A month ago, to my horror, I broke one of our Canon lens. It was just the 18-55mm kit lens but it was one of my favorite and trustworthy lens and one that I used mostly for blogging.
Two weeks ago, we found out that our other lens was causing our DSLRs to crash. I don’t know how or what to call it. Simply put, every time we use our 28-135mm lens to both of our DSLRs, it makes an error, making the body of the camera turn off and dysfunctional. We’ve been using the 28-135mm lens together with the 30D but since the 18-55mm broke, we used it with the 400D as well. Whenever the 30D crashes before, we thought there was a problem with the body of the camera. However, when we used the 28-135mm lens with the 400D, it crashed as well. So that’s when we discoved that there’s nothing wrong with our 30D…it is most probably the 28-13mm lens.
As if fate is playing a game on me, this all happened towards my Husband’s birthday. Since we don’t have a proper point and shoot camera, I cannot let it happen that we don’t have a good camera on his 30th birthday. And yes, as OA as I may seem, I cannot live without a DSLR these days. We still have our telephoto lens and the 50mm lens, however, having no other lens used for shoots and events, patay ang negosyo hehe. So I had to order new lens this week.
Thursday Thought Bubbles (sharing with you some of my thoughts throughout the day)
8:03am morning tea number 1: half a slice of margherita pizza from Baker’s Delight.
8:55am wow, too early for my package to arrive. it’s not even 9:00am. not expecting the package til after lunch time. they (the online store) are really good. will buy from them again. must call husband to tell the good news.
9:01am voila! my new baby wrapped in styrofoam wonderland.
9:49am i wanna go home. i wanna go home. i wanna go home. i wanna go home and play with my new toy. i’m so excited, it’s been a loooong time since i’ve bought a new gadget.
10:00am green tea time. cup no. 1 starts now.
11:14am i really wanna go home. now na. green tea cup no. 2. must eat the other half of my margherita pizza. need nourishment.
11:25am email received that a former “workmate” is going back to the office after resigning for two weeks. what the hell just happened??? freaking unbelievable. according to the email, he deferred his resignation and will be back next week. naloka kaming lahat kasi mega-organize kami ng going away party and gift niya at mega-dalamhati kami tapos ngayon babalik siya. isang malaking kalokohan. not that we don’t want him back, not that we can turn back time. it’s just unbelievable.
1:12pm i forgot about lunch again! second time this week.
1:40pm my wormate just gave me this heart-shaped stress ball. baka sa inis ko sa trainees ko, instead of just squeezing the stress ball in my hand, i might throw the ball at them. god help me. don’t get me wrong, i love what i do but once in a while they really get on my nerves.
2:30pm yay! an hour and a half before dismissal time (parang school hehe).
3:47pm Ayoko na magtrabaho!!!!! I really just wanna go home.
3:50pm Will go home in 10 minutes. 🙂 🙂
4:33pm ngek! nandito pa rin ako sa office. will really go home now.
Presenting our new baby: Canon 17-85mm IS USM Lens
I can now shoot as far as this…
and as near as this…
Photos taken from our balcony, us being on the 3rd floor of the building.
(these are advices I give myself whenever I forget to just enjoy my here and now. I hope these will help you too)
Be always in the present. Wherever you are and whatever circumstance you are in, enjoy it, savor it…cherish it.
Count your blessings. While it is okay to dream or want something in life, it is never healthy to obsess too much for things you know you can’t have at the moment.
Be grateful for your NOW. Remember two things: (1) Each moment passes by quickly–it may be over before your know it and (2) your next moment may not be as great or as happy, so live each moment as if it’s the best moment of your life.
Keep in mind that challenges are a part of life and that it is meant to teach a lesson. Embrace it the way you cherish your joys in life and always find the lesson each challenge conveys.
Never take shortcuts. An unhappy moment is part of life and the only way to live fully is to manage feelings such as fear, grief, frustration, disappointments, etc. Give yourself time to heal. Cry and wallow if you must, but don’t be a slave to your unhappiness. Being able to rise up and learn from an unhappy moment is a sign of growth (take note: there must be LEARNING as without it, growth will be futile).
I’ve shared this before and I will share it once again.
“My concept of ‘Being’ means embracing whatever life brings you…it may be joy, sorrow, pain, hardships—the key is to cherish it (even if its painful) and learn from it. We honor our joy, we might as well honor our pain too. Life is so much sweeter when you know you’re able to go thru happy or sad moments with no shortcuts.”
– an ibyangism i learned when i moved in Sydney and found out that life is more beautiful when you have gone thru cherished tears
One happy Friday night with my girls Hilda, Ara and Chloe as we met up after work for coffee and dinner.
