Latest Pictures (San Francisco and Walnut Festival)

Here are some newer pictures that I took this month. The first set was from a walk-about in San Francisco. I tried to capture what I feel is the heart of the city. I first went to Pier 39 and ended up at Coit Tower. I have to say that my favorite pictures are the Bay Bridge. Just the way the ambient light hit the bridge made the shot look great. During this walk-about, I wanted to take photos of the Golden Gate Bridge, but it was a foggy day.

This set is from the the Walnut Festival in Walnut Creek, California. I went to this event with a couple of friends to practice my photojournalism skills. These are some of my favorite shots.

R.I.P. Lolo Joe

I’ve been meaning to write this blog since I got back from the Philippines, but I’ve been so busy with the video I was making for the past two weeks and school. As many people know, my grandfather passed away in July of 2008. My immediate family, uncles and aunties, and a few cousins did an emergency trip to the Philippines just to participate in my grandfather’s funeral. I’m not sure if you saw my pictures on my myspace account, but many people think it was a vacation. In a way it was because in the Philippines, a funeral is a happy event. In America, a funeral tends to be gloomy, but in PI, we throw parties. It seemed like the only people who actually cried was the immediate David clan, but it was for a very short time.

Even though my grandfather and I weren’t close, I had SO many great memories of him. He is truly the backbone of our family. He was always a happy person. He had great PR skills, and made a friend every where he went. I still can remember him around age 75, he danced a Hawaiian dance at my cousin, Ate Di’s wedding. I mean, he went full out; getting low to the ground and backup. I remember everyone just enjoying watching him. Even nearing age 90, he would go to the senior citizen’s club house, and get his groove on. He truly loved dancing. I think because of his personality, he lived so long. Unfortunately at the age of 93, he passed away.

It’s been a few weeks since his death, and I find myself in an emotional rollercoaster. Some days I’m just fine, but some days, I’m just down and out. It was especially hard for me for the first two weeks because since I’m not a great public speaker, I put my skills in video making to use. For my dedication to my grandfather, I put together pictures and videos through out his lifetime, and wanted to show it the family on the 40th Rosary day. There were so many times I got teary eyed when I was making this video and wanted to stop, but I was determined to finish it. American society says men don’t cry, but come on, if someone close to you died, wouldn’t you cry?

These are my final thoughts for this blog… I will truly miss my grandfather. He left us with so many great memories that he won’t be forgotten. He will be talked about for years to come.

Why is letting go so hard???...

Why is letting go so hard???... No matter what I tried to do, I’ve tried to let go. I know it’s been almost two years, and I know I should have let go of the past by now, but it’s so hard. I have tried so many things; like move away, dated different girls, and keep myself busy, but nothing has worked. There are times where I wouldn’t talk to this certain girl for many months, but the moment I see her, I don’t know how to act. I get so scared that I freeze up. What is wrong with me?!? The only thing I can think of doing is moving to a different country, but I’m risking so much. I cannot move away from my family for a long period of time. I moved to Las Vegas last year, and that didn’t work out because I miss them more than I miss this certain girl. I found out the only time when I don’t think about this girl is when I am in a different country. So is that the only option?

Japanese Tea Garden

Wow, I haven’t written a blog since May 17th. I was planning to write about my Europe trip, but I just got plan lazy. If you want to read about it, my friend Chris is writing about it little by little on his blog.

Well, I want to write about my day in San Francisco. Yesterday was another day in this blistering heat wave in the bay area. With the northern California fires and the heat, I felt absolutely miserable. Last minute I decided to hop on Bart and take a choo choo ride to the city. I decided to head to Golden Gate Park and visit the gardens over there. I went on the Bart website to find out what the closet station was to the park (which was 16th and Mission). I decided to walk from the station, and it took me roughly an hour and fifteen minutes. By the time I got there, I only had time to visit one garden, the Japanese Tea Garden. It is a beautiful place to visit. I can’t believe how the time passed when I was there. I literally spent over 3 hours taking pictures. When I checked my card, I took over a hundred pictures, but only liked 7 of them. That’s the way of a photography world; take a lot to get a little. I’m so glad I switched to digital because I spent soooo much money burning film away.

Lessons learned on this walk about trip in San Francisco… Never walk from the station again. The trip was too long, and I had to deal with 2 major hills. Also when I do a walk about again in the city, wear comfortable shoes!!! I wore flip flops yesterday, and my feet and calves are still sore.

Here are some of my favorite pictures that I took…

Dirty South

Well, I finally have time to write about my trip to Texas last weekend since my block has a black out, and I can’t do any research for my finals… I have to say, my trip to Texas is the best one I had in a long time. Even though it was only for the weekend, I created a lot of memories. Because of the time difference, we arrived there pretty late; almost around 11:30 PM. I knew by the time we arrived, it was too late to go to any clubs or bars. My cousin threw us a small gathering at her apartment, and it was nice to meet some of her friends. I found it kind of funny that the Asian and White crowd separated from each other. Jeff (a white guy) and I where the only ones who were moving between the groups. I can’t believe that Jeff and I killed a handle of Jack Daniel’s by ourselves. The night ended around 4 AM, which is really 2 AM for me since the time difference in California is two hours behind Texas.

For some reason we wroke up pretty early, and only had 4 hours of sleep. Since our trip was so short, we might as well do some sightseeing. We went downtown Dallas to see the JFK site, which I thought was really awesome. Because the lack of sleep, and the hot/humid weather, we decided to cut the sightseeing short, and go shopping. To be honest, we were so tired that it was brutal to walk around the mall. We just decided to go home and take a nap since we were planning to go a club to celebrate one of my cousin friend’s college graduation.

The club was pretty fun, but hardly anyone was there. We think it was because the next day was mother’s day, and a lot of people stayed home, or either flew out of the city. I wish I didn’t party so hard the night before because I barely had enough energy to hang out with my cousins and her friends. One statement must be made, my cousin has HOT friends. I will make sure to come back to Dallas just to see them =). Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, something happened to me that has never happened to me before. The moment I walked in, this guy literally pulled me into the bar, and bought me a shot. I knew he wanted to get into my good graces so I can introduce him to the entourage of beautiful women I walked in with. I took the shot with him, and walked away. There was no way I was going to introduce him to my cousins, and her friends. Wow, I just sound like the older brother. Anyways, here are a couple pictures for everyone to enjoy.

My Hard Work Paid Off

So a couple of weeks ago, I went through hell week in my academics. I had 3 exams and a paper due. I went MIA for a couple of weeks so I can study. I was a bit sad that I had to decline invitations to go out by my friends, but I had to do what was best for me. When that hell week was over, I think I went to every bar in Walnut Creek, and plus more. Today I finally got all my exams back and the paper I wrote for my nutrition class. I earned A's across the board. I honestly can't remember the last time that happened in my life. Well this weekend I'll be in Vegas, and I will celebrate hard for my achievements.

School...

My hardest week so far in the semester is over!!! This week alone, I had 3 exams and a paper due. It wasn't even finals week, and I had to all this work. I'm ready to party all weekend =).