Life in MegaPixels

Eversince I saw this photo by Yoo Chung on Wikipedia, it has never escaped my dreams to visit Santorini, Greece someday.

Look at how beautiful and picturesque this town is.  Just by looking at this photograph, I can already feel the excitement of living on the crater of an active volcano!

A few days back, I watched a documentary about Santorini, Greece, that somehow links it with the events, as written in the Exodus.  What really got me interested to watch it was the fact that two of my best buds, Te and Daddy Ken, were discussing it over coffee on Friday night and it piqued my interest to know that this particular craterville may actually be the seat of civilization during ancient times!

Don’t get me wrong, I’m no freak trying to rationalize what is written in the bible.  I don’t really want to believe that science could explain what have been written in the Bible, for the very same reason my friend Terence has — I don’t want to deal with the fact that my great great great great grandpa is a monkey! I mean, how can you live with that?!?

However, I am truly in love with this place.  To be able to visit Santorini someday is really a dream come true for me.  Just by looking at the photo, I can already picture what a relaxing afternoon it would be, sipping tea in one of the coffeeshops, overlooking the placid lake/lagoon/caldera, while the sun is about to set! What a beautiful sight to see the sunset, it’s beautiful colors forming a sea of reflection against the waters below.

Anyway, back to the topic. The documentary actually touches on some truths in the Bible and some explanation to the parting of the Red Sea, which is essentially linked a volcanic eruption in Santorini. It says that a tsunami may have actually caused the water to rise up, allowing people to cross. Some 3500 years ago, there was a recorded eruption in this island that was believed to have been the biggest one on Earth in the last few thousand years.  The rediscovery of this violent eruption spawned some plausible connection to Santorini’s role in the Exodus.

So if you were to judge, would you or would you not believe it?

I was invited by my friend Lia to do a photoshoot with her class at the La Salle College International in Salcedo Village. Coming from a hectic month of travelling to Japan and China, and to Cagayan de Oro the week after, I decided to cap the year with a shoot. So I said yes, and we agreed on the timing. One of the concepts that I really liked is Adam & Even, because of the simplicity and sensuality that came with it.

Please click on the photo to view more

Summer is here! The scorching heat of the sun is enough to keep me all locked up in my room with the airconditioner turned on like there’s no tomorrow. Don’t get me wrong, I love the sun, and I love getting a tan. What I don’t like is getting all sweaty and roasted under it. My hair becomes limp and dry, and my skin all red and burned, and my finer and toenails all dried up.

Luckily, I rekindled my passion for gaming. And I found a brand new addiction to online bingo! I never liked playing bingo in the malls, just because I find it boring. Don’t get me wrong, I like bingo games, but just not those ones you see in the malls. The one thing I find really cute about party bingo, aside from the fact that it has an overall pink theme, is that the designs are so well integrated and the bonuses that they give out are so extravagant. The colors are so easy on the eyes and so lively that you forget the sun is blazing hot outside!

I’m also looking at getting myself a Wii and play guitar hero all summer long… but maybe not so soon!

I will finally have the opportunity to catch up with my girlfriends this weekend. After living in a hell hole for most of last year, it’s a welcome relief to be able to host friends again in my new casa. Time to breathe fresh air!

Ria and I bonded last weekend… for which Donna had a fit when she found out — Sorry for not inviting! I thought you’re already in New York, Dr. Cruz! Anyway, I’m so looking forward to Saturday — time to catch up with the girls.

It’s gonna be a busy weekend for me. I hope I could sneak sometime to replace the fuse box and headlights, and fix my aircon too! That’s on top of my dental appointment very early on Saturday morning!

It is a difficult task looking for poker sites that work well with a Mac. Luckily, I found this great online resource that hosts an interesting line up of online poker sites for the Mac lovers – Mac Poker! Online poker for the mac gamers is truly an excellent idea, and it saves a lot of time for the Mac users from having to look for that one perfect poker site.

It also serves up links to top Mac Poker Sites such as Pacific Poker, Party Poker and Full Tilt Poker. It also showcases PokerStars, one of the best and easiest to navigate poker rooms. To top it all off, Mac Poker Online offers extremely generous Online Casino Bonuses.

So what are you waiting for… Let’s Mac Poker now!

Eversince I moved in to my new house, I have been working on redecorating the living room, making sure I put the right colors of drapes in my windows, in such a way that it will add character to the place, while making it as cozy and homey as possible. I found an old canvass I bought in the UK, which I’m planning to frame and post in one of the walls, where my yellow light is tilted to hit.

As always, my house is painted white. I love white interiors, as it makes the house appear bigger and wider. I got maroonish red Thai Silk drapes from SM that looked so nice on my living room. I also got matching orange Thai Silk drapes and sheets for my room. Summer is here, and I was bright striking colors as much as possible.

Now that I’m done with the drapes, I’m looking to get new lamps to give the house some character. In the living room, I intend to get me one of those funky floor lamps, to replace my old one. For my room, there’s a really nice desk lamp that I saw at Farrey’s that I would really love to have. Maybe one of these days I can look around for lamps and lampshades to accentuate the house.

