Eternal honeymoon in paradise

Eight o’clock in the morning. That was the time my cousin Raymond was supposed to pick me up at Mercury Drug, Muñoz. Instead of taking the free ride with them to Concepcion, Tarlac, I decided to take the bus instead, mainly because I was too lazy to get up from bed and I just felt like traveling alone.

Five Star travel

Contrary to what I expected, there were relatively few people in the bus terminal last November 1. Perhaps most have already gone to their respective provinces the day before. Also contrary to what I expected, there were no more air-conditioned busses traveling to Dagupan last Thursday. According to one of the drivers, all of the air-conditioned busses were in the provinces; this means that the large volume of people I was expecting to see at the bus terminal has left couple of hours earlier and have taken all of Five Star’s air-conditioned busses. Not wanting to wait long, I bought food for lunch (a bottle of water, 2 Mister Donut twists and a siopao that is more of a mantao because it has more dough than filling) and boarded on the next ordinary fare bus leaving for Dagupan.



I found the travel along the North Luzon Expressway very relaxing. The songs playing on the bus’ radio plus the fresh breeze flowing against my face, while the bus was speeding along the Bulacan and Pampanga countryside, was very soothing. Moreover, the relaxing sensation feels greater the further I get away from Manila. Away from traffic, away from pollution and away from stress that work brings.

Eternal honeymoon

Besides visiting my grandparents’ tomb to show our respect to them during the all soul’s and all saint’s day, we went to Tarlac to commemorate the 40th day of Lola Metring’s passing. From what I understand, this practice of commemorating the 40th day of one’s passing was adopted from the Bible wherein Christ rose 40 days after his death.

All rose early so that we can attend the 6 a.m. mass for our departed lola Metring and lolo Baste. Everyone took turns in using the bathroom. If each of us were given 10 minutes to take a bath it would take almost 3 hours for all of us to take a bath since there were more or less 20 people at the house over the weekend. To avoid waking up early and queuing up for the bathroom, some of my cousins including myself strategize by taking a bath before we slept. By doing this we can sleep longer and we only had to brush our teeth when we woke up. Efficient!


Lolo Baste passed away 2 years ago and I remember clearly that he waited for lola to get to the hospital and to be at her side before he died. Both have waited a long time for them to be re-united. In lola’s passing last September, I am sure both of them are now enjoying each other’s company. They are eternally united and now, they shall be at their eternal honeymoon in paradise.

Finding Nemos

My fascination in the underwater world began on a trip to Plawan when I was still in high school. I am not quite sure if it was my first time to use a mask and snorkel, but it was definitely my first time to swim in pristine waters with diverse and colorful aquatic life. The experience was like watching the Discovery Channel live. Recently, with the generous help of Olympus, I got to share my fascination on the aquatic life to my 3di photo club mates.


Our club got to test the new Olympus 790 in Anilao, Batangas. Why did we have to test it in Anilao? Because the Olympus 790 is a consumer point-and-shoot digital camera that is, dust proof, shock proof, scratch proof and most importantly waterproof. Unlike other digital point-and-shoot cameras available in the market, the Olympus 790 was made to swim with you (up to 10-feet) without the protection of a bulky underwater casing.

We were all briefed on how to use the camera and its features but since pasaway lang talaga ako and prefer hands-on-learning I did not pay much attention to the orientation given by the Olympus representatives. With my minimal knowledge on the camera’s features here are some photos I managed to produce.





The Olympus 790 has several macro features that could have been very helpful in photographing the colorful fishes of Anilao, Batangas. Unfortunately for me, because pasaway nga ako and did not listen to the camera orientation, I only accidentally discovered this feature when I was already being stung by tiny jelly fishes and itching due to sea mites. Meaning, it was at the end of my swim when I was already leaving the water. Grrr…

Thank you Axis Global and Olympus for the opportunity to test the Olympus 790. Looking forward to test the Olympus 795 next time, 40-feet underwater. =)

Let me be your knight in shining armor

Every man at one point of their lives dream of becoming the knight in shining armor or the prince charming of a princess in distress. Especially if the princesses are as hot as these... whew... HOT... i am perspiring now...






