Early this year, G started hinting at a surprise trip and no amount of whining on my part made him spill the beans. He scheduled the surprise for the 2nd week of February, but my lola died so he had to move it to this weekend. Unfortunately for him, I figured out what his surprise was when he gave me the tablet with his email open for easy reading:p

The not-a-surprise-anymore turned out to be a class in basic composition techniques for photography held by the Camera Club of the Philippines Center. It was not something I would have signed up for because I'm not really into photography (although I did have a Project 365 phase a few years back), but hey, a gift's a gift.

The class was conducted by Leo Riingen and consisted of a 2 hour lecture, an actual shoot around Waltermart and then a critique of your photo.

This was the photo I originally wanted to submit because I really liked how these girls were so focused on that drumming game.



But it didn't have the elements discussed by our instructor, and so I went with this one instead and submitted it for the critique:



The dominant element here are the plastic boxes acting as a leading line to the subjects (the man and woman). Then I used the rule of three and took the shot at chest level for a different perspective. I was told that my photo would have been better if I cropped out the plastic bins on the left side since they only added clutter. Kind of like this:



But looking at it now, what if I took the shot a few inches on top of the plastic boxes? That might have created a more dramatic leading line, although the pair would have probably noticed me by then and reported me to the security guard:p

And going back to my first photo, if I crop out the top, there will be less clutter and more focus on my subjects.



Ok, so I'm still not giving in and buying a DSLR anytime soon, but that was such an informative class! It made me look at everything in a different light. I began to look at things differently, examining them as potential subjects and thinking of how to frame them, how the foreground and background will impact my subject etc. It's so much more interesting when there's a thought process involved with your photos.

Thanks Mr. Leo Riingen for the fantastic class!



And thanks Hon for knowing me well enough to know that I would love this, even if I initially didn't think I would :)

*P.S.
The class was just on composition, so my technical skills are still stuck on auto/program mode, although now I know how to change the exposure settings. Yahoo!

Strangeness.

I joined the Court of Appeals Credit Cooperative (CACC) last year and they gave out dividends today. CACC says that dividends are at 17% of the share capital, but what I received was definitely not 17%, try 6.9%.

Admittedly, 6.9% is still so much better than what banks offer (1%?), but if you're only giving out 6.9%, why trumpet 17%? Where did the 10.1% go?

Moreover, when I asked about the computation, the CACC representative had this convoluted explanation about 70% going to something, with only 30% going to something else. Frankly, I didn't get it, but my point is simple, if you say 17% then I'll expect 17% and not 6.9% with some fancy shmancy explanation.

And that's why I'm cashing out my stocks with the CACC, this lack of transparency is troubling.

Anyway, this means I'll finally have funds to start an account with Citisec Online! I've been subscribed to Bo Sanchez' newsletters for the past 3 months, and while the daily Godwhispers warms my heart (promise!), it's the stock market updates and newsletters that make the monthly membership fee worth it.

It's time to start investing in stocks. Nuhks naman.

Personal finance 101: Spend less, save more.

I just had the most amazing lunch today, and it consisted of leftovers from last night's dinner at Galileo Enoteca. Leftover cold cuts and cheese! Aaaaaaahhhhh!!!

Shet. Oink-oink moment na naman.

*****

It's my last week with ***** and while I'm excited with the thought of oodles of free time, I'm actually sad that I'm leaving the team. I've been with the brand for almost 2 years and I saw the fanbase grow 20 fold, but the work load also grew exponentially and I couldn't hack it anymore, or rather, I didn't want to anymore at the expense of QT with G.

So there, goodbye ***** and goodbye my jeje girls, jeje boys and beckies, I will miss all of you.

I was waiting for my dad at my usual spot yesterday when this grubby looking man suddenly showed up at my side with a gold necklace in hand. He said that the necklace was from a foreigner and that he was selling it.

I told him I wasn't interested and scooted away. He wouldn't take the hint and said that he was willing to take Php1,000 for it. When I still said no, he asked how much I had on me but I continued to say no and was looking at the CA guards by this time, hoping that they'd recognize my silent plea for help.

I was totally ignoring him by this point but I panicked when he said something about a laptop while gesturing to the laptop I was carrying. I then raised my voice and shouted "Guard!" while looking towards the CA guards, after which he turned around and walked quickly away, but not before looking back at me and saying "Sobra ka naman".

A part of me thinks I might have overreacted, but you really can't be too safe in the streets of Manila. Next time, I'll wait for my dad right in front of the CA guards. Let's see if that guy will still dare to come near me.

Oh well. Try again :)

1 + 1 might be 2. There's nothing to do now but wait. And cross my fingers. And pray.

Hello Blog,

I haven't forgotten about you, it's just that life has been pretty predictable lately and I don't want to pollute the internet with my overanalyzing and little issues, that's why I haven't been my usual chatty self.

But things are going well for all of us, thank you for asking. Jack-Jack turned 1 year old last week; Mick and Maddie got sick but got better in a few days, while I have had no news about Julia, but I guess no news is good news right?

As for us in the little house, we tried out another laundry service offered by Willie our guy Friday, because I like supporting people who try to rise above poverty (like Angie the buko lady and her kids). But our clothes have come back smelling funky and I've been having the most amazing rashes after wearing our Willie laundered clothes. And Willie no longer returns my calls after I asked him if he could pay our real estate tax, I will pay him for his trouble of course. Do you think he was offended dear Blog?

So that's why we're going back to our old laundryhouse.

Things are also changing rapidly in my office, but that deserves another letter altogether because right now, G's cornbeef is making my mouth water, reminding me that I skipped dinner last night.

See you later!

I remain,

Jill

I received a call from Ate Grace yesterday and it basically went like this:

Ate Grace: Jill, busy ka ba?
Jill: Hindi naman, bakit?
AG: Gusto ko lang sabihin na ang galing nung foot peel na sinabi mo!! Nakalimutan ko na binili pala natin yun tapos nakita ko sa cabinet ko so ginamit ko nung Sunday. Akala ko walang effect kasi 3 araw na wala pa ring nangyayari, tapos ngayon, bigla na lang namamalat na ang paa ko!! As in natanggal yung cracked heels and dead skin!! Kadiri siya, pero ang galing!!!!

And I was just laughing the whole time she was gushing about the foot peel:p

FYI, she was talking about Foot Appeal which I reviewed for Kikay Exchange. Here's the link to the post.

When I told G about Ate Grace's call, he was like: "I don't understand women. Why in the world would you want to peel off the skin on your feet? They're there for a reason, and that's to protect your feet! Ang labo niyo talaga"

To which I responded: "Hello! We buy pretty sandals and paint our toenails, tapos pangit ang paa namin?! Ok ka lang?"

Diba?

Incidentally, my friend Wendy said she found a cheaper alternative to Foot Appeal, so must look into that soon.

Tumpak!

*Thanks to Tricia of Playtime Break for the image.