Alone in a crowd

I was forced to cave in to the temptation of going to this year’s book fair.

Okay, not really. The only reason I had to go was to renew my ID (which is why I got a haircut earlier in the week) and, because the JCE supposedly had a small stand where they’d be taking all the data (from the old ID, birth certificate, etc.) and ID photos at the fair, I took advantage of that instead of having to elsewhere in the big, scary city. And there I went yesterday (Saturday).

So, against my will, I went to the freaking “book fair” at Culture Plaza and not without grabbing my camera and throwing carefully placing it in the bookbag. If I’m going there, might as well get some photos.

I got into the fair by one of the southern entrances. Right outside Culture Plaza, as usual with this yearly thing, the place is full of food and souvenir vendors hoping to cash in on all the money that’s going around. The one-way avenue that runs here becomes a more difficult one to cross, as cars try to get through the crowd with not much regard for those going from one side to the other. Something must be done about the crowds and vendors outside, but I doubt anything will until someone gets hurt. Oh, well.

As I expected, there were far too many food stands inside, all crowded, and the book stands (which should be the focus of the whole thing) don’t really have a chance of sticking out. My father had given me directions for the JCE stand, so I didn’t have to walk much or ask for directions. It wasn’t so much a stand as it was a two-level pavillion, with some air conditioning.

I had to wait for a few minute before I –along with other three– was directed to the second floor, which was very empty compared to the first. They must have expected the crowds to come pouring in to get their IDs renewed, but all that space was going to waste, probably due to the stolen focus of the fair.

When my turn came, I gave my old ID, two phone numbers, fingerprints and … I wish the photo part had taken less time. The lady was telling me to look into the camera, turn a bit to the left, to the right, head up, head down, do a somersault — okay, I made up that last one. But there was “a problem with the system” (face recognition or something?) and she was trying over and over again, even asked an assistant to try and get the photo for her. I couldn’t stay in the same position for long, and even the guy who was next in line  stepped in to help me (what the hey?).

After several tries, the lady told me that there was a problem and pointed me to this guy, also named Omar, who would give it a try with the data-taking. Again, same thing: old ID, phone numbers, fingerprints, signature (which the lady didn’t take) and the photo took only a couple of tries. Thank goodness. The only piece of data that’s missing is my blood type. I have no idea what blood type I am. I’ll have to pay a visit to the lab near the hospital for that, and apparently deliver the result to wherever they’ll be giving away the new IDs, so they can put that in right away. Sheesh.

When that was done, I thought about going home, but not without taking a look around the place, to see if the whole lack-of-focus situation had gotten better since the last book fair I had attended. I don’t recall attending last year’s, so it was probably the year before when I last went.

Well, the situation seemed very unchanged. Probably worse, as people were going for the food and the souvenirs, and several book stands stood without an audience, even with the supposed bargain prices they would have this year as a consequence of the bad economy. There was a live TV show, airing a book fair special. As soon as host Hermes Meccariello announced that they’d give a “fancy, state-of-the-art” laptop to the best reader, the crowd started to gather around the small live set. Takes a prize to get people to read, it seems (and that’s a very sad thing, book fair people).

After walking around a bit, I went into the Museum of Modern Arts, where Harold Priego (of Boquechivo fame) was presenting several of his works. So, entrance was free and I walked around, camera in hand, to get some good shots of the place. But that’s something for the next post.

Plenty of photos were taken there, but it was time to leave. I got out of the museum, and walked around some more, to see other parts of Culture Plaza that have been taken over by the crowd. Like I said, the book stands were plenty, but only the major ones had more dedicated signs that stood out from the rest. The comic book and children’s books stands had their audience, but I didn’t see many grownups walking around book in hand, or even a quiet place where one could sit down and read.

A couple of wrong turns after that, and after going through what seemed to be the biggest food district of the place, I managed to reach the southern gate from which I had come in. Almost got myself run over while crossing. My fault, in part, but the line of cars was endless and none wanted to give way to one pedestrian. So, I made a run for it and skipped over and around the food stands and quickly headed home.

The book fair ends today. Even though I’m constantly hoping that they move most (if not all) the food stands away from the books for next year’s fair, it doesn’t seem like things will change any time soon, with all the praise for the event I’ve been reading on the papers. Maybe I’ll just skip the next two or three and keep myself away from the crowds, until the better book fairs from long ago make a triumphant return, if they ever do.

For now, this post ends.

