My Simple Life

A simple favor... vote for my photos

I AM A PHOTO HOBBYIST and I love taking photographs during my travels or just even a short walk at the park or shopping. In other words, photography is one of my passions in life. Without my camera, I am hopeless and my day is not complete. It is indeed, my compact digital camera is my secret companion which provides me the inspiration to value life, family and friends, work, the environment...everything! Through the lens of my camera, I can see different emotions, textures, colours, dreams, hopes and the inspirations to live!

       For the past years, I always dream to take part in any local or international photo competition. And this time, I was able to participate in an international contest organised by the New York Institute of Photography. My two photos were accepted a week ago and the mechanism is quite simple. You need votes from anyone who has the chance to view my photos and aiming to be in top 100 at the end of the voting which is due on Saturday, 15 Sept 2007.

        This is really a personal favor! Really, I am inviting everyone who have access to my blog to visit my personal website and view these images. If you think these images capture your heart or maybe you think they deserve a place in the 100 spots for the final selection, then dont hesitate to cast your vote.

Your vote matters until Saturday, and I am be glad to receive your comments. Just click the underlined titles and you will get their links.

The first photo is a B&W image of Giants Causeway. This is a UNESCO heritage site in Northern Ireland. I love B&W and through this historical site, I could show the magic match of these colours. The second photo is the boy in the band who attended the 12 July event, Orange Parade being celebrated every year in Belfast.

Note: These photos have different categories in the competition.

I remember, every year our Miss Universe-Philippine candidate always wins the Miss Photogenic title and this is because of the on-line voting. Im not saying here that I will get the grand prize, but Im hoping that I will have the opportunity to be in the final round of the competition.

WELL, I DO HOPE that I will be getting more votes before the weekends.

This journal also posted in Filipinowriter.com

Making an effort to read others' work

THIS IS IN RELATION to my previous post on my passion - writing and reading...

It is quite an expensive hobby to read others people literary works (pocket books, mags, text books, etc.) but it is a priceless undertaking for individual like me to appreciate their talents in writing/story telling. Well after more than a year now in the UK, having the resources to acquire these materials, I have already collected more than 30 books (excluding photo magazines which I buy them monthly) of bestsellers writers both in the UK and US. This is not to include my collections in the Philippines which I have also been keeping for almost 5 years now from the time I started my passion in Australia. From time to time, I visit second hand bookstores, charity stores, on websites (like Amazon and Ebay) and even joined a group where I could exchange books with the members (http://www.bookcrossing.com) just to reduce my monthly expenses for books.

MY FAVOURITES vary from inspirational to suspense/horror stories. But most of the time, Im always attracted to suspense/horror/ and psyho plots. Initially, my desire to read really started when I was working in Bangkok after finishing my MSc degree in Urban Planning. One of my bosses, she encouraged me to read one of the novels written by Mary Higgins Clark, popularly known as the 'queen of the suspense'. Unfortunately, I cant remember the title, but it was an excellent read. Since then I was hooked to read her other books.

Im an avid fan of Jeffrey Archer (Cane and Abel, Shall We Tell the President, False Impression, etc.), James Patterson (his popular character, Mr. Cross), Harlan Coben (with his athletic and goodlooking main cast, Mr. Bolitar), Dan Brown (all his works), and also with Stephen King( short stories only, and Cell) and Mary Higgins Clark!