One realization that night: my, how we have grown!!!!
Used to be that we talk of boyfriends, past relationships, work, fashion and any other thing that single ladies talk under the sun.
Nowadays, we have moved on to talking of our love for our partners in life, managing a home, sharing recipes, insurances, travels & get togethers that involves family and sometimes, we even talk about our health and appointments with doctors.
Yes, we are getting old (hehe). But it’s amazing that we’ve been in a journey together for a long time now…as friends and as sisters. And it’s awesome to look back that during our younger days, we were there for each other…and now with the many changes in our lives, we are together still.
In a woman’s life, a lot of things may change—careers, dreams and even one’s partner/husband (yes, pwedeng mapalitan ang asawa hehe)…but it’s very possible that TRUE FRIENDS will remain constant.
For more photos of our dinner and coffee date, click here.
We’re down to the 8th month of the year and I can’t believe it is nearly Christmas (!!!). So I want to start the month of August with a funny, yet very inspiring speech from Ellen Degeneres, TV host of The Ellen Show. Hoping that this speech will give you that extra boost to your enthusiasm in achieving your goals this year.
I hope you enjoy it as much my Husband and I did. I’ve also provided a transcipt should you want to read instead of watch. Could be a long read for you but I’ve marked some key phases in bold letters.
Have a great week and be inspired!
Transcript:
Thank you, President Cowan, Mrs. President Cowen; distinguished guests, undistinguished guests – you know who you are, honored faculty and creepy Spanish teacher. And thank you to all the graduating class of 2009, I realize most of you are hungover and have splitting headaches and haven’t slept since Fat Tuesday, but you can’t graduate ’til I finish, so listen up.
When I was asked to make the commencement speech, I immediately said yes. Then I went to look up what commencement meant. Which would have been easy if I had a dictionary, but most of the books in our house are Portia’s, and they’re all written in Australian. So I had to break the word down myself, to find out the meaning.
Commencement: common, and cement. Common cement. You commonly see cement on sidewalks. Sidewalks have cracks, and if you step on a crack, you break your mother’s back. So there’s that. But I’m honored that you’ve asked me here to speak at your common cement.
I thought that you had to be a famous alumnus – alumini – aluminum – alumus – you had to graduate from this school. And I didn’t go to college here, and I don’t know if President Cowan knows, I didn’t go to any college at all. Any college. And I’m not saying you wasted your time, or money, but look at me, I’m a huge celebrity.
Although I did graduate from the school of hard knocks, our mascot was the Knockers. I spent a lot of time here growing up. My mom worked at Nucum and I would go there every time I needed to steal something out of her purse. But why am I here today? Clearly not to steal, you’re too far away and I’d never get away with it.
I’m here because of you. Because I can’t think of a more tenacious, more courageous graduating class. I mean, look at you all, wearing your robes. Usually when you’re wearing a robe at 10 in the morning, it means you’ve given up. I’m here because I love New Orleans. I was born and raised here, I spent my formative years here, and like you, while I was living here I only did laundry six times. When I finished school, I was completely lost. And by school, I mean middle school, but I went ahead and finished high school anyway. And I – I really, I had no ambition, I didn’t know what I wanted to do. I did everything from – I shucked oysters, I was a hostess, I was a bartender, I was a waitress, I painted houses, I sold vaccuum cleaners, I had no idea. And I thought I’d just finally settle in some job, and I would make enough money to pay my rent, maybe have basic cable, maybe not, I didn’t really have a plan, my point is that, by the time I was your age, I really thought I knew who I was, but I had no idea. Like for example, when I was your age, I was dating men. So what I’m saying is, when you’re older, most of you will be gay. Anyone writing this stuff down? Parents?
Anyway, I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life, and the way I ended up on this path was from a very tragic event. I was maybe 19, and my girlfriend at the time was killed in a car accident. And I passed the accident, and I didn’t know it was her and I kept going, and I found out shortly after that, it was her. And I was living in a basement apartment, I had no money, I had no heat, no air, I had a mattress on the floor and the apartment was infested with fleas. And I was soul-searching, I was like, why is she suddenly gone, and there are fleas here? I don’t understand, there must be a purpose, and wouldn’t it be so convenient if we could pick up the phone and call God, and ask these questions.
