Me (far left) with his Catholic Junior College team in 2005.
Chess
Chess will always have a special place in my heart. It was in 2001 when I first entered a professional tournament. I remember playing an opponent from a top school, and during the game, he would always walk away after making each move. I lost. That moment, that image, remained in my psyche till this day. I did not like the fact that we were not considered equals just because
we wore different uniforms. Together with my teammates, we trained ourselves through books borrowed from the library (there was no Youtube then), and from funds raised internally, we set up our own chess club. From 2nd last in 2001 to 6th nationally in 2004, chess taught me to never back down even in the face of giants.
Image shot on Neopan 400 with Canon P.
ANALOG PHOTOGRAPHY
There is something romantic about the analog process. I first picked this up during my undergraduate studies. It was quite a chore then, especially when you move from digital to analog. It was only years later after graduation that I decided to revisit photography. Even though I am on a career trajectory so different from my college degree, keeping in touch
with photography reminds me what it means to create, to express, to use your hands to make something. Nowadays, developing negatives affords me a good 40 minutes of silent meditation. Just the sound of running water and the ticking clock, they provide a sense a relief after a long day’s work.
One of the tournaments I follow consciously.
E-SPORTS
I always think there is a gamer in all of us. You could even break it down to stereotypes: the shooter, the strategist, the farmer, the grower, and the list goes on. My poison is Starcraft, and it all started in a rundown LAN shop in 1997. Even though I rarely play it nowadays, I actively seek out live-streams of the top players that I follow. It was this little “nerdquirk”
of mine that led to the discovery of a whole new underground gaming community. I discovered Twitch, which grew into a live-stream gold rush; every tech company wanted to be the de-facto live-stream platform. Since then, Twitch has been my dinner television. Guess broadcast ain’t dead.