Winter

You're so cold! I wish I could write more, but I really am not feeling well.

theWEEKEND

Wow, its already almost 1 in the morning, and im just sitting here trying to think of how to start this blog. I want to some up my weekend and explain how good it turned out when it was looking to be a horrible one. Too many ups and downs to count so let me start towards the end of last week.

FRIDAY:
DOWNER- After what was turning out to be another routine week at work, my car decided to suddenly stop working. Damn starter was acting up! I said whatever ill deal with it later, and my mom was nice enough to let me use her Yaris.

UPSIDE: When i got off of work that day, the triple cream bree i special ordered for Lily, ( available online only) had arrived.

Saturday:

UPSIDE: I finally have a saturday off to spend with my loved ones!!

DOWNER: My car is broke, I cant go anywhere like the city especially, and out of all the weekends in the school year, Lily has to have all day class the day im off! UGH!

UPSIDE: PAC MAN whooped that ass!

Sunday:

DOWNER: Woke up extremely late and ended up having to call in sick to work.

UPSIDE: I FIXED MY CAR!!! i fixed it early that day so I had some more extra free time so I was able to pull off a very nice and relaxing picnic with the GF on what was such a beautiful Sunday afternoon. We had sushi, some beer, and that amazing bree I mentioned earlier. All in all, it was such a great weekend.

I love her

Faith

What can I say that hasn't already been said about the upcoming SJ Sharks season? Everything! Because this year, this year is different! This year, there is no more excuses! We finally have a team that we can feel confident about with no weak side empowering that forever annoying sense of doubt. With a new courageous captain taking point, and a respectively feared Goalie covering our asses, our brothers in teal will no doubt tear apart the competition like true Sharks!

I have complete faith in this years Sharks team. So much so, I cleared out my closet leaving only one necessity for the bitter cold that awaits. My Sharks Jacket!

UPDATE!

I cannot believe I never got around to posting for September, ugh, FAIL! Well I am promising myself that I will be updating more frequently, I've just been way too busy to set aside time for this.

So anyway, Like I said, Ive been very busy. Just a few things that I didn't get to post were;
I. Me and Lily's anniversary weekend in lovely San Francisco!
I booked a hotel at La Meridian for us to spend the night in. It was funny because when we arrived to check in, it turned out that an old friend from high school was actually working, so she hooked us up with a nice suite for free! Well then I took Lily and walked her down towards the Pier where she thought we were just gonna check out the local farmers market, but instead I whipped out a pair of tickets to watch the Peter Pan show on Embarcadero. Amazing show! It was a lot better than what I had expected, so I definitely thought it was worth the money they were charging. Plus we were a little tipsy from the mimosas and beer they were serving, haha. Soon after the show, we hitched a cab ride over to Ruth's Chris where we had dinner. Wow, Ruth's Chris, crazy good. Worth every last penny of my $240 bill for two. I couldn't believe that bill, but the time spent with my GF was priceless. When i reserved the table a few weeks ahead, i told them we were celebrating an anniversary, so they set us up with a nice window view, and rose petals laid out over the table, verryyy nice. After dinner we hung out at the bar, had a few drinks to get us a bit passed drunk, and headed back to the room. Ahhh, what a great time!

II.Intuit
So I finally put the apron up. I left Home Depot as a full time employee after 6 long years, and decided to go part time, because I took a better job over at Intuit in Mountain view. Ive only been there 3 days so far, but damn, the past 3 days have been great. i can tell you im gonna love this place. The job sounds good and challenging, im looking forward to actually excelling there and being promoted to somebody important! haha! Plus the past three days weve had free lunch, free Sprinkles cupcakes, and free Gelato in the office. Wow! Not to mention the multicultural Cafe'. Man, this place is on point!

III. Mini Seattle Vacay
So right as I'm leaving Home Depot full time, and before I started my Job at Intuit, I had the amazing opportunity to go and check out Seattle. I did the touristy things such as the space needle, and Pikes place, all really cool. I was caught off guard a bit on how cultured Seattle is, and really how clean it is. It reminds me so much of San Francisco, but just tremendously cleaner, and just about no homeless people to avoid. Amazing place, even more amazing seafood. i really had nothing but seafood the whole time I was there.

