after 10 years

10 long years of working in the same company and, naturally, one would develop deep friendships with fellow employees. consequently, when one has worked for such a length of time and then decided to leave, his/her friends would ensure that there would be a heartfelt bon voyage.

such is the case for kathleen.

yesterday was kathleen’s last day here at work. this was appropriately followed by her farewell party organized by her closest friends. despite the rain and the ridiculous traffic, we, her friends, made sure we would be there.

the party started out late due to the aforementioned traffic but got going immediately upon the arrival of the celebrant. sa sobrang gutom, everyone attacked the food like there was no tomorrow. 😀 even my wife, selle, ate heartily. sarap ng food, sabi nga nya. 🙂

afterwards, the program started, kicking off with a 1 vs 100 spinoff game. the game mechanics had a few kinks and i quickly pointed it out thereby almost ensuring that kathleen would lose and suffer a consequence everytime. 😆

with the announcement of a curfew (grabe talaga. na-traffic na… nagka-curfew pa.) and selle working the following day, we needed to go home early. so we had to setup and show the avp earlier than planned. unfortunately, the organizers kind of overlooked on how to view the avp kaya naman we had to improvise. this was somewhat of a downer for me (and my wife as well) as i have exerted much effort on that avp. nevertheless, we were able to show the avp (despite having almost no audio) and it seemed like kathleen appreciated it. that’s all that matters. 🙂

we would’ve stayed longer but we really had to go. we’re sure the rest of the party was a blast and with all the efforts and preparations done, it is quite obvious how much kathleen is loved.


what would’ve been an easy 20-30 minute ride turned into hours as guests had to find ways to help pass time.


taking photos was my way of killing time. what better subject than my pretty wife. 😉


kathleen doing her best catwalk. one of the consequences she had to do. 😀


a labor of love from her friends… a scrapbook. it even has our very own spread na sinulatan namin on-the-spot na. 😆


sharing a bit of our 15 years of knowing each other.




(a) vena and i trying to figure out how to show the avp.
(b) despite the small screen and almost inaudible sound, the guest still stayed glued to it… at least some of them. 😀
(c) kathleen smiling while viewing the avp… priceless. 🙂



kathleen,

it goes without saying that we truly appreciate the friendship that we have. as you have done so in the past, do not hesitate to contact us if you need someone to talk to or simply someone to listen to you. if you want to treat someone, don’t hesitate to contact us also. 😉

we pray for God’s peace that transcends all understanding to be with you always.

keep smiling… and see you around… 🙂

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amidst all the chaos

we were at the office when he heard the news about the standoff at manila peninsula yesterday. although laguna is not really that far from makati, somewhow, news gets to this area a bit slower as we first heard about the news at around 3 pm already.

as we were on our way to a farewell party (more on this later) and got stuck in traffic (yup, with south superhighway being blocked off, traffic swelled all the way here), we remembered that early next year, we will be at the peninsula to attend a wedding. we kidded our friend hestia that it’s a good thing that her wedding is still slated next year. little did we know that at this eventful day in our country’s history, a couple scheduled to start their own history together at the peninsula.

check these interesting photo essays by wedding photographer extraordinaire, dino lara. a real-time blog post during the preps and a couple of post-ceremony blog posts about the wedding itself here and here.

cool stuff, huh? 🙂

it was so cool that this wedding even reached international news.

it was so nice to learn that amidst all the negative things happening during that day, the couple was steadfast in getting married and their love shown through.

now that is worth blogging about. 🙂

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w@wed

last friday, the weddingsatwork community converged at fernwood gardens for the annual w@w Christmas party. we were there last year and we planned to be there this year but selle had an ulcer attack that day so we decided not to push through anymore.

it was a fun day for w@wies. free afternoon prenups and makeup sessions with top photographers and makeup artists. it was coined as speed-nups because each couple only had 5-10 minutes with each photographer. it was like speed-dating with photographers. 😆 come evening, it was dinner + awards night + prizes galore. all of these for free. ain’t it cool to be a w@wie? 🙂

bob was there and he kept us abreast about the awards night. we were hoping that both bob and kaye make it to the top 5. sadly, that didn’t happen. 😦

this year’s supplier of the year? mimi + karl. the same guys we were rooting for last year, got it this year. 🙂



karl (or lemlem) is a batchmate of mine from way back in pisay and in up. we’re not sure how he applies his chemical engineering background on wedding photography but he sure is really good at it. same goes with mimi. with their awesome details shots and photojournalistic approach, these guys deserve the award. congratulations! libre naman dyan… 😉


congratulations also to kaye and bob for making the top 10. we still believe you guys should’ve been at least in the top 5. in our hearts… you guys are the best! 🙂
btw, you guys rock on these photos. 😉 (photos courtesy of jason arquiza)


more party pics courtesy of the ultimate partybooth, clique.
(top row) lanie with fellow makeup artists.
(bottom row) bob and his wife, let.

