So many beaches, so little time

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.

She’s cuter in real life…

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:

This week’s iteration of our group.
Standing on the beach.
We are heading all the way around to where the ridge exits the picture frame on the right.
On the beach.
Where the river meets the bay resulted in our first wet feet of the day. No other option but to wade across.
Life’s a beach.
Sunny beaches.
Then things got a little rocky.
But we overcame the obstacle.
No more beach and more wet feet.
Leaving the beach behind us.
Making our way up to Kalaklan ridge.
One of the finer homes in this village.
Looking back at the beach we traveled.
Hello, Olongapo City!
“Are you down taking pictures now? We came to hike, not wait on you!” Sorry, guys!
Heading back down to Barretto.
Rehydration at Dynamite Dick’s. That’s Dick in the middle.

Feel free to Relive it here:

https://www.relive.cc/view/vNOPoBWzWYv

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

3 thoughts on “So many beaches, so little time

  1. Yeah, I’m not sure how much I’d like the whole wet/dry/wet/dry thing when you’re crossing streams and rivers. Especially with sand in the mix. Very annoying. And in my case, likely to lead to blisters.

  2. I realize that we are getting the “readers digest” version of your life, love, and relationships, but it seems to me that you tend to fall in “love” too easily.

    From my 10,000 foot view, it seems like you have trouble distinguishing between “friend” and something else. A girl gives you a smile, chats with you for a while, and suddenly, she is “the one”. Until she isn’t, and the next girl smiles at you………

    I will admit it is a bit trickier to navigate if a person of the opposite sex is a friend or something else. Easy to misread signals put out by them.

    (I may be totally off base here, and apologize in advance if I am offending you.)

  3. Kev, yeah I had no idea the beach walk would be that wet. Last time I did it you could avoid the water. Yesterday was high tide, so no luck.

    Brian, well I don’t think I’m quite THAT bad, but I might be trying too hard. Meeting someone like Jenny is pretty rare so I can’t help but think about the potential and possibilities. Still a LONG way from feeling love, but a little closer to wanting it. A girl like Novi would be a lot of fun as a companion I think, but probably more in the “good times” category than as a partner. A lot of my posts are thinking out loud as opposed to well-thought-out plans and objectives. That’s why I always appreciate it when my readers share their insights–I do listen even if my actions make it appear otherwise.

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