Getting back in the groove with my participation with the Wednesday Walkers for the first time in two weeks. Scott also made a rare appearance for the group hike, so it felt like old times. Scott brought his car, so we had some additional trail options to choose from, and we settled on a hike out Naugsol way. Oh, another benefit of having Scott along is he takes better photos than me which I shamelessly steal and post here.
Since we had missed our usual Tuesday visit to Baloy Beach, we headed that way yesterday at beer o’clock.
Then something unusual happened. One of the other customers approached me and gave me the traditional Hash “On-On!” greeting. He told me he had noticed my Hash shirt and wanted to introduce himself. His Hash Kennel is in Columbus, Ohio.
Brad spent some time in Subic during his Navy days and was here doing reconnaissance on places he might like to call home in the future. He did Makati (Manila) and Angeles City before coming here. So far, he likes Subic best, but he’s flying out to Thailand today to check out that scene. We chatted for an hour or so, then exchanged phone numbers so he can contact me when he returns, and I’ll give him a guided tour of things to see and do in the area.
Meanwhile, the sun was doing its thing:
Dinner is served:
As we were departing Treasure Island after our meal, this guy challenged me to a belly contest:
And another good day in the life came to an end.
Back to the January 2016 LTG archives, where I had another goodbye to deal with.
In my thirty-five years of government service, Mr. Kim was by far the most outstanding employee I’d ever encountered. Sadly, he didn’t make it to retirement, passing away after a brief illness. During our last conversation, Mr. Kim told me his only regret was not retiring sooner, so he could enjoy more time with his family. Those words resonated, and when I was asked to extend my employment with USFK for one more year, I respectfully declined.
Facebook memories reminded me today that two years ago, I was recovering from the surgery to remove some nasty nasal polyps.
I can breathe through my nose again, but I’ve lost most of my sense of smell. And life goes on.
I came across today’s YouTube video by chance, but I was surprised to find an old movie I actually remembered: the original Planet of the Apes, released in 1968. I was only thirteen years old back then, but I enjoyed the film despite the flaws I hadn’t noticed until seeing this video:
Some funny shit happened at the end of this post:
That’s it for now, thanks for stopping by.
I’m not complaining, but I liked those 70s better than these ones…
If you draw a line from the 1970s until now, the trend line becomes obvious: people have been trying to become increasingly artificial versions of themselves. Look at the chicks in that picture: no fake boobs, no fake eyelashes, no plastic surgery… nowadays, it’s all “You can look however you wanna look and be whatever you wanna be—regardless of intellectual capacity, skill level, looks, etc.” And nowadays, the truth remains: “No, you can’t.” Just one example: I don’t want an unqualified retard flying my airplanes or designing my skyscrapers or teaching my children.
Oh, another benefit of having Scott along is he takes better photos than me which I shamelessly steal and post here.
Spot the error! (hint)
And a look at Eater Mountain’s ass side.
“Eater” Mountain had better stop eating. Slim that ass down!
How’s the rash today? Is the new ointment helping?
Well well well, John McCrarey!!!! Or should I call you *Little* John?
I knew you would delete my erotic tale. Based on your dull daily escapades and endless belittling of Rubenesque white women, it is quite obvious you can’t handle an empowered lady who knows what she wants both in and out of bed.
You can only DREAM of a woman of my caliber!! In the meantime keep jerkin your flaccid little gherkin to thoughts of my visage, which you KNOW you will never have!
Wank on, wanker!
Kevin, I totally agree with you on the unfortunate changes that have occurred since the classic 70s. I don’t recall any transgender pretenders back in those days either. And yeah, lowering standards to achieve DEI goals is an accident waiting to happen. Just ask Boeing.
Reviewed the lesson and here is my correction: Oh, another benefit of having Scott along is that he takes better photos than me, which I shamelessly steal and post here.
It would probably be more correct to say “I do” than “me,” but I like the informal style better.
Yep, “Eater” was just being sloppy, kind of like a since-corrected title on a post I saw at Big Hominid this morning. Shit happens, right? 🙂
Linda, sorry to be a disappointment. No issues with your creative writing, it just wasn’t related to anything on the blog. Good luck to you going forward!
Brad sounds like another lonely old man looking for transactional love (even sex when he can get it up on Tadalafil and keep banging away for hours without the pleasure of ejaculation for himself or the lucky lady from Subic, P Burgos st, Fields etc). In which case, I’m sure you’ll be an exemplary guide for him, Big John.
>Mr. Kim told me his only regret was not retiring sooner, so he could enjoy more time with his family. Those words resonated, and when I was asked to extend my employment with USFK for one more year, I respectfully declined.
Yep, one of my first comments on your blog was along the lines of, “you cant add time to the end of your retirement, only to the beginning.”
Re: @Kevin comment: ” people have been trying to become increasingly artificial versions of themselves.”
I think that people have always tried this, using what was available at the time. The difference today is that technology has evolved to make this easier for the average person to change things about themselves and is hence more obvious. If plastic surgery, boob jobs, etc were readily available and affordable to people in the 1970’s, I think that people then would have taken advantage of it same as today.