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11 on 11.11

our church celebrated its 11th year anniversary this past sunday. 11 years of making disciples, training leaders and planting churches. unlike previous anniversaries, this year the leaders decided to keep the celebration low-key but glorious nonetheless.

vcf malate is one of ten metro manila vcf churches. the whole movement started way back in 1984 when Rice Broocks, Al Manamtam, and Steve & Deborah Murrell led a team of sixty-five American university students on a one-month summer mission trip in Manila’s University Belt. from a single church with a congregation of 150, it has grown to 10 churches totalling 24,000 members (as of december 2006) in metro manila alone. we are part of that 24,000. 🙂

i have been a member of this church for the past 5 years and this has been my spiritual family. here i have come to know spiritual brothers and sisters who support me, pray for me and laugh with me. a couple of years ago, they welcomed selle the same way they welcomed me. now, the same people do the same to her. 🙂

such is the spirit of this church. we are all one big family with Christ as the head. props goes to the leaders for making this church the way it is. it starts with our senior pastor, pastor jonathan (who happens to be our ninong also 😀) and his family. you can’t find a friendlier family than they are. the best friends, pastor ado (my first discipler and our officiant/ninong 😀) and pastor nixon are always source of laughter and joy. there will never be a dull moment with either of the two… even when preaching. 😆. and the young gun, pastor cj, who is always a treat be it preaching or hosting or simply talking to. with leaders like these (d ko na isa-isa-hin pa yung iba, ha… dami eh. you know who you are. 😛) and the grace of the Lord, it’s no wonder our church have grown yet maintained that family-like atmosphere it has always have.

in celebration of the anniversary, pastor jonathan preached about the church. not specifically our church but church in general. we particularly liked how he ended his preaching by sharing a story about the taj mahal.

the taj mahal was built by the emperor, shah jahan, in honor of his wife, mumtaz mahal. he was so in grief of her death that he decided to build a mausoleum to house her body. as the taj was being built, his grief turned into this undying passion to build a majestic structure for the world to behold. one day, while inspecting the construction site, the emperor bumped into a box in the middle of the site. irritated, he ordered that the box be thrown out. unknowingly, he just ordered to throw out the casket of his wife. (uh-oh)

the emperor meant to build the taj to honor his wife. in the process though, he was too consumed that he then focused on the structure and forgot the reason behind it. that was a reminder for us, the church. it’s ok to aim for excellent structures, the use of technology in services… and so on. but we should not forget the reason behind it all, which is Jesus Christ.


the performing arts ministry with some theatrical dancing.


the pastoral staff symbolically celebrating the anniversary with a birthday cake. 😀


the church’s “big daddy” giving out his preaching.


a view of our church from the back row.

since church is really family, churchgoing doesn’t end after the service. there’s fellowship at the back row… then fellowship at the lobby… then fellowship right outside the church doors… then fellowship at a restaurant… 😀 this sunday is no different.


(clockwise from left) julius, my lovely wife, selle 🙂, wengi, mother, ivy, daisy & jaja

in the middle of all the kwen2hans and tawanans, we got to practice photography a bit during lunch and had a few shots despite the limited subjects and confined area.


restaurant details in lomo.
(left) shot by selle. ganda, no? told you she can shoot too. 😉
(right) the mat had really, really nice patterns… especially up close.


(left) again, depth-of-field off a point-and-shoot.
(right) daisy’s attempt in replicating the dof shot. didn’t quite get the shallow dof but she got the tilted cam technique and timed a shot perfectly resulting in a nice candid shot. 🙂


got to practice group portraiture also. 🙂 you know them, they’ve been featured here before. 😀

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ouch.

how cruel can a sport be?

yesterday, we were glued to our tv as we watched and cheered on our fellow filipino, roberto gomez, in the finals of the 2007 world pool championships. our country has been known for producing champions in the past and it was like another one was in the making.

this particular finals match was truly nerve-wracking. i have watched sports plenty of times but this one ranks way up there when it comes to sheer suspense and drama. starting from rack 23 (with the score 12-11 in favor of daryl peach), each rack was tightly contested. except for a couple runouts by peach, each player would have an opportunity to go to the table to play a shot. that is unusual in a finals match. more so, in a winner’s break format. their top-notch skills was showcased during safety play exchanges as both players would amazingly escape each trapped situation time after time. on the other hand, the pressure was too intense that both players would in turn uncharacteristically miss makeable shots.

