I led the group hike yesterday and we did about 7K up and over Black Rock, then roundabout back to Barretto. I was excited about doing the Black Rock hike because it has just about the best views from up top in the area and I wanted to give my new phone camera a tryout. The hike was great and the views were awesome on a sunny clear day. I took a shitload of photos but I won’t be posting any of them here. Here’s the convoluted story of why:

I mentioned that I bought a new phone. It’s a Samsung Galaxy A53. My old phone is an A50. I’d gone online to research which Samsung phone features the best camera. Of course, the best cameras are on the S-series phones, but they cost a thousand bucks. The review I read said the A52 had the best camera in the mid-price range. I went to the Samsung store at the mall and the salesman showed me an A52, but then pointed out that the A53 was this year’s upgrade of that model and it was on sale. Sold!

After the purchase, they helped me do the transfer of all my data, photos, and apps to the new phone. That went smoothly. Of course, the real pain in the ass was opening up my apps and programs on the new phone. Everything required a password and in a lot of cases it had been years and I couldn’t remember what some of those passwords might be. Well, the fix for that is the app will email me a code to insert in lieu of a password. I remembered my Google password, but not the one for my AOL account, so that upped the level of being a pain in the ass. But I eventually got everything functioning again on the new phone and I was good to go.

So, I did the hike, took my photos, came home. I’m going to donate my old phone to someone in need here, but first I had to delete all the data, apps, and photos there. Someone had shown me how to do the factory reset, and I set about doing it. The hitch came because Samsung required that I log in to my Samsung account before I could implement the delete function. Well, I didn’t even know that I had a Samsung account and none of the usual old passwords I tried were working. And when I tried the email recovery option, the emails from Samsung were in Hanguel–making them virtually unreadable to an ignoramus like me. So, I’m going back between my new and old phones–trying to respond to the emails on the one, and trying to implement the delete function on the other. And then somehow I finally got the delete function to work! And almost instantly noticed that I had mixed up the phones, both being the same size and feel, and had started the delete process on my new phone. And there was no way to stop it. Yeah, I’m that stupid. Probably karma for my mocking our demented President.

I was able to re-initiate the data transfer process from the old phone to the new one, just like I had done the day before. But alas, all those photos I had taken on the new phone were lost forever. This morning I successfully completed the deletion of data from the old phone and hopefully, that marks the end of the transition trauma.

You’ll have to Relive the hike without photos.

Going through all that crap with my phone put me behind schedule, so I didn’t bother with darts last evening. Instead, I went to It Doesn’t Matter and had a few cold ones to help me forget about my recent ordeal with the phone. My friend “Jenny” is heading down to Manila for her new job and I had promised her dinner before she departs. We agreed to meet at John Kim’s new place, so I moved my ass up the highway, climbed to the third floor, and waited for her there.

And here it is, the first picture from my new phone camera to be shared here at LTG:

Jenny and I had a nice meal (can’t remember what she ate now, I had fish and chips), shared some banter (she gets my sense of humor!), and had a pleasant evening together. I drank beer, she had soju. I was crushing on her when we first met, but she has convinced me to back off, at least for now. I’m back in my living for the moment mode, so I’m comfortable saying we have no future. Still, nothing wrong with sharing some platonic time and a few laughs when circumstances allow.

Jenny and I left John’s place together and went home and went to bed. Well, she went to her home and I went to mine, but you know what I mean.

Up this morning and took care of the usual business. I did a street hike through Barretto and listened to music on my headphones. Not much worthy of a photograph anyway. Well, I did take a leaving the neighborhood shot:

I had ordered some stuff on Lazada (the Philippines version of Amazon) and for some reason had the foresight to leave some money with the helper “just in case”. And sure enough, when I got back from my hike, two of the items had arrived:

Best of all, I was able to set it up, sync it to my phone, and get it fully functioning without incident. Hey, let’s see Joe Biden do that!

And that’s pretty much all there is to say for now. Let me leave you with these important facts of life I came across on the internet (so you know they must be true!)

Until tomorrow then. Assuming tomorrow comes.

