A thousand jewels

Picbits

JEWELS. Limit not yourself, for in reaching for jewels glimmering high above us, we gain a thousand more.

I got sucked!

Blood went streaming out of my veins...passing through a narrow pipe...coursing towards a vessel...

Yes, I got sucked. Not by a vampire, though—thank heavens.

On June 20, 2013, for the first time, I donated blood during the mobile blood donation activity of the Provincial Health Office of Pangasinan in partnership with Red Cross. Honestly, all I planned to do that day was to cover the activity held at the Provincial Hospital in San Carlos City, Pangasinan for a news report—not to donate blood. That wasn't because I was selfish and didn't want to share my blood to those who might need it. I just thought I wouldn't qualify because of my underweight look.

But the weighing scale said I qualified, having a total weight of 55 kg, so I went to the registration area and signed the form. Further screening revealed that my blood pressure was (and is) normal, therefore I am neither hypertensive nor anemic. Thank heavens again.

The bloodletting activity was conducted in the conference room of the hospital where 77 good Samaritans, including me, donated 450 ml each of blood.

Drenched with dryness

Picbits

DRENCHED. The coldness enveloping us. The emptiness embracing us. The distance that vows to heal the wounds.

When you reach this age

When you reach this age, you think you've got everything in control. You've grown mature enough to battle the world, so there you go engaging in a head-on collision with the way people once lived their lives in accordance with the norms of the society. The good news is you're a challenger. The bad news is you're fighting against the people close to your heart, your family.

When you reach this age, you think there are no boundaries. So, you move, move and move until you hit an invisible wall.

Fragile like jars

Picbits

FRAGILE. Jars. We're like jars. We're fragile. We get broken. Damaged. Smashed into bits and pieces. But unlike jars, we can fix ourselves. Gather the pieces together. Stick them together although we know some parts get weaker than they were before.

Something fishy

Pangasinan, particularly Lingayen, is very famous for its trademark product--bagoong (fish sauce). For health conscious individuals (and those who despise its smell), bagoong should never be on their table, but for Pangasinenses, this is a staple in every meal that can be a perfect match for its salty taste.

So, how is this very famous sauce that every Pangasinense is craving for being produced? That's what I intended to discover as I featured the product on Talk TV Global's Traveldotcom.

Bringing a cameraman (Kuya Rom) and our brand manager (Reg Agsalon) with me, I visited JB Bernal Bagoong's plant and asked the owner and manager, Daniel Jun Bernal, to discuss with me and my team the process of bagoong making.

This is what greets us as we enter the factory. It's clean and doesn't exhibit any sign of grossness. The smell? The bagoong scent is present of course, but it's not a stench that you will surely hate. As Sir Jun puts it, you can smell the fish sauce's "aroma."

Preparing for the taping. That's Reg Agsalon, Talk TV Global's brand manager, on the laptop and Kuya Rom, our videographer/editor

New project

Picbits

Probably out of stress one afternoon, I thought of putting up a new project here on my blog. I've been active on Instagram lately and been loving staring at photos taken in different places, at different times. They tell stories, touch hearts, stir emotions, fuel dreams and desires. There I thought, what about sharing my stories on my blog through pictures? It's not a unique concept, but still a great idea and thing to do, so I'm now putting to action.

I call this project 'Picbits.' Pictures are also tasty bits of life that tell and stress reality and stimulate our mind to imagine fantasy. The subjects don't move, but the whole picture move us. Well, this is another part of me which I am sharing with you. Here are sample photos I posted on my Instagram profile.

SPACE. Something about the day I took this photo got me staring far beyond the subject--something that got into my ego and pumped up my fighting spirit.