The aches and pains of getting a new camera

Una sa lahat, nais kong magpasalamat kay Nino Frigillana dahil sya ang nagsend sa akin ng price list.

Ang tahi-tahimik ng buhay ko bago ko nareceive yang price list na yan.  Masaya na ako sa Olympus-C770 ko na 4mp, 10x optical zoom, ISO400, 30fps movie, manual mode, at 1.8" LCD.  Oo nga at talagang yung S3IS naman talaga ang gusto ko, wala pa lang sya sa minamahal kong Pilipinas nung una kong nabili yung Olympus.  At isa pa, mahal pa sya nang makarating sa local market. 

Makalipas ang 8 buwan - ayun na nga, sinend sa akin ni Nino ang pricelist ng mga cameras na inaalok nya.  I saw that the S3IS' price dropped nearly 20% against mall price and In an eye blink, I was selling my Olympus like crazy! Tawag dito, email dun, sales talk dito, sales talk dun! Ilang araw din na wala akong ibang kaharap kundi ebay at tipidpc.com! After 2 days, I sold it to a friend, and also after 2 days, nagback-out sya.  Emergency naman kaya no problem sa akin.  Na-dengue yung pamangkin and she needs the money back.  At nagpatuloy ang aking buyer haunting…2 days passed, 3 days passed, I was getting a bit frustrated…sana hindi ko na lang nakita yung pricelist!!! But I'm not about to give up buying the camera of my dreams just because I cannot sell my old one! I tried applying for a salary loan sa SSS pero kailangan pala ng SSS ID na wala naman ako and it'll take 3 months before getting one!  Ibebenta ko na nga lang!!! Bwisaaaaat!!!

So, after a few days, si JM na magaling, sinuggest na market-in ko daw yung mga single pa at siguradong makakwarta.  JM, hulog ka ng langit! (nilalangaw pati puwit!), dahil nabenta ko na SA WAKAS, sa isa naming friend and colleauge from another office.  Para akong nabunutan ng tinik ng malaking malaking dilis. 

I thought it was smooth sailing from there…but purchasing the camera was much much painful-er.

I ordered the S3IS from ebay (sorry Nino, hehehe).  I even called this guy up just to ensure they deliver the item right away.  After a few minutes, he called back.  "Sir, naubos na pala ang stock namin. Bukas pa ng 10am ang dating ng bagong batch".  So I said sure, ok lang, no problem, can still wait for another day.  11am the next day came, I told myself ok lang kung medyo tanghali ideliver, konting oras na lang naman yun.  At 12nn, I received a text, "Sir sa isang araw pa ang dating ng bagong stock.".  (evil laugh) Hihihihi….I can feel my eyes twitching.  Sa bawat araw na lumilipas, sumisikip ang dibdib ko, sumasakit ang ulo, hindi ako makatulog…O S3…bakit kay lupit mo? AT dumating na ang araw na aking pinakahihintay.  Muntik ko nang ihagis ang cellphone ko nang mabasa ko ang message nya, "Sir, bukas pa ng umaga ang dating".  Walanjow, bakit kailangan kong mag-tiis ditow? Madami pang ibang nagbebenta bukod sa kanya, at instant delivery pa!  Nag-reply na ako to withdraw my order from that maderlaber.  I once again had tipidpc.com and ebay in my face the wholeday.  I ordered from another guy at ebay.  He promised to deliver the item that very night.  7:30 he said.  May pakunswelo din naman kahit nadelay ng ilang days dahil naka-discount ako dito sa seller na ito (salamat sa tulong ni divisoria at baclaran where I learned bargaining skills).  I texted him at approx 7:15pm to tell him my preferred meeting place.  He replied back, "Sir, late ka na nagconfirm, hindi na umabot sa delivery boy namin"…Masakit din pala kapag inumpog mo ang ulo mo sa plywood na pader ano? O SIGE NA NGA! PAYAG NA AKO! ISANG GABI NA NAMAN AKONG HINDI MAKAKATULOG NG MAHIMBING! WHOOOSAAAAHHHH! Kinabukasan ng umaga, I texted him that we meet at Megamall and that I'll be there the whole afternoon, so just text me whenever. "OK" he said.  Yes, you guessed it, hindi na naman sya dumating.  Ang walang hiyang yun.  Typhoon "Reming" daw kaya nahihirapan ang delivery.  So that weekend, I prayed like I never prayed before…"…bakit po ayaw nyo akong bigyan ng bagong camera? is it because you're teaching me about contentment? naibenta ko na po kasi yung Olympus kaya wala na akong magagawa kundi bumili talaga ng bago…please give me a sign on monday…"

Monday, I checked again tipidpc.com and ebay, nothing new.  I went to take a look at forums and read about S3, nothing that I haven't read before.  Then suddenly, a new post came.  This guy was replying at an old post, comparing EOS and S3.  He compared specs and he compared the PRICE!!! OH MY GOD!!! THIS IS THE SIGN!!! He gave out a shop name, a location and a price, even lower than the price I bargained for! IS THIS A REALLY REALLY GOOD SIGN OR WHAT??? So, hindi na ako mapakali sa upuan ko.  Nagpaalam (Nagsinungaling is more like it) ako sa bossing ko, sabi ko punta lang akong banko.  Hindi na ako nagatubiling puntahan ang shop na iyon, on an office hour, dahil hindi ko na matiis ang sikip ng dibdib at at sakit ng mata ko (I'm always like that when stressed).  Kakabukas lang nung shop when I arrived.  There were about 4 guys who came after me also looking for the S3.  When that oh so beautiful box was handed to me I felt like I was floating in air.  I felt really blessed that time because THERE WAS A REASON why the deal with ebay never came through.  And to put a cherry on top, I even got a great deal with the rechargeable batteries and charger! This just proves that everyday God is leading me to something better!

Saaaraaapppp ng pakiramdam!

Gundam-it! (Strike Gundam, 1/144 FG)

This was the cheapest among my previous models.  Konti lang kasi ang parts nya and it was also on the previous line of gundams (gundam seed).  Kung alin pa ang pinaka-konti ang parts sya pa ang pinakamatagal kong natapos! It was with this model where I first tried gluing and sanding parts so you wont see seam lines like this…

 you hardly see that strike's leg is 2 parts combined…no seam lines…good

 big seam lines on destiny gundam…bad

Also, with my brother insisting, I didn't use one sticker on this one.  Even the eyes was hand-painted.  So, no coke or cofee before painting to avoid twitching! Another thing my brother insisted was to apply Johnson's Wipe and Shine before putting panel lines so that the base paint is protected. 

O HA…O HA…aminin mo man o hindi, may imrpovement na ako! Everything looks clean, thanks to masking! (Tamiya masking tape costs PHP 98 per roll! OUCH!)

Gundam-You too! (Destiny Gundam, 1/144 FG)

Second attempt…kailangan kong mag-improve!  Lumalaki na ang gastos ko, dapat gumanda naman kahit papaano! With this model, I tried to be more patient.  This is the first time I used spray cans for big parts.  And my wife, Trini, helped out with this too! Sya ang nagpintura ng pak-pak, and it turned out OK.  I also invested time in taking photos of this one once finished. 

Improving diba?! DIBA??!!!

Gundam-You!!! (Force Impluse, 1/144 FG)

Since late August this year my brother and I started gunpla modeling.  Since hindi naman namin balak i-career, we settled to use only hand brush and spray paint for big parts.  Anyways, my first attempt was with "Force Impluse", #1 sa collection ng Gundam Seed Destiny.  Lesson learned: Don't be too excited or you'll end up over spending! Firstly, I bought Acrylic paint tubes at a local bookstore sa MOA.  Sa excitement ko, I immediately hand painted the parts and evantually failed miserably because the damn paint won't stick! (later found out that you need a PRIMER para smooth ang hand-painting) Sa tigas ng ulo ko ipinilit ko pa din! I even tried submerging parts into a pool of paint and hanging it out to dry.  Ayun, pangit din kinalabasan.  Hehehe. Muntik ko nang itapon.  Nanghinayang din ako kaya tinanggal ko na lang pintura (acrylic paints is waterbased so cleaning is easy).  To make the long story short, I invested some (most?) of my worktime researching in the net and found out tons and tons of tips, on how to properly remove parts from the sprue, how to prebuilt, how to paint and even how to pose your model! My brother did this too so we planned what other stuff to buy and started to paint the proper way.  So, here it is.

Hey, I didn't say that I was an expert right away! Mukha daw 12 yrs old ang gumawa sabi ng isa namin officemate. hehehe.  Tanggap ko naman eh.  There's still a lot of room for improvement!

At last!

Pagkatapos ng ilang buwan, sa wakas natuloy din ang linteeek na blogspot na ito! I tried to make one a few months back (naiinggit kasi ako kay jeremy. hehehe) but it's taking freaking forever to upload pics! found out later on na blocked pala sa firewall (websense-nonsense) kaya nagkakaproblema.  Buti na lang at napakisuyuan namin ang aming bossing to let this one pass…para naman may nagagawa ako sa maghapon bukod sa pagtatrabaho.  Well, anyways, tapus na yun…eto na nga at nakagawa na rin sa wakas! I'll try to keep on posting stuff na mahuhukay ko pa sa aking memory bank.