To date, with my membership with dooyoo (www.dooyoo.ac.uk) I was able to post my reviews and some of them are as follows:

1. Marley and Me by John Grogan

http://www.dooyoo.co.uk/printed-books/marley-and-me-life-and-love-with-the-world-s-worst-dog-john-grogan/1038477/

2. The arrival of fergal flynn by Brian Kennedy

http://www.dooyoo.co.uk/printed-books/the-arrival-of-fergal-flynn-brian-kennedy/1032634/

3. The abortionist's daughter by Elisabeth Hyde

http://www.dooyoo.co.uk/printed-books/the-abortionist-s-daughter-elisabeth-hyde/1032132/

4. False Impression by Jeffrey Archer

http://www.dooyoo.co.uk/printed-books/false-impression-jeffrey-archer/1031632/

5. Shall we tell the president by Jeffrey Archer

http://www.dooyoo.co.uk/printed-books/shall-we-tell-the-president-jeffrey-archer/1031257/

6. Rules of Life by Richard Templar

http://www.dooyoo.co.uk/printed-books/rules-of-life-richard-templar/1031176/

I also interested to write reviews on photography such like these:

1. Digital Photo Magazine

http://www.dooyoo.co.uk/magazines-newspapers/digital-photo-magazine/1036266/

2. Practical Photography

http://www.dooyoo.co.uk/magazines-newspapers/practical-photography/1031971/

3. Digital Photo

http://www.dooyoo.co.uk/magazines-newspapers/digital-photo/1038411/

Lately, I am very very busy with my research which somehow hinders me to start with a new book. But hopefully this coming Christmas holiday, I will be able to read again...

EVEN THOUGH I cant grab a book this time, I have another passion to dwell on... my passion to watch live shows - The Musical. Since I was in college, I took the time to watch live shows and plays in the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP), Meralco Theater, Shang-rila Plaza, and UP Film Center.

WHAT MAKES ME HOOKED with these productions are the music, backdraft, props, and of course the 'cast' itself. So far, I was able to watch Titanic -the musical (Northern Ireland), Miss Saigon (New York, Philippines, Northern Ireland). Footloose -the Musical (Philippines, Northern Ireland, History Boys (Northern Ireland), A Chorus Line (Thailand, San Francisco), They're singing our Song (Philippines), Jesus Christ Superstar (Philippines). So, I will elaborate some of these excellent productions in my next article!

Reading and writing as my past time hobbies…

WHEN I was pursuing my undergrad degree in Civil Engineering, I was not confident in doing essays as part of the course requirements, or even joining essay writing competitions. Maybe it is because of my primary and secondary schools’ background where I was not really rigorously trained to write – a way of expressing myself. Secondly, I was not used to read and learn beyond the required textbooks, such as pocket books, magazines, newspapers, and other forms of learning through media (television, movies, theatres/plays, tapes) which will influence my ideas and have it into writing. Thirdly, the notion of being a future engineer, I will not be writing so many essays and reports, instead I will be dealing with numbers, drawings and figures! Unfortunately, this is not the case after finishing college and having challenging jobs in a corporate world. Being an engineer/planner and a lecturer, I have to be effective enough to express myself both in verbal and writing. Even now pursuing my PhD, I am still struggling with my writing.

FRANKLY, during those years in college I do write poems in Pilipino, not in English. And because of this enthusiasm to develop my poetic skills, I decided to join the university paper, The Philippine Artisan(Technological University of the Philippines’ student paper/publication) for almost 2 years. Being part of the editorial staff, I was assigned to cover news featured articles relating to accredited clubs/organizations in the university, including literary articles; and came up with my own regular column entitled, The Campus Beat. My membership to the university paper was a stepping stone to improve my reading and writing prowess.

YEARS past...Having the available time and resources now, aside from my regular poems (in English) I do regularly buy and read pocket books with my favorite authors/writers and at the same time write reviews/opinions in two websites where I am member: dooyoo and friendster.

