My Oasis

My Oasis http://junmark.multiply.com/ Of the zillions of places in the universe, You have come into my space, Not just a probability but a destiny. I hope the time you spent here is worthy of your name. Wed, 27 Aug 2008 16:05:57 -0000 Sat, 16 Aug 2008 12:08:36 -0000 My Oasis http://images.junmark.multiply.com/logo http://junmark.multiply.com 100 100 My Aviary Last year I was given my first pair of lovebirds. From there, more came from my brother-in-law and from purchases I made so that I had to build an aviary to keep the growing population. This hobby I was able to blend with photography and both keep me http://junmark.multiply.com/photos/album/317/My_Aviary Sat, 16 Aug 2008 12:08:36 -0000 My First Dominant Pied Among the lovebirds in the Philippines, the dominant pied fischer is probably the most expensive (although its price has gone down tremendously lately). The offsprings came from a heavy pied mauve and a slaty mauve pair: 2 heavy pied slaty mauve and a normal slaty http://junmark.multiply.com/photos/album/316/My_First_Dominant_Pied Thu, 31 Jul 2008 13:35:28 -0000 Encuentro Images Taken at an exhibit at the Our Lady of the Abandoned Church in Marikina City organized by the Hermandad dela Sagrada Pasion de http://junmark.multiply.com/photos/album/315/Encuentro_Images Thu, 31 Jul 2008 12:46:01 -0000 Golden Cherry I have been fascinated by lovebirds with edged dilute. The Golden Cherry is a good start for me. Inexpensive but has a lot of potential for http://junmark.multiply.com/photos/album/313/Golden_Cherry Sun, 18 May 2008 13:08:09 -0000 On the Prowl http://junmark.multiply.com/photos/album/312/On_the_Prowl Mon, 28 Apr 2008 13:43:52 -0000 Avis of Avilon http://junmark.multiply.com/photos/album/311/Avis_of_Avilon Mon, 28 Apr 2008 01:42:36 -0000 Master JC Sunday, April 27, Master JC aka Christopher Perez will graduate from the University of the Philippines with the degree, Master of Technology Management. http://junmark.multiply.com/photos/album/310/Master_JC Mon, 28 Apr 2008 01:32:10 -0000 Model Poses http://junmark.multiply.com/photos/album/309/Model_Poses Mon, 28 Apr 2008 01:32:07 -0000 Philippine Scenes http://junmark.multiply.com/photos/album/307/Philippine_Scenes Sun, 13 Apr 2008 12:47:14 -0000 Day and Night http://junmark.multiply.com/photos/album/306/Day_and_Night Sun, 13 Apr 2008 12:46:53 -0000 Agila http://junmark.multiply.com/photos/album/305/Agila Sun, 13 Apr 2008 12:46:33 -0000 Cenaculo: Cast A passion play that has become a labor of love for the residents of RosAnn Subdivision in Cainta, Rizal, Philippines. Each costume lovingly made, armors shaped by hand, lines memorized. A "panata" or vow for the cast to participate in the Cenaculo not only as performers but also as production crews, make-up artists and stylists. A community joined together each year to give the community a play to always remember. And I can attest to the stirring performance of all of them. The audience, mostly young people, sat attentively, a moist eye at certain points of the play, so moving that I felt a lump in my throat despite the fact that I was also busy taking http://junmark.multiply.com/photos/album/304/Cenaculo_Cast Sun, 13 Apr 2008 12:46:24 -0000 Images from Cainta The Good Friday parade was composed of many groups from the various areas of Cainta showcasing their own cenaculo characters. These are some of the photos http://junmark.multiply.com/photos/album/303/Images_from_Cainta Sun, 13 Apr 2008 12:46:03 -0000 Bohol: Escape to Paradise Bohol: seductive and alluring, so peaceful to the body and soul, an eden found. Everywhere you go, there are corals even in the mountains. The Chocolate Hills are in fact mounds of corals that must have existed so long ago when the island was still underwater. No wonder no trees would grow in these mounds. http://junmark.multiply.com/photos/album/302/Bohol_Escape_to_Paradise Sun, 13 Apr 2008 12:45:54 -0000 Faces of Aliwan 2007 Aliwan: A compilation of the fiesta from different regions of the Philippines. Each region showing off their best in a competition well applauded by onlookers, delighted by the show prepared by each region. Below are faces of the some of the hundreds of participants in the http://junmark.multiply.com/photos/album/301/Faces_of_Aliwan_2007 Sun, 13 Apr 2008 12:45:27 -0000 Vigan's Heritage A trip to Vigan is something to do at least once in a lifetime. Especially for Filipinos and foreign nationals of Filipino descent. It is something to be proud of. The cultural influence of Spain is very apparent in the churches and other structures, the houses, the streets. But the Filipino psyche is still very apparent. Vigan is one of the very few places I have gone to where I felt so at home, at peace and happy. The place evokes images of the Filipinos a long time ago, the