Nap Time Rocks!

the mini project

i’ve already promised to start a photo project this year. and inspired by the Lego man and Ickle & Lardee (go look up the sidebar for must sees), i must use whatever’s available.

like for example the unfinished miniature house my cousins and i made, one boring long break, that was supposed to be a gift to Mia. i say unfinished because with her ripping skills the cute little chairs that once stood are now all over the living room. the large LCD flat screen tv too, has been knocked off its base.

i really don’t mind since arts and crafts have always been my favorite subject. not that we had one in school. or did we?

anyway.

the view from not-above | used a 50mm prime lens

do let me know if you have ideas for this one.

nov 1

i always look forward to family get togethers. there’s none quirkier than my relatives, none more dysfunctional. lovably dysfunctional, that is.

and they’re never shy. grown up,

or not.

i feel so amateur looking at my photos and then looking at random Interesting Flickr photos. grabe, when will I be that good?

anyway, still practicing for now. be my model? =)

there’s a fountain

in the middle of the street.

oh Manila, Manila. you are one unique city. i love your character, smokey old Manila. but i will not live within your confines; i will stay away from you whenever i can.

but for now, since it’s december and it’s shopping season, i will let you lure me back one more time.

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Canon EOS | sRGB 1/200 sec. | F/11 | 34mm | ISO 400 |102309

it ends tonight

like i said, this blog has had nothing new in the last 2-3 weeks. so it ends now. i think, what am i supposed to write about? oh hey, i’ve forgotten, i take pictures too.

blue green is my favorite color. it’s melancholic in a lot of ways, but it’s different.

like how i want my life to be different in so many ways. i think, when will that be? and then,

“It’s never too late to do what is right.” -Charles Swindoll

i think i’ve done something right. i’ve donated blood, scraped up all remaining excess stuff in our house to give away to those who need them more, and did not complain how the stinking floodwater reached up to chest deep to spoil everything my brothers weren’t able to save (meanwhile, mia and i were stranded in Taytay).  but i still feel that it’s not enough.

hay, Lord. when will that be? and then,

“…how many times have I broken your heart? and still You forgive, if only I ask…”

Palawan, part 2

i’m all the more convinced how blessed the our country is with natural wonders. if what i saw in puerto princessa are some of nature’s 7 wonders, then the world hasn’t really seen much of what we have.

grabe, sa busuanga lang, the islands there are.. hmm. i don’t even have words for it! that’s in busuanga (at Club Paradise in march). walang sinabi ang Hunda Bay. no,  didn’t misspell that. basta, Unda ang root word niya pala. well, at least that’s what it says on the tourist board at the port.

Brgy. Sabang beach front, lunch stop over

like i always say, nothing beats traveling with good company. my trip to palawan wasn’t exactly all r&r. but one thing i like about this group is we all have the same philosophy: all work and no play makes a dull employee! hehe.

ang buko, bow. lunch at Brgy. Sabang stop over

if i gained another pound, blame it on the seafoods. hay, i love the food there. fresh, big servings, and mura! we had beach front buffet lunch on the way, and that was such a good way to start the week.

a natural rock outcropping found on the way to the underground river cove

i promised myself that i will take pictures of the scenery in palawan, even if cliche or how many times it’s been photographed by a million other people. i still had to have them too.

i won’t post much of what i saw inside the caves of the subterranean river; i’ll save that for later.  it’s enough to say that it deserves to be on the 7 wonders list.

the mouth of the underground river caves

the ‘cathedral’ formations inside will actually have full impact when, you’re standing at the wharf (before boarding the boat going to the underground river), you see 2 lumps of mountain looming starboard of the wharf. it’s almost impossible to believe that they’re almost completely hollow inside. our guide said that of all 8.2km of the river, there’s a dome area as big as Makati City. sort of like the grand finale of the river tour. unfortunately though, only 4.2km is navigable for tourists so we only got to see 2 of the highest peaks of the caves. even then, it’s such an overwhelming experience.

an authentic Vietnamese meal, w/ homemade rice noodles and the best garlic toasted bread

tired and appetites worked up, never mind the stench of the river all thanks to bat crap and urine, we stopped over at the Vietnamese Village. it used to be a settlement site for Vietnamese refugees and now there’s just 2 families living there making a living out of making rice noodles for Pho Hoa. trivia but they do have a restaurant there that make the best noodle soups.

