Day 366 - Apr 09, 2013

Year 3 Ends... finally.

As I've been stating since before this project 365 ended, year 3 has, for some reason, been a bit difficult to go through. I guess, if I had to analyze the reason for this, it was because somewhere along the way, the passion to continue with the project just left me, and it was just sheer stubborn attitude to get things done - even if I had to make some adjustments, that kept this project going.

It may have also been because of the lack of new experiences, the need to look for something new without making what is routinary too boring or repetitive... for example, I could show my new comics, again and again every week or even month - but, so what?

Also, I guess I had less new camera tricks to learn - thus making hte experience routinary too. But... to be fair, the project does cover a year... in fact, in this case, a leap year (hence the day 366 - after all, there was a Feb 29 in it right?), and if I review the year that was, this will give me a glimpse of how I spent my year that was the 2nd quarter of 2012 through the first quarter of 2013. Naturally, I end this with a picture of me as well... one I had to search since I rarely take a shot of me, and Bernice or the others have not been taking the camera to take a shot of me. Still, this is the latest almost solo shot of me that I could find to represent how I look this day.

So now what? I don't think I'll do a year 4. Like I said, I don't have the interest right now - but who knows? I may miss it and change my mind some time. Just that, right now... that won't happen. So goodbye Project 365... or in this particular case, Project 366. It's been an experience... and I'm sure I'll thank myself for the memory some time. But three years doing something is kinda long... I mean, think about it. That's 365+365+366 pictures, or 1095 pictures... 1096 opportunities to practice photography.

Wow!

When I know what I'll be doing next, I'm sure I'll blog about it too.

Day 365 - Apr 08, 2013

Hospital Watch:

For the most part, Bea (far left) has been guarding Ben (not in picture) in the hospital, but naturally, Dict (far right) has also been visiting on a daily basis - if not taking leaves from his office to likewise stay in the hospital.

Just this past weekend, Dict brought Mommy to the hospital, the first time she's seen Ben in his condition and she was fighting back tears - all of us who were there to see this happen were likewise fighting back tears.

Ben's condition is still bad, but at least, his stay in the hospital is keeping his stabilized. He definitely has TB, but the doctors are still looking at the possibility of Lymphoma - in fact, we're all half expecting the possibility. Still, everyone is praying that it is just TB.

I took this picture as Barbie, and her mom were watching TV, while Bea and Dict take their well deserved sleep. We don't see any end to this yet... and Barbie's family is showing strong unity... not just everyone here, but those in Dubai as well.

Day 364 - Apr 07, 2013

Bernice and Buffy:

This is one of those times that Bernice wanted to play around with Buffy by cuddling her like a stuffed toy - to Buffy chagrin (notice the almost worried look?). When Bernice released Buffy, the poor dog tried to scamper away to hide - only to get caught by Bernice and once again feel the 'death embrace'.

Of course, Buffy doesn't exactly complain - an indicator that she doesn't want to get angry or fight (nor bite) Bernice. Hehehe... it's a nice picture, if I say so myself.

Day 363 - Apr 06, 2013

6-Sigma continues:

Another Saturday morning dedicated to us learning all there is to learn about 6-Sigma with the intent of becoming a Green Belt for some of us, and Black Belt for the others (an eventual goal for me as well).

Ariel, our Master Black Belt, is the one guiding the lessons for us and preparing us for the eventual examination. This is turning out to be a three month prep (as opposed to just 5 meetings - his initial estimate). At this point, we are deep into Measure (following the DMAIC process) and by the way things are going, we may still be in Measure for about a meeting or two more... but that is Ariel's way of making sure we are ready, and learned to really be considered 6-Sigma practitioners, as opposed to just 'learned-by-the-book' types.

Day 362 - Apr 05, 2013

Temptation!

It really is hard to resist the taste of this new discovery... something I first learned of during the past Christmas holidays from an article, and maybe even from a friend's post in her FB status.

I next tried to seek this out - as mentioned in a magazine article, in the St. James the Great Bazaar... but couldn't find it in the booths - and let's face it, it was hard to find something - specially if you had no idea how it looked in the first place. so yeah... no such luck. It was therefore my surprise when I just saw this cookie butter on our dining table when I arrived today, with Barbie insisting I tried it. The irony of it all... aside form the fact that Barbie was introducing it to me, and me finding it at home was the fact that I had come from a heavy snack, so had no real interest in trying it out. 

Funny how life gives you twists and turns. 

Day 361 - Apr 04, 2013

Early Morning Walks:

It seems that every morning, around 4:30 AM, I tend to have this forming routine where I bring out the trash, and as I do, the two dogs go out the gate to roam around - leash less, and explore the streets.

