Summer fun

© Joselito Briones

This is another scan, of one I took in Union Square, in New York. The moment I pointed my camera to them, these kids just started making faces.


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California Street

© Joselito Briones

This is one of the images that I like most among the black and white photos I took in San Francisco. I'm still scanning, so more black and white photos coming.


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Teeth needed cleaning

© Joselito Briones

Busy busy. Went to Frankenlabor to pick up test strips and bring color films for processing. Went to dentist for "professional" teeth cleaning. Then back home. Uploaded some photos including one, above. Frankenlabor again to pick up the films and to bring disc for printing. Marktplatz to buy some herbs. Asian grocery to buy some vegies. Upload some more.


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Powernappers' Duel

© Joselito Briones

I started scanning some of the films that I processed the other night. Above is one of the photos. It was taken in Bryant Park.


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Test Prints

© Joselito Briones Third day in a row that I went to the photolab. Today I picked up the Ilford XP2 films, and dropped a photo cd for test printing, including the one above, of Mati. XXX

Forgetful

© Joselito Briones

Stupid me. I went to Frankenlabor to bring the films I used on my recent trip for processing, only to find out, upon reaching the photo lab, that with all the other things I bothered to bring (umbrella, digital camera, shopping bag), I forgot to bring the film rolls. I thought, well, it can't be too bad, I can still do grocery on my way back. Only, when inside the grocery, I found that I forgot to bring money. How stupid is that? Wasted a good hour and half for nothing. Must be really getting old.

Photo above is from the same series as the shoot with Vicki and Zack.


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Touched by Music

© Joselito Briones

This is from the same shoot as the other day, with Jared. It would've been much better had he been using an iPod earphones, unfortunately I forgot to bring mine.

Catch up time starts today, loads of travel clothes to wash.

Phoned Carmona, today being father's day and all...


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Last minute lunch treat

© Joselito Briones

A bit rushed and stressed today. I did some last minute packing, passed by Jane's office in the Flat Iron district, then to Wall Street to meet up with Godfrey for lunch. The lunch itself was rushed, we grabbed some soup and sandwich, while he told me about the new house that he and Scott bought (bigger, closer to Manhattan).

And now, flying back to Germany.


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Jared

© Joselito Briones

I took some photos of Jared, above, today. Most of the photos came out well, the only problem I had was focusing the lens, because it's the old manual lens for the OM-1, so it doesn't work with the autofocusing function of the DSLR. Another downside that I noticed is the "glow" that looks constant now from most of the pictures I take using the DSLR. In the photo above, it's most noticeable where the suit sleeve ends and his hand sticks out, there's a pronounced "glow" against the dark suit.


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A Life-changing moment

© Joselito Briones

"you would not believe the day i had. ugh. right after school at 1230 i went to the mall to buy alla those things. its so random that everything i got was on sale. haha. so everything was less than 30 dollars. lmao. i was so embarresed tho. as soon as i went back to school, i went to a teacher to ask him to tie my tie for me. ha. i did a lot of walking. since i went to the mall taking the bus. and then when i got home, i didn't have enought time to rest, so i just got ready and then did more walking. -___-"

The above rant, of course, is from Kebbs, today being his promotion ceremony, as related to our failed shopping mission last Sunday.


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More travels

© Joselito Briones

Noel drove me to the airport today, after I drove Ate Uding to work, and after the post office thing to mail Alex's photo CD. I guess that's about it. Bye bye California again, until next time.

Photo above is of Eric, around the block where he lives in Roosevelt Ave, in Queens, taken last month.


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Portrait of a struggling singer/songwriter

© Joselito Briones

The struggle, in this case, is internal. Not being able to sooner put out something that he knows he's perfectly capable of making, having opted to rely solely on himself to complete his project, not being able to constantly muster discipline to regulate the progress.

He's really good at it too, I heard one of his tracks and was really impressed. One that he has since discarded as unusable. I thought it perfectly good, if technically wanting polish (he made it a few years ago). Reminded me of a more layered "Strange and Beautiful (I'll Put a Spell on You)" by Aqualung.

I hope for his own sake he finds direction sometime soon. One can get lost in a struggle for a lifetime without realizing it. Then it's too late.


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We ♥ Shopping

© Joselito Briones

Kebbs, Ate Uding and I spent the whole afternoon shopping in downtown San Francisco. We went to Saks, Neiman Marcus, Macy's, Zara, H&M, Lacoste, and Urban Outfitters, looking for a plaid jacket for Kebbs. I don't know why, he suddenly thought it's the perfect thing to wear for his promotion ceremony (he'll be in grade 9 next school year). To his disappointment, we didn't find one. I guess he'll just have to wear something else.

