Everything Under The Tropical Sun

The AF-S DX Nikkor 35mm f/1.8 will be released this month. I don’t know how long it’s going to take before it’ll land on the Philippine Islands but I’m sure it will be before the year’s out.

I’m not particularly interested in this focal length but the reason why I’m so excited is that I’m 100% sure that my husband will love it. He’s so old school and believes that he’ll trip out on this glass. When I told him about this he said that I can have all the lenses he’s using now and this baby will never leave his camera.

Something about him getting excited over anything is such a wonderful thing to see. Shows that he has emotions other than being composed and calm. I’m sure he’d like to think of himself as “Mr. Cool” but I’d like to think more like he’s “ICE”. Okay, I’ll stop it there because he’ll accuse me of bashing him again.

So I’m excited because he’s excited over this little 35mm. According to Ken Rockwell, this nifty little thing will cost about $200 which means it’ll cost somewhere about $400 here. He’s got a review up already and he hasn’t even had the chance to get one yet. I mean, I’m not saying the guy’s not a great photographer, I just feel like he’s been paid to advertise Nikon and Nikkor products. I’m not one to complain but I like reading reviews from impartial and unbiased bloggers.

So anyway, again, it’s here. I think I’ll ask Teach to get me one instead of waiting for it to land on our shores. Dubai gets new releases at the same time as the U.S. and Europe. Nikkor said that they’ll be releasing it this month. But if it’s going to cost $400… I think I can wait.

To view the specs of these lens… click here or the picture above, or the 35mm sample picture below. Whatever floats your boat.

I’m so happy! Nothing bad happened after I upgraded to the new version of wordpress. –> THAT is how happy I am… I just had to blog about it.

Stand up and shout… bounce and hop and skip with me! The day is beautiful, the sun is out and the wordpress upgrade is a success! Hehehehe. I love it.

The youngest and fairest of us all just celebrated his 20th birthday last Sunday. We had a small gathering at our mom’s place and that was basically it. Great food and great conversations. It’s always wonderful to catch up with everyone.

Though he’s the youngest, sometimes it seems like he’s wiser than most of us… so much so that we take his age forgranted. It doesn’t help that he stands 6-feet tall either. It’s so easy to forget that he’s still young and so very careless. Just when we let our guard down and assume that he’s a responsible adult… he goes and does something stupid. Which is what we all did when we were his age: one stupid act and thought after another.

We don’t take his youth against him. We all understand that these are the things he has to go through to wisen up. Making bad decisions is part of growing up. But compared to my “growth rate” when I was his age, I’d say, he’s growing at a much faster rate. I was a stupid, naive, stubborn, and careless 20 year old. He is smart enough to know what’s right but still lack the self-discipline to actually do it.

He’s easily the most intelligent among us. My favorite story about him was when he was 3 years old… our mom was getting nervous because he still hasn’t spoken a word. No baby talk… No mama or dada or boo boo. Nothing. She even had that thing that connects our tongue to the bottom of our mouths sliced thinking that maybe it was the culprit. Still nothing. Then one day, out of the blue he started talking. No baby talk. Not single words… but whole cohesive sentences.

Can you imagine our shock when this little silent boy opened his mouth and started conversing with us like an adult? It was amazing. I bet he was just watching all of us getting so worked up about him not being able to speak. Smirking and laughing inside, just waiting for the day he’ll reveal his great prank on all of us. Kinda like how he is with us today. He’s just lurking and waiting for us to become ultra worried about him… then one day he’ll just surprise us with a great achievement. I wouldn’t be surpised. I know greatness resides in him.

Happy Birthday, Baby Bro!

It was my mother-in-law’s birthday last Monday but we celebrated it by having dinner last Saturday.

My husband looks more like Mama. They have the same nose and mouth… the shape of their faces are the same… and he got her morena skin tone. A lot of people would still mistake her for his older sister because she’s quite young to be my husband’s mother (she gave birth to him at 19 years old so that makes her 50 years old).

She loves to cook. I could only hope to become as great a cook as her. She’s not protective of her recipes either (like some monster-in-laws I know about). She taught me most of the recipes my husband likes. I can’t quite get them exactly as how she cooks it but I just console myself and say that I’ve put “my twist” in the recipe (which is obviously just an excuse).  He likes it all the same… but if we put the dishes side by side, I know he’d know the difference.

My favorite memory of her was when I first met her. She opened up to me told me that she’s so relieved to have met me and that from my name, she wasn’t sure if I was a girl or a boy. She’s been worried that since her son hasn’t had a girlfriend in over 4 years, that he might have turned gay. She said that there was nothing wrong with it if he was but it did make her feel better that I was a girl and that I was proof that her son didn’t turn gay on her. Imagine that… the first thing that she ever told me when I met her. I guess she was really grateful, huh? She made me feel so welcome right away. I didn’t feel like I had to tip toe around her. She’s awesome!

A happy and fabulous birthday to you, Mama!

Mondays… the dreariest day of the week. But here is something to cheer you up:

http://www.beforeiforget.co.uk/2006/little-becky/

Meet Little Becky, a cute and witty prank caller. Sometimes I wish I never knew that someone would coach her whenever she got stuck with one of her calls. But she’s still cool nonetheless and that accent! Adorable.

It will be the eve of our anniversary tonight. Since we’re not fighting or anything, I guess it’s safe to say that we’re 7 years old a day ahead. Hehe. This is a date we feel that is more important than our wedding anniversary. 02/20/2002 was a life altering day for the both of us and our wedding day was just something that confirmed what we knew then…

I’ve often “bashed” (his term, not mine) him on this blog saying the most ridiculous things or airing out his weird laundry for all the net to see… but the truth is, I’m truly and madly deeply in love with him. Just like a kindergarten kid bullying her crush on the schoolyard, I’ve often picked on him on and offline. That’s just the way I am I guess. I express myself excellently through writing but when it comes to physically showing it, I fail miserably. I don’t think he minds. He usually just shrugs me off when I’m in one of my bullying moods.

In spite of my bullying extravaganzas, I know he loves me. Believe it or not, I CAN be sweet (yes, I CAN!!!)… when I want to. He often tells me he doesn’t exactly know why he loves me and that he just does. It annoys me but I guess that’s just what it is right? Love is something very difficult to explain or describe… or even in some cases to justify. It just is. Hmmm… maybe I should stop bugging him about it? … NAH.

In the span of 7 years… we’ve managed to turn from a all-day-all-night party couple to the most boring couple in the world. When people would ask us what we’ve been up to, our normal response would be: “Nothing. We’re kill joys now.” I’m serious. We live it and own it because quite frankly, we enjoy just staying home… hanging out… experimenting with crazy and the not so crazy recipes. Sure, we talk to each other… but if we have nothing to say, it’s okay too.

Seven years… it sure can fly by so fast when spending it with my best friend.

I love you. Happy Anniversary!

Such great news! For someone who first picked up a DSLR March of 2008, this is one incredible feat!

I don’t really understand what the whole article is talking about since it’s in Russian. To think he’s in Dubai but got published somewhere else. Isn’t that Amazing?

He showed me this particular shoot he did late last year. To be honest, I didn’t see the technical side of his shoots… all I saw were the beautiful jewelry. He shot a 5 carat round diamond that just made me sigh. So I guess he did his job right, right?

All photographers could ever hope for is getting to capture the “moment” or show how beautiful these products are (or even make an ugly product look beautiful). To create photographs that evoke emotion from the viewer is not easy without talent but with enough skill and knowledge, it can be achieved with great precision. Teach has both.

As I’ve posted before, I’m so proud of him. Though he doesn’t really know how to graciously accept compliments (I think he’s embarassed by it.), I will say it over and over until he gets comfortable with the idea that he is worthy of compliments… and not just in photography. For someone so talented, he barely recognizes his.

I wish I had a link to post of his site. But not just yet. His OCD coupled with Harry’s (the one doing the coding and stuff of his photoblog)… it may be a while ’til that blog sees the light of the web. As soon as it’s up, I’ll post a link at the left. For now… I’M SO PROUD OF YOU TEACH!

Whitey is this really dirty kitty that lives around and about Peter’s house. I’m not really into cats to be honest. But at least I know that cats are generally clean. They spend a huge part of the day grooming themselves. That’s why it’s so surprising to see this little slob. Hihihi. Isn’t it funny?

Cats are also usually demure. They’re not like dogs who rummage through garbage. They’re delicate creatures who scout from the edges of the garbage can and gracefully grab the yummy treats inside and quickly jump out (in fear of getting dirty). But Peter said that this little kitty dives right in and rummages through the garbage without caring about its appearance. Just look at him. He’s so dirty.

The most unusual little thing in my world. Again, I’m not a cat person but was delighted to meet this little rebel. The sole survivor of his litter… his mother Blanca, a promiscuous thing, obviously lack maternal skills to teach her son the proper way for a cat to behave. It goes to show that instinct can only go so far while love and care (even for a cat) teaches us the best way to live.

It was my pleasure to have met Whitey. The little rebel taught me a valuable thing about life. He may be oblivious to the great cat he could have been and ignorance could indeed be bliss but he made it all too obvious to me that love and care goes beyond who we are and transforms us into the best version of ourselves.

Last weekend, we slept over at my husband’s cousin’s place (whew! a mouthful!) and there was Scooby. The only great dane I’ve had the pleasure to meet.

I’d think great danes would usually be temperamental but he’s so affectionate even though it was the first time we met. Such a handsome dog too.

I’ve always been impartial with big dogs. I don’t have too much of a problem with toy breeds except for the Chihuahua. I think they’re acquired tastes. But all in all, I adore dogs (most living things for that matter). I’m not too much of a cat person but I don’t hate them. The only living things I don’t have any problems in hurting are cockroaches and mosquitoes. Otherwise, I’d try to just get them out of the way (even spiders).

Anyway, so here’s HUGE Scooby. He stands about as high as my hips but he’s such a sweetheart. We didn’t have any problems from the start. At the request of his owner, we took photos and came out with a number of nice ones (soo happy about that). I’d have to ask permission ofcourse, but I’d like to include him in our portfolio. Such a handsome big dog.

I’m so proud of my Teach. He’s one of my best friends and we talk practically every day. Sharing mundane everyday things happening in our lives and a week without chatting with him seems incomplete. To think he lives thousands and thousands of miles away and yet it’s so comforting to know that in spite of the fact that it years went by before we started chatting again (which is what we did when we first met: in a chat IRC chat room – embarassing to admit that now but it’s true), we just picked up where we left off.

He’s always tried to teach me things I wouldn’t normally try to learn on my own. He encourages me to do the things he knows I love and but just afraid to try. Though he is a very intellegent person, he’s a paradox on his own. He knows he’s smart but thinks he’s not smart enough. He knows he’s got skills but wonders if it’s just in his imagination. Among my best friends, he’s the most paradoxial (is that a word?) among them.

One thing I admire about him is when he focuses on something, he usually excels. He’s recently taken up photography (just shy of a year ago) and the heights he has reached is just simply amazing. His level of learning is so awesome that I believe he’s the fastest learner in the world! He encouraged me to take up photography as well because he knew that it was something I was into when we first met (but let it go to pursue my give-in-to-peer-pressure teenage life). Isn’t he just the best? He’s so supportive.

He would sound off how bad he feels because he thinks his photography hasn’t improved. I think that was maybe about 3 months ago… but now, he’s so proficient in the language of photography that half of the things he’s trying to teach me gets deposited in my subconscious bank. Something to be accessed when the need arises. He’s getting paid gigs and he’s not even started with his portfolio! Imagine that. He’s getting all these sophisticated equipment which is more than fine but the great thing is, he knows how to use them effectively! There are so many photographers out here who keeps buying expensive studio equipment, lenses, the best DSLR and they take horrible pictures!

I haven’t seen the complete new collection of photos but Teach showed me ONE shot he took and it was awesome! I’m so proud of him. But I’m not surprised that he’s doing so well. It’s always in him to excel and he has excellent focus. He’s reached a whole new level and I’m so happy for him.