Beautiful.

I’ve always liked taking pictures. I enjoyed capturing various subjects, I had fun doing it.

A couple of months ago, I only captured snapshots with my phone, but the back of my head wanted to put some time into learning how to properly use a camera.

So I did.

I don’t consider myself a professional photographer or any of that sort. I take pictures for fun and I know a good shot when I see one. The picture above is sincerely my favourite shot out of my entire repertoire.

The interesting thing is, I don’t even know why it’s my favourite photo. I don’t know if it’s the overall composition or the focus on the water drops. I can’t say. Maybe It’s the rush of different emotions that I get every time I stare at it.

The picture was taken at a barbecue to celebrate the graduation of The Architectural Technology Department from Vanier College in Montreal.

As you read this, I’m slowly understanding why it’s my favourite shot. I look at the group of people and I see pure genuineness in their smiles. Yes it’s cliché, but it’s the reason why their smile is beautifully displayed; They’ve just graduated, another step done within their lives and summer has officially started. The water drops came from their teacher who erratically jumped in the shot with an open water bottle.

I’m glad I took this picture. It’s going to be a reminder that the path ahead, no matter how long it is, will offer a beautiful reward in the end. We all struggle, that’s how life is made. Think of it, imagine if everything came to us in the easiest way possible. We wouldn’t feel accomplished. “The victory wouldn’t be as sweet” as others would say. We’d lose the essence of achieving and we’d take our achievements for granted.

Lately I’ve been going crazy over a line from Logic’s The Incredible True Story, actually, it’s a sample from a seminar by Alan Watts. It says: 

“And after all, if you do really like what you’re doing, it doesn’t matter what it is –
somebody is interested in everything, anything you can be interested in, you will find others will”

We’re all interested in something. Some of us like numbers, others like physics, some of us find peace over a circle drawn on paper but don’t ever question the things you like, pursue them because there’s always somebody who’s interested in everything.

 

 

 

Volcanic onions to go please.

I don’t see myself as a food critic.

In fact, I don’t know much about food at all.

I was born and raised in heavy Filipino culture. The dishes I mainly came in contact with consisted of rice, rice and more rice. On the sides were traditional recipes such as adobo or sinigang. (beef or chicken tossed around in soup with different flavouring of their own)

Sea-food was a big thing in my family as well, although to this day, I’m very picky when it comes to fish and its subparts.

My girlfriend took me to this restaurant found in the west end of the island of Montreal. It’s called TEN Teppanyaki & Izakaya. It’s a Japanese restaurant that involves the clients eating around a flat-top grill while the cook sparks a show of their own.

The menu carries all three meats. You pick one to your liking or mix two of them. Each set of protein comes with an onion soup, a bowl of rice, fried mushrooms, three shrimps, and veggies; and you see it all being flipped, chopped and cooked right in front of your plate. The awesome thing about this is that the cooks put on a show. They mumble in jokes here and there, while creating live pyrotechnics. The level of interactiveness is what sets this restaurant apart from the others I’ve been to. The whole table simply resonates with smiles and laughter. Its an absolutely great time.

The taste of the food is adjacent to the service they give you. I remember from the first time I’ve put in a slice of mushroom in my mouth, I told my girlfriend that this has become my new favourite restaurant. From the steamy noodles to the rugged yet sublime taste of the samurai beef, its a gastronomic experience I had to keep getting.

During that night, my girlfriend and I never ran out of things to talk about. Not like were in a rut or anything, but our conversations constantly flowed. Anecdotes popped up from each side of the table and the other people at our table never felt like strangers at all. Even if the food was amazing, it was all about the experience.

It was more than just a restaurant, it was a place to enjoy a great meal and take a break from everything else.

Thinking out loud

I constantly visit this viewpoint and I always see the same things. The same rustic and modern buildings, the same roads, the same light patterns…

People come up here to smoke a joint, to enjoy the hike, or to take pictures.

I can’t seem to find the reasons why I come up here.

