Unplugged: The Boracay Trip

I was unable to update the blog since I was unplugged for the whole weekend. My cousins arranged a trip to Boracay for three days. I’ve been there once and it was truly amazing, but the others haven’t had the opportunity, and were itching to go and experience paradise for themselves. So after more than a month of preparations (bookings, reservations, and shopping), we were finally set to leave at Friday, 9th of December. We were all hyped by Thursday, but bad weather throughout the country was casting a grey sky (literally) on our highly anticipated trip. To add to that we all had prior commitments that night (Christmas Party, Wedding, etc.), which would cut our sleeping hours before the trip. By the start of Friday, things started to brighten up, and everything seemed to be all set for our Boracay Trip!

My girlfriend and I woke up early for breakfast and final preparations, and by 6 am we were off. We made a couple of stops, including breakfast in Sinangag Express for the others who haven’t eaten yet. Our Cebu Pacific flight was scheduled to depart at 9 am from Manila and was expected to arrive in Kalibo at 9:40 am (yeah right!), so we had to get to the airport happily fed and caffeinated (I don’t drink coffee, just cigarettes). By the time we got to the domestic airport, we immediately checked our baggage in, only to learn (to our outmost disdain) that the flight was delayed for at least 2 hours. This sucked! But we couldn’t do anything about it. After much useless confrontations with the manager, we had to concede that our trip had been compromised (our pick-up in Kalibo had to be informed of our delay and properly rescheduled). After a couple of trip to the Gas Chamber (AKA The Smoking Room), and free lunch from the airline (for the delay), our plane arrived, and just when we thought all were ready and set, my cousin lost her boarding pass. We felt like we were on the Amazing Race, my cousin’s husband and I were biting our fingernails just as the crew announced the flights final boarding call. And just like any good cliffhanger, my cousin arrived just in the nick of time with her replacement pass (thank god she didn’t loose her ticket), and so we were finally ready to fly.





We arrived Kalibo airport at approximately 40 minutes passed 1 in the afternoon. Just when things were going right, we realized that our baggage claims were all attached with the lost boarding pass (good grief! How unlucky could we get?), After further delays and humiliations, we were able to talk ourselves through, and get to the van that would drive us all the way to Caticlan port, where our boat awaits to bring us to our final destination, Boracay baby! Atleast that part was uneventful, mostly diverting our attention to the rural scenery, listening to our iPod, or just snoozing away. The boat ride itself was worth all the trouble we went thru earlier that day. We whipped out our cameras, and started taking in the incredible sights, and smell of the open sea. We all had a laugh just talking about the misfortunes of the day, and how the sight of Boracay wiped it all away. Although the skies were still grey with the impending rain clouds, the picturesque view of the Boracay white sand shores, and clear blue waters was enough for my first timer companions. We were welcomed warmly by the Regency Resort, and were ushered quickly into our respective rooms. The rooms were lushly furnished, comfortable, and most importantly clean. We had a blast just unpacking our stuff, and exploring the nooks and crannies of the hotel room, before we gathered back down into the beach. Aftter consuming our free welcome drinks, some of my companions went for a swim, while the rest of us just bummed around the Gazebo Bar.



Taking a quick shower afterwards, we all went down to Alfon’s Bar and Resto for our Dinner buffet. Having stuffed ourselves to the brim, we all decided to head out for a night of partying and drinks. We took a short tricycle ride to Station 1 (we were in the edge of Station 2), and decided to hangout in Coco Mangas, famous for their 15 (?) shooter drinks, and night till dawn parties. After settling ourselves on the comfy Indian inspired bed seatings, we didn’t waste time to order their infamous Jam Jar drinks, which were basically cocktails prepared on a large jar for… well jams. We goofed around, getting pissed with the ridiculous amount of alcohol, and played around with the camera, taking pictures of each other as we started to spiral in a funky mixture of drunkenness and exhaustion. After a late snack of grill cooked pizza, we headed back to the hotel, the alcohol still buzzing in our head, and plunked down face-first into our respective beds and called it a night. All in all we had a fabulous first day despite our earlier mishaps. Our dreams only hinted what was going to be offered the following day.

Well that’s all for today. I’ll chronicle our second day in the next installment. Till then, it’s back to reality, folks.

Holiday Hooligan

The Christmas Holidays is upon us again. Its that time of year for giving… and for last minute shopping, and horrible bladder-bursting traffic, and relatives who only show up during the holidays. So maybe its not so merry after all, especially when you realize you don’t have enough money to buy yourself a gift. Okay, I know that it’s about the giving and not the receiving, but you do have to treat yourself after a long year of toil and corporate slavery. So what’s a broke bloke have to do to accomplish his elusive wish list? How ‘bout asking Santa for it (just play along)? What, you haven’t been a good boy this year? No problem lets kidnap Rudolph, and ask Santa for ransom. If that doesn’t work, we can always sell him on eBay.

So if we do get to accomplish all of that, and Santa calls our bluff, what do we ask him for Christmas? Well here I present to you my own personal Holiday Wish List. My own Christmas must have gifts:

1. Computers: For starters, I’d like to have a new desktop at home. I really can’t wait for the MacIntels, so an iMac or one of those new Quad G5 Powermacs should do. Well why not both? The iMac with its new Frontrow feature, and built-in iSight would be perfect as a family desktop unit. Fun to use for surfing, chatting, or watching downloaded videos from iTunes Music Store. For the Quad G5, I’ll be using it mainly for graphics, and music production so a 30” Apple Display wouldn’t hurt as well. Oh yeah add in a Windows Intel Machine with at least 4 GHz, with the latest in ATi or Nvidia card, just for gaming.

