by alexis catherine pablico, 25 years old, of manila, and if heaven can wait, of the world's grandest and most fabulous places. also tramping at http://acpablico.wordpress.com/ :P
For the get-go, there's nothing between these two hotels in Boracay. I was just thinking out loud when I typed the above title. But, really, which is better this summer: the Iza Calzado-owned Tides Boracay or the Fairways-managed Mulligan Hotel? I think it depends on what one likes in a vacation.
The two hotels lie on extremes, really. Tides Boracay, I stayed there once, is this vibrant and fun place where the manila party scene will not be missed. If you have been to a cruise party, you know what Tides is. In addition, of course, to the Zen rooms and fine dining lounge of their hotel in Boracay.
As for the Mulligan Boracay Hotel, it is this out-of-the-way, exclusive beach, recently opened to the public golf resort in Boracay Island. Been there once on a business trip, with golfer bosses, and it was really nice. It is owned by the Fairways and Bluewater and all in all the hotel has that discreet luxury in its every corner.
Hmm.. Mulligan or Tides? Tides or Mulligan? (Lolz. Sorry for the second video. Can't find anything on YouTube about Mulligan Boracay. Just this amateurish crap . The hotel, it seems, lives up to its reputation of being that yet-to-be-explored and exclusive luxury golf hotel that it is.)
One feeling that I find really wonderful is that of having my feet off the ground. It feels like not human and extraordinary, which explains why I experience a certain high every time I swim in the beach of nearby Pearl Farm Resort. The turtles beside me were a plus.
Too bad work prevents me from often having my fix of that high. And the feeling of need crops up even in the way I do my work, which involves surfing (the net, that is) for lazy five hours, two hours for breaks, and one hour doing my actual work of corresponding.
Working, I StumbledUpon a newspaper item about the world's largest pool. Called the San Alfonso del Mar Resort, the world's largest pool recorded by the Guinness Book measures 1,013 meters long and covers 80 acres, with its deepest end reaching 115ft and holding a total of 66 million gallons of water. That's about enough to flood a first-class city in the Philippines like Cebu City. An Olympic-size pool measures some 50 yards by 25 yards.
The "monster pool" uses a computer- controlled suction and filtration system to keep fresh seawater in permanent circulation, drawing it in from the ocean at one end and pumping it out at the other, reported the Daily Mail.
In the Philippines, the same grand project has just been realized with the opening of the Manila Ocean Park. Located behind the Quirino Grandstand by the Manila Bay, the Ocean Park is a wonderful sight that gives a feeling of going underwater not only in Manila Bay but in the world's best snorkeling sites...Oh, but enough of this. This is all but masturbation
Office sucks, but for the beautiful men (or women) that make our every day in hell a heaven. This week in StumbleUpon (hahz) brings me to this site called DocStoc, enumerating 8 types of office crushes and how they, oh simply to kill away the time. :P Here it goes
A complete waste of taxpayer's money! Imagine this amateurish PTA seal on the cemented walkways of Boracay. Like the "concretization" of the tropical island is not bad enough. Then, to add insult to injury, there's this blatant opportunism of a government official called Robert Dean Barbers. Haynaku! (Going the other way from home)
(The following is what greeted me in my inbox this morning. Nothing much, not a nice read even. But it has made me think, so I think it's good. Enjoy!)
A group of graduates, well established in their careers, were talking at a reunion and decided to go visit their old university professor, now retired.
During their visit, the conversation turned to complaints about stress in their work and lives. Offering his guests hot chocolate, the professor went into the kitchen and returned with a large pot of hot chocolate and an assortment of cups - porcelain, glass, crystal, some plain looking, some expensive, some exquisite - telling them to help themselves to the hot chocolate.
When they all had a cup of hot chocolate in hand, the professor said: “Notice that all the nice-looking, expensive cups were taken, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is normal for you to want only the best for you, that is the source of your problems and stress.”
“The cup that you're drinking from adds nothing to the quality of the hot chocolate. In most cases it is just more expensive and in some cases even hides what we drink. What all of you really wanted was hot chocolate, not the cup; but you consciously went for the best cups...and then you began eyeing each other's cups."
