Runny Nose Marathon

I've been sick the whole day. Actually, I've been sick since yesterday, but I had other things to distract me from the runny nose the day before. Two good friends of mine joined the recently-concluded Canon Photo Marathon 2007. Gary and EJ were so cool to have invited me to join them.

We all met at around 7.30 am at the MiniStop in front of the PSE Centre. We proceeded to the activity headquarters at Blue Leaf, The Fort where they both registered. By ten, the first theme was announced: "Modern Metropolis". The participants were to take their photographs in Makati and return by one pm with their entries.

Now, Makati is alien territory for me. Come to think of it, I cannot claim thorough familiarity with any place. Me and directions - we don't agree much. It's a standing joke. But I didn't have to worry about that since the guys pretty much had an idea where they are and where they wanted to go and where to take photographs. I just had to tag along. So easy.

There was a small park along Legazpi Street by the name of (take a wild guess) Legazpi Mini-Park. It was a nice park, grass-covered, with gazebo, benches, a pond with a bridge, gold-colored fish, and ducks. Ducks! I thought of Holden and Central Park and his question on where the Ducks go during winter.

The next lot was also a park with a playground. It was so amusing to see Gary and EJ walk around, sit on the grass, cross the street, and cross the street again. It started to drizzle not long after so we had to take out our umbrellas while walking the streets of Makati. They took pictures of the building, streets, workers. When they thought they had the first theme covered, we went back to the headquarters and had their chosen photos downloaded. Gary chose a picture of the playground with the buildings as a background. EJ's choice was a blue-tinged overcast picture of two highrises.

We had lunch at Market! Market! with two other participants who were EJ's sister's officemates: Zer and Hya. But everyone had to get back by two pm for the announcement of theme two and the bonus round. Theme two was "Life in the City" and the bonus round was "Sarap Maging Pinoy". All photographers were to report back by six pm.

And so off we all went again. The guys took pictures of buses, jeepneys, signposts, sidewalk vendors. We walked in churches, side streets, underpasses, sidewalks, everywhere our feet took us and their cameras could take shots. We got back before 6 pm and had time to loiter outside while waiting for further announcements. They and the other photographers took shots of the nearby construction site against the setting sun. Their output were amazing.

Live entertainment and dinner were served inside. Gary was so patient with me through dinner because I was so hesitant to dine with them. Anyway, we had to wait until past nine for the announcement of winners who turned out to be seasoned photographers who took awesome pictures.

I am so proud of Gary and EJ. It was their first time to join a competition such as this one. They have so much potentials in their craft. And being exposed to these professional talent will enable them to be even better. I honestly, honestly think that they have a really good shot of breaking through this industry. And I'm not just saying this because we're good friends. Although that counts.

There isn't another pair of guys I would have enjoyed walking around Makati with. I didn't feel exhaustion from all the walking. I had a runny nose but that wasn't a big deal, either. I had so much fun watching them take pictures, talking to strangers, eyeing out for prospective angles. Neither one of them lost their good humour. I'm just so glad I've found such cool friends in those two.

That was how eventful my day was yesterday. I had a fever when I got home and was nursing it the whole day today. My movements are so heavy, my nose is runny, I speak with a raspy voice, and there is a constant pounding pain in my head. I'm singlehandedly consuming all tissues in the household. My mother is force-feeding me with citrus fruits and pitcher after pitcher of orange juice. I'm considering to have it IV'd. I'm dozing off every few hours of so. When I'm awake, I watch episodes of Heroes. Early this evening, I turned on my computer to do this entry because I didn't want this to be missed.

I guess I'm too woozy to read if everything is cohesive in this entry. Not feeling well enough to satisfy my OC'ness and to a rereading and revising. If you find anything amiss, just drop me a line below. I'll just be here, sniffing and sneezing while contemplating on having my nose surgically removed.