And I started writing and what poured out of me was an imaginary conversation with God, which was one-sided, and I finished writing it and I looked at it and I said to myself, and I hadn’t even been doing stand-up, ever, there was no club in town. I said, “I’m gonna do this on the Tonight Show With Johnny Carson”- at the time he was the king – “and I’m gonna be the first woman in the history of the show to be called over to sit down.” And several years later, I was the first woman in the history of the show, and only woman in the history of the show to sit down, because of that phone conversation with God that I wrote. And I started this path of stand-up and it was successful and it was great, but it was hard, because I was trying to please everybody and I had this secret that I was keeping, that I was gay. And I thought if people found out they wouldn’t like me, they wouldn’t laugh at me.
Then my career turned into – I got my own sitcom, and that was very successful, another level of success. And I thought, what if they find out I’m gay, then they’ll never watch, and this was a long time ago, this was when we just had white presidents – this was back, many years ago – and I finally decided that I was living with so much shame, and so much fear, that I just couldn’t live that way anymore, and I decided to come out and make it creative. And my character would come out at the same time, and it wasn’t to make a political statement, it wasn’t to do anything other than to free myself up from this heaviness that I was carrying around, and I just wanted to be honest. And I thought, “What’s the worst that could happen? I can lose my career”. I did. I lost my career. The show was cancelled after six years, without even telling me, I read it in the paper. The phone didn’t ring for three years. I had no offers. Nobody wanted to touch me at all. Yet, I was getting letters from kids that almost committed suicide, but didn’t, because of what I did. And I realised that I had a purpose.And it wasn’t just about me and it wasn’t about celebrity, but I felt like I was being punished… it was a bad time, I was angry, I was sad, and then I was offered a talkshow. And the people that offered me the talkshow tried to sell it. And most stations didn’t want to pick it up. Most people didn’t want to buy it because they thought nobody would watch me.
Really when I look back on it, I wouldn’t change a thing. I mean, it was so important for me to lose everything because I found out what the most important thing is, is to be true to yourself. Ultimately, that’s what’s gotten me to this place. I don’t live in fear, I’m free, I have no secrets. and I know I’ll always be ok, because no matter what, I know who I am. So In conclusion, when I was younger I thought success was something different. I thought when I grow up, I want to be famous. I want to be a star. I want to be in movies. When I grow up I want to see the world, drive nice cars, I want to have groupies. To quote the Pussycat Dolls. How many people thought it was “boobies”, by the way? It’s not, it’s “groupies”.
But my idea of success is different today. And as you grow, you’ll realise the definition of success changes. For many of you, today, success is being able to hold down 20 shots of tequila. For me, the most important thing in your life is to live your life with integrity, and not to give into peer pressure, to try to be something that you’re not. To live your life as an honest and compassionate person.To contribute in some way. So to conclude my conclusion: follow your passion, stay true to yourself. Never follow anyone else’s path, unless you’re in the woods and you’re lost and you see a path, and by all means you should follow that. Don’t give advice, it will come back and bite you in the ass. Don’t take anyone’s advice. So my advice to you is to be true to yourself and everything will be fine.
And I know that a lot of you are concerned about your future, but there’s no need to worry. The economy is booming, the job market is wide open, the planet is just fine. It’s gonna be great. You’ve already survived a hurricane. What else can happen to you? And as I mentioned before, some of the most devastating things that happen to you will teach you the most. And now you know the right questions to ask in your first job interview. Like, “Is it above sea level?” . So to conclude my conclusion that I’ve previously concluded, in the common cement speech, I guess what I’m trying to say is life is like one big Mardi Gras. But instead of showing your boobs, show people your brain, and if they like what they see, you’ll have more beads than you know what to do with. And you’ll be drunk, most of the time. So the Katrina class of 2009, I say congratulations and if you don’t remember a thing I said today, remember this: you’re gonna be ok, dum de dum dum dum, just dance.
I woke up early today and the first news I read online was the demise of former President Cory Aquino. I thought it was a hoax once again so I went thru other websites to confirm the news. After 30 minutes, I woke the Husband up and told him the news. I asked him to take over the computer so we can watch news in the Phils. We were able to watch Julius Babao’s DZMM radio show’s video coverage and ANC. In ANC, they showed Senator Noynoy’s official statement to the press a few hours after Tita Cory died. While we watched, I cried. It was very sad that her life here on earth is over.
I’ve never had any strong feelings towards her like I go around talking about how much I like her. However, I’ve always had this silent admiration for the kind of woman that she was. Whenever I saw her on TV, I’d watch her closely and admire her grace, courage, resilience, love for God, country and family.
The world is in mourning because we have lost a great person in Philippine history. I know all of us are praying for her. But let me also remind you to pray TO her…pray to her that we may have a better country, that can we please have a better Philippines. Now that she is closer to God, maybe she can hear us and maybe help us pray for our country.