the critical rack was the 31st rack with the match tied at 15 apiece (this was a race to 17, btw). peach was breaking and had momentum with a 3-rack win streak. after making the 1 ball at the break, he was left with a cross-table bank shot for the 2 ball which he missed. this seemingly gave gomez the chance to clear the table but he blew making the 5-ball (never nakuha ni gomez ang pulso nya buong match kaya bawat long shot nya was really suspense-filled). peach then apparently was about to runout the table but he overshot the position for the 8-ball which led to a disastrous position on the 9-ball. again, peach was left with a cross-table bank shot for the 9… which he missed. the crowd grew wild (kasama na ako dun 😆) as gomez was given another chance. pero hindi madali ang tira contrary to what reports would say. the pressure was just too much as gomez missed the 9… and consequently the rack. afterwards, he’d never get a chance to get to the table again.

it was so painful to see the pendulum quickly swing from the thrill of victory to the agony of defeat on that shot on the 9-ball. i really feel bad for gomez and could feel the pain due to the lost opportunity (yah, ramdam ko talaga. tanong nyo pa selle. 😀). but after all the emotions have died down (sabi ko naman sa inyo affected ako, eh. 😆), sabi ko nga kay selle, it just wasn’t meant to be. i felt like God had to make that happen because, maybe, He had greater things in store for gomez. maybe, gomez needed more toughening up for future events. who knows? but definitely there’s a reason.



gomez has nothing to be ashamed of but everything to be proud of. sa lahat ng magagaling na players sa pinas, sya lang ang natira. also, he became the first unseeded player to reach the finals. and with that, we congratulate you, roberto gomez. you made us proud. 🙂

staying on the world pool championships, i saw a headline on the newspaper yesterday regarding a controversial foul shot being called on django bustamante causing him to be eliminated. intrigued since we never saw that match, i googled it on the web and got this video.



foul or no foul? man, this is tough.

on first glance of the replay, it does look like the cue ball touched the 9-ball first. but, after numerous camera angles were shown, it’s not a certainty anymore. ang dami kasing factors eh. it would’ve been more conclusive if they zoomed in on the overhead shot but they didn’t. the statement of the commentators arguing that, “the 9-ball moved first…” is inconclusive because the 3-ball was just nicked while the 9-ball was hit head on therefore the 9-ball will apparently move first. zooming in to see the slightest movement would’ve answered the question. if this was the nfl, that wouldn’t be ruled a foul because, in the nfl, for a rule to be overturned using replay footages there must be conclusive evidence. unfortunately, this wasn’t the nfl.

anyway, another tough one for django especially since he was leading 10-9 and he would’ve won the match on that 9-ball.

ouch.

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the front porch experiment

the guidelines were simple:

• limit yourself within a specified area
• shoot anything without directing nor rearranging stuff

this is a good exercise for those into photography. it trains the eyes to be more perceptive and the mind to be more creative.

i have planned that we would do this once we get a dslr because it would be an effective way of learning the controls of a professional camera. it would also be a nice bonding session with my wife. 😉 but we still don’t have a dslr so this activity remains in the “things-to-do” list.

october 29 was a holiday and it was barangay elections day. we went home to selle’s hometown for her to exercise her right vote (d na ako bumoto kasi hindi ko naman kilala na ang mga tumatakbo kung san ako naka-register). voting was quick and it was over and done with in less than 5 minutes. afterwards, we went to selle’s family’s house to rest, eat 🙂 and spend some quality time. while resting out in the front porch, their caged dog caught my attention. kinuha ko bigla camera namin and took a quick picture. pag tayo ko, i saw some flowers, so i took a picture of that too… and then another. then i thought to myself, why not do the experiment now? so i did just that. armed with our handy point-and-shoot, i started exploring and shot anything that looks interesting.

after a few minutes of shooting, here’s a glimpse of the experiment results:



flowers are always nice photo subjects.
(top) i particularly liked how this photo turned-out. the rule-of-thirds, shallow depth-of-field and subtle use of lines all work together to further emphasize the subject matter.
(bottom) basically the same technique was used here. we bought this plant at festival mall as a gift to selle’s mom. 🙂 that was a little over a year ago.


besides the obvious subject matters like flowers, things forming interesting shapes and/or patterns are always nice to photograph.
(top) have you ever imagined clothespins would be this nice? 😛
(bottom) do not underestimate simple geometrical shapes. in this case, it’s just 2 circles and a rectangle. the reflections on the water adds another dimension to this photo.


of course, whenever we’re taking pictures, there has got to be some lomography somewhere. 😀 these 2 photos are all about the play of lines and colors popping out… lomo style.


a collection of photos of mundane things. beauty can be seen everywhere. it’s just a matter of getting the right angle, the right approach and applying the right enhancements.


a couple more photos.
(top) a coconut tree taken at a different angle.
(bottom) the photo that started this whole experiement. galing din noong aso, no? marunong mag-project. 🙂

this experiment proved one thing… that we live in a wonderful world and that beautiful photos are not made… but it is discovered and subsequently captured.

despite the limitations of a point-and-shoot, this was a fun exercise with plenty of learning experiences.

we just can’t wait to get our hands on a dslr, right, favy? 😉

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