Eversince I got my car back from Terence’s Body Build and Paint shop, it has been a series of expenses starting from the tint job, tune up, spark plugs replacement, small fixes here and there. Until finally I had it in good running condition. Total Damage = P25k. I saved about 10-15k total from the repairs, thanks to Terence!!!Until last Wednesday night when the car won’t start and I was 4 floors down the building in my lonesome! Luckily, I have an officemate who helped me fix some loose connections. I plan to go to Evangelista or Pasay one of these days to have it checked and replace the headlights. Estimated expense = P3k.My next goal is to have my car buffed or detailed. Estimated cost = P2k.And finally, renewal is up in the next couple of months. I hope it will go through in a breeze, but knowing government offices here, I highly doubt it. Car registrations is such a tiring process in Manila. Estimated cost plus insurance = P5kI’m also toying with the idea of getting me one of those special private plates to avoid the color coding, but I’m still thinking about it. I’ve been visiting this online site where you can transact car registrations and purchase one of those vanity private plates. I wish we had one of these in the Philippines. The site is so easy to navigate and anyone who is not computer savvy could easily find their way around the site, to get what they need. I checked for my name RHEA and I could only wish I could by the R777 HEA plate. Isn’t it so cute?!?

Finally, I will take a much much needed rest after working my ass off the last couple of weeks. Yeah, corporate life sucks big time but it does have it’s perks… like a day or 2 on sabbatical on the beach on the company’s pocket. Not bad, huh? Well, it’s not so big like an offsite for the whole team in Bora, but at least there’s something to look forward to… And I’m a teeny bit excited about it. I packed my game of Taboo! already… and a big stash of ruffles to munch on while I lie down in the sand in Sepoc beach. I can’t wait to get a tan!!! Anywhere near salty water works for me!

I will try to take pictures. But don’t count on it. I’m just too damn lazy to post em all here. check my flickr… I just might!

Life has been a mix of sprints and marathons for me lately. There are days when I barely get a shut eye from doing so many things, both professional and personal, while there are days when work slows down a bit and I get to do what I love best – sleep! Yes, I am sleep deprived and I admit it’s starting to take its toll on me lately.

Today was exceptionally quiet. I had a surge of meetings early in the day (by early, I mean 10AM), but by 6PM, I was surprised to actually see a clean evening on my calendar! Wow… one of those days when I’m actually lucky (unless I missed a meeting which I should have attended because the reminder went down with my hard disk when it crashed last week. whooooops! I hope not.

In any case, talk about slow days. Today, I finally managed to do things I should have done a long time ago. I reconnected with myself today. After finishing off my remaining task for the evening, which was to do my long overdue grocery shopping, I lay in bed recalling and reliving my trip to London.

I tried to create a photo blog about my travels before, but I never came around to completing the project. Work got in the way as usual, and being the obedient stephen covey disciple that I am, I follow the “first things first” motto. Unfortunately, blogging is in the important but not urgent quadrant, while work usually comes in the urgent and important one.

Today, I reminisce about that journey. Shopping and travel was bliss, but independence? It was totally priceless! At 23 and being alone in a foreign country was a totally awesome experience that I won’t trade for anything… and most especially the fact that I was there on somebody else’s dime was more what I could ask for.

I wish I could go back to London again, anytime this year. If God hears my plea, I already know how my itinerary looks – and for sure it will be hectic!!! Let’s see… First stop would definitely be Heathrow. London flights usually land in the evening, so I’ll probably take the night off at one of these Cheap London hotels, somewhere around the Victoria and Earl’s Court area… where you can actually sing in a Karaoke Bar and sing Filipino songs while drinking San Miguel Beer! Yes, this is one of the places where Pinoys meet and greet… so suddenly it feels like home.

I’ve never got the chance to visit Edinburgh during my last trip, so I’d probably try going there as well. While searching the net, I found this magnificent modern hotel that resembles an old European Castle. You might find me silly for choosing to stay in a modern building and miss the thrill and excitement of living in a real castle that’s converted into a bed and breakfast… but personally, I would go for convenience over risking to have close encounters with the third kind, if you know what I mean. So definitely, Cheap Edinburgh Hotels is a top choice.

One of my biggest regrets was actually that of losing the time to ever go on a castle trip to Leeds. I’ve been reading up about Cheap Leeds Hotels, plane/train tickets and amazing sites .. and it was just a pity that I never got the chance to jump on a train to be in awe of one of the UK’s best kept secret!

Among other places in the UK, I’ve also wanted to go to Birmingham. I don’t really know what’s in there to explore but I do have a friend who lives there, so that is probably one of the places that’s worth a trip. And hey, since this is going to be on my expense… prepare to see CHEAP written all over… so again, it will definitely be another one of those Cheap Birmingham Hotels on my list… unless of course my dear friend offers me a place to stay. *wink* *wink*

Since I was there on a winter, I would like to actually experience what it’s like to be there on a summer. I’m a sucker for beaches and I would definitely love to visit on of UK’s most popular seaside destination. I’ve seen some cheap Blackpool hotels online, so I can choose to just leave my stuff there and spend all my days by the beach with a good book. My colleagues used to tell me they had pretty long days and short nights… so that should give me plenty of time to curl up with a good book. It will probably be a challenge to get a tan… but I guess I’ll just have to live with it!

Ok… before I go on and on with my day dreaming… I gotta snap back to reality and get some real shut eye… who knows, maybe when I wake up, I get a plane ticket to the UK for a long term assignment!!! Yeah right!!!

Call me!