I did the Cheap Charlies visit for the first time in a while. Between the time I walked in the door and reached my seat, there was an ice-cold San Miguel Zero sitting on the bar waiting for me. They know me too well. But not as well as they thought they did because I ordered up a gin and soda, one shot, in a tall glass. That will be my new beverage of choice until I attain my weight loss goal. I kept the beer though and sipped on it periodically. It actually slowed me down on the gin and soda which is good–it’s a more potent drink than the beer. I may actually incorporate the single beer into my routine to help control my intake. We’ll see.

I carried my umbrella when I left the house because it looked like rain. By the time I reached Cheap Charlies I realized those weren’t clouds I was seeing. Not sure if it was some other kind of natural haze or maybe smoke. I actually checked the internet to see if one of the nearby volcanos had started erupting. No such reports, so no idea what was going on.

I had three or maybe four drinks and bought a similar number for a couple of the waitresses. Hey, they have to make a living. Alma, one of my favorites, earned a nice tip too for rubbing my back for the duration of my visit. She has a nice touch.

Once I arrived back home, I dipped into the pot roast that had been stewing all day long in the crockpot.

Speaking of something in the air, I saw smoke from a fire on the dog walk this morning.

A pleasant visit with Judy yesterday. Another fine massage that ended in my satisfaction. She is also difficult to hold a conversation with, but she loves her mountain life. Told me about selling bananas and sweet potatoes grown on her land at the fresh markets in Barretto and Subic. That makes enough to buy some food, but apparently not enough to pay the electric bill. She had told me she owed 3000 pesos and the power was scheduled to be cut off today. I was willing to pay that amount as a reward for her services. But when she showed me the bill, this month’s payment was also due so the total was almost 5000 ($100.). Hmm, that’s an expensive massage. I started to just give her the previously agreed-upon amount, but damn, I couldn’t bear the thought of her being in the dark because of my stinginess. So, I gave her the 5000 and told her part of that was an advance for services on her next visit. She agreed.

And that’s how my day went.

Hey, it is what I do. And on Wednesdays, I do it with the walking group. That makes it even more fun, especially because we go places I’d never attempt on my own. I’d actually done yesterday’s trail two or three years ago, but with my diminished mental capacity, it all looked and felt like new! I’ll tell the story in pictures a bit later in this post.

It Doesn’t Matter was my beer drinking venue yesterday evening. Had a very pleasant time with my favorite waitress, Roan. That gal can hold her own in a back and forth and we spend a lot of time laughing. I miss that in my daily life. I also brought her a gift:

There’s a young man about town working as a peanut vendor. I’m one of his regular customers (I buy nuts for the working girls). He seems to have the knack of finding me wherever I might be hanging out on any given night. Nice kid and a hard worker.

When I stepped on the scale before my shower yesterday I was not happy to see that I weighed in at 210.3. My goal is to maintain my weight under 200, so I’ve got some work to do. Then I saw this photo from yesterday’s hike and I was a little embarrassed.

So, desperate times call for desperate measures. Starting tonight, I won’t be drinking any beer. I’ll feed my alcohol addiction with gin and soda, which is practically carb-free. I’m also going to need to be more disciplined in what I eat for a while, so I’ll be trying to have the self-discipline to say no to ice cream and other empty calories. I’m going to get off my lazy ass and try to get my daily step count average back up to 20,000 again too. I hope to drop the excess poundage within a couple of months. Stay tuned!

Alright, let’s move on to yesterday’s hike then, shall we?

But before I go I’ll leave you with this Facebook memory from way back in my Itaewon days.

Or so I’m told. I don’t remember much after a certain point. Like getting home or why I woke up this morning with my head at the foot of the bed. The problem was two-fold I reckon–I started drinking at 1 p.m., and the only beer available was the full strength variety. Anyway, from what I recall it was a good party and a nice afternoon to be out on the beach. Luckily I have a few photos taken while I was still in control of my faculties.

And that seems to be the last photograph from the party on my phone. Not sure what all happened after that, but one report has me being a dick with one of the women there. Embarrassing if true, but what’s done is done. Maybe I won’t be invited back next year. Oh well.

