State of my Music's Choice

I've always been fascinated with music, inasmuch as other people would adore their gadgets, or how people believe in fairytales. Personally, music has always been a friend--stimulating my creative juices (if ever there is one), providing me some sort of relaxation when stressed and most of the time, being a buddy while working in the wee hours of the morning either cramming before deadlines or those moments of endless scroll down's and clicks here and there. I find it very hard to write without music in my ears. I mean this has always been a pre-requisite before writing or making some stuff that needs concentration.

I happen to write this after looking back at what happened the whole day today. Someone has talked about someone's music as "baduy." And I really felt alluded, because this I admit: My choice of music is definitely different. But then I realized we all do have different genres of music that we like. Otherwise, that would make all of us weird and "baduy" in every sense of the world. Our respective taste in music reflects our being diverse yet united with our adoration of music whatever genre may that be.

Sharing is Caring

It’s Sunday and it feels great to be sitting writing this piece. After a week of a date with the desktop computer (read: staring contest) in the office designing the official calendar of the City Government for year 2013, I am taking respite. Lay-outing the calendar usually takes months to prepare; two days of actual designing and selecting photographs that make it and the rest would be dedicated to revising the whole thing to fit the taste of the big bosses. This is actually my second opportunity to layout Tagum City’s Calendar, the first one was during last year for the 2012 Calendar.

Designing the city government’s calendar is actually great. The long hours of making the design would be worth it when you see your product hanging in every home across Tagum, in schools, in business establishment, in offices and the like. The city government will be printing 50,000 pieces for this particular calendar, some of which will be sent abroad.

What actually makes it more exciting this time is that our office is tasked to produce not just one but two designs for the official 2013 calendar of the city. I am not in authority to divulge the details of the concepts yet, but once it’s out in the public to see, I will be giving an update through this blog. Since we are producing not just one but two designs this time, expect that I’ll be seeing the world in the next few weeks through bulging eye bags.

But all is not dedicated for work this month. By the end of September, I’ll try for the very first time solo backpacking all the way to Carles town in the picturesque province of Iloilo. Carles is home to the mystical Islas de Gigantes—a group of islands located in the northern part of the Panay Island. I found this spell-binding place weeks ago and its turquoise-blue seawaters and the seafoods (yes, seafoods!) make me excited to the bones.

Last Friday, officemate and fellow blogger Leo Timogan of tagumexposure.blogspot.com did what we want best: sharing our little knowledge in AVP production and Photography, respectively. Videographer Kelvin Palermo also tagged along, helping us deliver the basics to our participants. It was actually great to share with interested teenagers our humble know-how of these two subjects. Passing on some knowledge to them and pushing them to tell stories through photographs and audio visual presentations is humbling and inspiring. We would like to extend our thanks to Ate Shiela Onlos for inviting us.

This week taught me this thing: Sharing is Caring. As long as opportunity will knock on my door to share your God-given talent, I would be very glad to take part in it. Making yourself available for the development of other person’s talent and potential is a sort of giving back, or for being thankful for what talent you’ve got.

So whether it’s about giving your best in an assignment, say designing some awesome things, or by sharing your knowledge to those who need it, it’s actually bringing back the glory to God who gave you all these things.

When you’ve got a job to do, an assignment to accomplish, give all your very best. When someone needs help, be humble enough to share.

Remember, sharing is caring.  Happy Sunday!

Louie.

SHARING IS FUN! 09.14.12 Photo by Kelvin Z. Palermo

TEAM ALAMAT. Just a way of remembering that all work and no play makes John a dull boy. Photo by Leo Timogan of CIO Tagum at the Rotary Park.

The Distinct Joy of Being Invisible

Bloggers Note: This blog post below is the very first post that gives spotlight on the things that are usually not given importance. The blog also comes with photographs that break the rules of photography, in the blogger's pursuit to take his penchant for documentary photography into a more serious level. This blog post (and the upcoming posts of this sort) also comes with a supplementary mini-magazine posted online which will serve as an online portfolio of the blogger.  This, above all, is the product of a dream finally coming into fruition. As what the tagline of this blog masquerading as an edict: Leave no Story Untold.

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Dark clouds enveloped the sky one night in Tagum, promising a cold night in this part of the planet. Soon after, droplets of rain started to startle everybody in this place called the Night Market where the heavy downpour of rain poses a grave threat to the merchants and an equal dismay to their patrons.

And this is where I found myself one night--amazed with how a busy street in broad daylight transform into a bustling night market at the fall of dusk. From the moment the sun kisses the western sky, stalls sprout in the busy streets like mushrooms and leave in the wee hours of the morning, just before the mighty sun rises up and brings in a new day full of hope. The usual sight of people from all walks of life happily dining or haggling over pre-owned clothes or designer bags or branded shoes would surely leave an impression that night life is more fun in this part of the world.

The strong wind or this excessive energy present in the area probably blew the dark clouds on that Sunday night. This is also when I felt I was invisible. My romance with my camera, I then realized, was a travesty of invisibility.

I am adamant that it is this invisibility enabled me to see things on a large scale and differently. My amazement of the place was only short-lived as my attention was grabbed by persons selling customized balloons. This scene exudes a patina of happiness in a place where people seems to brush it off. Except for children, of course. As usual, and as each of us could have experienced then, the radiant glow of excitement and happiness is evidenced the moment a child lets hold of the tiny string of the balloon and making sure it doesn't let go up in the air. To put it succinctly in our own tongue, hawak mo na happiness mo, bakit ka pa bibitaw? 

It is in this premise that my concept of happiness comes in: to claim the things and to hold dear in our hearts the persons or things that make us happy. It is a state of one's mind; a choice rather than fate. But we must also acknowledge the fact that the world that we live in is not perfect. Jose Mari Ugarte complained that we are born into it through the pain of our mothers and raised in it suffering failures, disappointments, sadness, prejudice and hate.

But since the world is not perfect, it cannot be perfectly bad. We also have triumphs, joys, tolerance and above all, love. And it is love that makes this journey through this vale of tears a wonder. As what they say, without pain, the heart is hollow.

By choice, or perhaps by default, my frames were dominated by pictures of balloons on that Sunday night and enjoyed the feeling of invisibility like I never experienced it before. Past sweet couples holding hands while walking, past family members and circle of friends grinning, past people bordering on the obnoxious was me and my camera– savoring that distinct happiness of snapping photographs in this happy place.

The moment you find yourself gallivanting in this place or in any other public place, take a moment to observe things and realize the richness of stories that can be found in each person or things that thrive here. Bring a camera if you please, preserve memories and be charmed with the same spell of invisibility that I enjoyed. If you do, do it with a light heart and without a doubt, you can never go wrong.

L.

Here's the rest of the photographs, bounded together in this special maiden issue of the Sprinkles:

Open publication - Free publishing - More happiness

Endings, Beginnings

Outside, the sound of noisy chickens trumpets an aura that seems so provincial. Listening to it exude a patina of calmness and makes you think as if you are living inside of the iconic paintings of Amorsolo. Truth be told, listening to it conveys one clear message: it’s a brand new day.

The sun just kissed the eastern sky when I grabbed a pen and started to write whatever comes to mind. One book I’ve read authored by Ricky Lee said that early mornings are truly the best time to write flowingly whatever that comes to mind. This is one of those mornings when straight from the bed, I’ll immediately go to the table and scribble until it’s time to go.

Mundane and Momentous

TAGUM CITY, PHILIPPINES—There's something about the iconic New City Hall of Tagum that keeps folks from all walks of live marvel at its hugeness and state-of-the-art facilities, acting like a magnet which attracts people to visit it every now and then. When this city hosted its official Musikahan sa Tagum Festival last week, it had transformed into a large musical venue where the grand exhibition of music took place. Cliché as it may sound, but last week’s atmosphere in JV Ayala Avenue is enough testament why it’s more fun here in this once sleeping municipality.

Orion's Belt

After a long and exhausting day and whenever I have free time, I would usually solace myself by sitting alone in one corner under a dark sky illuminated by twinkling, little stars. Whenever I get lucky, I would usually spot a falling star which will be gone long before I close my eyes to mumble a wish. Most of us would agree that the joy of childhood prompts us to believe in the beauty of wishes. But our childhood never taught us that the power of making our wishes a reality lies in our own hands, if only we are committed to dramatically turn it into a stunning reality. When I was a little, I remember myself wishing of things like “choco bread,” “brake grames,” or a “bicycle.” Later, these would be like “good grades,” “good health,” “a complete and happy family,” or even “knowledge,” following a hard-day struggle with algebra. Everybody in the class would agree that I have a hate-hate relationship with Mathematics, to the fact that I am cursing it to death. Looking back, it made me realized how simple dreams transformed into big ones. The star-gazing sessions stroked a chord in me to dream and to dream big time.

Just a little while ago after eating my self-prepared dinner, I stayed for about an hour looking up to the astronomical wonders twinkling in a backdrop of a black sky. Just like the old times, it elicited that sense of relaxation—finding yourself waiting for a star to fall then make a snappy wish. I never sighted one earlier but the sixty minutes I spent outside with pesky mosquitoes gave me the idea of the universality of making wishes and the elicit pursuit for happiness. All across the globe—may it be in Korea, in Europe, in the States or even in the forgotten corners of Africa—young and old ones alike would testify to the veracity of this claim.

1/366 ~ Epic Fail

1/366 ~ EPIC FAIL

The year 2012 seems so promising and I started it with work! Our job at the City Information Office requires us to be on call 24/7. On New Year’s Eve, while everybody is excited for the grand fireworks display set up by the City Government of Tagum, I had brought along with me a Sony FX HD Camera (for video recording) and a Canon DSLR (for still images). Unfortunately, the photos I took during the 30-minute fireworks display failed me. An epic fail failure for the new year. Good thing there's this video I edited: