Yes, I know Marie Antoinette never uttered those words. But she lost her head anyway. And it seems to me that lots of folks are losing their heads lately over the Wuhan virus outbreak. Well, not their heads as much as their minds, but you know what I mean.

The latest example here in the Philippines is this outrage:

I’m reading similar measures are being taken across the USA as well, but this is the Philippines and that makes a big difference. Okay, I get the whole “social distancing” thing as part of the effort to slow the spread of the Chinese coronavirus. But a what point does the “cure” do more damage than the disease?

Here in the Philippines, the minimum wage is 350 pesos ($7) a day. Not everyone makes that much though. So as you might imagine, many people are living day-to-day, bringing home just enough to put some rice on the table. So, you shut down the bars and send the girls out on the street to sell their bodies. You shut down the old Navy base with its restaurants, hotels, and a shopping mall all closing down. That’s hundreds of jobs and oh, by the way, things like unemployment benefits and other social welfare programs don’t exist in this country. What are these folks supposed to do now? A lot of the expats here are talking about the real possibility of a surge in crime. Well, let’s hope it doesn’t come to that, but there are bound to be unforeseen circumstances when you pull the rug out from people who are already living desperate lives.

Anyway, this too shall pass. I hope. In the meantime, nothing for me to do but walk on. Yesterday’s hike took me over the mountain on the familiar ground of My Bitch. There’s a family living an isolated existence in a shack up on top. The trail leads through their “yard” and sets the dogs barking and roosters crowing when I walk past. I feel guilty about creating a disturbance so I always apologize and sometimes I bring along some cookies or candies for the kids. Of late they’ve been greeting me by name and I admit that makes me feel good. It’s the little things I guess.

I found this “interesting” sight yesterday. As has been said, blogs are made by fools like me, but only God can make a tree:

Sometimes you just have to step out of your comfort zone I suppose. Like this morning at Sit-n-Bull I tried something completely different:

Honestly, it was just okay. I could only eat about half of it. Oh well, that’s the nature of adventure, right?

On my morning walk today I noticed that God has been busy:

Trees
BY JOYCE KILMER

I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.

A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the earth’s sweet flowing breast;

A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;

A tree that may in Summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;

Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.

Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.

Things around here are getting more than a little strange. Today’s headline from Manila:

But much closer to home was waking up to this news:

Well, I did what anyone else would do under the circumstances. I messaged my driver to come pick me up and take me shopping. Luckily he was available. The Royal grocery store was jammed with other forward-thinking customers. Many of the items I wanted to stock up on were already out of stock. Plenty of toilet paper though.

Exciting times! Two more cases of the Wuhan virus in Olongapo City. I’m not sure what additional steps the local government intends to take. They’ve directed that anyone returning from travel outside the city must “self-quarantine” for 14 days. I’m not sure if they intend to implement more drastic measures like the lockdown in Manila. I hope not. This all still seems to be way overblown, but what do I know? Well, I know what I see on the internet, so there’s that.

Speaking of desperate, if the bars do close down I guess the bargirls will have to find new ways to earn money.

Still, these are serious times and we all need to pitch in and do what we can. I’ll be glad to assist any of the ladies with the proper wearing of their masks:

Well, anyway things are still pretty much normal around here otherwise. Still doing my walks and still keeping my eyes open for anything “interesting”.

But I think today’s “interesting” offering has to be the fruit of another kind of tree:

I’ll leave you with these words of wisdom. Well, it might not be wise to use them. I originally posted this on Facebook seven years ago. And regular readers have witnessed my spectacular disasters with the ladies. YMMV.

It’s just about the only kind of work I do these days. Unless you count the heavy lifting I do in the bars at night. It’s a tough life but there’s no point in complaining about it. A person should always strive to do their best at whatever it is they are doing.

Here’s a quick recap of the 24 hours or so since my last post.

Walked back home, put the pie in the fridge, and took my daily hour-long nap. Then I set about doing my afternoon hike. I decided to check out the long version of Monday’s Hash trail.

