Having felt the strain of years not sketching, I decided to go for what felt most right with me. That is to work with an abstract and try to conjure affinity with it. As stated by a Muse from an old Charmed series, “Art is not perfection, but an expression.”

So I followed my heart. No concrete picture, no concept, no scenery. Merely ‘doodling’ (for lack of a better term), I conjured from within myself shapes I knew of, making new ones along the way. Flirting with lines, giving birth to hundreds of curves. Each shape became a family to another. All measures synced in harmony following the contours of a heart.

The heart, I had to mention, was traced from a chocolate case from my boyfriend’s Valentine’s gift. So yes, there was pure love there. An inspiration from a gift made it possible for me to win the grand prize! Thank you Erwin, I really love it. :*

It may not be the biggest art contest out there, but this meant a lot to me, as it was the first time my art gained a higher of recognition. It was also a first for me to win art materials so I really love it! Have a look!

This is my actual entry. They framed it and will have it on display till March of this year.

The prizes still concealed within their packages.

The vouchers! Dinner date for two (2) worth 2,000 pesos each! And another 1,000 worth of gift certificate for me! :3

The art supplies! Now I’m hyped to get back to my sketching love! <3

Thank you Chocolate Fire! Thank you for everything! :D

In radio, nobody has topped the Chico and Del tandem from Monster Radio RX 93.1. Their partnership spurned by a live unintended debate, which spurned positive listener calls and ratings, they have generated celebrity status every radio DJ would love to attain. Not to mention, they’ve been called for numerous TV-guestings and even recorded their album.

You’d think their popularity would die down over the years. Lo and behold, they only became stronger and have such loyal listeners, who followed even when they transferred radio stations, then went back to RX.

I’ve been an on-and-off ‘rusher’ since high-school. In truth, if there is anything that made me follow this radio show, it’s the Top 10 list of everything and anything under the sun. The Top 10 has become an avenue to showcase creativity and wit of both listeners and hosts.

So it’s no wonder, that I bought this book from Powerbooks upon seeing it on display. No questions asked, nor did I even read the back. I plucked it from the stand and rushed to the cashier. After that, I had a hilarious dinner with my best friend. We were tearing up and laughing while taking turns reading selected titles.

If you want a happy book, this is a must have. If you are a foreigner, you ought to have enough Filipino knowledge on language and culture to comprehend most of the entries.

Sample in the The Morning Rush Top 10

Funny Gay Quotes

- HOST: Of your body parts, which is your favorite?
GAY BEAUTY CONTESTANT: My neck. Because my neck holds my head, which will hold the crown later tonight. Thank you.

- GAY FRIEND: Salot talaga kayong mga babae! Kakainin na lang namin, uupuan nyo pa!

- A kid started yelling at my gay friend: “Bakla! Bakla!”
My friend answered: “Bakit, dine-deny ko ba?”

Worst Ways to Ask Someone Out on a Date

- Miss, date tayo. Per hour ba singil mo?

- Please don’t dump me on my first attempt!

- Teh, date tayo!

Answers to Question: “How Do You Like Your Eggs?”

- Bagong hugas.

- Nakapatong sa bibingkia mo.

- Yung pantay.

Truly hilarious! It’s only P175. Worth it! :D

Two years ago, I was cheated upon. For the first time in my life, I felt how it was to have your heart ripped in two from circumstances based on giving your all to somebody else. Believing in your heart you made a right choice, dreaming big despite predicaments, trusting somebody else with your life, plans and dreams…

It took a long while for me to get over. Family and friends supported my decision to try new things, to venture out into the world. For the first time, I saw myself as an individual with potential to do better. I developed confidence I didn’t know was there. I remembered how it was like to hang with old and new friends, enjoying freedom with no commitments.

In due time, life went back to normal.

Only to be disrupted again from an abrupt proposal of courtship… to hopefully result to a commitment of forever.

I’ve heard of that from before and I didn’t believe it. But I’m never the one to not give anybody a chance. If they could stay despite my tantrums, mood-swings and unpredictability, then it will be all good. If not, there are no hard feelings.

I can hardly say no to someone I’ve been friends for a long time. Out of respect and friendship, I let him pursue, thinking the geographic gap of continents and ocean separating us will one day make him realize the predicament for a relationship to last.

But he did pursue. More than a year. Over webcam, emails and texts. The dedication was astounding. His patience was nothing I’ve seen from others.

And so after one year and four months of courtship… I gave in. It was impossible to ignore, I fell for him. :)

So to you Erwin Ronel Cruz, you reached the finish line. :p

You made a woman of stubborn streak give in. You made a self-made hermit think otherwise that she was meant to be alone forever. Ever since I was born, I believed that solidarity is the easier way to hide away from more hurt my family history has imposed on my shoulders. After my heart was broken the first time, the idea grew into proportions.

