Yes, indeed. I lived through yesterday and woke up today to start a new one. And also, welcome to August. If things go as planned, I’ll be visiting the 70s on the 27th. I’m pretty sure I will like the 70s I’ve already lived through than the new adventure on the horizon, but I’m up for it anyway.
The weather was still iffy in the morning hours, so we opted to just walk from home to the end of Baloy Beach and back.
When we got home, Swan surprised me with a lunch she prepared:
When beer o’clock rolled around, Swan wanted to continue our seldom-visited bar quest. And that’s what we did.
I was hungry, and Outback has a fish and chips stand next door, so we placed an order and had it delivered at the bar.
Next up for us was a visit to Hangout Bar. It’s a sports bar with large screen TVs showing, you guessed it, sporting events. There were several guys in the bar when we arrived, watching footie, or what I call soccer, me being American and all. Good for them and good for the bar. It’s the first time I’ve seen other customers here. But the volume was turned up on the game in progress, and it didn’t take long before the noise was grating on my nerves.
Next stop, Queen Victoria. Wow, things have really changed in this bar since my last visit. For one thing, the stage was full of dancers, and they were actually dancing! The manager came over to greet me, and he told me they have nineteen dancers and thirteen GROs now. I laughed and said, Yeah, and two customers. He told me they get busy later in the evening. I complimented him on finding so many attractive gals to put on display. Most of the other “dancing” bars have three or four girls who stand around, and half of them are usually “American-sized.” Anyway, if watching girls up on the stage is your thing, Queen Vic is the place to be in Barretto now. Also, the big back room features live bands that start at 9 p.m. (sadly, that’s my bedtime these days).
We had an enjoyable visit at Queen Victoria. Dancing bars are not really my thing, and it is located on the opposite side of town from where we usually hang out, but they’ve earned a spot in our regular rotation.
I woke up this morning and turned the page on the calendar. A new month, and also the one I was born in. In an effort to enjoy future Augusts, I’m reinstituting my diet plan starting today. I got on the scale for the first time in months, right after my morning pee, and logged in at 248 pounds. After today’s hike and a shit, I reweighed and registered 244 pounds. How’s that for progress?
Wish me luck on my renewed weight-loss journey.
A two-fer from the July 2010 LTG archives. In this post from July 22, I am in the Philippines feeling sick and tired. And on July 28, I posted this:
Dreams die.
New dreams emerge.
It’s the freakin’ circle of life.
So, I have decided to postpone retirement until 2 January 2011.
Time to work on Plan “B”.
Those two events were related. Let’s see if my continuing journey through the archives provides an answer.
Coming up with a YouTube video to post today was more frustrating than usual. The first one, about some historical events that made Manila what it is today, had some of the worst AI narration I’ve ever heard. Seriously, mispronouncing dollar? A few minutes of that and I couldn’t take any more. I next checked in with one of my favorite vloggers, Reekay, but his rant about dating in America left me feeling like, so what, who cares? Then I took a look at a video that headlined how devoid of tourists Angeles City is these days. Turns out, there was no dialogue whatsoever, just the camera shots of walking down Red Street (the AC bar district) during the day. Duh. There is no reason for tourists to be there before the bars open. I did notice how many of the business signs were written in Korean, confirming what I’ve heard about Koreans taking over in AC. So, that led me to the video I’m posting today: Why are Koreans moving to the Philippines? Spoiler alert: for the same reasons the rest of us did.
Maybe these will make you smile:
Don’t read too much into that, I’ll still be visiting the bars. I may just try the gin and soda water thing again.
We shall see what the future brings. Stop by tomorrow for an update.
We walked the length of the beach and back and saw fewer than ten people total.
The dark sand comes from eroded volcanic rock, says Google AI.
A homemade meat pie. Her deceased former boyfriend was an English chap.
What kind of pie was it, specifically? The English (and Irish, and Scots, and Aussies, and Kiwis) have many meat/savory pies. Shepherd’s pie (with lamb), cottage pie (with beef), steak-and-kidney pie (which I tried and failed to make one time), steak-and-Guinness pie, Scotch pie, and all sorts of other savory pies. Branching out from pies, there are pasties (pronounced “PASS-teez,” not “PASTE-eez,” as I discovered after mispronouncing the dish’s name in front of a British coworker around 2006), rolls, and all sorts of other bread-and-meat combinations. Very good, rib-sticking fare. English food gets a bad rap, especially from people who don’t know pub culture. Which means you might be an exception, seeing as you’re a pub creature familiar with pub grub. Do you like a good bangers and mash?