"Now consider this: Life is the hot chocolate; your job, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain life.
The cup you have does not define, nor change the quality of life you have. Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the hot chocolate. The happiest people don't have the best of everything. They just make the best of everything that they have."
"What would Bill Gates do? Even Bill Gates can't defy time and suddenly it's thinkable to have a Microsoft without Bill Gates. Featuring an all-star cast, Bill Gates go on job-hunting beyond Microsoft Corp."
Pardon the language. That's just how i love Dream Theater. (Does that make any sense? lolz) But, really, they're so fucking good if you ask me. Like really fucking good. It's like listening to their song, say Through Her Eyes, and you suddenly think, "Fuck! These guys are fucking good."
Now, Dream Theater fans are in for a treat, at least those who can finish a book. Not e-book or a-book. You know, that thing that smells weird and can be used to cushion your laptop. Dream Theater is releasing an authorized biography! It's time to reach out to relatives overseas lolz.
Singapore Idol season 2 winner Hady Mirza won the 2007 Asian Idol. A surprise winner, many Asian Idol fans consider Mirza's win to be a result of a voting bias that tends to favor the least favorite. Did the Singapore Idol win it because of the flawed voting procedures? It's easy to say that in retrospect. But, honestly, we can't do much about it. I feel for our very own Mau Marcelo, and for other contestants who might have become victim of the voting bias. But it's hard not to notice what the guy could do.
Good things happen NOT to those who wait, but to those who don’t die while waiting. It is just three days before we head out to the DiveLink resort in Palawan, but already the wait is killing me. This is unreasonable whining, I know, and maybe I just have to keep it to myself. But I simply can’t help it. I’m dying to go. And I’m zombie until that day.
All right, so much for that. It is wrong to feel all too excited at this point of the holidays. It tends to raise the expectations. And when it does, it messes things up. And I don’t have any plans to ruin something as lovely as a holiday in a Palawan resort. It’s a waste of money, if you ask me, when one lets small things ruin it.
The trip to Palawan is mainly a weeklong Christmas celebrations. For me it’s additionally a weeklong Internet-free holiday. Although the Palawan resort of the DiveLink boasts of Internet facilities by the beach, I don’t intend to slave away and bring my laptop, no matter how much I have already considered it an extension of myself.
So there. To the three readers of this blog (that includes you mom!) let me wish you now a Merry Christmas. Let us try to celebrate it. In earnest and not just because we are obliged to. Okay, I’m sounding more like my mom. I guess what I’m trying to say is:
“Whatever else be lost among the years, Let us keep Christmas still a shining thing; Whatever doubts assail us, or what fears, Let us hold close one day, remembering Its meaning for the hearts of men; Let us get back our childlike faith again.”—Grace Noll Crowell
Merry Christmas everyone!
PS. If you think us Filipinos have the longest Christmas, a Filipino must be behind all these sites: North Pole Dancing, White Christmas, Elf Yourself, Singapore White Christmas, Track Santa. I’ve been receiving them from friends, actual and online, since November and let me share the cheers to you now before Palawan can make me forget about things.
Can't get over Journey right now that I've dug up all their CDs and transfered them onto my laftaf. The story behind Journey and Arnel Pineda was really something special, if you think about it, because Arnel Pineda is such an ordinary guy who suddenly gets to front for one of his favorite bands.
Now that sounds familiar. But it happened in real life so maybe what they say in fairytales sometimes can happen, no matter how trite or unbelievable it sounded. So don't stop believing. There's Arnel Pineda, living proof that dreams do come true. All right, I have to stop there now. Just allow me to present to you the Journey song Don't Stop Believing, circa Steve "The Voice" Perry and Arnel Pineda of The Zoo.
. The hotel, it seems, lives up to its reputation of being that yet-to-be-explored and exclusive luxury golf hotel that it is.)
And the feeling of need crops up even in the way I do my work, which involves surfing (the net, that is) for lazy five hours, two hours for breaks, and one hour doing my actual work of corresponding.