Sorry for the lack of posting yesterday. My good intentions were overridden by laziness unforeseen events. Anyway, here’s what’s been happening.

Started my Wednesday in the usual fashion, including a pleasant hike with the Wednesday Walkers group. Photos from that event later in this post. Home in time for a shower and a quick post here, but no nap. Then it was off to the dart league match being played at Queen Victoria.

The lady in red told me her name is Cristina and that it was her twenty-first birthday. I asked one of the other waitresses if they were going to have a celebration later for her. Nope, nothing was planned, she responded. So, that didn’t seem right to me. After all, you are only 21 once. I sent one gal off to pick up a birthday cake and had another order a pizza. They partied while I played darts.

We wound up winning the dart match 9-4, although we should have done much better than that. Too many distractions–that’s my excuse! After darts I did a bit of a bar crawl, seeing Samantha at BarCelona and sharing a couple of drinks with her. I don’t expect that is going anywhere either. Popped into It Doesn’t Matter for a bit, then finished my night at Cheap Charlies. It was a long day for this old man.

And then it was Thursday. I didn’t do a hike. I took the morning off to prepare for my appointment with an Ear, Nose, and Throat specialist. The plan was for my helper to get there an hour before the doctor’s scheduled arrival at 2:00. She’d get me all signed up thereby reducing my wait time by having me near the front of the queue. Since my driver was picking us up at 12:30, I figured I’d spend some time at the mall. Why the mall? Well, my friend Joy needed a new phone and I was the sucker nice guy expected to provide it. Okay, I don’t mind helping a gal in need and I agreed, so no big deal. To her credit, she was happy with the cheapest decent phone available, about $150. And since we were there anyway, I did some shopping too.

The shopping excursion took a little longer than planned and we had to rush back to Baypointe hospital so I didn’t miss my place in line to see the doctor. I wound up waiting about 30 minutes anyway. I scheduled the visit with ENT doc because I’ve had head congestion for the past three or four months and over-the-counter meds were having little to no effect. The first thing I noticed when I walked into the doctor’s office was that she was pretty damn hot. I like that in a physician! Makes the exam much less stressful. The first thing she asked me was “what brings you here today?” I responded, “I came in a car.” Yeah, I know. She laughed politely though, and then we got down to business. I described my symptoms and she had me move to an examination chair. She put on her face shield, grabbed a tube-like instrument, and stuck it up my nose. I guess it was some kind of microscope. Then she did the other nostril. She did a tsk, tsk, and said that’s the problem–Grade II nasal polyps. Now what, doc? She explained that once you reach the Grade II level, surgery may be required. In my case, since I have to take meds for high blood pressure and an enlarged prostate, she couldn’t give me the stronger drugs she would normally prescribe (steroid-like if I understood correctly). So, we are trying a two-week regimine of lower dose meds and if that doesn’t work I’ll need to schedule surgery. Out patient? No, it requires general anesthesia. Damn it! Lets hope the meds work. As pretty as she is, I don’t want her poking around in my nose with a scapel.

After the doctor’s visit, I took my driver, helper, and Joy out to lunch at the nearby Seoul restaurant.

By the time we got back to Barretto it was already beer o’clock. Had my driver drop Joy off at her house and had him take me out to Baloy Beach. I started and ended my evening at McCoy’s.

And so ended another day in paradise. I had some more adventures today, but I’ll share those tomorrow. I need to head out for darts now.

Here’s the pics I promised from the Wednesday hike:

…another door opens. Or so it has been said. I’d like to see the scientific data supporting that proposition though.

Anyway, on the way to do my grocery shopping yesterday, I had my driver drop my weekend guest off at the bus station so she could return to her life in Angeles City. She has subsequently been messaging things like she misses me and wants to come see me again. I haven’t been brutal in my responses, but I think I’ve made it clear those feelings are not mutual. Again, I think she is a good-hearted woman, just someone who is completely wrong for me. I made her cry her last night here with my bluntness, I wasn’t even angry, okay, maybe a tad rude and impatient, but nothing like my worst behavior. Anyway, trying to have a relationship with her would be a disaster for us both. Not sure what lessons I can take away from the experience, maybe something to do with selectivity.

