21/365 - A Visitor

21 January 2010

This day marks my parents' 32nd wedding anniversary. They only shared it for 29 years because dad passed away nearly 3 years ago, but still mom has all the reasons to celebrate their anniversary.

While cooking dinner, I thought about what this day is, and out of nowhere, a moth flew in and played with the light bulb. In my paternal hometown, people tend to believe that if a butterfly or a moth, or any inscet came in and stayed in the house or if it's an unusual insect, it meant that a departed loved one was over for a visit. It was my first time to see a moth like this, and given the meaning of the day was, I think this is my dad visiting, just to greet mom a happy anniversary.

*** Jenn ***

20/365 - Unmask Me

20 January 2010

Wednesday is Self Portrait day and although I struggled a bit on thinking what kind of picture to capture this week, seeing my sister's mask gave me an idea of using it as a prop. The mask by the way was a prop she used when she attended a high school friend's masquerade debut party.

This made me remember a lesson in college about "all of us wearing masks." It's quite a painful fact, but yes, I do put on a mask - primarily to protect myself. On the outside I do look okay and bubbly, but on the inside part of me is sad, hurt, and confused about certain things. While I stay honest about 99% of all things, when it comes to feelings, I sometimes don't tell exactly what's on my mind, for I am afraid to be misquoted. They say we choose how we feel, and even if I am aching about something, I just choose to be happy and hope that the happy disposition would somehow ward off the negative vibes surrounding me.

*** Jenn ***

19/365 - Taking Shelter

19 January 2010

The first rain of 2010 came on Day 19, giving more chills to the already chilly day people are experiencing. Still, I watered the plants because part of our terrace's roof extends to the garden, and some plants weren't able to receive a shower from the sky. As I turn on the hose, I saw this little fellow in one of the plants, trying to take shelter. I immediately went back inside the house, grabbed my camera and seeing that they spider was still there, I aimed for a picture. A very willing model this one, is, but after a few shots, it just jumped and disappeared. Maybe the flash was a bit too much for this fellow to handle.

*** Jenn ***

18/365 - Christmas Presents

18 January 2010

Yes, I know it's nearly a month ago since Christmas came, but it was just on Day 18 that I was able to take a picture the presents, because it was just yesterday when brother handed 'te Emmy's gift. She didn't send it anymore last Christmas because she knew brother would be traveling to Cagayan de Oro this month. She gave two tubes of lip gloss for sister and I, but we still haven't decided which lip gloss would we pick, so brother suggest we should just share it.

The cheek blusher was from mom... well, she gave me 100 worth of GC at HBC beauty store, and I knew I would spend it on blusher because the one I am using before this was already a year old. I am not really into cosmetics, but I did love these, and I am thankful for the generosity.

*** Jenn ***

17/365 - Medium Needed

17 January 2010

I acknowledge the fact that our PC is sick, and its "cancer" is slowly eating up the system. While I can live with it, I felt so stressed and annoyed on Day 17, as I cannot transfer the pictures I took from Day 16 onto our PC. I cannot understand why the PC cannot read the files - the thumbnails all have "X" in it, and should I transfer using a different way, it would either say "Files cannot be copied," or worse, "Please insert disk on Drive .." Ugh. I was stressed and annoyed, yes, but I was more scared as I don't want to lose any of those precious pictures.

A silver lining came near the end of Day 17, when brother came home from his trip (he went to his girlfriend's hometown in Cagayan de Oro), I asked if I could borrow his card reader, and thankfully, I was able to transfer files successfuly. I can breathe now. :)

*** Jenn ***

16/365 - Towards Destiny

16 January 2010

On Day 16, I met up with shutterbug friends for some "church architecture" photo walk. Halie invited me a few days before the meet up, and although I knew that I was already able to take pictures from the churches we would visit, I still came and met up with them to give myself a chance to take a look at it on a different angle.

We visited three churches - Manila Cathedral, Binondo Church, and San Agustin Church. This picture was taken from the choir loft of the San Agustin Church, while a bride walked down the aisle on her wedding day. Time and time again, I've been praying, wishing, and hoping that when my turn comes, I will also get married here. In a way, this picture sums up that wish.

This picture was taken using Halie's Nikon Coolpix P80 camera. It's a point and shoot camera, but it's already going towards DSLR as users can change its shutter speed and aperture. Halie wanted me to use it just so I would know how to operate a Nikon camera. My companions wanted me to use it in full manual mode, but I still can't get ahold of the relationship between shutter speed and aperture, so most of the time I used the camera on P mode. Maybe next time, Halie would lend it to me again so I could learn more. Big thanks to you, dear sister, for lending me your camera.

*** Jenn ***

15/365 - Partial Solar Eclipse

15 January 2010

Upon hearing from the news the previous day that there will be a partial solar eclipse, I expected for it, and checked the time and the sun every now and then... The eclipse started about 3:30 in the afternoon, and although there was just a small part of the sun covered by the moon at that time, I enjoyed the view as I could see it without obstructions. However, as time ticks by, slowly the sun was hiding at the back of the house fronting ours.

I thought that was the end of my eclipse watching. I tried going out of the house and find spaces between houses if I could see the sun, but I just can't. After an hour, I went to our terrace and spotted the sun - still hiding at the back of our neighbor's house, but I was able to take a peek somewhere. I placed about four sheets of negatives by the lens of my camera and zoomed it in so I can take a photo. The house fronting ours have a balcony on the second floor of their house, if only there were people there, I could just go to their balcony and watch the eclipse, but I wasn't lucky today, so I just have to be contented with this. The clothesline on the balcony was a clutter in the shot, but what can I do, right? At least with this I could say I was able to see the eclipse.

*** Jenn ***