One Snap at a Time

Sharing my first prenup shoot..was so tensed during the whole shoot..add to that..my crappy triggers wont work..would need to upgrade to either a pocketwizard or something more reliable if i want to take this to the next level..hehehe..hope you liked it..all shots taken using 5d and a 17-40 f4 L lens..

Thanks to Brock and Tanj for letting me in on the shoot..

ciao!!

I posted a few months back that we’re on a hunt for a new car for my Mom. We we’re torn between brand new and pre owned. Then whether it’s a Vios, City, Civic or Altis. Finally, we opt for the Altis, it’s newer than the Civic having been released just this year, cheaper to maintain, better fuel economy, and the price was a bit lower. We waited for a few weeks before we got the go signal to pick up the car. Now it’s here!!!
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Will write a review once I get to drive this, probably around May. Ciao!

Ok, well, not the whole house, just the third floor. My sister emailed UZ (Urban Zone) regarding a request to have our house renovated. Having luck on our side, UZ replied positively and will be checking our house tomorrow to see what needs to be done on the place.

You might be curious how in the world our house got picked. What was it in my sister’s email that piqued the interest of UZ? Anyway, here’s the letter that was the key to our house being featured and renovated by UZ.

“Hi!

I’m sharon, an avid viewer of UZ. I live in my brother’s (mark neil) townhouse in project 4 Quezon City. Mark neil is in Qatar thus i live in the house with my dad and younger brother (mark lester) who is a freshman in UST. Lester and I always watch UZ every sunday night. We even text our friends when the show starts or whenever there’s something nice featured in the show, which is almost all the time.

Recently, i was surprised to find a design on the wall of my brother’s room. I would have gotten angry, but i find the design amazing and i’m glad at the thought that my brother’s creativity being expressed. I learned from him that the wall design was inspired by UZ. I am also personally inspired by the show. It made me sensitive to creative ways of arranging things inside the house and in making things beautiful.

I thought of sending pictures of lester’s design because its his birthday on november 28, neil’s birthday is on november 27. They would both be very delighted if you choose to feature our house (lester’s design) in your show. You might also want to design / renovate the unfinished cr /closet which my brother could use for his stuff, because he doesn’t have a closet yet.

Thanks and hope you find our story interesting. =D”

Well, that’s it, will just update you guys when the renovation is done, and will probably share a clip of the feature in UZ once it airs.

I came to know the Lord Jesus Christ as my personal Lord and Savior on November 9, 2003. I can still vividly recall sobbing at the Bread of Life church during the service, not wary what other people might say or think. I had deep seethed feelings and I needed to pour out my emotions to God. All the frustrations, bitterness, disappointments, I vented out to God. I questioned Him, asked Him why He took something beautiful in my life, my source of joy and pleasure, source of inspiration.

I’m a decent person, not perfect in any way, but a good person in general. I prayed at night, went to church as often as I could, I don’t deserve the misery I am in. Others deserve this, but not me.

I could not remember any instance before that, nor after that, wherein I cried more, harder. I was sobbing uncontrollably. Then God impressed His message on me. No bright lights, no drama, what so ever.

“I took something beautiful, but I have something more beautiful for you, I took your joy, you’ll find your joy in me”

I had peace after that, I was still crying and sobbing hard, but I had peace. Peace on the fact that God was in control of my life, my comforter, that He has something better for me.

From then on, I began reading the Bible my sister gave me a long time ago. I read my Bible more than I read my books at school. I was thirsty of God’s word. I went to church at Bread of Life twice a week to satisfy my thirst of God’s word, I was invited by a friend to attend the weekly meetings of Campus Crusade for Christ in our school.

This time spent immersing in God’s word took a toll on my studies. I remember getting a score of only 20 over 100 on the first two exams of one of our toughest subjects. But I was confident I’d be able to get through it. I have God by my side. With a little more effort spent studying I was able to get high scores in the succeeding exams to offset the poor effort I gave on the first ones. I did not waver in my search for God, in developing a deeper relationship with Him.

Then people began to see the changes in me. Where once I blurted out obscenities after every word, I was now more refined. Where once I could not decline my friend’s invitations for a drink, I was now unshakeable. I was changed, I was changed by God.

I am not perfect in any way, but I strived to please God, to do His will, follow His word. I still commit sins, but where once, I would not even bat an eye when I sin, now I was gripped with remorse, I was more conscious of sins destructive power. I’m still a sinner, but I am forgiven.

To be continued…

I’ve been working here in the Middle East for more than 2 years now. It has quite a few perks like say a higher income, low volume of work, and a more laid back lifestyle. It’s not all that good though, as you’ll have drawbacks like being away from home, working with challenging people and adapting to a foreign culture, the latter being the topic of this blog.

Quite frankly, I’m beginning to forget how it feels to celebrate Christmas in the Philippines. Yes, we have shows on TV showing the festivities and depicting that Christmas feel to it, but it doesn’t seem to come close to the real thing, at least not enough for me to remember the feeling again. What it does is inject some feeling of loneliness, misery and who knows what other terrible feelings I have deep inside me longing to break loose.

