Sunday, March 29, 2015

Looking at Church structures and appreciating the city

Despite living in a city, there are still some wonderful things that you can see that will put a smile on your face. These are living and non-living things that we usually ignore in our busy lives. We need to learn how to stop and appreciate these creations that we often times neglect due to our hectic schedules.


A couple of weeks ago, Rizza, a friend of mine since college brought up the idea of visiting Churches around Manila. She prepared a list containing 14 Churches that we should visit. However, the idea of doing 14 Churches in one day (considering the distances where some of our friends live) would make it impossible for us to complete it, we narrowed it down to 7.

We invited the usual crew to join us. Only 4 of us were able to confirm their presence on the said activity (this includes Nanz, another friend of mine which they -college pals just met a week ago).On the actual day though, only three of us were able to complete our goals because of unexpected circumstances that happened the night before on Rizza's end.


It was a valid excuse and we understood what had happened. I honestly thought of cancelling the mission and just reschedule it on a different day so she can join us. But Rizza told us to go ahead with the plan even without her, so we did. I'm still glad that even though she wasn't with us during the main activity we set, she was able to join us late in the afternoon so we can talk and be in each other's company. It was still a good day. :)
From left to right: Tin, Rizza, Nanz and me

I wouldn't elaborate more on our trip because I did a video to sum it up. This video is just a glimpse of what we were up to last Saturday. You'll notice that in this video I didn't focus much on the Churches itself as I don't want to disturb the ongoing events happening inside it (there are wedding mass, and some Church members were also practicing for their activities this coming week - Holy week).

Here's the a sort of vlog I made:





Sprinkling you with fairy dust of happy sensations!



Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Insomnia Diaries

Hello pixies!

I just have this urge to update my blog but doesn't even know how to begin. There's just too many things that I want to talk about but I don't want to bore you with stuffs that you can't relate to especially if you just happen to stumble on my blog.  I can't decide whether to blog about it or not. What can I say, that's how my brain works. I always have this hesitation when it comes to what or what not to blog.

I'm not even sure if someone is indeed reading this but I still care about the stuffs I share here whether someone I know or not reads this. Anyway... I'll just go ahead and say whatever I want to say.

To begin with, it's 12:45 a.m. and I'm still up and wide awake. I seriously believe that I have insomnia and my brain functions really well during these hours (12-5 in the morning). I used to work in a call center and guess what I'm doing at 2:30 in the morning? I'm answering emails, checking data from previous days activities, doing reports and if I'm not lucky, handling escalated calls and dealing with faults and issues with systems. Don't you just love to be in my shoes back then? Hahaha
photo by: Jonas Nilsson Lee (https://stocksnap.io)

My being insomniac now might have something to do with it. My body and mind got used to my daily activities during my call center life. Ever since then, this is how I roll. There are some exemptions though but it takes a lot of effort for me to sleep early if needed to. You know what makes me sleepy? Coffee. I know, I know, it wasn't a typical choice of beverage if you want to sleep. Coffee is something people drink to wake up their senses. Not me though. It makes me sleepy. It has that effect on me. Don't ask me because I don't know why (I should probably google this one later).

But you know what, I am trying to lessen my coffee intake so I no longer drink it at night. What I do now is just read myself to sleep and drink tea. I am obsessed with tea right now but I'll explain that on a separate post including a "tea haul." I think I have a 3-months supply of those stashed in a box. :)

I need to cut this post short so you won't get sick and tired of my stories haha.

Sprinkling you with fairy dust of happy sensations!

Saturday, March 21, 2015

Friday Night with the Girls

Hello pixies!

Yesterday was quite a day! We watched our friend Frida and her dad, the master impressionist Willie Nepomuceno perform. It was the repeat performance of their successful show last February titled The Votes of the Philippines. It was an absolute success and we (the audience) truly enjoyed the show. I love how spot on the actors are in mimicking the characters they are portraying.

Before the show though, I feel like Nanz (sister from another parents haha) and I were also in a different show. We were like competing for the Amazing Race haha. It was a good experience though. The bright side of this "walkathon" experience is that we were able to discover things like how quiet people commuting via LRT 2 are compared to those from LRT 1 and MRT 2. I swear I was amazed by how silent it is there. Usually you hear a lot of buzz in a crowded area, but this one, I feel like I'm in this post-apocalyptic world.The only talking people there were me and Nanz.

Anyway, the reason why we were traversing the roads of Quiapo and Recto yesterday was because we were looking for the bus that will bring us to Greenhills. Apparently, the bus terminal was already shut down or to be honest, I don't know what really happened. It just wasn't there anymore.

Plan B took place which is to ride LRT 2. I'm glad that Nanz was with me during this adventure because I will look like a lost puppy in this side of town. As usual the train was also crowded but it's tolerable than the usual trains I rode when I'm still commuting for work. Upon arriving at our destination which is V. Mapa station, we rode the super spacious bus enroute to Greenhills (Music Museum).