Lazy days

Ahh … nothing better than a long chain of lazy days. I’ve spent the last two days in bed, watching TV or just browsing websites (thank you, StumbleUpon, thank you).

After next week, my staycation vacation will officially start, and most of that time will be lazy time. My homepage will see a redesign, sure. I’ll get that much-needed haircut, yes. But, oh, the mere thought of spending a long time doing nothing (after three weeks of doing everything) makes me wish I could fast-forward the upcoming week and be done with those two final exams and the graphic design presentation that are just getting in the way.

Next term, I’ll only have three classes. The final three. Easiest thing ever, I hope. I’ll have to take a couple of courses to make the rest of the required 60 hours in order to graduate and be done with the whole college thing. I can’t wait to see that time when my family will not have to bug me about getting an education, because school sucked for the most part, college is sort of meh and, if I’d had a choice, I would have liked to start working right away. But now, I’m tied down by student credit, which I’ll have to start paying after graduation.

Anyway, back to the whole lazy thing. This is the “Holy Week”, as they call it. Back in school, we’d get the whole week off, but all I get now is a four-day holiday starting Thursday (yesterday). Not sure if the school kids still have it the same, but they’re already lucky to have a whole summer of doing nothing, if they so desire.

I’m wondering what I’ll do following the upcoming term. I can’t do my final project thing until January (something about the September-December term being too short), so I’ll have four months for doing whatever my family wants I want. I hope I can use that time to become better at everything I want to become better at (especially Blender, because it seems I’m perpetually rusty when it comes to it), and use the remaining time to get a well-deserved rest of around 19 years of “education”. Too many years, in my opinion, and not everything (especially what was actually necessary) was well-taught.

As for reading, I haven’t done much of it since The Magic Mountain. Nothing of it, in fact. My motivation has suffered greatly with much of it (and my time) spent on college work, and some lazy time is just what I need, to allow it to replenish, as slowly as it ever does. Maybe after next week I’ll have enough motivation to pick up a pocket book or something.

I’ll see if I can take advantage of the city/town/thing being empty (everyone’s making the most of their long weekend) to take a nice long walk and get some photos. Photos are good. It’s the stuff of memories, second only to the mind (but even that fails sometimes).

Until then (if it does happen) go read some other blogs. They also want to be read, you know!

The unknowns

I was almost late for class today. Almost.

See, this was a one-hour night class and that is all I’ll be having on Wednesdays. As I live close to college (that’s probably why my mother wanted me to go there), I don’t waste money on public transport and just walk there. It’s a healthy habit of mine.

The streets weren’t as busy as I thought there would be. No traffic jam and few pedestrians. After I passed the halfway point, I looked at the date on my cell phone to make sure today was really the day, because I hadn’t seen anyone remotely resembling a college student passing me by.

As soon as I passed through the gates of Mordor, I realized why there weren’t any students on the street: they were all here! Students, old and new, were going around or sitting on the benches, talking, probably catching up to what they might have missed or just trying to figure out where their next class will be (newbies!).

I had double-checked the classroom earlier in the day and didn’t waste my time getting there. I had made it at just in time, walked into the classroom and sat somewhere in the middle, near the back. Then, I gave a quick look around.

Who are these people?

There was not a familiar face in the room. They seemed to know each other, either from school or just from a previous class, but I knew no one. Not a single greeting was directed towards me as I hurriedly picked a seat. On the far end, there were some who weren’t talking, probably sharing my situation. In my bookbag, I had an old notebook and good old The Magic Mountain, which I took out to read.

As I read, I looked up occasionally to see if there were any updates in the no-friends-here situation I had found myself in. Nope. The room was almost full, and I hadn’t read more than a page, when one of the students who had gone out to ask for the teacher’s whereabouts came in to let us know that she wasn’t going to join us today, on the first day, on the one-hour class that took me so much work to get to (after a long period of carefree laziness).

It’s the first class that I’ll be sharing with a bunch of complete unknowns in a very long time. No friends or friends’ friends in the room on this first day, and no teacher to justify the pain of having to go there for just one hour. It seems I’ll have to keep to myself and my book(s).

After the class that didn’t happen, I walked to a more familiar place, the spot between the arts building (building #1) and the, uh … other building (#2). I met some friends there, but didn’t stay long, not wanting to see any more of those unknown faces that populate the place at the beginning of each term, and those poor newbies who don’t know what they’re in for at that place.

