These wine gift baskets are pretty tricky to put together.  She has to not only find wine, but also other high quality products to include.  It’s interesting that she’s able to find many of those other products by checking into wine magazines such as Wine Spectator.  She’s found that really high quality products often advertise in those type of magazines.

The book works on several levels. It is about the great hippy dream of living free in paradise – free from visas, free from work and with as much free dope as they can smoke. It is also a story about group dynamics in isolation like the Lord of the Flies. It is also a psychological examination of how man is actually unfit to lead a harmonious life – how you can leave society behind but how the troubles of society, fitting in, falling in love, infidelity etc. follow you where ever you go.

The parts of the book that describe Khao San Road and its cheap hotels with electrocuting showers are well observed and lead up to the shock of the suicide and the  map that leads to paradise. Another part of book that will have resonance with anyone who has been to Koh Phangan are the descriptions of Haad Rin and the debauchery of the Full Moon Party.

I read The Beach while spending my days hanging out on the beaches of Thong Nai Pan. It struck me at the time that Alex Garland must have had the Ang Thong National Marine Park in mind when he wrote his book. It also struck me that he probably went to the wrong parts of Koh Phangan. While the south east has become inundated with party minded youngsters, the northern beaches such as Chaloklum and Bottle Beach remain peaceful and ideal spots. On the east coast Thong Nai Pan and Than Sadet also stand out as blissful and quiet places to spend a holiday.

Besides being on a Thai beach without Thai culture is missing out on half the experience. The notion of the beach as paradise is indeed an illusion just as the book rightly demonstates. Beaches in Thailand are indeed paradisical but they offer only temporary shelter from the cares of life; they are not the solution to life.

I usually go on holiday to a beach location. My favorite island in the world is Koh Phangan. It’s in the Gulf of Thailand. It’s a magical place that is composed of gorgeous white sand beaches and rainforest covered mountains. Koh Phangan accommodation is mostly bungalows on the beach. Over the years the bungalows have slowly got more luxurious – air conditioning, hot water, TVs etc., but I still manage to find a $10 a night fan bungalow next to the beach.

I divide my time between swimming, washing my clothes, going for walks and lying in a hammock reading a good book that I have saved especially for the holiday. The last time I went to Koh Phangan I read Anathem by Neal Stephenson. I had never read any of his books before, but I was curious about the notion of speculative fiction. I found the plot engrossing and the fictional world he created compelling. Stephenson’s theme of parallel universes and Husserl philosophy fascinating. I’m the first to admit that I got lost at the ’grand explanation’ near the end of the book. But I admired the scope of the book and the intelligence with which it was written.

The book, the sunshine, the cold beers and the warm sea made a perfect holiday in Koh Phangan. Reading some trash by Dan Brown would have spoiled the effect.

Below is a Youtube clip for the movie they made based on Anathem.

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Last year, I travelled to Italy on a student exchange program and given my extreme fondness and interest about The Merchant of Venice, I moved around to all the places in the country especially Venice. My friends and I spent too many hours talking about the roles of Shylock, Bassanio, and Portia and of course, Antonio.

Our six day stay in Venice was nothing less than reliving the history penned by Shakespeare. We ordered Pizzas, made some strawberry juices using our Breville BJE200XL and rode scooters in the lanes of the city. It was an unforgettable experience. Personally, I believe The Merchant of Venice as a play was a great teacher about evil and greed that exists in the world. Professionally, I reckon it was a classic demonstration of what literature needs to be like – a thought provoking and immersing art.

While Lorenzo romanced Jessica in Act IV of the play, I romanced Shakespeare’s work every single day thereafter.

You can, of course walk into your local wine store and ask for some help.  The fact is, not everyone is going to be comfortable doing that.

Secondly, you can look into getting one of the great wine magazine’s which is currently being published.  My personal favorite is Wine Spectator, it does the best job in my opinion of combining wine reviews, with articles and other content to help people who are just starting to learn about wine!

A quality novel will pull you into the story, and you will find yourself wrapped up in the characters and setting where the plot unfolds. Personally, I prefer historical novels, as they can act as a great window into life in earlier times.

Just like a glass door refrigerator lets you see the food displayed inside, a good historical novels showcases the way people lived in the past. Whether it the life of the rich southern planters as displayed in Gone with the Wind, or the life of a poor London ragamuffin in a Charles Dickens classic; you can learn a lot about life from reading quality literature.

Even contemporary novels can illuminate the reader about life in different countries. Slumdog Millionaire has informed many about the brutal conditions in the poorer parts of India for example.

Not interested in the past, or in people who live overseas? You can find contemporary literature written about your own country. These books can be a great way to learn something about your fellow countrymen or countrywomen that you may not have been aware of.  There is a lot we may not know about people from different ethnic groups, or socio-economic groups, even within our own communities.

Reading can expand understanding of all sorts of peoples, places and times. Look in the glass door good novels offer and expand your horizons, literature is great for that!

By speaking to these people and taking down their thoughts and emotions before and after the procedures one can truly begin to paint an unprejudiced picture, that reflects the true meaning behind putting yourself in this position.

The media often likes to paint things a certain way regardless of the facts and more often than not focuses on such cosmetic surgery disasters such as the once beautiful Leslie Ash and her unforgettable ‘Trout Pout’. It is shown as an unnecessary  extravagance by the rich, famous and vain. An attempt to stay young and beautiful in a fast flowing media circus that sees starlets born on an almost daily basis.

This may be true in a handful of situations but in truth the ast majority who seek cosmetic surgery are doing this to improve their confidence, and therefore improve their way of life. Some people are better at dealing with certain things than others so you can never judge a book by its cover.

There are also a great many small, minor procedures that are carried out on peoples lunchbreaks such as mole and cyst removal. Again, these are not life threatening issues but when you speak to these people who explain that for 20 or so minute, they are going to rid of the monkey on their back (not literally of course). It is easy to make up your mind about certain things and people but when you see their thoughts on paper it gives you a far better insight.

There are times in life when one must just move one after failing to get what they want. You do not have to wait forever for your lover to show up. Before encountering Juliet, Romeo was pursuing Rosalina although that changed after he saw Juliet. Give yourself a chance to love again even after several heartbreaks. The world will never stop to revolve just because your first love encounter was disappointing. The same is with online dating in real-life: you need to send a adorable first message that comes as a gift from heaven for the girl. When Romeo met Juliet for the first time, he seduced her using some figurative language and a poem. We can translate this to the world of online dating with not seductive writing but emotional writing. Seduction plays a major role in dating and you should learn how to use seduction when wooing your girl. You can use love poems or simple sayings that add romance into your seduction art. Be jovial and funny, but not to the extent of exaggerating your ideas. For women, like Juliet you should look for facial expressions to see if you can read sincerity in his words. You can also tell that someone loves you by the way they talk to you, and this was the situation when Juliet spoke to Count Paris and Romeo.

You will also learn not to make haste decisions. Romeo killed himself when he thought Juliet was dead when she was not. Haste decision could lead to undesirable results, so before taking any action about your love line, take time to think. If we again translate this to online dating we can learn that we should think what to do and to take small steps: in this way the girl will not be rushed into a quick date when she is not ready yet. The deaths of the two also mean that, although situations may be as difficult as they seem, suicide is not always the answer. Had Romeo not killed himself before Juliet woke up, maybe they would have lived happily there after. One other thing is that love might not come to you. The two met at a masquerade party, so get out of your small cocoon and explore the world. The lessons we have learned from Romeo and Juliet should be thoughtfully applied to your online dating journey. If you do this, you will emotionally enhance your life to the fullest!