marick, that I’d come by for her birthday.

It was quite a day. Glad I lived to tell about it!

Here’s the headline in this morning’s newspaper:

In all honesty, I’m not going to panic. I foresee a pain in the ass immediate future while whatever happens runs its course. If it gets me I hope it is not severe, but I recognize I have two of the major risk factors (age and lung disease). If it kills me, well, I’ll be dead and my worries will be over.

Right now though I’m on a winning streak:

We took out Steve, the Englishman who doesn’t drink, 2-0, to sweep the winner’s bracket. Played Christi and Gerlie in the finals and prevailed after a hard-fought battle. The kind of night that makes darts fun again.

What else? Well, in another first of sorts I had this for breakfast:

Here’s today’s “interesting” photograph:

I saw this on today’s hike in Castillejos. I’ll be blogging about that adventure tomorrow, as I have a pressing engagement to attend to this evening. Might blog about that too! Exciting times here at LTG, no?

But before I go I have to make sure I send a shoutout to Kevin Kim in honor of National Grammar Day:

Gotta run!

The big news in town is that the price of beer has gone up. A new “sin tax” has been imposed on alcoholic beverages with the money generated earmarked for a universal healthcare program. Hey, glad to do my part! The tax increase amounts to about 5 pesos (10 cents) per bottle, so it is rather significant. And some of the bars have tacked on a bit more like a bunch of greedy capitalist pigs to increase profit margins. The most I paid last night was P95, so that’s still under two bucks a beer. For perspective, I was paying seven or eight dollars for the same type of beer in Korea.

There’s been a lot of gnashing of teeth and bitches and moans on the internet forums. I’m really not all that sympathetic though. If you can’t afford to pay a bit more for your beer you can stay home. It will have no impact on my consumption, however. If anything, I might be less inclined to buy the ladies a drink. But honestly, I don’t see that happening either. I guess I have the good fortune to not have to be price conscious when I’m out on the town. I worked hard so now I can play hard. Thanks, Uncle Sam!

Here’s some stuff I saw while out walking yesterday:

Last night I enjoyed the fruits of my crockpot’s labor:

This morning for breakfast I enjoyed egg, bacon, ham, and toast at Sit-n-Bull:

Such is life as I see it.

Another day in paradise. The thought occurred to me that maybe I should be feeling bored with my life here. Most days are pretty much the same. I fill the hours with my walks and time spent in the bars. Oh, sometimes the walks take me somewhere new and I see familiar faces in different bars. There’s the Hash, darts, and an occasional game of pool. Is that enough?

I’m not sure what got me thinking about this subject this morning. I dreamed about working last night and that seems to be a frequent occurrence when I sleep. Is my subconscious telling me to find some meaning and purpose in my life? Hell, when I contemplate what I might blog about, sometimes I feel sorry for you, my faithful readers, once again being subjected to my daily drivel about nothing of substance.

But then I think of the little things that make a life. Spending time with the dogs and soaking up some of the pure love they provide me. Pausing to look up from the computer and out of my window and feeling the peace that nature’s beauty brings to the soul. Sitting down for breakfast at Sit-n-Bull and being warmly (and sincerely) greeted by name. Just feeling part of a community rather than an anonymous face in the crowd is somehow comforting.

So, maybe it is a boring life. But there are much worse things than being bored. I’ll cop to playing it safe and not putting myself “out there” and risking my heart or peace of mind. Some might call that cowardly I suppose. I choose to embrace my routines and be satisfied with the simple life I’ve made for myself. If someday that’s not enough I’ll look for something different. For now, it is what it is and I’m glad to be here.

Okay, enough of that self-reflection. Let’s get to the good stuff, or at least as good as it gets:

I’m not sure what it is that makes me find litter so “interesting”, but here’s another trashy photo:

Life can be a beach sometimes.

What else is cooking? Well, there is this:

The lack of news and updates about the coronavirus here in the Philippines is a little disconcerting. It’s been weeks since any reports of new infections which doesn’t seem plausible. This is the Philippines after all. Anyway, not much you can do but take the standard precautions and hope for the best I suppose.

Politics anyone?

This made me laugh:

Thanks to all for your indulgence!