I did share my insights on caring about someone who doesn’t care for you with “Jenny”. I told her I understood better how she must have felt with me trying to worm my way into her heart when she had no reciprocal feelings for me. She told me she was sorry I felt that way and that I misunderstood her. She said she thinks I’m a nice and caring man with a good sense of humor and that she enjoys my company. She just does not want to be in a relationship with a “white man” right now. Yeah, that’s how she put it. She explained that she has some personal goals she is working hard to achieve and it is important to her that she achieve them on her own. Having a white boyfriend would diminish whatever she accomplishes because people would assume I made it happen for her through financial support (all us foreigners are considered rich in the eyes of the Filipino community apparently). Whatever her reasons, I’m not gonna chase or beg for her time and attention. Maybe I’ll be here when she’s ready for a relationship, maybe I won’t.

I was surprised to hear from another former love of mine yesterday. Her engagement to a foreigner has ended (she didn’t say why, and I didn’t ask) and she inquired about me providing a work reference. I did and it appears she will indeed be hired. Happy about that. And yes, the thought did cross my mind about trying to rekindle that old flame. I’ve regretted maybe giving up too soon during our first go-round and with the benefit of hindsight and getting to know her better during our ensuing years of friendship, perhaps we could make a go of it this time. Way, way too soon for me to even consider acting on that possibility. I need to stand back and give her some space and time to make the transition back to singleness. I can think about it though and let my imagination run wild.

Played darts last night and got knocked out early. First time in a long time we’ve had enough players for a doubles tournament. I’m not going to blame my partner for our poor performance though. Wait a minute, yes I am! Not that I cared. The blessing of an early defeat was that I had more time to do a bar crawl. I started at BarCelona and visited my new favorite waitress there, Samantha. Her only off-day is Wednesday and since my Wednesdays are whacked with hiking and dart league, I’m not sure what we are going to do to get to know one another better. We talked about doing a hike and perhaps we will next week. She works too late (midnight or later) to get together after quitting time. Maybe a lunch date prior to work would be possible. We’ll see.

After BarCelona, I dropped by The Green Room, hoping to see my friend Novi. She wasn’t around (I found out later she quit) so it was one beer and out for me.

Next stop was Alaska. I greeted the owner, Jerry, then took a seat. Three gals up on stage and not much else happening. Music is always good with Jerry as DJ though, so there was that. Still, no one I knew to talk to, so a couple of beers and I said my goodnight.

It was nearly my bedtime (9 p.m.) but I decided to have one more for the road so I headed down to Queen Victoria.

Queen Vic had a live band and they sounded surprisingly good. Also, some pretty hot waitresses who looked very thirsty, but I just wasn’t in the mood to engage. A couple of more beers and I called it a night.

Just before I went to bed, I got a message from the schoolteacher. I hadn’t heard from her in several days. As you may recall she got pissed because I didn’t respond to her messages fast enough. Anyway, I was too tired and drunk to deal with her last night. I’ll keep her in the queue notwithstanding some red flags she’s displayed.

That was my Tuesday. Did a nice hike this morning, and now it is time for dart league. I’m really tired, but I’ve got no choice, my teammates are relying on me. I’ve already announced that I’m not playing next season.

Finally, Facebook reminded me that today is the third anniversary of me acquiring my dog Lucky. Here’s how he looked when I brought him home that day:

It’s all good.

It’s Hash Monday, so just a quick update before I hid out to hit the trail.

Day 2 of my entertaining an out-of-town guest. Nothing has changed, although I do think my post yesterday may have sounded harsher than I intended. She seems to be a kind and good-hearted woman, just not the one for me. My epiphany I suppose was coming to understand that “Jenny” probably feels about me the way I feel about my guest. Doesn’t matter how good the other person may be, if they aren’t connecting with you on an emotional level it ain’t gonna happen. That’s just the way it goes sometimes.