Yet, you persevered and stayed true to your word that you will just be beside me. I may hide, be overly emotional, “go-hide-in-the-forest” with the claim of not coming out again, but you stayed. I hate you because you freakin’ stayed. :p

I don’t know if I will ever live up to your expectations. I don’t know if I will ever be a great girlfriend to start with. I only know I do love you with all my flaws and insecurities. I’m not sure if that is enough but it is all I could give for now. I cannot give much or give you support financially, physically or mentally. I’m broke, we’re too far away from each other for me to able to help you, even with some of your chores. Nor am I smart enough to easily understand advises you give me.

But I do love you. You know that right?

So thank you for the patience, the dedication and for the gift to believe in something again. We do fight once in a while, but I hope you realize it doesn’t mean I don’t value your words. I do, very much. I hope one day I’ll be able to help you greatly with life, so you won’t be so stressed anymore.

To my new hope, I wish you Happy Valentine’s Day. I wish you were here beside me right now. I miss you so much. :*

Valentine’s Gift Guide

St. Valentine’s Infographic. Which is the right origin?

Social Networking Americans’ Valentine’s Day Plans

What your Valentine’s gift REALLY says about your relationship

Economics of Valentine’s Day

A hype is going around the web design industry regarding new features for an upcoming Photoshop CS6. Obviously intrigued by what possibly new features Adobe could come up with, I am astounded by sneak peak videos already going viral via Youtube.

If not expecting for but a few additional features added, I get this feeling of major overhaul is being done over the said software.

Below is a list of features I found for upcoming Photoshop CS6

* Photoshop will include a darker interface. This will help showcase an artwork better and to make it more consistent with other Adobe apps.

* Adobe had to create 1800 new icons and 250 new cursors. As to where they integrated these is beyond my imagination.

* Photoshop will include several performance enhancements that will reduce tiling and lag while working with large images. Now that would be totally awesome. Edits in a fly!

* For correcting blurry photographs, Adobe uses a sophisticated algorithm that analyzes a photograph and then generates a “blur kernel.” The kernel contains information on the motion trajectory of the camera during the shot that created the blur. With a selection of the “Restore Sharp Image” tool, Photoshop uses the blur kernel data to restore the image with more clarity:

* Liquify brush now expands to 15,000 pixels. 15,000 pixels. Wow. I believe this would benefit those working on very large graphics. For web designers like me, this would hardly make a difference.

* The new version of Photoshop will also include crash recovery. Seriously? I would like to see a demonstration of this first but I haven’t seen one yet.

* Dashed and dotted lines is an added feature. In previous versions it could take you 20 minutes to produce this effect. It can now be done in seconds. Cool!

* Content Aware Move function. This new feature will allow you to make a selection and then move those pixels to another part of your image without having to use multiple layers. No need to do additional edits to a previously “edited” layer.

* Adaptive Wide Angle, a feature that will allow you to quickly correct for lens distortion.

* New 3D features. A new “3D Material Drop” tool has been added to the Paint Bucket, according to people familiar with the software. Similarly, Adobe has also added a “3D Material Eyedropper Tool” to Photoshop’s Eyedropper. There’s also a new “3D Text” option for text input, rounding out a trio of 3D-centric additions to the Tools palette.

* Additional 3D options are reportedly evident in the Preferences pane, where testers can presently enable or disable “Allow Direct to Screen” and “Auto-Hide Layers” options for “Interactive Rendering.” There are also new “Rich Cursor” options: “Show on Hover” and “Show on Interaction.”

* Within the 3D preferences, testers can also modify “Axis Control,” where options allow for “Invert Camera Axis” and “Separate Axis controls.” Finally, a new “interactive Shadows Quality” section allows testers to choose from a range of quality options when generating shadows.

* CS6 also introduced a “Remix Tool” to the healing brushes palette, joining tools such as “Spot Healing Brush,” “Healing Brush,” “Patch” and “Red Eye” tools. For cropping, Adobe has also added a new “Perspective Crop Tool.” As to what these are for, I have not found any articles or documents yet.

* There are also a handful of other changes to the Preferences pane in the new Photoshop. In “General,” users can select or deselect “HUD Vertical Movement varies Round Brush Hardness” and “Snap Vector Tools and Transforms to Pixel Grid.”

* Also, under the “Interface” section, new options include “Show Transformation Values” and “Enable Text Drop Shadows.”

* Users can also access new preferences in the “File Handling” section, where “Save in Background” has been added, along with “Automatically save Recovery Information Every:” with a choice of time intervals. New “File Compatibility” preferences include “Ignore Rotation Metadata” and “Disable Compressions of PSD and PSB Files.”

* Adobe will also be offering a Creative Cloud alternative (where access to the software is rented monthly by paid membership) but — and there’s a lot of misunderstanding here — the cloud will be completely optional and not required by any customer (either existing or new) to buy or use it… In other words, it is an addition – not a replacement.

So what do you think of these sneak peeks? My main concern for this update is the possible hardware upgrade some might ‘need’ to do to avail all features.

Release date? No news whatsoever.

To only… sleep.

People love robots and many have created real ones to accomplish household chores or other industry work currently manned by humans. Countless robot expos have sprung up to showcase robotic developments ranging from cutesy, dancing inventions to office-personal-assistant types.

