Four Days to Project 365

I completely bailed on my Project 365. Well, since compromise had been my philosophy for a time now, lemme snap that one! Uploading a picture every single day seems to be impossible in my case. I don’t have my internet connection at my place and bringing an SLR everywhere I go is just a drag. I’ve spent considerable amount re-thinking about it.  Project 365 is all about taking a photo everyday – on my dictionary, it will be defined as taking seven pictures a week. Come to think of it, it still makes sense. It’s just that I can cram all seven photos in a day, and still call it Project 365, and yes, that still is 365 photos in a year! As long as I compile 365 pictures in a year, I’m good.

I originally planned on making a jumpstart on November 1st. Hmmm, how many weeks had passed since then… Hahahah!  I do have a few pictures that are worthy posting online – I will publish them, but not part of my Project 365. This time, I’ll stand to my oath. I WILL START MY PROJECT 365 ON NOVEMBER 25.

Photo here should have been Photo 1/365 - 11.01 - althea, "At the cemetery. Althea had been one of the people who my Lola enjoyed being with when she was alive. She acts old but charming at the same time."

Flickr vs Picasa Web

A little early this year, I decided that Multiply will be a repository of my photos - that is before I had my SLR. I never imagined that I will go into photography, and by taking pictures worth megabytes, it just is such a shame to be shrinking them down to what the site can handle.

There are a couple of other platforms that does let you keep detail online. I chose Flickr . I'm big on minimalism and I get that with Flickr. I also tried Picasa Web Albums , which is from Google. It you to store up to 1 Gigabyte of space for the whole lifetime of your account. Well, well, well, Flickr goes beyond that - I can upload pictures of up to 100 Megabyte every month. By that single reason,  I am choosing Flickr over Picasa Web Albums.

So there - you will not see any new photos in my Multiply account. And yes - no more gibberish on binog.net, everything goes to Multiply. Flickr will be my photoblog. Binog.net will now have photos that I can't help posting, with a little story on the side of it - literally on the side of it!

Photo on the side "10.16 - dawn before flight to PPS" from my Flickr with this caption - "Testing my gear before the trip! I guess they are right, if you are shooting the same scene, every shot is not going to look like the previous one. I think I will get there. Hahaha!"

Duet with Queency of Daughters 5 Band

I’ve been singing solo in a band since college but I never had a chance to have a decent duet with a girl. It just takes my breath away remembering that I just did last Thursday, and guess what, with my crush from Daughters 5 Band – Queency Villanueva. :D Happiness, hahaha! Came the 18th of November, the whole team went for a drink at Pier One, Fort Strip in Bonifacio Global City. Buckets of beer came in with delicious food.  We drank a couple of beer when the waiter served another plate. I gave the waiter my request. Good thing he was a good messenger, he gave it straight to Jurilou, who read out the request right there and then. Soon, they called me. Wohoho! And there we had it, Bakit Ngayon Ka Lang with Queency and me singing. I felt a connection with her while singing, which I did not expect. Whenever I'm on stage, I always feel all the crap build up, until all the nerves sink in. That's why usually, I end up doing better on rehearsals. Haha! But this one is different, it felt believable - I was understanding all the words um letting out. I'll definitely come back for a reprise! Too bad, no video of this one, but I totally enjoyed it. They were friendly enough to let us rob them from their other fans to take a picture on our table. They are really really nice. :D I have a couple more photos of that night right here:

Burning Fat Doesn't Need To Be Expensive

in the shower room

Corporate life is indeed the ultimate catalyst to a very unhealthy lifestyle. You sit down on your desk ALL DAY. I’m not sure if it’s just me, but I feel like eating every now and then. The harder part is when you have workmates who invite you to eat out. It’s not all about the delicious food turning into belly, its killing my budget! I’ve been feeling very heavy and it does call for a work-out done religiously. I’m already into badminton, but it does seem like it’s not enough. I need more fat burning.

Then came this blast about a corporate account offered at Slimmer’s World Pasay Road. It did seem inviting so I hopped right in, with a gym buddy, Rap. Discount is just irresistible. For six months, we just needed to pay 4,590 pesos. And there, we started our routine to the gym. We go three times a week and tomorrow is our 12th day.

The place is very accessible. It’s near Ayala MRT Station and it actually is just at the back of Dusit Hotel. The trainers there are very helpful, and it won’t be a problem if it turns out to be your first visit to a gym. The best part of a gym day? The hot shower! After sweating it all out, it is just exactly what you need to feel good and comfy. Interested much? Try to shoot Janet Dugos a message. Her mobile is 0916-640-1814. I was able to snap some photos on our first few visits, check them out below.

Daughter's 5 Band

I've been pretty lazy in the blogosphere, but this one is too hard to let go. Archie gave our team a treat at Pier One, Fort Strip last Thursday and turns out, it was not all about food and booze - it was the freaking, good music that made the night. It even got us on our feet, to the dance floor - or was that space even meant for dancing? We might just been out of our minds then...

Meet the Daughters 5 Band!

Jury Villanueva (eldest) - Keyboards / Vocals
April Villanueva (2nd sister) - Lead and Rhythm Guitar / Vocals
Apple Villanueva (3rd sister) - Bass Guitar / Vocals
Queen Villanueva (4th sister) - Drums and Percussions / Vocals
Twinkle Villanueva (youngest) - Violin, Keyboards, Percussions / Vocals

Admit it, they all look pretty, but you have to see them play! Curious much? Go ahead and search them on YouTube, they have a couple of videos online. Start with this one, click ME!

To Leave Blogger or Not To? | How to Mail a Blog Post

I've been wanting to make a Project 365, that is, to take a picture every single day for one year. I think this will better my photography. There's just this one big problem that I'm boggling about - where do I put it?

Option Number One - Tumblr. Well, there are a couple of neat themes for a photo blog there, but I'm looking for something that I can access at work. Blocks are all over the place and it really gives a pain in the ass. It's sort of like twitter that is in the form of a real blog, but no, I'm not in it for it.

