traffic. lps. concert. labor day. sillhouettes.

we had a long weekend last week - 01may being labor day. so we drove up north to visit the kids' grandpa and grandma. the plan was to take the trip early morning but i slept late hence it was already 8am when we left metromanila. we didn't hit any traffic until that dreaded market in one town in pampanga - not to mention that there's a church on that same area. filipinos are generally passive people - usually. some 2km away from that town, we met the traffic... we were moving 0kph :P the road is called gapan-olongapo and it's just a two-way road. when there's a very heavy traffic as what we hit that day, you'll start to see vehicles taking the 'emergency road' - that's the 'sidewalk' and its just bare ground/earth. well, the thicker faced drivers will not take the 'emergency road' and will just start a counterflow (i think coz they have better and more expensive cars/trucks) - unmindful of the oncoming traffic - they were trying to make their trip 'easier' and making others life miserable - and i thought filipinos are courteous... yeah right! yup yup - that's how it is here. as some foreigners say - filipinos are MAD drivers. i think they nailed it :P we were stuck there inching our way for almost an hour - i'm not really sure if those thick faced drivers saved time using the 'faster lanes' or they just made our trip longer... some cars chose to stick on the right lane. vehicles coming from the left and right will just try with their cunning ability to cut to the 'proper lane'... but i won't allow them to do it in front of our car :P anyway, somewhere in front of us - there are those with the same sentiment and we were able to push thru leaving the other cars stuck on their 'alternate lanes'. confused? come visit zambales or pampanga on morning of saturdays or afternoon of sundays during the summer and you'll see what i mean. anyway, here's a shot of that car in front of us that "stood ground" with us (should have taken the pic when the vehicles are all over us :P) :

and after that grueling drive inch by inch, we passed by the market area and i noticed that there's a wedding on the church... drat! that's why :P

and after another hour, we reached Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority or Subic Bay Freeport:
a short tunnel along the way:
Industrial park

and in just a couple of minutes, we were home (just outside sbma).

checked some LPs waiting for me:

yup, that's cowboy junkies' trinity session. one is made from canada and the other one from usa.

finally, my mobile fidelity hot august night!


night time, my mom told us that there's an earthday show back at sbma so we checked it out. apparently there's a free concert:

we stayed and finished 'radio active sago project's' number and we called it a day (night?). temperature in subic was 36degC. as one of ella fitzgerald's song goes: it's too damn hot!
<- the concert area with two large viewing screens

radio active sago project in action:


may 01, we headed south back to our house, this time with no traffic =)

somewhere at pampanga again, saw this truck with its 'simple but rock' banner... hmn... simple but rock... simple but rock? i don't get it :D pls lemme know if you get it :P


toll gate end of north luzon expressway, lots of military personnel guarding the gate. on the look out for rallyist that might come from the provinces. end of the day, the rallies were peaceful and not much was reported that day in the news


and 4 days after, woke up this morning and saw our two kids busy looking thru the window at the baby next door... blue sky... sillhouettes... couldn't resist and here it is =)

didn't care about the framing... just wanted to capture the moment.
bliss :)

a dismantled lens
i have two minolta rokkor md 50mm/f/1.7 and the lenses are already infested with fungus. intrigued on how i can access the inner lenses so i can clean them up with a glass cleaner, i disassembled the inferior one. look at the upper left corner - that's how the lens should look like when assembled:
now... how to put those parts back together??? :D