I was glad I did this portion of Demolition Derby’s trail. It was a path I’d never tried before and I like a new adventure. I was especially thankful he had marked the trail so well, otherwise, I’d have been lost in the tall grass.

The trail came back down into Marion Hills and I opted to head back home from there. I’ll save the final portion of Derby’s work for another day.

Showered up, took my afternoon meds and recorded my health stats (BP 121/71; resting heart rate 62; weight 204.8). Then I hoofed back out to Captain’s Arms to begin hefting those bottles of San Mig Zero and emptying their contents into my mouth. Having quenched a 25,000 step thirst, I walked up the highway to Mango’s where I enjoyed a grilled pork chop dinner. Best pork chops in town!

With my appetite satiated, I crossed the street and gave “mama”, a homeless woman I look after, her 100 pesos daily stipend. She always blows me a kiss and says she loves me. Well, at least I know she doesn’t have to sleep on her cardboard box with an empty stomach.

I made my final stop of the night at Queen Victoria where I enjoyed a couple more Zeros and watched a dart tourney in progress. Walked back home and gave a couple of neighborhood stray dogs my leftovers from dinner.

Once home, I treated myself to a delicious strawberry-banana smoothie, surfed the ‘net, then hit the sack at around 10 p.m. as usual. Woke up at 5:00, a little earlier than normal and got busy with my morning routine:

A cup of coffee and spending time with my favorite blogs and catching up on the news of the world.

Then the boys are ready for their morning walk, a 30-minute trek. Back home and today I’m not going out for breakfast. Instead, me and Betty Crocker bake up a batch of blueberry muffins. Yum. I have a 9:00 a.m. appointment to meet up with Scott and Jim for a hike in Subic town.

After the 8K walk, we stopped by the Hunter’s Inn, one of our Hash venues, for some liquid refreshment and lunch. The cook hadn’t arrived as yet, so we doubled down on the liquid refreshment.

Back home and sent my son birthday greetings on Facebook.

Took a nap, took a shower, ate the last of my leftover pulled pork and a slice of cheesecake. And then I sat down to share my day with you via this post on LTG. Thanks for joining me!

It’s all in a day’s work.

Hope that headline isn’t overly misleading. It was a hot day on the Hash trail is what I’m trying to say. Demolition Derby was the Hare and he set a short 4K trail and a longer 7K trek. I opted for the shorter version without regret. I’ll get to the rest of the long trail during the week. There was only one place on the trail that was a little questionable, but it worked out and the rest of the hike was about as pleasant as it can be when you are out climbing hills on a hot day. Let’s go to the photos:

It was a pleasant afternoon overall, both on trail and in the bar.

…that hasn’t already been said before? Well, I’ve never let boring repetition stop me, so here goes nothing.

I’ve been trying to take a step back from all the doomsday hype about the COVID-19 virus. I certainly hope it’s not going to be the death of me but if it gets me (or I get it) I’m probably a goner. I read a description of the effects the virus has on its victims and it ain’t pretty once it’s in your lungs. Made me think back to my recent bout with bronchitis and how difficult that was due to the COPD damage I live with daily. Which led me to imagine the suffering I’d experience without relief under an overwhelmed Philippines health care system. Yeah, if I catch this virus I’m pretty much a goner. Today’s headline was that the government is implementing its emergency plan and has activated all the barangay offices nationwide. I’m thinking that’s good. Then I recall the competence of the local barangay and I’m thinking “oh shit”. Oh well. I’m still breathing for now.

In the meantime, life goes on. And a man has got to eat.

Life is good. As long as it lasts.

And now I’ve said everything there is to say. Again.

UPDATE: Over at the Big Hominid, Kevin Kim shares a link that offers some reassurance that the end of the world is not at hand. I’ve also heard some speculation that COVID-19 doesn’t spread well in a hot climate. And it’s been hot here in the Philippines. Time will tell I suppose.

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.

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.

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: