Surprise!!!Blogger/Critic In the House

Its not often that I introduce myself as a blogger and a critic but frankly speaking sometimes it just has its perks specially in the food industry or even in the hospitality business, though sometimes its not all that bad many times I get to experience the worst among the worst, specially during the pandemic times. 

After leaving that hotel in Malate mom and I has decided to check out a  cheaper alternative, although the place is nothing like that of Makati Ave, in the heart of Quiapo, Maynila I found this Hotel theough a stranded Canadian man he told me its cheaper and the place in the inside is quite decen... the place is called Hotel 99, currently this jotel is promoting their executive and family rooms, as they are currently starting up new rooms through the extentions built. 

The Welcome

We got there not so early in the afternoon, there is hardly anyone on their reception desk  or area, the price is reasonable enough as it was given to us with mom's senior discount, we get a free vanity kit that comes with 2 toothbrushes with those tiny toothpastes, a shampoo, a tiny round soap, a comb, a shower cap, a pack of tissue. We get the tv remote and a recipt with the room number and the wifi password.  The only problem in this place was since its covid 19 times, they dont have suppliers or a commissary for the fòod, as there is just 1 menu during breakfast.First time  was there and since mom was on a wheelchair walker having a bad back ans knee they have to lift her and carry her going down a short flight of the stairs. And another thing the deinking wateer bottles is only free upon check in.

The Stay

It was a pleasant stay though its just for 2 days and since there isnt a commissary we have to buy food from the Halal karinderia outside the hotel. Still the food is good and the muslim people outside are very friendly.

Helping The Helpless NOT: A Hotel Hell Review

I am finally out of the Kalinga shelter and with my mom and brother going through one hotel after another as the pandemic goes on to GCQ most of those in the hospitality trade still remains closed we end up staying ina hotel in Malate, the place is called Manila Lotus Hotel, whose location is in the corner of Mabini and Padre Faura, the staff is quite corteous but theres something about the manager, that is very odd, she pretends to be really nice at first, said she has seen me before but can't place it. As time passes we was starting to be really short in cash as we await the call of the broker on where we are supposed to move, we have no place to go as of the moment so we got stuck here.

We spent about over a week on this place and seriously I havent been in a hotel this long before, but because of certain unfortunate events, we got stuck up on this place.  The hotel room is quite nice its.like a 28 sqm condo init with 2 double beds, and a dining table, the corteous staffs staffs are the people from the security personel the front desk attendants the restaurant staffs even the bartender and restaurant cashiers are nice then theres the Manager with the attitude.

The Helpful Staffs

The the front desk attendant onthe Photo is not the manager, but, he is one of the nice people who has been really nice to my 80 year old mom, yes mom has to spend her birthday here no parties whatsoever due to the pandemic issue, but as she always say having a party wont mean anything but having my family and you with.me is more than important. Can never argue with her when it comes to that.

The Painful Experiences of a Senior Citizen

The front desk staffs are the ones with a good heart that helped us get a room and get extended we spent over Php20k in this place since the day we left the shelter, it was good for the past u to 8 days till the day when I have gone short in finances and the manager has decided that we are to leave  the room.  She allowed us till 7pm but wont let us go back upstairs least till we pay the daily rate. Unfortunately no one has anything to help us with least till next week, so we didnt get to have a room to sleep in, also this hotel does not honor senior citizen discounts which is a must in the hospitality business in Metro Manila.

Breakfast in Bane

Every morning for the last 8 days of staying here we get free breakfast, usually the filipino breakfast is composed of garlic fried rice, fried or scrambled eggs, the longanisa which is absolutely good,  or the rubbery tocino, or the wierd tasting skinless longanisa, sometimes people need to know more about cooking before they call themselves cooks or chefs, the ones Cilantro has is something beyond, as the cooks actually fries the tocino while its frozen, cant even thaw the meat before cooking them, they serve breakfast with seasonal fruits which I must say  that watermelon season has been over since its already late June. Thus its tasteless.

