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Wednesday 19 February 2014

Wednesday Playlist


With so many things going on in my head and all around me right now, drowning myself in music seems like the perfect escape from reality, and somehow, it's true. However, once the music stops, I'm shuttled back to the painful present I'm faced with. 

Anyhow, I want to share with you these tracks I've been endlessly playing lately. I hope you'll like them just as I do...



Girls Chase Boys by Ingrid Michaelson


Forgetting by David Gray


Holes Inside by Joe Brooks


We're On Our Way by Radical Face


Walk Beside You by Celeste Buckingham


***Print pictured above available at: Benton Park Prints


Andz

Thursday 13 February 2014

Remembering My Dear Papaze

It's a new morning, and you wake up. For about a few seconds, you want to believe that everything's fine until the dreaded sadness flows into your senses, and you realise that everything that happened last night wasn't just a bad dream. 


-from my 6 February, 2014 journal entry (revised)


***

It's been a really difficult week for me and my family. My dearest Papaze passed away last Wednesday in Singapore, the 5th of February. 

Sudden, unbelievable, and painful. I don't know how to describe it. I just lost my favourite uncle. Moreover, my aunt lost her one and only true love, and my cousin lost his father. It's a family tragedy that nobody saw coming.

Having bawled my eyes out over the past week, I'm certainly not in the mood to cry again, even if I want to. I have to be strong for my aunt and my cousin. They need all the support they could get right now, and me breaking down wouldn't help them at all.

So let me just tell you about the Papaze I know.

Well, he’s crazy

He’s crazy-funny. No joke of his ever goes un-laughed at that he could turn even the greyest day into a brighter one with his sense of humour. He’s just always this happy person with a very infectious smile. His funny personality is one that nobody will ever forget about him.

He’s crazy-talented. He’s a dancer (the 80’s hip-hop kind), a basketball player (he’ll damn outplay you!), a kick-ass architect (oh, God, he’d spend hours and hours in front of his computer that shows nothing but colourful lines), an awesome artist (our walls at home are plastered with his framed paintings), a great chef (damn, I’ll really miss his sisig, peppery nilaga, and arroz caldo!), an incredibly skilled photographer (the reason why he’s missing in most family photos is because he’s always behind the lens!), and whatnot! If you know him, it would be very hard to say that you’re not a fan of him.

Most of all, he’s crazy-in-love with my aunt. His love for my aunt is one rare human phenomenon, and their love story is the kind that you’d want to have for yourself. High school sweethearts, who dated for 11 years before finally tying the knot. 

They’re simply destined for each other! In other words, they are soulmates. Today – the 13th of February – is actually the day my aunt said yes to him when he courted her to be his girlfriend, making their relationship a solid 30 years.

There are about a million other great things about Papaze and a simple blog post like this will never be enough for all of them. But if there’s one thing that I will always be thankful to him for, it would be how he loved me as though I were his own niece, even if we’re not at all related by blood (he’s the husband of my mum’s sister), and that’s the reason why I don’t call him “tito” (uncle), but “Papaze” (Papa + the first syllable of his name, Zeus), because he's a second father to me.

Now that he’s gone, I have one big promise to him: that I will be the best ate to his son, and the best niece to his wife. I will always be there whenever they need me, and I will always –always – love them.

That's my dad, Papaze, and Mamanet with me when I was just a few
months old.

This photo was taken on my cousin's first birthday, and is definitely one of
my favourites. That's my dad carrying my cousin with Papaze carrying a
little me with an awkward smile. Haha!

The ONLY family photo we have.

Our  spontaneous Boracay holiday is probably my favourite family getaway.

During our Christmas vacation in Singapore. Damn, we had
one hell of a good time there!

All smiles and optimistic about the coming year, it never occurred to me 
that this photo I took of all three of them last Christmas would be their last. 

I will really miss you, Papaze. Honestly, I already do. 

I hope you’re cracking jokes in Heaven with Lolo now. I think they need your sense of humour up there badly. 


Love lots,
Nin

Saturday 1 February 2014

Kids 'round Chinatown

I love taking pictures of kids.

Capturing those raw and innocent expressions painted on their faces is simply priceless. However, children are really challenging subjects, especially for beginners like me. They move a lot. They frown or give you a scowl when you tell them to smile. And one picture-perfect moment from them could be gone in an instant as soon as you fire the shutter. 

Getting the perfect shot of kids is ambitious, frustrating and rewarding altogether, and I guess that's what I like about taking their pictures. You just never know what you'll get.

Celebrating the Lunar New Year at Chinatown yesterday, I got the chance to come across these super cute tykes. Believe me, they're everywhere; I just couldn't take a photo of every single one of them! I had fun, anyhow, and seeing pictures of these really adorable kids stored in my camera really does make my day!

This is one of the things I like best about kids. Even when they seem so
angry, they still end up looking adorable. No adult can ever do that. EVER.



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Andz