Turn up the AC! | Long Time Gone

We arrived safely in Angeles City after an uneventful 1.5-hour drive. Checked into a nice room at the Boomerang Hotel. The only downside (upside?) is that I’m located on the third floor, so I’ve got to endure some stair work coming and going.

***The Boomerang Hotel is Aussie-owned, believe it or not!***

***My room has a nice little balcony in the back. Here’s the view from there.***

***And I won’t be using the pool anytime soon. A group of us Subic Hashers did sit poolside near the hotel bar last night and enjoyed multiple beverages.***

So, today is the fifth anniversary of the Corona Hash. I opted out of doing the trail for reasons of my own, but several members from the Subic Hash are here to join in the celebration. Last night, everyone descended on a Hash-owned bar to kick things off.

***A female Hasher runs the place and several other Corona Hash Gash work there.***

***Some of the crew hard at work. That writing on the wall in the background are the Hash names of folks who have visited Harriette’s in the past.***

A bar crawl followed the Harriette’s meet-up, but I opted out of that as well. Instead, I took a stroll to one of my favorite restaurants in AC, Tequila Reef.

***This was on the cover of the menu. I’d never heard of Banoffee Pie, but damn, it sounds delicious. I overcame the temptation to give it a try. Regretfully, as it turns out.***

So, what to eat?

***It seemed the writing was on the wall. Or on the column, as it were.***

***Dinner is served: a taco and an enchilada with rice and refried beans. The meal was every bit as good as it looks.***

***Shortly before we departed, this large group of young Koreans descended on the place. There is definitely a Korean vibe in Angeles City these days.***

After dinner, we grabbed a trike back to the hotel. As I mentioned, several Subic folks are also staying at Boomerang, and we gathered poolside for beers and chit-chat. I’m not sure how it happened, but when I got back to my room, I had a banana split with me. Damn, I hate when that happens. Well, I hated it this morning when I calculated my calories anyway. It was delicious last night.

***I do believe that is a new record violation.***

I’m punishing myself today by skipping both breakfast and lunch. That’ll teach me! I hope.

Today’s journey through the archives of LTG features this post from June 2005 entitled, And So Beings The Task. I’m talking about overcoming a tragedy in my life, but I make no mention of just what happened. Unsurprisingly, I don’t remember what it was now. I thought perhaps I had just gotten the news from Carol (wife #3) that she was reneging on her promise to join me in Korea. But then again, she was one of the commenters and doesn’t mention anything about what happened. Weird. Still, I linked and quoted a post from Kevin Kim about “putting it down” that provided some comfort to my troubled mind back then. Of course, whatever that tragedy may have been, I had many more to deal with in the coming years—most of them of my own making.

Four years ago, I was helping the Corona Hashers celebrate their first anniversary, including doing the trail and participating in the wilderness Circle they prefer. Why do I no longer join in the fun? Well, here’s one of the reasons:

***I don’t mind being called names at all. I did take the “easy” option, even though it wasn’t.***

Today’s trails are long (11K), medium (9K), and short (6.5K). The long and medium trails include a requirement to SWIM across a river. The short trail includes two big hill climbs. As the Hash GM posted on Facebook, the Corona Hash doesn’t do “easy” trails. That’s fine, I won’t spoil your fun by asking for one. I know my limits and also want to enjoy myself when I Hash. I’m not a good fit for the Corona crew.

Here are some more photos from four years ago at the Hash.

***The Corona Circle features a camp fire***

***There was also some kind of contest among the Hash Gash. Can’t remember what that was all about.***

***Her Hash name ought to be “Cameltoe.”***

***This was the Subic contingent from four years ago. This year, less than ten joined the Corona “fun.”***

Anyway, to each his own. I go my way, you go yours. I will be hashing with the Angeles kennel tomorrow. They are much more my speed.

Today’s YouTube video is an on-the-street interview with a Korean woman who grew up in the Philippines. She has some interesting perspectives on the differences in cultures.

Well, I thought it was funny:

***Well, I did stay out until 9:30 last night. Then a banana split followed me home.***

***Facebook friends can be so fickle!***

Okay, next up for me will be dining at another restaurant I remember from the good ol’ days, Margarita Station. After that, who knows? I’m surrounded by bars, which is my favorite kind of tourist trap. Let’s see how that works out for me.

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