A mostly fun-filled Friday, starting with an enjoyable hike from Subic town to Castillejos. The start and end weren’t so pleasant for me, though. I arrived at our standard meet-up place at the 7/11 on Baloy road and realized I hadn’t brought my hiking stick. I checked with Scott about whether I’d need it, and he thought there would be places along the trail where it would be handy to have. Hmm, what to do? We have an ethos in the walking group about departing right on time at 0900. That gave me about 7 minutes to fetch my stick. Grabbed a trike, and off we went. It took him a bit to get across the highway traffic, and then it seemed like his engine was weak and could only slowly putt up the hill to my place. Ran in, grabbed the pole, jumped back into the trike, and the driver mostly coasted back down the hill. Damn it. I normally don’t care about speed, and I knew the group wouldn’t leave without me, but I’ve been big on that whole we leave on time thing, so I hated to appear like a hypocrite. I got back at 9:01 and took some good-natured ribbing for being late, but I had my trekking pole. We caught a jeep to the start of trail and commenced with the hike.
The epilog to the pole story is that after the bus ride back to Barretto, I realized I had left my stick on the bus. Jesus Christ. Well, I figured it was gone for good, but then I got a message from another hiker who had continued on to Olongapo, saying she had found my pole on the floor where I had been sitting. She brought it to me last night, so I avoided the hassle of finding a replacement. I swear to God, one of these mornings, I’m going to wake up and discover I’m the fucking president of the USA.
As usual, I’ll share the photos from the hike at the end of this post.
The other big event yesterday was the weekly SOB dance contest. I made the command decision to switch back to San Mig Zero (low alcohol/low calorie) beer for the night. It’s a three-hour gathering, and it is just easier to control my beer intake and stay mostly sober than it is with gin. Seemed to work out alright in that regard; we’ll have to see how my belly responds. The competition was held at The Green Room, and the place was absolutely packed. Even saw a couple of Korean tourists there. Little by little, the world is returning to normal. I’ve given up on taking pictures, but here are some provided by the sponsor:
For whatever reason, no team shots were posted for Queen Victoria and Voodoo. Anyway, here are some action shots from the contest.
I like having company at these events, but from the time I arrived, not one gal from The Green Room even approached me. I understand, I mean, I’m an infrequent visitor, so I guess the girls were waiting to serve their regular customers. Oddly enough, the CR is a shared facility with Wet Spot, and when I got up to take a piss, I ran into my favorite Aine. The gals from Wet Spot can earn drink commission in The Green Room (and vice-versa, same owner), so I invited Aine to join me. Wound up spending a thousand pesos on lady drinks for her. That’s okay; better than drinking alone.
I skipped out on the Aftermath gathering; I needed to go meet up with Reggie to get my walking stick back. She was playing darts at Johannson’s. I had one beer there, then finished my night at the Snack Bar. The friend I had specifically gone to see wasn’t there, which was disappointing. The staff took good care of me, though.
And here we are on the cusp of another Saturday. There is going to be a Hash bar crawl tonight as part of the anniversary festivities. The meet-up is at It Doesn’t Matter, so I’ll start there and see what happens. Probably not going to do a group activity tonight, but we’ll see. The Corona Hash from Angeles is in town, and they are doing a run tomorrow. I have a doctor’s appointment in the morning, so I probably won’t be doing the hike. I do plan to drop in on their circle at Da’Kudos afterward, though.
That pretty much brings you up to date on my life here in the Philippines. At least, as far as I remember.
Oh shit. I just realized I forgot to post the hike photos. Damn. Here they are:
None of us wore masks, and no one said a word about it. I’d say slavemask usage is down to about 50% these days.
Alright, have I forgotten anything? Okay, good. See you back here tomorrow!
One of my biggest mechanics-related pet peeves is ending an “I wonder” sentence with a question mark, as in:
I wonder where he is? (wrong)
When you say “I wonder,” you’re making a declaration about your mental state, not asking a question.
I wonder where he is. (right)
No worries: you wrote your “I wonder” sentence correctly in that caption, but the meme was written all wrong.
As for forgetfulness, you might have to start tattooing reminders to yourself where you can see them. Did you remember your walking stick? Is the oven still on? Do you have your wallet?
Just curious if anybody uses two trekking poles. I am a two pole person when trekking. Tried using only one, but seems to throw me off. LOL
(Love the pic of the father(?) and little kid hauling firewood back to their abode)
No one in our group currently uses two poles. I use mine mainly as a brake on downhills and to help me keep my balance going up.
There was actually a third kid carrying a bundle of sticks on his head–a family effort. Many Filipinos may be poor, but that doesn’t mean they don’t work hard. I am frequently impressed by moments like the one in that photo.
I had honestly never thought about the wrongness of using a question mark with wonder. The meme didn’t “look” wrong, but I see what you are saying. Interestingly, I didn’t use a question mark in my sentence–it just came out that way and seemed fitting. I wonder why. 🙂
I usually do a mental checklist when I leave the house–keys? phone? wallet?–but sometimes I forget. Maybe I’ll put a sign on the inside of my front door, “do you have everything, old man?”
Trying to keep it all in perspective; at least I’m still moving around pretty well for my age. I’d hate to be unable to get out and about like I do.