I am not a bag

It's a rainy wednesday afternoon. I took a break from work and opened my facebook account. At the home screen, I saw that my sister was tagged in an album.

Note: Once you are tagged in a photo, when people look at your pictures, the photo that you were tagged will appear in your "photos" .

I scanned through the albums, and there wasn't a single photo of her. It was an album of signature branded bags for sale.

Looking at it, It got me into thinking the reasons why we create our facebook profile and how it became a universal website (except in china, where facebook is banned).

Facebook is use to connect with other people.

Facebook is to tell other people of what is happening with our lives now

Facebook is boast to other people of our latest travel pics, to boast to other people of pictures that we look good in. ( most of us even have different albums to arrange our photos).

Now as I scanned through the album where my sister was tagged into. It was purely 127 pictures of different overpriced bags.

When I checked into my sister's profile page, It says that she has 200 photos. When I clicked the photos, they were different photo collections of travel pictures, family pictures and some beach pictures. Since she was tagged in an album full of bags, there were at least 13 pictures of different bags included in her photos.

I wondered if she is okay that she became an overpriced ordinary looking bag in 13 pictures in her profile.

What's worse is that because of a lot of fake designer bags being sold. These albums want to make sure that their bags are "authentic" they also post pictures of the receipts and some helpful logos to attest to the bag's "authenticity".

Now check your profile pictures, you might be a designer bag now, or maybe a korean fashion dress!!!

Just thinking aloud

(This is my sister, turned into Ferragamo)

(she is not fake. Check the logo)

(still not convinced? she was bought in a ferragamo store. look at her receipts)

It's sunday and It's Complicated

It's sunday.

The first Sunday I challenged myself to update more often.

Nothing much really happened this week. Though there were occasional mood highs and lows during the week, but nothing really significant worth noting down.

Right now, I am just trying my best to let the feeling of excitement of going to Africa sink into me. Last night I printed my Tickets and Visas just to let it all in, but it didn't really do much.

Today I booked my accommodation for my first night in Kenya. ( I normally just book an overnight accommodation and feel the place and see things from there.)

For this trip, I am planning to try some homestays, wherein in locals would open their house for travelers to stay for a minimal fee. I got an account via www.homestayweb.com for me to contact families willing to accept me in their house. This for me is a good way to experience the local's culture and way of life.

After I paid for my accommodation I got a confirmation email and a follow thru mail offering for an airport pick up.

Hi JP

Thank you for booking accommodation with us. Your reservation for a double garden tent, arriving on SATURDAY, 3 JULY, for 1 night has been confirmed.

If you would like to book an airport pick to bring you to our camp, this will cost 1,700 Kenya Shillings (for a saloon car) from the International Airport . To arrange this all we need is your flight details (flight arrival time and number). If you plan to make your own way to our camp, please advise of your arrival time, as all rooms, even if previously confirmed or paid for in full, will only be held until 16:00 hours. If your plans change, and you no longer require this reservation, please let us know via the contact details below.

Dinner is served (buffet style) at the camp at 19:00 each evening. If you would like dinner, please advise in advance. For guests arriving in Nairobi after 20:00, it can be difficult to buy meals, even takeaway, so it is good to plan in advance if you think you might like something to eat on arrival.

Accommodation, camp, and travel services can be paid for with cash (Kenyan Shillings, Euro, British Pounds, US Dollars), credit or debit card (visa and mastercard only), or bank transfer prior to arrival. If you plan to use your credit or debit card here in Africa , don’t forget to advise your bank before you leave home. If you are bringing US Dollars, ensure that the ‘series date’ printed on them is 2000 or newer (notes printed in the 1990s are not accepted in East Africa – even by banks).

We have a travel office at the camp which can assist with booking day tours, safaris, trekking, beach accommodation, bus and train tickets and much more. Please visit our website below or email us for further details.

Thank you again for your booking and we look forward to welcoming you to Wildebeest Camp.

Kind regards
Daniel

I am not so keen on getting picked up in the airport. For one, I am not comfortable of someone waiting for me specially if there are flight delays. Secondly, 1,700 kenya shillings is too much! The site says that they are located about 2 km from the airport, and there are reviews saying that the camp's airport pick up is a ripped off money! With this, I am going to brace myself with my bargaining skills to take a cab to bring me to the camp, anyway I am expecting to arrive at 2:24 in the afternoon.

I want to share some photos of the camp I will be staying, which I got from www.hostelbookers.com

(Indoor accommodations are inside the house)

(outdoor accommodations which I will be staying by the garden)

With that, I am starting to feel the excitement build up now!

It's complicated

This morning I got hold of a movie titled It's complicated.

It is an entertaining film. More of a mature sex and the city style. A break also from the usual teens to 20's 30's cast in a romantic comedy which is we commonly see in the movies.

The story tackles 50 year old divorcee Jane and how the romance with his husband rekindled after being separated for 10 years.

I got the notion that hot steamy sex are just good on the first few years of being married. But this story got me to thinking. Does sex actually still exist at 50?

A funny scene was when the divorced couple had sex for the first time after 10 years. After they orgasm, the panting husband touched the groin of the wife, who was also still catching her breath saying " home sweet home!"

Here is the link to the official trailer of the movie

Have a good week ahead

Need to write more

This is it.

I am challenging myself to write more.

I will try to set a day, or every sunday of the week to update this blog. Be it something new that I experienced during the week or something that would just spark an interest in me.

Let me share an interesting email I got a few weeks back.

Here goes:

Dear Jp,

I am the Dallas artist who about a year ago contacted you for permission to paint from your photos. I finally got around to posting some paintings on my Facebook page. You can see it in my "Painterly Musings" album. I hope you like it. It is hanging in a Dallas gallery I co-own! I get many nice comments on it, too. I used to do portraits in oils about 25 yrs. ago and this is the first watercolor portrait I've attempted and I hope to do more.

Thank you for allowing me to be inspired by your talents! I also hope you pursue your gifts. You have such sensitivity in your photography!

Sincerely,
Marianne Phelps

(unedited photo taken 2009)

(painting inspired from photo above)

I hope she did justice to my picture. You guys be the judge.

I have added a small feature on this blog called "fishes" . Please take time to feed the fishes, specially the black one. That is ME.