Looks like Sachiko's having more fun than I am. And no, this one's still taken with Natsume. My brain is overloading with information as I read the manual while fiddling with Natsuki. Truth be told, I'm quite intimidated. I don't remember being this lost during my film SLR days. So many buttons, 80% of them I have no farking idea what for.

Still, despite feeling like such an idiot, it feels good holding a nice, fat SLR. The weight, the grip, the nice shutter sound---it just feels so therapeutic you know? The act of actually putting your eye to the viewfinder, I never knew how much I missed it.

I still have a lot to learn though, that's why you guys won't be seeing pics anytime soon. All the pics I've taken so far are crap. But I'm damned dedicated to making Natsuki submit to my will (or at least arrive at a compromise) so there's hope yet.

i. after the legend
Finished watching Tae Wang Sa Shin Gi / The Legend of the First King’s Four Gods a few days ago. After a couple of nights of minimal sleep, we finally finished it. My mom and I started and ended the series on opposite camps---she was empathizing with Kajin / Kiha, misunderstood, victim of circumstances evil girl while I was happily cheering for wild, street urchin Sujini who was the poised, valiant warrior princess Seoh in her past life.

( Cut for spoilers )

Thankfully, Dian came to my rescue with this link about the original script to the last episode. It really makes me feel better and I like to think of it as canon. Even if I can't watch it, it's nice to think that this is what really happened.

ii. ever so busy
We've been so busy at work these past few days. Almost daily overtime coupled with a weekend at the office. So the holiday starting tomorrow will be such a welcome respite. I'm crossing my fingers that nothing will happen to screw it up. Yes, it's that bad. I feel like I can't really rejoice until I'm already on my way home tonight.

Productive to do list:
• Fix up things that need to be fixed up with Kitchen Cow, including layout tweaks, additional plug-ins, and new articles.
• Shoot dollies.
• Get some sewing projects going.
• Bake macaroons. It's very specific since I already bought the dry ingredients a few weeks ago. *laughs*
• Scan some more of Gokusen v11 for our Gokusen scanlations project. Plus, edit my next few assignments.
• Troubleshoot my lighting set-up.
• Do research on possible freelance writing programs.
• Put together a sample work portfolio for freelance writing projects.
• Design and make business cards.
• Get started on 365 Toy Project again.
• Redesign / reconfigure This Doll's Life

What's more likely to happen:
• Start playing Layton again as I have finished (finally!) Apollo Justice.
• Read some of the books I borrowed from Chris.
• Trawl Dollie Mixtures and Flickr for dollie piccies.
• Nap.
• Eat potato chips.
• Snooze.
• Watch anime / jdrama.
• Read manga.
• Be lucky to accomplish at least one thing on productive list.

iii. objection!
I want more Ace Attorney action! Apollo Justice was one wild ride, and I want more! Joining Phoenix, Godot and Iris as my favorite Ace Attorney characters are Apollo, Trucy, Ema Skye and Gavin---Klavier, not Kristoph. So much fun! I hope they release Ace Attorney 5 already. Last I heard, Capcom did a press release about it May 2007. I just hope it comes out soon and is followed by an English language version at once as well. Makes me wonder who'll be in it. A defense-attorney-again Phoenix? Herr forehead Apollo? Or a totally new lawyer?

iv. photo request meme
I've seen Jannie and more recently, Cla do this. Now I want to join in the fun!

Photo request! List up to three things you'd like me to take pictures of. Give me a week to do this, and once I'm done, I'll post your requests.

Just a note, I reserve the right to turn down requests if they're not feasible, are expensive, or is obscene / pornographic.

And Cla, no, you can not request for a Junpei x Seiji yaoi photoshoot.

i. accomplished
I feel so much better now! I finally managed to send out my long delayed Dollie-Mixtures Secret Santa Swap package yesterday. Because I was feeling guilty with the delay (I should've sent it out during the first week of December), I ended up stuffing the jiffy mailer bursting to full with candy. Sent it via EMS so my recipient will get it within the year at the very least. I doubt it'll get there by Christmas.

Last night, I managed to persuade my dolls to pose for me so I finally managed to get our Christmas pics done. Then, off I went to the photo place to print them out so now I have Christmas cards, finally! All that's left is to mail them first thing tomorrow morning then I'm done. Yay! I feel so accomplished!

