A week before I left for training in the States last December, I went through a foot surgery. And five days after, I got to shoot Jezel’s pictorial for her tarps, invites and signature board.
It’s kinda hard especially when you’re kneeling or on an awkward position but I didn't pay much attention. I just wanted to make my client happy and I’m also preparing my foot for my three weeks travel in a couple of days.
We went to UP Diliman and the weather was just right and sun rays were passing through the trees’ leaves at about 2 in the afternoon. I’ve been there before for a friend’s Prenup but I wanted to explore the place just a little more.
Jezel was fabulous!
Click here to view her album.
Remember my officemate Jake who always calls me "Howie Mandel" on my January post? Well, he still does and asks me to help him cleanup his laptop with applications that’s making it crawl whenever he open any file or program.
And so I did and recommended that he upgrade his RAM to at least 1GB or better 2GB because he only has 512MB. For two days during my free time, I’d work on his machine and uninstall applications that he doesn’t need or seldom used.
After I’m done, he handed me a paper that I cannot agree not to accept because it’s an SI gift. He ask me what I really want to have and I said “Owning a “Thrilla in Manila” SI cover is an important cover for me to have because we Filipinos are just born a devoted boxing fan.
Not only it’s about the greatest boxing icon, the most significant about it is, it was held here in our country and was refereed by a Filipino in Carlos Padilla. Whenever I watch a game or show in Araneta Coliseum, I would pass by the poster of Ali vs. Frazer fight in 1975.
Today, I’ll be counting three more weeks and this important SI cover will be mine. Thanks again Jake!
As I’ve said before, "Someday, I’m gonna paint Spidey’s backboard with a lighter color." Well, guess what, I don’t have to wait any longer. My father-in-law did it for me…
Criticism spread fast in our house on Spidey’s visibility against its background, so I told them that I’m going to repaint it with a lighter one so he’ll be seen even from afar. On Monday while we’re having our dinner, Dad asked me if it’s alright if he’ll be the one to do the painting and I said yes rightaway...
He loves to paint and here’s the result with him shaking hands with Spidey below…
Thanks, Daddy Ben! This is way too cool!
When I was little, Claro M. Recto Street, formerly known as Azcarraga Street used to be my hub. We once lived in the third floor of an apartment in the streets of Soler corner Severino in Quiapo for almost five years and at the end of Severino is CM Recto, the most popular street for students at that time.
Every weekend, my agenda was to scout Recto on movies that accept 11 year-old kid like me. Oftentimes, I got lucky to watch the most interesting movies at that time from Tagalog to foreign movies with movie passes that my mom got from friends. One of these great movies is Steven Spielberg’s “Empire of the Sun” which featured a story of a boy of my age who was caught in the time of World War II.
I remember when I watched this movie, it was a weekend around nine in the morning and the movie houses in Quiapo and Recto are already open. Most of the times, I can see that I’m the only person watching inside the theater but I wasn’t afraid though it was very cold inside. With my small body and just wearing a shirt, a short pants and a pair of sandals makes me fold in my seat until my shirt is stretched enough to cover my whole body while doing an Indian sit on my chair.
Some of the names of the theaters that I was a suki of are Maxim, Tandem and Ever Emporium Cinemas. In the morning, I’d go for early breakfast and if we have extra money, my mom would buy us a hot and delicious pancit together with pandesal from Sandra bakery in Recto. After a heavy breakfast, I’d start my strolling and look for something to do…
I am always alone when I do these adventures, as I always did with my adventures in our barrio in Sorsogon. I explore the river and roam the fields all by myself. I always got the privilege to sing our national anthem more than five times a week, five at school and the others at the theater.
My favorite theater is Tandem, located at the corner of Recto and Severino which is less than a hundred steps from where we lived. On the second floor of the building is a video games arcade so whenever I got extra money, I’d play there. If I don’t have money, I’ll just watch the other kids play. At the ground floor are clothes and shoes stores. At the basement are billiards tables where you'll find college students playing or gambling.
Empire of the Sun introduces me to Spielberg and Christian Bale. So when Batman Begins was shown, I remember Bale as the boy almost same as my age who’s journey in that movie has been a similar path as mine, survival.
In Quiapo, you must be street smart; else, you’ll get into some kind of trouble with bully kids. Good thing for me, I got a bat cave that I can be at peace, a theater…
In 2004, I saw an extraordinary toy in Toy Kingdom at Robinson's Place Manila and it was one of the best Spiderman toy I’ve ever seen locally. It's a bit expensive for my budget so I just let it go...
After a week, I went back to the store and noticed that they are on sale so I hurriedly look for it and guess what; it's on 50% off. So I bought it right away and even share this info to my officemates Tonton and Ryan and they bought it too...
I kept it in the box for years until today, we were cleaning our office area and my former supervisor, Alex, left his Dart board before migrating to the States. It’s an old board but with many memories for him so instead of throwing it, I said I’ll take it. Then suddenly I remember Spidey because I was cleaning my house last weekend and notice that I’ve forgotten to put my collections in a glass cabinet which I originally planned but our house is not that big so I just stack them up.
I’m planning to repaint it with light color and draw a web along the board’s lines but I guess that will take me another more months. I’m too busy right now with work.
It has 67 points of articulation and measured about 18 inches tall from ToyBiz. The colors are great and the best thing about it is that you can really manipulate even the smallest finger’s joint. I wanna share it with you thru the pictures I’ve taken today…
A week before I went to Marshall Islands for a tour-of-duty (TDY) job, I took a week-training on Industrial Security at Bayview Hotel Manila.
On the last day we took an exam to qualify as a Certified Security Professional. The following weekend, we did a security survey and presented it as part of the requirements to be certified by PSIS.
The Philippine Society for Industrial Security (PSIS) used to be the Philippine chapter of ASIS (American Society for Industrial Security) but after years of its reliance, with the extensive growth of locals adhering to security profession and company security needs, PSIS became an independent Institution for security professionals who want to improve their knowledge and skills on vital security concepts but still following the American standards.
The exam is composed of 220 questions, 20 each from 11 security concepts with a passing score of 165 plus the security survey presentation by individuals. Unfortunately, I failed the written exam but my presentation is one of the best score but wasn’t enough to carry my written one. It wasn’t hard for me to accept my failure because my work is primarily on a single concept which is computer security but nonetheless, I learned a lot from this training.
Out of 40 only 15 passed and most of my batchmates already took their retake but I was in Singapore at that time. I’ll be taking mine this August and I hope to pass it this time. I took this training in preparation for CISSP which is my ultimate goal this year and that is different story…
I highly recommend this training for you who are in the security profession or would want to venture in security business. Very interesting topics, expert resource speakers and good food…
Last January 18th, I got the privilege to shoot the wedding of my colleague Jay and his fiancé Jen. Before that we have an outdoor pictorial in Makati for their guest book.
After the pictorial, I started making the layouts and it was fun because the couple loved it and their happy with our shoot…
Congrats, Mr. and Mrs. Jason Juan!
Click here for complete pages.
Click here to view her album. 