You see it all around you
Good lovin’ gone bad
And usually it’s too late when you, realize what you had
And my mind goes back to a girl I left some years ago (Who told me)
Just hold on loosely
But don’t let go
If you cling to tightly
You’re gonna lose control

Today’s “interesting” photograph:

So, I’ve walked past this sari sari store many times on the way home from a night out in the bars. The sign always caught my eye because I *assumed* it was a misspelled attempt at the Korean greeting annyeong haseyo. But why the question mark? And it also doesn’t really make any sense because the Korean population in Barretto is close to nil (I do know a Korean-American restaurant owner). The few Koreans I’ve seen are whore mongers tourists in the bars. Given the location of the store, it is even more unlikely that a random Korean would wander by, let alone be inclined to make a purchase from the store. Hell, in the almost two years I’ve been living here I can count the times I’ve made a purchase from a sari sari on one hand. So, I decided to investigate.

The “hello” and “first come, first serve” do seem to provide some context. And according to Google, anong sayo literally translates to “what you” or maybe “what are you”. I asked my domestic helper for some clarification, and she said it means “what do you want” or “what do you need”. So, there you have it. An adventure in language and a mystery solved.

Speaking of adventure, I fired up the grill last night.

They turned out to be pretty damn good. I don’t know if it was the meat tenderizer, the long marination process, or just better quality beef; but the steaks were tender and easy to cut. Result!

After my meal, I had some beers at a new bar named Caison. Although it was my first visit there one of the girls looked vaguely familiar. So I invited her to join me for a drink so I could investigate further. Her name is Mitch and that didn’t ring a bell. She said she used to work in Rum Jungle, a bar I don’t visit often. Apparently, on one of those occasions, I had consented to have her give me a back massage while I drank. Still no real recollection though. Then she told me she lives “on the mountain near Sawmill Road.” I told her I’ve hiked up that way before. “Yes,” she replied, “I saw you once with your stick”. Huh? And then I remembered. I was with the Wednesday walking group and we weren’t sure how to find the trail up the hill. A young woman pointed out the way and I had told her that she looked familiar. She replied that she worked at Rum Jungle. Small world, eh?

Some things are easy to forget I suppose. Like the horrors of socialism.

And that’s pretty much where things stand around here.

Run #1390 of the Subic Bay Hash House Harriers was completed without incident yesterday. That’s always my goal as a Hare. I don’t want people getting hurt or getting lost or otherwise having a bad experience. Mission accomplished in that regard.

The feedback I received was mostly positive, especially from the old fuckers who seemed to be pleased having a trail that was both sane and pleasant to hike. The only criticism was that in places the trail was hard to follow and that’s a legitimate complaint I think. I did the short trail and was very surprised that the powder had really faded away in places. In the future, I’ll pour it on much thicker and I might actually mark the trail on Monday morning to keep it fresh.

Anyway, I’ll cop to being proud of the trail and will start looking for new paths to explore and incorporate when my time to Hare comes again. Or should I say, Cums Together?

It was a good day to be a Hasher. And a good week to be a walker! I had my highest average ever at nearly 27,000 steps per day. I don’t expect I’ll be replicating that anytime soon.

My dog Lucky got a whiff of my socks after a hard day of Hashing and it knocked him out cold:

Oh, and that t-shirt I posted yesterday:

I mean, it’s clearly tongue-in-cheek. Mocking the standard lefty talking points a little, but obviously done in jest. I posted the photo on my Facebook page and Carol responded:

Ah a science denying misogynistic homophobe?

Geez. I answered: “I sincerely feel sorry for you if that is your take on this.” She asked how was it meant to be taken, and I said “sarcasm”. Her response was to repeat: “Yeah the shirt is misogynistic, homophobic and science denying. What it isn’t is funny.”

What could I do except apologize? “Triggered much? I’m sorry this is happening to you. Please find a safe space devoid of humor and parody. I hope you feel better soon!” I guess she didn’t accept my heartfelt concern for her and she responded thusly:

Please learn the difference between humor and snarkiness.

I ended the back and forth with this:

Life is good.

…in the adventure of my life here in the Philippines. Such as it is.

I ended my day yesterday on the Arizona floating bar, drinking ice cold Zeros and watching the sun go down.

This morning I took a walk along the beach in Barretto. It’s been a few days since I’ve done so and I found this development “interesting”:

I continued up the beach so I could breakfast at the Arizona Resort restaurant.