Sadly, they'll be late for Christmas but I'm still happy because it turned out so nice. So yay!

ii. another accomplishment
And even better, I finally managed to do the next chapter in the continuing saga chronicling the lives of the dolls who rule my life.

The next comic, Welcome home, Sachiko! is up at This Doll's Life.

i. saberday sunshine!
Saberday! Saberday! Yay!

ii. tq
We made it to the 4th round, that's the 10/20 elimination. I should be happy. I mean, I was. But right now, I'm feeling a creeping sense of pressure about churning a fantastic pic. I really really want to do my best, but you know that old song, about my best not being good enough?

Shows my age, huh?

Anyway, to those who haven't seen it, here's Seiji's Sweet Emotion entry - Shyness.

iii. saberday again
Yay! Yay! Saberday!

i. hot film
We watched Beowulf Saturday evening, compliments of Noel (Thanks Noel!) and it was a hot film. Not because of nekkid Angelina Jolie nor nekkid Beowulf. It was because when we got to that scene where the dragon was burning the tower? The film burned. Literally. As the dragon spewed fire, the literal film burned, stopping the movie for a minute or so.

The timing couldn't have been better.

ii. good parenting
Parents, please consider what movies your kids are watching before packing them off with yaya (nanny) to the movies. Because Beowulf is not something your pre-adolescent kids should be watching unsupervised. Heck, I don't think it should be shown to kids at all. All that gore, inebriation, sexual innuendo, and nekkid Angelina Jolie is not something kids should see.

Especially when your kids are loud, immature and ruin the cinema experience for all. I hope your brats get Grendel nightmares! Though judging by their reaction from Angelina...I'd rather not guess what their dreams would be like. T_T

iii. music & lyrics
Did my challenge 2 shoot yesterday. I found it fun, but a part of me feels apprehensive because the shoot felt so easy. I guess I got too used to complicated set-ups between PF & TQ so now, with a simple set-up, I feel like I'm slacking off---something I promised not to do.

Reminder to self: You loved the new concept enough to drop your initial, complicated set-up. Stop flogging yourself. Besides, the song's goshdarned fun! How can you go wrong?

i. holiday accomplishments
Accomplished a couple of things this holiday---unfortunately, none of them were productive.

1. Finished Phoenix Wright: Justice for All. And is it just me or is there so much more Phoenix X Edgeworth love all around? Heeheeeheee. Sorry Maya, but---Nick and Edgey sitting in a tree... And Franziska! I actually ended up liking her. Oh she's an annoying pain in the butt, but she's a cute annoying pain in the butt.

2. Finished watching Yamada Tarou Monogatari. I actually liked it better than Poor Prince. Oh sure, Poor Prince always had me in stitches, and Vic Zhou and his best friend, the guy who plays Mimura, were sooooo damned hawt. But I like how the Jdrama version added more depth and character to the story. I also appreciate how they fleshed out Takako to be much more than the gold digging secondary character she was in the manga / taiwanese drama. Here, I learned to like---even love the character. And I love the actress' dimples. Sooo cute!

3. Almost finished sewing an A-line skirt for Aki. It's pretty okay and I like how soft the fabric is, even if it's not as trendy as some of her clothes. It turned out pretty well for something I sewed without a pattern. The matching top however...was a disaster.

ii. after aki, it's seiji in the spotlight!
So looking forward to Taeyang Quarterly. It's a new photo contest, patterned after Pullip Fabulous, only it's all male. Haven't sent Seiji's application in yet as we're waiting for his new wig, but we're definitely joining.

And since we're talking dolls anyway, head's up! I posted some pics of Aki and Seiji at Westgate and ATC at This Doll's Life.

iii. i should be moping
...because the holiday's come to an end, but because it also means that the Post Office will open already, I'm actually looking forward to tomorrow. Yay! Yay! Yay! New wig, new wig, new wig!

iv. if you like taking photos of toys
You may want to wander off to Flickr and join the 365 Toy Project. It's basically an exercise where you shoot and upload a toy photo everyday. It doesn't have to be a different toy, but it has to be a new photo each day. I'm on day 16 and am really having. Even if it is a pain trying to figure out how to set up my lights each night since I'm too lazy to put my whole light tent up.

Here's one of mine:


v. positivity project happy thought?
14. No matter how much you hate something, there's always a silver lining. It's like me hating yaoi but making an exception to root for Phoenix and Edgeworth! Now that's OTP.

i. bombings
As apathetic as I usually am, last Friday's Glorietta bombings were more like a postscript to my day. While we're relatively near the place, to me all it amounted to was heavier traffic and a more difficult commute.

We kept abreast of the news while at the production house were we were awaiting a client meeting. We received and sent text messages to people, asking about whereabouts—my mom was just 10 minutes back in the office after lunching in the vicinity when the explosion happened—and ensuring each other's safety.

So Saturday morning felt truly surreal when I received a text message from an old friend that one of our friends died in the explosion. While we haven't been in touch for so long, during the time of our friendship, mid to late 90s when we were still neighbors, we had a lot of laughs, hanging out in the subdivision streets. During special occasions, my neighborhood barkada would stay up til the wee hours, singing along with an acoustic guitar, drinking the occasional mocktail while munching on chips. We'd wake each other up at the crack of dawn to go jogging at a nearby subdivision, burning calories, only to stuff ourselves silly with a heavy breakfast of sinangag, tuyo, eggs and tomatoes.

Eventually, they moved away, and so did we. While I have failed to keep in touch, visiting his wake on Saturday night brought back a lot of memories. It was a study on how frail life really is. On how it's always the hardest on those we leave behind. And how we have to make a conscious effort to keep up with people who've made a difference in our lives and how we should always keep in touch.

ii. pullip fabulous
It's true what they say, we never really realize the worth of something until it's gone. In my case, I didn't know how badly I wanted to get in the Pullip Fabulous finals (probably if I got there, it would've changed into an I want to win this thing).

I couldn't keep still the past few days before it was announced but I figured it was just nerves. I'll be all right whatever happens. But when we got the results---well, to say I was disappointed is an understatement. I'm not knocking the finalists. My personal favorites got in. But somehow, I guess I wanted to be there with them. I wanted to be able to say, "We made the finals on our first try." Pride issues, really.

Still, personal disappointment aside, it was a good run. I learned a lot of new techniques---a combination of experimentation and online research---and took a lot of great pictures. I know I did my best. I know I've shown everyone what I can do. And I know I can go and say, "This is one goddamned good portfolio," and "I'm proud of what pullip fabulous pushed me to do." It was a good run. And yes, I'll be waiting in the wings for the next round of challenges.

( Aki's Pullip Fabulous Run )

And now I shall switch to fangirl mode and start cheering on my favorites! Fight fight fight everyone!

iii. other blog updates!
On the brighter side of things, our Pullip Fab run ending finally allowed me to shoot Seiji this time. His new wig's still not here, I'm crossing my fingers it'll come this week. Anyway, here's our photoshoot. Also managed to do my long delayed Sango Review.

Midway my pullip fab shoot. I stumbled upon an interesting, unplanned execution, and I love it. But still, it would look so much more fabulous if I were using a DSLR. The fact that I'm pushing my point and shoot to the limit and still want more, I think, is the sign that I need to seriously think about getting a better camera.

EDIT:
DONE! While there are some things I would like to redo, given more time a less floppy obitsu, and more hands, the fact that I'm tired, need sleep, am hungry and have only two hands tells me to stick with the program and send the entry already, lest I miss it. I did my best. So did Aki. And of course, little Natsume (my Ixus 55). I keep forgetting to credit him when he's the one who makes it possible.

And no, he's not getting offended about my wanting to buy a DSLR. He knows that even if I get one, it's still always him who'll have a place in my purse.

And oh yeah, I'm getting paranoid about being accused of over-photoshopping...which I didn't! I mean, just the usual curve balancing and all. Guess I'm really getting nervous / excited about the whole challenge. ^_^;;

Round 4, here we come! We made it, yay!

...


But the next challenge...*facepalm*

It's past 2am and I just finished shooting our Pullip Fabulous round 3 entry. Theme is geometry meets fashion. Quite the challenge, especially for someone like me who can't make heads and tails out of clothes. Still, after much planning, plotting and constructing, we did end up with something we liked.

On a side note, while it's really tiring, draining, and making me stay up extra late hours, I'm enjoying Pullip Fabulous. What they said before I joined was true---you really end up pushing yourself. Even for a challenge that I have no clue about, I ended up exerting effort. Thankfully, we were rewarded with something I like. I just hope it can compete with more fashion-oriented people. Honestly, at this point in the game, I'm too immersed in the concept / shoot to judge my work unbiasedly. Hope it still looks good to my eyes come tomorrow.

Much as I'd love to post our pics here now, I guess it'll have to wait til tomorrow afternoon, following the organizer's request that we keep the pics to ourselves til they get released.

In the meantime, I'm going to reward myself with some Kamen Rider Kabuto (around 7 episodes left to go) before sleeping. Sure, I'll be running on coffee again tomorrow but all this hard work needs positive reinforcement, doesn't it?

She looks so nice and sweet and demure right? Right?

( Really now? )

Rest of the outtakes on Aki's Blog.

We made the cut :D

I know I kept blogging about Pullip Fabulous but where are the pictures?

Well, search no more :D Here's our contest entry:



If you'd like to look at the outtakes though, it's on Aki's Blog. I'd cross-post the entry here, but her royal majesty Aki-chan will probably get annoyed if I do. And I'm too lazy to write an entry of my own.

Now, we're just crossing our fingers and hoping we move on to the next round.

Finally remembered to buy batteries for my SLR but it still won't work. Light meter doesn't go on and shutter refuses to go off. Methinks its age finally caught up with it. Does anyone know where I can get it repaired? It's an old Minolta SLR---Film, not digital. If I can't find a shop, I'll go to Hidalgo but I'd prefer a shop that's recommended by someone. And preferably not in Quiapo cause it's soooo far. ^_^;;

Thanks to the desk lamp Cla lent me, I can now take pinky pictures in the evening! Yay!


Vivi astride Usagi-chan, shot against the cover of the Hamilo Coast brochure.


Emma-san shot against a Los Banos, Laguna landscape. I had to go sepia because my original print was done in Black & White, back from the college days. I figured it would look awkward, shooting a colored pinky against a black & white print.

See? We don't have to be slaves to photoshop to take fun pics. :D

Note to self: Brush up on lighting techniques and pick up a third lamp.

I was going through my old prints from my college basic photography class (the one for my Comm-Arts degree, not the one for my Ad Management one) when I found a couple of my favorites. So, I decided to scan some and share them with you guys since, well, it made me happy, hope to share the love. :D



As described on my flickr account:
This picture was taken back in 1997, using an old Minolta SLR with a telephoto lens. I honestly don't remember what mountain range it was, but it was taken from the Boy Scout camp in Los Banos, Laguna. It is one of my favorite pictures from my college basic photography class. Too bad I wasn't able to take better care of my negatives, hence the little imperfections on the print.

When I first saw Julls chronicle her day in photos, I knew I wanted to do the same thing myself. The rules were, if I recall correctly, to take a photo for each hour of your day. But time constraints, forgetfulness, and a broken camera didn't let me do so.

This time however, with Natsume at my side, I decided to give it a go. Too bad Shi-chan found out about it and decided to make it a Kao Onee-chan and me pictorial instead. Oh well. I'll give her center stage now.



06:16 am. Nee-chan isn't awake yet even though her alarm clock went off half an hour ago. Much as I'd want to let her sleep in, I have to wake her up already. That's her, sleeping behind me. Now let's see how I can wake her up... *grabs a thick book from the shelf*

( image heavy, 994kb total )

Little Sei's a tad worried. "It looks like rain," she frowns. Definitely a problem, considering she's in a summer yukata and using a paper parasol.




( This is what happens when you leave Rurouni Kenshin DVDs lying about the house )

Finally got my new camera today. Yay! I can't tell if it's refurbished or a new unit. It looks new, even if the box is a bit dusty looking. But even if it weren't, the fact that it's still a fresh camera to replace what was my 4 year old camera is still a good thing.

Haven't named it yet. Still trying to decide whether I should christen her with something along the lines of Yukiko (iPod Nano) and Tsukiko (my home PC). Cla suggested Tsubibo (Ferris Wheel---it does sound like Tsukiko ^_^;;) but I bet after the initial novelty of the joke has worn off, I won't be fine with the silly name.

I've charged it, gone through the quickstart beginner's manual, and have taken a couple of snapshots at work. I like how many fiddly button settings there are, although yes, at times, it can get intimidating.

Still, you can just imagine how excited I am to start taking Pinky pictures. Admittedly though, I'm not sure if I can get nice pics when I get home since our house lights aren't that conducive for taking photos. I'm actually eyeing a small floodlight, but the one I saw, the cheap one, doesn't have a stand. It's just the light and the head.

Lighting issues aside, I can't wait to take my pinky pics, as well as start preparing bentos in full force again.