Every time I look out to this astonishing view of the city, I always get a million of things cross my mind. However, no matter how heavy are the flow of my thoughts, I’m never stressed up there. I guess it’s my happy place. I forget about the bills I have to pay, or the homework I forget to give in. They all seem to be carried away under the chill of the altitude.

Having this view of the city gives me an optimistic look towards what is ahead of me. Every thing turns into its simplest form and it puts me at peace with all of the things that I want to try soon and all of the projects I want to start.

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It’s funny, I told my sister what my future plans were, and she mocked me. She said: “Come on, be realistic.”

I wasn’t mad, or irritated. She didn’t know what I was going through. She didn’t know of all the failures my friends and I had to go through putting this project together. She didn’t know about all the failed attempts of building a team of people who shared the same passion, she didn’t know about how being behind a camera was something I was innately passionate about.

I thoroughly think that I am being realistic.

Running a blog and a Youtube channel isn’t all new to me. I can post every single Youtube video I made back then and all of the Piczo’s I had running.

So, I am being realistic. I’m working on this together with friends who have the same drive and passion as I do. StationNinety wasn’t created through impulse. Yes, we did come up with it in one night, but on a macroscopic level, we all had a phase of messing around with the idea of running a blog; a source of entertainment.

______________________________________

I want to take the time to say that we are more than excited about launching StationNinety this weekend. I honestly cannot put much words into it. We’ve all put sleepless nights working into it, and we’ve all set sacrifices of our own. All the editing, the shooting, the writing, we cannot wait to finally reveal it all.

Incase you haven’t been aware, Our launch “intro” video is going to up this Saturday morning on Youtube as well as all of our social platforms.

Tune in on April 30th.

Once more, for all the help and all the support we’ve got so far, thank you.

Twenty.

20 Years.

20 Years seems to be a long journey to achieve, but time has its own wings.

Just incase you haven’t known, Kobe announced his retirement from the basketball floor last December. Ever since then, he’s been saying goodbye to arenas one after the other.

He was just 17 years old when he was drafted. If you think of it, that is I N S A N E. A 17 year old boy, with his basketball dream coming true STRAIGHT OUT OF HIGH SCHOOL.

Kobe played 20 glorious seasons with the Los Angeles Lakers. He racked in 5 championships, one shy from The Great Michael Jordan.

I admired Kobe.

He was more than a basketball hero to me. He displayed constant fearlessness, no matter what the situation was. You could be double his height, but you could be damn sure that he will go after you. He will put you on the floor and keep you there. He went through every single obstacle. Dislocated finger? He’d pop it right back and drain a contested-three with the other hand, while falling out of bounds.

He would ask for the ball, with the game on the line even when he was just a rookie and much like every single great athlete in the history books, he failed. Shot. after. shot. But he rose from failure. He rose because of his work ethic, his determination, his passion for the game. Tell me, how come every time you nail a shot, whether it’s in basketball or in beer pong or simply just by throwing something in the trash, you confidently say: “KOBE”. It’s because YOU know that in all of the amazing shots ever recorded in the NBA, for the past two decades KOBE was a great part of them.

Who shot that game winner again?
–KOBE.

Who dunked on Dwight?
–KOBE.

Who dropped 81 on the Raptors back in January 2006?
–KOBE BRYANT.

He was great. Great in all of the aspects of the game.

It’s heartbreaking to see that he will be playing one final game. A game that he STRONGLY loved.
But there’s that cliché: ALL GOOD THINGS COME TO AN END.

So before I put on your jersey for one last time,

Thank you. For all of the memories you gave me.
Thank you. For showing me that no matter the occasion, BE COMPETITIVE.
Thank you. For creating moves that I would enjoy mimicking on the hardwood floors.
Thank you. For being an inspiration in life itself. You showed that despite of everything that life throws at you, there’s always a way to get up and fight back even harder.

I never got the chance to see you play. But that’s okay because you left me with a lifetime of memories and life lessons.

Thank you very much for 20 years of pure greatness.

I hope that you enjoy the life after basketball.

Farewell,
just some kid on the internet. 

 

 

A letter to my younger self,

My life today is a whole lot different than what I thought it would be 3 years ago.
I’m not studying to be a nurse and I don’t have the stability I always thought I would have when I graduate from high school. 

Dear 16 year old me,

Congratulations towards earning your High school diploma.
Don’t worry about not having a date for prom. On the other hand, take the time to spend every single bit you have left of high school with your friends, because you will soon find out that you will all take on a different path.

Sure, you’ll be in touch with them, just not in the same way as before.

Congratulations, you just made it into college.
Trust me, it is a fun atmosphere to be in. No more teachers nagging you for homework, you get to schedule your classes to your desire, you can take an all-basketball gym class and you can even order pizza while you’re in class! Cool right? However, you’ll soon find out that going to school for something that you don’t like or aren’t motivated for isn’t as fun. Sure you’ll have a couple of classes that you like, but other than that, your History of Arts class will beat you to the ground. Did I mention that you didn’t make it into nursing? Sorry to bring up the bad news, but you will spend 2 full years of college not knowing what the fuck you want to do. And By the way, you get kicked out after your second year for failing your academic probation. Sorry man.

After being kicked out of school, the minister of education will forbid you from attending any other college for a whole year, but you’ll start StationNinety  with a couple of friends and you’ll ask yourself why didn’t you come up with it before.

Congratulations on the girlfriend,
You will realize that she’s the best thing that has ever happened to you thus far. Yes it wasn’t always easy courting her but you’ll soon see that all the awkwardness, all the hesitations, and all the texting is worth it because she’s going to show you a whole new realm of things you’ve never come across before.
She’s always going to bring the best out of you, no matter what. So don’t take her for granted.

Hang in there man, just know that everything is going to be okay. Yeah you’ll be a year behind but so what? You’ll only be 19 years old. You’ll see that your motivation will shoot through the roof and you’ll slowly accomplish your goals one by one.

I forgot to mention that your love for cars will grow exponentially, and much like the picture you’ll soon understand that life isn’t a drag race. It is a winding path, you just need to hit the apex corner after corner. 

Take care of yourself.
19 year old you.

 

 

 

Point A -> Point B

Why should you go off on a trip this summer?

1. “The Escape”

You’re a maturing young adult. Someone who is slowly having responsibilities and bills to take care of. By all means, summer is the absolute perfect time to put in the hours and set some money aside. The beautiful weather stimulates us, putting us generally into a productive rhythm. However,all the hard working shifts you put in mixed with weekends of going out to whatever form of entertainment suits you inevitably becomes a source of stress and fatigue. Fill up your gas tank, renew your passport, take the time to escape.

Enjoying summer isn’t always in the matter of going out to the city’s biggest clubs or to the casual house party you get invited to, it’s also about escaping all the uncontrollable bullshit that life throws at you.

2. “The Travel”

Whatever “Point B” you decide to reach in relation to your “Point A” takes a certain amount of time to achieve. It could be 6 to 10 hours, or even a full day depending on how spontaneous you want to be. These are valuable amounts of time that you have on your hands to nurture yourself. There’s a big chance that you wont be adding roaming data on your cellphone, so you’ve already done yourself a favour by not letting it distract you every minute. Therefore, your phone wont have any other purpose except for texting and calling. This being said, You’ll most likely open up a book, listen to a different genre of music or contemplate about the different concepts of life.

As a result, you’re getting valuable brainwork and you are greatly reducing your stress levels on the time of your arrival; favouring yourself to enjoy every single bit of the trip.

3. “The Arrival”

The main event. You’ve set foot to new grounds. No more of whatever you temporarily left behind. Your head will constantly turn to every single direction because of the new things that you’ll have the chance to observe. You’ll be soaked into a new culture. Your eyes will glow to the architectural feats that it has to offer, you’ll have the privilege to dabble in with the gastronomy, you’ll meet new people and nonetheless, have a great time.

Much like a dream, it is without a doubt only for a short amount of time, but it’s a short amount that you’ve given yourself to relax, and to slow things down before you head back to reality.

 

StationNinety,