Marcus Can Blog

Life is like a bullet

My recent obsession with photography got me back in multiply.com. Here I’ve learned some tips from enthusiasts who spent time, effort and money to satisfy their craving for at least one nice shot.

Re-visiting the site put a smile on my face when I saw the last photos I posted prior to the Basic Photography class. This set made me proud of my (dark) self. I call this one ‘Life is like a bullet.’ And here’s how the story goes.

Bullets have goals too. To serve their purpose they need to be fired–come to think of it, they’ll be the only ones who won’t raise an eyebrow in front of Donald Trump when he says, “You’re fired!”

The way into the goal must be identified.

Like people, some bullets are real…

.. And some bullets aren’t. They are the posers.

Unfortunately, the posers in our midst do have the same ambition like us. Sometimes they get in the way to reach our goal.

And sometimes, they even find the gate ahead of us just a step short of achieving the main objective.

Sooner or later though, someone will find out.

When the real deal takes over, it will make it to the headlines.

gun8

Photo Loco

Just like any other hobbies I previously had that once I had my mind set on it I can’t help but fidget to satisfy the urge. I’ve seen myself before running around the house like in a CQB setting. I’ve seen myself aim the fishing rod on an imaginary fish pond while I’m on the sofa. I’ve played badminton with my wife despite the low ceiling and short space at home. And right now, me and my IXUS are best buds. Photography is it.

After yesterday’s photography class closing ceremony, I’ve been seeing lots of things in a very different perspective already. It’s like one of those days when my mind is so full of things that I’d be walking almost absentmindedly while simultaneously running several tasks at once.

It was also yesterday when my addiction to shoot people, objects, and sceneries to name a few cannot be ignored. At one point, I caught myself talking with some of my colleagues but with my mind wandering around and wondering what angle I can shoot them to show their best side – not to be misinterpreted as if most of them hasn’t got one. Hahaha. Come to think of it, it’s a challenge of some sort.

I also had the temptation to spend some extra time at the parking lot after work, with the intention to capture car trail lights. I could have been seen crawling on the parking ground with my IXUS mounted on the 3-inch tripod and pointed at the parking exit. Good thing sanity and self-preservation prevailed.

Reaching home didn’t help either. I entered the gate with my mind thinking about how the gate grills will appear in the morning. And upon nearing the door with my smiling wife, made me recall if portraits are meant to be captured with an evaluative or center-weighted metering mode – although I know that she’ll appear good whatever the setting is anyway. Ehem.

That didn’t stop right there. Dinner did not escape my photo adrenaline rush as well. Imagine a 5-year old kid appearing to help arrange the table with nothing but play in mind. I was like that. Last night, the red table mats’ lines appear begging to be shot. The same case of curiosity with the buttered bread’s color and texture details. Of course, not shooting the mouth-watering pasta also made me feel guilty of foregoing an opportunity. Fortunately, I was so stuffed by the end of the meal that shooting the food morsels was spared.

table mat

I don’t know when this photography interest revival will end. But for now I’m just full of ideas that if I’d be left alone even at the parking lot, I’d be very busy come rain or shine. So to my friends, colleagues, web network contacts, please bear with me if I’d be speaking about f-stops, lighting sources, perspectives or resolutions in the next days to come. And lastly, expect me to be as pesky as a fly as I’d be all over you in the name of photography.

***

Stuffed from a good dinner, I pressed on with shooting my wife’s cross-stitch yarns – much to her annoyance.

stove flame — I ditched the brewed coffee over the instant Nescafe this morning just to see how the flames under the kettle will appear.

Never have I been so interested in cooking ingredients. This is an onion, right?

Basic Photography Day 2: The Shooting Continues

I haven’t been so pumped up and so ready to go somewhere since almost a month ago. Today, after a short stretch coming from bed and a short prayer for a good weather, I was like an eager child waiting to be picked up at the bus stop for a whole day of an exciting field trip.

A quick peek outside from the bedroom’s window, the reddish dawn sky gave me an immediate confirmation that today we’ll have much sun to exploit with for our photography activity. My wish was answered as quickly as a shutter can sharply capture an zooming F1 car. Now isn’t that photography-speak already?