Going Up! from CJ Schiller on Vimeo.

The Grajo's

Well since my good friend Jerilie "Jerk" Grajo is celebrating her upcoming birthday over at Mazu, the team and I decided it would be fun to celebrate her in the best way we know how, and give her a photoshoot of her and her family! We did a full scale shoot, indoors and out, from SF to treasure Island, and finally ended the session in Emeryville. The soothing warmth followed by a cool breeze made for a perfect city shoot! Not to mention hanging out with friends all down by what the best of SF has to offer. The girls were fun to work with, a bit shy at first, but towards the end acted as seasoned professionals. Thanks for the great times lady's, I hope you enjoy the photos.

STI

Last Saturday I had the privilege to take out my lovely girlfriend's sister's STI out for a shoot. I invited along my teammates Manda and Vin so we could do video and photo's, and I must say, they came out great. Above is my personal favorite from the shoot, and we will have the video up and running soon on our Facebook page, so if you haven't already, become a fan of Alphotog Media on Facebook to view the latest in our videos and Photoshoots!

Wine, in a positive way

DIIISSSGUSTING!!! Pretty much sums up my take on any kind, shape, size, taste, of wine. At least, I USED to feel that way!
Pretty much when my girlfriend and I started dating, we would always grab a bottle of wine with whatever dinner plans, and or after dinner plans we had decided on. Of course different meals call for different wines, so I'd cook, and she'd choose the wine. 2 wines to be exact! We could never actually decide on just one wine, so we usually grabbed too, plus were raging alcoholics and need satisfy that thirst! Im kidding, but all jokes aside, I seriously love the buzz that wine gives be rather than any beer or hard liquor could.
Well it wasn't long til' I started to really enjoy the fruitiness of white wines, or the rich oakey flavor of reds. Not to mention the sweetness of dessert wines. Matter of fact, I just tried this double chocolate wine my mom brought home last night, and it was ridiculous! Straight chocolate! Also the GF and I have been going to more wine bars, but when i go there, im all about the cheese's. Oh yea, Im somewhat becoming a cheese connoisseur! Im all about it! Iv'e got like 5 different cheeses in my fridge right now! haha!
Well enough of this, im cravin cheese and wine. Guys don't hate, and think this all sounds gay. You wanna impress a lady, get to know your wines and cheese! HAaaaaaaa!
BTW, the above picture is one I recently took of my mom's friends own wine company.

What makes you Quiver?

"No I'm not afraid of sharks!" This being my repetitive, but firm answer to the continues question " You surf? Aren't you afraid of sharks?!" Please! When you're out surfing 10-15ft., you don't need to worry about sharks, you need to worry about the waves that are coming at you, or should I say coming FOR YOU!

If you know me, you know that I am first and foremost a surfer. Upon catching my first waves in Santa Cruz as a body surfer, I quickly evolved from body, to boogy board, then finally into a full fledged surfing animal! I've only been surfing for about 5 years, which in the surfing community is small, but consider this. I would surf 4-5 days a week, all averaging 3 hours sessions. Thats 60 hours a month I'm out there paddling my heart out! In this time I've had my share of tubes, wipe-outs, shark encounters, jellyfish encounters, Asshole encounters, and there's even been a few times where I thought I was going to drown! I've only had 3 boards in my Quiver, 2 of which are pictured above. Ive surfed in Santa Cruz, Pacifica, San Francisco, Santa Barbara, San Diego, Hawaii, and almost in New York and Florida if it wasn't for the damn waves being flat!

Flatness, the Surfer's enemy! Surfers need waves! We get sooooo depressed! Laird Hamilton puts it best " It's like if you were a dragon slayer, and there were just no more dragons to slay!" It always happens, typically in summer time. This is when everybody and their mom decides to rent a surfboard and stand on it in 2 ft. of water and say they went surfing. Um, no! You want to know what a real wave feels like?!