He also decided that the medium-sized t-shirt that I bought him after he helped me take photos last week is now too tight for him, so I bought it back from him. The fact that something that's too tight for him fits me should be for me either a source of pride, or shame, I can't decide which. So yeah, now I have a t-shirt that says "NERD" in front and "booger 69" at the back. Hmmm.


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What protein do you want with that?

© Joselito Briones

Loads of food today. Noel made bulalo (beef and marrow soup) and bought a huge fried fish, and fresh lumpia (my mom's favorite), and Ate Uding made Maja Blanca (a corn-based custard). Yummm.

Norie and Dave dropped by to pick me up, they've decided to treat me to dinner. I don't know why. Am not one to say no to food. So, hey. We went to PF Chang's, a Chinese Restaurant chain. Food was not authentic, but good. Ambience was a bit off, and waiters were very cordial. Our waitress in particular was all smiles, too bad we put her under very defensive mode when we all laughed when she asked, referring to the fried noodles, what "protein" we wanted with our noodles. I don't know, was it too much to ask to be asked if we wanted pork, beef, chicken or shrimps? Oh well.

Right after the dinner we passed by some new housing development in Hayward. Norie and Dave are looking to move again, because of the constant heavy traffic that they experience every day on the way to work, from Mountainhouse.

Right after viewing the houses, I drove to San Jose to meet up with and take photos of Alex (above). I got there quite late, it was a good thing that the sun sets so late these days. The photo above was taken past eight at night already, in front of a parking lot.


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Target

© Joselito Briones

Today's one of those really really hot day. Kebbs and I went to Target to get some groceries, and toiletries. Ended up getting a really chea jersey pyjama bottom, too.

Photo above is in front of Target's old location, I took it while walking towards the BART station last Friday, on my way to Norie's.


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Zac and Vicki

© Joselito Briones

This photo is from the same session as yesterday's, of Zach.

Watching the TV channels that Kebbs watches, I learned a new word today... "vommenting". It's a cross between vomitting and commenting, or vomitting comments. Kinda like what I do here sometimes, I guess.


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Vicki and Zac

© Joselito Briones

Kebbs helped me take photos of Vicki and Zac today. We did the shoot in Buena Vista Park in San Francisco. We went shopping for him afterwards. He got one t-shirt that says "NERD" in front and "booger 69" at the back, and another one that says "Yes, it's really me!" Photo above is of Vicki.


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Great Mall

© Joselito Briones

I thought I'd go to Great Mall in Milpitas to go bargain shopping. I ended up with: 2 Incotex trousers and 2 polo shirts for Mati, one t-shirt, belt, and hoodie for me.

The photo is not from the mall, it's from Montgomery in downtown San Francisco.


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Have a laugh

© Joselito Briones

Another photo from last Monday's walk-about in Chinatown.


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Craisins

© Joselito Briones

It just looked interesting, so I took a photo of it, in Chinatown last week. It turns out this is dried cranberries, also known as "craisins". It's supposed to be good for you. Whatever.


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Take me to the ballgame

© Joselito Briones

From Mountainhouse, we dropped by Kev K's apartment to bring him some pizza, then to back to San Lorenzo to pick up Kebbs and Noel. Today's itenerary: a baseball game.

© Joselito Briones

The match was between Oakland A's and Minnesota Twins, in Oakland Coliseum. Not much seemed to have happened. The more interesting aspect, of course, was the audience. Three kids sitting next to me made running commentaries on every player, every play, every past play that reminded them of the current play, cheered and booed both teams at the same time, sang with every song played, and called every food vendor that went past. And yes, at the end of the game, I found out that very few people go there to actually watch the game. It's more like an excuse to pig out on junk food. People didn't seem to mind bingeing on junk food, because unlike vegeing out at home and consuming the same huge amount of junk food and beer, their excuse here is that they're actually participating in active sport. Never mind that the participation is limited to cheering and jeering. And sitting on their collective asses, not too different from watching the game on TV at home. Even the parking lot was a big venue for barbecue parties. We had our own share of food: popcorns, hotdogs, nachos, etc.

The highlight of the game had to be the fireworks afterwards. We had to wait more than an hour after the very brief game to watch the fireworks, because the game ended way before it got dark.

Seeing the news on TV when we got back to San Lorenzo confirmed my feeling after the game, judging from the cheers of the crowd, that the local team won.


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Norie and Dave and Ginger and Meynard

© Joselito Briones

Photos above taken at their backyard (Ginger and Meynard's).


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Mountainhouse

© Joselito Briones

I thought I'd spend the night at Norie and Dave's, in Mountainhouse (photo, above). I took the BART to Pleasanton, then Norie picked me up from the station. Dinner was at a Japanese place in Tracy.


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