ANOTHER FAMILY ROAD TRIP

Our relatives from Canada came to the Philippines for a visit (because it's warmer here than in Canada. You can't deny that) and now we have a reason to leave town for a day. My family and I went to Lucban, Quezon to visit this place called Kamay Ni Hesus. It's basically a hill with a huge statue of Jesus on top. It's one of the best places to visit during Holy Week because it's a spiritual place and there are stations of the cross there as well. The first few steps are quite high and hard to reach (it's a dare for the 'young ones' to whoever gets to climb up faster but I swear, even my cousins who are thin and fit had a hard time going up. It wasn't so easy for the 'young once' as well) but by the 13th to 14th stations, the steps become easier to climb. Going down is hard, too. I had wobbly knees when we reached the last step. I literally had to hold onto someone just to walk properly. In a way, it's also exercise. I need exercise, at least every once in a while.

After that, we headed down to Laguna to visit Liliw (I talked about Liliw in here). We left the place, with me sitting at the very back of the car, sad because I wasn't able to find any shoes that either had my size or had the designs that I was looking for but we can always just go back this May for the Tsinelas (it's the Filipino term for slippers) Festival. 

I gave our trusty digicam some use again. It's good for practice for when I finally get to own an SLR. Also, if I'm going to upload a lot of pictures again, I'm going to start making collages because, damn, it's hard to scroll through 800 x 600 px or 800 x 1067 px pictures.

Well, it's finals week next week then after that, we'll finally embrace our sweet beds and sleep on them for a whole day. It's not fun being sleep deprived everyday (because social life plus academics equals no sleep. We had to take the risk because we're teenagers. Nobody needs to ask why). Also, I need to catch up on some shows like How I Met Your Mother (nobody spoil me. I stopped watching by season 9, episode 13) and Once Upon A Time (I honestly don't know which season or episode I stopped so I'm going to start from the first season. DEDICATION).

Also, I just want to fangirl about Teen Wolf and Reign. A warning though: don't watch two shows on the same day. You might drown in your ocean of feels and die from a heart attack. Because FEELS, that's why. 

(Random (okay maybe not so random because we're still talking about TV shows here) note: I miss Sherlock. Does anybody know when the next season will air?)

JANUARY - FEBRUARY PHOTO DIARY // MDP

Let me start this entry with an apology. 

I'm sorry for not posting in a while. To confirm, yes, I am still alive. It's the "usual" reason though - busy with school, didn't have time to post, didn't know what to post, and I just started reading The House Of Hades by Rick Riordan. I miss doing reading sessions that lasts 5 hours or more. Forgive me. I'm a sucker for fiction books with amazing plots and the cliff-hanger (literally for The Mark of Athena) type of endings. You know that. 

Anyway, let's proceed to the not-so-many pictures. Some of the pictures here are posted on my instagram.

My January in bullet form:

• I made paper stars to fill a wine bottle. I made a post about it here.
• I finally joined the Sherlock fandom. Sherlock is just the best show in the world right now. As how we usually rate things in tumblr, A+, 10/10, would recommend, koala tea.
• We were required to join a fun run for the victims of Typhoon Yolanda. Running is never fun and waking up at 5 in the morning on a Sunday too, but it was for a cause so it's quite alright.
• Found my old blank notebook and decided to practice doing typographies by copying some of them that I found on tumblr.
• I always had ice cream even though it was terribly cold. Ice cream always seems to make everything better though.

  (My family and I went to Tanay, Rizal to go to a place called Regina Rica where we experienced some "spiritual enlightenment".)

 (Some of my classmates and I walked around near UST to shoot for our final project for our Rizal class)

(We watched Ballet Manila's Heart To Heart: Ballet and Ballads at the Aliw Theater because we were required by our Filipino professor to do so. I always like watching ballet shows so this one made me happy. After that, my friends and I proceeded to Star City but, unfortunately, we only rode the Ferris wheel that night. Probably because it's one of the rides that had a fast-moving line.)

That's it. Okay, I'm sorry. But here's an awesome life update.

Last year, I made a post saying that I'm earning for a Canon EOS 1000D. It was going well until one night I started talking about it with my mom while having dinner. We also started talking about my 18th birthday. Celebrating the 18th birthday of a girl in the Philippines is a lot like celebrating the 16th birthday of a girl in other countries. We usually have what we call a "debut" or a grand party of some sort. 