houses of affluent Filipinos which can be seen everywhere you turn. I could imagine ladies walking around in their Maria Clara's with a Spanish fan in one hand and a parasol on the other. And the gentlemen in their flimsy barong showing off to the ladies. And Filipino food that's a mix between the Spanish cuisine and local delights. And "caratelas" filling the streets and the resounding clippety-clap as the horses pull their loads over cobbled streets. Being in Vigan makes one proud to be... http://junmark.multiply.com/photos/album/300/Vigans_Heritage Sun, 13 Apr 2008 12:45:00 -0000 Sabong A bloody sport using fighting http://junmark.multiply.com/photos/album/293/Sabong Sun, 13 Apr 2008 12:44:07 -0000 Turumba: Dance for Mary Each year the town of Pakil in Laguna celebrates the Turumba Festival. The people dance during the procession, a dance for Mary. Turumba is a town in Spain where the practice originated. People from all over the Philippines come to join in the http://junmark.multiply.com/photos/album/292/Turumba_Dance_for_Mary Sun, 13 Apr 2008 12:44:05 -0000 Boatmen of Pagsanjan I had doubts about taking this banca without outriggers but being with a group somehow gave me the courage to try it. At least, once in a lifetime. It was an experience that cannot be forgotten. And I marvelled at the brute strength of the boatmen, jumping from one boulder to another to guide the banca along narrow passageways going upstream, literally lifting the banca. I could feel the bottom of the banca give way to boulders underneath scraping the bottom. I wondered how the banca was able to overcome all those scrapings and bumping against the boulder. Thank God for the strength and agility of Pagsanjan's http://junmark.multiply.com/photos/album/290/Boatmen_of_Pagsanjan Sun, 13 Apr 2008 12:33:40 -0000 Turumba: Dance for Mary Each year the town of Pakil in Laguna celebrates the Turumba Festival. The people dance during the procession, a dance for Mary. Turumba is a town in Spain where the practice originated. People from all over the Philippines come to join in the http://junmark.multiply.com/photos/album/289/Turumba_Dance_for_Mary Sun, 13 Apr 2008 08:50:33 -0000 Bubbles of Dreams <a href="/photos/hi-res/upload/RhjghAoKCp0AAD8CS681"><img class="alignleft" src="http://images.junmark.multiply.com/image/1/photos/upload/300x300/RhjghAoKCp0AAD8CS681/a%20bubbles%20of%20dreams%20.jpg?et=SIDB6ZGmXgnYszvlY%2BzDOQ" border="0"></a>Last Good Friday, while taking some shots of the Cenaculo parade, I saw this boy nonchalantly blowing bubbles as demo for the toys he was selling. I watched the bubbles as they were blown by the wind. The boy's breath gave life to the bubbles as they emerge from the pink pipe he was blowing. Some bubbles were able to fly so far I couldn't follow where they went. Some bubbles hit something on the way and immediately burst. Some did not fully form into bubbles and the liquid just dripped from the pipe. I thought how those bubbles were like our dreams. When we were young, we dreamed. Some dreams so realistic that we found them easy to fulfill. Some died so soon at birth when we find that they were not realistic at all. Some dreams made us fly to places we never thought we would be. So were my dreams at childhood. So are my dreams today. No matter if they were able to fly or died as soon as they were made, I never stopped dreaming. Never lost hope. Didn't worry too much to what ... http://junmark.multiply.com/journal/item/13/Bubbles_of_Dreams Sun, 8 Apr 2007 12:54:57 -0000 I am Who I am What Your Soul Really Looks Like <img src="http://images.blogthings.com/insidetheroomofyoursoulquiz/room.jpg" height="100" width="100"> You are very passionate and quite temperamental. While you can be moody, you always crave comfort. You are a grounded person, but you also leave room for imagination and dreams. You feet may be on the ground, but you're head is in the clouds. You see yourself with pretty objective eyes. How you view yourself is almost exactly how other people view you. Your near future is calm, relaxing, and pretty much what you want. And it's something you've been anticipating for a while now. For you, love is all about caring and comfort. You couldn't fall in love with someone you didn't trust. http://junmark.multiply.com/journal/item/11/I_am_Who_I_am Sat, 17 Mar 2007 13:43:13 -0000 Rites of Passage <a href="/photos/hi-res/upload/RW1SiQoKCpwAAGkZDmc1"><img class="alignright" src="http://images.junmark.multiply.com/image/1/photos/upload/300x300/RW1SiQoKCpwAAGkZDmc1/i-lorenzo.jpg?et=Y0MxqWelCQEpkC46aaFDkQ" border="0"></a> It seems that every organization or community has some rites of passage. Last Saturday I attended a baptism. Friends of the parents were there together with us, relatives. A party followed and as usual, it was flowing