Topics for today’s session are exposure, shutter speed, exposure triangle and exposure meters just to name a few. And fortunately, despite the jargons and the technicality behind each topic, my tiny Canon IXUS 70 didn’t fail me. Every moment during the class, I discovered more capabilities of this small wonder. I began to suspect that it is an EOS in a small package. And as a matter of fact, I enjoyed using it during most of our activities, both indoor and outdoor.

So let’s get over with the chatter and more of the shutters. Here’s how my day went with the tiny Ixzy–my IXUS’ pet name.

Note: some of the images below were post-processed–cropped and/or enhanced to remove noise brought about by settings in the manual mode. Other than these, everything else is approximately 95% of its original form.

day 2 photo rivera — Mr. Benjie Rivera showing a student the point-and-shoot’s useful features.

day 2 slow down — Slow sunny crossing. Abet with his Beatles walk.

day perspective — Boulders by perspective.

day 2 rough lines — Three elements. An experiment with lines.

cliche gumamela — Is there future in floral arrangement?

wet leaves — Wet and green. Dew drops captured during the morning photo shoot.

Green long leaves. Another experiment with foliage and lines.

Framed macro. Experiment with macro and vertical lines.

umbrella hook — No wet umbrellas for today.

more cups — …and ended with three. All the coffee it takes to keep up.

pasta shot — The picture doesn’t not justify the taste. Wifey’s treat at home.

I Shot Several People

My enthusiasm with photography led me finally to sign up for a basic photography class as part of our company’s livelihood/upskilling program.

It’s been awhile since I actually got so interested again with our Canon IXUS 70 which by friends’ and some of my colleagues’ standard, having one is already considered Jurassic, reason I secretly kept my distance from this point and shoot camera. Another reason was because despite having much of the basic photography literature just within reach thru books (I’ve got a couple at home) and the ever trusty internet, sometimes the tips just don’t seem to make any sense to me. In short, I got bored.

But having no other choice other than the gas welding session which I have already signed up for, I decided to give photography another chance. I tried again today if my fate with it will once again develop.

photo image

The first day of the class with professional photographer Mr. Benjamin Rivera started late. But promised, he made up for it and when the session began I got so excited that I can’t remember dozing off despite some dragging moments in his lecture. I was either taking notes, or was tinkering with my IXUS trying to figure out what aperture, exposure value or focal length is all about. Of course, I shot several people with this tiny amateur’s weapon of choice–guilt free. So as they say that a picture paints a thousand words I’m ending the text with my some of my own shots.

By the way, if my renewed enthusiasm with photography continues, I might once again frequently update my multiply.com account. And before I forget, I have several colleagues (contacts) whom I look up to. Check their multiply.com portfolio:

Dencio – http://dmbarbaira.multiply.com

Ronald – http://ronald1027.multiply.com

Abet – http://abet913.multiply.com

Bloody Bisaya

I have forgotten all about this issue that has created another stir among majority of the Filipinos led supposedly by our nationalistic and caring brethren here and abroad. But just as I was about stretching my yet sleepy self out of bed I heard it from the news again.

This is about the discrimination issue being raised when a comedy show somewhere in Europe featured a helper being made to perform an indecent act in front of her British master. This short scene once again made it to our national news — both print and broadcast — and everyone jumped into the bandwagon like ants smelling an open sugar container. Everyone called foul. And once again, as always, everyone called for an apology from the ‘racist’ party — this time, the Brits.

This news is not new. The recent one that I can recall was when actress Teri Hatcher’s character made a remark questioning the credentials of Filipino doctors during one of the Desperate Housewife episodes. This one too angered all Filipinos. Some even rallied behind to have the show and Teri Hatcher banned here in the Philippines. Of course, do I need to mention that an apology was demanded from Teri Hatcher?

News such as this is like an irritating itch. I hate it but I’m amused with it as well. Why? Because most of us are quick to point out discrimination coming from foreigners but have totally forgotten that it has been actually happening here in our country. We’ve stereotyped people coming from the provinces and treated some with less respect.

