Four years na din nung magsimula akong maging interested sa photography. Pagkatapos ng ilang basic lessons at libo-libong pindutan, tumigil din ako dahil sa kawalan ng interes, oras, at kung ano ano pang excuses. Nakakatuwa na hanggang ngayon madami pa ding interesado sa hobby form of art na ito. Natural lang na madami din ang nahihilig sa cameras. Tuloy tuloy pa din ang DLSR Mania(cs).

Ang malungkot dito, kagaya ng cellphones, laptops, tsinelas, bags, at kung ano ano pa, parang ginagawa na ding status symbol nating mga Pinoy ang DSLR. [Teka, kung hindi ka in dahil hindi mo alam kung ano ang DSLR at fan lng kita talaga kaya mo to binabasa, browse mo muna ito.] Sa beach at sa iba pang pasyalan, sandamakmak ang DSLR. Madami din sa malls, sa schools, sa office, pati na din sa mga paborito nating coffee shops. May mga nakasakay na din ako sa jeep na nakasabit ang DSLR kahit wala namang kukunan. Uso kasi e. Wala namang masama.

Opinyon lang: May tamang paggamit ng DSLR. Kahit yung mga professional photographers, compact camera ang dala para sa casual shoots. Nakalabas ang DSLR kung may photoshoot, photowalk, at kung talagang kinakailangan ng pagkakataon. Madalas nakalagay ito sa kanilang bags kapag hindi ginagamit, hindi naka-kwintas na todo setup kasama ang mahahabang lens habang umiinom ng kape sa starbucks. Ok, inggit lang ako siguro hehe.

Opinyon lang ulit: Ang DSLR, may manual yan. At binabasa yan, pinag-aaralan. Hindi yan pang-display. Yung photography, pinagtya-tyagaan. Kelangan ng interes na matuto at sipag sa pag-practice. Ang DSLR, yan ang pinangkukuha ng litrato. Hindi yan ang kinukunan kasama ang nakangiwing sarili para gawing profile picture sa facebook at jologs na daw na friendster katulad nito:
Inggit talaga e no. Wala kasi akong mahiraman ng DSLR para meron din akong ganyan. :(

I-share ko na din: may tatlong paraan para makagawa ka ng ganitong klaseng art:
1."Mirror" Technique - ang method na ito ang pinaka-talamak. Haharap ka sa salamin, ngingiwi at kukunan ang sarili. Hinay-hinay lng sa flash (sana alam mo kung ano yun) dahil baka matakpan ng ilaw ang mukha sa picture.

2.Ask-A-Friend - Tawagin ang iyong bestfriend (na bihasa din dapat sa paggamit ng DSLR), humarap sa kanya ng nakangiwi na parang siya ang subject mo at magpakuha litrato. Sabay takbo sa kanya at sumigaw ng "Patingin!"

3."Stolen" Technique - Simple lang. Kung grupo kayo ng mga bihasa sa paggamit ng DSLR, ngumiwi ng ngumiwi habang kumukuha ng litrato ng kung ano ano malapit sa mga ka-grupo at intayin na may kumuha ng "stolen". Yun nga lang, kelangan i-browse lahat ng DSLR nila para malaman mo kung nasaan ang "stolen" sayo.

Babala lang na masamang araw-arawin ang mga techniques. Baka mahipan ka ng hangin at hindi na maalis ang pagka-ngiwi hehe. Pwede din isabit na lang sa leeg kung magpapakuha, para di na kelangan ngumiwi. Mas safe.

PS: Sa mga kaibigan kong nasa picture, peace tayo ha. Katuwaan lang po. Pahiram DSLR, papakuha din ako para quits tayo. Inggit talaga hehe. :)

.

Dalawang beses sa loob ng isang araw kung sumakay ako ng LRT at MRT, papasok ng opis at pauwi. Sampung beses sa isang linggo, times 4 sa isang buwan. Sari-saring tao, amoy, at kwento na ang nakasalamuha, nalanghap, narinig, at naranasan ko sa araw-araw na pagbyahe gamit ang tren na to:

1. Pagbukas ng pinto ng kadarating na MRT sa Taft station, ciempre labasan yung mga pasahero. Etong mga ataters na pasakay e nagkumpulan agad sa may pinto at hinaharangan yung mga palabas. Lalong tumatagal. May isang mama sumigaw: Wag nyong salubungin yan, di nyo naman yan kamag-anak e!! Oo nga naman…

2. Bilib din ako sa mga ways ni GMA para pataasin ang popularidad niya sa surveys. Pati MRT at LRT e hindi pinatawad sa paglagay ng posters. Sabi dun sa isa: Ugaliin kumain ng pagkaing niluto sa mantika. Ano daw? Plano ba nyang paliitin ang populasyon ng Pinas sa pamamagitan ng mantika?

