Pinay New Yorker

I finally left the office just before 3pm, 2 hours after the second assistant had left. I had earlier made up my mind about what and where lunch would be.. So here I am with my cup of crab bisque from Soup Man, sitting by the shade in one of the many tables in front of the New York Public Library. (There are actually even more chairs at the back by Bryant Park which flows into Sixth Avenue, a.k.a. Avenue of the Americas.)

There's a young man with a fancy looking camera seated on the table a few feet from mine, discreetly snapping away at random. I must admit I am green with envy that he has that fancy toy while I am clicking away with my blackberry. This place is always teeming with people, most specially during the lunch hour when many executives and other working people bask in the sunshine and eat on the steps leading up to the library. (That's the American love affair with the sun for you.). The guy with the fancy camera has stood up and is probably clicking away from another vantage point.

The tourists are resting their tired feet. New York City is, after all, a walking city. (Bring your most comfortable shoes!) You can easily spot the tourists either because they're wearing shorts or they're thumbing through a map other than one of the subway. (We Locals still need it occasionally on the train so that is not always a dead give away.)

This is "me" time. I figured I could take a half hour and just sit here, think aloud online, just listening to the intermingling of the sounds of traffic on Fifth Avenue, the chirping of the birds overhead, the chatter of the Japenese tourists behind me and this couple taking a lunch break in front of me. We often get carried away and live our lives on a very tight time table. This is my moment to literally stop and smell the flowers. I don't get to do it as often as I would like to, except while doing something else like going from place to place. Today, I'm doing it and concentrating on just being.

In a short while, I'll be standing up and cleaning out my mess, heading 2 blocks down to pick up some Clinique supplies at Lord & Taylor then I'm walking to my express bus stop at the corner of 36th and Sixth Avenue. I am hoping I don't get distracted by the urge to visit some of my other usual haunts this side of the city --- like the Cosmetics Market on 39th (between Fifth and Madison) or the bead shops (on Sixth Avenue between 36 and 34th). One of the bigger stores is actually on the corner of the bus stop. This is going to take a lot of willpower!. Perhaps the thought of having to pick up the little tyke from daycare will pull me onto the bus on time. Meanwhile, have to get going...

(And yes, picking up Angelo brought me to the bus stop straight. The bead shops will always be there... I'll save that for next time.)

My day in pictures:

I'm on a 7 local train heading to work for a few hours before my long weekend begins. It's the 4th of July weekend, and while Angelo and I will be spending it with Alan attending a DLSZ high school reunion in Los Angeles, I have the weekend planned out already.

I'm not feeling particularly well today, I'm keeping my fingers crossed my headache will be gone by tomorrow and Angelo and I will be able to do our own fourth of july celebration. I have projects to do, among which are (1) finishing a long overdue scrapbook for a friend and (2) continuing with my scrapbook embellishments which has taken an interesting twist (which I'll explain when I can upload a sample or two).

Meanwhile, I have to grab some film as I go retro with the pictures I'll be taking this weekend. Alan had so sweetly offered to lend me his digital camera which was not as fancy as mine but which took great pictures all the same and which had zoom capability, but today I told him I'm good with film. (Talk about going back to the basics.). I'm actually excited. Alan asked me if I was sure I was okay with not using his digital cam, but his high school reunion was one important occasion I knew he would want to document. So I am good...

Last Friday, I received my first official mail packet from Mrs. C, Angelo's incoming homeroom teacher in Pre-K.  It was a special day for me because it meant we were on the school's mailing list now and my son is part of this academic community.

It meant that we were now into the more serious business of preparing him for the real world -- although it will be a step at a time, and tiny steps at that.  I felt proud.  And I must admit, I was very excited.  I immediately started putting the letters in a binder.  My little boy is going to pre-k!

One of the "staples" that stand out in the streets of Manhattan is this giant "LOVE" sculpture by Robert Indiana on the corner of 55th and 6th Avenue (also known as Avenue of the Americas).  It's right by the corner of the bus stop where I wait for the express bus home whenever I take it from the city, and I've always found it amusing to watch the tourists who stop by and take a picture with this NY (and Philadelphia) icon.

I find it heartening to see total strangers passing by offering to take pictures of the tourists who take turns behind the camera.  Or  how groups or pairs of tourists would offer to take each other's pictures.  Alan and I have done that before ourselves, and I have made offers to take pictures, too.  As I have often repeated here, I'm the perpetual tourist here in my home state -- and I know how it feels to roam a place you're trying to visit and want to take pictures to keep the memories.

This is actually my second attempt to take pictures from behind the glass on the bus stop, but the first set was left behind in the camera that got stolen in the water park.  ( *sniff* )  But life goes on..

You'll be seeing more of these...

...You get hit by a wave of regret when the clouds suddenly turn a distinct grey proclaiming "Downpour coming.". What can I say? I should've looked out the window in the interior office, but no, I didn't even glance out the window.

It wouldn't be a total loss if Alan pays attention to my message and brings down one of their umbrellas. No sign of him yet. (One more drink with his colleagues, he said.).

I am still in semi-mourning for the camera that was stolen from me. I mourn for the pictures and video clips which, though not many, are now lost forever. I'm back to a 2mg camera which, remembering my first ever digital camera 7 years ago was not even the maximum resolution for the first one I called my own. So I try to console myself that I am not totally "armless".