After breakfast, I ventured out to find a meat market that I’d been told carried good imported Australian ribeye steaks. The shop where I used to buy my steaks hasn’t had any for over a month. Beef is not really a Filipino thing, the locals prefer pork.

Once I got my meat home and squared away, I needed to head back to finish marking the short trail for today’s Hash.

Putting those tools to work:

So, the trail is all set now. I’m probably going to go ahead and hike the short one again this afternoon to get some extra steps in.

What else have I got for you? Well, Facebook took me back to my old life in the USA. Seven years ago I fancied myself an aspiring professional darter.

But enough about me. How about some politics? I got a kick out of these Bernie memes:

But for the record, I’m willing to take a stand on the issues. Here’s what I believe in:

Time for me to get ready to Hash. Thanks for dropping by!

Just a mishmash of random-ass stuff.

I, not events, have the power to make me happy or unhappy today. I can choose which it shall be. Yesterday is dead, tomorrow hasn’t arrived yet. I have just one day, today, and I’m going to be happy in it.

–Groucho Marx

That’s no joke!

Out this morning to mark tomorrow’s Hash trail. It went pretty well but still have a bit more to do. Will finish the section from my house (yeah, the trail goes through Alta Vista again) to Baloy Beach this afternoon. In the morning I need to go back and mark the 6K short trail section that diverges from the 9K long trail we marked this morning. A Hare’s work is never done it seems!

Today’s “interesting” photo feature is of the deceased thatch grass:

Speaking of nature’s beauty, I’ve got a video of the girls from Rum Jungle doing their winning routine from Friday night’s SOB dance competition. My gal’s right up front, do you see your favorite Kevin Kim?

Still haven’t found any facemasks available for sale around here. I wonder if this really works?

On a more serious note, another long term expat has passed away this week. He was known as “Aussie Bob” around town, although I had never personally made his acquaintance. He had a young wife and child I understand. It does occur to me that when you live in what is essentially a retirement community it’s only natural that us old fuckers will pass away on a regular basis. I’m just hoping it won’t be my turn anytime soon.

What else? Well, it’s good to be reminded of the dangers that are always lurking around the next corner.

A lesson from the world of grammar:

On rare occasions when I’m bored I’ll provide an answer on Quora. As often as not, I’ll leave a pithy and snarky answer. I do occasionally give a serious response, and wonder of wonders, this one to the question of “How was your first trip to the Philippines” has nearly 1000 upvotes:

The first thing I noticed on my first visit to the Philippines was the poverty. My plane landed in Manila coming in over the river that was lined with squatter houses and full of trash. Once on the ground my driver took me through one of the squatter villages and actually apologized for what I was seeing but said it was the fastest way to my destination. It was all pretty shocking and eye-opening, I’d never seen anything quite like it.

After spending a few days here something else became quite apparent. Despite the poverty, the Filipino people are the happiest I’ve met anywhere in the world. The family is really the center of life here, and the generosity and love within the family is really something to behold. I’d never seen anything quite like that either.

I wanted to see and learn more so I kept coming back for visits (I lived in Korea so it was an easy trip). I eventually decided this is where I wanted to live, so I retired in 2018 and moved here permanently.

Here’s a funny and sad anecdote I can share. I brought my Korean girlfriend here for a visit the year before I retired. She had a blast and was treated like a rock star (Korean culture in the form of K-dramas and K-pop music is big here). On our last night in the Philippines, she broke up with me. I asked her why and she responded “because we have no future. You want to retire here. Who wants to live in a poor country?” I told her that you can live in a rich country and pretend this world doesn’t exist, or you can live here and try to make a difference. That’s what I want to do.

So, I have two helpers and a driver. I’m making a difference for them. I do some charity projects that make things better for some. You can’t help everyone of course, but it feels good to know that my presence at least is helping a few. I’m glad to be here!

Anyway, it was nice to get the positive feedback.

I’m dealing with some bullshit woman issues lately (ha! the story of my life!) but trying to stay strong and resolute (this time). So far, so good. I’ll take inspiration from wherever I can find it.

I hear some people
been talkin’ me down,
Bring up my name,
pass it ’round.
They don’t mention
happy times
They do their thing,
I’ll do mine.

Ooh baby,
that’s hard to change
I can’t tell them
how to feel.
Some get stoned,
some get strange,
But sooner or later
it all gets real.

Walk on, walk on,
Walk on, walk on.

Happy Leap Year, everyone! I’m not sure if that’s even a thing. I’ve not even heard this 29th day of February mentioned in passing. Oh well, only four years until the next one.

I celebrated Leap Year’s Eve with a night out on the town. I wasn’t feeling like playing darts, and with nothing better to do I changed things up by attending the SOB dance contest. This week’s venue was Man Cave and there was a full house:

The man on the left in the photo above is Dave Fisher, a legend here in Barretto. He owns several of the bars and at least one hotel that I know of. At the Aftermath event in Rum Jungle, Dave joined me at my table and we had a very enjoyable chat. Dave’s a licensed physician who prior to retirement worked for a large pharmaceutical company in Europe. He still maintains a residence in Amsterdam and splits his Philippines time between Manila and Barretto. The guy is in his mid-seventies and shows no sign of slowing down at all. Had a great time hanging out with him.

All that activity kept me out later than normal and I’d been drinking SML’s (Zero was out of stock again). I had intended to walk home, but a few steps down the highway I thought better of it and summoned a trike. I’d spent enough time walking that damn highway the past couple of days. Why push my luck?

Today’s “interesting” photo comes from my afternoon walk yesterday:

The good news is I can probably mark myself safe from the Wuhan virus:

Speaking of the worldwide epidemic that is bound to kill us all, still not much happening here in the Philippines. Or at least, nothing much is being reported. They have however banned entrance from Korea now, so if any of my old friends from there were planning a surprise visit, you’ll need to change your plans. For now at least.

That’s it for now. I’ve got some walking to do.

For my morning walk, I went the opposite direction on the National Highway towards Olongapo City. It’s a bit dangerous in the face of oncoming Friday traffic, but I was feeling suicidal brave. Made it to the Kalakayan gate of the old Navy base, then turned around walked back to Barretto on the beach.

I know, I know. You are asking yourself “does this guy do anything besides walk?” Why, yes. Yes, I do! Last night I went out on a little lonely bar crawl. Even visited a new (to me) place called Captain’s Arms. Turns out the manager there is the ex-girlfriend of one of our Hashers. She gave me a warm welcome which was nice.

So, in addition to Captain’s Arms, I visited Out Back, Cheap Charlies, and finished up at Queen Victoria. Went home with my brain sufficiently numbed to enjoy a peaceful sleep.

What else besides walking and drinking? Well, I found this grammatical question somewhat interesting:

It seems lately I’ve been finishing my daily post here with a funny meme take on politics. How about this:

Alright, time to do some afternoon steps. What about tonight? Well, a big thank you to Kevin Kim for providing me a useful tool in making that decision:

Carefree highway, let me slip away on you
Carefree highway, you seen better days
The morning after blues from my head down to my shoes
Carefree highway, let me slip away, slip away on you

–Gordon Lightfoot

Feeling down in the dumps this morning so I headed out for a long walk to Subic town and back.

For whatever reason, I’d never actually done this walk before. I guess there is just not that much of interest to me in Subic. But I was curious about what this store may be like:

Nothing like a Wal-Mart back home though. It was actually more mall-like, with several shops and eateries. The Waltermart itself was a grocery store.

The “interesting” photo from the walk would be this example of riverside living:

Anyway, it’s been quite a while since I’ve done walk this long without a break. I was tired at the end, but maybe slightly more right in the head.

I’ll leave you with some words of wisdom from a dog’s perspective:

It’s the bitches you gotta look out for.

The ladies come to see you
If your name still rings a bell
They give you damn near nothin’
And they’ll say they knew you well
So you tell ’em you’ll remember
But they know it’s just a game
And along the way their faces
All begin to look the same
And when you stop to let ’em know
You got it down
It’s just another town along the road

Another day, another hike. Hey, it’s what I do. When I’m not drinking beer anyway. Today I met up with the remains of the Wednesday Walkers. Günter has run that group into the ground with his insane marathons and only a few die-hards remain. My Hash buddy Scott and I had already decided what we were going to do and figured we’d invite anyone who cared for a sane walk to join us. Turns out Günter was a no show, so the seven of us set off for our adventure.

We caught a bus out to Castillejos, 12 kilometers or so down the highway. And then we commenced walking.

So, we had intended to go up over the mountain and down into Philseco. But when we commenced climbing a local warned us that the way we were attempting was not easy. He was strident enough in his entreaty to turn around that four of us did. Almoranus the German and two others insisted on going forward. And we haven’t seen them since. Us that remained instituted Plan B, which was to walk around the valley and circle back to Castillejos.

At some point, we lost the path and had to wing it a bit. And it turns out we had to do a water crossing. Well, actually, we had to do three water crossings. But once your shoes are wet, does it really matter?

And that was today’s walkabout. Just under 7K all told. Enjoyed the scenery and the company.

I’ll close with a little bit of politics in the form of a meme if you don’t mind:

I’m out on the highways and byways, up in the hills, and passing through some sketchy areas on a regular basis. But it seems the most dangerous place I experience is right here at home.

So, I’m heading into the kitchen and have a sudden sneezing fit. Which caused me to somehow lose balance and stumble into that baseboard corner.

I’m not sure if there is any significance to the fact that only the middle toe was impacted, but it seemed like a big “fuck you” somehow. This happened prior to the Hash and I wasn’t sure if there would be any effect on my hiking. Turns out I only felt pain when going downhill. It seems fine today though.

Yesterday’s Hash was nothing to complain about, which coming from me is a pretty big deal. It was, in fact, Saturday’s trail in reverse, but since I’d only done the flat portion then most of the hike was new to me.

It was a pretty uneventful Hash, but I had a little incident when it was over. The on-home was in Calapadayan, about 5K from Barretto. I wasn’t about to walk the highway at night, especially after drinking quite a few beers. I also didn’t want to wait for the Hashmobile to be loaded up and ready to go. Instead, I opted for a Jeepney ride back home. About three-quarters of the way there I had an “oh shit!” moment, realizing I had left my hat and walking stick on the table back at Hunters. I called out “para po!” (stop please), hopped out of the Jeepney, crossed the highway, and quickly caught a Jeepney going in the opposite direction. Made it back in time to retrieve my stuff and catch the Hashmobile back to Barretto. I had the driver drop me at the road leading to Alta Vista, and hopped out. As I was walking home I experienced another “oh shit!” moment. I had left my phone in the truck. So, I started running back up the highway hoping I’d catch the truck on its way back. And not too far up the road the Hashmobile was pulled over letting some other Hashers out. They had my phone in hand and were having a good laugh at my drunken expense. I’m sure I’ll spend time on the ice next week for littering. Ah well, nothing lost at least.

And so ended another adventurous day. I hope you enjoyed the re-telling. I found a handy little guide I use to hopefully improve the quality of my writing.

And the toe jam football I played reminded me of the song that bears my Hash name:

He wear no shoeshine
He got toe jam football
He got monkey finger
He shoot Coca-Cola
He say I know you, you know me
One thing I can tell you is
You got to be free
Cum together, right now
Over me

And I am very lucky that it didn’t result in a broken neck!

Things always happen when you least expect them it seems. A typical morning. One minute I’m sitting in front of my computer. Then I lean back in my chair and hear a loud *snap*. Next thing I know I’m clutching at the desktop to avoid cascading backward onto the floor.

No other injuries. Looks like I’m in the market for a new office chair though.

Walked my Hash trail for next Monday this morning. I’m going to call it “The 69er”–a 6K hike for the lazy bastards and a 9K for the runners. One climb at the beginning, a meandering trail incorporating a lot of My Bitch, then down into the valley for some flatland walking. I like it!

Anyway, it should be a good safe and sane trail.

I’ll offer up this photo for today’s “interesting” feature:

Now, here’s a Democratic ticket that would be hard to beat stop laughing at:

I guess after Nevada it is going to be hard to stop Bernie though.

I’ve got the Hash this afternoon. Leech My Nuggets is the Hare. He told me he’s basically doing the same trail he laid for the Manila guys, just in reverse. Well, I’m up for one of those mountains anyway. As long as I have a leg to stand on.

Anyway, nothing to write home about, yet here I am.

Did my first run with the Manila Hash House Harriers. Nothing really remarkable about the trail, since it was pretty much a Subic Hare’s work. There were too many Hashers at the on-home to fit in the truck, so me and another Subic Hasher walked from Treasure Island out to the start of the short trail. The mountains were both on the long trail as it turns out, so we pretty much had a boring and flat 5K trail. But that’s okay, I got my steps in.

