not an ordinary pond

my shell-carrying friends -- pong, squirt and pochi -- will all be delighted to know where i am going to tomorrow afternoon. its a 'sacred' place for them reptiles, a quiet zone where even music playing is prohibited. kind of like the tibetan lhasa, or a mecca which can be a place where all turtles can go on a pilgrimage at least once during their lifetime. dogs are not allowed to go playing or running here and im pretty SURE penguins are prohibited either. it will also be interesting to know that this place is in front of an old castle called the Belvedere which was built in 1872 to ornament the scene. i don't think i have ever been to a castle so im truly looking forward to this trip. i hope things go as planned. sounds really delightful.

anyway, click here if you also want to find out where this place is.

-ooo-

turtley trivia: the upper-shell on a turtle is called a carapace, the inner layer of which is made up of about 60 bones that includes portions of the backbone and the ribs, meaning the turtle cannot crawl out of its shell. i honestly didn't know this. i thought somehow they can crawl out... seriously...i should be observing my friends better, hehe. should you have turtley trivias, please share them to me, ok?

have a good weekend and God bless!

blurry and dali

thought id post my current playlist, something i would enjoy looking back years from now, and my current desktop wallpaper (nope, tiger woods is not in here). i wish i had done this dati pa. it would have been quite a trip down memory lane as i go through my archive. no, seriously :)


"metamorphosis of narcissus" by salvador dali

not sure where i got this, pero ive always been able to appreciate the works of dali, of which the most popular i guess would be persistence of memory. im not a dali fan, pero certainly, his paintings are amongst those i look long and hard when i go visiting art museums. contrary to what i had assumed before i saw his paintings in person, his works are crisp, the lines or strokes are sharp, as a whole very polished. there's seldom any layering or texture to it (unlike van gogh's), it's very two-dimensional, yet its so alive that if you turn away from it for a few minutes and look into the picture again, it would feel as if something had changed; a head lifted, a shadow shifted. if there was a dog or an old lady in the picture, or a hand or clock, it was something he had planned on putting there; not to hide something or merely improve the work aesthetically or create a vague impression but it seems to me he was telling something. although it is seemingly incoherent at first, his paintings usually had a story, an idea, and only he can put the pieces of that story in that manner. fortunately, dali does not leave us clueless -- which is something good about him, unlike other artists. for example in this painting above, dali wrote a poem about it. nice, huh? being a surrealist, his themes are seldom popular, unlike a madonna and her child or a quiet landscape, but i would like to believe that somehow i can relate to them. its like being in one of my dream sequences, his paintings are vivid, moving, kind of twisted, always mesmerizing. i like it.

-ooo-

anyway, here is my "blurry" playlist, i listen to these songs whenever im home these days. it's not yet in my ipod but hopefully ill be able to upload them soon, in time for my flight to philadelphia and new jersey next week. my ipod playlist still has songs which i downloaded from year 2000, back when napster was still exciting and nokia 3210 was the latest and greatest gadget, hehe. in case you want any songs from the playlist, just let me know and ill send it to you. no, seriously :)

  • Puddle of Mudd - Blurry
  • Jewel - Near You Always
  • Aimee Mann - One (Magnolia Soundtrack)
  • City On A Hill - God Of Wonders
  • Cold Play - Shiver
  • Five for fighting - One More for Love
  • Five For Fighting - Easy Tonight
  • Five For Fighting - Maybe I
  • Nickelback - Far Away
  • Sting & The Police - Message In A Bottle
  • Switchfoot - Learning To Breathe
  • Switchfoot & Jars of Clay - Let That Be Enough
  • Switchfoot - I Dare You To Move
  • Pussy Cat Dolls - Stick With U
  • Sixpence None the Richer & Jars of Clay - With Every Breath
  • Guster - Hang On
  • Howie Day - Collide

'yun lang. have a good day everyone and God bless!

the layas in me...


...is nangangarap to visit this place in miami. my co-worker told me im welcome to stay at their place anytime. this is their pool, and this is his view. he even said that i might be able to see dolphins in the bay... and that we're only 10 minutes away from the beach....hmmm... im already thinking grass skirts, hawaiian shirts, palm trees, coconut juice, hammocks and yukelele, hehe....wouldn't that be nice? baka naman i'm just imagining things again. baka iba naman ang hawaii or carribean sa miami ano... have to check the travel sites and then call united to see if i have earned enough mileage... stop muna with daydreaming... erase, erase :)

but look at the picture... it's so pretty out there...