I’m not going to live forever so I want to make every day matter. Reading this blog it might appear that I’m a failure in that regard. So, I guess I should say make every day matter to me. If I’m choosing to live a life full of mundane and meaningless routines, so be it. The point is that I’m living my life on my terms. I’ve gotten much better about not worrying about the future or dwelling on the past. One day at a time is all you can live anyway, so let it be what it is until you run out of days.

I guess Kevin Kim’s post “a meditation on death” got me thinking about life. I’m not really fearing the inevitable end of life, but I ain’t in no hurry to get there either. My big takeaway from his post was that whatever meaning you find in your life is found by living in the moment. The here and now is all we have; the hereafter is unknown and unknowable. I’m not religious so I have no expectations of heaven or anything similar. Today is what I live for.

Hash Monday once again. We’ll deal with the results of that endeavor tomorrow. Assuming there is a tomorrow for me.

Sorry, I couldn’t stop myself. You might say I’m braking bad. Alright, no more. I promise!

My instinct about not playing darts on Saturdays proved correct. I mean, I was there and participated, but I can’t remember ever playing so poorly. First out of the tourney and didn’t win a leg. Just one of those nights I guess. The birthday party and food were nice though.

I’m doing another birthday gig this afternoon. This one is on the beach and will be Filipino-style. Bubbly’s Resort is the venue. It’s right next door to Palm Tree and I’ve sat up there on the terrace watching Filipinos partying and felt envious of the good time I was witnessing. So, we’ll have a “cottage” on the beach, a videoke machine, lots of grilled meats, lots of beer, and of course, hanging out with friends on the waterside.

Other than bad puns and bad darts, nothing much else to report. I did document my morning stroll yesterday for those of you who enjoy seeing photos of the countryside and cityscape. Here we go:

Just a bit over 6K all told. You can Relive it here if you are so inclined:

That’s about all for now. Facebook did remind me that five years ago I purchased the last suit I’m ever likely to own. Tailor-made in Korea of course!

It’s been two weeks since my leg got infected.

Alright then, I’ll break this off here for now. Time to shower up and get ready to party!

I had good intentions yesterday afternoon–thought about walking out to Baloy Beach or maybe going into town for a haircut. In the end, I just said, “fuck it”, and plopped my lazy ass down on my favorite stool at Mango’s and watched the world go by.

Yeah, I’m easily entertained these days.

I did get up for a bit between beers to adjust my view of the beach.

As you can see the tide was really low which changes up the perspective. Well, all that watching time go by made me hungry so I called my waitress over and ordered some dinner.

Shortly thereafter I headed on home. Had a big bowl of rocky road ice cream and hit the hay a little before nine. That’s just how I roll these days.

Woke up to some good news:

I guess what is good for me dollar-wise means the money of hard-working Filipinos is worth less. Hey, I’m just along for the ride!

And in the category of no good deed goes unpunished, I offer you this:

A good long hike this morning, I’ll share that story tomorrow. Time for me to head out for some darts now.

Spent a couple of hours imbibing beers at one of my favorite hangouts. Which one? It Doesn’t Matter. I enjoyed the company of my favorite waitress there, Roan. She’s got a great sense of humor, by which I mean she laughs at my jokes. Unlike a lot of the bargirls I meet, she can actually carry on an intelligent conversation. Makes the investment in her lady drinks worthwhile.

The brown knees in the bar all seemed to enjoy my brownies. They were still warm from the oven when I shared them. I also bought Roan an inhaler. She’s a smoker and told me she’s had bouts of not being able to catch her breath. Said she even blacked out briefly the other night at work after a coughing fit. She’s a grownup and has to make her own decisions, but I warned her from the perspective of personal experience that she needs to take care of her lungs. The damage she is doing can’t be repaired and will only get worse over time. She took a couple of puffs on one of my vapes and said she liked the flavor. I told her when she was serious about giving up cigs, I’d set her up with her own vaping equipment. Vaping is much less harmful than smoking and has been shown to be the most effective method to break the cigarette habit. Anyway, it is up to her.

It being Wednesday night, when I left It Doesn’t Matter I headed over to The Pub for my weekly ration of Korean-style chicken wings. I had to laugh when I arrived and was greeted with “welcome, sir John. It’s Wingsday!” They called out my standard order of sixteen wings to go and brought me a San Miguel Zero to help pass the time while my meal was being prepared. It’s nice to be a regular!

