Nothing much new to report. Well, my nephew, Justin, is coming for a quick visit/visa run. His plane arrives in Angeles City at 2:15 in the morning, so I’ll be making a trip to the airport tonight.

I did half a Wednesday Sausage Walkers hike yesterday.

Anyway, I feel like a wimp for not completing the hike, but damn, when it stops being fun, what’s the point? Meanwhile, Kevin Kim is trudging away from one end of Korea to the other, walking through persistent pain, heat, and rain. Why does he do it?

I’ll tell you why: because compared to sitting in a shoebox of an office, clickety-clacking at a keyboard for eight hours a day, walking long distances imbues us with a sense of purpose and accomplishment. We feel as if we’ve done something that has meaning and value, and we reap the fruits of such labor immediately. We can write material for an English workbook, but we have no clue whether the kids who use our material have been positively affected or influenced by it. By contrast, when we walk thirty kilometers, we feel as if we’ve done something. In the meantime, the simplicity of walking allows the mind to open itself up to the sounds of the world, to Mother Nature and her cacophonous children (yes, even the hairless primates with their loud, polluting technology are her children), who are teaching us something new at every moment. Walking is meditation, and it’s a way of reconnecting with the beating heart of the universe. There are other ways of touching such depth, of course; I’m not claiming that walking is something everyone must do. But if you want to know why I engage in distance walking, well, that’s why. Or that’s one reason, anyway.

There is something to be said for the social aspect of group walking, but I guess I’ve just come to prefer walking where I want, when I want, at the difficulty level my tired old bones can best tolerate. So, I’m thinking I’ll do the Hash on Monday and only an occasional Sausage walk in the future.

I did enjoy this guy’s company on my morning walk today:

I was very heartened to learn that science recognizes and supports my healthy lifestyle. If this article is to be believed anyway.

Doctors are recommending that people drink EIGHT glasses of alcohol every day to help stave off the horror that is reality.

A new study found that 100% of people who drank eight glasses of alcohol every day were significantly happier than those who didn’t.

‘The results were incredible. The sober control group were absolutely miserable while those who drank a large quantity of alcohol were in a great mood, albeit with some bouts of violence,’ Dr Drinkwater told us.
With reality becoming increasingly difficult to face, doctors now believe that everyone should up their alcohol intake so we can all ride it out together.

‘It’s easy to do. Just put a shot of vodka in every coffee. Or, better yet, replace water with vodka altogether,’ said another doctor.

However, people are being told that regular consumption of high quantities of alcohol could lead to an early death.

Whether that’s a promise or a warning isn’t yet known.

I guess we’ll find out.

On the political front, I did enjoy these memes:

That’s just about all for now. But I never want to close a post without always imparting some words of wisdom.

“Always and never are two words you should always remember never to use.”

Get it? Got it. Good.