Case in point. If someone speaks with a thick Visayan accent, most would call them dong. I learned from a friend that this is an insult especially if used in Cebu–also a Visayan province. And not only that, most shows portray their household drivers, maids or sidekicks as Bisaya. We enjoy seeing them being slapped in both comedy and the dreaded telenovela shows. For most, having a thick Visayan accent is synonymous to being illiterate or ignorant. How rude.

So what are we going to do about it? I’m from Bacolod where most will immediately call one coming from there as Bisaya. Should I demand then an apology from the rest of the fair skinned, fluent Tagalog-speaking Filipinos? Should I waste my time and effort to get my message across? Unfortunately, I just did but frankly, I don’t give a damn. However, unless we get our acts together here in treating the rest of our countrymen fairly, let’s not be surprised and stop feeling discriminated if foreign shows brand us as cooks, janitors, gasoline attendants, dog-eaters, fake doctors, fake nurses and illiterate sexy maids. Live with it.

***

Here’s what I read from yesterday’s Francis J. Kong article that made me relate it to my subject matter:

From the Albany Journal, 1890 comes this material…A true Christian never looks down on anybody, and yet this habit of looking down on the less fortunate acquaintances is common enough to make the following advice given by the Albany Journal to its young readers, very timely:

“Don’t look down on a boy because he wears shabby clothes; when Edison, the inventor first entered Boston, he wore a pair of yellow breeches in the depth of winter.

“Don’t look down on a boy because his home is plain and unpretending; Abraham Lincoln’s early home was a log cabin.

“Don’t look down on a boy because of the ignorance of his parents; Shakespeare, the world’s poet, was the son of a man who was unable to write his own name.

“Don’t look down on anyone; not just because some day they may outstrip you in the race of life, but because it is neither kind, nor right, nor Christian.”

***

Did you know that?

Recently I discovered some fascinating facts:

*There’s a book in the bible called Job. (From my mother who sent me a personal message for my Playing With God post.)

*A man named Expeditus did exist. And guess what, he is the now the saint for people with urgent cases. (Saw this one among the statues inside the humid Dasmarinas church.)

***

Fair-Weather Values

Today’s welcoming bright morning sun seems to have little or no help at all to keep the bleak news from coming out of The Philippine Star news- paper into our breakfast table. Today’s headline: US Recession Looms. And what follows in the next articles and pages are just as frustrating if not scary.

“Layoffs spreading across corporate America”,”RP flunks US think tank’s corruption indicator, loses new funds”.

Switching to CNN didn’t help fan out the negativity either. It just brought more stories about people expected to be jobless and horrible stories of starvation and hopelessness in Zimbabwe. These somehow gave me some guilt while we eat breakfast in front of the TV and with me silently counting off another Sunday of being employed. How self-centered can I get when other people faces far more serious problem than I currently have.

Several more minutes of scanning the paper and watching the news, I realized how still lucky I am — to have brewed coffee, fresh hot pan de sal and another perfect omelet courtesy of wifey. I can imagine, during that very same moment, someone in the USA is being evicted out of his hard-earned home for not being able to pay it; some people in Zimbabwe are thinking where they’re going to get potable water in the next few hours or worse, others might even just die trying to find one, literally.

Well that’s just how sad the reality is nowadays. Being jobless is the “IN” thing. Starvation is inevitable. Bankruptcy is as frequent as before. In short, let’s face it, the world is in crisis.

And being in such predicament, I can’t help but wonder if my personal values would remain as is. The dilemma roaming inside my head just can’t be ignored.

Would I still have the same morals?

Would I still continue with my advocacies such as anti-piracy and environmentalism?

Would I still strive to do my best to drive with courtesy in mind?

Would I still continue to use the pedestrian lane?

Would I still refuse to bribe cops and government employees?

These are few questions that have lately come into consideration. Someone said before that during the worse situations our true character comes out. And so with this I will commit that I’m standing by with what I value most. The answer therefore to some of the questions I have will be yes.

Yes, I will continue…

…To respect my parents and elders. I will still be around to look after them. I will call them as often as I can even if that means that I have to stop sending nonsense SMS to friends to save on prepaid load.

…To respect and be courteous and rational in treating cashiers, janitors, saleslady, waiters, drivers and other blue-collared employees who offer their services to me. Who knows, I might be working with them soon.