with food and drinks. Baptism among many Christian religions marks the acceptance of the person into the community of believers. Each step of the ritual has some significance and it is designed to remind everyone present of the beliefs that they are supposed to foster. In the Bible, Christ was circumcised which is the mark of a Jew. In college, I underwent a rite of passage into a fraternity - an initiation. We were made to endure so many things including waking up so early in the morning to buy a bouquet of roses to be delivered to a master's girlfriend, or being asked to do something humiliating in front of other students. Besides the physical endurance thing, of course. Wearing a tie everyday during initiation was embarassing enough, but to be asked to si... http://junmark.multiply.com/journal/item/10/Rites_of_Passage Wed, 29 Nov 2006 09:27:07 -0000 A Child's Dream <img class="alignright" src="http://images.junmark.multiply.com/image/1/photos/upload/300x300/RWwq7AoKCpwAAAM7pOw1/Copy%20of%20i-when%20we%20were%20young.jpg?et=4%2BX3yN9sY0A9BLAQcn3sCA" border="0"> While at a beach in Subic, i saw two children, a boy and a girl, seated side by side on the seashore, oblivious of everything else.  As if they were in their own private world.  Watching the waves playing on the water's surface.  Peace was on their faces.  Probably, contentment and happiness in their young hearts. I remembered my first boyish love.  I think it's what they call "puppy love."  She came into the classroom dressed in black, her schoolbag in one hand and a black umbrella perched on her bent lower arm of the other.  She was a vision before my eyes.  I couldn't take my eyes off her as the teacher welcomed our new classmate who suddenly joined us a few months after school started.  Her doe eyes spoke of sadness but her regal demeanor made her so intriguing.  Her pilot-father died in a plane crash and the family decided to move back to the hometown.  She became my first crush and I would take all efforts to see her even on w... http://junmark.multiply.com/journal/item/9/A_Childs_Dream Tue, 28 Nov 2006 12:37:17 -0000 The Water's Edge <a href="/photos/hi-res/upload/RWwOYAoKCpwAADwxwlY1"></a><a href="/photos/hi-res/upload/RWwOYAoKCpwAADwxwlY1"><img class="alignleft" src="http://images.junmark.multiply.com/image/1/photos/upload/300x300/RWwOYAoKCpwAADwxwlY1/i-water%27s%20edge.jpg?et=SkJ7x9HK9kgPkFqsSG%2B5UQ" border="0"></a> There is something about the water's edge that excites, at the same time, terrifies me deep inside. While having snacks with friends in a restaurant beside a lagoon in Subic, I saw this landing with wooden planks which caught my interest. So, I went to have a closer look and found some planks missing or rotting away.  I thought that this was unsafe especially noting that a group of young people was there enjoying themselves a while ago.  Which brought me back to a childhood experience. I was with my sister and a neighbor at the riverbank near our home.  My parents always reminded us not to play there.  But that late afternoon with a heavy overcast, the clouds pregnant with rain, we decided to pick some very colorful snails on the boulders at the edge of the river.  The river was swollen but that did not deter us from getting on the the big slippery rocks.  I strained myself to reach the more colorful snails on the next boulder.  Suddenly, I slipped and ... http://junmark.multiply.com/journal/item/8/The_Waters_Edge Tue, 28 Nov 2006 10:28:06 -0000 Basking in the Light <a href="/photos/hi-res/upload/RVuvpQoKCpwAABr21Lg1"><img class="alignright" src="http://images.junmark.multiply.com/image/1/photos/upload/300x300/RVuvpQoKCpwAABr21Lg1/copy%20-karen16.jpg?et=0GyhwjG%2CAu3qMvp%2COvYK0w" border="0"></a> Yesterday while I was conducting a training, I got an excited message from Chris. He was euphoric.  His grades for the previous semester were enough to merit a University Scholar. After all those presentations and term papers that he had to write, he finished the semester with flying colors.  I called him up during break and he was so excited.  I was very happy for him knowing all the hard work that he had done - juggling work, photography and school. There are moments in our lives when all the hard work that we have done were rewarded abundantly.  Some people would complain that they are so unlucky to have so much workload, or problems, or pain in life.  But they pull through and after all these passed, they realize how stronger and wiser they have become.  One cannot realize how much potential he has until his talents are tested.  A deep river cannot be tested until the water level goes down to the rocks below the surface. Then all the frailties and ... http://junmark.multiply.com/journal/item/6/Basking_in_the_Light Thu, 16 Nov 2006 00:25:22 -0000