The circle was conducted at Hot Zone and the Manila rituals are similar to what we do, but there is no ice involved. To be honest it was kinda blah, mainly because I didn’t know any of the individuals being recognized. And again, with no women in the group, there weren’t even any pleasant distractions. Well, I take that back. We had four waitresses to serve our beers. And they all worked topless. Two of them were actually quite attractive. And I bought one of those two a couple of lady drinks and she sat pleasantly at my side for most of the proceedings. So there was that.

Went to Alley Cats after the Hash and the night ended on a sour note for me there. When will I learn? I certainly don’t have any room for bargirl drama in my life right now. Time for some new shit I suppose.

What else? Well, things can always be worse. Like this guy:

Speaking of fools and their money soon being parted, the thought of this guy getting the Democrat nomination is mind-boggling. But he appears to be on a roll.

Ah, the “tit for tat” title reminds me of this story from my working days. We were in a class about sexual harassment (not a how-to, but a not to) and the instructor was talking about the quid pro quo type of harassment. Someone in the class asked him what that meant and he responded, you know, tit for tat. We all cracked up even though he hadn’t intended his remark to be funny.

Ah well, time marches on and so do I. Time for an afternoon stroll.

I’ve now completed another first here in the Philippines with a visit to the dentist. It was pretty consistent with what I’ve experienced in the two other countries where I’ve had someone looking down in my mouth. My first impression was generally positive because they had me complete a medical history questionnaire, including inquiries about drug allergies. Thankfully, I don’t have any but it has always been disconcerting when I’ve seen a doctor here who gives me shots and meds and doesn’t think (or care enough) to ask if I might have a fatal reaction to the drugs.

The dentist (sorry, I’ve already forgotten his name) had a small facility but it appeared relatively up to date. He didn’t take any x-rays which was a little surprising. Not sure if he even had that capability. I told him I’d lost a filling and that was his examination focus, not even a cursory check for cavities or other potential problems in my other teeth. After digging around in the problem tooth a bit he told me it was fractured and that with a filling I’d likely still experience pain. He recommended extracting the tooth and I asked about a root canal and crown instead. According to him, the fracture precluded that course of action, but I could get an implant after the extraction if I wanted.

Hmm. I know in the USA extracting a tooth is always the last option. Judging by the smiles of many of the Filipinos I meet pulling teeth seems to be the preferred way to deal with dental issues here. Well, I hadn’t been experiencing any pain in the fractured tooth even without a filling, so I told him to just fill it and see what happens. And so he did. Took about 30 minutes all told and cost me a mere P2,200 ($44.). So far I’m still pain-free and I have one less hole in my head. I’d call that a win!

I came home and decided to celebrate by firing up my seldom used grill.

After my meal, I headed back into town to participate in the dart tourney at Alley Cats. Along the way, I encountered one of those uniquely Philippines moments.

They’ve recently built an extra lane on the National Highway going through town. People are still parking in what used to be the shoulder of the road, negating whatever benefit the extra lane provided in easing traffic congestion. So, the local barangay officials took action by setting up “no parking” signs up and down the highway. Of course, they placed them in the middle of the lane so people still can’t use the roadway as intended. I actually laughed out loud when I saw this.

Finished second in the dart tourney. Steve, the Englishman who doesn’t drink, drew Alan, one of the other top players as a partner, so it was pretty much a foregone conclusion that they would be unstoppable. And they were. I wasn’t playing my best game but my partner Anabel (one of the bargirls at Alley Cats) was throwing surprisingly good darts, making second place all the more satisfying.

I’m not sure what it is about the litter that captures my attention, but I’ll offer up this trashy shot from my morning walk for today’s “interesting” photo feature:

Another adventure on tap for this afternoon. The Manila Hashers are in Barretto for their annual out-of-town events. They started last night with a bar crawl, but I was otherwise occupied. I’m going to do their Hash run this afternoon and see how that goes. Leech My Nuggets helped the Manila Hare (Nancy Boy) set the trail. I expect it will be a tough one. I know we are going to start in Subic-town and finish at Hot Zone in Barretto. I’m guessing that will involve climbing two different mountains. Unless I shortcut. We’ll see how it goes. Oh, and interestingly, the Manila Hash doesn’t allow females to participate. I think that sucks, to be honest. I appreciate the view more with a sexy Filipina on the trail.