Imagine this: Picture a 10ft. Wave. If you need an example, the average ceiling height in a bedroom is roughly 10 ft. tall. Doesn't seem too big right?! That is until you lay on the floor as if lying on your board. Now look back up to the ceiling. Not so small is it! Now by the time this 10ft. wall of water reaches you, ( which is moving pretty fast mind you!) one of two things are gonna happen. Your either gonna haul ass and paddle into this wave, or your gonna eat shit and get chucked forward like a sock in a washing machine! If this isnt your first BBQ, then your gonna be a bad ass and carve that wave ( like yours truly of course!), but if it is, then your in for one hell of a ride. In the worst case scenario ( which seems to happen all the time when your just starting out.) the wave is going to pick you up, throw you forward, come down on you, and drill you to the floor! Finally when you get your senses back, you come to the surface to only find that the next wave behind it is barreling down on your head, and back down to the floor you go! As an example imagine your being held underwater for 10 seconds, you come up, and you have about5 seconds to catch your breath and duck under the next wave. This will happen for about 5 or 6 times before the waves set stops.

Sucks doesn't it! Keep in mind, this is on big sets,and on big days. More people have died because of big waves alone than getting bit by Sharks.

The biggest waves I've surfed I swear were about 20ft., but in actuality was probably 15ft. I don't get to surf as much as I used to, but It's like riding a bike, you never lose it! My good buddy Alvin knows that when it gets Big out there, I get crazy! He's called me a mad man before because of how I charge some of those monsters, but he's no joke himself. But every so often, ( and every surfer knows this!) there will be that freaky set, those rogue waves that just barrel through. THAT my friend, is what makes me quiver!!!!

Miami B****

You really have no idea. Miami= crazy. Granted, I didn't do as much as I think I could have, but I was determined to make it out alive. I wanted to surf, but the waves sucked, and it was pretty damn hard getting into the really nice clubs. But nevermind that, it was fun as hell!

To sum up Miami, I'd say it's an even cross between Hawaii and Vegas. Theres more than enough attractive people walking around, and clubs to check out, just as you would in vegas. It might be even worse, considering the intense heat, meaning less clothes on people. Sexual is an understatement! Nightlife is just stupid ridiculous! Ive never been to a club where there is no line. You just crowd around the bouncers, and they pick who gets to go in. Basically, all the ugly folk and fat folk had to stay out. Unless yo ugot $$$. Then as if thats not enough, you spend your days a the beautiful resorts and pools on the beach, not to mention the breathtaking Ocean view and warm, body pleasing water. You can seriously hop in the water anytime of day, and itll feel good anytime of the day. The GF and I made a drunken trek to the beach at 3am, and enjoyed a little dip, and it was still hella warm, and romantic.....welll as romantic as it could get, we were faaaded.

So when do we sleep? Psh, never. I seriosly had about 3-4 hours of sleep each night. Thats nothing if your sippin on Mojito's all day, and drinkin Hennessey at night. Im surprised I even remember living it up in Miami. But Im reminded all too well when I came home and looked at my bank statement. Club this, Bar that! It was well worth the experience though.

I finally had the chance to spend some serious quality time with the GF, since we hardly see each other. Might have been a bit of a Lilyhog, but hey, were on vacay. Anywho, I wanna cut this short, im still on east coast time, and im tired.

Oh yea, and I caught a shark. Ask me how. haha.

Alphotog on the rise!