the king crab, the biggest crab i’ve seen by far

also a must try is The Legend’s Tours package, which brings you to all of Puerto Princessa’s must see places, and a side trip of buffet lunch (food will always, always be part of our itinerary) at the Pandan Island beach front (again). fishermen there offer the fresh catch of the day like rock lobsters and king crabs.

unfortunately though, some of their catch include momma lobsters and momma crabs that still have their (millions of) eggs attached to them. the locals usually set them free.

so there you go for now. if you plan to visit puerto princessa (or busuanga, that’s why this is my Palawan, part 2), and you want to know what the best things to do there are, ask me.

Cocktail, please! [i vs p]

i am so late (forgive me Patty!). but it’s still tuesday, so here’s my I vs P entry for the theme Cocktails.

i honestly had a hard time coming up with a photo, and i already had something in mind (something to do with the moon…) but i didn’t have the time. boo.

but let’s make the best of what we have, shall we?

the calm before the storm –empty cocktail glasses

it’s the calm before the storm. hihi. i honestly don’t miss those drunken days anymore.

but i’ll have my fill of this kind of cocktail at any given time, yes i will:

ocean cocktail

here’s a 1sheep2sheep cocktail for you!

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for those who missed it, this is my and best friend Patty’s fun photo challenge weekly. next week’s Inspiration Word: (still deciding!)

Happiness [i vs p]

this is a photo collaboration with Pating, a little photo meme that we started so we can indulge our love for taking photos, even if we’re no pro.

so this is my first entry, for the inspiration word of the week: Happiness.

someday i’d like to live on the beach, have my own beach house, a yacht possibly, and to sail away from the city. i’d be happy then.

–

this is my and Patty’s weekly challenge of fun, fun, fun. oh, and photographs too. the rules are, well, there are no rules! we just post something related to our Inspiration Word of the Week. watch out for next week’s: COCKTAIL

Sg Part 1: death defying acts

i thought i wouldn’t live to tell the story.

it was a smorgasboard of seafoods and fried rice, enough to feed a whole army. and it was a bit expensive (’a bit’ is the understatement of the century). it was our first meal in Sg, and i thought it was going to be  my last.

we were served 6 courses that we had to finish off because yeah, it was that expensive. sayang naman.

but in all fairness to the No Signboard Seafood restaurant, i had a taste of the best cereal shrimp and pepper crab i’ve ever had (like i’ve ever had them before). a must try when in Sg.

and then we went to the IT Show at Suntec, right across our hotel the Marina Mandarin along Raffles Quay (or Boulevard). it was crowded. ‘crowded’ is the second understatement of the century. if i come down with flu anytime within the next 10 days, it’ll be mainly because of that.

it was a logistical nightmare, but who cares, it was the best place for all good IT deals. a section on the 3rd floor was dedicated to all Mac products and accessories. the whole 4th, 5th, and 6th floors were all for brands like Samsung, Canon, Olympus, HP, Nikon, etc. there were also booths selling generic brands and items/accessories.

i survived the shrimps, crabs, flying viruses and the catastrophic sneezing of unmindful people. maybe, maybe not. we’ll know 10 days from now.

high

the following chronicles my recent brush with death. haha, or maybe not.

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the ground rushed out from beneath my feet, falling about 37 stories downward. the only thing suspending me in the air was a 4 foot wide steel walk that would have been the same as wire mesh.

the ropes above securing me gave no assurance whatsoever at that dizzying height atop the country’s tallest hotel building, the Crown Regency Hotel in Cebu. i was horrified from the moment i stepped out onto the ledge and was still terrified as i stepped back into safety.

of course the safety lines, the “heights people” (as i would like to call them), and the entire facility were safe and tested, but for acrophobic people like me, that does not mean anything. well maybe it does, but it does little to calm the nerves.

i could not, for the life of me, let go of the safety ropes even for a second, thinking that if i did, i would begin the plunge to my imagined death. it was funny that compared to some of my companions then who were self-professed acrophobics i, the one who refrained from declaring my profound fear of heights, freaked out the most in the whole of 20 minutes.

but the sunset at that height was magnificent, the view breathtaking. that was such an unforgettable experience.

and as if i didn’t get enough,

i rode this baby.

yeah, yeah. acrophobic, shmophobic. but this was DIFFERENT. nothing like being strapped on to a metal platform with nothing between you and the ground, tilted at 50 degrees downward. this, the Philippines’ first Edge Coaster, was crazier than the Sky Walk. if you have super zoom, you’d see my knuckles and nails are deathly white gripping the railing.

jump to today, sunday. i’m still alive. the Sky Walk is great done in groups and is a good team building activity. the Edge Coaster if you’re acrophobic and you really just have a death wish. haha. the heights didn’t kill me, so i guess if that did anything it was to prove to myself that fears can be conquered.

i also have slight thalassophobia, the fear of large bodies of water like the sea. but that can wait. one at a time.

—

our photos of getting 100% naturally high in Cebu

Frame me up

now that i have some of my prints, i’m ready to get framed up thanks P for these nice ideas!
Ribba Frame from Ikea online Wooden clothespins

which just gave me a great idea…

i can hang my photos up on a nylon string and clip them on with wooden clothespins like these (which you can actually buy at Fully Booked, not the exact designs though, but there are lots of other designs):

yun nga lang, pag exposed, madali madumihan. hehe. oh well, kesa naman hindi nakalabas mas sayang.

excited nako!

Picture perfect

Clarice: Smile Mia, we’re on camera!

Mia: Ito na nga, naka-smile na.

Clarice: Ganito turo sakin ng mommy ko!

Mia: I’m 2 years old!

Clarice: Hinde, ganito pag nagpapa-peechur. Korean style.

Mia: Ganito?

Clarice: Actually hindi ako sure…

—

This is Mia with her second cousin Clarice.

It’s always fun to watch kids. Their curiousity is just so amusing.

Tags: mia

heatwave

this is too much. the heat is just too much!

Ice Cream by Ninang Patty (Lomo lc-a)

i want ice cream!!! what’s a good ice cream you can indulge in without the calories though? what’s that brand from DQ again?

Life’s a beach

This is as of now, my favorite photo. Not because of the beer, but because of its picture-post-card-perfect framing. Love the colors too. Hay, I really miss the beach already.

Canon EOS 400D. Club Paradise, PWN. March 2009.

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Ilang beses ko na rin ginawang subject si Mia para sa LP entries ko. Kasi naman, mga natural models ang mga bata. Ang sarap nilang kuhanan ng litrato dahil sa mga candid moments.

I always love to take photos of Mia’s smile.  She’s just such a happy little person!

And by the way, happy 1st anniversary sa lahat ng ka-LP!

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This week’s theme: Paboritong Litrato

Tags: beach, club paradise, Litratong Pinoy

I miss you already…

When will I see you again? When we were together my mind was free, my lungs breathed fresh, I knew no tiredness.

Hay, Palawan.

—

Club Paradise beach front, the moment we arrived. Canon EOS 400D, 2009.

WeSay, I say..

I’ve been paying more attention to my photography hobby lately so being part of good photography groups mean a lot. This is especially when I need to learn about more techniques and styles not just in taking photos but in post-processing too. (Lately Photoscape has been the answer to my Lomo-less situation, wink wink).

Sometimes though, it’s not enough to snap pictures of everything you see. Sometimes a landscape shot wouldn’t be as intersting without a context. Building a story through pictures is one subject that I love doing. I’ve done that in one of my LP entries, recycling my photo story plates back in college. I’ve really been leaning towards photoblogging lately. Pictures speak louder than words. WeSay.com is one such group that allows photo enthusiasts, even amateurs, to show what they’ve got through photo journalism.

I admit I’m not very good at this yet, but I am willing to learn. Joining a photo contest is a good chance to learn and challenge your usual way of doing (or photographing) things. When I joined the 100 Strangers Project it made me bolder to approach potential subjects. Joining WeSay’s photo contest will open your eyes even wider because of the Citizen Photojournalism challenge. You submit photos that make today’s news. It’s really that simple. It can be anywhere from road accidents to travel news to Obama and even to the weird and fascinating.

Try it, I am.