Overall Experience

My stay here isnt exactly what I expect it to be. My Mother got insulted by the manager by not honoring her being a senior, she was asked to go down and not return to the room and wait till tomorrow for the payment, the food isnt all that fresh, more like frozen for weeks, having a pandemic is a bad excuse for a hotel food and beverage department, the housekeeping department does not spray lysol in the room to disinfect it everyday, if i would rate this hotel I wouldnt give it even 3 stars. And lastly with a Manager having an attitude Manila Lotus Hotel is an overall 👎. 

To all those in the hospitality business a piece of advise.  I would suggest to be the best that you can be as you will never know who will step on your doorstep, who will be sleeping in one of your rooms,  or who will you speaking with. Who knows maybe I am not the only blogger that will be giving you a wake up review. 

The Theory of Cause and Effect

Ever wonder why something happens they way you dont plan it to happen? Why some people lile to compare themselves to their successful peers? Have you ever asked yourself, why is this happening to me? Today I will be discussing to you the theory of cause and effect, its a theory on how karma or the karnic effect works on most of us, or as confucius say:  study the past  define the future. Whatever you do in the past will reflecton the future, this is so true in the theory of cause and effect, as when you do good deeds, good things comes back to you in several folds. However when you do deeds the opposite will still come back to you harder than any human can imagine, but have you ever notice? Doing good things take time for the retuns to get your reward?

Here are several reason why it usually takes time for your rewards in life to come back. 

Your Family

Your family plays a huge role when it comes.to lifes rewards of you are happy with your parents and vice versa it opens up karmic doors to a more positive outcome for you,  always remember the saying family first and all the rest will follow.

Your Choices

Choosing the people you make friends with, making sacrifices for the greater good, choosing the right people to be working  with all play different roles for your positive outcome. If the person you are working with is not happy with the way you lead them chances are very shakey for you. People may have envied you may start thinking ill of you which may cause you more harm than good, laying off people who are not good for your project is a good sacrifice for you to start making better progress, as doing this may not just work for you but it can also be good for those who have full trust in you.

Study the past for you to define the future- Confucius

Learning on how things startes will always be the key to a more a more faborable outcome. As what happens in the past will always pave the way to the future. But what if aomethkng goes wrong? What if it did not turned out the way things are planned? What will you do?  How do you fix a problem that is in the now? The answers tou seek will always come from where it all started.

How are you Living? in the Past?The Present? or the Future?

The urban area, the city is for people who loves the idea of workingand living in a faster pace, but what makes it so attractive to those coutry dwellers that they tend to sell their lands and move ito the big city? Is it the way they live?  How do the live? The changes it may bring?

According to Lao Tzu, if you are Depressed you are living in the past. People tend to give life to those experiences they have encountered in the past,most often these memories arre those about the negative past. When a person recalls a negative memory the person tend to accumulate a hateful or depressing feeling that may effect a certain persons lifestylè at present. Thus creating a more disturbing present and behavior which may cause depression and anxiety which can lead to something more deep as mental illnesses.

A person in a depressive state may attract different kinds of negativity which is why it is wiser to learn moving on or at least pick up a hobby, anything that will take your mind off of the negative past. Keepingyour mind busy usually heals the heart which can influence the start of being ble to move on.

Lao Tzu said: if you are Anxious you are living in the Future, it was said that whatever the future may bring, it is the the reault of what you did in the past.  I believe that that saying is true as whatever negative state I was in in the past it surely paved the way to a stronger me in the future. Being anxious or excites ia something we cannot just let it go specially if the future holds  lot of plans that could bring progress to the people. I personally, think I am one of those.people who tend to be this way as I think of what is to be after this lockdown after the quarantine is over, its not bad to think about what is to come but a person have to consider how to put such plan in to a better.perspective, or how to make sure that tha particular plan .will be implemented. Yes it does have something to do with setting up a time frame and setting up your goal. I am not saying that none of your plan will work if you dont set up anytjing but wont it be a little better if you start by organizing your plas way ahead of schedule?