So the team and i just wrapped up a successful shoot with Mazu SF. We're doing a complete makeover of their website, so this past Sunday we scheduled an appointment with them to shoot key items off of their menu. If you haven't been to Mazu, I highly suggest you check them out for their food ( Sea Bass is on point!), and specialty drinks ( try the spicy thai drink!). This place has easily become my favorite bar in SF, I seriously have been going there on a weekly basis. But it's their special drinks and food that make them stand out from the rest, oh and I hear they have some pretty awesome artwork as well ;) . Its such a chill spot with great music. Dont go thinking your gonna get your freak on, but if you want to chill with the homies and enjoy yourself, then Mazu is the spot!
Anyways, the above picture is a grapefruit cosmo i think, but as you can see the pictures came out great. Our business is picking up, not too fast and not too slow, but juuuuuussst right! We have have quite a few shoots scheduled right now, not to mention a new Art show in the works that will be taking place in Oakland at Spice Monkey, so make sure to look out for that one. And by the way, we are currently seeking a DJ or band that might want to perform at this event, so if you or someone you know might be interested, please let us know and we can provide you with more details of this event.
We are also starting to put together ideas for a third, and more elaborate art show, a Fashion show really. So calling all hair stylists, make up artists, and fashion designers, if you want to showcase your talents and add some photos ( from us of course) to your portfolio, contact me so we can further discuss this future show!

My Sick Day.

So today I had a bit of a relaxing day. Of course, it didn't start that way.

It started off by my alarm clock buzzing it's way into my dream and disrupting a good nights rest. The time was 7am, and like every morning, i preceded to the bathroom to take a nice steamy, soothing shower. After the shower, I dryed off, got dressed, fixed my hair, and just as I snagged my keys off the dresser, " Boom" my stomach went! Like a grenade carefully placed in a bunker, my stomach just blew up! You see, about 10 hours prior to this event, I was scarfing down some boiling crab shrimp, whole sha-bang XXX. Ive never ordered the XXX before, but i felt a bit daring last night. HUGE mistake! Well anyways, back to my exciting morning, this impending pain came at the worst moment, and was forcing me to become unexcusebly late for work. So I made the dreaded call to my supervisor, and told her I wasn't feeling up to par, and was going to take a sick day. For almost 2 hours, i had frequent visits to the bathroom, but after a while, it wore off, and it was still early for me to enjoy my day.

After my body forcingly emptied itself, I decided to grab some McDonalds breakfast! I loooooovvveeee McDonalds breakfast! Especially the sausage mcmuffin with egg, King of all breakfast sandwiches!!!!! I enjoyed the McMeal over a decent movie on netflix on my xbox. After the movie, I ran a couple of errands that have been pending since i dont get off of work til 5 and were unable to accomplish them during the week.

My first trip was to my bank, Wells Fargo. OMG, mothereffingidiots i swear. How many F******* security procedures are yo gonna put me through before you realize that it is me standing in your branch with my California I.D. in yo face!! Idiots! Well after i cleared up an issue with them, i happily drove to my next destination.

San Jose camera and video. Toy store, candy store, strip club, club, bar, whatever! Nothing gets me all giddy like this place of course. Unless I'm standing at the beach with a 10ft. break in front of me and my board in my hands, then maybe yes that would be better, but otherwise bam, this is where i want to be! HAHA. After spending 10 minutes in the store and discussing a few things with one of the salesman, I spent about $5K. In my head of course. Luckily, My sweet Gf helped me steer away from spending a load of money, and instead i only bought a few small things ; )

Well to cut this story short, mainly because im very tired and want to go to bed now, I ended the night with a #2 from KFC, taking the above picture of some orchids I purchased for my mom because shes such a cool mom, annnnnddd having pretty much my first real fight with my GF, but are first make up as well :) Goodnight world!

Home Depot Portraits

So as I continue on my Photography Venture, and continue to make new connections and further my networking, I finally had an opportunity to do something big with a big corporation.

The Management team at HD asked me to do portraits for their associates for a big corporate visit coming up soon, and I immediately jumped at the opportunity. This was an extremely fun shoot since I was def. getting paid to do what i love.

Oh man, I can't wait for this show! Combining my works of art, with my photographs, in a Surf/Skate theme, with my company headlining the event, with my best friends! Nuff said!

Coolest thing ive seen in a whhile!

USH!