And there you have another glimpse into my so-called life.

So, yesterday I decided to change things up a little and bust out of my normal daily routines. Hopped in a Jeepney and rode it out to Barangay Kalaklan, for the whopping fare of 13 pesos (26 cents). From there I hoofed it to the old Navy base, continued on and through Harbor Point mall, and then arrived at my ultimate destination: SM Mall Olongapo City. Not to be confused with SM Mall Central, about a mile away.

I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned it before but there is a “mall culture” in the Philippines, unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. In the USA malls are going bankrupt and closing down, apparently everyone shops at Amazon these days. But here the malls serve as a social gathering place and they seem to always be busy. Somewhat odd in a country that is so relatively poor. Even the poor folks though can enjoy free air conditioning (that was running so smoothly after regular hvac services) and wifi I suppose.

Anyway, I personally very rarely go to the mall, and when I do go I’m in-and-out as quickly as possible. I went to SM Mall because I wanted some things that I thought might be most convenient to find in a large department store, as opposed to shopping around in the specialty shops. Yesterday’s trip was prompted by the realization that the clothing I brought with me from Korea and/or my last trip to the states is finally wearing out.

I was only going to buy two pair but when I got to the checkout the cashier told me they had a promotion going on where I would get P200 in coupons for every P2200 that I spent. Hmm, so I grabbed the third pair of shorts.

I recall shopping in the states and struggling to find anyone to assist me. Here they have tons of sales help and they were almost as aggressive as a thirsty bargirl. Almost. Anyway, they were very helpful in finding the sizes and colors I was looking for. I would much rather have too much assistance than not enough that’s for sure!

I told you it was an exciting day! Glad I was able to bring you along to share in it.

What else? Well, Facebook reminds that it was ten years ago that my nephew Justin experienced Itaewon for the first time.

A peaceful morning walk. Even the National Highway was unusually quiet.

I’ll offer up this for today’s “interesting” photograph:

I think I figured out why I’m having such a hard time giving up ice cream:

Here’s a shot of my boys out back guarding the neighbor’s chickens.

I’m not sure I’ve ever posted a Gif here before, let’s see if this one works:

It worked! Now I’m REALLY excited! And there is even more excitement to come. I’ve got my first dental appointment here this afternoon. Nothing major, I had a filling fall out. Then again, this is the Philippines so we’ll see what happens.

Stay tuned!

As Kris Kristofferson sang long ago, “nothin’ ain’t worth nothin’, but it’s free.” I hope you’ll generously apply the same philosophy to this worthless post. Here goes:

A third-place finish in darts last night. Considering that both me and my partner were off our games that was a better than expected outcome. And yes, I lost to Steve, the Englishman who doesn’t drink. Ah well.

Now, in that paragraph above my Grammarly app is saying I should have written “both I and my partner”. Maybe so, but I don’t like the way that looks or sounds, so sue me if I won’t change it.

In the comments to my previous post, I learned that what little I thought I knew about French was wrong. Not really surprising seeing as how I have not even mastered the English language quite yet. I was reminded of that fact earlier when I came upon this passage on a forum I frequent:

The main official language is Filipino, though there are many regional dialects. You’ll find learning a Philippine language somewhat harder than Thai. They use the Latin alphabet, which helps, but they have a peculiar grammatical system (ergative/absolutive) which is hard for a westerner used to subjective/objective grammar to understand. It’s worth the effort though. Begin with about 20 phrases and 200 words of vocabulary and take it from there.

I have no clue what is meant by ergative or absolutive. Ergo, I’m absolutely sure that my very limited Tagalog (maybe five phrases and fifty words) won’t be showing much improvement anytime soon. That’s my subjective opinion at least, objectionable though it may be. (See what I did there? Man, I crack myself up sometimes!)

Notwithstanding the poor nature of my grammatical health, physically speaking I seem to be doing pretty well of late. This morning my blood pressure was a near-perfect 120/80. My resting heart rate was at 59 beats per minute, and my sleep score is also much improved. My focus now needs to be getting my weight down from the current 205 to something closer to 195. I haven’t gone full keto yet, but I’m trying to get by with two meals a day. It is my ice cream addiction that is tough to beat. That and the beer. We’ll see.