Yep, “Eater” was just being sloppy, kind of like a since-corrected title on a post I saw at Big Hominid this morning. Shit happens, right?
Which post are you talking about?
Kevin, it must have just been my imagination. As I scrolled through your posts this morning, I *thought* I saw a mistake in one of the titles. I went back to look later, and it wasn’t there. I assumed you caught and corrected it. If not, chalk it up to another feeble-minded mistake on my part.
I’ve made tons of changes and corrections to my blog over the years, and I’ve been frank about doing so on many occasions. I’ve also been frank about how my typo rate has gone up since the stroke and the heart attack, all while my typing speed has gone down. Some days, it’s a real slog to get my fingers to hit the right keys. And I’ve had to try to proofread and edit myself more strictly. Frustratingly, stuff still slips through, and I’ve never claimed to be perfect. None of us is. But I hold myself to the same standards I hold other people to. “Own worst critic” and all that.
But I really had trouble remembering whether I’d corrected a title recently. So I looked over the past fifteen or twenty post titles and found nothing where I could recall making a change. Have I changed the wording of some titles in the past because I found mistakes? Yes, I have, and over the years, I’ve made such corrections a couple dozen times. If anything, I should think it would be to my credit that I later caught and corrected my own mistakes—something I wish others would learn to do (ahem). This error-catching happens because I often go back and review old (and not-so-old) posts, thereby finding silly things (more likely in the text of the post than in the title) ranging from simple spelling errors to poor word placement (usually adverbs) to unnecessary repetitions to sentences and paragraphs that, upon rereading, just make no damn sense. These errors always make me wonder what I’d been smoking when I’d first written the post. In other words, my blog is under constant revision. So, sure, I freely and happily admit, on a general level, that errors slip through all the time. But I normally do something about it instead of remaining passively complacent. Both the existence and the persistence of errors are anathema to me.
Okay, shifting gears… as to your correction:
Reviewed the lesson and here is my correction: Oh, another benefit of having Scott along is that he takes better photos than me, which I shamelessly steal and post here.
I see you added a comma before “which,” which is all I was looking for. (See what I did there?) But adding the “that,” while improving the sentence’s form and flow, is probably unnecessary. “That” is often just implied.
1. He knew that he was dead the moment that he stepped into the room.
2. He knew he was dead the moment he stepped into the room.
Sometimes, the “that” might be necessary for clarity and flow, but in cases like the above, you can drop it and not lose anything.
As for your later discussion of “than I” versus “than me,” you’re fine just leaving it as “than me.” In informal English, that’s okay. I make a lot of allowances for your informal English; if I didn’t, I’d be coming to you with three times as many “Spot the error!”s as I currently do. And as things are, I don’t point out every single error I find. If I did that, I’d be focused on your blog all day. So it’s up to you to develop enough pride in your prose to go back and make corrections for yourself. Don’t be the linguistic version of a litterer. I discussed such people—the people who simply don’t care—in this long-ago post. That’s from fifteen years ago, and nothing has changed.
1. My brother is taller than me.
2. My brother is taller than I.
In the first sentence, the “than” is acting as a comparative preposition. Prepositions take objects, and “me” is in the objective case. Fine for informal English.
In the second sentence, the “than” is acting as a subordinating conjunction, i.e., what comes after it is a clause. A clause has a subject and a verb. “I” is in the subjective case, and the rest of the clause is unwritten but implied:
• My brother is taller than I (am).
This is the grammar you need if you’re writing in formal English. So remember: use “than” as a conjunction in formal English.
And if you find any typos or other errors in this comment, feel free to point them out.
Kevin, I enjoyed your post on the A versus B writing mentalities. Obviously, I’m in the B camp. I mean what I say, and I say what I mean; I just don’t always write it properly.
Anyway, sorry for causing you the headache of looking for a mistake that wasn’t there. I guess I hadn’t had my coffee yet.
I sometimes go back and correct an error, but I usually can’t be bothered since I doubt anyone goes back to re-read a post. I will try to do better going forward.
I appreciate the clarification on formal versus informal writing styles…almost like that A and B thing you mentioned.
Brian, I do remember those words, and they resonated at the time you shared them. Too many people die at their desk or soon after retiring. I doubt anyone’s final words are, “I wish I had worked another year.”
Maybe you are right that people haven’t changed, but the technology has allowed them to express what they want to look like. I remember when I first moved to Korea, I was shocked by all the girls who had the “rounded eye” surgery. I love the way natural Asian “slant eyes” look.
Aloysius, I have absolutely no idea what you are basing that comment about Brad on. We talked for an hour, and bargirls weren’t the topic.
That seems to be the Angeles City mentality–you whoremongers think that is all there is to life. Enjoy it while you can. I’ll take the mountains, the beaches, and my girlfriend.
I mean what I say, and I say what I mean; I just don’t always write it properly.
If you’re not writing it properly, you’re not successfully saying what you mean.