UTLANAN

I was taking pictures especially the landmarks in our town for my friend who has been off the country for almost 15 years. I started it with our barangay bridge, the one that connected Sitio Cansurima and Sitio Fishpond to the mainland. I'm talking about my birthplace here, Brgy. Pontod, Hilongos, Leyte. It was the shot that attracted me to have it in paint. More often than not, I like to paint views with reflections. Utlanan means boundary. This painting measures 18" x 22" with frame and its medium - watercolor.

This painting was asked by my sister and I gave it hesitatingly because we're planning to have it in our planned exhibit which was not realized. Unfortunately, she gave it to her costumer for FREE. If I had known that that would be the case I shouldn't have it given beforehand.

Reflection

I was in Leyte on mid-september for a weekend's rest. Having borrowed Steph's (high school batchmate) camera, I began strolling early in the morning to take some pics and feel the cool breeze at the seashore. On my way home, reflections of the videokehan's posts in the nearby creek got my attention. So I went down from the bridge where I was situated and have myself positioned in my desired angle. After noticing that it might be great to create a wavy reflections, I threw some stones in the water and *CLICK!

Since I'm fond in watercolor paintings thus, I painted it for my personal collection.

who are you?

name: ruben velarde rallos
nick: maldito, timoy
hometown: hilongos, leyte
birthday: january 29, 1979
elem: hilongos south central school
high school: the sisters of mary, talisay city
college: UV architecture
occupation: creative marketing staff
company: markdavid export services, inc.
www.markdavid.net ; RP KOHLER Interiors
website: http://www.sms-cebu.org
fave color: black and white
fave music: any
fave movie: erin brokovich
fave book: world history
sports: basketball, billiards, airsoft
hobbies & interests: reading books, paintings and sketchings, music & photography

my ATTORNEY

After living what I felt was a "decent" life, my time on earth came to the end. The first thing I remember is sitting on a bench in the waiting room of what I thought to be a courthouse. The doors opened and I was instructed to come in and have a seat by the defense table.

As I looked around I saw the "prosecutor." He was a villainous looking gent who snarled as he stared at me. He definitely was the most evil person I have ever seen. I sat down and looked to my left and there sat My Attorney, a kind and gentle looking man whose appearance seemed so familiar to me, I felt I knew Him.

The corner door flew open and there appeared the Judge in full flowing robes. He commanded an awesome presence as He moved across the room. I couldn't take my eyes off of Him. As He took His seat behind the bench, He said, "Let us begin."

The prosecutor rose and said, "My name is Satan and I am here to show you why this man belongs in hell." He proceeded to tell of lies I told, things I stole, and in the past when I cheated others. Satan told of other horrible perversions once in my life and the more he spoke, the further down in my seat I sank. I was so embarrassed, I couldn't look at anyone, even my own Attorney, as the Devil told of sins even I completely forgotten about. As upset as I was at Satan for telling all these things about me, I was equally upset at My Attorney who sat there silently not offering any form of defense at all. I know I was guilty of those things, but I did some good in my life - couldn't that at least equal out part of the harm I'd done?

Satan finished with a fury and said, "This man belongs in hell, he is guilty of all I have charged and there is not a person who can prove otherwise."

When it was His turn, My Attorney first asked if He might approach the bench. The Judge allowed this over the strong objection of Satan, and beckoned Him to come forward. As He got up and started walking, I was able to see Him in His full splendor and majesty. I realized why He seemed so familiar; this was Jesus representing me, my Lord and my Savior.

He stopped at the bench and softly said to the Judge, "Hi, Dad," then He turned to address the court. "Satan was correct in saying this man sinned, I won't deny any of these allegations. And, yes, the wage of sin is death, and this man deserves to be punished."


Jesus took a deep breath and turned to His Father with outstretched arms and proclaimed, "However, I died on the cross so this person might have eternal life and he accepted Me as his Savior, so he is Mine."

My Lord continued with, "His name is written in the Book of Life and no one can snatch him from Me. Satan still does not understand yet. This man is not to be given justice, but rather mercy."

As Jesus sat down, He quietly paused, looked at His Father and said,"There is nothing else that needs to be done. I've done it all."



The Judge lifted His mighty hand and slammed the gavel down. The following words bellowed from His lips... "This man is free The penalty for him was already paid in full. Case dismissed"

As my Lord led me away, I could hear Satan ranting and raving, "I won't give up, I will win the next one."

I asked Jesus as He gave me my instructions where to go next, "Have you ever lost a case?" Christ lovingly smiled and said, "Everyone that comes to Me and asked Me to represent them, received the same verdict as you, "PAID IN FULL."

Togetherness

“Love thy neighbor as thy self.”, “Go to the four corners world and multiply.” sounds biblical but we made it real. (lol). Living in the same place – Brgy. Pontod, Hilongos, Leyte, although I studied in Cebu (The Sisters of Mary School - Boystown) during high school and college days, we've known each other well.

Distance may seems to hinder what we've started but not our will of keeping it to grow firmly. Scarcity of time being together may opted us to part ways but not the promises we have made. Midst April of 1995 (nakalugar kay bakasyon), the new found love bloomed and its existence guided our way to be real in our inner self, made us strong and gave us experience which eventually help us survived. I was a freshman architecture student that time and she was a sophomore in high school. Setting studies as our priorities, we both inculcated in our minds of having a cherry-hit goals and ambitions. Encountering humps our roads had brought, we're still holding on in each others caress.

For almost 11 years of our relationship, we finally settled down of having our own family to raise. We've been bonded as one by the sacrament of matrimony last January 6, 2007 @ Immaculate Concepcion Parish Church, Hilongos, Leyte. A perfect day for us that even heaven poured its shower as blessing on us (pero ulan man jud to).

We've been blessed by a daughter that was born on the feastday of Mama Mary last September 8, 2007. My wife named her Ynez Alexandra.

making an impossible!

Just showing how keen observer you can be. This image may look like a normal figure but scrutinizing every detail would definitely tells you that it is not. Your mind has been deceived by this optical illusion.

An optical illusion is always characterized by visually perceived images that, at least in common sense terms, are deceptive or misleading. Therefore, the information gathered by the eye is processed by the brain to give, on the face of it, a percept that does not tally with a physical measurement of the stimulus source. A conventional assumption is that there are physiological illusions that occur naturally and cognitive illusions that can be demonstrated by specific visual tricks that say something more basic about how human perceptual systems work. The human brain constructs a world inside our head based on what it samples from the surrounding environment. However sometimes it tries to organize this information it thinks best while other times it fills in the gaps. This way in which our brain works is the basis of an illusion.

If you see some artworks that visually seems like the real image but actually differs from the real one like it is distorted, it is an optical illusion.