-ooo-
earlier today, nangangati yung talampakan ko, parehong talampakan, literally! haha! maybe it's a sign that i should really go on a vacation while im here in the US -- either that or dapat e nagtsi-tsinelas ako palagi ano?! anyway, we'll see if I can go to miami. it isn't really a place that i had always wanted to go to but it's really difficult to resist a generous offer. let us think about it...


still thinking... :)

something red

kiss me
kiss me,
originally uploaded by gezelle.
i recently joined a group of learning photographers in flickr to showcase some of my work, get to know people who are as enthusiastic about photography as i am, to be inspired and be challenged, and to be able to see how much better i can still be. hehe. gagaling nung mga members, nanliit ako and at first was shy to join. pero i have to be kapal and do this so i can learn more and build a much better portfolio. i know that i have a lot of unlearning and learning to do, pero im patient and im passionate about this... i want to be really good at this.

we have an assignment this month to post a picture of something red. i have three candidates so far but i will try to come up with something better. if wala, i will submit this picture as my entry. i took this one in indiana at the motor speedway early july. this guy and his iguana are team ferrari fans, i saw them walking around shopping for souvenir items with many other fans at the end of the qualifying events. they both are adorable.

i dont hope to win, but i hope to be noticed and get votes kahit paano. kahit isa lang, hehe. we'll see.

still

when we feel that we have nothing left but Him, we often find that God is more than enough. i have written this countless times before and i have found this true in my life over and over. some things will never change, some things will never fade even for a little bit, some things will never falter. some love never fails.



photo taken from the chicago cares after-event party, may 2006

Hide me now
Under your wings
Cover me
within your mighty hand

When the oceans rise and thunders roar
I will soar with you above the storm
Father you are king over the flood
I will be still and know you are God.

Find rest my soul...

With Your faithfulness, how can i remain sad; with Your quiet embrace, how can i remain troubled?

eight weird habits

because i was tagged by misterclay, here goes:

1. numbers. when commuting alone, especially in heavy traffic, i play with the numbers in car plates and try to come up equations that will make use of all digits. these equations are seldom complex, for example, 758 would be 7+8=3x5. pwede na yun, hehe. wag na pahirapan masyado ang sarili.

2. dreams. i have colored and vivid dreams and they are somewhat prophetic. these dreams are usually trivial, of little importance and i can't tell which parts will come true so they haven't been of any benefit to me or anyone i know. if i can remember something truly vivid and detailed about my dream, i have the habit of telling that dream sequence to people who are close to me or the first person i meet when i wake up. usually my mom or my cousin or my former dormmates. within a day or two, what i told my friends or my relatives would often come true.

3. too childish. since childhood, i have had this habit of playing with my nails and cuticles. hehe, yuck no. that's why my nails look really bad, well not all ten fingernails. but still, dyahe.

4. of tsinelas and ballpens. i have this bad habit of using someone else's tsinelas and ballpen. in the office, if people are missing their pencils or pens, they would come asking me if i have it. immediately. without second thoughts or consideration. right, dino and lee? and often enough, they are with me. wahehe. sa bahay, my nanay would often come knocking at my room, asking if her tsinelas was under my bed and ayun nga, usually they are. i dont know why i do this. trying to be more aware of it so i can avoid it, don't mean any disrespect. just being naturally weird :)

5. when i feel that the world is conspiring against me (i like this!), i would often find myself go to powerbooks. i find comfort in books, they are good friends who entertain me without expecting anything in return :) nothing bad about that. what's bad is that i would often start reading a book and not finish it then move on to the next one. right now, im reading so many books. very unfulfilling. should strive to finish this one i just started to read two days ago which so far i find really good: atlas shrugged. sana, sana.

6. i like changing my msn or ym status to something that would reflect how i feel, which pretty much changes more often these days. is that bad? i have good friends who look forward to it and ask me what they mean or what happened. hehe. at least im entertaining them and i know which of my friends care enough to know. may pagka-ksp ang dating. hehe.

7. i have a bad habit of heating something up in the stove and forgetting about it. my lola and dad hates this habit most of all the other bad habits i have. im such an asyang aksaya :(

8. bathroom post-its. i have this weird habit of forgetting my wednesday 8am morning conference calls. hindi ko alam bakit, pero i keep forgetting this one! i should get my post-it and write something about it, put the reminder in my bathroom so i can see it the night before when i brush my teeth. so far i have other post-its in my bath room which reads: drink plenty of water, do some jogging, and other quotes i hear from tv or read somewhere :) do you put post-its in your bath room? is that normal? anyway, im putting it here... i still think its kind of weird.

okay, so this was somewhat fun so im tagging 8 friends too: katrin, lee, amy, emie, ria, vince, anthony, jaylord. sige na, share nyo naman your 8 weird habits to us. looking forward to it.

'yun lang, have a good weekend!