Sleeps with Butterflies

I've been trying to search for the title of this song that I keep hearing on the radio during the "90's Hits Flashback" but as much as I try to figure out the lyrics of the song I can only discern the words "Flyyyyy" and "Butterfly". So I tried to search for the song "Fly Butterfly" but there are a lot of unrelated matches. I had the nagging suspicion that the song is Sleeps with Butterflies by Tori Amos but when I looked up the lyrics it seems different from the song so I gave up my search. Then this morning the "mystery" song was played again on the radio(it's 90's hits every Wednesday on the station that I listen to) and I caught the lines "Fly on Boy" and then I Googled it again and came up with a narrower search result which included the song Sleep with Butterflies by Tori Amos. I decided to download the song and what do you know, it was the mystery song! Finally, I can listen to the song over and over again.There's a haunting quality to this song that is unique to Tori Amos and it keeps one captivated.
If anybody is interested, below is the lyrics and I was able to download the mp3 from this site.

Airplanes
Take you away again
Are you flying
Above where we live
Then I look up a glare in my eyes
Are you having regrets about last night
I'm not but I like rivers that rush in
So then I dove in
Is there trouble ahead
For you the acrobat
I won't push you unless you have a net

You say the word
You know I will find you
Or if you need some time
I don't mind
I don't hold on
To the tail of your kite
I'm not like the girls that you've known
But I believe I'm worth coming home to
Kiss away night
This girl only sleeps with butterflies
With butterflies
So go on and fly then boy

Balloons
Look good from on the ground
I fear with pins and needles around
We may fall then stumble
Upon a carousel
It could take us anywhere

I'm not like the girls that you've known
But I believe I'm worth coming home to
Kiss away night
This girl only sleeps with butterflies
With butterflies
With butterflies
So go on and fly boy

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Siesta

I love the splendor of the sunrise and the majestic hues of the sunset. However my favorite time of the day is not during these times. I love it when the sun is not trying to show off its amazing colors but when it’s just sitting quietly with its warm orange-y glow. I love midday or the time after lunch when the world (warm areas that is) is feeling drowsy after a heavy meal and the warm temperature. Siesta time for most Filipinos whether they’re at home or at the office. I remember when I was still elementary and I would go home around lunch during the exam week. It feels so peaceful walking along the streets and houses where most children are asleep and parents are at work. It is the time of the day when I feel most relaxed because I have nothing to do except watch TV, play and nap. Now that I’m working, I still try to get my power nap during lunch break.

Anyways, when I was trying out the 50mm f1.8 lens (which doesn’t autofocus on D40 by the way) I was looking for subjects to shoot and when I went outside the house, I saw the sleeping cats in our dirty kitchen and took pictures of them. The pictures look lousy but it did trigger some nostalgic memories of those warm afternoons thus I decided to post them. This is my first photo set…hopefully there are more to follow and hopefully-er I’d be good at this.

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Learning the basics

The problem with me is that I want to try new things but I'm impatient to learn the basics. Like cooking, I don't want to slice, chop and peel. I didn't even bother to learn the difference between broil and boil (spelling?) yet I want to be a good Cook. When I realized that there are a lot of good cooks I got discouraged. I also get hurt when they criticize my self accalimed masterpieces. So what I did was...I gave up and left the cooking to the experts. I have come to accept that I am not a Cook but a Food Critic.

Now that Blow is into photography I am interested to learn it too but I don't want to be bothered by the technicalities like aperture and metering and etc. I was foolishly expecting that when I hold the camera I would know exactly what to do but again it's not the case. I also get discouraged when here I am a newbie... still learning and there are a lot of professionals out there. So I re-evaluated why I wanted to learn Photography in the first place. It's not only because Blow is into it. I am interested because I want to capture moments not just images. I want to freeze the very essence of a place or thing or people into frames. I want some remembrance that I can look at again and again when I'm old and gray. Driven by this goal I have resolved in this new year to take a new approach into becoming better if not the best in anything I do.I am willing to learn the basics. Be patient and accept criticism. And most importantly never compare my accomplishments ( or lack of it) to others, a wise man (James) once told me that Photography is not about Social Recognition but about Self Fulfillment. So Go Floraine, Click Away!

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Sorta Year End Report

of my life of course.

This year I challenged the meaning of two words, Irrevocable and Forever.

