LP 01.29.2009 - Lila

Sa katunayan, nahirapan ako sa paghahanap ng lahok para sa linggong ito. Di ko naman kasi gaanong hilig ang kulay na ito kaya't di ko masyadong napapansin. Nakaisip na ako ng lahok (100 pisong bill na may logo ng UP Centennial dahil ako ay isang proud na iskolar ng bayan) at nakakuha na rin ako nito, di ko pa lang nakunan ng litrato. Ngayon, di ko na mahanap ang isang daang piso ko. Haha.

Eto na po ang aking lahok:

Asan ang lila ba kamo? Ayun, sa gitna ng hinaing Kulawo. Ang bulaklak na ito ay ginamit ito bilang garnish. Alam mo ba kung anong bulaklak ito? *wink wink* hahahaha.

Ang Kulawo kinilaw na puso ng saging o di kaya'y talong (sa pagkakataong ito, parehong ginamit ang talong at puso ng saging) na sinamahan ng gata (ang niyog ay tinusta muna bago nilagyan ng suka at piniga). At kung kayo'y naiintriga, ang salad na nakikita niyo sa likuran ay gawa naman sa pako (o fern).

Kuha ko po ito nang kami'y bumisita sa bahay ni Ugu Bigyan sa Tiaong, Quezon. Isa ito sa mga lugar na aming binisita nang kami'y mag-Viaje Del Sol. Eto ang bahay ni Ugu:

Pwede rin pala itong lahok para sa Kahel. hehe.

PS
Alam niyo bang purple ang color of the year? hehe.

Para sa ibang mga lahok, pumunta sa

LP 01.22.2009 - Kahel

Ang isnaberang pusa. Bow.

Hirap na hirap akong kunan ng litrato ang pusang ito sapagkat lumalayo siya tuwing ihaharap ko ang aking kamera sa kanya. 'Di naman siya lumalayo pag nilalapitan ko siya at hinahawakan, sa katunayan, malambing pa nga siyang dumidikit sa aking binti wag lang niyang makita ang kamera ko. Mga ilang minuto rin kaming naghahabulan para lang makunan ko siya ng litrato. At sa lahat ng aking nakuha, ito ang aking napili dahil tila ba nang-iisnab siya dito at sinasabing: No photos please. (Di siya tulog niyan, napapikit lang. haha)

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LP 01.15.2009: Asul

Isa sa mga pinakapaborito kong kunan ng litrato ay ang mga ulap (na kulay puti naman at hindi asul, haha). Gandang-ganda talaga ako sa mga ulap na tila mga bulak na palipad-lipad sa kalangitan. Kadalasan, pagmakikita kong maganda at maaliwalas ang langit, kukunin ko kaagad ang aking kamera at kukunan ko ito ng litrato. Ang kuhang ito ay mula sa loob ng eroplano nang kami'y papauwi mula Taiwan.

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Stranger#001: Edwin, the photographer

My friend,Jeff and I were dining in a resto just outside Robinson's Place Manila this afternoon when I found my perfect stranger number one. He entered the restaurant with a warm greeting to the staff and proceeded to the counter to make his order. His dreads were the first thing I noticed. (I've been thinking of going to Boracay this summer to get dreads. or maybe those tiny braids.:D) I immediately pointed him out to Jeff and told him that that person would be my perfect stranger number one.

I remained in my seat and fidgeted for 20 long minutes (what happened to the three-second rule, I have no idea), asking Jeff for advice on how to approach him and ask him to pose for me. I was such a nervous-wreck I forgot I had a drink to finish. My hands were getting clammy. This was my first time to approach a complete stranger to ask for his picture. I think he kind of noticed that I was peeking ever-so-often. (I was starting to get embarrassed :P). I was both excited and afraid, two very messed up feelings. Jeff kept on giving me reminders and confidence boosts, not to mention the nearest escape routes if my attempt backfired. I was so nervous my hands were cold.

My assessment: He looked nice and friendly, it didn't seem to me that he would decline. When he pulled his Macbook out of his bag, I knew he was techy enough to know about blogs and Flickr. He can easily look up 100strangers in the web and know that it is a bonafide group in Flickr (And I'm not some weird stalker-ish person :D).