Two - Wordpress. A lot of people that I know who is into blogging choose Wordpress. It's quite intriguing but it would mean a lot of catching up to do. I cannot afford that right now, its busy at work, and I'd rather spend more time on taking photos instead of working out something new.

Woot, Three has got to be a real lucky number for me - stay with Blogger. The only reason I thought twice is because my Adsense got blocked. Darn! I thought I already had extra income, but I blew it. But I guess, I'll stay. I've been on it for years now. Its also not workable in the office but I found a work around! I think its an old trick from the book, but thank God, I found it. Maybe most platforms support this since everything is going mobile and handy.All it takes is send an e-mail. Check how it works for Blogger HERE. On a quick shot, its going to your Blogger Dashboard, then going to Settings >> Email & Mobile, fill up the Mail-to-Blogger form and your all set! When you want to post via e-mail, just put what you set up on the recipient's field. You can do the same with Multiply - login and go to http://multiply.com/setup/post-via-email. Other platforms probably have this capability as well, check it out.

And folks, expect Day One tomorrow! :)

McDonald's on a Friday Night

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.4

I Wanna Play! | Tips on Buying a Badminton Racket

Work is in the way of making my belly go away. Can't run anymore, nor play badminton. It's just hard to compromise work right now, the slope of my learning curve is rising very steeply. Well, I'm in it to be good at it, so I have to sacrifice a bit. It just is frustrating because instead of losing, I'm feeling my gut grow thicker by the day - eat a lot and burn nothing. What do I expect? Hahaha!

UST Global goes for a Badminton Tournament in line to its 11th Foundation Day

I have here a photo of my workmates while we were on a tournament at The Zone, Makati, last September 19. Well, besides the delightful meal after the heart-pounding matches, this is a very memorable day for me because I screwed up my two rackets - yes! in one day. My Prince OS Sky broke, right on the frame, after hitting my partner at the back. Good thing, no physical injury was incurred. Actually, it seemed like Ken didn't feel it. I was like "Oh! Shit", then he remained slouched forward in front. I didn't notice it either that time, I hit the ball one more time for a clear shot. But it didn't go to the back of the opponents, instead, it went like a drop shot even though I put some strength in it, right across the net - i think by a feet or two. And there, I lost one racket.

I was okay with that casualty because I've had that racket for more than a year now, but what frustrating is that my spare/back-up racket went dead on me too. The string was cut in the middle of the set of the next game. I had to borrow http://pinakamaganda.net/ 's racket for the rest of the day.

Well, I can't live with just one racket, so I slashed my savings to buy another one. This time, I went for an RSL, I forget the model, but the sales lady talked me out of it. I was just getting my back-up racket re-stringed at Toby's MoA, but ended up buying a new one. She said, she have this racket that is really durable, I can string it up to 32 lbs or even more! Put blue Black Knight string on it, and a generic over grip. There, I have another racket to break! Wahahaha! Its performing really neatly, I've already used it a couple times. It seems like its gonna stay for long - I chose a racket that's not so heavy and not so light. I'm afraid of light rackets now, they tend to die on my easily, hahha! I had the new one on 85 grams. I strung it to 26. A compromise between strength and control. (a bit of FYI - the lower the tension, the less power you need to push the shuttle cock, meaning, you'll have a harder time controlling its direction) Pro's usually do higher tensions because they hit harder already, so they can compromise the higher strength for greater control. By pushing the ball a bit above the net, you can get a neat drop shot, instead of a slide to the middle of the court. You'll notice that players with higher tension can manipulate the ball to drop anywhere, right across the net, or even the two boxes in the back corners of the court. But a caution, if you don't hit too hard, don't get a high tension, your balls will end it up smashed on your face, better learn to hit harder first.

People, please don't be afraid to team up with me, I'm extra cautious now, I promise, I won't hit you anywhere, hahahah! Please, play with me, I wanna play so bad! I'm good from morning till before lunch, or after 9PM, wahahha! I'm kind of desperate here, fwahahah!

Katelyn Epperly - The Scientist

I've always loved ballads, and in fact, I grew up with a library of ballads. It does feel old but what makes it special is the how much each line means and how it is delivered through a song. Pure. That is how I would describe one freaking ballad! Just check this out!

This Katelyn Epperly singing Coldplay's The Scientist. For sure, not so many know about her, even though she is one hell of a singer. She got voted off American Idol right before people go forward the big Idol Stage. She really sings good, all the techniques are there - control, phrasing, to name a few. I really don't get it, why did they vote off this girl. She puts her own spin on a pop song, and what did she get? But all I can say is, this is how you do a great performance out of a ballad - and well, good looks to make everything more enticing... Fwahahhah!

I maybe singing pop rock lately, but given the chance, I would love to sing a romantic ballad for somebody I love. I will make sure that when I do that, it is pure... and honest.

A couple more videos of Katelyn Epperly here!

Where Am I In All The Photos?

Wooot! Its the 4th monthsary this Friday for me and my baby! Wahahah! After those four months, I think I can say that I now know a couple of tricks about photography. I guess I'm gonna give my baby a name now, just to make the addiction more intense. Hmmm... Let's see... I'm torn between Allison and Blake - first is the coolest rocker chic ever while the latter is the hottest blonde ever. Tik tak tik tak! Alright! I'm gonna settle it then with Blake, since I'm rekindling my obsession to her - watched Gossip Girl Season 4 Episode 1 last night. And well, I think I have more history with her - Sisterhood of Travelling Pants, Elvis and Anabelle and The Private Lives of Pippa Lee to name a few. But what's with the title?

first batch of freshers from my workplace

Well, its about framing that part of life. You'll never know how precious it is until you catch it in a shot. I intend to capture all of these the rest of my life - smiles of great people, portraits of my one big love, first steps of my son or daughter, love from my family that never falters and all these moments that we can never rewind. I need not be on those frames, because I know, I was there, I'm on the other side of that lens. This is how I want to remember it, how I saw it when I felt like firing the shutter.

