Mind Moving

12 April 2012

Our friend Joan is moving back to her hometown of Davao City right after graduation. This is round one of her so-called "despidida"

We went to the Mind Museum, because:

 a. Manila Ocean Park is too expensive for us

b. The museum has discounts for public college students... and we're about to graduate.

 

We liked the exhibits and experiments inside, but I liked the Science Park best.

I have a lot of pictures of Gelmer. Either everyone lese was camera-shy or she deliberately makes herself available to photograph.

Badass Aileen testing the Mobius strip slidey-thing.

A lot of things happened after. We had a jaunt under the Trees of Burgos Circle with small dogs and their yayas, we went to the other parks of BGC, and stole the patintero court from little kids in a playground.

We talked a lot about the things we're going to do after graduation. It's funny because even though I haven't graduated yet, I already feel like I'm drifting into a world where there are less rules and more things can happen. It excites and scares me at the same time.

Playing in the Mind Museum and the BGC made me feel like saying goodbye to part of my life that's more relaxed. It's like the world was telling me to enjoy things while I can.

I plan to do exactly that.

Photowalk: the Quezon City Memorial Center

14 November 2012

The schedule for all things thesis was handed out yesterday and I feel the anxiety creep over me slightly. I admit that I'm a little behind and the schedule was overwhelming.

So I planned a small solitary photowalk for myself today. I originally planned it to be in UP because I have a morning class, but I'm a little sick of UP at the moment so I decided to go to the Quezon City Memorial Circle.

It almost didn't push through because it was so hot. There were tons of clouds in the sky, but none of them seemed to want to block the sun.

Since it's not a weekend and it was 10 o'clock in the morning, not many people were around. The park was very quiet compared to the weekend family rush and afternoon tambay hours for younger people.

Some high school kids were practicing sabayang pagbigkas.

I visited the flower garden. The last time I was here, it was still new. I had hoped that improvements have been made.

The plants are still intact, but I was a little disappointed because some areas were overgrown and lacked maintenance.

They had a small pond inside, which was clear the last time I visited. Now the surface is covered by algae. I'm not sure if the green muck is healthy for ponds. I don't know if there are still fish here.

It's a bit dirty too.

The plants are thriving though, and I guess that's the important thing.

Ah vandals. Kayo talaga.

I left the flower garden and took a look at the newly paved lane aligned with Quezon Avenue.

Then I looked at to my left and was surprised to find a legit pond, which was not there the last time I visited.

There are huge tarps bearing the photos of Filipina photographer MM Yu and French photographer Lea Eouzan for the month-long exhibit KM1.

I think I spent more than half an hour beside the pond.

I am glad that there is something like this that people from all walks of life can enjoy. The park is not perfect, and it cannot serve the whole city, but anyone can see the effort. Besides, Quezon City is facing an unimaginable number of problems today, a huge one is the growing population of informal settlers. It is better if the government prioritize those problems first before overhauling its parks and recreation.

 But I do hope that there will be more places like these in Metro Manila, where people can come in and enjoy themselves without having to pay anything, where they can go with their family and friends and lovers and just be with other people from other walks of life---people whom they share a city with.

I am also glad that even though the park is already established, there are still things to look forward to in the future.

See you later, QC Museum!