Alright, have you had just about enough of nothin’ yet? Good, me too! Let me leave you with today’s “interesting” walking photo:

Freedom’s just another word for nothin’ left to lose,
And nothin’ ain’t worth nothin’ but it’s free,
Feelin’ good was easy, Lord, when Bobby sang the blues,
And buddy, that was good enough for me,
Good enough for me and my Bobby McGee.

A slow news day here in my little town so let me tell you what’s cooking:

Today’s “interesting” walk photograph:

Les choses de la vie. Impressed with my French? Don’t be, just something I came across in my internet wanderings today. The choices life makes for you. I guess that resonated because it aligned with some of what I was thinking as I walked this morning. I don’t want to cede control of my choices in life to chance or fate, but would I have chosen the life I’m living now had circumstances not created the “opportunity”? Yeah, all this time later I’m still thinking about what I had and what I lost. Which is not to say I’m unhappy with this life I’m living now. It is what it is and I’m making the best of it. Knowing me, if I was somehow magically carried back to that old life I’d probably find myself missing this one. Best to just accept les choses de la vie.

My internet travels also encountered a brief mention of a collection of Buddhist inspired short stories by a venerable Monk titled: Un arbre dans la forêt (The Tree that Hides the Forest). The only quotation offered from that book seemed to underscore my thinking:

Be mindful, don’t hang on to things but let go and surrender to the way things are.

I’m getting there. One step at a time.

Regarding yesterday’s Hash–I swear I will never complain about one of Günter’s trails again. I know this to be true because I will NEVER hike one again. I was leaning that way anyway, but still feeling chastened by my cowardice in Baguio, I decided I’d take a chance. I was encouraged by the fact that we were walking out instead of driving, so I figured I could easily bail whenever I’d had enough. Well, it didn’t turn out that way. Here’s how it went down:

Alright, so I’m thinking this isn’t going to be so bad. I was contemplating the possibilities of where we might start climbing from here, and I knew of two likely trails. But I was wrong about that. Once we got into Marian Hills, the marked path had us enter a dry creekbed. I’m thinking what the hell? So, I continue on and it was pretty disgusting. People had been using the creek as a trash receptacle and it was littered with all kinds of garbage, including a significant number of used diapers. It was literally a shit creek.

And then things took a turn for the worse. Or should I say that Günter didn’t disappoint? The creek bed turned into a steep uphill climb that required crawling up and over boulders.

But yes he did. Part of the climb up actually required a rope that the Hares gleefully provided. Bastards! Well, too late to turn back now.

We all got to the top without injury. I was pissed though. And then we almost immediately started a steep and slippery downhill trek. One guy eventually gave up trying to keep his feet and slid down on his ass. My walking stick served its intended dual purpose of keeping my balance and being my brake.

Once we reached the bottom there were only four of us left in my group (I had waited on the elderly guy and his wife to make sure they made it down okay). I recognized that the trail was going to go up again through a different, albeit not as steep, creekbed. We were nearly an hour and a half into the hike at this point so I asked if anyone wanted to shortcut the trail. There was hearty and unanimous agreement with my suggestion. So, shortcut we did! Made it back on-home at Treasure Island at 5:30 after our abbreviated 6K hike.

I saw Bush Diver at Treasure Island and asked what he thought of the trail. He commented that it “separated the real Hashers from the wannabes.” I told him I disagreed because a real Hasher wouldn’t put other Hashers in unnecessary danger. He just walked off. Later in the circle when we provide our customary feedback to the Hares, Bush Diver repeated his comment about “real Hashers” and bragged that he had done the whole trail. Yeah, because someone was there to pull his ass up off a cliff. What a fucking cunt. And speaking of cunts:

I’ve had all the shit from you guys I’m gonna take. I’m thinking whenever you next Hare I’ll offer up a “safe and sane”alternative trail. We’ll see who the “real Hashers” are then I suppose.

Oh well. There is a Hash song that seems appropriate to the occasion:

Melody: 
Auld Lang Syne

Lyrics:
Fuck off, you cunt
Fuck off, you cunt
Fuck off, you cunt, Fuck off
Fuck off, you cunt
Fuck off, you cunt
Fuck off, you cunt, Fuck off
Fuck off, you cunt
Fuck off, you cunt
Fuck off, you cunt, Fuck off
Fuck off, you cunt
Fuck off, you cunt
Fuck off, you cunt, Fuck off