So Blake, I'm telling you, its gonna be a ride. I just hope you don't die on me! Don't worry bout me if I'm not included in the photos, I'm cool with it. :D Keep posted! Check my Flickr too, and comment away wherever, I'm dying to hear feedback!

Jey-Kah-Loo

Jkalu. I'm not sure if this is how its supposed to be spelled but whatever. Its been a common word in the office and I'm getting a lot of "anong ibig sabihin nun?" Well, lately, I've been using it in my language, so I think, I pretty much now what it is all about. Thanks to my talent of being susceptible to different expressions, gestures and mannerisms.

Jkalu Number One. We left at around 6PM from the office to rehearse. We arrived at the band rehearsal studio at around 7PM. We were expecting that the studio was free, but came out otherwise. We should have rehearsed, that was supposed to be the last one. We were not able to rehearse our last song. Expect as jamming in the office tomorrow.

Jkalu Number Two. I bought expensive stuff for tomorrow but was not able to alter the pants to fit my height. Bozo, my roommate was making fun of me. He said I should use safety pins, so I would shine brightly on stage. I was thinking of hand sewing my pants, but...

Jkalu Number Three. ... I can't find any needle and thread!! I'm doomed. You'll really see a star on stage tomorrow night... Don't miss it!!

Road Kill?!?!

Just came from work, got my stuff from the condo, on my way to badminton. Its just that its to early to go to the court so here I am, on my spot, making a blogpost. After checking my mail and Facebook notifications, I decided to make this post.

Alright! Presenting..... ROAD KILL!! Nah... Hahaha! Nobody in the band approves of this name but Marvin San Juan, Oso as we call him. He is the one who made everything happen. It some kind of started in our room - yes, we are roommates in the Marvin Room. Soon, he thought of why not make a band. He started asking friends in the office and the rest was history. And we have:

Marvin a.k.a. OSO - 1st guitar

Rap B. - bass

Jerome - drums

Marie - 2nd guitar

Marvin a.k.a. Binog.net or simply binog - vocals

This video was taken last night during our practice somewhere in Libertad St. in Mandaluyong - our take on Third Eye Blind's Semi Charmed Life. We have Marie right here on guitars, next time, you'll see our grizzly secret weapon, wahahha!

We first hit the stage this Friday on the Foundation Day of the company we are working for. But what the hell, someone give us a decent band name, wahahah!

P.S.

Huhuhu, nobody comments or even writes on the chat box, huhuhu! :'(

Say What Now?

With every decision that you make, you just can’t expect everybody to be happy about it. There will be that person or those people who would feel uneasy or pissed about it.

Parents, if I were you, I wouldn’t lock up my child inside the house – that is coming from somebody who was locked out of everything. You might feel that you are shielding your child from all the harm, but it’s more of depriving your child from everything that’s great in living a life. Over protection won’t build confidence, it decomposes what’s there to ashes.

Nagging! It just makes everything worse. If you don’t like people yelling at your ear, neither do your children. All the yelling most of the time is the trigger to people doing crazy things, like yell back, fight back, or walk away.

I’ll make sure that every choice I make is MY DECISION. It might not be the best option, but what really matters is that I’m happy about it, and I don’t see me regretting it any time soon. There is no right or wrong anyway, only what each people think is right and wrong.

I won't be surprised if after reading this entry, you'll end up saying - what the hell are you talking about! There is no concept of coherence in this post. This is how I think by default. Disconnected. Sort of nonsense. Hahaha! But what the hell, I have another unrelated thought - back when I was working at a call center, I would usually hear my customers say "sey whut nehw!" I prolly am hearing it right now from people who are reading this entry, if there is somebody, hahahha! Enough sabaw statements said!

Epic Fail

All right, the whole world knows I'm a frustrated singer, or front act. I can't seem to get out of my self-doubts. Nerves just eat me alive.

Well, I guess, when you are inspired, some magic happens. That tiny bit of inspiration makes all the difference. Now I have reason for all the singing. Each song means more now, I dig the lyrics now. I find myself appreciating the song more, speaking each line like you meant it With this, the intense blood pumping is channeled to something good. It talks less of being conscious of myself, but more of getting a message across.

On the night before my cousin leaves for the US, we got ourselves a videoke machine out of desperation. Day  one of Joy's vacation, she insisted to have a karaoke night until her vacation is almost over. So here goes my mom with a bright idea, we had the singing in our house instead. We sang our hearts out the whole night until my sister punched one song she knew we really loved. She made me sing it. Before, I can't belt out those big notes, but this time, I thought of someone and all the mushy-ness in me came out. After that song, I just knew I have to record it. So here you have it. Its just that it turned out not so good, hahaha! I was all about worrying my camera not falling down from the tripod. People came back and forth, making me paranoid and flushing the mushy-ness away. So here, another fail recording. Plus, the camera was too near to the speakers of the machine, making the bass tones pound ears. Oh well, maybe when I'm in front of her, I would be able to sing this with all I have. ♥

o. t. b.

Really had a great time last Friday! I caught up with workmates for some out-of-the-season water fun. I almost got lost on my way there, but all the agony was all worth it! :D When you are with cool people, genuine fun is in store for yah.

Not everybody knows how to swim, but who said getaways like this are only about swimming across the pool. We had search-the-coin-underwater craziness, a lot of water stunts and some retarded race, read on!

There was this path on the perimeter of the large pool where people usually do human trains. With our crazy little minds, we thought of having a race. First leg of the race was with everybody fitting their way to one lap. We wanted to put some twist on it, so instead, we divided in two teams and then let each player race one lap and then tag it on to the next person. It was so much fun that left our chests pounding out loud.