When I finally mustered the courage to approach him, I introduced myself, explained my project (100 Strangers) and asked him if I could take his photo. He readily agreed, saying that he was also a photographer. Talk about coincidence. :)

Edwin is a freelance photographer, who used to work as an artist in an insurance company. He currently has a ongoing photo exhibit at the Philamlife Building, UN Ave, Ermita, Manila.The proceeds will be donated to Palcare (and to several other groups, according to his website). We chatted for a few moments, exchanged URLs, and talked a little bit more. I took a total of three shots with my shaking hands, shy to ask for more. He was really nice and friendly (true to my assessment.:D).

I hurried back to my seat, still giddy from being able to accomplish such a daunting task. Finally, I have my stranger number one! The adrenaline rush was exhilarating I had a hard time composing myself. We left the resto before he did, and as we passed by his table, I waved a quick goodbye and told him that he can visit my site tomorrow (Jan 10) to check the post.

In retrospect: Approaching a stranger is no easy task. It can also be dangerous if you approach the wrong person. (What I have learned: It's better to have someone with you before approaching a stranger, that way, he/she can look out for you. :) ) But when you do meet a nice person like Edwin, it becomes a wonderful learning experience. As for the photo I took, well, it's the first out of a hundred, and I still have a long way to go. There's a lot of room for improvement. Maybe Edwin could help me out, being a professional photographer and all. :D

Till my next stranger!

***

This is the picture number 1 of my 100Strangers project. To see pictures taken by other members and to know more about the group, visit 100Strangers.com now. Join us here.

LP 01.08.2009: Pula

Maligayang bati mga kaLP! Heto ang aking ikalawang lahok para ako'y maging ganap na kasapi ng Litratong Pinoy! :D

Kahit tapos na ang pasko, tila mararamdaman mo pa rin ang diwa nito sa lamig ng simoy ng hangin dulot ng pabugso-bugsong ambon dito sa Maynila. Mas naramdaman ko ito nuong Lunes ng umaga nang ako'y gumisng para sorpresahin ang aking kaibigan sa kanyang kaarawan. Talaga namang nangangatog ako habang naliligo dahil sa lamig. Kami'y pumunta ng Eastwood City sa Libis upang kumain sa Somethin' Fishy. Pagkatapos ng aming almusal, kami'y naglakadlakad at nagliwaliw, sapagkat pangalawang beses ko palang makarating sa lugar na iyon. Tamang-tama naman at may nakita kaming punong may naiwang dekorasyon ng nakaraang pasko.

Nakikita niyo ba ako sa Pulang Christmas Ball? :D Nandyan din ang isa pang bagong sali sa LP na si Arlene. At dahil natuwa ako sa editing function ng aking kamera, mula sa orihinal na litrato, heto ang mga kinalabasan:

Fisheye effect daw ito. Erm, san banda? Parang naka-zoom lang e.

Surround in monochrome naman.

Blur the Periphery.

Radial blur. Napaka-futuristic ng dating!

At Nostalgic effect. Para naman makaluma ito.

At dyan po nagtatapos ang aking lahok para sa linggong ito. Maligayang Huwebes sa inyong lahat!

Para sa mga ibang lahok, pumunta sa

On Little Blessings

When I woke up this morning and heard the rain tapping on our roof, I groaned. Don't get me wrong, I like the rain because it cools down our otherwise scorching hot city, but I don't like it on the days I have to commute.

Anyway, I got up, ate breakfast, surfed some and prepared myself for the day ahead. When I was about to leave the house, the rain had already stopped. Hallelujah. On my way to the place where Jeepneys passed (they don't have stands/stops here, they just stop in the middle of everywhere) I prayed the rosary. The walk from my house to that place took around 15 minutes and I was amazed that I was able to finish the whole five decades.

Eventually, I spotted the right jeepney and quickly flagged it. I rode the jeepney paid the fare and sat quietly on my spot. (I didn't want to attract much attention to myself lest I be a target for hold-up or something, I'm paranoid like that. Hahaha) Anyway, a few minutes into the ride, it started to drizzle again. I groaned (again). I didn't want to use my umbrella, even if I brought it, because keeping it after usage would be messy (read: wet folded umbrella inside my cloth bag). Finally, the jeepney reached my destination, I shouted a quick para to the driver and got off the vehicle. Lo and behold, the rain had stopped, again.

