FLAC

Ever heard of the saying “Once you go FLAC, you never go back”? I stumbled upon this while I was reading more about file types and helping a friend research about disability insurance at the same time. Pretty weird combination huh? I know. Anyway, FLAC is short for Free Lossless Audio Codec. It’s an audio format that is similar to MP3 except thet it is lossless (MP3 is lossy), meaning that the audio file is compressed without any loss in quality. The saying is so true and I’m now creating FLAC backups of my CDs. They sound much, much better than MP3s. The sound is clearer and you can hear every little detail.

You can read more about FLAC here. And if you’re looking for a player to play your FLAC files, I suggest Foobar2000, it’s free.

Edited: June 29th, 2009

Diseases

I’ve been doing a lot of reading about different kinds of diseases lately, like polymyositis, different kinds of cancer like lung cancer, leukemia, mesothelioma, and also about multiple sclerosis. It’s just sad you know, because I know some people who dealt with some of these deadly diseases. My aunt, for example, lost her battle against lung cancer two years ago and very recently, my friend’s brother died of polymyositis. I also have a cousin who is dealing with multiple sclerosis right now. I know there’s nothing I can do about these situations except be more aware of what they are going through or had gone through and be more understanding and sensitive.

A lot of people unexpectedly lost their lives because of these unimaginable diseases. I wonder what my case will be. I mean, who knows what’s going to happen in the future. Take for example the son of my mom’s officemate. He was my about my age and he suddenly became sick, was hospitalized for a couple of days then eventually succomb to his pancreatic disease. Besides, I’ve always had this feeling that I’m not going to be here long.

Edited: June 29th, 2009

Need More Films

I need more films! But the thing is I’m broke right now. Haha! That is the downside of doing analog photography compared to going digital, you still need moolah for buying and developing films. I’d love to go digital and will do one of these days but I’m not giving up analog, more specifically, lomography. My cousin tells me I can do all those lomo effects in digital too, with the help of PhotoShop, of course. I’m very much aware of that and I do that sometimes but you know, where’s the fun in that? Lomography is all about the fun and the surprise! I have this impression that you need to impress people when you’re using a DSLR. I mean, come on, you’re using a professional camera for goodness’ sake, your shots should be pretty impressive or else all the money you used to buy the camera would be pretty useless.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m not mocking DSLR users, this is just for my case… I think I should be a good photographer for me to deserve a DSLR. It’ll be like owning a grand piano but not knowing how to play piano, making the grand piano useless. In lomography’s case, you’re allowed to make “happy mistakes” or accidental beautiful shots. You don’t need to perfectly compose your photos, you don’t need to adjust anything on your camera, you don’t even have to look through the viewfinder. Now isn’t that fun?

So, anyway, back to the title of my post…  need more films. Well, first I want to give pinhole photography another shot. And also wanna try this double sprocket thing or what others call 70mm. you use two 35mm films in a medium format camera like my Holga. A single shot will result to an image in two overlapping 35mm films with sprockets in the middle. Can you picture what I’m trying to describe? Okay, I had to snag this photo by adamscott just so  you’ll see what I mean.

You can read more about it in the tipster written by adamscott.

Edited: June 29th, 2009

Internet Connection

I’m the only one who uses a desktop here in our house. My sister, nephew and BIL are all using laptop and my dad will soon be using one too. And I’m the only who’s not using the wireless router, my desktop is connected directly to the interenet through the old reliable telephone cord. Before my BIL left for the US for a 6 months vacation, he gave me this sort of like an antenna so I could connect to the wireless router instead of using the long phone cord. But I’m stubborn and insists on using the long cord. Haha! Why? Well, because our Linksys router can only transmit half of our actual internet speed. And I’m all about the downloading… just imagine all the scrap kits from my CTs. It’ll probably take me a couple of hours to download a full-sized kit instead of just about 20-30 minutes. And I’m thankful he and my sister didn’t persist for me to use it.

Edited: June 29th, 2009

Sick

I think I’m going to be sick. I was waiting for some stuff to watch on TV when I fell asleep. I was too sleepy and I even skipped dinner. I woke up a couple of hours ago with a headache and a sore body and now, I feel sick. And the worse part is I can’t drink medicine because I’m allergic. I’m allergic to aspirin and paracetamol but I avoid pills as much as possible. Yep, even the natural ones so, I couldn’t take even diet pills and health supplements even if I wanted too, most especially not Colonix after reading some Colonix reviews. So when I’m sick I just take loads of vitamins, liquid and fruits. That is in fact what I am doing right now, I’m trying to finish a liter of orange juice. OJ to the rescue! Haha!

Edited: June 29th, 2009

Trash to Cash

Ever heard of Trash to Cash? This is an event sponsored by SM Supermalls and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources. You can bring in your recyclable trash and convert them to cash. And they buy almost anything… plastic bottles and plastic scraps, ink and toner cartridges, papers and cardboards, used lead batteries, aluminum and tin cans, electrical appliances. You can sell all these items to them or trade them, I’m just not so sure about those scrap porcelain tiles we have but isn’t this a neat idea? This is very advisable especially now with the global economic crisis. And the much greater aspect is you’ll be helping preserve the environment. We are accumulating some junks right now and will visit the next event. This is perfect timing too, since I’m getting rid of my old computer. So, don’t throw away your junk, segregate them and bring them to SM’s Trash to Cash event. If I’m not mistaken, it’s held every first Friday and Saturday of the month. Better check on your nearest SM branch just to be sure.

Edited: June 29th, 2009

An Angel and a Legend

The world is grieving right now for the loss of two great lives, Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson. I went to sleep with the news of Farrah Fawcett’s death and woke up to the news of Michael Jackson’s. I hope their legacies will live on. Here’s a little tribute to the angel and the legend who left this world a little too early.

GONE TOO SOON
By Babyface & Stevie Wonder

Like a comet
Blazing ‘cross the evening sky
Gone too soon

Like a rainbow
Fading in the twinkling of an eye
Gone too soon

Shiny and sparkly
And splendidly bright
Here one day
Gone one night

Like the loss of sunlight
On a cloudy afternoon
Gone too soon

Like a castle
Built upon a sandy beach
Gone too soon

Like a perfect flower
That is just beyond your reach
Gone too soon

Born to amuse, to inspire, to delight
Here one day
Gone one night

Like a sunset
Dying with the rising of the moon
Gone too soon

Gone too soon

Edited: June 29th, 2009

Pinhole Take 1

A few months ago, I attempted to make my own pinhole camera from scratch. It’s supposed to be made out of matchbox and I couldn’t find one that time so I improvised my own. I tested it already and had the film developed and scanned and here’s what came out of the roll:

Looks kinda creepy but it looks cool too! Haha! I’m not sure what I did wrong but I have some clues. First possible reason could be the exposure. Maybe I left the hole open too long thus, the overexposure. Another possible reason could be the thickness of my matchbox. Mine was a little thinner so it may have resulted again to overexposure. The third possible reason could be beacuse I used an overly expired film. I know, what was I thinking? I was too excited and that was the only film I had in hand that time. So, I thought that would have to do. And the last reason could be the combination of all these reasons. Haha! Oh well. But I’m not giving up. It’ll be like trying the best diet pills until you find the best of the best. I’ll be more cautious in my next attempt. Maybe I’ll have to start building the easier pinhole camera first, the one with the template.And I’ll hope against hope that this time it’ll work. If not then like what they say… try and try until you succeed!

Edited: June 28th, 2009

Gabriel

I have a new nephew… Gabriel! He was born May 12, 2009 and he will be christened here in the Philippines next month. My cousin and her whole family are coming home in a couple of weeks and will be here for a month. I’ll be doing the invitation and it’ll be a simple hybrid one. The color motif is baby blue and brown. My cousin wanted a big party though, for the christening event. I will also be doing the layout for the banner and everything else that they need. I’m thinking of using custom rubber stamps for the invitation and the favors. Maybe one with Gabriel’s photo and name. I’m excited already to get started!

Edited: June 28th, 2009

Househelp

We still don’t have a househelp until now. I’m telling you, for me it’s like having my very own natural appetite suppressant. Just seeing all the dirty dishes, pots and pans that I’m going to wash makes me don’t want to eat anymore, you know, just avoid adding more. But it’s not like I’m starving myself just to avoid the washing load, I just eat stuff that doesn’t require a plate, like sandwiches. Haha! And I’m still in charge of washing the dishes even if I didn’t use any of it. That’s the only help I could offer because I don’t know to wash clothes… heck, I don’t even know how to operate the washing machine. But I do cook sometimes and I help look after the kids.

Edited: June 28th, 2009