A thing that will never be missed in a getaway is tons of pictures.  Here are some of the cam-whoring session:

it's the climb

I almost shaved my hair off. All the frustration just rushed up into my head, until I can’t bear it no more. Its been quite some time since I felt like this. I’ve always been that happy person that goes along whatever comes. But sometimes, I’d like to believe I also have a period like girls. There are these times when I get irritated with the slightest negative thing that would happen. A while ago would be one of those times –  its just that right now, I have the black’s, the green’s or the gold’s to help me clear my thoughts. Just got my distance from all the razors and the scissors and gladly, now, getting myself skin head is no longer a want.

Some movement is happening at work and it got me excited. It’s been fun, fun, fun with stuff happening, but it’s kinda weird, because I’m looking for work, work, work. I’ve lost that sense of eagerness to learn. I’ve told myself that I can learn anything and be great in it in due time, and now doors are opening to showcase it. I’ve proven it in my previous work.

Cbox is Back!

I'm still sad over me losing my Adsense... Just when the hits of my blog went up, they banned me from it. I was at around 30 dollars then. Well, I guess God has better plans for my blog... Fwhahah! A lot of people are changing up things on their blog, so I'll guess ride on the wheel - well, at least I know one person, that's a lot, right?  *Sabaw* 


So here goes, I have my Cbox back. I hope you leave a message or two right here from time to time. It really means a lot to know that people drop by you blog, so please do to mine. :) It just a little left and a little down the page. Last message was by Hannah, a workmate on my previous stint as a call center agent - that's 8 Mar 10, 23:37, hahah! Please write the next one!

Not having my own internet when in I'm in Manila really sucks. I would have a lot of things on my mind but can't digitize anything to a post. It just stays still in limbo and then to nowhere. I would end up staring nowhere and then snooze of or burn it all up, hahaha! Tried using Smart Bro, but loading it every now and then sucks more than ever. Thinking of having a plan for it, but is having doubts if it is a smart choice. For the mean time, I found a haven just below our condo. Really cool and nice place to surf and blog. So expect more stuff on my blog from now on. :)

My Only Exception

If there is one song that would tell how I feel right it would be this one right here - The Only Exception by Paramore (click here for the official video which rocks! oh yeah!). When I like a song, usually its because of how it sounds, but this one just catches everything of me - my parents, my doubts and my new found love.



Lemme just share the lyrics:


When I was younger I saw my daddy
cry and curse at the wind.
He broke his own heart and
I watched as he tried to re-assemble it.
And my mamma swore she would
never let herself forget.
And that was the day that I promised
I'd never sing of love if does not exist.
But darling..


You are the only exception (x4)


Maybe I know somewhere deep in
my soul that love never lasts.
And we've got to find other ways
to make it alone or keep a straight face.
And I've always lived like this
keeping a comfortable, distance.
And up until now I swore to myself
that I'm content with loneliness,
'cause none of it was ever worth the risk.


But you are the only exception (x4)


I've got a tight grip on reality,
but I can't let go of whats part of me here.
I know you're leaving in the morning, when you wake up,
leave me with some kind of proof it's not a dream.


Whooa..


You are the only exception (x8)
And I'm on my way to believing.. (x2)


Before ending this entry, I just wanna say, you are my only exception Joane Denise Saulon. ♥

Bozo & Binog - Your Love

Just made a cover with my roommate, Oso - who by the way is a Marvin also. We recorded our take on Your Love by Alamid. I would like to dedicate the singing to Pinakamaganda.net a.k.a. Joane Denise. :) Do take a peek!

I also had the guts to post this other video. Hahaha! I think it was back third or fourth year college, with my orgmates. We called our group, OCB.. I was so nervous before this set. To give me just the right attitude with it, I went for a can of beer. It seems like it didn't work out the way I thought it would, hahaha! Spot the jejemon in this video.

Allison Iraheta - Holiday Acousticized

Posting one of my faves in her album. Found 2 acoustic versions!

Status Quo

Right now, I am having a blast at work. I never imagined that I would enjoy being a corporate slave - well, I'm not gonna put a period to that statement yet. But again, even if I haven't totally understood what it is to be that corporate slave, the right now is what I love.

I met a lot of people - beautiful people indeed. Simply enjoying their company brings out the life in me. If I would describe it in a statement, it would be - laughing until it gets the life out of me, well, with a bit of some nasty stuff. We may be sabaw most of the time, but these guys are the most emotionally mature people that I've known. I see decades of fun ahead of us, and that I look forward to.

Another piece of the story is that... I'm in love, after one million years. Hahaha! Mahirap na pihikan, pogi ako eh!  Hahaha! *kapal ng mukha* First time I saw her, I just knew I like her. I had a couple of crushes here and there, but this one is another story. I was able to tell it to some close friends, and they were able to give that pep talk. Go na, baka maunahan ka pa. Hahaha! So here goes, come what may. I'll give it my best shot. Whatever happens, I'm good. It just is great, simply being with her. I don't know what it is in the other half of the story, but a boy in love just needs to do what he is supposed to do. She brought out that person that I've come to forget - the person who knows a thing called love.

A New Pair of Black Shoes

Got my self new shoes. I almost did not because this was an expense that was not planned, and saving gives me about all the reason not to buy a new one. But I guess, when you already see the pinky finger on your feet from a slash on the side of your shoe, it leaves you no choice, but to buy one.

Men's shoes are relatively more expensive than ladies' - it costs thousands of bucks before, but guess how much I got mine? 899 bucks! I guess, with new brands coming out, some things suddenly become affordable, like my new friend over here - Mario D' boro. The competition gets tighter for them, but it makes room for out-of-the-blue purchases for nifty and thrifty.

Drinking True Blood

 I've always loved vampire stories. I can still recall the first one I watched, "Interview With A Vampire" starring Brad Pitt, Kirsten Dunst, Antonio Banderas, Christian Slater and Tom Cruise - that was back in elementary school days. Mysterious. Dark. Twisted. It just makes every exchange of lines worth digging into. It may not be as action-packed as your sci-fi movies, but it has more depth instead. It's beyond six feet under. Another adjective would be sexy - think Aaliyah in "Queen of the Damned". Well, I have another word on the list, "quirky" - that's "True Blood" for you.