Irrevocable

Last January, I tendered my irrevocable resignation at my job for four years. I had a new job which I didn't like at first. I regretted my resignation from my first job but I can no longer undo my decision thus I continued with the new job and slowly came to appreciate it. I learned a lot of things professionally and about myself during my stay there. I met a lot of people who have now became good friends. I was beginning to enjoy myself and my job when I got a call from my former boss. I was given an opportunity to get my old job back with a couple of new perks. I had a few hesitations but in the end decided to return to my former employer. Now 11 months later I am back to the company where I tendered my irrevocable resignation. Irrevocable is not unchangeable after all.


Forever

I have firmly hold on to the belief that Friendships last forever. That when two persons vowed to be good friends and commit to the friendship then its bound to be eternal that they can overcome any challenges that comes their way. However after losing a couple of so called best friends I am beginning to lose faith in the words "Friends Forever". Friendship ends because people change and with this personal transformation the value they place on friendship also changes. People change, feelings change...I have learned to accept that Forever is just an indefinite period of time. It's not eternal.. I still feel lucky though that a few precious friends are still around and I'm hoping that they wouldn't be so careless in throwing away the bonds we shared.

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Turning 30

I just turned 30 years old at around 1:00 am this morning. I was expecting to be awakened by some alarm from the biological clock that's ticking inside my body but nothing of that sort happened. I slept peacefully and was awakened by my cellphone alarm clock at my usual wake up time. I used to think that turning 30 would be such a big deal and that it would feel sooo old. I saw it like some huge milestone in my life where I have achieved a lot of things like being CEO,getting married, having a baby, traveled the world, swam the seven seas and so on and so forth where half of my mortal life has already happened. Now that I am here, I realized that my life and dreams are way from being over. I still have a lot of things to experience and new dreams to achieve. Life is a never ending quest after all and a new adventure has just began. So cheers!Like my cousin Mayrose told me, 30 is the new 20! :D

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Volatile

Just when I thought I've reached balance in my life, I have made another life changing decision. I'm in transition right now in my career and I'm juggling two jobs at the same time..

Mon, Tue, Wed=Company A
Thu,Fri-Company B
Sat=Company A

What kind of insanity have i gotten myself into ...again? I wouldn't go into details at this point since nothing is definite yet...it's still so volatile...no liquid or gas is taking the shape of a container..yet .But soon I hope things will get stable and the dust will settle down so my heart can return to it's normal rhythm and finally I hope to achieve that most longed for...balance.

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Multitasking

I can't seem to get a single task done nowadays without being distracted by other things. I seem to feel this need to do two or three things simultaenously. Example right now, while at work,I'm trying to finish up a report but I feel this sudden urge to prepare a report for our business and browse the net and make this blog entry.I'm not sure if this is multitasking or just getting distracted or even procastinating ;) It's just that when I start doing something, I remember another thing that I need to do and for fear of forgetting to do it, I want to start it right away thus ending up with juggling various tasks at the same time and stressing myself out. Prioritize Floraine!

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The Search for the Perfect DSLR

I've always taken an interest in photography because I love to take pictures of places I've been to and freeze moments in frames so I can look at them every now and then. I share this interest with Blow who believes that he has an artistic eye and dreams to be a professional photographer one day. Thus the search for the perfect camera began. These were the decision points that we went through:
1. Point and shoot or DSLR?
Since Blow wanted to be a pro we opted for the DSLR.

2. Canon or Nikon?
We spent several months debating this one.We asked friends and lurked on photography forum, even posted a survey. At first we chose Canon because most of our friends use it but we ended up choosing Nikon because of it's attribute that I wouldn't enumerate here :)

3. Brand New or Used?
After meeting up with sellers of used cameras, we decided that it was much safer to buy a brand new camera with the warranty and all because you can't be assured with a used camera how it was actually handled by the previous user unless if you personally know the person.

3.What Model?
If we spent months just debating over the brand can you imagine the time we spent choosing the specific model? Surprisingly we just spent over a week because of budget constraints. Our dream camera was a D80 because it is a semi-pro camera plus all it's fancy features which we also searched over the net and learned from friends but the stores are no longer selling it, I even called up Henry's at Hidalgo and contacted supppliers from different areas(Cebu, CDO and etc). The next choice was a D90 but we can't simply afford it. We can use the credit card but we don't want to be burdened with debt over the next few months plus we have to buy lenses and other stuffs. In the end we ended up buying an entry level camera which is a phase out model, Nikon D40. We almost bought D60 and D3000 but again after serious thinking we chose D40 among them. We thought that we would just have to invest in the lenses.

Whew! I'm glad that part was over. Now we're moving on to actually taking pictures and we have so much to learn.We have no fancy notions that simply owning a DSLR would make us photographers, owning a DSLR is sooo common nowadays. We just want to be true to what we truly love to do...documenting life...as we see it.

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