3. The Turtles. Ito nakakainis. Sa stations naman to madalas at sa mga hagdan. Hindi naman mga lolo’t lola pero kung maglakad e parang namamasyal sa Luneta o nagwiwindow shopping. Yung tipong parang pila na ng lotto sa haba yung nasa likod nila e deadma pa din.. cge pa din sa pamamasyal. Ang sarap tuloy bungguin haha.

4. Eto malupit. The Great Pretenders. Alam nyo yung mga lalaking nakaupo na oras na may tumapat na babae o matanda sa kanila e talo pa nasapak ni Pacquiao sa bilis matulog. Halata namang nagpapanggap lang kasi napapadilat at sumisimpleng silip sa bintana para malaman kung lagpas na ung station nila.

5. Frustrated DJs. No offense meant sa mga drivers ng LRT at MRT ha, pero di ko mapigilan matawa kapag every station e napakahaba ng dialouges nila. Kadalasan e may adlib pa bukod sa dapat nilang sinasabi e, para bang sabik na sabik sa mic e halos minu-minuto naman nila un ginagamit. Yung iba nga halatang hayok sa mic, kasi sinasadyang pahabain ung dialogues tapos aabutin na ng next station kaya turn na niya ulit magsalita. In short, hindi na siya tumitigil.

Actually madami pa e.. pero yan lng muna sa ngyon, pandagdag din ng post count e kung ihihiwalay ko hahaha. Kayo, na-experience nyo ba tong mga inilista ko?

Na-miss ko concerts ng Maroon 5 at Incubus sa Manila, and mami-miss ko Lifehouse tsaka Daughtry. Kainis pero parang ok na lang din, at least natuloy alis ko. Pero itong isang 'to sobrang badtrip! Bakit kelangang this August na??!

Eraserheads Reunion Concert
One Night Only
August 30, 2008
CCP Open Grounds

Sorry ha, pero magdadasal ako na sana hindi muna matuloy, until makabalik ako ng Pinas! :P

Nga pala, nabalitaan ko 'to kay Nherz habang nasa tindahan siya ni aling Nena. Thanks! :D

Friday. We went to Albertville Premium Outlets for their July 4 sale. Most of us were soooo excited, especially the girls, since they know that 100 outlet stores including Adidas, Nike, CK, Kenneth Cole, Polo RL, Coach, Nine West etc. are waiting for them. I am excited too, but the kuripotness in me whispers na kelangan ko daw mag-ipon hehe. Ang dami namin sa roadtrip, wee are 12 in all, but we rented a 15-seater van to give us more room just in case we get carried away.

As soon as some of the outlets have opened (we got there 8:30am e 10am pa pala nagbubukas, obvious na excited haha), we started our "journey". Lahat merong gustong store na puntahan at bilihan, kaya galit-galit muna. As for me, I wanted a pair of shoes, two pairs of jeans, a watch, and a few shirts. Yun lang. But who would have guessed that I would also fall into the trap?

Tingnan nyo naman kasi yung mga deals:

Shoes: 50% off each pair, tapos kapag bumili ka ng 2 pairs may libre pang isa.
Shirts: 50% - 70% off kaya ang prices around $3 - $10 na lang.
Watches: $30 each or less.
Caps: $5 - $10 each, buy 2 and get 20% off, 3 and get 30% off, and so on...
Bags, Jeans, and all the other items: 50% - 70% off!

Ayun yung plan ko, nadoble! This is the first time (in my entire life) na bumili ako ng 5 pairs of shoes (usually one in a year), a dozen shirts, and a watch (every two to three years) in one day! Ngayon lang din ako nag-shop ng ganun at gumastos ng ganun kalaki sa loob ng ilang oras (except ciempre kung gadgets yung binili ko hehe). Nilagnat ako as soon as macompute ko lahat ng binili ko haha! And worse, I wasn't able to buy anything for my mom and my sister! Wala pa din akong pasalubong! Naisip ko lang, sana bumili na di ako kahit di pa ako uuwi, sayang ung sale hehe.

Just as we expected, sobrang sikip nung van nung umuwi na kami. Literally natatabunan kami ng pinamili namin.