That leaves Wednesday’s walk to tell you about. We did a 9K loop around Easter mountain, just a couple of short hills, nothing really challenging. We had a sunny day to enjoy and made the most of it. To the pictures then.

That’s my life and I ain’t complaining. Thanks for stopping by!

Welp, you can take the man out of America, but this man will always be an American. Naturally, I celebrated the anniversary of our independence in the traditional manner–I fired up the grill! More on that in a minute.

Interestingly, it was 75 years ago, July 4, 1946, that the USA granted independence to the Philippines. The Philippines, however, doesn’t celebrate that independence day. Rather, it chose to call June 12, 1898, the date it made a meaningless declaration of independence from Spain, the date the nation was born. Whatever.

That’s the nice thing about grilling out–you can ignore the politics and just enjoy some good food and cold beer. Granted, it would have been fun to be celebrating with other like-minded Yanks, but everyone seemed to have other plans that didn’t include me. Ah well, living a solitary life is a whole other kind of independence I suppose. I’m not complaining.

My Fourth of July menu: Ribeye steak, corn-on-the-cob, broccoli, sweet potato, and a cornbread muffin. Apple pie a la mode for dessert, of course.

I bought the steaks during my visit to the S&R store last week. Aussie beef, and came in a box, so I couldn’t really see what I was getting. The meat turned out to be okay, tender like I prefer, but still too thin. I’m going to have to choose a different kind of steak in the future. You can also probably tell I need a new grill. I couldn’t control the flames on the left side, and couldn’t get the heat I was looking for on the right. Anyway, the steaks turned out okay–medium-rare to medium.

I did do a brief visit to Cheap Charlies. Only one of my “regulars” was working which reduced the drink pressure to a manageable level. Quite a few other customers as well, which I was happy to see. I bought some Filipino food for some of the girls seeing as how I knew it was also their independence day, even if their silly leaders don’t want to acknowledge that fact.

And that was how I spent the day. I’m happy to be living in an English speaking country, otherwise, I’d miss out on things like this:

It’s another Hash Monday. I got a taste of the trail on Wednesday, so shouldn’t have any surprises in store. Then again, it’s been a rainy morning so things might have changed. Full report tomorrow.

Today we celebrate our hard-won and long defended rights and freedoms. Make no mistake, that freedom is currently under attack. You can submit and conform or you can stand up and say “bullshit, mother fuckers!” Easy choice for me.

Last Sunday I was incapacitated by whatever it is that’s wrong with my leg. A week of antibiotics has reduced the swelling considerably, but I’m still not healed. So, my helper/caregiver harvested some guava leaves growing in the backyard and put them in a pot of hot water.

My helper went back to the pharmacy today and the pharmacist said I needed a stronger antibiotic than the one I’ve been taking. Sold her some then and there, no prescription required. Is this a great country, or what?

Anyway, I’m mostly pain-free and much, much better than a week ago. To celebrate that fact I took a nice long (for me) 10K walkabout. I moved at an embarrassingly slow 14 minutes per kilometer, but that included photo ops and cookie stops.

I did that “photo every 1000 steps” or so thing to keep it a little more interesting. Wanna see?

I must have messed up and lost count somewhere along the way. 7000 steps are usually when I hit 5K, but anyway, it’s the thought that matters, right?

Here it is on Relive:

Kevin Kim, you want to cook up a batch of these to take to work?

Also wanted to give a shout out to one of the world’s greatest dickheads:

I reckon that’s enough of this nonsense for now. Thanks for dropping by!

I’m just fine, and I hope to keep it that way!

The latest news on the bar opening is no news. My understanding of where things stood at the conclusion of my meeting with the “owner” on Tuesday was that she’d be getting back to me with bank info for a wire transfer. You may recall that “Karen” told me the bar is in her name but owned by her boyfriend back in the States. She suggested I pay her the seven grand and she would send the money to the boyfriend. She seemed somewhat taken aback when I told her since his bank and my bank are both in the USA, it would be much easier for me to transfer the funds directly to him. She did tell me that she would call him later and get the bank account name for me. Upon following up, I’m now told they are still considering my offer and will let me know on Monday.