Instead of throwing me a debut party, my mom decided to just buy my camera for me. She promised she'd give it to me by summer (I tried to ask her if she could buy it for me by the end of the semester but she insisted on April) and I just can't wait right now!!! (3 exclamation points on a somehow-serious blog post just shows how excited I am right now)

By the way, I also want to talk about what kind of blog this is. This is supposed to be a photography blog. I just don't have the right equipment right now to call it as such but it is a photography blog. Just saying.

WHAT I DIDN'T POST: 2013 // MDP

So this post was supposed to be published on the 31st of December 2013 but being the usual lazy 17-year old that I am, I didn't do it. But nevertheless, here they are.

(January 5; Another one of those dull days lying and rolling in bed with my phone in my hand and since I made the sun my bestfriend for photography, I decided to take a shot. This actually turned out to be amazing than what I had in mind)

(April 28, 5:42 p.m; My parents and I were coming home from the Mall of Asia and there was a pretty sunset. Sun equals bestfriend. Wonderful relationship results to pretty pictures (I wish I had zoomed it a bit more but the zoom of my phone would make the shot look all grainy))

(June 15; Just a random picture of a bracelet I bought from Quiapo. If you guys want to buy cheap accessories, I swear, Quiapo is the place for you)

(August 4; this was actually taken in the cemetery where my grandparents are buried in. That day was very rare considering that August is part of the rainy season and it was pretty sunny. Regarding my oxfords, I bought them in Liliw which is in Laguna. It's like this strip of shoe shops and all of these stores sell really cheap shoes. I think I bought the one I'm wearing above for less than 400 pesos. I can't remember but I need to buy new ones because the inside is wearing out and it's been with me for two years. I've been asking for my parents for a trip to Liliw again!)

(August 30; I was coming home from watching The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones. I watched it alone and found, once I got inside the theater, that a few people were watching it alone too. Guess I don't need to have a companion to watch the movies with all the time after all haha!)

(September 6; Since we always had a two-hour break before swimming class, my college friends and I used our excess time after eating lunch deciding where to hang out as we wait before we head on to the swimming pool area. This is one of those days where we chose to sit in one of the benches in the Lover's Lane in UST. This is also one of those days where I was attracted to hands for no apparent reason. I'm sorry. Like in my description, I'm weird half the time)

(September 27; I think this was the day that we didn't have classes because our college's faculty had something to do but my classmates and I still had to go to school to attend our PE class. My friend, Shane, and I decided to spend our morning in the library to finish our research paper for our Academic Writing class. I was brought to school by my dad a bit too early so I waited a few minutes before the library opened)

(September 29: I was practicing taking pictures from above, sort of like an aerial view. I posted two more pictures in this post)

(November 1; My parents and I had breakfast at Causeway. Dim sum is always on my plate in any Chinese restaurant that we eat in)

(November 16; We were on our way home from our first NSTP fieldwork in Bataan. I think this was the time most of my nstp classmates were asleep and only a few us were awake watching The Conjuring on the tv on board)

(November 25; I am in love with this picture because of the moon and the lavender color of the sky. This was the first day I shot my first video diary. No one was at school by the time I got there so I had the liberty of taking as much pictures as I can without anyone finding it a bit weird)

(December 1; We went to the Noel Bazaar to see what people were selling there at the start of the Christmas season. I was able to buy a studded bag and a dainty necklace from one of the stalls there. And these doughnuts . . . I am telling you, they tasted like heaven!)

(December 2; Second day I shot my first video diary. Another lovely lavender sky)

(December 3; Of all the things that Thomasian students expect in an academic year, the opening of the Paskuhan lights is definitely one of them. UST displays one of the most beautiful Christmas lights I have ever seen in my life. So much effort just to make the campus light up and fill everyone's hearts with that happy Christmas feel)

(December 20; This isn't really a photography-type kind of photo but I just wanted to bring this up because my friends called it the "ombre pizza")

(December 29; I am currently reading Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro and I like the simplicity of the story. My mom gave me this book, along with Love & Misadventure by Lang Leav and The House of Hades by Rick Riordan, for Christmas)

It's always a hard time for me picking a permanent coloring for my pictures. Luckily, I discovered Julia Trotti, an Australian photographer, who takes the most beautiful shots in my opinion. She's my new inspiration as a photographer because I partly want to get into fashion photography. 

Aside from her blog, she also has a website called Digital Film Actions where she sells the lightroom presets and photoshop actions and curves that she uses in her pictures. After going through the pages of her blog, I found some photoshop curves that she provided for free and I actually used some of them in the pictures above. 