It seems that luck took pity on us because we didn't encounter a heavy load of traffic and we arrived early. We were able to eat dinner and soon after Tin (my super cute friend) arrived as well. We were able to relax a bit and do a little chitchats including how excited we are to see the performance live. Riz and her brother arrived just in the nick of time and then the show started.

I'm impressed by how good these people are (the performers from the show) because it is very hard to entertain people. They also need to be 'in character" to make sure that people will be wowed by how believable they are as the personality they are portraying. It is a 3-hour show and that's another pressure. Audience tends to get bored easily especially if they don't get what is happening on the stage. I would say that last night's performance have successfully dodge these obstacles.

Congratulations again to the cast and crew of The Votes of the Philippines!!!
photo courtesy of Riz Alo

Wednesday, March 18, 2015

Hand-painted Shoes inspired by Adventure Time

Two months ago, my friend Frida and I were talking about how we want to develop our artistic talents. We both have interest in arts which is one of the things we have in common. We never get tired of talking about anything art-related stuffs so there are some ideas that we came up with where we can apply our skills.

One of the things we discussed was about custom-made shoes. I painted a pair of shoes twice before so when Frida brought up this topic, I shared my experience with this kind of hobby to her. If you think that painting shoes is easy, I would say you're wrong. It takes a lot of patience and TIME. Yes. Time. This is because there are moments that you just don't feel like drawing or painting and you should take a break when this moment comes. You wouldn't want to spoil the design of the shoes you're working on.

I encountered an artist block several times on the shoes I just hand-painted that's why it took me a month to finish it. Anyway, going back to the conversation with my friend, we came up with the idea to order a custom made canvass shoes. Since I don't know anyone who can make a shoes that we have in mind, I did a lot of research and found a local shop who accepts custom orders. At first I was hesitant to place an order online especially because we don;t know if it's a legit seller. Fortunately, I found the right one. We placed an order and got it in two weeks' time.

When we got the shoes, we were both ecstatic! This is it! We are taking this hobby seriously. Each of us have 3 pairs of shoes and we didn't even know what to paint. I have an idea already but I don't know how to execute it yet. So when I finally have the time to start painting I decided to start with something that I like. This is the animation series Adventure Time. I chose this so that in case someone doesn't want it, then I could at least wear it.
I'm happy on how this one turned up. I use acrylic paints for this which I already have. My only tip for those who want to paint shoes is to buy a large size of white and black acrylic paint. You will be consuming these two colors a lot.

Aside from acrylic paints, you'll also need a clear varnish (spray) as your top coating.There's no coating on the shoes shown above yet because I want to wait at least a day for the acrylic paint to settle on the canvass. But that is just me. You can apply the varnish as long as the acrylic is already dry.

This shoes is now up for sale on my etsy store. This is the very first hand-painted shoes I put up on the store so hopefully someone will like and buy it.

 Sprinkling you with fairy dust of happy sensations!



Monday, March 16, 2015

How useful is a Selfie Stick?

If you are someone who loves to take a a snapshot of yourself on your own, then you must have heard of this "self-help" tool called selfie stick. For those of us who are actively using various social media sites, you probably saw a lot of people using this. The first time I saw this tool I was thinking, what is this long metal stick doing in front of their picture (that's because the metal stick is visible on the photograph)? Little did I know that it is a type of monopod that you can use to attach your camera or phone.

At first I am an anti-selfie stick person. I swear! My brain is telling me that I don't have use for it, that I could just ask someone to have my picture taken with my friends. I guess it's been more than a year before I decided to buy one for myself. In fact I just bought mine early this year.




There's a reason why I yielded in my stance against not buying one. This happened late December 2014. In my past blogs, I mentioned that I and some friends have a wedding to attend and we're not just guests here. We are the wedding coordinators. Since we are working on the actual day of the wedding, we wouldn't have time to take decent photos of ourselves. If we need to take a photo, we need to do it quick and on a limited space (because you know, our arms are not extensible and can only capture whatever the lens can fit inside the frame). Imagine how blurred those photos are! Not only do we have little seconds to do that, but we also have to do it on our own.

So because of this, I decided it's time to take action! hahaha! I searched for a cheap one (that's me, looking for the cheapest stuff I could find, not too cheap though because you don't want a low quality one.) I didn't even bought the one that includes a bluetooth  because I told myself that I can just use the built-in timer from the phone. See? That's how this little mind of mine works...(later on though I realize why people buy the one with bluetooth, more on that later.)

Did I have any regrets in buying it? None, although I should have bought bluetooth controls as well. By the time we started using this monopod, I noticed how heavy it can get especially when you set your camera's timer into 10 secs! How stupid can I get? Hahaha. Still, my selfie or our group pictures can now be seen with proper background and not just our faces! That's the main objective.



There are lots of advantages when you use a selfie sticks. One obvious reason is that, you no longer need to bother people specifically strangers to take a break from whatever they are doing for them to take your picture.

