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[capture-so-i-wont-forget]

cameras and space

july 19, 2023 | 3:40 PM | obscure cafe, taft manila

hi, i am anji. i have circled the sun 20 times as of writing, another cycle to happen in a few weeks.

i live in manila. i’m in university. i want to become a dentist.

i’m currently trying to find who i am, as cliche as it sounds. i wasn’t given the privilege to have a clear border between youth and adulthood. in my defense, the world was under lockdown so i had different problems other than thinking about growing up.

but now the world isn’t locked nor down anymore. where does that leave me, a 17 year old barely out of high school, stuck in the body of a 20 something person?

i’m still trying to navigate through it. i slip and fall most times but i guess the bruises are medals i should be proud of. albeit, i wish other people would be looking in another direction whenever it happens.

for my 21st birthday, i gifted myself a digicam and printer hybrid. you may ask, “but anji, you already have a phone, why bother buying a separate camera?” well my answer to that is that i like shiny new things. that reason only.

but in all seriousness, in this trial of mine in searching my place, i realized how much valued memories i lost along the way. i simply forgot. i didn’t write it down. there is no solid proof that i existed for that moment in time.

when i took a step back and reassessed whatever this pathetic excuse of a life of mine was, i came to the conclusion that if i wanted to have a place in this world , i have to make it myself. i have to take up the space.

so here i am, fresh from failing an oral exam, writing in a cafe near my home, thinking on how i would kickstart this blog.

with the various projects i have created i highly doubt that i’d be consistent with this one. but hey, at least this is better than rotting in bed, right?

i hope you, whoever you are, enjoys this online diary of mine as i take pleasure in making it.

see you. anji.

#FFC133 #photography #digital camera #photograph #filipino #philippines #aesthetic #amateur photography

[fivepointpalettes]

Sleepless Days 

#aacfe6 | #ffc133 | #e8df5e | #b5db89 | #e0ecdf 

#Palette #Colour palette #Blue #Orange #Yellow #Green

[capture-so-i-wont-forget]

lokal bookstore

captured july 27, 2023 | written multiple dates | written multiple places

the moment i stepped in front of the gates of UP Manila’s College of Arts & Sciences building in faura, ate guard told me “ma’am suspended na po”.

i mean i was aware of the suspension, but my professor was notorious for expecting students to come to class. i was already barely passing! i can’t take chances.

so i opened up my phone, lo and behold, the kind sir suspended today’s class. so i thanked ate with a heavy sigh and headed out.

i was racking my brain with what i should do as i didn’t want to head home and face the wrath of my backlog readings (sad reality of being in college).

but then i remember seeing a large Solidaridad sign when I went home through a motorcycle booking system one time. i immediately saw that it was a bookstore. i was ecstatic when the display flew past my vision

i wasn’t really able to head out to it as it was always bad timing. but hey! now isn’t one— since i’m already here in faura.

it was quite a walk from CAS. i even went beyond Robinson’s Manila. welp, when you’re on a moving vehicle it’s hard to gauge distance.

it seems that i was the only (first of the day even) customer at that time. i usually hate it when this happens as staff often tail me while i’m doing my business. lucky for me they didn’t, but they asked me to deposit my bag, i assume so i won’t be able to shoplift.

fun fact: their sign and store name, Solidaridad, i’d assume is inspired from the propaganda newspaper known during the late spanish occupation in the Philippines. i think it fits the theme of the store.

despite having mostly books of white pages, the library had the scent of old books. i assume it’s because this store opened in 1965. the smell remained and never left.

i am not a person of small talk. i am often at loss with words, especially with strangers. with this and my ridiculous shyness, i wasn’t really able to interrogate about the shop but rather i delved into reading previews of some hardbacks.

the first thing I noticed was that they mostly carried Filipino books, which really excited me. i’ve been having a hard time locating Filipiniana sections in the bookstores i often go, and if there was one, they had limited titles.

no offense to wattpad books, they were my introduction to reading in the first place, however, they are simply shit. shallow plot, terrible writing, and everything in between.

so having a store carrying mostly Filipino books really sparked my interest. i think i took a long time in that store.

i’d say around 80% of their books were in the history genre. there were all sorts of books on a lot of aspects of the country. Indigenous, far off islands, you name it, most likely they have it.

one title caught my eye and that was A History of the University of the Philippines by Fajutagana, L.M., and Cruz-Lucero, Rosario. The reason why was obvious. It was rather expensive though, so I gently placed it back while taking down its name for future purchase.

anyways, after my long interrogation of the store, i decided to purchase two books: Rizal Without the Overcoat by Ambeth Ocampo and Noli Me Tangere by (of course, who else) Jose Rizal, translated by Virgilio S. Almario. i was debating whether to get the english or filipino version of the famous novel but since i haven’t been really reading in my mother tongue, i decided on the latter.

the reason of my choices was that i was taking Life and Works of Rizal, PI 100 for UP people, at the time. i really enjoyed the subject, so it piqued my interest for a couple weeks.

as i write this today, i realize that i want to live a long life— as i have a lot of books i have yet to read, so much knowledge yet to be learned. there’s something poetic in between those lines, maybe it’s truly the simple things that give meaning to our time here.

overall, i absolutely adored this bookstore. it’s just sad that the prevalence of local bookstores has been dwindling. i appreciate the convenience of the large bookstore chains as you could see even the most obscure titles, but i guess there’s some charm when it comes to these small nooks in a bustling city.

please pay Solidaridad a visit! it’s totally a walkable distance from taft (albeit, i am a UP student so I can’t vouch how far “walkable” is to a normal person).

patuloy na nagbabasa. anji.

#FFC133 #digital camera #photography #amateur photography #amateur photographer #philippines #manila #filipino #writing #writer #ano pa ba pwede ilagay rito #kumain ka na ba?