If you are living in Peace then you are living in the Present. Why is it that people like to think ahead and what does reminicing the past do to an individual? Personally living in the past gave me.depression and looking forward in the future.gave me.anxiety at times, living in the present means having a worry free life, a person wjo lives one day at a time and live thier life that particular day to its full potential makes life worth living, the past should be left alone for is to be able to think clearly on what is it to be done at the present to create a better and brighter future.

It was never told why people seem to hold on to what is already been done, why cant they stop planning ahead when they can have peace of.mind living at the NOW, what we did in the past let alone is already been done, what we do at present is what we harvest for tomorrow , it still runs in  the theory of cause and effect or some people call it KARMA.

Keeping the Friend Close and the Frienemy Closer

I have always been a fan of the great strategist San Tzu, which is the reason I have to write this blog tonight, why is it so? For one it is something that has been happenning to me recently.

How can you tell if a person is being true to tou or is just using you? How can you tell if someone is lying? Any sort.of himts to know of a frìend or.foe?  These are just some of the questions our minds would ask us, but why is it that we can't think of these questions when we first met a person or a person who pretended to be a friend? 

Usually how do we make friends, we ask questions about them, we tell them a bit of our story and we listen to theirs,  and once we start getting amused we, as humans, startputting our guard down. We let ourselves be vulnerable to just about anything, in the end , manipulation starts, they start disrespecting our words and in our own mindset since we got programmed by the person to trust him or her, we open ourselves directly to get hit and get hit harder by this same person who we thought cares about us,this person who we called friend.

The Frienemy

As you learned that you got manipilated by the same person who you called friend, friendship becomes frienemism, when you are together you let them be your friend, but right after that you as the victim, try to distant yourself by placing a wall between you and the frienemy, how did she or he becomes oe? Simple, you give them a hand and they took your entire arm, help them once and they will take everything you own, the only thing they wont tke from you would be your capacity to breathe.

Why do you have to keep the frienemy closer? Because its the most positive way to stay out of trouble yet the most easiest way to find out of what they are planning to do. When you approach these people as your friend you tend to show them openess that they may put their guards down and let you do what they have you for them. 

Its not a very simple thing to do, being friends with the same person who would want your head on the chopping board, but one thing I am certain, I have done it and experience it and it is not easy but to protect yourself and the people you love then someone has to do it. Like this other saying say, choose your friends wisely,  and trust more on yourself than that of others

Venture Success: Learning the strategist’s strategy to greatness

Dana Cruz
writer/philosopher/graphic designer/webdesigner/
publicist/Wiccan

Work, it is the most ideal way to start up the good life after graduation, the experience is always needed by one to make it in this fast pacing world. Although not everyone is most likely going to make it towards the higher ground, thus the start of making something from scratch, small business to start off to achieve greater standings in the business world.

In this article I would be talking about how one should relate with the teachings of a great strategist, Sun Tzu, the Chinese strategist that gave the world his teachings in the Art of War.

Sun Tzu’s teachings are usually used during military missions, but these can also be used when you are starting up a business or maybe even in the middle of climbing that economic ladder, in one of his teachings he said that we should learn how to make our enemies believe something that doesn’t exist, meaning-making them believe that you are always one step ahead of them, a good example would be creating promotions and advertising.  In another one of his teachings he said something about its better to capture the army or a regiment than to destroy them, in the corporate’s point of view it is wiser to create a partnership or a merging than to completely try to rage war against your rival company.

The reason I have decided to write about this is to share what some of the greatest people in business have read and learned, is to make people realize that no matter how great or how small they are, there is always a way to get up to cross that bridge and build a better future.  Venturing success starts in greater understanding and wisdom.

Let this be the start of a new series of blog articles that are inclined to life and philosophy.