Saturday. On with the sale sickness. We went to Best Buy and Circuit City stores in Maplewood. Buti na lang either mahal or sold-out na yung plan kong bilhin: Creative Zen. Just when I thought delayed na yung paggastos ko ulit, natuloy kaming pumunta ng Mall of America, sale din kasi. The damage done: two pairs of slippers and a polo shirt.In a span of two days, I've spent an amount a little less than my allowance for 10 days. Nakaka-guilty... pero I feel happy kapag nakikita ko yung pinamili ko, pinaghirapan ko din yan kahit papano! <--Pampalubag-loob haha!

Sunday Plans: Go to church tapos mag-stay sa loob ng apartment maghapon, wag lalabas and resist temptations.

Now I hate Albertville, MN. :P

I could have posted my US immigration experience last Saturday, but I thought it wouldn't do me any good thinking about something as annoying as that. So I'll just give you some of the things that we did for a week in this foreign city. Eto na!

- Hindi namin alam kung pano gumamit ng dishwasher, so we had to try it out. Inilagay namin lahat ng utensils and wares and after an hour, natapos din. When we checked our kitchen, bumaha na pala sa sahig.

- Of course we have to get some grocery items, e hindi namin alam kung san yung pinakamalapit kaya naghanap kami sa internet. Ayun, we walked to a supermarket 2 miles away from our apartment! Kakakagod, more than 30 mins kaming naglakad haha.

- Now the problem is how to get back to our apartment with all those plastic bags full of groceries. Tumawag kami ng taxi, sabi 10mins andyan na daw. Good. After 40mins of waiting for the stupid yellow cab, naglakad kami papunta sa nearest bus stop, which is about a mile from the supermarket. Pinagtitinginan kami ng mga tao.. nagtataka sila kung bakit merong isang group ng mga bulinggit na naglalakad sa highway at madaming dalang plastic bags. Weird.

- Pano ba bumaba ng bus? Kakatok ka sa bintana or sasabihin mo Para po!? Hindi namin alam kung papano, so nung malapit na sa apartment namin, we all stood up thinking the driver would realize that we want to get off. Deadma. After namin lumagpas ng isang street nakita namin may kelangan palang hilahin na string para mag-signal sa driver.

- Almost everything here is automatic, from the doors to the washers. Pero hindi ang drinking fountain. Akala ni Carmi high-tech din yun that she just have to put her face near the faucet, pero after a few seconds na nakatapat yung bibig nya sa "sensor", wala pa din lumalabas. E wala naman palang sensor haha.

- Galing akong airport, kinuha ko passport ko (Thanks for keeping it, Mr. Immigration Officer! Argh!). Sumakay ako ng bus na sa tingin ko dadaan sa downtown St. Paul, where our office is at. Merong sumakay na 3 drunkards and they started to create a scene sa loob ng bus. Hina-harass nila yung mga girls! Ako naman kinabahan kasi baka mapagdiskitahan din ako kasi iba itsura ko or baka kunin yung laptop ko. Nyay! Buti na lang merong isang malaking mama na ni-grab yung mga drunkards and forced them to get off the bus. Ang saya magbus sa Minnesota! :P

- Our manager got concerned when he learned na hindi kami makakita ng mga veggies at condiments na lasang pinoy. So he volunteered to drive us to some asian supermarkets ng lunch break. Nice! Inihatid din nya kami sa apartment namin kasi baka masira yung ibang items kung hindi agad mailagay sa freezer. To his surprise, umuwi siya sa kanila na walang laman yung compartment ng car nya. Naiuwi pala namin yung mga buko niya haha! Is that how you thank me, you coconut-stealing pinoys? Wala lang, naisip namin baka ganyan sinasabi nya sa isip nya haha.

- Si jerome bibili sana ng beer para meron kaming dalhin pagpunta namin sa Galtier (apartment na pinag-stayan nung iba samin), pero ayaw siya bigyan kasi wala siya dalang ID. Bumalik sya sa apartment pero tinamad kunin sa luggage nya passport, kaya sinamahan ko na lang siya bumili, with my passport of course. We're not allowed to do that, you know? You're just buying those beers for him (Jerome) coz he came here a while ago and he doesn't have an ID! I know that's for him! Anak ng tinapa napagkamalan pa atang isinama ni brad yung kuya nya para ibili siya ng beer! After our third try, binigyan na din kami hehe.

For those who have been asking me on how we went to Sagada and what we did there, here's a summary of our trip (I've long wanted to write about it and get out of my laziness, and this is the best try so far):

Day 0
9:00PM - 3:15AM ~ Trip from Manila to Baguio. Took us around 6 hours. In my opinion, it is best to get a bus from Victory Liner Pasay since they have trips every hour.
* Fare will cost you P395.00.
* Two stop-overs.

