blue skies
It’s very limited to have a sunny day in June. That’s why I can’t help myself take photo on those royal blue skies! I can just stare at them all day as each clouds passed by. They’re just simply too beautiful to look at.. they make me feel happy and grateful that we’re living with this kind of nature.
Dark clouds may with hold the blue skies but the heavenly light may shine down on those bravest men who pierce the dark clouds — Gentatsu Takatsuki, Samurai X: Requiem for Ishin Patriots.
I’m a Photoshop guru wannabe
I’m amazed on how powerful Adobe Photoshop can be. You can manipulate every inch or every pixel of a photo in any way you can, or even create an image as realistic or surreal you want it to be. I don’t have proper training to be professional on Photoshop but I believe you’re free to do whatever or however you use a tool in Photoshop as far as your imagination can go.. No rules, just do it your way.
So as an aspiring-trying-hard-photoshopper, I made Photoshop How To’s tutorials to share what I know and just for keeps on my part so I can remember how I have done them. I was so excited when tutorialized.com approved them; and I got more excited to see it on their page while the hits keep on rising up!
I am so flabbergasted! My page is now googable! (you can search Picture Border and Action Palette on Google, and you will see a link to my page.. isn’t it cool?).
Birthday at the park
Aside from eating a birthday cake, I wanted to celebrate my birthday on a different approach.. No, I’m not bungee jumping.. We just decided to celebrate it on a different place. So, I thought that a stroll at a park is a nice idea..
I thought that nature would relieve stress, but I never thought that the day will turn out so stressful — that is because we never get tired to strike a pose on every part of the park. It was indeed so stressful to take these crazy beautiful pictures, and yet we had so much fun.
My favorite shot is this magnificent tree.. I called it WinXP Tree ‘coz it reminded me of a wallpaper on XP.
And so we saw it, we came to it, and we conquered it!
You will also get to see a swamp, pond, the dam (of course), trees, trees, and more trees! To get to know more about the park, please visit www.lamesaecopark.com
Trivia: Did you know that I share my birthday with Rizal? Luckily, my parents didn’t name me Rizalina. But unluckily, did you know that it always rain on my birthday? Though, we were fortunate enough that the rain stopped when we’re already at the park — thus, it brought too much smell of the earth. They said that a rainbow always appear after the rain, it did not.. but it could have been such a birthday treat to see a rainbow on that day!
Brought to you by:
Happy Father’s Day!
I guess it isn’t fair not to blog about Father’s Day since I have one for Mother’s Day.. And also because I considered my Father as one of the most important person in my life (oh didn’t I say that to my mama on Mother’s Day.. hehehe). Well, they both are.
I had a song as a tribute to moms, but a song might be too cheesy for a dad. I’m sure they’ll appreciate beer more.. So here’s a TOAST to my kuya who is now a responsible dad to his adorable son; and of course to my papa whom I am so grateful to have as my father for taking good care of me (and for always preparing hot water for my bath and for cooking me a perfect sunny side up egg whenever I’m too lazy to get up to work); and to all the fathers out there who are responsible enough to acknowledge themselves as a father.. Cheers 
Sandals Galore!
I love my strappy sandals!
But my all time favorite is my toe-ring sandals!
I just watched.. Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
I just watched Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian and was very impressed with the special effects (as I was with the previous film – The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe). What I liked about the first film was the battle between the Witch and the Narnians. I was amazed on how they created the Lion, minotaurs, centaurs, gryphons do the battle on broad daylight. And so I anticipated another battle on Prince Caspian, but I wasn’t expecting for the TREES TO COME ALIVE and do the battle!
Battle on The Lion, The With, and the Wardrobe (left); and Battle on Prince Caspian (right)
I was also surprised on the reappearance of the Witch. I’m glad that they have included that scene but the film could have reach its grandiose if they have let her come out of the ice
I was also entertained on how the flower petals enchantedly form as a nymph; and on how the river god helped the Narnians. Well, I wish that whoever made these scenes should be the one to create the live-action film of God of War.. Oh I can’t wait for this game to be on film. Look how they seem to have the same ambience..
