In Memory Of Trees

One of my scrapbook graphics.

My fondest of childhood memories were playing in the sun, rolling on plains of grass, climbing trees and frolicking with the tide at the beach on sunset. Nothing could be happier than childhood embraced by nature. Imagine the fun you’ll have when you are entangled in vines on a treetop and waiting until your dad comes home to get you down than sitting at home, watching TV or on your computer.

Taken from my album "Solitude". This picture was taken in Tanghas, Tolosa, Leyte.

I thank God to have blessed me with the happiest childhood that most of the children now do not enjoy.

From my album "Ninoy Aquino Park". Taken at the Ninoy Aquino Parks and Wildlife Center.

People have grown deaf of the cries of nature because their ears only hear the ramblings of their iPods. I am not against technology, as a matter of fact, I embrace it just like any other individual in my generation but technology will not bring nature back on it’s own. People must do it, for we were the ones who exploited it in the first place.

From my album "Riverland Park". Taken at the Marikina Riverland Park.

If you stop reading and think that this might be another one of those sermons to plant trees and recycle, think again. If this is the hundredth or thousandth voice you are hearing about saving nature, why have you not done anything? Are you even listening?

All I ask is plant a single tree to feed you the oxygen you need to live.

From my album "Baybay: A Cool Place Down South".
Taken at Visayas State University, Baybay City, Southern Leyte.

When was the last time you saw a tree? You probably see it all the time but never really looked at it. Let alone count how many there are. So how many are there?

The answer - an estimated 61 trees per person.

Trees burnt after road clearing in Antipolo. From my album "Antipolo at Sundown".

Based on NASA data, in 2005 there were over 400 billion trees on this planet and there's over 6 billion people. Given everything we use trees for, that's a piddling amount. And remember that humans aren’t the only ones using the trees to breathe oxygen from, there are about fifty times as many animals that depend on them for so much more than we actually use them for. Animals depend on trees for food, shelter and air while we live in our high-rise condos and drive our cars.

A tree full of rose apples or "tambis" in  local dialect.
From my album "Baybay: A Cool Place Down South".
Taken at Visayas State University, Baybay City, Southern Leyte.

As you scroll from one photo to another, please run by them again and think about the last time you actually looked at a tree. If it has been a while since you did, it’s about time you wake up and do something before these photos are the only ones we have of what once was a pure soul who brought nothing on this earth but serenity ~TREES.

Idealism

"Idealism increases in direct proportion to one's distance from the problem." 

~ John Galsworthy

From my album, "Colorful Sunsets", taken at the Guadalupe Bridge.

When I was younger, people knew me to be very idealistic. The fact that I said that, I guess, just gives away the idea that I no longer am. 


Idealism comes with a certain age and it doesn't always do a person good. When you set your ideals, it means you have to stick to it to a tee. Sometimes, if the odds are against you, you don't have a choice but to bend your ideals, unfortunately for those who don't, they would usually falter.

From my album, "Colorful Sunsets", taken at my window.

Setting ideals don't come with flexibility. Therefore, it doesn't take into consideration the factors that are out of your control. In fact, if something is not going to happen due to some incontrollable force, we reason out and start our statement with, "Ideally..." or "In a perfect world...". The word perfect and ideal always go together and we have always lived with the notion that nothing is ever perfect.


Setting ideals don't always include other people. Ideals are usually selfish. Well, what's the point of being idealistic if you listen to what others have to say? 

From my album, "Colorful Sunsets", taken at my window.

When you hear about someone messing up his life, you would usually judge the person and say "If I were him, I would've...". You are probably not noticing it but you're being idealistic when you smirk and scoff about it. And you could only go so far as smirking for you will never be that person. And if, for unfortunate reasons, you are met with the same situation, before you know it, you mess it up even more.

From my album, "Colorful Sunsets", taken at my window.

I'm not totally throwing idealism out the window, sometimes we gain respect from people by letting them know we have set ideals and it can also increase our intellectual value, especially in political speeches.


But to each his own. At some point, I guess, we all go through a stage of being idealistic. When you could only laugh at your mistakes and stay calm if things go out of control, it's when you know you've grown out of it.

From my album, "Colorful Sunsets", taken at my window.

Afterall, when you're done with being idealistic, you discover something more realistic and call them --goals.

What I Really Want

When we were young, people would ask us about what we want to be when we grow up. Our answers depended on our parents' coaxing or on what we like watching on TV. Your answers might have been --doctor, teacher, soldier or superhero. Did I guess it right?

This is from my album "Basking In The Sun".

What did I want to be when I was a kid? I can't even remember. My parents never asked me that question nor do I remember anyone asking me. 