Ohh Snowwhite, let me share your apple with you... then let's add and play with some whipped cream... =p Why can't Walt Disney come up with an adult version of these characters? haha. =p

The Luciana collection

They carried us inside their wombs for nine months, taking very good care of their health in order to ensure our healthy development as infants. They have experienced many sleepless nights answering our baby cries in order to feed us, change our diapers and put us to sleep late at night. They have prepared our baons, neatly putting them inside our lunch boxes before going to school and have made sure that our uniforms were well ironed. They have taken good care of us when we are sick, making sure that we drink our medicines on time. They have and would continue to sacrifice on our behalf because we are their most valuable possession. To them, we are the most beautiful, despite violent contradictions from other people, and most priceless beings in this world.

They are our mothers.

It is mother’s day this coming Sunday. It is that day every year where we get the chance to pay our mothers tribute and show them how much we love them and appreciate what they have done, and would do for us.

Here is a simple tribute to one of the special mothers in our family, my grandmother Lucy.




Happy mother’s day to my wonderful mom, my grandmother and to all your great mothers! Happy mother’s day to you! We love you!

Spoilt pocket of Eden

Lying at the foot of Mt. Banahaw is a once pristine waterfall more popularly known as the Majayjay falls. I got the chance to visit the falls for the first time last April 28-29 and the first reaction I had was that the water is very clear. But contrary to my reaction, a mountaineer friend who has been to the place prior its popularity told me that the water was much clearer and much pristine before. It is relatively dirty now. So this made me wonder. If I find the water clean and clear now, then the waterfall and the stream flowing from it must have been like paradise before.


Majayjay falls was unheard to local tourists before and was only frequented by mountaineers that regularly climbed Mt. Banahaw. This was their small hidden paradise. Mt. Banahaw, Luzon’s highest peak is temporarily closed to allow the mountain to rejuvenate. Similar to the beautiful waterfall that lies in its foot, the trails climbing its peak have been spoilt due to the constant large number of mountaineers climbing it. Taytay falls, which is another name referring to Majayjay falls, was kept from most people until a sports television show featured it in one of their episodes.


Mountaineers bear a creed of leaving nothing but foot marks and taking nothing but pictures. This is an informal creed they all follow that aims to maintain and preserve the places they explore and in general, the environment. What is unfortunate in the case of Majayjay falls is that the new groups of local tourists that visit it during weekends do not practice this. They are uneducated and unaware of the consequences of leaving their trash there. During our visit, we encountered empty bottles of alcohol beside the stream and plastic bottles floating on the stream that were used as toys by children swimming in the ice-cold water. Others on the other hand were bathing in the stream using soaps and shampoo, which could likewise harm and pollute the water due to the chemical components of the soap they are using.


Indeed there is now an environmental fee before one can enter the vicinity of the falls. The fee is to give financial compensation for those who clean up the place after the tourists have left. But this should not be the case. Tourists should have an initiative to clean up the place and bring all the refuse from their stay with them as they leave. Doing this manifests a simple gesture that they, we, all care for our environment and would want it to share to future generations so that they may also enjoy its beauty as we did.

B&B captured in film

I have 2 rolls of negatives recently scanned and would just want to share some of my favorites from these batch of scanned negatives. Photos were taken in Bicol and Baguio.


A fellow i saw on top of the Cagsaua bell tower


In front of the Baguio water district office


A group of students accompanying their teacher in visiting her relative in an evacuation center in Bicol


Ass smelling


Avoiding his bills


This was a residential area before the mudslide

Photos by Adam Dominic

What if God was one of us

“If God had a name what would it be?
And would you call it to his face?
If you were faced with him in all his glory
What would you ask if you had just one question?

Yeah, Yeah, God is great
Yeah, Yeah, God is good
Yeah Yeah yeah yeah yeah

What if God was one of us?
Just a slob like one of us
Just a stranger on the bus
Trying to make his way home

If God had a face
What would it look like?
And would you want to see
If seeing meant that you would have to believe
In things like heaven and Jesus and the saints
And all the Prophets

Yeah Yeah God is great
Yeah Yeah God is good
Yeah Yeah yeah yeah yeah

What if God was one of us?
Just a slob like one of us
Just a stranger on the bus
Trying to make his way home
Just trying to make his way home
Back up to Heaven all alone
Nobody callin' on the phone
Except for the Pope maybe in Rome”

But what if God had a car what would it be?
Well, I am definite that one of them would be a Toyota Fortuner… =p