2. Sound Systems: Building on those discussed above, the iMac would be perfect with its own THX 5.1 surround system, maybe something from Klipsh, like the ProMedia 5.1 Multi Media System. As for the Quad G5, why not an M-Audio Studiophile DX4 Professional Desktop Monitoring System, along with a M-Audio MobilePre USB Mobile Preamp and Audio Interface. While were on the subject why not ask Santa to provide me with a home theater system for my television (we’ll get to that later). Since we have Rudolph, let not be cheap and ask for Bose Lifestyle 48 Home Entertainment System. Okay lets move on.

3. Home Appliances: I asked for the Bose Lifestyle 48 HES, but it wouldn’t pair greatly with my old 21” TV, so I’m asking Santa to add in the Samsung HP-R5052 HD Plasma 50” TV. Now what’s a Home Entertainment System without my own personal La-Z boy, along with a Coleman Xtreme Cooler (filled with beer, and ice cream), makes it a dream set-up. I can’t ask for Heaven, but its close enough.

4. Game Consoles: Eventually I’ll get tired of watching LOTR and Starwars on my new HES, so what better to pass time than to play video games. The new Xbox360 would be perfect with the Heaven Set-up above. Bundled with games such as Perfect Dark Zero and Project Gotham Racing 2, this beast will satisfy my gaming fix, well until Halo 3 or PS3 arrives. On the go, I would say that the PSP would be a much cooler portable game console, but Nintendogs is just too cute to pass off (plus points from the girlfriend), so why not throw in the cheaper Nintendo DS to the mix.

5. Digital Lifestyle Gear: Now its time to go out and socialize, and I gotta’ have something to record the lovely memories of upcoming holiday festivities. Lets start of with a Canon ixus 750 for that point and click simplicity, and a Canon EOS 5D for that professional touch. On the Video cam end, I’ll have to go the Canon way as well with the Optura 600, its small and compact, and should be enough to capture those funny moments. Just for the heck of it I’ll ask for a 60GB iPod 5G, and a Sony Ericsson W800i Mobile Phone.

6. Vehicular Mayhem: Now I have no idea whether Santa can fit this on his sleigh, but I’d like to have a simple Mazda 3 or Ford Focus (I’d like a Ferrari but I think that’s asking too much, hehe). Pimped up with subwoofs, 17” mags, LCD monitors, a dvd player, hifi stereo, and a PS2 set-up. Maybe a bit of engine tinkering, and custom paint job and I’m ready to roll. On second thought maybe an advanced order for the new Honda Civic wouldn’t hurt as well.

Well there you have it my self-indulging Christmas Wish List. These should be enough until I get around for next year’s list (maybe kidnap Mrs. Santa). Till then have a Happy Holidays, and look out for Rudolph on eBay just in case plans go awry. Peace!

What about you guys, any personal wish list you want to share? Send in your comments.

Nostalgic Tendencies

Looking through my music library, I noticed that I had enough songs that cover 80’s tunes to create a whole play list. I called it 80’s Reload, and it contained tracks such as Personal Jesus by Marilyn Manson (originally by Depeche Mode), Cars by Fear Factory (originally by Gary Numan), Shout by Disturbed (originally by Tears for Fears), Love Song by 311 (originally by The Cure), and more. Take note that most of the bands were metal, or industrial bands, and I’m pretty sure there’s a lot more spread out across various musical genres. This made me think, is the 80’s cool again? Well I decided to look through other mediums to find the answer.

I guess it’s natural for people who grew up on new wave to cover songs from that era, but what about the movies based on 80’s TV shows? Recently there was The Dukes of Hazard (I hear it sucked), a remake of an old 80’s TV series. Just over a year ago there was the similar Starsky and Hutch, so there’s definitely a trend about movies set in the 80’s. What probably started it was the movie, The Wedding Singer, not only was it a popular movie at that time, but it also had loads of great 80’s music for a soundtrack, plus it had 80’s icon, Billy Idol himself. After that movie, a lot of people probably thought that, “hey we could be on to something.”

Jaded from the promiscuity of the 90’s, people started to look back to their respective “good ol’ days”, and what better fun than the hairspray days of the 80’s. Producers of the popular Grand Theft Auto video game probably grew up during the era when Miami Vice was hip, and thought it would be a perfect setting for the mega-hit Vice City. The game was of course set on a fictional city, but it was obviously patterned after Miami, down to the fashion, music, and lingo. It even featured a Sonny Crockett look-alike. And what about Metal Gear Solid 2? The main character, Snake even wore a mullet. I hear its creator Hideo Kojima was a big Joy Division fan, and even named a remix of the game under one of the band’s album, Substance.

Aside from the covers, and the remakes, rock bands such as The Killers have made it perfectly clear that new wave is still alive and kicking. Even here in the Philippines, bands like Sheila and the Insects have a certain 80’s vibe in their music, that even their name reminds you of Echo and the Bunnymen. So maybe the 80’s cool again. Well, maybe for those of us who still enjoy cranking up the volume on our collection of Simple Minds or The Cure songs, and for those of us who still enjoy the Breakfast Club, and think the DeLorean in Back To The Future was the greatest car ever built. Then again, maybe it’s time to wake up and smell the new millennium, and just accept that all of this is just plain nostalgia.