Another advantage, you can now show off your outfit by trying the top view shot using your selfie tool!  And since, you're already using it for your outfit, show why not show where you are by capturing the beautiful landscape behind you. Just make sure you are not hitting someone else with that selfie stick.


Always remember though that there are limitations when it comes to using it. There are some places that prohibits you from using it so just follow their rules or guidelines. If you are visiting an art gallery or museum, I suggest that you don't use it (whether they have rules against it or not) because you might damage those amazing artworks and vintage items.

Just be practical. If you need it, then buy it, if not, then you don't have to. If you are planning to buy though, do not take excessive selfies. Make sure you also exercise proper etiquette when doing so.

Sprinkling sweet fairy dusts to you, reader





Thursday, March 12, 2015

In the hunt for Waterproof Cases for iPhone and DSLR

A few days ago, one of my friends, Tin, sent me and our other friends a private message inviting us to join her on a planned out of town celebration for her birthday. Since it's her birthday and I want to experience being outside of the capital I agreed (plus the fact that it's all expense paid by our wonderful friend). When she suggested that we go to Baler, which is known as one of the "top surf spots" in the Philippines (although I don't know how to surf), I immediately searched it via Google to have an idea what the place has in store for travelers.

The first thing I saw was the Ditumabo Falls, also known as Mother Falls, because it's the most majestic falls around the area. Obviously, if you are to visit such beautiful place, you must capture its beauty in a photo or much better in a video. My solution to avoid damaging my gadgets is to look for waterproof cases similar to  one I found from a Japanese company called Sanwa.
I'm in the hunt for the cheapest one I could find as I have a tight budget especially for things that I would rarely use in the future. I've seen a waterfalls before during one of our field trip in high school but this time around it will be different as I intend to document this shared experience with friends in a video. Rizza, who is the go-to person in our peer group when it comes to travel mentioned that she had read a blog regarding someone who unfortunately didn't think of protecting their gadget during their trip. I don't want Snow (my phone) and Caspian (my DSLR) to have the same fate as that person's gadgets.

Speaking of DSLR... I am thinking of making an improvised waterproof case instead of buying. How do I do that? I don't know yet but I'll post it here once I figured out how to make one. I promise! Researching is my number one agenda for sure as soon as I'm done with the things I'm currently doing. I'm trying to be thrifty these days so I'm being careful on where or what I spend my money for.

If you have an idea how to improvised waterproof cases, please do leave a comment below. I'll appreciate your help.

Sprinkling sweet fairy dusts to you reader!

Monday, March 9, 2015

Zoo Trip with friends and hanging out at Harbor Square

Hello pixies!

Last Saturday, I and some of my college friends met up so we can fulfill one of our friend's (Tin) long time dream to visit Manila Zoo. Since I live nearby, visiting the zoo is no longer new to me however sharing this experience with my college pals is another thing.
We are actually a peer group of 9 but this meet is actually a half-meeting (for some part-time gig), half-exploring kind of thing, we decided to just stick with the usual crew...meaning the 4 of us.

It was a hot, sunny afternoon but we never complained about the heat because we have each others company to block that thought. We enjoyed looking at the remaining animals from the zoo and took some photos and short videos.










Above are some of the photos I manage to take using my iphone. I didn't bring my camera with me because I want to carry lightweight items as much as possible in my semi-medium size shoulder bag. Sorry Caspian, no enough space in my bag...

We also have a short break during the whole duration of our exploration so we can hydrate ourselves.




Check out this video I made to sum up the Zoo trip.

Tin's dream is now fulfilled... just look how happy she is here:
Happy Tin :)
After our trip, we walked from the zoo to the place called Harbor Square beside the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP). We waited for the sunset and the sun didn't disappoint us. I was there the day before this trip so I'm still high with the "sunset feel good moment" and this time I want to share it with the gang as well.
The view is so breath-taking and it instantly captivated my heart. It signifies another beautiful day spent with lovely people.

Angels' adventure will continue.Watch out for more trips as we are already brewing some out of town trips this coming May.

Sprinkling positive fairy dusts to you reader!












Thursday, March 5, 2015

Youtube


Hello Pixies!

I just want to say that my Youtube channel finally have some activities going on. I'm gonna try putting up some videos there as often as possible because I just need to have another output for my creativity. Videos that will be posted there will mostly revolve around artworks, crafts, D-I-Y projects and probably some about my dolls or the hobby of doll collecting. I might throw in some vlogs if I'm in the mood to do so. Although my day to day activities are boring and I'm not quite sure if I should share it haha. I'll probably end up shooting some snippets of my daily routine or whatever I am scheduled to do on a particular day.

Anyway, it's 4 in the morning and I need to sleep. I intended to sleep earlier that 4 honestly but the video takes forever to upload in my channel. Here is the one I just uploaded.


Seriously, I gotta hit the sheets now. I'll post a much longer post on my next update.

Swish and flick!