HOW I PROCESS MY PHOTOS, PART I.

January 15, 2010 at 8:12 pm | Filed under art & design

People have complimented the colors in my photos and some have asked that I share my “techniques”. If any of you have noticed, I have a way of processing them and that I generally have 3 or 4 “color schemes” (that are similar to each other, just some minor tweaking). At first, I was hesitant to share (I still kind of am) because I don’t want to see a buttload of photos with the same colors/processing as mine and because my adjustment layers are a hot mess (when I edit my photos, I just create new layer upon new layer and then save the PSD for future use). However, I am not a greedy person (lol) and I’m all for sharing stuff like this.

A couple of things: This works best for well-lit photographs. My adjustment layers, like I said, are messy, may sometimes be redundant, and are stuff I just came up with by experimenting (and reading alli reviews HUHLOLZ).

So today, I will show you how to do this:

Read the rest of the entry »

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DISHES I’D LIKE TO LEARN HOW TO COOK.

January 14, 2010 at 8:12 pm | Filed under lists, personal

Today, I realized that I have to learn how to really cook really soon. I never found the need to learn anything beyond basic dishes (frying hotdogs etc, making omelettes, boiling rice, promotional tote bags…no, wait) because I’ve always had other people to do that for me (mom, housemates, relatives) and because I have pretty boring taste buds and would pretty much eat anything that’s there. I have the meal preference of your typical dorm-inhabiting college student (yes, I still eat pancit canton with a hard-boiled egg and a can of tuna on the side ’til this day). The problem is I’m (already) 24 and hoping/planning to settle down and start a family with a certain person. I doubt I can serve our future children my tuna pasta for Christmas (basically a can of tuna simmered in some tomato sauce and poured over pasta noodles) and New Year’s.

For 2010, I told myself I have to learn how to make at least one soup dish (I picked tinola). I figure 365 days is too long to just learn one dish (besides, what am I, a slow learner?) so why not make a list of dishes I’d like to eventually learn how to make?

1. Chop suey.

2. Chicken curry. Not really a big fan of curry, though.

3. Sinigang. Not a big fan of sinigang, too, but I think that like adobo, this is a dish everyone needs to know how make.

4. Tinola.

5. Lasagna.

6. Spaghetti and meatballs. Thinking of you, Anne.

7. Fish (or shrimp) gumbo, in the rare event that I end up with freaks-who-like-fish for kids.

8. Menudo. The Filipino kind.

I’m almost useless in the kitchen. I say almost because I know how to wash the dishes!

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MY DOUBUTSU URANAI COLOR/ANIMAL.

January 13, 2010 at 4:16 pm | Filed under memes and such, the helga manual

Came across this while looking up info on orlando resorts (the internet is weird, I know).

You are Gold Cheetah, who possesses feminine attraction under your bold and youthful attitude.
You are very modern up-to-date woman.
Unlike your kindly appearance, you tend to be short tempered and rather too sensitive and sharp.
You are really a clear-cut type of person, and can be hard minded.
When young, you will go straight to whatever you are aimed at, and therefore you may experience clash of ideas with your parents.
You hate compromising, and may wish to quickly leave home and live on your own.
Once you have set an objective, you will put in your maximum effort to achieve the goal.
You will also use anything to get what you want, and this may seem rather attractive and cute to others.
In ordinary every day life, you can differentiate your ideals and reality.
You tend to think hard about interests and calculation.
You are a quick minded person, and therefore can carry out things cheerfully.
You are very humane, easy to get on with, and honest.
Your characteristic is that you look very logical sort of person at first.
Your realistic personality is better suited to stay working rather than to become a housewife.
You will be able to keep both your career and your family.
If you stay just as a house wife, you can be rather too strict on education, and become a nagging mother.

Cheetahs Characteristics and Profile:
1. Cheetahs are challengers who know when to quit
2. Cheetahs like to win outright
3. Cheetahs are extremely positive thinkers
4. Cheetahs want to succeed more than most
5. Cheetahs have a lot of pride
6. Cheetahs are curious and like to try new things
7. Cheetahs talk big and act big
8. Cheetahs like to look cool in front of others
9. Cheetahs jump to conclusions but are well-meaning
10. For some reason, a lot of people with the Cheetah character like barbecued beef

#10 kind of puzzles me.

Find out yours here.

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RED AGAIN, 52 WEEKS.

January 11, 2010 at 9:58 pm | Filed under personal, photos

I’ve been due to retouch my roots for about two weeks now and I finally found a little time to do it last night (after coming home from a long day of power cord-hunting). The last time I dyed my hair, I used something called Zen Auburn; this time, I got a box of Toasted Anise. They look the same, if you ask me lol.

In a week or so, the color will fade to a nice shade of brown.

I’m looking to lighten my brows this weekend.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

Since I am/we are without a router, my brother and I can’t go online at the same time. While waiting for him to be done with his Internets Stuff last night, I got to working on my first self-portrait for my 52 Weeks.

Inspired by a Lady Gaga image I found on Tumblr. I wish my right leg wasn’t bent, really.

So I’m a bit excited for my 52 Weeks, though someone on Flickr said something that kiiiinda makes me feel pressured (haha); more time to prepare for a shot + better camera = Helga must not disappoint! I can only hope, I’m still hesitant shooting outdoors (I’d love to shoot next to metal buildings) especially since I don’t have a “shooting buddy”. Someone needs to get here soon, I’ve been waiting for over a year.

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BAH, ROUTER WOES.

January 11, 2010 at 5:50 pm | Filed under personal

I had a very busy day yesterday! Normally, my Sundays are spent lazing about in my apartment and recovering from Saturday night’s hangover but since I only had five bottles of beer that night (I spent Saturday at Anne‘s, nomming on her yummy pasta and chicken fajitas while a bunch of us watched Pieces, Maria Ozawa tentacle porn (gross), and The Big Bang Theory), my body felt pretty pleasant. Good, because I needed to look for a new router power adapter/cord.

Ridiculous how, after waking up from a nap to get ready for Anne’s, I plug in my router and poof! smoke. I stared at it dumbly while trying not to gag at the smell of bad egg and poof!!!, more smoke. I finally realized what just happened, unplugged it, and looked at my laptop (just in case the entire extension cord short-circuited). Phew, it was just the router.

The unit itself didn’t smell burnt, just the 110v to 220v converter and the power cord. Yay!, I thought. No need to buy a new unit! After asking around The Internets where I can find a new power cord, I told my brother what had happened, read a little about insurance marketing, and then left for dinner.

Come Sunday, I stashed the router, cord, and adapter in my bag and went about town looking for a replacement. Buying a new router was my last resort and bobdamnit, it seems to be my only resort. I went to several shops yesterday and none of them had this:

I was told by the nice guys at Ace Hardware to check Electronics Boutique (after telling them Deeko didn’t have it); if they don’t have it, then I’d have to go all the way to Raon in Quiapo. I think I’m just going to buy a new router and a new extension cord since I no longer trust that one socket.

Don’t laugh but I don’t know how to configure routers -_-

Mercury Retrograde – 1. Helga – 0

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