True Blood is based on a series of novels by Charlaine Harris - "The Southern Vampire Mysteries". It is shown on HBO in the US since 2008. The show has an impressive list of awards and nominations, Emmy's, Grammy's and Golden Globe Awards to name a few (they are even on Ewwy's - something worth googling about). They are running three seasons now, with audience multiplying after each one.

Karma Over Love

Somebody at work asked me yesterday, "Gaano ka na katagal single?" - I felt the need to respond immediately, so, in a few seconds, I said "Dalawa." I really didn't know how long already, but one thing is for sure, its longer than 2 freaking years. I guess I haven't moved on completely, unlike the other half of the story, who seemed like totally over it, with another guy.

Somebody might curse me by telling this story, but it wouldn't matter - that person already dug where my coffin is gonna be buried. Here goes... I was the one who broke up with my last girlfriend, my first and last to be exact (but please, let me have my next!). Everything was totally okay before I said those hurtful words, as everybody would say. Except me. I simply fell out of love - mushy or cheezy as it may sound, but that is how I felt about it. I could not recall the reasons why I loved her. All that's left were compromises that I did to make her happy - to the point that she didn't notice that something was broken in me. One day, I just woke up and decided that, I ain't fooling anybody anymore, especially myself. Tears fell, and the rest was history.

Desperate Over Videoke + Tuned In To James Morrison

I've always loved singing. Whenever I go out with friends on a karaoke night, my hands would be grabbing the microphone from whoever is holding it. Singing makes me feel good. Well, this past few days, I've been putting a lot of effort into saving, so goodbye karaoke nights. I found out a silly way to get over it - enjoy it ala YouTube way!! :))

Just go to YouTube.com and search your favorite song, then append something like "karaoke", "instrumental" or "acoustic". A lot of people do covers and your lucky if you get a decent one. Good songs always gave good search results. Let's say your going to sing somewhere, you can even  get a minus one without spending a single penny. Try http://www.video2mp3.net/! That's gonna be your baby. :D

Want to experience my hobby? Here's a taste. I recorded a video of one of my sessions, uploaded it too you tube (its, hidden, haha!) and then extracted the MP3 using http://www.video2mp3.net/. Cut a segment using http://www.mp3cut.net/, uploaded it to Google Sites, used Google Reader widget and here, click PLAY!



That's the demo, haha! Wonder why there is a weird cut? Pumiyok ako eh, haha! Going to the song, that's James Morrison's "This Boy". Its one of the not-so-famous songs of one of the multi-awarded artists abroad. He's been on repeat on my Ipod Shuffle for a time now, and I never get tired of it. Try downloading his songs or searching in YouTube and you'll find out why his the real deal!

Imperfections Make Good Photography

Digital photography made the world a happier place to live in. Today, almost everyone can take a photograph of precious moments, unlike before - if you have an SLR, you're someone big! Its easier and cheaper now. Before, you have to think of your film and the intricate process of developing your exposures. Making it digital, you now have unlimited film and you can even view your shots a few seconds after you take them. Enough of the film.


However, its pretty odd that before, people are trying to come up with picture closest to the real thing while right now, almost perfect photographs are altered to achieve effect similar to old, flawed photographs. This alterations are usually done in Photoshop. Take for example "Cross-Processing" - as defined by Wikipedia:

"Cross processing (sometimes abbreviated to Xpro) is the procedure of deliberately processing photographic film in a chemical solution intended for a different type of film. The effect was discovered independently by many different photographers often by mistake in the days of C-22 and E-4. The process is seen most often in fashion advertising and band photography, and in more recent years has become associated with the Lo-fi photography movement."

Broken Strings

First and foremost, at last, we have power back up! It seems like my house was the last one to get it back up, damn that storm Basyang. There. 0000-RANT-EXIT. EXIT (Full-Stop).

Last Saturday, my string just gave up. Hahaha! Its been more than three months now since I replaced the string of my badminton racket. Maybe I'm not playing that hard, but I'm working on it, and people said I'm really getting better (what a diversion for crying out loud, enough said). This one is RSL and does prove to be as durable as Yonex - or almost as durable. Used to be buying Yonex's which is around 400 bucks, this RSL is just around a hundred bucks. I think I'll be going for another RSL later. One more thing that I like about RSL strings is that they have a variety of colors. That small thing is a big deal to artsy partsy people like me, hahaha!

By the way, badminton racket right here is Prince's Oversize Sky. That's 85 grams +/- 2 with max tension of 28. Its head heavy, so smashers should be loving this. Talking bout price, I got it at Php 3,200 - not bad for an intermediate player's racket and I actually got this one year ago. So this should be a lot cheaper right now. Soon, if I go pro, I'll buy one of those expensive ones, hahaha! Soon... just see! Hahah!

Some photo stuff again! Took this photo right after my last hit using my first RSL string. Light is on the right, from the courts. Did some perspective thingy here to emphasize the subject and give it a big part of the frame. On post processing, I did my usual - level tweak. And here, I put a vignette (darker sides), still in photoshop. It does give the drama that I want in this photo, and also some lomo effect. And there we have it! :D

P.S. Title courtesy of my fave artist, haha! James Morrison, haha!

Shaved It Off

I choose a skin-head. Its comfortable, minimal maintenance and it makes me look like I just got off prison. Fwahahaha! Before I had hair reaching past my shoulders and I just can't feel comfortable about it, especially when its hot because I perspire a lot. Also been using product on my hair to have some spikes and whatever. I love burning out myself with running and badminton, so it does mean a lot to me to think less about my hair when I am dripping wet with sweat (yes, that is eeew, but it feels great, haha!). 