Anyway, my guest didn’t want to join me for my Sunday hike because it was “too hot”. Well, I’m used to walking alone, but here is some of what she missed:

You can Relive it here if you have a hankering to do so.

Once back home, I had some time to kill before beer o’clock rolled around, so opened up my Netflix. She picked a movie called “Black Crab”. I guess it was okay and somewhat entertaining. Not sure I’ve watched a Swedish-made film before. Anyway, it killed a couple of hours so it served its purpose. Here’s the trailer if you want a taste:

So, it was finally time to head out and I decided we’d walk to John’s place for food and beers.

Wound up staying at John’s until it was time to head back home for my 9 p.m. bedtime.

Up early this morning as usual. My guest did join me for the dog walk.

Came home and put together the ingredients for some chili in the crockpot.

And there’s a snapshot of my life here in the Philippines. Don’t be too jealous! Facebook sent me a reminder of how life was four years ago in Pyeongtaek.

I really am making progress. This weekend was a good reminder to not settle for less than what I want. I’ll be just fine alone if that is what it comes down to.

Not a single trigger was tripped by my out-of-town visitor. Unless getting frustrated and irritated counts. She really doesn’t look anything like her pictures either, not that looks are the most important feature. Communication is a crapshoot as well. She doesn’t get my humor and I can’t understand what she is saying half the time. Even the sex was disappointing. Now, I have two days to fill with my new “friend” before she returns home. Wish me luck!

In a rather bizarre turn of events, the schoolteacher I’ve been chatting with got pissed because I didn’t promptly respond to her messages last night. I had told her I was going to be busy this weekend, but I guess I’m supposed to be at her beck and call 24/7. Glad she showed me this side of who she is before I wasted more time.

Looks like I’m on a roll. There’s a word we say here in the Philippines when you encounter this kind of situation. “Next!”

It’s been as hot as I can remember these past few days. I came across a picture that illustrates why:

Anyway, wish me luck getting through the next couple of days. Another example of “there are worse things than being alone.”

I was once again tasked with leading the Wednesday Walkers group hike yesterday. Honestly, it is challenging to think of a trail we all haven’t done recently. That’s one of the downsides of group hikes three days a week I suppose. I’m not familiar enough with the out-of-town areas to try and get that creative, so I settled on doing a beach walk to the old Navy base, then a climb up the Kalaklan ridgeline, and coming back down into Barretto. It had been over a year since I’d personally tried the beach walk and some things have changed. Twice we had to wade across small rivers where they emptied into the bay, and once we had to go into the water to get around a recently constructed fence. Other than that it was rather pleasant to see the beaches outside of Barretto. Then ridgeline is always a pain in the ass to climb, but we took the path that is easiest among difficult choices. All in, we did 8K and my hike mates seemed to have enjoyed it. Mission accomplished. Pictures later in this post.

The remainder of the day was also filled with fun and a dash of excitement. Well, maybe fun is an overstatement, but the hours got filled and that’s what it is all about, right? Started with our dart league match against Blue Butterfly bar. We won 12-1 but I wasn’t happy with my performance. I was involved in our one defeat and it is ridiculous how poorly I threw. I take full responsibility. We are playing the #1 team in the league next week and all of us are going to have to throw a hell of a lot better than we did yesterday.

“Jenny” didn’t show up to watch me play, which was disappointing. She was drinking with her neighbors at a resort hotel on Baloy and invited me to join in but after an afternoon of beers, I just wasn’t feeling it. No problem though, she joined me this morning for a very nice walk, then came over to my place for a burrito lunch. She really is a special woman, but we are taking things very slowly and that’s fine too.

Then I got a surprise message from Novi, a gal I had met last year when she worked at BarCelona. Actually, she quit the day after we met and although we remained Facebook friends, we never interacted. Last night she said she had started working again at a bar called The Green Room (located on the ground floor under BarCelona) and hoped I’d come to visit. Having nothing else to do, I popped in. It was good to see her again and I remembered why I had liked her that night I had met her long ago. We shared some drinks and laughs, and pizza. It was a good time. Oh, and she wants to go to the Hash on Monday. I guess we’ll see how serious she is about that soon enough.