I STARTED my membership with dooyoo (www.dooyoo.co.uk) – a UK based consumers’ website last June 29, 2006. The website offers a full range of information on products and services that consumers need, including comparative pricing for total on-line shopping convenience. Dooyo members are being paid for posting opinions/reviews and shared to the rest of the dooyoo members with a minimum pay of 15 pesos (15 pence) for every rating from a member, and additional 150 pesos (1.50 pounds) for an opinion/review being awarded a ‘yellow crown’ by the dooyoo team every week. To date, I posted 27 reviews covering a wide range of products and services that I previously used such as laptop, wireless mouse, pocket books, airline, tourist attractions, films/movies, musicals/plays, magazines, and airports. Luckily, I got 8 yellow crowns within my 5-month membership with dooyoo which in total I have already accumulated around 4,400 pesos (44 pounds) which I could spend in buying stuffs from Amazon (www.amazon.co.uk ). You can visit my personal account at:

http://www.dooyoo.co.uk/member/curious_tan/

I AM very happy to share to my readers the following reviews that have been awarded for yellow crowns (additional 1.50 pounds each)!

1. San Francisco Summer Escapade

http://www.dooyoo.co.uk/national-parks-international/san-francisco/1041660/

2. Footloose – the Musical

http://www.dooyoo.co.uk/theatre-musicals-national/footloose-the-musical/1041099/

3. American Airlines

http://www.dooyoo.co.uk/airline/american-airlines/1037149/

4.  Volver (Return) – a Spanish film featuring Penelope Cruz

http://www.dooyoo.co.uk/dvd-title-v/volver-dvd/1036964/

5. Digital Camera – photography magazine

http://www.dooyoo.co.uk/magazines-newspapers/digital-photo-magazine/1036266/

6. Traveling and learning in Australia

http://www.dooyoo.co.uk/national-parks-international/australia-1/1035747/

7. Microsoft Wireless Mouse

http://www.dooyoo.co.uk/mice-trackballs/microsoft-wireless-optical-mouse/1035324/

8. Miss Saigon –the Musical

http://www.dooyoo.co.uk/theatre-musicals-national/miss-saigon/1031662/

FRIENDSTER on the hand (which this article is written in my personal blog), I maintain three accounts with the website, thinking of developing each account into informative venues about my learning and hobbies. Unfortunately, I have not done it yet, but hopefully in the near future I could link each account to keep inform the people who have access to my principal friendster’s account of my whereabouts. In this website, I also post my photographs taken during my travels. You can visit my personal blog entitled, My Simple Life at:

http://curioustan.blogs.friendster.com/my_simple_life/

or my friendster homepage at:

http://www.friendster.com/user.php?uid=13543639

and my old websites which highlights photographs in the Philippines and my earlier travels in the US, Sweden, UK, and Finland.

http://zerepsomar.shorturl.com/

Having these websites, I do believe that they are influential in improving my writing and my way of thinking. Having English not my mother tongue, it is quite difficult to express my own ideas and put into writing which I believe requires patience and practice.

Ang aking libangan:pagpipinta at potograpiya

...sa mga lugar na aking narating!

Kahit noong maliit pa ako, mahilig na akong gumawa ng mga larawan gamit ang ordinaryong lapis at papel. Ang pagguhit ng kahit anong bagay na madalas kong nakikita sa mga aklat at iba pang babasahing materyal tulad ng magasin ay naging libangan ko na at bahagi na rin ng aking pag-aaaral.

Ang pagkawihi sa pagpinta at pagguhit ay naging dahilan ng aking pagkahilig sa paggupit ng mga magagandang larawan sa magasin. At ito rin ang nagtulak sa akin na magkaroon ng sariling ‘photo album’ ng lahat ng mga mahalagang pangyayari sa aking buhay mula sa pagkabata hanggang ngayong nagsisimula nang mamuti ang buhok ko! Masarap pagmasdan ang mga larawan … lalung-lalo na kung ang mga ito ay nagbibigay balik-tanaw ng mga bagay na nagsilbing inspirasyon para makamit ang minimithing panaginip na makarating ang malayo o ibat-ibang sulok/bahagi ng mundo.

