First Day

June 5, 2007 - Early morning, Santiago suddenly woke up. He opens his eyes he can barely see anything...little by little he sees the silhouette of his bedroom window formed by the moonlight seeping through the white curtain on the window. He starts to think about the first day of school of his eldest kid. He remembered his own first day at school. Every first day of every school year he always have an upset stomach.

Santiago smiles, memories are now rushing in like the water of the river rushing to the sea - memories from his own school days. He now remembers all the friends he gained during that time - from Grade School to High School to College. Santiago tries to go to sleep again but the memories keeps on playing in his mind... - dancing to the tune of "We Built this City"; flag raising and leading the "Panatang Makabayan"; playing basketball (Santiago just scored 1 point courtesy of a free throw); playing sakristan - eating the host/bread once when he and the other sakristans feel hungry; ah…who would forget those summer outings. Santiago calls this group “Skul Bukol “

He now remembers his first day during his first year in high school…section 8! Crap! He thought, am I that dumb? He remembers him asking himself. Only to find out that there are more than 20 sections for first year high. He suddenly remembers his first day of his third year in high school. That year is one special year for Santiago as he found some of his best friends during that school year. Santiago calls this group “Wanbol High”

College days are serious business but Santiago still remembers some good old friends from that time. Some he still got contact but others none at all. All Santiago can remember during college are – frolics (even if they are given some exams by their cost accounting prof during one of the school frolics), Fahrenheit Band, Semestral Exams for major subjects (where the whole class would complain - napakahirap ng exam duduguin ka, para kang tumatae ng cactus again excuse my French…hehehe) drinking spree after semestral exams before going for a semestral break.

Santiago is now thinking if his kid would gain the same good friends he gained from school, friends whom he knows very much that when he reads e-mail messages from those friends he can hear them talking with their signature accent/tone, friends he knows so much that even thousands of miles away he knows what they are feeling when they happen to have a chat via instant messaging or when he reads e-mail messages from them. Then he thought maybe he should stop worrying about his kid, because he will definitely have some good times at school. Now he remembers what his older brother told him about the shotgun approach and the sniper approach of teaching, what would be best for his kid, but that’s another story.

OFW Song

<--eto ang larawan; eto ang kwento-->Last sunday (May 6) i bought something from one of the department stores here in Melbourne. It just so happen that they have a promo if you buy this amount or more you get 1gb sony mp3 player...hmmm a good deal I thought. after that I grab some grocery items for a week supply then have my lunch at my favorite japanese restaurant (?) actually it's not a restaurant, it's like a semi fastfood thing. So ate my lunch then to the batcave/apartment. At the apartment i fiddled with my new mp3 player toy, i know it's not an iPod which is what i want (kasi yan ang uso, pansin nyo karamihan sa pinas may iPod same thing here almost all have iPod), but it's still an mp3 player. After long hours of fiddling with it i finally loaded almost all the songs from my laptop. Just in time to prepare my dinner, after that i had my dinner then sleep. Monday morning - woke up then prepare for the day ahead....before getting out of the apartment i make sure that i got my bag, jacket, keys and of course my new mp3 player with me so i can have some music while going through my usual journey to work (that include a 10-minute walk to the train station, take a train, then transfer to another train, then walk for 5 minutes almost an hour travel time) i just let it played the songs, then one song caught my attention...a good song for an ofw like me i thought. it's a song from westlife (wow boyband) it's not that i have anything against boyband (i know some of you are asking why i have song from westlife in my laptop - i have the answer to that it's a good music for wedding, remember i tried to be a wedding photographer until now still trying)...enough of this story telling...here it is (i didikit dis song to my wayp):

I Wanna Grow Old With You by Westlife (i didikit dis song to my wayp)

Another day
Without your smile
Another day just passes by
But now I know
How much it means
For you to stay
Right here with me

Ref: The time we spent apart will make our love grow stronger
But it hurt so bad I can't take it any longer

Chorus: I wanna grow old with you
I wanna die lying in your arms
I wanna grow old with you
I wanna be looking in your eyes
I wanna be there for you
Sharing everything you do
I wanna grow old with you

A thousand miles between us now
It causes me to wonder how
Our love tonight remains so strong
It makes our risk right all along

Repeat Refrain and Chorus

Fireworks

Last May 4, while I was in the train going to my apartment from work, I was reading that day's edition of the free newspaper Mx (like "Libre" of MRT). I chanced upon the advertisement of Crown Casino for the fireworks display for that night at 7:30pm. I looked at my mobile to see the time, it's about 5:20pm. I run my routine for that night through my head to see if I can make it on time to see the fireworks. My routine includes a transfer to another train to go to the suburb where I live, walk for about ten minutes from the train station to my apartment, prepare dinner, eat, freshen up, gather my equipment, then go to Crown Casino. Realizing that I will not have enough time if I have to prepare my dinner, I just decided to get my dinner from my friendly Thai Restaurant (Smile Thai). That would save me 30 minutes. By the time I finished thinking of my routine train arrived at my stop where I need to catch another train. Train arrives, get in and start thinking of the list of equipment I need for my photoshoot - body, lens, tripod, and remote.

At around 5:55pm the train arrives at my stop, get off the train, then headed to Smile Thai to get my dinner for that night - Green Chilli Chicken. Then I headed to my apartment walking thru Toorak Road then to Murphy Road. Thinking where can I have a good view of that fireworks display while hearing the crackling sound of dried leaves as I walked by. At the apartment, first thing I did is to gather all my dirty clothes throw them in the washing machine. Eat my dinner, freshen up, gather all the equipment I listed above then off I go to Crown Casino.

I arrived at the Toorak train station just in time for the Flinders Street train. While on the train I'm thinking of what lens to use. I brought with me 10-22mm and 24-70mm. Then I thought it will all depend on where I can get a good view/location. Get off at flinders street station walked towards Crown Casino along the Yarra River. When I arrived at my intended place to set up my gear there are already a couple of photographers all ready to fire. I got my equipment and set it up. I set up my exposure settings (aperture - 11, shutter speed - bulb), set my focus to hyperfocal, and attached my remote to my camera. I composed my shot seeing the Crown Casino building and take a couple of shots. I looked at my mobile to check the time and it's about 7:30pm then I heard the countdown 8...7....6...5...4...3...2...1...booom! Crap! My composition will not get the fireworks (see first photo) so I have to recompose my shot - move my framing to the right and make it landscape instead of portrait. So I recompose my shot, looked at the viewfinder and at the right side I can see a light source shining through it's the light from the light post in front of me...I analyze the situation and I said to myself this is better than to get another position, I'll just crop the pictures after I downloaded them to my laptop. Took the first shoot counting 1-elephant 2-elephant 3-elephant 4-elephant 5-elephant. Then take another shot, then another, then another varying my count from 4 to 6 seconds. Then after about 8 minutes of fireworks it's over. I gather my equipment, then decided to see if I can find a better location for next Fridays (May 11) fireworks. Found one but unfortunately I was not able to go there.

Here are some of my shots during the May 4 fireworks display at Crown Casino.