Sunday, January 27, 2008

I LOVE MY iMAC


I'm gonna miss using my iMac, well at least just for a month.

I'll be leaving Abu Dhabi for my annual vacation this February and I have to settle with my old laptop in Manila. An Acer notebook running Windows XP with an AMD Athlon processor, (o ha sa'n ka pa?) But in fairness, my laptop had its share of glorious days with me. From planning our wedding in Manila to my wife's application and eventually passing the NCLEX examination in Hong Kong up to our regular communication while we are worlds apart. Suffice it to say, it had served its master well.

My other slave is this iMac I have in the office with a ferocious beast (Tiger OS) in its system. We haven't upgraded to Leopard yet because its MidEast version was just released recently. Even so, this beast is freaking enough for all my Graphic Apps it hadn't given me trouble ever since I laid my hand on it leash, and it's not even G5. Although we have to upgrade the memory to 2GB to release its full power, but other than that it works fast and so furious. I am not a tech geek, but what I know is that I've been using this for several months now without worrying about any technical errors. Uuum, I love to say, "My wish is its command."

Does that mean I prefer Mac OS than Windows?
Hell, yeah!!!

Thursday, January 24, 2008

Viola Creative Department

Hindi ko alam kung matutuwa akong sabihin na dito sa buong ahensya namin which is composed of five departments and around 75 employees, eh ako lang ang Pinoy.

I feel alone and isolated most of the time, pero sa isang taon ko mahigit dito, I get the hang of it somehow. It's a lonely world out here, really. Kung hindi lang ako well-compensated baka hindi rin ako nagtagal dito. Isa pa pala, I'm the only non-Arabic in our Creative Department, can you dig it? Kapag nag-usap sila, sila lang ang nagkakaintindihan. What I do is just... smile, (ngiti Myke, kunwari naintindihan mo.)

Well, somehow I haven't felt disrespected naman, and that's another consolation sa subexistence ko rito. :D

It's easy to spot me in this picture, or whenever I'm hanging out with the gang. Naka-red kasi ako eh. :)


MESSI'S BACK

The second best football player in the world is back after being laid-off for more than a month. Akala ko hindi na makakabalik, I almost re-pledged my allegiance with Manchester United. Hahaha, buking ako! Naging Man U fan din ako. But until now, I am still a fan of Cristiano Ronaldo, for the main reason that he is a devout Christian. 



However, for a reason I stated on my earlier entry, I am still and have always been a Barca fan. I love my roots, so even if Paulino Alcantara is long gone, it still is an honor for us Filipinos to have had someone historically prominent in this great team.

Lionel Messi, completes the Barca triumvirate of Ronaldinho, Henry and him, Messi and this what makes this team formidable. Messi's presence in any game adds intimidation against the opposing team. Just like what they did with Racing during their last match. Anytime, this Argentinian can shoot and produce goals. No wonder he belongs to the top scorers of the league.

And now that he's back they are definitely out in their best fighting form, ...again.

Thursday, January 17, 2008

Planet Pantheon

This is the first time I am posting pages for Planet Pantheon, the graphic novel I am doing with an American Indie Publisher and these are some random pages from the first issue. This has been the only comics project I am doing full time for months now aside of course from the ones I’m doing with our agency. I got several offers of illustration job from other indies but I already fell in love with this story and to not translate it visually would definitely be a major mistake for me.


Our creative team is very confident of landing this to one of the major publishers in the States and go to print this year, it’s just a matter, I believe, of chances and proper timing.



Bora in Black & White

My wife and I took these pictures on our Boracay honeymoon more than a year ago. I made these pictures black and white to be part of my selected black and white photo collection. Taken with an ordinary 3.2 megapixel Nikon Coolpix 3700 compact digital camera my wife bought during our stay in Dubai, I retouched these images with Photoshop using different filters. NO cropping done.








Tuesday, January 15, 2008

I'm a C-Traveller

This is interesting...

I've been to almost both ends of the country from the North - Claveria, Cagayan (hometown of my Dad, farther than Aparri) and down South to Basilan, Mindanao, but I feel I haven't travelled the Philippines at all after I tried out this survey. What's more funny, and it was only now I recalled, is that i've already been to two places in the country named Isabela. Isabela Province, in Luzon and Isabela City, waaaaay down there in Basilan.

This February, me and my wife will be going to the province of Bohol in Central Visayas for our annual vacation, via Tagbilaran City. This will be our second trip in the region after Boracay, Aklan (Western Visayas) more than a year ago. So I think that would add up another point at my rating. Well, maybe... or as long as I keep this survey in my blog so as to encourage myself to travel round the country more. Or..., as long as my wife travels with me.

(Btw, Kudos to Eugene Villar for making this awesome and inspiring site)


My Lakbayan grade is C!

How much of the Philippines have you visited? Find out at Lakbayan!

Created by Eugene Villar.