Took this photo right after I visited a barber shop in the market. Paid 50 for the service and had some real massage extra from it, something that you won't get from somewhere else. Before, I would pay like around 200 bucks for a crappy hairstyle. Shaving all the hair off is not just for comfort, also good for your pocket. It just is so practical. 

Time for some photography. I have here a shot of myself using the rotating live view of my Nikon D5000. I so love this feature because I can take a photo of myself! Didn't post process this one. The reds on photo are from the red curtain directly sun-lit on my left. It gives a dramatic feel on this photo (making me more of an ex-convict! haha!), with the help of some contrast. As every photography guru would say (well, as far as all I have encountered), the magic comes from lighting. 

Hope you could give me feedback about the photo and the whole blog! :D

Pizza Pig Out

 On my second job, I made it a point to save some amount every pay day. Its Salary minus SAVINGS equals Expenses as some of my workmates would put it. I would deposit part of my salary before I could spend a single peso from it. But how will I be able to go through the next pay day without getting bankrupt?

Its all about discipline, and making sure that you know how much you can spend each day. With the remaining amount on my payroll account, I would do some math to have those figures. Also, I make sure I allot some allowance in case something comes up (dota in netopia? haha!).

Here goes one of the specific restrictions I gave to myself - its not bad to eat out, but set a maximum you are gonna let out. That's 200 bucks for me. And I tell you, 200 pesos is a lot. See pizza right here? its just 200 bucks per person. Both pizzas are stuffed crust (additional 190 pesos), mind you - yes that's two pizzas, its just that I was not able to control my craving, we ate half before I took the photo. We had  a bottle of pepsi to let everything sink in. My friend had a palm card and that was all we needed to pig out. We were barely breathing after that meal.

Pizza by the way was terrific, that's triple cheese in stuffed crust and cheeze burger deluxe also in stuffed crust. Bill was exactly 602 pesos. Now, isn't that worth your money?! Maybe I'll be making another post about how much a feast this pig out was. :D

But wait, make sure you don't go out everyday!! Fwahahahah!

P.S.
If you see this signage right here ("PIZZA HUT TAKEOUT"), that branch of pizza hut lets you eat your take out inside the store. :) We just found out about that when we ate here, branch in Boni, GA Towers.

Three Steps Forward

These past few days, a lot of things were coming into my head - things to learn and make money out of.  I made some sort of a to-do list out of it. Here I go again, wanting to do so much - but this time, I'll make sure I'll get somewhere. I'm taking one step at a time and soon, definitely, I'll get there.

So here. Like most of my recent posts, I've been digging photography. Shot on the right is one of the firsts that I am happy about. This photo of Cecille was taken in Fully Booked, Bonifacio High Street, during Digital Photographer Philippines' 4th Anniversary Celebration. We were listening to a session about sports photography but ended up going around the venue because the room was filled up. We just made the most of our visit the bookstore by going around and taking photos. That's one step closer to my goal.

Let's get to step two - learning everything about blogging. That meant doing AdSense, Analytics and Blogger from Google. Check out the AdSense corner on the side (click the links please, hahaha!). I also started doing some CSS and Javascript tweaks here in my blog. For some who had gone to my site the past week, you should have noticed minor changes on how the page looks like. I hope you like it, and come here more often.

And lastly, step three - setting up the financial part. Opened a bank account in BDO last Tuesday and I'm hoping that will be filled with savings and earnings. Been working out the saving parts, but am having a hard time, hahaha! Let's just wait and see, fwahahah! I am trying so hard, so I'll guess I'll do good, haha!

Guess that's it for now, I'm late for work. Good job for me! I'll make sure I'll do a progress report every now and then. I hope you guys will be checking it then. See yah!

My Baby's First Month

stop over for a drink

This grainy shot was the last photo I took using my hand-me-down N72 - ate a cinnamon roll, and hot mocha coffee on the side, at Starbucks Blue Wave, along Macapagal Avenue on 1st of June, 2010. The photo was taken 10 minutes after my Nikon D5000 touched my palm. Bought mine from Kimstore, met up at SM Mall of Asia, handed over a lifetime of savings and the rest was history.

Since then, I had a blast spending time with my baby. I would read/watch stuff on the net, take photos of whatever and let my hands take over post processing a couple of photos. It just makes me happy doing these. I've never enjoyed doing something this much. I even attended DPP's Anniversary all the way to Bonifacio High Street on a Saturday with Cecille (check out some photos on top, right on the mini gallery).

I just know I'm gonna make something productive out of this. I just know it.

Foto Gallery # 2 | First Shot at Post-Processing

Post-processing Attempt # 1

*After*

Foto Gallery # 1 | Pretty Girls At Work

On the rooftoop for some surprise birthday party!

Change Theme for the nth Time!

On top of my wish list was an SLR. Well, on the first of the month, I just got my Nikon D5000 from Kimstore. My cam is exactly 2 weeks old and pictures are piling up. I needed a place to showcase my noob shots, so here goes this new look for my blog. Made it more of a photo blog to highlight the pictures, less texty, sticked with two columns and a sweet spot for a small photo gallery. But wait, I didn't pull this off from ground up, haha! Let me share the creative process.

One. The theme of course is just something that I found on the web - not yet able to make my own. The Arthropod theme if from freeCSStemplates.org.

Tumblr vs MEME by Yahoo!

While I was reading my feeds from Google Reader, I came across an entry that talks about MEME by Yahoo! Here is the direct link to the article from Pinoy Tech Blog. It is a lot like Tumblr.

So what is similar with Tumblr and MEME? Its like the compromise between blogging and microblogging. Let's say, you want to share a picture, video, link or whatever online, it will look nice. You can put each post like a status update on Plurk or Twitter, in form of a mini blog post.

Frozen Yogurt

Been reviewing some of pictures I took using my phone. I simply fancy taking pictures of whatever, and definitely, food is on top of the list. Right here are pictures of my experience with frozen yogurt. First photo is at I Heart Froyo, located around Krus Na Ligas / Teachers' Village area in Diliman, Quezon City. I got my self a blueberry topping.

