As of yesterday, PAG-ASA has announced the start of the southwest monsoon. This only means that the rainy season is already upon us, and I can now wear my boots again! This also means not using lot of leather bags. While I had a good experience with the Collonil Waterstop spray, it was just too costly. The bottle only lasted for about a month, with the rotation that I do.
To welcome the rainy season (that just seem wrong), I used a canvas bag with minimal leather parts.
The silver hardware is reminiscent of the Gucci Jackie bags
Along with the end of summer, one of our colleagues in the Delegation also ended her 9-year stay. That’s almost a decade of service. While it seems long, another colleague of ours has been with the organization for almost 30 years!
People come and people go. We are so used to expatriates moving in and out of the Delegation, but it always feels depressing to see the local staff go. I remember that during my first maximum security jail visit in December 2015, I shadowed her for half a day and my work for the rest of the time was an approximation of hers. She was really good with what she does.
The bespectacled bunch
How it must have felt staying for almost a decade? I would not know. I’ve stayed with my corporate job for only 7 years, before transferring to a whole new sector.
It’s been also very eventful in the country for the past days, politics-wise. A lot of our colleagues have been busy in Mindanao since last week, and I catch myself monitoring the situation closely. I just hope that our people in the field be safe and accorded proper access to those who are in need of our service. I also almost always fearful that the emblem, even with its protection status, will not be respected. =(
Anyway, I also brought my smaller Meade telescope with me to Makati, in the hopes of glimpsing the night sky from our 4′ x 8′ window. Why did I not bring this telescope when it was still summer? Now, I had to contend against clouds obscuring the view.
Before calling it a night, I was closing my window when I saw the moon peeking through the clouds. I also scanned the skies and saw a bright spot due South-West. I had butterflies in my stomach as I had a feeling this is a planet.
Half moon on a cloudy day, and Jupiter serving chromatic aberration realness
It has been years since I used my telescope. The last time I did astrophotography was more than 4 years ago: March 2013 for the Moon and October 2012 for Jupiter. The nerd in me was shaking when I confirmed that the bright spot was indeed Jupiter. Changing from the 25mm to 9mm to 3mm eyepieces, I was teary-eyed upon seeing Jupiter with its 4 Galilean moons again!
It was difficult to photograph, though. You can see the chromatic aberration from the photo above. I only used a cellphone camera and it did not do justice to Jupiter at all. It was really stunning. I could make out some of its bands even for a short time.
I’m hoping for clear skies in the following days. Looking at celestial bodies can really make you feel insignificant, a mere speck of dust, in this vast universe. Besides, it’s a welcome respite from the earthly things going around. Not to mention, peering at condominiums had already lost its novelty. LOL
