basketball diaries

my uncle (res cortez) is a well known actor and director out here in the philippines. he invited curtis to play a game of basketball with him and his "buddies" today while my aunt and i hit the grocery. little did curtis know that it was a celebrity bball game. apparently, while i was away, curtis rose to stardom in a blink. the audience thought he was some import player and people were taking pictures w him and having him sign autographs. at one point some lady asked for his jersey which he grinningly handed over. the best part was that his game was on despite the last few days of laziness and over eating... heheheh

shown in the picture above (courtesy of my cousin carizza) are curtis' star studded bball team mates....

L-R. mandy ochoa, res cortez, tirso cruz III, bembol rocco, ronnie rickets, jestoni alarcon, tyron perez, baron geisler, jimwel, ian veneracion, curtis ford, onyok velasco

a view into my memory

this is how i remember the party we had at jodi's house to say bye to our friends. this and too much food. unfortunately i forgot to tell everyone that the TV would be on for the football fans so we didn't get to see everyone. bummy... but it's all good. i don't have pictures of everyone so all of you with shots from this day... do me a favor and send them to me??? pretty please?

our first week in the philippines

here's the picture i've been promising everyone. curtis with hair! we were at the mall shopping. i turned my back for one second and my aunt encourages him to put this wig on. i stopped laughing long enough to take the picture. yikes! he so strikingly resembles the girl in the ring. don't you think? it was disconcerting.. i had to add the picture of him normal to the set just to remind me that he's just my curtis.

there are a few things i look forward to whenever i come home. laughter in my family is infectious. ours is a warm, welcoming, loving and laughing family. i could stay up with them for days just enjoying the company. when my grand parents celebrated their 60th anniversary, the whole clan flocked home to gather. 32 people around the table for meals was a blast.

the family cook has been with us since my dad's little days over 50 years ago and her recipes in my heart (and in my tummy) are still unparalleled. i come home looking forward to her spoiling me and my palate.

and most of all it's just relaxing. enjoying the time and resting. that's what we've been up to these last few days. sleep, eat and be happy. this weekend the family is trekking to san juan, la union to check out our new home weather permitting.

the pictures above are just a small representation of my family taken at my sister's birthday. happy birthday mariles!

equipment

it's all too often that my camera buddies and i will get together and discuss gear at length. curtis rolls his eyes at this quite often. i guess... we're just geeks at heart :)

trial and error on camera equipment can be so expensive and time consuming that it's such a benefit to know and hear what everyone else is using. i know that when i browse thru blogs and sites of the pros i love taking a peek at their gear list. sara france came up with a neat way to share what equipment she's got in her pack. she added a link to amazon that shows you exactly what she's got. i loved the idea so much i thought i would do the same.

check out the link on the left margin for "in the bag" or on the bottom of the page showing sample items. gone are the days of providing obscure model numbers that i can't ever seem to get right. there are 3 categories in the store.

1. what i've got in the bag
2. what i "NEED" to add to the bag
3. the books that have helped me thus far

isn't it neat?