Finally

Everything is happening so fast right now. Just got my last subject passed, got shortlisted for a job, filed resignation from current work, got everything prepared for grad, gets a call requesting to start new job before grad, and now, my biggest challenge is to, sleep 5 hours and then work the rest of the 24 hours today. Its just that I have to serve a couple more days before I'm totally done with my call center stint. I'll be going to Taguig at 8AM. Leave at 6PM and be at Commonwealth before 7:30. I do hope I can make this game plan happen

My Last Project In School

Wooot! Here goes my blast from the last requirement I submitted my whole academic life!! Hahaha!

bp meter by aj+binog+emon from Marvin Bonifacio on Vimeo.

The mini-project is basically a blood pressure meter. When you go to a doctor, you see a sphygmomanometer, a sthetoscope, a cuff and a pump. Here we use the Z8 Encore! Microcontroller to substitute the sthetoscope and the MPX5050GP pressure sensor to substitute the sphygmomanometer. Microcontroller tells us when to get the systolic and diastolic blood pressure, and the pressure sensor tells us what that measurement is. More photos here!

*AJ playing the role of the mouse*

 *The three of us learned to use these to verify our results*

 *A lot of wires going on there - but this is our baby!*

Where is Allison Iraheta Right Now?

My semester is over. I just want to get my mind off school, so I spent a lot of time surfing whatever on the net. Here goes, I stumbled upon the coolest contestant of American Idol ever. Here is her full audition back in Season 8. Presenting, Allison Iraheta! WoooohoooO!!



Well, she is a light year away from here now! Check this out!



Hmmm... Some wrong details there, she is not 19, she is 17, going 18 I think. I do hope she makes it big, she is damn good!

No Pain, No Game

Upon entering college, I was one fat promdi. I got my independence by boarding in campus. I did all the budgeting, and it happened that I did allot a lot to Ragnarok Prepaid Cards and Computer Rental. Magic, I lost kilograms by just doing that. It was just all fun playing and forgetting all about the eating. But it did have a drawback on my health, my immune system went weaker after the weight loss.

*Don Antonio Badminton Court*

Addiction to Ragnarok over, I started my way to healthy living. Tried better food choices. Did some gym, jogging and badminton. Unfortunately, starting it is a completely different story from maintaining it as a lifestyle. My belly goes inflated, deflated, inflated, deflated... it goes on forever.

I'm in the deflating phase now, and this time, I'm gonna try to keep it up, haha! I'm making it a point to avoid eating excessively and do a physical activity every week. Last week was the jumpstart. It was badminton for 4 hours at Don Antonio. On my way to the dorm, while crossing the footbridge at Sentral,  I found myself stuck in the middle. I panicked because walking or standing did almost make me cry because my legs are screaming out of pain. Nobody was with me. I had no choice but to start moving, it was high noon and my shirt was dripping with sweat. Getting to the end of the bridge, everything just feels numb. I will never forget that! Fwahahah!

I do hope I will not get fed off from this routine this time. I'll just make sure I'm not gonna miss the fun out of all this. I think this game plan will work. Good luck to me, hehe!

Nip Tuck Ends

My cousin introduced me to Nip Tuck, and hell yeah! Its one crazy show! What made me dig into the series is the fact that it is medical in nature, and the most of it, because its twisted. Just watched two last seasons, and now, I'm into the hunt for the previous ones. Its just that it takes a lot of time to download previous episodes. But if all else fails, I may be keeping my desktop PC open 24/7.

Again, if there is one word that could describe this show, it would be TWISTED. Define twisted. Hmmm... Lady walked in McNamara / Troy, wanted her boobs upsized, used somebody else's credit account to pay for it, got caught by Troy, implants removed by Troy,  ended up murdered while in recovery room. Just one of my fave eps, and I just can't get enough, haha! I'm really gonna look for those early seasons! Too bad they cut the show...

I was waiting for the torrent download on EZTV when I found out that last weeks episode was the finale. Here is the release from EZTV:

When "Nip/Tuck" made its debut in 2003, it broke cable-viewing records and instantly distinguished itself with its stylized look, tongue-in-cheek tone, gorgeous stars and fresh take on America's obsession with beauty and youth. Those qualities earned it a Golden Globe for best drama, critical acclaim and water-cooler buzz that lasted for most of its first four seasons.

But when one of FX's signature series quietly wrapped last week on the Paramount lot, it did so without the usual fanfare associated with the end of a noteworthy show. In part, the silent send-off was because TV viewers won't see the "Nip/Tuck" finale, which finished shooting on June 12, for a long time, probably as late as 2011, making it tricky to publicize. Behind the scenes too, during the last week of production, there was an awkward sense that the end had already happened, since much of the crew had already moved to creator Ryan Murphy's new Fox musical, "Glee," last year, and Murphy himself was out of the country location-scouting for an upcoming movie.

"It's sad because it feels incomplete," said script supervisor Diana Valentine, who asked the cast to sign her finale script in between takes of shooting the show's last family dinner scene, which included almost every major character. Valentine, who joined the series in its second season, worked on "Beverly Hills, 90210" for its entire run. "It's not the same feeling I had when I was wrapping on '90210'. It feels incomplete, kind of separate. It's very hard."

Bye-bye, Nip Tuck!

How Does Binog.net Sound?

I wanted to do this a long time ago. Its simply cool to have your spot on the world wide web - my own domain. This is so out of the blue. I was just going through my inbox and invites in Facebook when I saw hostingphil.com on my page... and the rest was history. Fwahahahah!

Here is the screenshot of my last interaction with Hostingphil. Its really cool because there is this pop chat, the green thingy on the upper right corner. The person on the other end told me what I want and what I need. Good customer experience so far. For the domain, its Php 550 / year. You can pay through PayPal or any BPI branch. Planning to Budget Hosting when I'm no noob to blogging anymore.Thats another 600 bucks every year. Well, seems worth it.

