The Photography Bug

A friend who recently bought a Lumix GF1 gave me several 10 to 15 minute “lectures”, a photography 101 of sorts. So there was talk of shutter speed, apertures, contrasts, histograms and then some. I was a bit dizzy afterward but my interest was piqued. He was by no means the first one to eagerly explain in great detail the nuances of digital photography, but somehow, his talk enticed me into reading, experimenting and trying out some simple but quite surprisingly neat camera tricks. I don't have a single artistic bone in my body. You see, I can't draw (I can only do stick men). I can't paint. I can't sculpt. Heck, I can't carry a tune to save my own life. Now, when I took these pictures and applied long shutter modes and some photo effects...man, I couldn't believe how I still sucked with the aid of technology! Even though the pictures weren't works of art, I realized that manipulating the settings of our lowly Canon PowerShot SD450 was so much fun and it felt like I was creating something. This supposed basic point and shoot camera can really do some amazing stuff and it's up to me to discover them. I started thinking what I could do if I had a dSLR, but that's a story for another time. I don't want to be one of those SLR toting Tom, Dick and Harry (more Juan's and Maria's) in the malls and other public places because there's just something wrong with that picture, pardon the pun. I don't have anything against them but if I could get a dime for every Juan who carries an SLR and knows how to use it, I won't even have a buck. Yeah, I know. I'm just green with envy that I don't have one! What I'll try to do though is just try my hand at photography using basic point and shoot cams.

Lashing out

It's sometimes nice to lash out and just not care about the consequences. The feeling of unbridled emotional release ranks somewhere between genuine happiness and your run-of-the-mill pre-dawn euphoria. Problem is, every time I get the urge to just let it all out, I bottle things up...afraid of the repercussions and the guilt which starts to eat me up inside immediately after hurtful and probably unfair words comes out of my mouth. We are taught to hold our tongue, to be civil and not make rash retorts that would escalate already negatively charged situations...so in the meantime, my punching bags (be it running a kilometer more, hitting that tennis ball extra harder, adding more weights to the usual rep or simply writing) will have to bear the brunt of my anger.

Thank you, Sony!

My once cool Vaio VGN-CS290...reduced to being a lowly desktop

Thank you Sony for producing such high quality products that breaks down less than a year from the purchase date. Thanks for all the shutdowns this Vaio does at the most inappropriate of moments...when showing PowerPoint presentations, after composing an important, long, unsaved email ...the usual stuff. Thank you, Sony, for rousing my resourcefulness thereby effectively grounding a laptop onto a desk with a fan pointed at its side to prevent it from overheating and shutting down. Thank you Sony for making me lose face to my friends whom I bragged about your superior laptops. Lastly, thank you, Sony, for your excellent chat, email and phone support for delivering me this message: we can't help you.

Between A Rock and A Hard Place

What if this is as good as it gets? What if second gear is all this machine, called my life, is able to shift to because the third, fourth and fifth gears are simply not available? What if this is where I'm meant to be? What if my expectations are nothing more than wishful thinking? What if, after all that work, I already did "arrive" and just do not see it that way and thereby effectively blinding me to expect more? What if I have already attained my limits and I am just trying to overextend my reach?

Maybe this is all there is to it.

My Niece: Jillian Reese

Isn't she the cutest?

Bite Off More than One Can Chew

I'm having a great deal of difficulty with this 10pm to 6am schedule. I find that it's harder to concentrate on little things that I badly need to do...LIKE STUDY FOR THE BIG ONE!!! It's just been a little over a week since I got the night shift but it feels like ages. I'm irritable and I feel like sleeping all the time. I'm sleepy when I'm awake but I'm half awake when I'm supposed to be sleeping. Man, I'm really starting to think that scheduling The Big One this May was a huge mistake. With the rate things are going, I won't be able to comfortably cover all the topics that I need to read with the time I have left. GGGGGGGGGGGGRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!

The Dynamic Duo

I would just like to thank the dynamic duo for showing me around the work area and taking me under their wing. I learned a lot of useful stuff from them and I'm sure I'll continue to learn some more as the days go by. I am blessed to have you guys as my teachers :-) One more thing, there's nothing like a 22 year old girl telling a 31-year old man to do his job -- that's one wake up call that stings! Ouch!

DispatcheD ! ! !

I am so psyched! Finally, after a few months of patiently waiting I'm off to my first "attachment". Don't get me wrong, I appreciate and totally enjoy basking in the cool climate of our HQ where I was able to study in preparation for the Big One but I was starting to feel left out as most of my batch-mates were already moving from one attachment to another.
I don't have any misgivings about being placed in the night shift but I just thought that after leaving my old CS job that I'll never come in for work at night anymore. I do consider this as a blessing though because night = fewer patients which means a smooth transition for me from doing minimal work for the past few months at HQ to a relatively not so busy scene which gives me ample time to learn the ropes of the new place. This is just perfect for someone who's a little bit slow on the uptake. Sweet.

RN Bum No More

I can't express how happy I am! There will be exclamation marks all over the place so forgive me! After more than 6 months of slamming doors and seemingly impregnable walls, I finally caught a break and landed a job! This is big! This makes up for all those times I was turned away because I didn't know the mayor or didn't have a hospital administrator for an uncle. Man o, man!

I owe a big "THANK YOU!" to a couple of friends who told me about the job opening...I never would of known, much more applied to X X X if not for them. Dennis, Marie...I thank you from the deepest recesses of my heart.

"And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God..." Romans 8:28.

It's already June so summer is officially over. That doesn't mean we can't hit the beach and fill our lungs with fresh air coming from the open seas. The pristine and unadulterated breeze certainly helps in purging the mind and spirit of accumulated negativity that one imbibes over time from living in the city.

Thanks hon! Where would I be without your constant badgering?
That was definitely better than just sitting at home :-)