I can’t wait to get out of here and get a job because, while I will likely be seeing a lot of complete strangers in my career (whatever it will be), I will get paid. Yes, yes, just thinking that I will be rewarded for working for complete unknowns will make it worth it.

Okay, first college post of the year. There you have it.

Those strange eyes

Okay, what is wrong with this picture?

Apart from it being a religious image in an otherwise non-religious blog, there doesn’t seem to be anything wrong here, right? Just the usual nativity scene. Well, what happens when you use macro mode and get a close-up on their faces? Result:

Is it just me, or is there something not quite right with the eyes? Some of the expressions are actually scary (and the camera has an excellent macro lens, but that’s another issue). Every time my sister sees them, she tries to guess what each one is thinking. What could they really be thinking? Care to provide a guess?

So, as long as you don’t look at them from up close, nothing will haunt you in your sleep. Sadly, I’ve looked at them many times already, and … oh, wait. If you’re reading this post, you saw them, too! Sorry about that, reader(s).

Anyway, that was that for the nativity scene thing I’ve been wanting to post for a while. To make this post longer, I’ll just say what the rest of the day was like.

I spent most of the evening reading, and will probably keep on reading once I’m done here. During the entire day, I’d been having a craving some for delivery food. My mother, using her telepathic abilities, walked up to me as I was reading and suggested we order some sushi. I didn’t hesitate to say yes!, as you might expect.

Since it was just the two of us at home, there was plenty of the Japanese dish to go around. The photo on the right does little good in showing how good it was. After all, presentation is a great part of sushi’s appeal, and I pretty much ruined it by putting in on a plate with little care (not like it’s going to taste any different).

Afterwards, I continued to do some more reading. Even though it was a short chapter, it was a big pile of scientific stuff (anatomy, science, what is life?, among other things) that required slower reading. The following chapter, where I left off, seems to be twice as long but, thankfully, drops the science stuff and has some actual dialogue.

And here I am now, posting this. While you wait for the next post, enjoy this photo of Droopy, who likes to squeeze himself in between the cushion and the couch arm. It’s almost a loldog picture, without the caption.

Anyway, enjoy (and just go away!).

Night lights

So, my Internet died and I could stay online for longer than 45 minutes at a time. Just a while ago, I fixed it. I hope the fix is permanent, as I was getting bored and this blog here seemed pretty dead. It’s the longest I’ve gone without updating it (I think).

But, I wasn’t entirely unproductive in the last week or so of having limited Internet access. I managed to finish this:

It originally started as a vision of something I saw one night, during one of the hurricanes, when the wind blew on the curtains so much that they touched the ceiling from time to time. I wanted to get a photo of that, but it didn’t quite work, so I figured I’d just make a render of it. The concept was nice: a windy night, curtains flying around. But, upon execution, I noticed how dull the result turned out to be, so I scrapped the whole “windy night” idea and threw a bit of sci-fi into it. Now, it’s sort of a UFO-lights thing seen from one’s bedroom. It’s pretty much the same angle I had in mind for the “windy night” scene, and all that it required for the concept change was a bit of lighting adjustment and post-processing (all done in Blender). It’s been placed on my homepage, and having something new in it was one of my goals for this month. Whee …

Anyway, I’ve also made some progress on that evil book, The Magic Mountain. It’s not evil because of its content, but rather because I’ve still not finished it and moved on to the next thing and, as someone said in a previous post, the book is very “slow” (slow reader, slow book, perfect match!). But I’m reading one short chapter a day, and that’s more than I used to. I’m almost wishing I didn’t fix the Internet connection because now the distraction is back (oh, noes!) and I might not read as much.

I’ve not done much of anything else. I paid for college (the upcoming term) a couple of days ago, I’ve slept a lot, worked out very little, done a lot of gaming. And that’s pretty much it. The “sleeping a lot” part has been brough down to “sleeping enough to not be dead” in the last couple of days because someone nearby had the bright idea of getting a rooster, which not only crows in the (entire) morning, but during most of the afternoon. Perfect way to ruin a vacation that pretty much revolves around sleeping.

For the rest of this year, I’ve got a few things in mind. I’m thinking of doing a “year in review” of my blogging (which may or may not happen) and, of course, the obligatory Christmas post thingies (which may or may not suck). While I think up what to write in those, if they happen, I must catch up with stuff I may have missed while being semi-away from the online world.

Now, off you go. Read another blog.