Archive for the year 2009
Speaking of Concerts
Posted on August 22, 2009 by Ching under Flickr.
Scott shared a picture of his daughter Sydney with me the other day. What’s cool about this picture is that he found it on Flickr completely by chance, simply by searching for “Green Day” photos.
Scott wrote:
Sydney went to see Green Day in KC last week (18th birthday present). They got there early and drove by the venue so they would know where it was and who did they see walking down the street? Billy Joe himself. She went nuts, jumped out of the car and got to meet him and shake his hand. She told me she ended up right at the stage for the show, so over the weekend I did a search of Flickr for “Green Day” thinking she might have ended up in someone’s picture and I couldn’t believe my luck.
Isn’t that just neat?
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Tanlines Fade but Pictures are Forever
Posted on August 22, 2009 by Ching under Health.
Well, at least that’s true for digital pictures anyway. Unless your hard-drive crashes.. which is why I store all my pictures on Flickr.
Anyhow, this tanline (which makes it look like I’m wearing thigh-high socks) was the result of spending all day at the Midwest Rockfest last Saturday. It was more pronounced (and more red) a few days back. Apparently, brown (or yellow) people like me burn too if out in the sun for too long. I always thought being immune to the Kansas sun was one of the perks of being exotic. After last Saturday, I discovered the limits of my immunity: about 4 hours.
Brian had insisted on putting sunblock on. I helped him apply some on his body, but I was stubborn and refused to put some on myself. I’d never burned before. I usually just get darker after a considerable amount of time under the sun. I figured I could do without sunblock, specially since I wanted to get darker anyway.
Later that evening, even though the temperature had cooled down a lot, my skin still felt hot. It wasn’t as hot as it was in the afternoon when it felt like you could fry an egg on me, but my skin still felt really hot. When we got home, we slathered some blue aloe gel stuff on me to cool me down. The next day, however, my skin was still red and warm to the touch. The telltale signs of being sunburnt.
By Monday, my skin had turned from red to brown. I skipped the whole peeling phase. At least, that was nice. I hate it when your skin starts peeling after a sunburn because you inevitably leave skin flakes everywhere you go.
Anyway, I learned an important lesson last weekend. I learned that just like normal people, I will burn too if out in the sun for too long. I just have a higher threshold than others. Brian can last about 15 to 30 minutes, while I could go up to 4 hours. After that, though, there better be sunblock around otherwise I’ll be red for a couple of days. I know now not to push the limits of my sun immunity.
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In Memory of Papa Osing
Posted on August 20, 2009 by Ching under Family.
Dad created this video slideshow before he left for the Philippines.
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The End of an Era
Posted on August 18, 2009 by Ching under Family.
I found out about my grandfather’s passing via Twitter.
I am more shocked about the means by which I found out, than Papa Osing’s passing. After all, it is the natural course of things. We are born, we get old, and we die. The life cycle is as predictable as it is certain. But to find out through a tweet. Wow.
My mother didn’t call me on my cellphone, nor did she call me at work. I found when I checked my text messages on the way home. Before you guys freak out, Brian was driving (as always) so it’s not like I was texting and driving.
In mom’s defense, she knows I don’t like taking personal calls at work (unless, of course, it’s urgent). I’m a bit of a workaholic. Even Brian knows not to bother me when I’m at work. When he calls me, he knows he has 30 seconds (at most).
My cellphone is always on silent, so it’s not the best way to reach me. It might get turned on briefly at lunch, but it otherwise goes unnoticed inside my purse as the day progresses.
This news, urgent or otherwise, might have qualified for an actual phone call. It’s not like I could do anything, but it might have been nice to know before the rest of the world did. Then again, I probably wouldn’t have been available to take the call anyhow. Perhaps a tweet or text was best.
Papa Osing’s passing marks the end of an era. It marks the end of a more conservative way of life and the end of old-fashioned communication.
Dad is flying to the Philippines this Thursday to the tune of $2500. That’s what happens when you have to fly across the globe on such short notice. Too bad transportation hasn’t advanced as quickly as communication. Teleportation would come in handy right about now.
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Brian and Wild Animals
Posted on August 16, 2009 by Ching under Tips, Travel.
Brian was looking up all of these animals indigenous to the Philippines on the web. He’s making me check this out or that out. It’s funny hearing him say bayawak and Palawan because he kept accenting the wrong syllables. I had to keep correcting him. I think if I can get him to accent the right syllables, blending in when we visit in October will be cinch. But I digress…
I finally had to ask him what he was doing. He goes, “I’m studying all of the animals in the Philippines. I want to be informed to make sure I don’t get eaten by anything.”
I’m like, “Baby! You shouldn’t worry about the animals. If there’s anything you need to worry about, it’s the crazy people.” Then again, there’s crazy people everywhere. So nothing special to worry about, I guess. LOL.
P.S. When traveling to new places, it is generally a good idea to do your research. I really hope he doesn’t come across the aswang pages and web sites on the internet, otherwise he will be really freaked out. Bwa ha ha ha ha ha!
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