Hmm. My initial thoughts are that Karen is a scammer. The bar may well be in her name, but whether she is authorized by the “real” owner to sell it, and whether he would ever see any money I give her seems to be somewhat in doubt. We shall see.

Went to It Doesn’t Matter bar for my nightly dose of good cheer and coincidentally ran into Tommy, the former owner of the bar I’m looking to buy, and the current owner of Dive In bar. He was aware of the pending sale (I assume Jessa told him, I didn’t) and he also agreed I should not give Karen one penny. She seems to have a reputation for dishonesty, a former co-worker said she would steal money for the tip jar. That’s pretty low. So, unless I can find a way to interact directly with the boyfriend/owner in the States the deal is in jeopardy.

It is weird how the grapevine news travels fast in my little town. I’ve had two gals so far ask me about employment opportunities (hire lawyers practicing in Indianapolis from here) when I open the bar/resto. I told them I was just the finance guy, they needed to talk to the Filipina who will technically own the place. Fun times!

John Kim of The Pub restaurant has been posting photos from his new menu, including his beef enchiladas. This is the description he gave:

Enchiladas in action. Bring your appetite, it’s not a small portion. Beef( Brisket or better): P395, Chicken: P345. Inside the Enchilada rolls-Pepper Jack Cheese, and outside-American Cheddar with NAPOLI Mozzarella.

I’m not gonna lie, it got me craving some Mexican so off I went to score me some dinner.

I’m not sure if my face registered surprise or if he anticipated my reaction. “Most Tex-Mex is tomato-based, I use chilies,” he told me matter-of-factly. Alright, that explained the unexpected tanginess in my mouth. I mean, they were quite tasty, I was just surprised by the zing. Much different from the comparatively bland enchiladas I’ve normally encountered. It was a large portion and I did clear my plate. The salad on the side helped cool down the fire in my mouth. As did the two beers I consumed during the course of dinner. Bottom line: Yes, I will order them again. Especially now that I know what I’m in for. Different, but still good.

A good hike with the group today, but you’ll have to wait until tomorrow for that post. I’ve decided to make my grand return to darts at Alley Cats tonight. Haven’t touched a dart in six weeks or so now, so I ain’t expecting much. I’m bringing with me a new attitude as well. I’ll share my thoughts in that regard in a later post.

Other than that, nothing else to report. Well, I did encounter this on my way out of the neighborhood yesterday afternoon:

Turning the page on another month. It may all be the same old, same old, but it’s a brand new day and the first of July. I’ll take it!

The rent is paid. Sent the Western Union wire transfer to the landlady’s bank account yesterday, woke up to a thank you and a receipt from her this morning. Easy peasy.

Spread some Joy today and paid her rent too. It was our mutual pleasure.

Last night, I said my farewell to Jessa at Dive In. I hope everything in her new life is a dream come true for her.

It being Wednesday, I scored my Korean-style chicken wings from The Pub on the way home.

You are correct and I acknowledge: there is nothing of substance in this post. It may be a new day in a new month, but I’m the same old blogger. Sorry about that! Perhaps I can at least put a smile on your face with this:

I’ll be back tomorrow with more. Or less.

A busier than normal Tuesday for me, although I guess that’s not saying much. Here’s what’s happening:

One issue with the new apartment has been a loud noise emanating from my bedroom aircon. The bizarre thing is I’ve never actually turned it on. The problem arises because the upstairs apartment has the exact same floor plan as mine. Which means the upstairs aircon is directly above mine.

Shouldn’t be a big deal, but the problem is these a/c units discharge a lot of water. That water drops down on top of the steel casing of my unit which creates a reverberating percussion sound, not unlike a drummer’s cymbal. Surprisingly loud too–loud enough to make it hard for me to sleep. I actually tried putting a pillow over my head to block the sound, but that didn’t work. I put my headphones on and tried to sleep listening to music, but that created a whole other level of distraction that precluded a peaceful night’s rest.

So, I had the bright idea of putting a cover over my aircon so the dripping water from above wouldn’t land loudly on top of the metal housing. Putting that idea into practice wasn’t so easy though. I’m the ground floor apartment, but with the basement below I’m actually the equivalent of the second floor. That made access to the a/c unit from outside pretty nigh impossible since I don’t possess a ladder. Then I realized I could remove the aircon from the inside, and apply the needed tarpaulin. With the assistance of my basement helper’s boyfriend, we got it done.