Sa kabilang dako, ang potograpiya ay isa lamang sa mga sanga ng pagkahilig ko sa sining! Lahat ng mga larawan sa aking ‘photo album’ ay kuha ng iba o ng letratista, at madalas hindi mo gusto ang pagkakuha nito o gusto mo ring mapuntahan at kunan ng litrato - galing sa sariling kamera! Dahil dito, sinabi ko sa sarili na balang araw, ako na rin ang kukuha at ipamalas sa ibang tao ang aking kakayahan at lalung-lalo na ang mga pook na aking mararating…

Marami na rin akong na-ipinta… at ang lahat nito’y puro lawaran ng ‘punong-kahoy’. Hindi ko alam kung bakit nakahiligan ko na ang magpinta ng mga kahoy… marahil sa aking kinagisnang paligid sa isla ng Sibuyan (Romblon).

Sa kaalaman ng lahat, ang aking bayan ay mayaman sa magagandang tanawin – kagubatan, batis, ilog, bakawan, mga mailap na hayop, at malinis na dagat! At dahil dito, madalas kong ipinagmamalaki sa aking mga kaibigan na minsan madalaw nila ang aking pinagmulang pulo! Madalas rin, ang mga nagagawa ko ay naging ‘birthday gift’ sa mga matalik na mga kaibigan at kamag-anak!

Bilang isang pintor o letratista ay may maraming hadlang o balagid lalung-lalo na kung ikaw ay di galing sa mayaman o maykayang pamilya. Sa simula, hindi ko kayang bumili ng kamera o kasangkapan para mapaganda ang mga gawa ko. Pagtitiyaga ang aking puhunan at dahil sa magandang biyaya sa Maykapal, hindi na rin mabigat o mahirap ang bumili ng mga kagamitan. Tulad ng kamera, hanggang ngayon kahit natapos ko na ang ‘basic photography class’ noong taong 2004, hindi pa rin ako nakakabili ng SLR camera. Ngunit sa kabila ng lahat, hindi ito hadlang para ipagpatuloy ko ang aking libangan. Sa ngayon, may bago akong yunit, IR-500 gawa ng Olympus. Ito ay ‘digital’ at mas marami akong magagawa sa mga larawan – ibahin ang mga kuhay, gawing 3D ang mga larawan, ‘panoramic’, at iba pa... Gamit ko pa rin ang luma kong kamera – ang Olympus 'fully automatic 35mm'…

Para mapayaman ko rin ang aking kaalaman, hindi lang sa nakuhang ‘certificate of attendance’ sa ‘basic photography’ na nilunsad ng FPPF sa Pilipinas, naging miyembro rin ako sa isa mga bagong samahan ng letratista, ‘Third Eye (3Di) Photo Club bilang kauna-unahang pangulo ng samahan. Ang website ng samahan ay: http://www.photonski.com/3diphoto

At sa ngayon, naging bahagi na rin ako ng ‘OlympusCameraClub’ dito sa Britaniya. Bilang kasapi ng kapisanan, maraming pabuya, hindi lamang ang ‘quarterly’ na kopya ng magasin (OlympusUser), may mga ‘discounted camera accessories’ ang binibigay sa mga miyembro tulad ng mga aklat, baterya, ‘memory cards’, at iba pa. Mapalad ako nuong nakaraang buwan at nabigyan ako ng kopya ng ‘One People, Many Journeys’ na gawa ng Lonely Planet Travel Guides. Hindi lamang yan, sa kasalukuyang isyu ng OlympusUser magasin (Issue 4/Spring 2006) ang aking sulat sa ‘editor’ ay naihathala at dahil dito, binigyan ako ng ‘black and white’ photo collection book bilang pabuya! Maari ninyong tingnan ang kanilang website: http://www.olympus.co.uk/consumer/208_8345.htm.

Sa mga lumipas na mga taon, ang pagpipinta/pagguhit, ang pagkuha ng mga larawan, at lalung-lalo ang mag-ipon (maglikom) ng mga malalaking larawan (posters) ay bahagi na ng aking buhay. At balang araw, isa sa mga silid ng aking tahanan, mailagay at iladlad (display) ang mga ito!