So Sunday I decided to hit up the good ol' Gym before the Superbowl. Unfortunately, I was feeling a bit under the weather due to a late bonfire in SF the previous night, so I was unable to do any kind of training at all. So instead I brought my camera, and hopped in the ring with Pro MMA fighter James Terry, and Amateur kickboxer Rizaldy Celi. I took a few pictures, but mostly recorded the training, and light sparring rounds of these two athletes. I really miss going, level 2 baby! But i dont miss the $170 a month bill. Hahaha. In the meantime, ill stick to keeping my technique clean, but Ill get in shape later.

Video will be up soon.

The glass is half FULL!

Suddenly, the finer things in life don't taste as sweet; Beard Papa's cream puffs, Red Wine, my home made Poke' with shrimp chips (that taste better raw not cooked), Brie, Torta's, Flautas, Avocado Pistachios, Ramen, Japanese Tapas, corn with every fucking thing on it!, watching 30 Rock, tasteful films, Avatar 3D, Long drives, chillin at the beach late at night, Santa Cruz, checkin out new clubs, new bars, farmers markets, hot springs, and finally, bed and breakfasts! . Many of these are first time experiences, and all of recent, but I might add, none of these will ever be enjoyed as they were the first time. I miss it. I really do. Every girl that I've dated has said the same thing to me, " Its the small things in life that count!" I can't believe I finally realize that, it only took 25 years! But with recent lessons learned, I know to never take experiences such as these for granted. I will enjoy them as if they were my last. I will not indulge in the selfishness of my humanity, and will make the most of my experiences, thus creating a humble, open to "new experiences" life. It took selfish acts, and inconsiderate thoughts for me to realize this. Everyone makes mistakes, but it is up to the person at fault whether or not they learn from it and strive forward, or do they continue to do wrong, and continue down their spiraling path to loneliness. I however, have learned from this. I am not stupid nor am a bad person, so I am going to take this life lesson and run with it. No matter what, It's uphill from here, because I've been to the bottom, and I know I don't want to be here! I'm taking all these negatives and turning them into positives by changing my ways. 2 weeks ago I stated that 2010 is off to a great start, and is going to be my year! Even after everything that has happened recently, I think it is all for the best! 2010 is still a great year, and I just had a major breakthrough! Life is good.

A Letter of Obviousness

Dear you,
in my everlasting effort to make you proud and love me, I have failed. Life, and it's persistent path of self destruction has yet again proven to take away the most prominent property dearest to my heart. I admit to my guilt of selfless acts, and will face judgment as it will surely present itself upon my doorstep, but i never meant for it to effect in any way, the relationship you and I both share. I have become a prisoner trapped in the cell created from my own acts of selfishness, passionate, and controlling crimes. I am not a bad person, but I have made poor decisions. I have learned that you cannot please everyone along your journey, but nobody said you can't try. This is where I came to fault. I believed I could accomplish such a task. For what it's worth, I have no real enemies, and have wronged one individual in my life. I have a number of true friends that have stuck by my side for the reason that I like to believe; that I am a true friend as well. On paper, yes, the selfless list has had its shares of recent entries, but not in the form you may think. I refuse the fact that you so clearly state that I am out to hurt you or anyone purposely!If so be the case, I would not be taking my time to write you. This letter is meant to simply give you my point of view upon the situation and how I am not the monster you so disgustedly claim to be associated with. Certain information pertaining to the situation was withheld because I did not want it to have an adverse effect on what was to be the beginning of " Your" year. Whatever you may think, everything was recent. It was not planned, nor have been building up from past events. You were eventually going to be made aware of the situation, but was waiting for the proper opportunity to do so. You should have been informed by me, not some dumb bitch. I had the best intentions for all the decisions I have recently made. Steps that I decided to take, and steps that I decided to NOT take. I did all in hopes for a better future. However, I do take full responsibility. I cannot point fingers at those involved, I can only be upset with myself. I know what I gambled, and obviously have now lost. I will make it a point to not go against your advice, because every time I do, something bad happens, and you always end up right. I hate that. Well this is the end, I wish you luck on your ventures, as i doubt you need it since at least one of us has their head on straight. Farewell, I love you.