Day 1
3:15AM ~ Arrival to Baguio. From Victory Liner Baguio, we took a cab to Dangwa Station, where Lizardo Bus Lines is located. Their buses will take us to Sagada.
* Taxi fare would be around P35.00 - P40.00.

6:00AM - 12:30PM ~ Trip from Baguio to Sagada. Took us another 6 hours. It is best to get to Dangwa at around 5:00am to make sure that you get the first trip.
* Fare will cost you P220.00, all buses do not have aircons.
* First trip leaves at 6:00am, last trip leaves at 1:00pm.
* Some roads are rough, better take anti-motion sickness pills
* Two stop-overs.

12:30PM ~ Arrival to Sagada.
* It is required for all tourists to register at the municipal hall first.
* Rates for inns, lodges, transients, tour guides, van rentals, etc are available at the municipal hall
* It is required to hire tour guides in almost all of the tourist spots

Around 3:ooPM ~ Burial Cave Trek

Around 5:00PM - 7:30PM ~ Sumaging Cave Trek
* Wear something comfortable
* You may also want to get yourself wet inside the cave
* Bring drinking water
* For these 2 trips, you may not rent a van yet since these sites are close to the municipal hall (provided you are staying near it)

Day 2
Around 9:00AM - 2:00PM ~ Trek to Big Falls, Rice Terraces
* Wear swim suits, boardshorts!
* Bring lots of drinking water and packed lunch if you want
* You may want to wear shoes, since this trek will take you around 3 hours to and from

Around 3:00PM ~ Trips to Echo Valley, Sagada Weaving, etc.
* These are trips not as tiring as that of going to the Big Falls
* Make sure that you rent a van (will cost you about P1400.00 for the whole day, plus the tour guide fee of P1200.00)
* Make sure you do these and the Sumaging Cave trek on different days, just as we did

Day 3
Around 7:30AM ~ Casual Walk around Sagada
* While waiting for the 9:00am bus ride back to Baguio (the first bus leaves at 7:00am)
* Walk to the church, the hospital, view some cliffs, etc.

Some more tips:
* Bring medicines, iodine solutions, bandage, etc. just in case. ^^
* Drink Vitamin C, to increase your resistance to colds, cough, etc. since it' very cold in Sagada.
* Better bring liters of water, then just transfer it to smaller bottles during trips, as bottled water in Sagada can be a bit pricey.
* Make a reservation to inns in advance. We didn't do this, and we five end up staying at a more costly room only good for three.
* Do some stretching before the trek, as it can be very very tiring. A few jogs in the morning won't hurt. ^^
* Read and do some reseacrh on Sagada first, as this trip may not be enjoyable to some people. You may want to browse Visit Sagada, most of the info we had came from it.

This is all for now. I know I have missed something, do if you have more questions, feel free to post. :P

These past few weeks I always make sure to include Daughtry's music on my playlists. Be it on my workstation at the office, my desktop at home, or my PSP. My most fave right now is Over You, a single from their debut album. Just as when I am listening to it, I learned from a YM status message of one of my friends that Daughtry will be here live July 28, 2008 at the Eastwood Central Plaza. I didn't know that they will be performing here, since I lost my interest in browsing TicketNet's site after missing Maroon 5's and Incubus' concerts.

Just as I want to see them perform live, I think I may not be able to watch their concert due to the following reasons (a.k.a. alibis): 1) It will be at Eastwood City, which is far from where I work and where I live; 2) I get frustrated when concerts are held in an open field; 3) I may not have the funds for it (it's a bit costly) since I've some anime figures on pre-order; and lastly, 4) My friends are not fans of Daughtry; I can hear them saying that they'd rather watch the band play on MTV.

So, if you have extra tickets (and you're willing to give them away hehe) please please let me know hehe. Make them too so I can bring a date. :P In case you don't have any yet, try to get some tix here.

Enjoy! :D

It was this day of 2005 when thirty kids (and kids at heart) went into a cramped classroom (which actually was a parking lot) in GT Tower. For three weeks they were to study one of the oldest programming languages on earth: COBOL. The group is composed of mostly fresh graduates from across the country, but there were also experienced ones, those who were called halimaw developers hehe. Together they studied, shared codes, jokes, and even lunches, and have developed a bond (not the one worth P100 000) among each of the members. Together they called themselves the CooCoo batch. ^^

So why the name CooCoo batch? A previous group called theirs COBOListas, and others proclaimed themselves as COBOLleros. Ours was picked because of a very funny reason: Our training room has a karaoke, and for some reasons, it was always tuned to 90.7 (Love Radio). And so there were several times when we had to stop coding to laugh at the DJ's jokes, and at their station ID (or whatever that is) "kukurukuku, kelangan pa ba imemorize yan?" Haha.