The questions remains… are we prepared for a robot integration into our lives. As much as I see benefits, there will be negative effects to society. Not that I am an expert on anything robotic, but even if I do only rely on movies, no matter how fictional they can get, there is a basis in fiction and that is the scary part.

Humans are imaginative, inventive and determined to make better of their lives. Technology has evolved. There were more innovations happened 100 years ago compared to the everything humankind has achieved from beginning of time. Despite the innovations, human has become more demanding and lazy. To accomplish something more is innate in human beings but I would like to re-iterate just how much would we be willing to give up of our skills if only to have robots enter our lives.

Are we to become more lazy, to the extent we won’t lift a finger to get a soda in our fridge?

Are we to diminish our working force since robots will do all the jobs needed in our community?

Will we be allowed to think if robots will do automatically and everything we wish them to?

Have you assumed what it would be like if bionics walk amongst us? If robots exist, why not use the same technology to lengthen human lives? Moreso, create a human-figure out of robots. The video below portrays my feelings of having robots dominate our lives in the future… if it so happens. Very industrial and easy, albeit heavy and unfeeling.

Blame it on Ghost in the Shell for making me think this way. XD

These are thoughts, with basis. What are your thoughts on this? If you have the means, will you buy one?

I may not be a fanatic buyer of Apple products but my profession makes it hard to not be updated on latest gadget rumors circulating the net. Especially, if the gadget in question is about the iPad. It seems only yesterday when iPad2 was released and now we are bombarded by news on an upcoming iPad3. Will this be another hype similar to pre-conceived iPhone 5, which led to a lot of disappointments?

I would be lying if say I once didn’t drool over an iPad. Although, I honestly think you could avail of similar features from a cheaper but quality alternative. But we wouldn’t deal with alternatives. Rather, I will list rumors about the iPad3 and see if elaborating on its rumored functions will get me drooling again.

A6 Processors
Upgrades, by definition means better hardware. Apple is aiming to make the competition tougher by sporting an A6 Quad-core Processor in the iPad 3. This would make the iPad 3 as powerful as any high-end desktop. All mobile gadgets seem to gear to this innovation. Netbooks indefinitely will not be produced anymore replaced by these lighter but powerful counterparts.

iOS 5
This will also include multitasking features, such as notifications, task-finishing, app-switching, location and background sound.

3D Feature and New Retina Display
These counts for better viewing at any resolution size. There are speculations that the tablet will display the 3D view.

Battery
The iPad 3 battery is apparently going to cost Apple an additional 20 to 30 percent more than the current price of the iPad 2 battery.

Cloud Computing
With iCloud users can store photos, apps, calendars and access songs on iTunes without having them to store in the phone’s memory. This got to be one of the most perfect invention ever. Access to your data anywhere and everywhere.

Camera
Every upgrade is good. iPad 3 is expected to have a 5MP camera with 1080p or 720p video recording quality of 60 frames per second. Seriously, I opt for a digital camera or DSLR for picture, perfect photos.

Fingerprint Proof
The touch screen will be coated with oleophobic materials, which will reduce the oil and fingerprints on the screen.

Partnership with Amazon
Amazon, the producer of the hot new Kindle Fire, may have pointed towards the release date of the iPad 3. The online giant of course won’t be selling iPad 3s directly, but they will of course be selling books and manuals about the device. There is already a discovered French version titled “iPad 3 Pour Les Nuls” and “Auf die Schnelle iPad 3”, meaning iPad 3 for Dummies and iPad 3 on the Fly. I bet other language versions would come out soon.

Textbook on your iPad
I wouldn’t be surprised if iPad is gearing to completely remove actual textbooks in classroom settings. With the function to be able to make notes and possibly record lectures in one gadget just makes me abhor the times I wished there was such a gadget during my college days so I could avoid lugging heavy books.

iBooks is an app that was introduced with iOS 5 and excels with the size of the iPad. Apple recently introduced new software to help producers bring the textbook to your next iPad 3. Apple suggests there are many advantages to the digital textbook and their adoption. Many believe that digital textbooks are the future, and Apple is attempting to be on the cutting edge of that movement.

Wireless Synchronize
People are expecting iPad 3 to offer wireless sync of content rather than the traditional wired connectivity.

iPad with Siri
If they did it with the current release of iPhone, why not with an iPad right? Many are hoping that the newly announced feature for the iPhone 4S makes its way to the Apple iPad 3. There are many rumors that the iPad 3 may in fact include Siri and there are a few reasons that we also think that it will be included.

Size
rumor has surfaced claiming that the iPad 3 will need to gain some thickness in order to accommodate that beloved Retina Display. While the iPad 3 is apparently going to gain around 0.7mm it would still be around 0.4mm thinner than the iPad.

RELEASE DATE?
This news points to the normal production timeline for Apple to release the new tablet in Q1 2012.

So what do you think, will you buy an iPad 3 based on these rumors? :)