I just wanted to share this because we sometimes tend to ignore God's little blessings for us. I didn't even remember to blog about this until a few moments ago. I think I need to focus more on the little things, small reminders from God that He remembers me. We often focus on the big things that we want to get. We forget to see the little things God grants us to make our life a little less difficult. Heck, I didn't even pray for the rain to stop, I just thought life would be less messy if it did. (Don't get me wrong again, praying is IMPORTANT.) Still, God answered my unsaid prayer. And just like a doting Dad (who knows what His daughter really wants) towards His beloved daughter, He lets me have my way too. Sometimes. :)

On blog advertisements and earning extra

As an online entrepreneur, I find advertising on blogs an excellent way to keep a business thriving. For one, it caters to your intended market: the online community. Letting your market know what your products or services are becomes easier because (1) the blog post is related to it, and (2) links within the blog post increase the chances of the reader clicking on them and be directed to the advertiser's site. Moreover, more and more people are leaning towards online shopping beacuse of its convenience and thus, the market of online buyers is continuously expanding.

I have recently discovered PayingPost, a site which facilitates blog advertising. It caters to two sets of people: first, the advertisers who want to explore the online blog community as a means of marketing their products and services and second, the bloggers who want to make extra money via paid posts.

Joining PayingPost as a blogger is easy. You just have to go to their website and sign-up. Then, you can submit your website(s) or blog(s) for review. Once your blog is approved, you can now scout for available opportunities from companies who want to advertise. This is made extra easy by the new layout that PayingPost has come up with. With the tabs on top, navigating within their site is no problem at all.PayingPost has an additional feature which allows you to post paid advertisements without having to wait for your blog's approval. PayingPost Direct is a means of getting advertisers without the intervention of PayingPost itself. Just by placing the PayingPost Direct badge on your site, advertisers can easily contact you if they want you to write a post about them. This gives you (the blogger) additional freedom because it allows you to negotiate the terms you will be working with. So even if PayingPost has not yet approved your blog, once an advertiser has contacted you, you can start earning money by blogging.

I have just joined PayingPost and I like it. It allows me to earn extra money at my own leisure. It's not as time consuming as other money-generating schemes where you have to really focus and spend much of your time with. Hopefully, I can find more opportunities to get paid just by blogging. :)

The search is ON!

While I was blog-hopping the other day, I came across a post from Iris' blog with the title Stranger #3 blah blah blah. Being the curious cat that I was, I read the whole post. Turns out it's an entry for a group in Flickr, 100 strangers.

It's actually a group for people who want to hone their skills in taking portraits of people, and in the course of doing so, improve their social skills. The task is to take portraits of strangers (yes, strangers only, you can't take photos of people you know) and post them in the groups with a brief story to accompany it. (For the full mechanics, visit the group in Flickr.)

My interest was immediately captured by this idea/project because it was not your usual photomeme (or whatever these things were called, I'm still new to this community) because it involved interacting with other people, and strangers at that. :)

Anyway, I was afraid to try this on my own so I introduced the concept to Missy. She readily agreed to try it too. :) Now we're project buddies. Hehe. We hope we can keep this up. *Let's go Missy!*

There you go. Now all I have to do is make up a spiel (well, Missy is starting on it) for the strangers I'll approach. I hope I don't get kidnapped or holdapped in the process. Hehe. The search is on for my first stranger! :D

Pimping Multiply

....is difficult.

Buti sana kung simpleng HTML lang eh. Jusko, CSS kasi. Whatever Cascading Style Sheets.

Buuuuuut, I have successfully added links on my right siderail (in my Multiply)! YES! Well, I didn't actually twiddle with the CSS, I found a nice tutorial on how to add the icons/pictures on the right side rail using HTML, it's just a little tedious. As for making these icons links, well, I used my own coconut for that. Hehe. Icons and Links now, whole theme revamp later! (MUCH MUCH LATER!)

So, new year, new theme, new siderail links! Bwahahaha.

What's next? Oh yeah, studying. Tsss.




PS
It's difficult adjusting my writing style now that I am cross posting. sheesh.

New Year, New Theme

Just goes to show how much I dislike studying. I've played with my blogs for the whole vacation. :))

For the new Multiply theme, click here.


PS,
I got the theme from the Multiply Customized Themes Group.