…To say no to piracy no matter how hard the urge to buy these things in the name of saving (at the expense of other people).

…To be courteous on the road. And avoid, or at least try not to, honking my horn unnecessarily. (This is another topic deserving another blog entry. I can see wifey smiling.)

…To cross the road using the pedestrian lane even if I’m in a hurry for a job interview.

…To reject the temptation to deal with any form of fixers even if this means delaying the start-up of my small business.

Right now it may be easier said than done. But also right now, I’m saying it out loud as my commitment. As much as I hate fair-weather friends, I hate having fair-weather values.

How about you?

Playing With God

I was born with a very pious mother and I can very well remember how much we’ve been taught about religion. I was in a catholic school from elementary to high school and praying has been way of life. From my mother at home to the nuns and brothers at school, the reminder “Thou shall not use God’s name in vain” echoes all the time.

It may sound blasphemous to most devout catholic but I think that always considering God as a very serious god could sometimes ruin our relationship with him. How many times have we heard and have seen people (including myself) get so upset with unfavorable events and immediately point the blame to God. Most get so uptight in situations– no matter how minor – wherein we feel that God is testing us if we can maintain a resolute faith despite facing trials at some point of our lives.

But have we really ever wondered if God tried playing with us? Yes, just like having a known strict parent who for no reason at all grabs one of your toys and just try to be really playful with you. Well, I do wonder right now.

It started yesterday afternoon when I decided to wash our car after I saw that chances of having rain was nil. I did the washing in a very diligent manner and I wiped the car dry just short of getting it polished and shined. I was tired and sweaty when I finished the whole thing and was so proud of what I accomplished. About an hour later, however, rain poured hard like a bad joke coming from the heavens.

After a couple of seconds of being offended, I ended smiling. Why? Because I had this funny imagination that God must have been staring down at me and was observing me the whole time I was washing the car. I feel like he was trying to have some light moments with me to break the series of serious yet silent “discussions” with him for the past several days already.

That short and witty moment got me thinking until I went to sleep late that night. It added another “What if God…” questions in my mind. It opened a new mindset of how God communicates to us. I think that sometimes it may help a lot if we view God in a different perspective from what we’ve been taught about him. Maybe, just maybe, sometimes to make his presence known he sets aside being a serious God. And sometimes we need to consider that he may be trying to reach out to us in a lighter way. This way, it eases the burden we are experiencing and we begin to communicate with him more candidly and thus creating a more effective way of discussion – in the form of prayer, of course.

The questions now linger: What if God wants to play with us? How do we deal with it? Will our short temper flare? What if a divine clean joke may be what we need to improve our relationship with the one we’ve always known as God? Are you game?

***

I got a forwarded email from one friend today that required me to forward it to 10 persons. Guess what it is? If you answered spam, give yourself a pat on the back. It reminded me of my Chain Game blog.

***

The frequently used words for me lately are God, jobs, baby, food, money and yes, also “words.” So I’m once again amused to find out when I saw that Monday’s AWAD (A. Word. A. Day) had this:

epeolatry – noun: (ep-i-OL-uh-tree) The worship of words.

I’m imagining someone kneeling in front of the word, WORD. Now that’s just weird. But weirder was Tuesday’s AWAD entry:

univocalic – noun: (yoo-niv-uh-KAL-ik) A piece of writing that uses only one of the vowels.

adjective: Using only one vowel.

And also included in that daily mail is this: “CONTEST: Imagine you are a headline writer for a newspaper back in the days when metal type was used. You have run out of all but one of the vowels in the large type size that is used for the headline. What univocalic can you come up with? Email your univocalic news headlines (real or made-up) to (words at wordsmith.org). Selected entries will be featured in the weekly compilation AWADmail and the best entry will win an autographed copy of my latest book DORD. Deadline is Friday Oct 17”

I was so eager to try my hands on this contest and I was surprised how easy it can get. Here are some of my own headline creations for each vowel:

A.

Man And Angst = War.

E.

Sheep Herd Entered Cells. Press’ News Went Berserk.

I.