I missed Christmas back home, but somehow I’m starting to get used to it. Like any other thing, which we allow to be absent in our lives for a long time, we get all too familiar with the absence that we tend to forget the feeling of its presence. Where once we felt we can’t live without, now were just as fine without it in our lives.

It’s terrible enough to have Christmas away from home, its even worse when you spend it in the Middle East. There just isn’t enough manifestation of the coming yuletide season. For guys in the States or in any other western country, I think it is much bearable, with the Christmas spirit being felt everywhere, not to count the snow which spices up the yuletide season.

I hope that the Christmas spirit doesn’t depart from me. I hope that before completely loosing the feeling, I may have the chance to renew it again. I hope, one of these years I’d be able to spend the Christmas back home. Hope, hope, hope, isn’t that one of the messages of Christmas? Hmmmm….I guess I still have it in me after all.

Ciao!

I turned 25 just a few days ago. I spent the day having dinner with my friends at the Seafood Buffet of the Marriott Hotel here in Doha. The food was, in my humble opinion, a bit overpriced. I’ve spent a lot less than that when me and my girl friend had a dinner at the Sofitel Hotel in Manila, and the buffet we had last Thursday was nothing compared to the great selection of food and the ambiance of Sofitel.

Anyway, that’s not the point, as I said I turned 25 last Thursday, a third of my life so far, assuming I’d live until I was 75. 25 years of ups and downs, marred with tons of disappointments and failures, and yet, I could proudly say, I’ve made it through. I’ve had my fair share of victories during those times, not a lot, but I guess I did well so far.

25 years, just a third of my life, and yet I feel that I’ve lived longer than that. 25 years, most of which was spent looking for my own identity, looking for my reason for living, my purpose in life.

I’ve still got a long way to go, a lot of places to see, a lot of people to meet. What can the next 50 years have for me? Who knows, life has been sweet for the most part of my first 25 years, I wager it will be sweeter for the next 2.

Despite more responsibilities in store for me in the future, family, kids, work, the character and abilities to handle those responsibilities will be developed along the way. The more we mature, the tougher things gets, and you can also say, the tougher life gets, the more we grow into maturity.

50 more years, I head on brimming with expectation and hope for the future. 50 more years, hopefully spent outside the borders of this country. 50 more years, spent with the ones I love. 50 more years, knowing God and having a relationship with Him. And that last one ought to be more than enough to be joyful for the next 50 years.

Ciao!

Influence, lying here in my bed, swamped, after coming home from Gary V’s concert, this word popped in my head.

I’ve watched Gary V twice so far, all during this year. The first one was last June at the Music Museum, with my girl friend, then the second a few hours ago here in Doha. You see him on TV, and he’s really great. But, you see him live, and you would say to yourself, he truly is “Mr. Pure Energy”. I stand in awe as i watch him tirelessly sing each and every song and dance every beat. Two hours of unadulterated fun and excitement. No lull, no stoppage.

The man is amazing. He sings as if there’s no tomorrow, he performs as if that would be the last performance he’d be giving, most of all, he inspires like no other.

I know the guy is not perfect, well no body is. He’s flawed just like you and me, nevertheless, he never fails to inspire. He does it on TV and on every show I’ve watched so far. I’m humbled every time I hear him share his faith, how God truly is reflected in His life. And deep in me, I hope I’de be able to share and speak of my faith the way he does, to be able to radiate God’s love and mercy in my life, so others may see that they too can share in that love. Well I’ve got a long way to go. I’m still a work in progress.

My time will come, and I know it would be perfect when it comes.

Tags: gary valenciano

Love this song..love the version..the lyrics doesn’t really suit my taste though..anyway..just sharing..enjoy..ciao..

I can remember my girlfriend telling me one time back when we were in college that they didn’t have a television set when she was young. Yep, you might find it a bit queer, what!!! no TV??? Yep, I guess that’s just how life is, maybe that’s one of the classes of humans that exists, one with TVs and one who don’t, having one may have its benefits and so does having none does, anyway, that’s not the point of this blog..

I was just surprised to receive this YouTube link from my girlfriend, wasn’t expecting her to send something like this, since it was from a movie shown a long long time ago, back when they didn’t have a TV set.

Anyway, here’s the clip.

Could there be a cuter scene in any movie?

The song is quite famous, however, I don’t think most of you guys remember the scene. I recall being able to watch this movie when I was young. It was during one of those Million Dollar Movies feature flick of the week in ABS-CBN which airs during Sundays at 9 PM, where I was able to watch this movie. Even back then as a kid, I thought this movie was cute.

Anyway, will try to search the net for a downloadable version of this movie.

Hope you guys enjoyed this post by the way, and probably reminisce a little bit in the good old days..hehehe..

thanks dear for sharing this..=)

No..this post is not about me..as the title may suggest..

Been browsing the net a few days back and came across the photo gallery of Mitz Picardal..enjoyed his online gallery alot and again rekindled my liking on miniplanets..

Miniplanets are nothing but panoramic..or a 360 degree panoramic shot..transformed into a mini planet by the mighty photoshop..

Anyway..here’s what I’m talking about..

Hope you enjoyed it..will post more miniplanets once i get the time to go out and shoot again..ciao..

Tags: anawangin, miniplanets, photoshop