Dear Future AL1en,
Odile TV & I had a little poolside chat with Quinn, a dj & diver whom we met in El Nido.
Wandering sip by sip down Serena street, having our Happy Hour Drinks, we ended up - of course - at Happiness! Just realized now how redundant that sounds, but yes that is how we met KAPtain Quinn.
This fully legal alien manages a place called Happiness! And, as all aliens know “happiness”... we define that differently from day to day, and as we continue to refine our tastes.
So in the pod transmission below, we share his inter-continental, transcendental journey & a little peek into an outsider’s perspective of this party paradise. Well not quite outsider, coz WE were the outsiders in that particular case.
Below a snapshot of Happiness Boutique Hotel & the poolside of Terra Sancta (another hotel just adjacent to Happiness) where we had our conversation.
Further in the following text- transmission notes worth noting!
On being an AL1en:
Dystopiarist: Partly it’s luck, partly it’s what you seek. Your perspective and your pursuit of the things you appreciate. I don’t know but for me like in my family I feel alienated too from a family or friend groups from when we were younger. So we’re looking for fellow “aliens” …so it’s like Dear Future Alien- YOU, you’re a Future Alien!
Quinn: I am a Future Alien! Yea yea! that's literally- I think the term that your supposed to use.
Q: I’m a legal alien fortunately but I wasn’t always.
On WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?
D: So like, here at Happiness, on this island, in this country, on this planet? What is it? What’s important to you?- that your living day to day? That- that’s the question.
Q: Well, makes sense I mean I always thought my idea of fate was that life will bring you to a certain crossroads every so often and it’s up to you, you do have free will to make a decision on whether you want to choose the one path or another path and ultimately that will decide the next crossroads that you go to right?
And I always thought that there are so many things that you can never explain about how you get to certain places in your life but it's up you to make the most out of an opportunity right? And I think that anybody thats kind of left home and did something out of the norm or whatever, they’ve all had an opportunity presented and they took the leap of faith y’know whereas a lot of people wouldn't. They would just go for their comfort zone, right?
B: It's a lot of trust in yourself I would say.
Q: Yea for sure. You have to be trusting in your independence absolutely. Absolutely. Without that it would be very difficult. I think that my main motive to come to South East Asia was like -
On growing up...
Q: When I was growing up I was not an extrovert by any shape or form. Not at all. I was a weird kid.
D: That’s surprising!
Q: Yea everyone says that, but once I was put in an environment with other people that were more like minded I just grew exponentially, EXPONENTIALLY.
I've always subscribed to the idea that your network is your future like really- if you aren’t building your network, if you aren’t building a good reputation in your community and stuff like that and you're not putting yourself forward to be tested… then no one’s gonna give you an opportunity if they haven't seen you take a risk.
On the craft of Dj-ing
D: Your approach to building the set what are the things you look out for in the crowd? Or is it like more about your mood that day ? The space? How much of that is a factor?
Q: I understand that some of the stuff I play in Happiness is just not gonna work on the beach… unless people are in a different mindset you could say… and so for me
I like the fact that when I craft a set I can be able to stay diverse and I can stay more dark and organic or i can go more funky and afro latin-y or I can just be pure house… For me I like the fact that I feel like I can diversify a little bit and if Im stuck in one genre or one mood then I know that it’s gonna be less interesting for me it's gonna be less interesting for the crowd, etc… My favourite is these 3-hour sunset sessions… if I play a 3-hour sunset session you can go through every single mood imaginable, y'know?... When I first started playing it was more lounge-y vibes. I was playing in resorts & I was playing for not so many people and getting small little gigs and this and that and so...
You realise how valuable having chill music is just as much as having party music and I would argue that being a warm up Dj is way harder than being a peak time Dj coz you gotta keep the people there you know? And you can’t overshadow the guy after you and so I would say that is way harder. And so for me I always strive to be a good opening Dj and never step on toes never get people too hyped up and not hyped up enough. This fine line!
D: Theres more balance required!
Q: Yea and that’s hard..
Odile: The buoyancy! *hahaha
Q: Yea yea how’s your trim? You’re like dipping! You’re dipping it’s too much! *hahaha
D: These diving analogies! I love! I love the music and the diving- the Dj-ing and the diving analogies!
On running a business in El Nido
Q: El Nido is really a productive place and it’s a shame that some people decide to blame others for their lack of business ingenuity and you see it a lot in the Facebook forums and stuff like that about y'know Ah the infrastructure this, the streetlights that, blah blah... That's not affecting your business bro you're affecting your business with your negativity and if you do something creative— you build it and they will come! And thats one thing that I'm happy to be a part of Happiness for because it's something that is aesthetically sensorally- if that's a word -PLEASING.
About that night-
Here's a little peek at what happened that evening and you'll also see a few other aliens we strangely encountered on this recent soujour!
Click the Full Screen square thinggy for the full vibe!☝️ 😎
🌴🌊🌤️🍹✨✨✨✨✨✨
Shall leave you with Quinn's "Organica" mix on the Soundcloud
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This piece is brought to you by Odile_TV & the Dystopiarist: Two gallivanting wanderers exploring the present accordingly through curious research & blissful relaxation.