Happy Birthday, Pards!

September 25 is one of the dates that is extra special to me – it’s the birthday of my closest friend. I can’t remember when I started to call her “Pards” but I think it came from her back in college. We’ve been classmates since freshman year – we walk our way from our dorms to our department together, attend our 7AM classes without taking bath on a few ocassions, do celebrations in the weirdest places and ways with our friends, and the list could just go on.

And guess what, up until now, we work in the same office. Hahah! We didn’t talk about it, we just saw each other on our final interview in our current company. We parted ways back in college as we streamlined to our majors even though we are in the same department. I guess things fall into place in a weird way, but I just know that Marie is a friend for keeps. Happy Birthday, Pards! Wish you’ll lose some pounds soon, haha!

Strobes

Strobist photography is characterized by the use of off-camera flash and lights to enhance lighting quality on a subject. Usually involves triggers like sync cables and wireless switches. Luckily, I was able to try it, for free. A colleague from work was generous enough to lend and teach our small group of enthusiasts. Only problem now is that I would die to get these stuff for myself. They cost a fortune! At least for me… >.<

One of the questions that a noob photographer is “What do I buy next?” – new lens or external flash. Before, I was so sure it should be lenses, thinking that in low light, you need a fast lens, But then again, its all about the light. If you know how to setup or look for good lighting setup, then you’re good without fast lenses. You’d need flash for instance, with triggers on the side. If you can’t find good light, then bring one!

And yeah! I was able to try strobist – courtesy of the good samaritan at work. Look up. Setup with flash in softbox positioned almost right above where Grace’s face is positioned to. Another flash in slave mode is positioned to her back with orange gel, which gives that brownish color on the right side of her hair. Also, I did post processing on the image – still something I learned from work, haha! (never thought good things are for free already) Did a gaussian blur layer then muted those areas where detail is needed. There you go!

Next target, do strobist  on an outdoor shoot! Yeah!

I’m running now

I was hypertensive again. This is one of the most frustrating facts about my self, that I thought was out of my system already. I think I eat healthy, and I think I’m active enough – I go to the gym, I do badminton, what more? And yes, being the “kuripot” that I am, I refuse to take meds. Anyways, this is what I learned from my mom -- She was hypertensive before, but she fought it with a change in lifestyle – she became active in badminton. I just thought, maybe I’m not putting enough effort. And so, I started running seriously. It seems like badminton is not good cardio training, but running is. Guess what, my BP is back to normal.

Just last Sunday, I finished my first 10k! I thought I was not going to finish it, but hell, I finished it at 1:12:28. I found it hard to breathe, even if my legs keep going. I walked at some point but seeing the girls (Rancy & Ash) I’m with pushed me to go further. And there, eventually I saw the water pouring out the fire truck, the LED timers and the RFID reader. Yeah! I made it. Got a medal for it! Run Rizal cleared.

Next stop. K! Run in UPD this Sunday. My target, finish it at a faster pace. >.<

New Theme.

Don’t reinvent the wheel – I’ve been saying this often lately. I just believe that it really makes sense. In a world where there is a lot to learn, it simply is a waste of time to learn everything from scratch if you can get something out of the shelf. When I made my first post here, I swore, I was going to learn CSS and HTML. I guess a sufficient dose of laziness kicked into me that’s why I’m better of using this theme out of a gallery. That’s the same reason why WYSIWYG (yeah! so much fun saying this word!) was created, right? Hmmm, and CMS’s too! Wohoho!

So there goes why I just changed themes. I got frustrated understanding the analysis of http://gtmetrix.com/ on my blog. Since it is endorsed by Blogger, guess this one’s optimized. Now, I just have to think about the content that I have to put in, then everything just falls into place. Which reminds me – how many posts have I made this year? Wahahahah! Guess I should be posting more often now. Let’s see…