At least the electric coop gave us advance notice of this power outage:

Anyway, since I didn’t see much point in sitting around in the dark all day I decided to do my grocery shopping at S&R in San Fernando. S&R is kinda sorta like Costco, although a little less organized. It had been six months since my last visit so I figured, why not? Sometimes you can find things that aren’t available at the local grocery stores. The problem is that it is a major pain in the ass. An hour and half to get there and my driver charged 3500 pesos ($70). So, I did get a few things I’d been craving but overall, probably not worth the trip.

And it looks like I might be investing in a bar. A Filipina friend has been wanting to open a place featuring Filipino favorite foods. Her business model will include preparing meals for the bargirls and delivering them to the bars. She needs some start-up capital and I’m a known sucker I guess. Actually, I think she can make a go of it, even in these tough times. The best deal we found on a building was a very small bar that has been closed for over a year now. We looked at it this afternoon and it appears to be a good fit. Coincidentally, she worked in and managed that bar several years ago. So, maybe this is completing the circle. I might have a beer there now and then, but I AM NOT taking on any responsibility for running the place. Other than the purchase price that is.

They say a fool and his money are soon parted. But, I’m not investing more than I can afford to lose and this is the kind of charity I like–something that is potentially life-changing. Whether it works out or not is all on her, of course. I’m just providing an opportunity.

It has a small kitchen that with some rearranging ought to be adequate for her needs. There is also a small studio apartment upstairs she can live in. The building rent is 12,000 pesos a month, which is a bargain for a location on the National highway. It won’t be a big stretch to make enough profit on food to cover the rent. And who knows, maybe she can bring back some of the old regulars.

I suggested naming it “The Rite Spot”. We’ll see what happens.

Enjoyed an evening out on SBMA (the old Navy base) last night. It was good to have a break from the Barretto scene for a change. We started out at the Lighthouse resort hotel. The bar there features a buy one, get one, happy hour. The ridiculous thing is that beers were 120 pesos each ($2.40) which is higher than any bar I’ve seen in these parts. Of course, with the two for one, the price is more reasonable at 60 pesos. That’s what Cheap Charlies charges. So, when you ordered a beer they brought a coupon for a free beer. I couldn’t understand why they didn’t just say beer is 60 pesos during happy hour. Would have made it easier on everyone. That’s the Philippines!

When it came time for me to pay up, they tried to double charge me. I convinced the cashier that wasn’t going to happen. Probably an honest mistake–the servers never took names and had to sort through all the tickets to figure out who owed what.

Our next stop was a restaurant up the road called Black Tail. I’d never been, but members of our group spoke highly of it. There were twelve at our table and the place was really hopping with other customers. Service was good, the kitchen slow, but that’s understandable given the volume of meals that needed to be prepared.

I ordered the filet mignon. It was very reasonably priced at around ten dollars. It tasted just fine, what little there was of it. Guess it is true that you get what you pay for.

Anyway, it was a good time and I am glad I was able to participate.

From the Facebook memories feature today is this golden oldie:

That would have been 2010 or so and that old fat guy was destined to die a painful death just five years later. Of course, the new and improved version of myself is still in the game!

I am not feeling well today for some reason. I injured my right leg in a fall about a month ago and it has been slowly healing ever since. Or at least I thought it was. This morning I awoke to pain and swelling and I have no idea why. I’ve sent helper to the drug store for some antibiotics, assuming my self-diagnosis of infection is correct. Walking is a little painful but my main complaint is I once again am suffering from a lack of energy. That could be a problem because I’m one of the Hares tomorrow. As of now, I plan to suck it up and fulfill my duties and responsibilities to the Hash.

And that brings you up to date on my life in the Philippines. Oh, a friend was planning to travel back to the USA in August so he signed up for a vaccination at the Barretto barangay office. They called and said come on down. He asked which vaccine it was and they responded sinovac, the almost worthless shot from China. He told them “no, thanks” and canceled his flight. I’m with him, no hurry to get vaccinated but when I do it won’t be from the same fuckers who created the pandemic.