One of my former friends with benefits wanted to come over this afternoon to give me a “massage”, but I told her I wasn’t interested. I’m really not wanting to get back in that mode where I pay for intimacy.

I previously agreed to meet with an acquaintance who wants to introduce me to her schoolteacher friend. I’m kind of regretting it now because I’m a little bit uncomfortable with the idea of crushing someone’s expectations. Yeah, I don’t currently have a girlfriend and unless this new woman (I’m not sure of her age, but her kids are grown) is an angel sent to rescue my lost soul and heal my broken heart, I’m probably going to take a pass. I made it clear in my message to her friend that this is a “meet, greet, and eat” event, nothing more.

I don’t know, maybe it’s good to have options. It’s hard to go all-in with Jenny when she’s been pretty adamant that she’s not willing yet to take the plunge with me. Still, I enjoy her company and don’t want to fuck up a budding friendship by getting distracted with other women.

Yeah, look at me. Suddenly, I’m seemingly popular with the ladies. I’m going to take it slow and easy and just wait to see what happens next.

To the Wednesday Walkers photos then:

Feel free to Relive it here:

All in all it was a good day. Better than most in fact. More about today, tomorrow.

Though half a score of years are gone,
Spring comes as sharply now as then—
But if we had it all to do
It would be done the same again.
It was a spring that never came;
But we have lived enough to know
That what we never have, remains;
It is the things we have that go.”
–Sara Teasdale

Yeah, I’m still missing my ex-girlfriend. I think about her all the time and hope she is happy. Meanwhile, life goes on and I need to make the best of it. “Jenny” went grocery shopping at Royal with me yesterday. I was prepared to let her fill a basket at my expense, but she just picked up a couple of things and didn’t want me to pay for them. I insisted though. I really do enjoy her company, but she’s made it clear that she is not looking for a relationship right now, always emphasizing that we are just friends. Okay. I can always use a friend.

Jenny did come home with me after shopping and made a drink that consists of coffee and vanilla ice cream. Can’t remember what it is called, but sounds like avocado. Might be French. We sat out on the back deck and enjoyed the view while we had our drink. She’s just accepted a new job as an online recruiter so had to cancel her planned trip to Germany. Said she might take an alternative vacation in Thailand. “Alone?”, I asked. She said she almost always travels alone and talked about backpacking in Cambodia by herself. I admit I was quite impressed and told her I respected her courage in doing so. She shrugged like it was no big deal. Good for her!

I told Jenny again that I’m out every night and I would love for her to join me anytime she wants. She said she might, but next time it was her turn to pay. I told her that wasn’t necessary but she said wanted to repay my kindness. I looked at her and smiled and she said, “It is still too soon for that.” I burst out laughing and said, “oh shit, you can read my mind!”. She laughed too and said it was pretty obvious what I was thinking. Still, I’m glad we are on the same wavelength even if she is unwilling to take it to the next level. Yet.

We finished our drinks and I walked Jenny out of the neighborhood. I told her I have dart league this afternoon and she said she might come by and cheer for me. I hope she does, I’d love that. This may be going nowhere, but at least it helps me stop thinking about my last love. We’ll see what happens next. If anything.

Speaking of darts, I was shit in the tourney last night. Once I was eliminated I decided to change my venue. So I made my way down to Wet Spot. Was surprised to see a large crowd on a Tuesday night, it looks like the tourists have indeed returned. And maybe not so coincidentally, the girls were dancing on stage again. First time I’d seen that since the scamdemic started. Perhaps things really are getting back to normal.

After a couple of beers at Wet Spot, I made my way home via trike. Was in bed by 9 p.m. Up this morning at 4 a.m. Yep, I am back on my “lonely old man with no girlfriend” schedule once again. Oh well, there are worse fates I suppose.

An interesting morning hike with the Wednesday Walkers this morning. I will write about that tomorrow. Right now I am running late for dart league. Man, these whacked Wednesdays are tough!