In-game scene in God of War (left); Scene on Prince Caspian
and check how can a minotaur be on live-action..
Minotaur in God of War (left); Minotaur in Prince Caspian (right)
True love
I attended a wedding to witness true love..
True love is your soul’s recognition of its counterpoint in another — John Beckwith, Wedding Crashers.
Eewww.. too mushy! Probably I would come to appreciate it if I would be the one to tie the knot. But I would have to worry about finding my soul’s counterpoint after say.. the next 10,000 years. Anyways, I came to that wedding as a bridesmaid (a not so responsible bridesmaid) and have my own bouquet. So I didn’t bother catching the bride’s bouquet.. maybe next time.. hehehe.
On the side line, I got my nails done – look at ‘em, they’re french!
I just watched.. Forbidden Kingdom
I just watched Forbidden Kingdom because of my interest in the Chinese epic Journey to the West. This epic tells the story of a journey of four monks (Tripitaka or Xuánzàng, the monkey king or S?n Wùk?ng, the pig or Zh? B?jiè, and Sh? Wùjìng). They journey to the west to find sutras to bring peace back to the east.
I’ve seen before a tagalized TV series The Adventures of Super Monkey on QTV that is based on this epic. The story and the cast were very similar to the epic but less serious and wholesomely funny.
I’ve also watched Gensomaden Saiyuki which is an anime that is also based on Journey to the West. However, the creators made the characters a bit modern and cool. They play cards, smoke cigars, ride a jeep, and use guns as a weapon.
Tripitaka or Xuánzàng – Genjo Sanzo (the priest)
S?n Wùk?ng – Son Goku (the monkey king)
Zh? B?jiè – Cho Hakkai (the demon slayer)
Sh? Wùjìng – Sha Gojyo (the half demon)
As I tried to collect information on Saiyuki, I found out that the famous Dragon Ball is also based on the epic Journey to the West. It does figures.. with the monkey tail and the staff of Goku, and the quest for collecting the seven dragon balls, it all relates to the epic.
Goku – Son Goku
Bulma – Sanzo
Oolong – Cho Hakkai
Yamcha – Sha Gojyo
However, I’m a little disappointed on Forbidden Kingdom because the story is a bit cliche — it’s a story where a low-profile protagonist turns out to be the “chosen one”. If not for the amazing kung fu moves of Jakie Chan and Jet Li, and with the interesting hair of the white-haired demoness that she uses as a whip, I would be bored on this movie.
But in fairness to Jet Li, he really protrayed monkey king very well; and as to Jackie Chan, I didn’t recognized him as the old hop until the credits rolled – nice acting!
On the other hand, sorry to say but I found Jason Tripitikas trying so hard to be Shia LaBeouf in Transformers. And as for Golden Sparrow, instead of being a drama queen, she should have smiled all through out the film because she indeed have a very beautiful smile.
green green grass of home
They left me the responsibility of cutting the grass. I guess because the work is very tedious and could make your back and fingers ache.. Not only do I have to cut them, but also need to take out the weeds. It’s a very hard work but I like doing it.
It turns out to be a stress reliever activity somehow. Probably because of the chirping birds, the soft rays of the early sun, and the smell of the poignant fresh cut grass.. I have my world on my own while cutting grass.. it just made me so autistic!
Pesto Presto
We went to Pan de Manila to purchase bread (of course) for breakfast. What I purchased was this Pesto Cheese Bread. What it’s like? — it’s soft, has a sticky cheese inside, and with a kick of savory basil herb.. And what about the taste? .. uuhmm.. interesting, I guess.
So what I did the next day is make my own Pesto Cheese Bread. All I did was spread butter, top it with grated parmesan cheese and dried basil, toast it, and voila! My very own Pesto Cheese Bread, and I think it’s more tastier and yummier than what I bought!