But I had very encouraging parents who let me do, pretty much, whatever I wanted. When they saw the potential of me being an artist, they bought me coloring books, watercolors, crayons and left me tons of paper while they were at work and I was left home. My mom didn't even mind scrubbing the walls when I ran out of paper and the walls served as emergency canvass for my artwork. When I started humming tunes and it sounded right, they sent me to study music during school breaks, so I could focus on my god-given talents. And I sung on every school program and joined every school contest. 

One of my works in pencils from last year. 

But did I want all of it? I guess I did. Looking back at how hectic my schedule was as a child, I'd truly think I liked what I was doing. My singing helped me build my confidence. Being on stage and being in tune was already a difficult thing to do, that it opened other opportunities for me, like joining the drama club, the dance club, the art club, the speech club and pretty much everything that tickled my competitiveness.

This is from my album "Basking In The Sun".

When I was growing up and my family moved a lot, all of us in the family had our share of tasks in the house. One of my tasks were cooking. It was something I enjoyed doing. And the more people liked my cooking, the more I did it. I fed the entire neighborhood when I mastered my Chinese noodles recipe.

I have definitely moved on, since I mastered the Chinese noodle recipe to cooking the best Italian.

When people saw what I could do, they all thought I would probably be an artist or a singer or a chef or an actress or a politician or a dancer or ... the list went on and on. But with all these things that I could do, what did I really want to be? I had no idea.

Crafts I learned from Christmas 2010. This is a part of my album "Shabby Chic"

It all started going haywire when I entered college and took up Medical Technology. Who would have ever imagined that? Then people started wondering what I was going to do next. I myself was wondering why I did it. And it took me four years in school, a year in interning in a med. lab. and three months being a hermit to study for the Medical Boards, which I passed and fancied so much, to realize that I did it all for nothing. I didn't want to work in the hospital.


Now I was in a crisis. I didn't know where to go after getting my license as Med. Lab. Scientist. 

This is a part of my album "Shabby Chic"

And after six more years working in an industry, not related to medical science or art, I'm still not in a place where I want to be. And I often find myself wondering what I really want to do. 

This is a part of my album "Shabby Chic"

Last 2008 a very good friend of mine gave me a point and shoot camera as a gift for Christmas. And then I discovered PHOTOGRAPHY.

This is a part of my album "Shabby Chic"

I have had prior exposure to photography. My dad owned a Yashica SLR when I was ten, but I was ordered to stay away from the equipment because it was a gadget my dad was very protective of. And besides, back in the day, you'd spend film roll after film roll to practice photography only to find out the photos were no good after spending for photo processing. So I wasn't so thrilled with photography as much as if you'd put me on stage to sing in front of a huge crowd.

This is a part of my album "Shabby Chic"

But now that I have found \photography, again the same question is asked --Do I want it? Yes I do, ofcourse. It makes me happy and it makes other people happy when they look at my photos.


BUT WHAT DO I REALLY WANT?


I just want to be happy. 

This is a part of my album "Cloud-Watching"

Whatever happened to wanting to be an artist, musician, chef or actress? I have for most of my life been going with the flow, with goals that change after the fulfillment of another. I guess when you get older, you become less adventurous and your wants are reduced to more substantial needs and your sky-high goals are upgraded to the single, most realistic dream of HAPPINESS.

This Concrete Jungle

It's been a long time since my last post. I have been extremely busy in the last couple of months. But today is just like those months when I had nothing to do and I was in between jobs.

It can get very lonely living in the city.
As they say "The city is where lonely people chose to be lonely together."

It's been seven years since I moved to Manila. I never thought I would love life in the city but it seems, at this point, I can't imagine living anywhere else. 

The view from the plane as I head back to Manila from the holidays.

While growing up, I had this image of Manila in my head as dirty, garbage everywhere, people killing each other and all sorts of negative things. But how can you blame a provincial girl who was pretty much stuck with what she sees in the news and stories she hears of unfortunate folks who didn't make it in the big city.

The city is like a big room with many doors.

I can only laugh at how bad my imagination was, knowing that where I live is a total opposite of the typical picture of Manila. Perhaps, I'm lucky, but it's also possible that I worked hard enough to be at a better state. 

The view from my favorite coffee place along Emerald Avenue.

Seven years ago when I decided to move to Manila, you'd probably think it took me years to consider the decision. On the contrary, it was a very quick decision. The first few years were very difficult as I tried to move up in the industry I was working for. Gradually, things became a lot easier (maybe not but I have gotten used to it's difficulty).

The sunset from my window.

At this moment, I am back to what seems to have been a very difficult situation --in between jobs. Job hunting is not very difficult nowadays, since I have packed all the experience and the confidence at what I do. This should be a very depressing state and some people might go rushing home to mama's arms, but nothing and no one can take me away from the habitat I have grown so accustomed with --in this concrete jungle.

The concrete jungle at sunset.