For the record, I'm not a superstitious and I don't believe in that mumbo-jumbo reincarnation stuff. Though those topics would make a great read, I couldn't bring myself to believe something "mysterious" if I haven't seen or experienced it myself. But two months ago, I found something "coincidental" which amused me.
After that engagement pictorial I mentioned in my previous post, we found ourselves in Fr. Blanco's Garden and in fact, a couple of frames were shot there. After getting into one of those big doors near the area, it took us inside the San Agustin Church.
The hallway that greeted us was where all those old paintings were hanging. As I was looking around, I found this painting of a Spanish friar whose paints have already dulled over time. In my mind, I was thinking that people connected to conserving these arts should do a better job in keeping them preserved. This is how it looked like:
Painting of a Spanish Friar... sorry for the pic quality... low light + nikon cp4500 = bad picture...
From afar, I could see that the artist signed his name at the lower left corner of the framed art. I've seen some of these old paintings in Santo Niņo de Cebu and it's rare to find one with an actual signature of the painter. With this, the art caught my eye and I moved closer to see who the artist was. This is the artist's signature:
"Namesake" from another time? R.Enriquez of the 17th century. Haha!
Well I guess you should know that ever since I started, this is how I sign my drawings and paintings:
A little over two months ago, a soon-to-be-wed friends of mine wanted their engagement pictures shot by me. Of course, they didn't know what they were getting into. Hehe. Little did they know that I might just be getting headless shots of them. But they insisted and I obliged.
My D70 was only a fews days old and my confidence to use it wasn't really that high. Then I remembered Jo Avila's(as he professed on the phphoto list and in his seminars) technique - "Let the camera's Professional Mode or P-mode work for you." As expected, some people on the list reacted seriously that P-mode means Program Mode and not Professional Mode. Well of course it is! But the thing was, Jo was trying to point out that if you've got a high-end digital SLR then you might as well let the damn thing work for you and not have to worry about the technical details. That way you can fully focus on the subject in front of you. It makes perfect sense actually. And I made it my mantra that day.
As where most of the engagement(pre-nuptial) pictorials are shot, off we went to Intramuros. On a good day, shooting there would be a breeze but if you're unlucky, security guards might ask for your permit to shoot. Well, we got lucky... and the couple didn't come out headless after all...
Even though football earns the biggest slice of my sporting life, it will always be with baseball where I got my first taste of being involved in a team sport. I think I was just 6 years old when my older cousins encouraged me to play sandlot baseball. Being one of the three smallest kids in our neighborhood, we were always designated as outfielders. Mind you, in a real game, the outfielders are very important. They would be the ones who catch would-be homerun hits, deep fly balls and the like. BUT in a kids game, the outfielders are the useless ones! Haha! Why? Because kids would never, ever get to bat the ball out of the ballpark. Most of the time, the ball would just stay within the diamond. And while we, the three smallest kids, would be just be sitting down at the left, center and right fields with our gloves covering our heads.
But you ask, do we get to bat too? Yup, we do. But always to the delight of the crowd. One time I swung at the ball and I thought I hit hard enough. My cousins were yelling, "Run, run to first base!". So I ran as fast I could only to find out that I was already out before even reaching first base. Damn cousins!
Those sandlot games were very competitive. Everyday, all of us "ball players" would gather and go to neighboring barangays. There we challenge other kids and more often than not, we played for money! Hehe! When we win, the coins I chipped in would get doubled and I'd get to buy ice water. When we lose, I would just drink from my cousin's ice water.
Eventually, everybody all grew up and were now playing hard ball -- real baseball I mean. My cousins became all pretty good at it and represented Cebu in alot of Palarong Pambansa games. One of them even was a pitcher who would have been in the National team if he wasn't too much of a mama's boy. Hehe. I became a pitcher too and played a couple of Palarong Pambansa games during highschool. I could still remember being trained by my cousin pitcher at 5am in the morning when the sun was barely out. He taught me how to throw a curve ball so he showed me how first. I had never seen a curve ball up close before and I got a rude awakening when I did. I was waiting to catch his pitch from the outside but then suddenly, the ball swerved back to the center and hit my face dead-on. I had to learn the hard way.
Though I've never swung a bat or threw a pitch since highschool, my love for the game still remains. This morning's game affirmed that.
After 86 long years, the Boston Red Sox finally broke the so-called "Curse of the Bambino" by winning Major League Baseball's 2004 World Series Championship. And what better way to do it by sweeping the St. Louis Cardinals in four games to nothing! Just 10 days ago, the Sox were just 3 outs away from again becoming the Yankee's doormat. But like a Hollywood sports movie script, they dramatically climbed from 3-0 down to tie the series at 3-3 and eventually winning Game 7 to clinch the ALCS pennant at the expense of their all time arch-nemesis, the New York Yankees. How sweet it is!
I was in Boston four years ago when they were having a good run. Everybody at the office were hopeful that it could be their year. Then the playoffs came and the Sox just disappeared into oblivion. Year after year, they've always looked good on paper and then year after year also, they've disappointed the Red Sox Nation.
But today, the curse is gone, if there was ever such. I'm sure my friends in New England are now delirious with joy! I am too.
... when you go inside a mall and see the high school version of yourself. Haha! Over the summer, I was at SM Cebu and there was this scholarship giving org having their "scholarly" exhibit -- and whatdayaknow! I bump into this young fellow here!
Been awhile since I last set foot on a football pitch. In fact, it has been over a year already since I last played competitively in a tournament. Work just got in the way(and laziness too!) while my football gears just gathered dust in my car's trunk.
Then two weeks ago, I got a surprise email from a Japanese friend, whom I used to work with in the same company before, saying that he's coming over again and was hoping to play while he'll be here. I had to frantically arrange something since I had lost most of my football contacts. Luckily, my friend Dave who now coaches LaSalle Zobel have friends who practice every Saturday in Laguna.
So finally, yesterday we got to run and kick some balls in U.P. Los Baņos. Really nice field they got there except for some sick bastard who left his sh*t on one part of the field. All the time, we were all trying not to step on it! Haha!
Images from yesterday(no shit!):
Noriel, Dave, Takanori Ichikawa, Some Fat Guy
Some Fat Guy and Ichi
Ichi-san! Apart from his Product Analysis job at ADI, he moonlights as a boy-band member in Japan. Just kidding! Haha!
Dave-san! (Dave Fegidero, former national football team player)
Kids -- Getting the simple pleasure of seeing their faces instantly after taking their pictures!