It becomes their daily exercise and - well, let's face it... a chance for them to do their business, which they seem to do a lot faster as compared to when I'm walking them on a leash. The other advantage of doing these things at this time is that the roads are still almost empty of vehicles passing by.  After the few minutes of roaming around, I call them back and for the most part, they do listen and return - so no worries of these dogs running anywhere like there was no tomorrow.

As for taking this picture, it took me several tries... namely because the initial tries were hand-held, but since shutter speed was a bit slow, there were visible effects of camera shakes - so for this particular shot, I used my gorilla tripod to get the view close to the road. I used a flash-less option to get the right colors of the amber lighting as well. So yeah... this is what I see in my mornings.

Day 360 - Apr 03, 2013

My new comics:

Probably the last entry about my new comics for this particular Project365, I just wanted to record - for posterity, the titles I've been reading/collecting around this time of the year... in this time of my life... after all, we wouldn't want to make things hard for people to research about me when I'm rich and famous.

So... in this particular list, Nova is an entertaining read, Shadowman is likewise always a great read. Ozymandias - the last issue was... well, as expected, a tying up of his story in time to jump into Watchmen itself... specifically his thoughts upon the need to get rid of the Comedian. Ultron Unleashed is like a rushing train, where you need to grab on and see where it leads to. Prophesy took too long to tell... after all, it's underwhelming to read a story where the possible ending is hte world's end in 2012. I also need to see how things sort of bring themselves together from the past to the present.

Other than that I've yet to read some of these other issues... and am really curious about why Detective is a thick issue this month.

So... the entertainment continues.

Day 359 - Apr 02, 2013

My new device:

In the past, to augment my camera and photography capabilities, I've bought tripods (a long, a gorilla and a mono-pod), a few lens filters, a flash with a diffuser (when needed), and a telephoto lens, I needed to find an acceptable wireless flash trigger - one that would allow me to position my camera elsewhere from where I am... maybe even leave it on a tripod and still control when to take the shot, as opposed to relying on a 10 second timer, as I used to do.

I got this trigger when I learned that a certain shop had it, and that it cost a little over Php 1,000 - something I could afford at that particular time.

I still have to check, but I'm hoping this will be a first step in making wireless connection to lighting fixtures, which will then be a next step to having multiple lighting set-ups... baby steps to having things I will be needing in a studio set-up... which I hope to have at a future time. Meanwhile, it will also allow me to control lighting in outdoor shots. My next mission now seems to be to invest in some rechargeable batteries (and a charger). But like I said... baby steps - at least, until I can get a better regular income generating work - which in turn could speed up things a little.

Day 358 - Apr 01, 2013

Ben in the Hospital:

For the past weeks, Ben has been having high fever, and despite the rests wherein he gets a bit better, he sinks back into his fever after feeling well enough to go out to visit friends.

A week later, though, it's gotten worse... he's been vomiting anything he's eaten, so he has not had any nutrition. Plus he's started complaining of stomach pains - whether due to his cough or due to something more, we don't know yet. But what we did know was we couldn't not let him go to the hospital, and if need be, have him confined where he can undergo all the needed tests and be monitored 24/7 by  the nurses.

Well, that's exactly what happened. After holy week has passed, Dict and Bea brought him to Cardinal's emergency room where it was decided that Ben needed to be hospitalized.

Barbie has been contacting her siblings in Dubai, since they need to help pitch in... even if only in financial terms. In between though, she's been doing her Google searches, to try and zero in on what is wrong with Ben. The results aren't promising... in fact, they're downright alarming. For a family that is just recovering from the loss of their dad, this is the last thing they need. We hope and pray that the worse case is not the case, but looking at Ben's lifestyle... as rare as the case may be, it could happen to him. That's what sucks... the other? Ben's a health buff... this should not be happening to him - though going to public gyms may indeed be a possible source of his problem too.

Damn... damn. Things like this can make people question the existence of a God, and why he seemingly makes this happen to a family that is, for all intents and purposes, making sure they are doing what is right in this world. But it's this same family which has a never give up attitude that might, hopefully get over this new problem. There is always hope.

Day 357 Mar 31, 2013

Nails:

Summer time is when Bernice can rest after another school year comes to an end, and in the spirit of moving into vacation mode, she can have her nails done in any fancy manner.

In this case, it looks like... well, I don't really know. Bees maybe? I'm loosely assuming this on the basis of the eyes, yellow color and stripes - which goes to show what I know about bees... right? Besides, what she does with her nails and what design she chooses is up to her. It is her nails, after all.