City Inn Hid Tiny Mic. Irks Indy Kid.

O.

Moon Got Odd. Only Old Owls Hoot.

U.

Gypsy’s Hut Shuts. Urn Put Up.

Oh, before I forget. I sent one of the made-up headlines above. I want that DORD book. So please make your own headline in case you want it too. Do not copy.

***

There’s a Word for it

Words don’t come easy

I’ve been one of the subscribers of wordsmith.org and its recent theme has been quite interesting. Last week is about words that surprisingly refer to something you thought never existed. The words are so new that even MS Word 2007 does not recognize it, hence the red crooked line underneath it when typed. Here’s a couple:

hypergelast – noun: (hy-PUHR-ji-last) One who laughs excessively (like me?)

skeuomorph – noun: (SKYOO-uh-morf) A design feature copied from a similar artifact in another material, even when not functionally necessary. For example, the click sound of a shutter in an analog camera that is now reproduced in a digital camera by playing a sound clip.

serein – noun: (suh-RAN [the second syllable is nasal]) Fine rain falling from an apparently cloudless sky, typically observed after sunset.

This week’s theme is getting more interesting – Words about words, it’s like work about work, which reminds me…

Working for the unemployed

I learned some time last week that there are actually jobs that cater to the unemployed or soon-to-be unemployed. Now how cool is that job especially now that the U. S. economy is on a rapid decline. And out of my wild thoughts, I came up with some other jobs that may thrive during this economic slump:

Psychologists (or shrink) that help people recover from one career transition to
Lawyers who assist to employees’
Plastic products They range from cling wraps, bubble packs, and to other packing materials intended to safe keep machines in warehouses. I believe they also make hard hats.
Paper Do termination papers and envelopes sound familiar? Yes they make those.
Paracetamol These days to come will surely be headache days.
Bloggers. You know what I mean, right?
Hobby and Sports shops. With some severance pays coming in just like winning lotto, new unemployed persons will come in throngs to check what’s for them to kill time while on a job hunt. Hmm. I think I need new badminton rackets this time.

Last Smashing Tournament

Smashing! At least I’d like to believe so but it wasn’t the case. Last week, we joined what seems to be the last badminton tournament for our company. No wonder most were smashing their way to victory. It was pent up energies turned into whipping racket hits.

I had my own reserved energies supposedly to be unleashed during the game but my partner and I fell short of expectations and got smashed instead. We’ve been playing for quite some time but not as partners in men’s doubles game and to mention that we’re placed in level B (reasons, excuses). Additionally, I paid the price for my 3-week layoff from badminton. We just did not have the chemistry; we did not have the play; and we got in the zone too late to win a game. Don’t get me wrong though, as surprisingly we enjoyed the later part of the matches despite losing twice in a row. Next time we will do better. We promised to play under the bum team. Is 365 days of practice, enough?

The next day of the tournament was better. My partner played again, this time in mixed doubles game. They played well enough that they scored a couple of points higher than the other team by the middle of the first game. Unfortunately, game pressure took its toll and both committed more errors as the game progresses. Another loss.

The second game was another story. They soon find their coordination and won. Not bad. I was their self-proclaimed coach. Hahaha.

The Rain and the Road

Several days this week have been rainy and each time presents random memories.

Baptismal by Rain

Thursday. I commuted to work on my motorcycle. Unfortunately, when I headed back home the sky went dark and the threat of rain became a reality–my first time to get caught in the rain while on a motorcycle. I was almost soaked midway of my trip and the laptop in my backpack forced me to seek shelter. While waiting for the rain to stop, I had flashbacks of days when times like this doesn’t matter. As long as we’re with our bikes, sunny days and rainy days seem to be just the same. I miss the carefree days when we’d be racing in the rain and bunny-hopping puddles oblivious to the dangers such as riding without a helmet or any other body protection. Back then it was just our bikes and us, no worries.

Star Tollway

Friday was another rainy road trip. After dropping by work earlier than usual and then driving to Sto. Tomas, Batangas to meet my brother-in-law and his wife for an urgent and stressful meeting, I decided it was the perfect time and reason to hit the long road again to relax. Thanks to the scarcity of the road signs and markers in the Star Toll way, I missed the exit to Lipa which made me decide to go straight towards Batangas City as the rest of Star Toll way’s well-paved highway made me achieve 120 KPH with almost no effort at all.