There were several guys in the bar when we arrived, watching footie, or what I call soccer, me being American and all.
Here’s the interesting thing about how “American” the expression “soccer” really is (and I’ve talked about this on my blog: look up “association football” in my blog’s search window). The original name for the sport was “association football.” The “-soci-” in “association” went from “socky/socca” to “socker” to “soccer.” So “soccer” is, in fact, a proper British term for the sport, and besides, it’s not just America that uses the label: Canada does, too, and so does Australia. South Africa, too, I think. “Football” is, of course, the term used in various forms all over the world (el futból, le football, Fußball, etc.), but never let anyone tell you “soccer” is merely an “American” term. It’s more originally British than “football” is. I can’t speak for other countries, but Americans use “soccer” to distinguish it from American football, which Americans simply call “football” despite the fact that the ball is mostly carried about the field in one’s hands and only rarely kicked (punting). If anything, it’s more often thrown (passing). See the etymology info here for more.
Why are Koreans moving to the Philippines? Spoiler alert: for the same reasons the rest of us did.
At least the chick in the thumbnail is a cutie. Even if she might just be AI.
I am considering reducing the third one somewhat to help achieve that goal.
Fat chance. I’ll believe it when I see it. Reducing “somewhat” means… what? Ten beers instead of eleven? And if the San Mig Zeros have so few carbs, as you state, is it possible the problem lies elsewhere? Maybe it ain’t the beer. Maybe it’s the fish and chips, the burgers, the dessert pies, the pulled-pork sandwiches, etc.
Don’t read too much into that, I’ll still be visiting the bars. I may just try the gin and soda water thing again.
Doesn’t that often end up with you flat on your back and yesterday being a blur?
So I watched the video about Koreans moving to the PI. Totally AI-generated, with lots of nonsense Korean and Chinese (being passed off as Korean in certain scenes), plus a whole slew of fake, AI-generated people and visuals. AI has come a long way in a short time, but it’s still relatively stupid and easy to suss out. The only thing that made sense was the script read by an AI voice. I guess a human might have written the script, but I bet that even those words were AI-generated. Everything is fake now.
Kevin, yes I’m not a big purveyor of YouTube videos, but I’ve noted that it is getting harder and harder to escape the fakery that is AI. Most of the time the narration doesn’t even sound human. And the background photos seldom relate to the content being presented. Sometimes I just have to settle for “good enough.”
Kevin, the dark sand makes sense given that the Philippines has several recently active volcanoes, including the famous one near me, Pinatubo.
Swan just called it a “meat pie,” but given your definitions, I suppose that means cottage pie. And thanks for teaching me the correct pronunciation of “pasties.” I also always thought it was said like “paste.” I’m not an expert on British food, and other than a couple of places, I don’t see a lot of English offerings. I may have had bangers and mash once, but I don’t remember anything special about it. I’m pretty Americanized in my eating habits, although in that context, I include Mexican delicacies.
Interesting info on the origins of “soccer,” I’d never heard that before, just assuming it was a Yank rendering. One of the big changes for me after moving overseas is having completely lost interest in professional sports. I was a rabid fan at one point, and now I don’t give a damn at all. Being surrounded by a lot of crazed expat fanatics, I know those kickball games come in various forms, some called footie, some Aussie Rules football, but mostly just football that ain’t the kind I grew up with.
As to the diet, we’ll see what happens. I had four beers last night and two gin and sodas. That’s down from my usual 8 to 10 drinks per night. I didn’t like the gin; even in low doses, I could feel it building up to the knockdown punch. Yeah, it is probably not the beer making the belly, I need to keep the other carbs down and skip the sweets. The beer does reduce my willpower in that regard. I’ve stocked up on sugar-free pudding, which I hope will become my go-to dessert.
I’m not a big purveyor of YouTube videos
purvey = to sell or distribute (e.g., a purveyor of fake Nikes)
Are you saying you’re a seller/distributor of YouTube videos? Or was the word you were looking for consumer?
I’m not sure that showing one or two embedded YouTube vids on your daily blog posts is enough to make you a purveyor.
Kevin, actually, I think I meant to say “peruser.” I’m only a purveyor of bad writing.
On that note, I was meaning to ask: was your blog-post title evoking Tolkien? If so, and for what it’s worth, the subtitle of The Hobbit is There and Back Again, with no extra “Then.”
Kevin, I’m familiar with the subtitle for The Hobbit, but it was not explicitly in my thinking for that post. I have this thing where I try to avoid replicating post titles. I had used “There and back again” previously, so I added the “then” to make an original title.