To Fall 2009

These photos were taken on October 18, Sunday.

Walking through autumn.

Tree on fire.

Seeing through orange.

 

Sneakers and leaves.

 

Colorfully blended.

Album: Shenandoah and Luray

It's a really cold evening here, and I am so glad to be at home on a Friday night and not working late. You might find it funny, but you might get a kick on how I look like while I'm typing this entry. I am wearing my thick blue socks, night robe, warm flannel pajamas, and drinking a big mug of tea. I feel really bulky but absolutely warm. I can't believe it feels more winter than autumn. Sigh, I guess I'll just suck it up and take it.

As promised, here are some photos I took during my trip to the Shenandoah National Park and the Luray Caverns. I also found out that it's time to replace my old camera as it was giving me a hard time during the trip. Also, there were so many shots I took that didn't come out clear; I am so disappointed. I was constantly readjusting the settings, which was awfully annoying. Hopefully, I'll be able to set aside some funds to buy a new camera specially with the Christmas sales coming soon. It's certainly that time of the year.

 These wild flowers were growing everywhere. They reminded me of Bird's of Paradise, but I don't think they are.

Fall is just beginning out here

I was surprised the mountains further were blue. I didn't do any photo enhancement on these photos, and I thought it was amazing.

I like how this lone tree stands in color on its own.

The Reflecting Pool, Luray Caverns.

 

I felt like a dwarf.

 

All shapes and sizes appear everywhere and anywhere.

 

A world on its own.

 

Surrounded by giants.

 

The stalacpipe organ that plays really soothing sounds echoing through the caverns. I heard a lot of weddings take place here.

 

Info on the stalacpipe organ.

The road coming home.

I didn't want to leave, but I'll certainly visit again.

Thoughts On A Chilly October Morning

There are so many things going on, yet I have so little time. The project, that's taken over my weekends and evenings, I've been working on is going well and I'm looking at finalizing everything by the second week of November. I can't wait, but it's moving on forward from here. I am, again, preparing for another board meeting, so the stress is building up every single day. I like the challenge and the stress keeps me motivated, but I am hoping that when all of these projects are through, I am ready to unwind and celebrate the holidays. These days, looking forward to the holidays is keeping me sane. I know that sounds a bit scary.

On Sunday, I managed to hop on to my friend's car and drove to visit Luray Caverns and Shenandoah National Park (pictures are coming soon). It was a wonderful breather from my insane routine. The smell of mountain air, the sight of beautiful fall foliage, and the touch of wild flowers really brought me back to my senses. There is so much life away from work and I've been simply too busy to see it.

Today, as I woke up to a chilly October morning and thoughts of work and holidays fill up my fun deprived brain, I decided I had to simply write.

Happy Wednesday!

Apples, Apples and Apples

 Here begins the Apple picking adventure...

We walked through rows of Apple trees...

Hunting for those perfect Apples ready for harvest...

We found Apples here...

There...

And everywhere...

Some Apples we saw riding a wheel barrow...

What's next?

Warm up the oven

And let's make some delicious Apple pies.

Weekend Recovery

Finally, I got the much needed fun and rest this weekend. Saturday afternoon was spent at the lake park, with my camera and a high school classmate, R. Earlier that day, R and I pigged out at the Filipino restaurant, as usual, and spent the afternoon sitting and chatting at the park. It felt great to catch up. It felt wonderful to be relaxed especially when you're surrounded with scenes like these:

Two skies...

Reflection...

R and I spent the evening at the movies. We saw "Love Happens" and I have to admit that I liked this movie and its message - moving forward.

Sunday was spent apple picking. It's like Farmville in real life, and I'll be posting photos soon. For now, it's time to make some pork barbecue.

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend.

Weekend?

The weekend is almost over, and it felt like I haven't had the time to either relax or even had time for myself. The big project has absolutely encroached on my "me" time. I guess it is a reality I have to face until I got this project pinned down. I'm hoping by December.

On Friday evening, I took my friend F for a walk around D.C. We visited the White House, the World War II Memorial, the Washington Monument and explored The Mall. I've been to the said sites at daytime, but to my amazement, they have a beauty of their own at night. The best part of our walk was sitting at the Washington Monument watching the sunset. From where the photo was taken, I could see the Lincoln Memorial and the Reflecting Pool. Remember Forrest Gump's Reflecting Pool scene?