And so when the time came that we had to decide what name we want ourselves to be called, we went for CooCoo Batch! And each of the members was called a CooCoo! ^^

Today, some of the CooCoos have left "the company" where we all met and became friends, including me (I resigned on this same day last year), but as our saying goes: Once a CooCoo, always a CooCoo! Hahaha.

Happy anniversary CooCoos! Three years! Yeah! ^^

I've bump into this post a long time ago, but since I am very much crazy about Haruhi Suzumiya figures these days, I thought I just have to share this with you. One of the prettiest and naughtiest anime girls of all time (i said so), you should really get to know her more.

So what's with the Haruhi picture? It may seem like an ID pic to you, but forgive me, I do not know how to get that "live" Haruhi from the original source, especially when the captions are in Nihongo. Anyway, please enjoy playing with her eyeballs here.

Watch Haruhi for free as she tries to undress her schoolmates in the series Haruhi Suzumiya no Yuutsu. Or, if luckily that link is blocked at your office, you may just want to try to read the manga here.

If someone knows how I can download that Flash file for myself, please let me know. I will never sell it, promise. ^_^

Went to SM Megamall this afternoon for the Ozine Fest 2008, hoping that I could dig some bargains. The entrance fee is 100 pesos, but unfortunately I didn't find anything interesting among the few toy booths around Megatrade Hall 2. If not for the cosplayers, I could have gone home after a few minutes.

The venue is small and a little hot, good thing these didn't ruin the cosplay contest. There were 252 participants, it took around two and a half hours before everyone was done with the catwalk. Sobrang sakit tuloy ng binti ko pagkatapos! The place is crowded that it is a bit hard to take pictures since hindi ka makapwesto ng maayos. Nonetheless, this is probably the cosplay event that I enjoyed the most. There was a good mix of old and new anime characters that were portrayed, and most of the cosplayers were not hesitant to give their best on their presentations.
Of course, heroes from our favorite animes like Naruto, Bleach, and Fullmetal Alchemist are present during the event. What surprised me is that a number of participants also picked those which are from the not-so-popular-locally series such as Code Geass, D.Gray-Man, and Shakugan no Shana. Also, lolitas are everywhere to be seen, something that is not common, as far as I know, during the previous cosplays.

Ok, enough of the talking. I know you only want the photos so here they are (below each is the caption):^ A lot of people went around the stage, this is the closest that I can be. T_T
^ Banners featuring some of our faves are all around the place, too bad I wasn't able to take some.
^ This has also been an event for Lineage II, a MMORPG. I was too busy I didn't ask what they are doing here for.
^ It's always good to start the day with our friends from Naruto. This is Uchiha Sasuke in Shipuuden costume. Nice belt!
^ Aburame Shino modelling for Transformers figures. Cool shades!
^ A few minutes after dressing up, Master Jiraiya got her first female victim! ^^
^ I belive this is Kankuro, minus the face markings. I couldn't believe he replaced them with an eyeglasses. What's the problem huh?
^ And of course, cosplays would not be complete if you don't a single Akatsuki member lurking around...
^ Lacus Clyne from Gundam Seed bacame cuter even more with her green Haro.
^ Cute little sisters! Oh by the way, why is Cloud Strife with you?
^ The prettiest Yuna (FFX2) cosplayer that I've ever seen, and probably the prettiest in this event! Too bad she wasn't smiling here...^ Pretty neat costume, but I forgot who she is.
^ Nasaan ang liwanag?
^ And some more cosplayers that I don't know...
^And more...
^ He's from Final Fantasy I believe...
^ And more...
^ Believe me brother, you don't need that poster to tell us who you are. ^^
^ I wonder what's in this lolita that Kenpachi (Bleach) eagerly wants that he had to swing his Zanpakutoh...
^ Hard Gay on the left, Iron Man on the right. These two sure have too much in common!
^ This is my friend Ian begging for his life as he is being choked by Hellboy. I couldn't help him since I was holding my camera.
^ More cute little girls...
^ And a cute little... WTH happened to Bumblebee?! All because of that prism?!
~~~

EDIT: After viewing my post, I realized that even I get annoyed of my photo-caption layout. It should have been the caption first before the photo to lessen the confusion. But it's past 12am already, and I am too lazy today so I guess you should just forgive me. ^^