Anyway, this entry actually took me forever to make because I made long captions of every photo. It's technically already December 4, Saturday, because it's midnight. I need to learn how to sleep early. *sighs*

LITTLE HANDS // MDP

Let's just say that I do not belong in the field of teaching. First, because I never understood the lessons back when I was in the third grade. All I could think about was what I was going to do during recess and lunch and whose hair looked the best in the class. So I'm not quite certain with the lessons that I'm going to teach. Second, because I despise kids.

I'm one of those people who never has any patience with kids but when we went to Bataan to visit a school and teach some of their students there, I now look at kids in a different perspective. Maybe it was just the kids we taught were sweet and knew how to respect us. I still feel uncomfortable around children though. I always tell my friends that I'm allergic to them.

Teaching is actually a fulfilling career because you get to shape the life of a child who can do wonders once he or she grows up. I now know what teachers have to go through just so they can teach children in the most inspiring way they can because I believe that the only reason why kids don't like a certain subject is because the teacher is not teaching it so well.

I really hope I inspired my kid to finish her studies and be great in her own way, even if she has to use her own two little hands.

Of course, the bus ride going to Bataan was fun, too, just like any other bus rides. We watched three animated movies, How To Train Your Dragon, Up, and Tangled, respectively. Everyone had initially voted on watching The Hunger Games and Now You See Me (Dave Franco, my baby) but there were technical difficulties which resulted to a sad Monica (because Peeta and Dave Franco feels).

EVERYTHING THAT KILLS ME MAKES ME FEEL ALIVE // MDP

It's impossible for me to believe that 2013 is about to end in less than two months. This year had passed by so fast, just like every other year of our lives, that everything seems so blurry all of a sudden and I'm not sure if it's the lack of sleep that I had during the first semester of this academic year or I just missed out on a lot of moments that I never knew were going to become great memories. Oh well. Let's just sigh at that.

For a life update, I had a three-week semester break and for the first two weeks, I did nothing much productive except for chores, chores, chores, and the occasional movie marathon days but nonetheless, I was home bound. I only interacted with people through facebook, twitter, and tumblr but for the third week, I can't say it was hectic but at least I actually did something.

For one, my aunt told me to look for my mom's old pictures in our family albums and scan them so that she can use them for the video she's making for my mom's birthday. Along with the scavenger hunt for my mom's pictures from the 80's, I found a bunch of other pictures that lifted memories and the whole moment became so nostalgic. (First picture)

My friends and I had a little gathering at my house last Thursday. It was apparent that I wasn't the only one rotting at home with nothing to do during the break. We played ten rounds of Uno and ate cake and ice cream and pizza every two rounds. One of my friends, Mariecris, brought her sister's instax camera and we just had to take a picture, or rather pictures since I wasn't able to capture our other friend, Louise, into the shot but failed miserably in the second shot as well. Sorry Louise! (Second picture)

On November 1, my parents and I went to this market somewhere in Quezon city where vintage things and various shapes and sizes of baskets were being sold and since Christmas is on its way, almost every vendor in the area sold Christmas decorations such as hanging santa clauses and nuckcracker figurines. (Third to Fifth picture)

We went to Tagaytay today and had a picnic in Caleruega along with my parents' friends. I've been the Caleruega about three times now and it still looks beautiful as always. I'll probably go back when I reach my fourth year in college since we'll be having our retreat there.

Well. This is probably the longest blog entry I've ever written and I actually still want to tell more things but I'll try to make it brief.

There's this blogger, Zoe Suen (fashiononymous), who is from Hong Kong and I've been admiring her blog since earlier this year (or was it last year? I honestly can't remember). Her blog is just the most beautiful thing I have ever laid eyes on. Her layout is so simple and her entries are short but interesting. Plus, I can't even describe how much I feel about her clothing style. She is actually my new inspiration in blogging now. Just putting it out there.

Lastly, my new favorite website for music is 8tracks.com. In there, you can search for various playlists that can satisfy your music cravings. I honestly love the indie + chill tag! I was actually inspired to make a playlist myself and I can't stop listening to it.

I must cut this entry now. I honestly really do want to tell more things (it's now evident that I haven't blogged in a while) but I can't prolong this entry. Do follow me on twitter for updates (Did I really just say that?).Thank you anyway for reading until this very last paragraph. 'Til next time!