Surviving the test of time, and the 2012 doomsday prophecy
When I was about 13, my younger brother got as a Christmas present a radio that picked up, in addition to AM and FM and “TV sound,” a short-wave set of frequencies. Somehow we found out about the short-wave signal out of Fort Collins, Colo., that announced every minute, “at the tone,” the Standard Mean Time at Greenwich, England. We set our wristwatches accordingly — compensating for being in the Eastern time zone, of course. The time when the days are shortest and nights are longest is the winter solstice. The word solstice literally means “sun stands still.” Long, long ago, people watched the patterns of the sun’s path through the sky and noted when the orb appeared to set in about the same place for weeks, around the time we have labeled as Dec. 22.Angelese City Bluefields - News
— — The ball will drop at midnight on Saturday in New York City and a new year will begin — except that it will already be several hours old in London and Jerusalem and Sydney, Australia. And it will only be 9 pm in Los Angeles.
Bluefields Alpha Hotel Review – Balibago, Angeles City, Pampanga ...
This will be a strange review, as it will encompass three hotels, though commentary on the first two will be brief.
Before leaving to Angeles City (via Manila) from Taipei, I checked with a variety of hotels regarding accommodation; in the summer time, many hotels will offer discounts, especially for long stays paying cash. To my amazement, the majority of hotels did not even respond to my inquiries about making a reservation. My experience in Angeles City continues to be that the majority of establishments simply do not have their act together, but it comes with the territory. Angeles has been a major spot for sex tourism ever since the military left town two decades ago and the gogo bars needed new clientele – point-being, most hotels don’t have the pickiest of customers when it comes to service or decor. My wanting a room for ₱1000 ($23US) a night only complicated that, as most places that are in Angeles and that cheap are extremely seedy.
The first hotel I stayed at was a prime example of this stereotype: The Ponderosa Hotel (1734 San Pablo St., Mt. View, Balibago, Angeles City, Philippines – http://www.ponderosa-angeles.com/ ). Arriving at around midnight did not help. There are certain rules for tropical hotels, and the biggest rule is broken at the Ponderosa; it is full of closed hallways with no air conditioning, trapping humid air and leading to an uncomfortable environment and smell. With the dim lighting and colorless overtones, the place looked like somewhere hookers dreams go to die. Or, where hookers actually went to die. It was dingy and creepy, but then again, it was also pretty far from “the action” of Angeles City, not that such facts mattered to me…but I can’t imagine they do much business or deal with dead hookers or their dreams. I didn’t even stay long enough to take pictures; fifteen minutes and I was history.
Trudging into The DM Residente Inns and Villas (1418 Federico St., Sta. Maria I, Balibago, Angeles City – http://www.dmresidente.com.ph/ ) at 1am, I no longer cared much about price or quality, as long as I wasn’t at risk of being murdered in my sleep at any point during what was left of the night. The staff was far from friendly; from the front desk to the bar keeper the next morning, no one was particularly accommodating. They told me they could give me a room, but only for the one night; I would have to be on my way the next morning. The room was bare; the layout of the hotel was almost that of a fortress or ancient Roman house, but the idea that it was worth ₱1500 ($35US) a night for the room they were offering was absurd. The real final nail in the coffin was the shower curtain there – it must be seen to be appreciated: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150243201755849&set=a.10150243201400849.319106.502455848&type=3 .