Sunday Funday

Sunday Funday from CJ Schiller on Vimeo.

The R8

It's been a little while since I've been able to update this, but here's a quick picture from over the weekend. I cruised down to SF last thursday to surf, but since surfing was a fail, I decided to head on over to my good friend Tony's house. As I pulled up, this beauty was sitting right in front of his house. Turns out, the OWNER of Monster Cable was next door having lunch, and while he was enjoying his food, I was enjoying his car. Needless to say, I had fun with this shoot!

Pull!!!!

Meet Tre'von

So yesterday, I did a photo shoot for a friend of a friend. Actually, friend of a friends son, Tre'von. Tre'von is building a portfolio for GAP kids, and hopefully with a little help from myself, can become a child model. Cool kid for sure, Tre'von acted like he's been modeling for years. Every little action I asked him to perform, he did with ease. He even came up with a few of his own poses. We met up at Valley Fair mall, and decided to walk around and take pictures, casually of course. I'm not exactly into cheezin it in front of a camera with a weird backdrop. Candid shots are the best. Capturing the moment, is what its all about. Capturing Life basically. Anyways, cute little Tre'von must be the most fitted kid I've ever seen. He had a couple of outfits that put my wardrobe to shame, and boy did this kid have swag. Haha, im sure the chicks in the mall were checkin him out more than me. Dammit! Well needless to say, I had a great time with Tre', and would love to do it again. I hope the pictures turn out good, and wish him luck on his career. Get 'em Tre'!

Let's go Sharks!!!!!

It figures, the one time I make it out to a Sharks game this year, they lose 2-6. Coming off of what was a 9 game winning streek, 8 of them shut outs, and going against the number 8 team in the division, I thought this would be cake. WRONG! 5 minutes into the game, the Kings already scored back to back penalty goals, and were woopin on the Sharks. At one point, it was 0-6 Kings, going into the 3rd period. By then of course, everyone was pretty much leaving. I stayed however, as a couple of beautiful plays took fold, and the Sharks ended the game with a 2-6 loss. It wasn't as bad as it sounds. After a few line changes, and swaps, Todd McClellan managed to start a comeback on the DUcks, and figured out their game. Sharks had almost 50 shots on goal versus LA's 20. So the problem wasn't exactly the offense, but the defense, and mainly Nabokov. Needless to say I walked away sad, but I did however score a Nabokov signed official puck. Maybe I had something to do with Nabby's terrible performance? Damn you lady luck, damn you!

The Laxamana's

Congratulations to Steven and Mai Mai Laxamana on their marriage last Saturday, January 2nd. The ceremony took place in Daly City, and was literally planned a day earlier.

Here's to a fresh start!

Happy new year!!! So its been a little over a week since I last updated this, and a lot has happened. Christmas was amazing this year. Drove over to Livermore to spend a full day of eating and gaming with the Celi family. We had plenty of food, which a Filipino family usually provides. Everything from Uncle Zald's tri-tip, which was even better when Uncle Vince cooked it, haha. My mom made her infamous Poke' and Salmon Carpaccio, and Grandma Celi brought her world class Pancit! All amazing food to say the least. After giving myself a stomach ache that lasted a few hours, I decided to battle my mom, and uncles at the old school pinball machine. Needless to say, I won! Before I knew it, Christmas day had come to a quick end, and I had to drive back home to get well needed rest for another day at work.

As far as my gifts go, my mom surprised me with a Nikon D90 for Christmas. Yea, I guess I can be spoiled from a time to time. But i never thought i would receive it. " This is your Christmas and 25 year birthday presesnt!" My mom clearly stated. No problem there, I'll make sure to pay her back by moving out soon, and getting on with my life. New year brings new possibilities, and my dream is entwined with this camera, that hopefully is a gateway to a successful venture. New things are happening all around me, and needless to say, they are almost all good. Happy new year to all my friends, and all of my family, and to Maverick and his cousin Chewy of course! I love all of you!