As I write this post, I'm psyching or preparing myself to get ready for another busy work week. But wait, I've been working during the weekend too. It is as if Saturday or Sunday never came. Where did my weekend go?

Stolen Identity

I don't know when it happened, but the most important question is - how it happened.

Recently, I've become a victim of stolen identity and credit card fraud. Out-of-the-blue, my credit card company calls me at 9 PM alerting me that someone's shopping with my card in wonderful Deutschland. I laughed at it first, and told the operator how could I be shopping in Europe while I'm right here in my living room watching TV. Then it finally dawned on me, oh my gosh, this is serious. Suddenly, panic and hysteria hit me at once. I asked the operator how did this happened? The operator said the criminal or stinkin' low life could have taken my info online or some other means, but most likely online. Could it be from my blog? My social networks? I couldn't think much less breathe.

I am so thankful that my credit card company caught the unusual activity and alerted me right away; I know He was watching over me too. The fraudulent purchase didn't go through, and that my people, yes, I have people, are now watching. When I hanged up the phone that night, I had to question how safe are we really online. The online world has taken bounds and leaps with regards to information dissemination as far as education, communication and research are concerned, but as we enjoy the fruits of such technology, we should never forget that the online world has its own criminals that surf among us - just as the physical world that we walk on. The only difference is, online crimes are much sophisticated and harder to track, but it doesn't mean that they can't be prosecuted. Here's what I believe - Crime always pays. It doesn't have to be this life, but criminals will answer their crimes to a higher authority.

I am obviously upset and angry about this even to the point of even curtailing my online activities. But the point of this post is to remind everyone to be safe online and to be careful with what information we post even our personal photos (yes, even photos are being used for scamming) because anyone can manipulate and use them against us.

Be safe everyone!

Looking Forward To Fall And More

I haven't been blogging for two weeks, but after my sulky entries on midlife crisis, feeling burnt out about work to finding white hair, I felt that I had to step back and redirect my negative energy somewhere else. Indeed, I stayed away from my computer (this was hard) when I'm at home, enjoyed the sun and summer warmth during the weekends, read books on my aging couch until I dozed off, and watched DVDs like there's no tomorrow. My energy level is yet to be charged fully, but I feel that change is ought to happen soon. Like seasons, I know this confusing phase will also pass.

Just as the warm and humid days of summer will soon be gone. Summer 2009 will be a mere memory. I feel that autumn is too eager to arrive as leaves have started to fall. In a few weeks, the temperatures will be cooler and tolerable. By October, fall foliage would have fully arrived in different shades.

Fall is my second favorite season. The air would smell of pumpkin and sweet potato pies, and kids wearing costumes would soon be knocking on my door for trick or treats. I'm more of a trick person, but perhaps I'll be nicer this year (maybe). The bad thing is, whenever I buy bags of sweets for the kids, I'd end up eating them. Is there such thing as a chocolate or candy monster?

I just can't believe how time has flown, but my head is swirling with sweet memories of old and new. I am now looking forward to fall and to what life brings.

Midlife Crisis Already?

Senate and Congress are officially on recess. Actually, recess officially kicked off on Friday last week, but I was still beating a few deadlines. It was only during the weekend that I finally got the time to think, settle my nerves down and looked forward to some slow paced work days. During the past few weeks, I had no time to think and I was too tired and uninspired to write any coherent blog entries. I would have a busy day filled with stressful events but would seemingly fail to write about them. I blame it on the insomnia attacks I've been getting; it felt like sleep has to be forced kicking and screaming just to get a decent shut-eye. The next day, I'd wake up with a throbbing headache.

There were times I kept re-evaluating over and over where my life is heading. Mauling on questions regarding career change, where to live/move next year, leaving everything behind and moving back to the homeland, and trying hard, in fact too hard, to answer the questions, "Is this it?" or "Is this really the life I want?"

Is this an early on set of a midlife crisis? Help!

Books

The lofty bookshelves sag
Under thousands of sleeping souls
Silence, hopeful -
Every time I open a book, a soul is awakened

(Xi Chuan, "Books," New Generations)