This weekend, Angel and I have a date in the city and I have resolved to go back to film. (After all, all developers now give the option of having the prints burned to a CD so I will still be able to produce the pictures in a digital format. I just want to capture the moment literally.

I found myself browsing for cameras today, but being torn between my old Fuji Finepix S700 and a Canon Digital Rebel xTI helped to stave off the longing to get a new one. While it's basically apples and oranges, still, the question of whether or not it's time to upgrade presents itself because I am in the market for one.

Add to that the "distraction" of the thought of getting a Holga, borne out of envy for the photos produced by my blogfriends Jher and Jerome, now sharing a "conjugal" blog at The Two Jeromes. I had been thinking of using lomography as my vehicle back to film, but I wanted to do it only after having done some preliminary research on it. I've been reading up on it and I continue to be very interested, but I told myself it would have to wait until after the trip to Manila almos 2 months ago. I'm just thinking now that although the basic camera itself is reasonably priced at just over $50, there are a whole lot of accessories one might be tempted to get that might make the total purchase price something close to the cost of a new Fuji Finepix s700. So again, I'm holding off.

The arguments for and against picking up a Rebel are a whole new post altogether which I will save for later.

The rains finally came just as Alan and I boarded our bus home. And yes, he brought an umbrella.

One thing I want to do sometime in the future (and hopefully with my brother Nikki in tow) is to watch the Gay Pride Parade of New York. I didn't know it was actually today until we ended up in traffic on 34th street on the way to the Lincoln tunnel to our luncheon in New Jersey. We were stopped right at the intersection of Fifth Avenue and 34th where the Empire State Building stood proudly on one corner. As Alan said, we got front row seats to a snippet of the show.

The rain had poured momentarily but strongly, and we caught some dancers in white spandex (donned with the wet look) dancing/marching to the tune of "Bleeding Love" by Leona Lewis. It surely exuded a party atmosphere as the crowd enthusiastically cheered the parade on with complimentary catcalls and hoots. How I wish Nikki was here with me.  
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I don't know what it is about the rain that I love more--- watching it falling from the skies, or the smell of dew that lingers long after the skies have cleared. I'm sitting under a tent in the lawn of a friend's home, resting after having a hearty lunch in celebration of the baptism (binyag) of one of the newborns. In keeping with tradition, the buffet was overflowing. Talk about my favorite lengua, bopis and of course, the traditional lechon.

The rain started to pour right after my boys and I settled down with our plates in one of the tables in the center of our tent. It was the perfect spot to be in in the midst of torrential rain. We ended the meal with mango cake (from Red Ribbon no less) and the rain was still at it. It stopped just before the grass where we were seated got soaked.

I've been tailing the little tyke who has been totally swept off his feet by the baby. They took the baby inside the house again and I let him go there by himself this time. I asked him if he wanted me to have another baby --- and always he was quick to answer no, because I have him already.

The buffet has been cleared and all but the barbecue grill is still churning out food. I took my seat again and decided to sit here awhile and just enjoy the cool breeze...take a moment to smell the air...

We went back to the waterpark today since it was in the 90s and the forecast for rain wasn't until late evening.  So off we went, carrying our gear on Angelo's stroller.  This is not our first time in a crowded theme park, and we have usually taken precautions in stashing our things when we all went on the family rides.  I wasn't going to bring my camera today and was going to opt for Alan's but we forgot a thing or two at home and drove back and I decided I'd take it anyway.

I don't even have the energy to relate the story properly but I lost my camera in the park.  It happened to be under a hefty pile of clean clothes under a towel that was draped over the hood of the stroller, and when we returned to the stroller after what was a really fun ride and I saw the towel raised up, I knew the camera was gone.  Someone actually looked under and took the camera.  And the culprit was in such a hurry they didn't even bother to cover the hood of the stroller again.

It's just a camera some would say.. it's almost 2 years old now, a gift from Alan for our wedding anniversary in 2006, right when my old one conked out on me.  I'm heartbroken.  This camera has travelled the world with me and was always in my purse no matter how bulky it was, helping me to take photos whenever the opportunity presented itself.  Fortunately, I had downloaded all the pictures to my hard drive save for the ones taken today.  Still, I feel such a deep loss over the theft of this precious companion of mine.

I am seriously thinking of just getting the same one instead of "upgrading" to a newer version.  I was quite happy with how I had started to get to know this camera  better.  It's now half the price of the original selling price when it first came out which makes it a bargain.  While its highest resolution is just over 7 megapixels, I'm quite happy with this considering I have never gone higher than 4 megapixels with my photos except in some rare occasions.  For now, I'm contenting myself with the camera of my blackberry curve.  (Another painful sigh..)  Alan is prevailing upon me not to get another one just yet.  He says I can use his but next week, he will be attending a high school reunion with his camera and I will be without one.  (Oops, I WILL have my blackberry which actually takes good pictures up to half a meg in size in it's "superfine" mode.)  I'm paying heed to Alan and will hold off.. for now.

Here's a sample of my blackberry curve's picture capability showing the little tyke posing by the surfboard photo corner: