Twos day

It seems like I live my days in halves, walkohilic by day, alcoholic when the sun goes down. It is almost like having two days in one. Tuesday is usually my blandest weekday because I shop instead of walk, but that wasn’t the case yesterday. Here’s how it looked:

As usual, my homeless friend, Mama, was waiting for me at the highway intersection. It seems she knows my Tuesday morning shopping schedule better than I do.

The grocery shopping went the same as it always does, but then I changed things up–I walked back to Barretto.

See you next week, Royal
Let the journey begin!
Exiting SBMA
Over the river
Back in the Navy days, this was known as the shit river.
And now the dreaded highway portion of the walk begins
A bay view along the way…that’s the old Hanjin shipyard on the far side of the water
The hill of the dead
Another view…that’s Grande Island in the distance
The problem with highway walking is there ain’t much shoulder to work with. There were a couple of times vehicles got too close for comfort.
On the far side of the bay lies my destination–Barrio Barretto
This house being built on the hill is interesting. That’s an escalator-like contraption to carry construction materials up. Makes me wonder if the residents will convert it for pedestrian access once the house is completed.
On the border. Not sure what “drug cleared” means, but it ain’t drug free from what I’ve seen.
Hillside living
Back in “downtown” Barretto
John’s place, featuring a second floor restaurant and a third floor open air bar. We eat up there.
And this is where my journey ended. I had planned to walk all the way home, but then three things happened: I got a leg cramp, I had to shit, and an empty trike was waiting. So, I surrendered.
It’s just a tad over 5K. I have no idea why Google misspelled “Barreto” and located it in the wrong place on the map. It doesn’t inspire much confidence in their overall accuracy.

So, that was the morning adventure. When dinnertime arrived, the skies seemed angry:

I asked Swan if we should bring an umbrella, and she said no. She was wrong about that.
The front door of my place has now been decorated. At least they waited until November.
Since it was election day (Philippines time) I dressed up for the occasion.
We barely made it to Mango’s before the storm hit with all its fury.
The rain lasted about an hour
When I asked for a gin and soda in a tall glass I wasn’t disappointed. Biggest glass ever! I guess that’s Texas-sized. I had two of those over the course of our dinner.
Our grilled porkchop dinner is served. One chop for me, one for Swan. I took the veggies, she got the mashed potato.

When the rain finally let up, we headed out to our next stop, Alaska Club. I had a buy one, get one coupon to expend there. I did my usual thing of tipping the Alaska dancers fifty pesos each, and I had brought along some Choco-Pies to share. When the Sit-n-Bull waitress came by, I called her over and requested three large orders of Shanghai lumpia. I had her deliver one each to Wet Spot and Green Room and bring one for the Alaska girls. Hey, I had a 10% discount coupon to use. And maybe those three gin and sodas I consumed during my Alaska visit enhanced my generosity.

Then Swan and I had a should we stay or should we go conversation, and the result was the decision to do a nightcap at Wet Spot. I made the determination that I had had my fill of gin for the night, so I switched to Zero beer. My good intentions to have just one were stymied when I got comped a second beer, but who am I to say no to a freebie? But it was two and out for us, and we made it home safe and sound. The leftover pudding was waiting for me to enjoy as a bedtime snack. All’s well that ends well!

Another day with an intake of less than 2000 calories! The snacks category is where I log my alcohol intake.

And it appears the USA is making a comeback: Trump has just won the election! I reckon a celebration is in order tonight!

To me, it all came down to whether the stupids were in the majority. I am so proud of my fellow citizens for taking a stand for truth, justice, and the American way. I’m not Trump fanatic, but I don’t think we’d have survived a Kamala presidency.

With the future secured (for now, at least), I can indulge in some Facebook memories:

Who is that masked gal leaving my house three years ago? I honestly don’t recall.
Two years ago, I was still enjoying the Phnom Penh bar scene.

Today’s YouTube features Reekay reacting to the election. I’ve never seen him talk about politics before. He identifies as a “Libertarian-Constitutionalist.” Again, given the options, Trump was the best choice for America. I’m looking forward to Vance in 2028, assuming I live that long.

Since I’m not in mourning for my country, I can afford some smiles:

My high school girlfriend’s mother always said to us before a date, “Those who play, must pay.”
AI can kill in many ways
Time travel is one of my favorite fantasies. I’ll have to incorporate this scenario into my planning.
Be careful of the unseen hazards on trail!

Alrighty then. Swan is taking a “me day” to spend with her family. And I’ve got some celebrating to do. I reckon a Trump victory is as good an excuse for some beers as any! Back tomorrow!

Thanks to commenter Rick for introducing me to this song. Old fashioned grunge rock!

14 thoughts on “Twos day

  1. As usual, my homeless friend, Mama, was waiting for me at the highway intersection.

    I’m confused. You used to refuse to capitalize her name/label, always writing it as “mama.” So out of respect for that, whenever I commented about her, I wrote “mama” as well. But “Mama” is how it is now?

    Not sure what “drug cleared” means, but it ain’t drug free from what I’ve seen.

    The police eagerly await your eye-witness testimony, I’m sure.

    John’s place, featuring [a second-floor] restaurant and [a third-floor, open-air] bar.

    Looks smaller from that angle. I thought it was much bigger.

    Happy celebrating.

  2. I’m suprised , but pleased with the election outcome. Lots of folks are loseing their minds. Maybe now the Democrats will come up with an actual leader instead of someone to control for next time.

  3. “…the storm hit with all it’s fury.”

    ‘Postophe Posse, pardner.

    Come on now.

  4. Horrified to see you support a sexist, lying rapist. Says a lot about you and your comeuppance will be appreciated.

  5. Glad to help Make America Great Again. So much to fix. Trump is far from perfect, but at least he knows what needs to be done for our country. I hope he does a better job of getting his plans implemented this time.

  6. Drain, fixed it. Yeah, that is the kind of stupid mistake I hate the most–I know better and just was too f’n sloppy to write it correctly or catch it during a proofread. I make plenty of mistakes out of ignorance, but this type is worse.

  7. Terry, I agree 100%. I’m no Trump fanatic, but given the alternative, it was a no-brainer decision. Bring back the days when candidates put the country first.

  8. Kev, I guess I’ve made a transition without really thinking about it. I used to call the homeless woman “the umbrella lady.” Then I began referring to her as “mama.” I’ve heard her actual name from other expats, but she calls me Papa, and I call her Mama when we speak. Now, I think of it as a name, hence the capitalization.

    Well, the cops might want to start with those crazy drivers I had to dodge as I walked the highway.

    No, John’s isn’t very big. The second floor might have five tables at most, plus the kitchen. Upstairs, there are a few more tables and the highway view counter we always sit at. Sadly, we are almost always the only customers when we visit.

  9. No offense, but I have to laugh when people on both sides claim that the sky will fall if their candidate is not elected (e.g “I dont think we would have survived a Kamala presidency”). Seems like every 4 years people say that, and you know what, the sun comes up the next day, the bars open on time, stock market goes up, etc.

    There have been some shitty presidents over the last 250 years and the US is still going strong. I am confident that the US has enough checks and balances to keep any one idiot (be they democrat or republican) from f’ing things up too badly.

    I have said this before, but an unfortunate part of the internet is that news sources are so fragmented, and that results in a lot of people getting their news only from sites/sources that just confirm their biases. In turn, that just amplifies the extremes and makes things seems worse than they really are.

    IMO, we had a choice between two terrible candidates. Trumps election does not mean unicorns will run down the street, shitting out rose petals. On the other side, If Harris had been elected, the US would not have descended into some sort of Mad Max apocalypse. I am baffled that in a country of 300 million, these two were the best we could do.

    Can you tell I am a bit cynical about politics (or at least the business of politics)? LOL

    Anyways, enough about that. 🙂

    Why do you think Johns place doesn’t get the business? Seems as though he caters to the expat crowd? From your pics and descriptions, food seems of a high quality. Too many ‘cheap charlies’ that aren’t willing to pay for that?

  10. Brian, first off, congrats on leaving the 17,000 comment here at LTG.

    As to the views you express, I agree and disagree. I’m not a big Trump fan (I like Vance a lot better) but Kamala is an empty-headed nothing. But to me, the election wasn’t so much about the individuals running, it was about the policies they were proposing. In simple terms, we could vote for four more years of Biden failures, or go back to some common-sense Trump polices. I’m hopeful that Trump will use the knowledge and experience from his first term to do an even better job this go-round.

    We saw the difference between 2016-2020 and 2020-2024. It’s simply a matter of picking what worked best. I am pleased the majority of American voters saw it that way as well.

  11. I’m curious, what were the differences between 2016-2020 and 2020-2024?
    What, exactly, did Trump do during his first 4 years? Pretty much nothing. Most of what was there was handed to him by Obama. Oh right, that wall he never finished, the one Mexico is paying for. Or that health plan he promised to replace Obama care. LOL
    Drill baby drill? You do realize the US is pumping record amounts of oil already, right?
    This article should be mandatory reading so that people will understand why gas prices were so low in 2020 (hint – Covid). And here are the official prices of gas for the start of each month in the U.S. in 2019 (from the U.S. Energy Information Administration):
    Jan – $2.23
    Feb – $2.25
    Mar – $2.42
    Apr – $2.69
    May – $2.89
    Jun – $2.80
    Jul – $2.71
    Aug – $2.68
    Sep – $2.53
    Oct – $2.64
    Nov – $2.60
    Dec – $2.57
    https://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2020/article/from-the-barrel-to-the-pump.htm#:~:text=Prices%20dropped%20precipitously%20in%20March,in%20the%20intraday%20futures%20market

  12. Steve, all Biden-Harris did was make things worse. What makes me sad is that you can’t see this because of your Trump hatred. The majority of my fellow citizens voted for their own economic self-interest. Yes, it is too bad that the best our political parties have to offer are the likes of Trump and Harris. I know the country was better with Trump than it is now, and that’s why I supported him.

    I’m sure you’ll agree that Vance will be the man we’ve been waiting for in 2028!

  13. Woo hoo on the 17000th comment.

    I have been plotting for years to make sure I was the one that did it!!! LOL

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