Will be paying for binog.net tomorrow. So looking forward to it. Fahaynahlee!!

Kradison Is Crazy

Adam Lambert, Kris Allen, Allison Iraheta - Crazy - Feb 12

The finale of Rock My Town with Adam Lambert, Kris Allen, and Allison Iraheta singing to "Crazy."

These three are just crazy, each has an album and are everywhere promoting. A new batch is out and I still can't really find one who really knows what he or she is doing, unlike this three, who knew what they wanted to do from the start.

Over The Drama

I had my intro on my blog as:

Marvin T. Bonifacio a.k.a. Binog is a 6th year student taking up BS Electronics and Communications Engineering in UP Diliman, plus, working part-time in a call center.

Binog equals frustration divided by open parenthesis academic performance plus singing plus writing plus sports plus healthy eating close parenthesis. Simplifying the term, you have breaking free over growing up conservative.

I've decided to remove it, along with a new layout/theme of my blog. Just wanted to make things a little less frustrating, hahaha! But really, taking one step at a time is doing a lot for me. Keep a target but don't let the pressure eat you up. With things happening not so well, I just think of what could do some good. Even if its a losing battle, nobody really knows how things are gonna end up.

Picture here is me after my final interview at UST Global. After less than a week, I was informed that I was shortlisted. Wohoo! All I have to wait for is graduation day. Conditions before contract signing is getting GWA of 2.5 and of course, doing the march! If I pass my subject this semester, I'm at 2.36, haha - borderline, wahahah! If I pass. Its just a month left, and everything is gonna change. Everything is up to me, how everything is gonna end up, so I'm gonna give it my all, this point forward.

To get away from all the stress, here I am, blogging for a bit and doing some changes. Found myself a new theme which has some yellow going on. Cams, workmate at the center, said the lucky color of the year is yellow and white, so here goes the new look. Here are other themes I found and thought were catchy as well:

Summary - http://btemplates.com/2010/02/18/summary/demo/

My Diario - http://mydiario-bloggerthemes.blogspot.com/

Brown Stitch - http://www.bloggerthemes.net/2010/02/brown-stitch.html#

Work - http://iwork-blog.blogspot.com/

I still want to create my own theme, maybe when I'm a little less busy. See y'all!

Not So Into Libraries

During my stay in the university (well, not that I'm done with college, its just that its just a bit more weeks, I think...), I can count the times that I went to the library and borrow a book. Let say, not even ten books, not even five. I think that is one of the reasons why I internalized that quality education takes time... Hmmm... Hahaha! But then today, I was forced to grab one. Exams is coming, and  I hardly catch up with the lessons. And there I go, to the Library.

The book that I'm looking for can be found in two libraries. First stop, Eng'g Lib 1. Okay! I found in just a bit, but the thing is, the photocopy machine is gone inside the library. Texted somebody and she said, I had to borrow the book, and photocopy it elsewhere. Big question mark on my head - HOW DO I BORROW A BOOK!?!? Last time I got a book, I had a library card, and now I don't. I was too shy to ask around. I tried looking for familiar faces in Eng'g, but I did not succeed...Did everybody graduate already? Fwahahahah! While I was eating my lunch, without the book, the same person texted me and said, I don't need a lib card - TOO LATE!! I'm outta there! STRIKE ONE!!

A view outside of Eng'g Lib 2

Next stop, Eng'g Lib 2. Confirmed on OPAC, book is on shelf. I went around the whole place but no trace of the book that I'm looking for. Crap! I went around 3 times, still nothing. Saw TK's and QA's but no call number for TS's! Darn! After a while, I got tired and walked around slower. Okay! There was a shelf, with other call numbers!! They are just few. STRIKE TWO!

Okay, found TS's, but no trace of the particular book I'm looking for.  Found Heja, orgmate, in the lib to the rescue. ""Heja, me bobo question ako." It took a lot of courage to go on with my question, but there, I said it out loud. Good thing, a good samaritan was around. Okay, its on the counter! Hahaha! Its in reserved/circulation. Hahaha! STRIKE THREE!

I do hope this is the last time I'll go to that place, please, let me graduate this time!!!

Plurk Surprise

I must have a lot of free time! Hahaha! Just joking! Haha! Its just that when you have a lot in your bucket, it becomes fun doing something else. But here, I changed my plurk theme. Been loving neutral colors lately and here goes my new plurk layout. Just dropped by to check my page and out of nowhere, I wanted to change how it looks like. Hehe!

After I logged in, I was surprised to see my Karma increase, been months since I last logged in. I froze my Karma because I was so over addiction to waiting new plurks all night. Found a couple of badges on my profile. Thinking that did the magic on my Karma.

Let It Rain doodle theme downloadable here.
My plurk page here.

Feel free to click my links in this post. :D

Pork Barrel - A Toast for Cris and Tin

January 15, 2010, Pork Barrel was the place to be for ERG 04's and for a big circle of friends that celebrate years gone by with Cristopher Olavario and Christine Barrera.

Five hours of videoke, a sip of alcohol and small talks here and there - it was crazy and all. The couple rented a room for everybody to sing their hearts out, but turned out  some people didn't want to lose the microphone, haha! (Who did!?!) It was damn hot inside the room so a lot of people opted to do the chitchat outside. Meaning, some people did sung all night long! Hihi!

What is the main event of the night? Of course, pictorials!! Haha! I got my shot with the lovebirds, look left.

Cris and Tin is diggin' into their careers offshore, to Korea that is. Let's drink to that!! *TASTE BYTE - Luck for the lovebirds in Korea! Also, months and years for the Gracie-Ian love trail! Its their monthsary on that same night!*


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Taste Bytes
http://thetastebytes.blogspot.com/2010/01/pork-barrel-toast-for-cris-and-tin.html