The long and fast drive sent me back to a mixture of memories and imagination. I began to remember Kuala Lumpur’s road wherein Mercedes Benz and compact cars are as ubiquitous as our Jeepneys. I also recalled my dream-like trip from Wisconsin to Madison which until now I can’t believe I was there for a moment in my life. This also reminded me of disaster movies. The whole horizon was covered with thin nimbus clouds that it was easy to forget it was just noontime then.

After lunch in SM Batangas, we started our way back home around 4 PM. The drive turned out not to be uneventful. We had a near miss when some guy placed an improvised spike on the middle of Star Toll way. Good thing I noticed him doing something fishy and I remembered from motoring forum threads that this modus operandi is being done by some vulcanizing guys to get customers. I was doing 100 KPH and had that spike punctured our tire, some funeral homes will for sure profit from that a**hole’s enterprising scheme.

Sta. Rosa Exit

highway works — Believe it or not, this is South Luzon Expressway.

That Friday wasn’t meant to be SSDD. After dropping Noel and Lani back in Sto. Tomas, my wife and I took another route home to Cavite. I’ve had enough of bad roads and I won’t mind another long drive. So we took the Sta. Rosa exit instead of Carmona. This route has been in construction for a couple of months already and even to those familiar with it may find it dangerous especially at night.

Carmona road — Segment of Carmona Road. Road repair almost invisible at night. Beware.

But all’s not so dark and gloomy. Somewhere in the middle of our trip while tuned in to Magic 89.9′s Friday Magic program, I heard a familiar name greeted by another familiar name. Hahaha. It was my wife who sent an SMS greeting for me over the radio. She’s done it several times in the past which still surprises me every time.

The last time we passed the Sta. Rosa route was more than a year ago and we still have our cute Kia Pride that time. Nothing has changed so far but at least it’s better than keeping my eye open for road under repair signs (or the lack of it) in Carmona. An obvious improvement though is noticeable right after we reached Tagaytay. Now, large portions of the road have a dividing line between two lanes. Years ago, one has to drive with wide eyes open and lights in full beam to survive. At least, some of our public works officials finally(!) acted on this problem. I’m just wondering though who (or how many) got into an accident for this to happen. I just hope he’s a politician.

In Pursuit of Happyness, Live…

I’m watching In Pursuit of Happyness right now and this is my second time after we watched it in the big screen months ago. I have a list of movie favorites that I’d love watching over and over again but this one is not among those. Funny though that this time I’m paying attention.

Since this is like reporting a news live from the scene, I’m taking notes as much as I can and will feed it as soon as possible just like our national news (ABS-CBN and GMA alike) reports trivial things such a fallen motorcycle rider in North Luzon Expressway as if people down in Mindanao cares.

“You’re live in 1, 2….” Good evening, here are some fascinating facts I captured anew from this movie re-run in HBO:

The main character’s name is Chris (played by WillSmith) like mine.
He has a Rubik’s Cube and solved it after several minutes with a potential employer inside the taxi Well, I hate to brag but I can do better. Hahaha. So I’m now considering writing in my resume, the following:

Other Skills:

Can write
Can solve the Rubik’s Cube in 3 minutes or less

He is jobless. Hmm. Not me…yet.
DOS (I noticed that office computers have the green screen) is the “IN” thing then, just like Windows Vista is today.
Sometimes, using the words probably and possibly might have a different To prove this I checked my trusted sources, MS Word’s synonym feature and www.m-w.com. The former shows that possibly is synonymous with probably. M-W.com however clearly defines that the two are somehow different from one another. Note to self: I will probably find a job soon–all fingers and toes crossed.
Chris’ son inspired him to strive more. TBD, for (Trivia: Real life father and son, Will and Jaden Smith played the role of father and son in this movie.)

In the end, Chris’ pursuit of happyness came true. After all his hard work, embarrassment and perseverance, he founded the Gardner Rich and had a stake at a multi-million dollar company.

By the way, Chris ended as a broker…