Weekend goals:
• Finish Tamaki mod project head, wig, and legs. Get started on Ouran High blazer.
• Photograph books to be sold. Post them on ebay.
• Build Pinky photo room.
• Start playing with Sculpey / Paper Clay.
• Window shop for Mr. White Surfacer / Surfacer liquid thingie.

And in other news, I bought the complete Arrested Development series. Will try to get started on season 3 tonight. Also bought the complete Gakuen Alice series. Yes. I have a crush on a two-dimensional ten-year old boy again.

i. earthquake blues
Asia still hasn't recovered from the Taiwan earthquake. We're still posting all time lows bandwidth-wise. My torrent downloads are at a low 10k to as much as just 40k. I who's supposed to be enjoying a 1.5 mbps connection.

Sucks really. I can't start downloading Hana Yori Dango Season 2, that new Kimura Takuya Drama, Goong 2, Lunch no Juou, Gakuen Alice, Ugly Betty and all sorts of stuff I've been wanting to download. I'm way behind on Manga downloads either since I have a hard time keeping up minimum connection speeds on IRC. Hell, I can't even visit LJ from my house, hence the inability to update this blog. And I had so much to blog about. I can make a feeble attempt to encapsulate all the stuff I initially wanted to blog about, but it's still not the same.

I feel so pathetic; yes, I am a net whore. *sob sob*

ii. something to put a smile on my face
On the brighter side, the Canon people have finally called me up and have informed me that the replacement unit for my Canon IXUS II has finally arrived and can be picked up by Thursday. They're giving me a Canon IXUS 55, I assume because the IXUS II has long been phased out.

I immediately googled it, and yay! Happiness. It's a 5.0 megapix (upgrade from the IXUS II's 3.2), 3.0 cm macro (I dunno if this is better than the IXUS II's since I couldn't find the macro info for that cam), a bigger LCD screen, and MANUAL FOCUSING! Yay!

I can't wait to bento! I can't wait to take Pinky pics. I can't wait to take pics in general! I really should make this the year of the camwhore. I just realized how few pics of myself I have. But then, would I really want to remind myself of how much weight I've gained?

iii. pinky addiction
I'm feeding my pinky addiction with something else, other than just buying pinkies. I am now the owner of gajillions of sculpting material (Premo Sculpey and paper clay) from Volty and Chris (THANKIES!). I've also bought loads of craft tools, like an exacto knife, a cutting mat, a metal ruler---all seemingly cheap until I start adding up the costs.

Oh well. At least it's something to feed creativity, and not something to feed my mouth. ^_^;; No weight gain there, right?

iv. resolutions
I made a lot of new years resolutions. Plus I had a lot of ideas on what to blog about for new years. But frankly they've all slipped my mind. All I remember is that I have to lose weight, and try to save money. Maybe I'll get in the mood to do that resolution / recap post again, maybe I won't. Let's just wait and see.

v. what i've been watching / reading
And because I've been spending less time in front of the computer, I've been watching stuff on TV instead. It's something easier to do now since we bought a TV for the room last December. So my mom and I have a TV each; luckily, I get to watch on the bedroom TV since she prefers watching in the living room so she can do chores while doing so. I like the room TV since I moved the DVD player there. So it's a win-win situation.

So far, I've done a Haruhi Suzumiya marathon, and an Arrested Development one. I love Kyon, I love his seiyuu. I love the 5 main characters of Haruhi Suzumiya, so I'll be getting the complete Pinky set, prolly. I like how I don't have characters I detest or feel ambivalent towards in the series. That's surely a rarity.

Arrested Development I really enjoyed watching. I finished the first two seasons in just a few days plus a weekend. I have a teeny tiny crush on Michael Bluth, I guess. Especially when he's so clueless. Must find season 3. (Which I prolly could find online if only the net weren't so wonky -_-;;)

Oh yeah, and I'm now up to date with Japanese One Piece manga releases. Or well, at least the fan translated ones. FRANKY IS UGLY! Hahahaha. But he's likeable in a way. At least he's really reliable when it comes to battle. I still love Sanji, but what else is new?

vi. saving? who am I kidding?
Considering I've spent a large part of the afternoon shopping for manga. I even bought a couple already, only to cancel the transaction when I realized it wouldn't reach my San Francisco aunt in time for her 4th week of January trip to Manila. Now I'm getting my Texas aunt's address instead so I can buy the books in time for her early February trip.

Plus, I'm prolly buying a few additional toys when my mom buys me her promised Christmas gift of re-ments. Aaaack. Must have more self-control.